If studios full of hard working talented devs could stop cutting half of their workforce that would be great thanks

Steam Next Fest is HUGE for game devs so remember: -Wishlist the homies -Leave a review on the demo (where possible) -Hit IGNORE on any AI Slop -Shout about the bangers you find And thats it. With everything right now this is something you can actively do to help and have fun in the process

I haven't done an introduction message yet but I'm an ex-AAA dev turned #indiedev to work on a weird horror game I'm passionate about. Our game is in Next Fest! If it seems interesting consider wishlisting or checking out our demo! It really helps us out. store.steampowered.com/app/4040700/...

I ate so many fruit rollups and gushers growing up! 😭 ...but I guess I'm lucky I didn't eat many hostess donuts...

This is so wholesome! 😭 Its always so nice seeing parents supporting their kid's dreams.

Backrooms was so good! It was cool seeing what Kane can do with a budget and professional actors. Between this and Exit 8 its been a great year for liminal horror 😄 .

Artists, it looks like Adobe might be doing very questionable things at the moment by auto-enrolling you into a more expensive AI-heavy "pro" plan (potentially even charging you for opting out after the fact, which I should hope is illegal). Be vigilant 🧵 see further posts below

CA’s transparency bill AB-412 (which forces GenAi companies to disclose if their datasets are using YOUR copyrighted works) is in a slow march to become a bill. Also due to massive tech opposition, they make us all work for it every step of the way. Don’t let em win, sign the petition below asap!👇

New devlog is out for our game! Find out where we are in production, see the very first prototype of our game and get waved at by the best Work/Life Balance Officer in the business.

Support a local Seattle indie team and check out Desert Angels in the AAPI sale!

Character artist here 🙋. Thoughts: 1. We’re not extruding all day (much quicker ways to low poly) 2. Edge flow matters for deformation not fantasy 3. Artists are not against GenAI to keep tedious workflows 4. Given a mesh they wouldn't have learned enough to fix any deformation or perf issues

Just remembered today is free comic book day! Basically a bunch of local comic book shops are giving out free comics and some offer raffles, etc: freecomicbookday.com

Found the trailer that was too "violent" and pulled because they didn't have time to warn the audience... doesn't seem like a great way for BAFTA to "support games that tackle difficult subjects". Support the dev by wishlisting here:  store.steampowered.com/app/2288520/...

Allbirds going from an environmental shoe company to an AI company is bad enough, but their stocks raising 800% when they have no related experience or actual product? Then losing half of its peak value the next day? Yeah, totally not bubble like activity... 🌷

As bad as it is using faulty AI for theft detection, another issue is the scanners can fail to register items they scan. Ruined one ex-olympian's life. www.the-independent.com/life-style/w...

Submissions for Tiny Teams 2026 are now OPEN! 🎉 If you’re a solo or small team dev and want to get your game seen by millions, then you’ve got from now til April 30th to show it to us. For all the details and to apply: www.yogscast.games/tiny-teams-d... #gamedev #tinyteams #gaming #indiegame

Saw Exit 8 yesterday and this does not surprise me, it was really good! Movie understood the genre, made great creative choices and added interesting world building to the game. I may be biased as I'm making an anomaly game but our friends liked the movie too!

It's indeed possible to beat bad things backed by big money

Kieran was a great hire for my Glassbreakers art team. Quick learner, excellent collaborator and strong self starter (as well as a good artist), he'd make a great addition to any team!

Good opportunity to point out there are a ton of great indie games that don't use GenAI and cost a fraction of AAA games. Here's the no GenAI game I'm working on. I'd love to hear any of your #indiegame recommendations as well! store.steampowered.com/app/4040700/... #indiedev #stoptheslop

applying for jobs again

"It can't be that bad..." * proceeds to also scream at reveal *

It is *fascinating* to me how quickly some people have gone completely from “we all must work in the office! human collaboration is vital and only happens in person!” to “I can replace all these pesky people with chatbots!” Definitely some commentary there about our society and who gets to choose.

Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die was a fun watch! It was like an Everything Everywhere All At Once take on Black Mirror.

Fun thing to think about very briefly: who currently has better lawyers, the United States or Nintendo

I've been running gdcparties.com for a few years now. Some shitty company BlueberryAI decided they'd just take all the source code for the work I've done and reskin it, advertising it as their own. Jokes on them...it was still linked to my events spreadsheet, and now their website looks like this 😉

Everyone who tried to draw around me and started drawing LOVED it at the beginning because of their QUICK IMPROVEMENT. Then quit when they hit The Wall™️. But it's when you hit The Wall™️ that you NEED to push through with practice!! And you gotta do it for yourself, because it's ALWAYS worth it! 😤

We'll be at #ECCC showing off our game, come see what we've been up to! #indiedev

If you’re part of any creative groups, unions or other organisations in the uk you should be passing news like this along and spreading the world. News like this gets has the chance to be overlooked but if enough organisations kick up a fuss things can change.

Game Devs of Color Expo applications are open! For talks and for showcasing games: www.gamedevsofcolor.org/apply They also have a possible Steam Waiver program to wave the $100 Steam fee for games applying that don't yet have a Steam page which is pretty neat.

Oh hey, the game I art directed is sharing their Unreal Vision OS fork. Neat!

Just a reminder that in 1979 the IBM training manual had this conclusion. Also worth thinking about: an AI can't be held accountable for its screw ups but its user can be...

It could be really bad for Discord if Californians contact the office of the Attorney General to report the potential violations of CCPA and CALOPPA citing the recent breach from a few months back where 1.5tb of user data and millions of IDs were leaked, but who can say for sure?

Even without the woke thing please know "a strong senior-junior hierarchy" combined with offering "high responsibilty" and causing "agony, weeping, and gnashing of teeth" are big red flags 🚩. Careful applying to companies like this and don't send your students to them.

Studios and publishers going "AI-First" makes me think of this recent study where 85% of players have a negative view of GenAI with 62% being "very negative". Only 7.6% approve. Makes it hard to believe this is for players as much as its for the shareholders... quanticfoundry.com/2025/12/18/g...

Another favor to ask on a research project. We're wrapping up a large project on AI music. We need folks to participate in a short 10 min quiz to test your ability to distinguish between AI music & human music. Especially looking for help from musicians! uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

@seattleindies.bsky.social Diversity Collective has three GDC 2026 all access scholarships! The first prize includes a $1,500 stipend for travel and lodging while the second prize has a $500 stipend. Submissions close January 30th if interested! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

What our little studio has been up to!

Owlcat Games (with other studios) just released open source lists of game dev learning resources. From a quick glance looks like there is a bunch of useful info here: owlcat.games/learning

Looking for a way to celebrate the spooky season and support an indie dev? 🎃 Our demo is out today! Try it out and let us know what you think.

Our game demo beta is now live on Steam! If you want to play the demo early join our discord or DM Sabbatical Games for a key! 🗝

If you are in Seattle stop by and check SIX out! IndieCade used to be the best part of PAX and this is basically that but with no PAX badge required.

We have a Discord! Come join us 😄

The inspiration for our logo and a very good boy

Revealing what we've been working on very soon... Stay tuned!

Excited to share what I've been up to! After over 15 years in the game industry I've decided to embark on a new adventure and start up my own indie game studio. Follow @sabbaticalgames.bsky.social for future updates about our game.

Applications are open for the 2025 Seattle Indies Mentorship Program! Participation is free and open to all regardless of your skill level. Read more and sign up here www.seattleindies.org/enroll-now-f...