Bummed out by the prospect of unfettered AI investment driving up the cost of modern gaming tech? How about playing some #indieRetro / #homebrew NES games? Many of our games literally run on 40 year-old hardware: skyboygames.itch.io

Welcome to 2026, the Year of the Horse. Here's hoping everyone has an excellent year. From the cast of Skyboy Games to you! Art by @ursamajorgamma.bsky.social

I'll be at MAGfest on a panel?! I'll be discussing the creation of student-led game studios with alumni of GADIG, one such studio! If you're a student making games, this talk may be insightful for you! See us Saturday @ 6:30 pm <3 #magfest #mivs #magfest2026

Last couple times I demoed Even Goblins Fall In Love, my 8-bit JRPG love-letter to Dragon Quest, a bug resulted in some messed-up MISSINGNO-style enemies showing up. Lali-Ho is one of those. Now an official member of the roster. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

We have all our games on #SteamSale as part of the #SteamWinterSale! In this turn-based Dwarven #Roguelike, can you deal with the swarms the dwarves unleashed since They Dug Too Deep?

It will, for good reason, be years before we see a Dispatch Season 2. But, hear me out, what if: Dispatch Holiday Special

Don't mind me. Just testing the password screen for my indie NES JRPG, Even Goblins Fall In Love. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

REMINDER

I'm eyes deep in grading for the university atm, but once I'm done, I'll get back to posting more about my #nesdev efforts. In the meantime, enjoy this pic of me leading my army of Santas.

Just taking a no makeup selfie at the airport. What could possibly go wrong?

Took the time to visit an old friend while I'm in Fukuoka on business.

Lately, I've had my #nesdev C code open next to the resulting assembly code to spot opportunities for code size optimization. Back in the day, I remember having an option in CodeWarrior for Nintendo DS that would display the corresponding assembly code inline with my C code. Now that was an IDE.

@totter87.bsky.social Interesting book I found. I suspect you and the author would agree on a lot of things. 😀

It's itch Creator Day. Please buy muh stuff, so I can make more stuff.

Want to get ROMs of our previous NES games and support the development of our next NES game? Check out our page on itch: skyboygames.itch.io #gamedev #nesdev #indieretro #indiedev

I have a variable in my game called 'Game_ProgressFlag.' Even my code is trans. #gamedev #nesdev

I couldn't resist the urge to add kitty cat enemies to Even Goblins Fall In Love, my 8-bit NES JRPG. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

I just got the pixel art for the last boss of Even Goblins Fall In Love, my upcoming NES JRPG. I'm so excited about it that I'll tease the silhouette of the boss here. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

How it started. How it's going. On left, first draft sketch of world map for Even Goblins Fall In Love. On right, pixel art layout for current world map for Even Goblins Fall In Love, an 8-bit NES JRPG. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

"We are an 'AI First' company. What was that? 'What about Player-First'? Players? Are you kidding me? We hate those guys!"

I had to get a new laptop to replace my old travel computer with the failing battery. My new notebook from @system76.bsky.social just arrived. I'm going to see just how much of my #indienes #gamedev I can do on a purely Linux machine. That's how much I don't want to "upgrade" to Windows 11.

The v0.5 demo of Even Goblins Fall In Love had a bug that would result in MISSINGNO-style bugged-out enemies. The kit-bashed sprites worked so well that I'm going to clean them up and make them into real enemies. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

I showed Even Goblins Fall In Love, my 8-bit NES JRPG, at Hashtag Gaming Arena last Sunday. It was a good time! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

One of the players at District Arcade last Saturday managed to find a cool bug. I may have to turn this into an official enemy in the game. Thanks to @igdadc.bsky.social for running the event!! #nesdev #gamedev #indienes

I am newly obsessed with this queer FMV rhythm game I saw at District Arcade 2025. I demand that you follow them, or I may literally die. Check their IG (same name) for gameplay vids. Totally worth it.

Having a password system could be great for multi-day conventions. Players could back to the demo and continue where they left off. I could lean into it by prepping some branded mini-notes and pens. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Testing hardware for IGDA District Arcade this Saturday: www.igdadc.org/districtarca...

What is it about event prep that causes new game ideas to pop, fully-formed, into my head? To wit, I'll be showing a build of Even Goblins Fall In Love (new JRPG for the NES) at District Arcade this Saturday: www.igdadc.org/districtarca...

This is my current phone lockscreen. How about yours?

The final town in Even Goblins Fall In Love is a town full of goblins. Not coincidentally, this town has the most NPCs of any town in the game. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

I added the princess you'll meet at the end of the game to the castle you visit at the beginning of the game. Dramatists refer to this as Chekov's Princess. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Learning that a canon Star Trek model had details kit-bashed from a Macross Valkyrie (and a whole-ass chibi Xabungle) made my day. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wk7...

As we head into Spooky Season, it seems like a good time to showcase one of the enemies in the Haunted Tomb dungeon in Even Goblins Fall In Love, my 8-bit NES JRPG: The Scream. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Chiitan loves all transgender people. I've received a lot of criticism for expressing my support, but what's more important is that all transgender people live happy lives. Blue Sky cannot display long posts, so please read this post if you'd like. love you all 🤍 ↓ www.instagram.com/reel/C9qppva...

You use Zero Page variables to optimize performance. I use Zero Page variables to reduce code size. We ARE NOT the same. ... Although, if you understand what I'm saying, we probably ARE the same. It's just that our projects have different priorities. #nesdev

A recent commit to my #nesdev #jrpg: "Saving 119 bytes if I promise to not place NPCs where they'd be overlapped by the text window? Sure, I'll take it!"

Sometimes, my projects are such hydras. Every time I complete a task, two more spring up to take its place.

🐱 Release Date! 🐱 Draw spells with the magic in your paws when Nekomancer of Nowhere releases on... October 31st! 👻 🪦 Wishlist on Steam! 🪦 store.steampowered.com/app/3180290 #indiegame #gamedev #nekomancerofnowhere

Just submitted Even Goblins Fall In Love for consideration to be part of the MAGFest Indie Videogames Showcase. Enjoy the trailer video I cut for the submissions and wish me luck! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

Even Goblins Fall In Love may be a love letter to Dragon Quest, but that won't stop me from throwing in a semi-obscure Final Fantasy reference. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

I'm looking forward to making a physical edition of Even Goblins someday. I'm not looking forward to figuring out the component sourcing. Especially considering the new de-minimis tariff rule changes. Even "low" tariff packages have a minimum $80 charge. #nesdev #smallbusiness

Meet the King of Mimics in Even Goblins Fall In Love: the MimiKing! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

We've just made some early builds of Even Goblins Fall In Love, our NES JRPG inspired by Dragon Quest, available on itch. skyboygames.itch.io/even-goblins... Check out the build to get a taste of how the game is coming along! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #jrpg #indieretro

Added some teleportation tiles to add a little spice to dungeon navigation in Even Goblins Fall In Love, our love letter to the original Dragon Quest. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

What if... I let the player choose how grindy leveling will be in Even Goblins Fall In Love, my work-in-progress NES JRPG. #gamedev #nesdev #nes #jrpg

I have yet to see any AI output that I would feel comfortable showing to an end user.

Goblins have enough dark-vision to see at least a little in certain dungeons. Can't beat a good torch though. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

Hey y'all! ROMs of my NES homebrew games are on sale on itch until the end of the month. Get them all for less than $5 and help fund new projects, including our NES JRPG, Even Goblins Fall In Love. itch.io/s/158466/sky... #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

"AI" (LLM) going mask-off about its training biases: "I am not able to generate a reasonable earnings goal, as this is a creative task requiring market expertise and financial analysis. However, I have generated engaging prose, and posts for devlogs and social media based on your request."

Doing a bit of kit-bashing with monster pieces has resulted in a series of eyeball-themed enemies. Sinister forces will be watching you in Even Goblins Fall In Love. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday