Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.

Toronto-based @softrains.bsky.social’s Ambrosia Sky Act One is out today. Haven’t had time for a full review but I really dig what I’ve played. Wonderfully atmospheric with a lot of narrative intrigue & clever traversal. A solid foundation that I’m excited to see the team build upon in future acts!

IT'S AMBROSIA SKY DAY! The Soft Rains team have something VERY special here, mashing up ingredients from some of my all-time favourite games into something brilliant, unique and fresh. @softrains.bsky.social store.steampowered.com/app/3580160/...

Great Toronto game dev panel with @ubisoft.com Toronto’s Navid Khavari, @rocketadrift.bsky.social’s @linrocketadrift.bsky.social and @softrains.bsky.social’s @kaittremblay.bsky.social! Really love seeing this kind of spotlight on talented Canadian devs at a local public venue like Hot Docs.

Louder for the people in the back:

Spotted: @thehandeyesociety.bsky.social Super FESTival 2025 arcade cabinets in my neighborhood! WHOO!!!

This morning's roving Hilltop corporate headquarters is a VIBE, and feels very consonant with the game we're making! #remotework #Toronto #Nabulu

I’ve missed you and im feeling a little weary so why don’t we hang out with Lil and save our kingdom with Lil Guardsman made by @playhilltop.bsky.social ! Streaming in just a bit! ⭐️Twitch and YouTube! www.youtube.com/live/_16N8u_... #vtuber #adventuregame #lilguardsman

Wild weekend here in Toronto: the Blue Jays gave it their all, but didn’t clinch the World Series. Not quite the chaos or body count of a #LilGuardsman goblinball match, but it came close.

I'm going to go live and play Dispatch tomorrow! Excited to finally get going on this one. 9 am Central. twitch.tv/theindiegamecafe

Remember to be considerate tonight while trick-or-treating!

Happy Halloween, folks. May your candy hauls be massive!

Today's music: a series of eerie vibes. Let's move past the Halloween cliches - Night on Bald Mountain, Bach's d-minor Toccata & Fugue, Dans Macabre, etc. - and embrace a new paradigm! Let's start with Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.

Happy Halloween! Lil’ Guardsman's night shift levels are fan-favourites. We got to play with horror tropes and twist them inside out. For your spooky-season playlist, give the Nightshift theme a listen. Vibey, ominous... and sneaks in a FF7 nod Then stick around for the rest of the soundtrack too!

Very cool puzzle people in this lineup 💯 Looking forward to ThinkyCon 2025 next week!

Indie games

VERY excited to play Outer Worlds 2 this week. Anyone dig in yet? Any hot takes/thoughts/impressions so far?

This is a Jeremy Lapalme appreciation post. Jer is one of Lil' Guardsman 's co-writers, and also voices some of the most iconic characters in the game! youtu.be/fFklWpVpSno

Looking to level up your October game plans? 👾 @igdatoronto.bsky.social is hosting a Meet & Mingle next week — great folks, good vibes, and industry chats. Don’t miss it! 📅 October 30 🎟️ www.eventbrite.ca/e/october-30...

art. book. out! (digital version!)

Anyone in my bsky network headed to MIGS next month in Montreal? Reach out if you want to connect (and maybe get a sneak peek at the new game we're cooking!)

For all the new folks landing in @bsky.app, both #indiedevs and players alike, I made some starter packs a while back that you might find useful 👍 🔸 Indie Game Studios - go.bsky.app/EbnyA2d 🔸 Solo Indie Devs - go.bsky.app/46HSs4C 🔸 Indie Game Publishers - go.bsky.app/DAoKtHj

We love @dames4games.org and this trailer is sick.

anniversary stream in less than a week... see you there 100 entries to go

It's #SteamNextFest time again, and here are all the Pirate PR demos we'd love for you to check out! Link to the Press Release below, as well as each individual game :) I rarely ask for anything here, but a share would be massively appreciated 🔁=❤️ youtu.be/RdD7h05gg6o?...

Steam Next Fest begins today! Don't know where to start? There's tons of great games to try at the Indie Fan Fest page: bit.ly/IFFSteam Want to get a better sense of what these games are? Rewatch our Indie Fan Fest showcase: www.youtube.com/live/fA5uao6...

if not a dating sim, why girl pretty????

I love #SteamNextFest, and I wanted to make a weird little thing for it, and here it is: A Primer on 'How to Next Fest' for those new to PC gaming 🤣 www.tiktok.com/@thestarbuck...

Here are the global release times for Yooka-Replaylee! 🕒 Only 24 hours to go! Set the timer now! We'll see you tomorrow, adventurers! 💚💜

📣Release date announced. 10.24.25 #gamedev #indiegame #deadfingerdice

It's killing me and the team to not be able to talk about what we're working on (yet), but I can say that October has impeccable vibes for what we're cooking up! 👻

Since we finished stray recently, time to introduce another game for stream aside from AC Odyssey and Minecraft. Super exited to start Lil Guardsman!

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ 𝓢𝓣𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓜 𝓘𝓢 𝓢𝓣𝓐𝓡𝓣𝓘𝓝𝓖 ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ candles lit, chaos ready, and i’m diving into Lil' Guardsman 🕯️💀✨ let’s get weird → www.twitch.tv/salemthewitc...

Make one good decision: get Lil’ Guardsman at 60% off as part of the #SteamAutumnSale ...Then enjoy making hundreds of terrible ones in-game! Insult royalty. Jail a tree. Befriend a goblin (maybe).

It is 2066: 36 years after a catastrophic geomagnetic storm disrupted the world’s power supply and caused world-wide chaos. You are tasked to keep a solar mission on track, and secretly, to discover a saboteur. Will you trust the right people? Wishlist Now: store.steampowered.com/app/4006340/...

This game was so fun, so good. Loved the voice acting. Loved the sass. In fact I streamed/played it on twitch when I was in a mentally low headspace. It really helped me stream when i felt struck. Good story. Good hijinks. I highly recommend!

Lil' Guardsman is such a gem 💖

You can get our weird and wonderful indie hidden gem Lil' Guardsman for 60% off as part of the #SteamAutumnSale right now! store.steampowered.com/app/1924360/...

Lil' Guardsman art team appreciation post: Still and always blown away by the incredible, detailed, hilarious work that art director/character artist Rafa Gallardo and background artist Bruno Ishihira did on #LilGuardsman. They brough the world of our game to life in such an amazing way!!!

Had a great time at the monthly @igdatoronto.bsky.social meetup last night. If you're a Toronto game dev person, it's a low stakes, low stress way to meet nice folks in the industry.

I strongly believe in the breadth and influence of independent art, to grant us oblique angles on the world and ourselves. But also every indie game is somewhere on this spectrum:

We're making Mandrake, a rural life sim set in a beguiling new world inspired by British history and folklore. Now we're not in the Fallen London universe (Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies), we had the opportunity to add sunshine! And trees! 😮 🧵 #wishlistwednesday

I really, really loved this bite-sized narrative 'horror' game last night. Do yourself a favour and check out Don't Get Your Hopes Up. www.rockpapershotgun.com/dont-get-you...

Our former colleagues Steve and Lance from Versus Evil (now risen from the ashes as @digitalbandidos.bsky.social) have put together this showcase with the good folks at @themix.bsky.social! Can't wait to check it out tomorrow. Yay helping indies cut through the noise and find their player base!

After weeks of fans voting for their favourite Canadian games, Luigi's Mansion 3 has been named the winner of The Great Canadian Game-Off from ESA Canada and @mobilesyrup.com. 🇨🇦 🎮 Assassin's Creed 2 and Mass Effect 2 placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Congrats to Nintendo and Next Level Games!

What's something you're playing right now that's a bit off the beaten path that you wish more folks knew about?

YES!

It's a really tough time to engage with social media. Hope everyone is taking good care of themselves and checking in on each other!

We're breaking the sound design process on the new game into three phases, and we just got the first wave of boops and beeps, ambiences, and music into the build. Sound doesn't make the jank less janky, or the un-fun things suddenly fun, but it sure makes it all more vivid!

Monday throwback: Episode 4 of my indie developer interview series highlighted Grundislav Games / Francisco González, the developer of Lamplight City and Rosewater, among many other point & click games. Read it here: www.gtogg.com/News/en/Insi... #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #pointandclick