As is typical for most aging social networks, TikTok is now dominated by discussion of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Younger users, desperate to consider other classic monsters without getting "creechbombed", are fleeing in droves. More on my newsletter:

last week i remembered that macOS lets you set your own icons and that *I* have the power to delegitimize the professionalism of the software that runs on my machine, so here's a thread of the 16 new icons i've made so far i really forgot how fun it was to just sit down and make art for myself :')

LOOK AT OUR GAME CAN YOU BELIEVE WE'RE MAKING THIS

Laura is one of the best of the best and I'm jealous of anyone of who hires her.

when i first met laura working on YS, in call she said "i just think writer's block is fake" which is just about the scariest thing i've ever heard, and then she proved her point by writing over 80k words to a quality standard in like 3 months. awe inspiring and terrifying

Wrote briefly about my work on Young Suns on my blog (where I have posted every day for over a year) blog.lauramichet.com/i-wrote-for-...

www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mo... I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine. I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people. #morrowind #thomasthetankengine

Hi! I'm Jenna, a narrative designer and illustrator over at @ko-op.com for our new game Young Suns, an optimistic space-faring life sim. I work with some of the coolest people in games and I can't wait to show you what we've been working on.

I did some contract writing on this game! Got to write a handful of extremely weird and cute characters. You should check it out!!!

I also really want to thank @wholesomegames.com for supporting us and for letting us announce by making a donation to Doctors Without Borders Gaza bsky.app/profile/whol...

Come see what I've been working on with a wonderful team!

Join us tomorrow at 12 PM EST for an exciting announcement of our upcoming game! youtu.be/rVEWbp1FiKg

The incredible soundtrack and sound design was by @ghoulnoise.com. Priscilla made *so much* amazing spooky music for this game, it's ridiculous. You can find the full Spooky Express soundtrack and listen to Priscilla’s other work at ghoulnoisemusic.com

If you needed another reason to buy this, the zombies say "traaains" instead of "braaains"

Please enjoy the incomplete tale of the ≈60 year old roll of exposed film I found in a ≈hundred year old camera that ends with the reveal of some very sweet photos taken of a house, a cat, and a car. #lomography #foundphotography #photography #film ghoulnoise.com/oldest-roll/

pitch: animal crossing but they're all mad at you

Calling the apparent overlap between LLM slop, white-label sludge unproducts, jangling keys-style purely stimulatory content, etc etc etc, "post-thing theory" as in nothing is a thing any more

pre-production: you have concepts of a cow production: the second cow is a Jira epic that has been fully backlogged post-release support: you have a roadmap that claims the second cow is coming in the fall of 2027

Got some 35mm scans back from the new lab! (Still waiting to hear news on the mystery roll) ghoulnoise.com/new-lab-new-...

Spooky Express is OUT NOW on PC and Mobile! 🚂🎃 All the passengers are dying to ride the Spooky Express! Don’t let them miss their stops: they may be monsters, but they still have places to be and people to eat – er, we mean meet! spooky.express

Happiness is getting an email letting me know that there's a new @ghoulnoise.com soundtrack up on Bandcamp... ghoulnoise.bandcamp.com/album/spooky...

Still the greatest endorsement of all time

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGAx... Jack-O'-Lantern Jam, from the Spooky Express Original Soundtrack! I hope you like banjo, washtub-bass, and singing saw!

game director line edits

You're gonna get to read stuff I worked on when you play this! I got to work on a scene with one of my favorite characters! I'm STILL losing my mind about how cool that is! Please look forward to enjoying Bachelor Dankovsky's warm, charming bedside manner ❤️

This is a good post about its specific subject and a great post about how to do anything cool on game production deadlines without having it get cut (being very intentional about where you drop the quality bar)

Six years ago, I wrote most of the Tragedian dialogue for Pathologic 2 in iambic pentameter. I'm back now doing the same for Pathologic 3. I figured it was helpful to write a guide on *how* I did it – in case I get hit by a bus and the team has to carry on without me. azhdarchid.com/so-you-want-...

I have worked with Laura a ton and there's no one more dependable. Completely hilarious and professional. Can adapt to anything. When I see an impossible narrative obstacle down the tracks I try to get Laura hired so the train doesn't derail.

Learned that I am being laid off from Heart Machine, and will be leaving the studio later this month. Do you need a contractor? I've got a track record of leading scope-friendly script revisions late in dev. I have also done a lot of consulting on new IPs and pitches/demos. Feel free to DM me!

In the interest of self-preservation I need to start reiterating: my current contract with KO_OP ends late Nov, and I'm looking for my next gig! I'm a game/narrative designer, writer, & generalist with lots of implementation experience in Unity, some in Unreal, knowledge of C#, Python, and more.

Do you love spooky? Are you a freak for singing saw? Are you scrambling to put together a playlist for your Halloween costume party? LOVE TRAINS? Are you secretly a ghost, ghoul, or goblin? Pre-Orders are up now for the Spooky Express OST for #BandcampFriday ghoulnoise.bandcamp.com/album/spooky...

skin deep is on sale!! play our game about scrutinising warning labels and flushing your less-observant adversaries down the trash chute store.steampowered.com/app/301280/S...

There's no way to convey sexual tension except by having two characters fall or be knocked over, with one landing on top of the other with their faces an inch apart. We've made a lot of fiction but that's the only technique that exists

Pretty good.... But I know there's a better way to break this economy and I'm determined to find it.

youtu.be/WAHg0j0WZ-A I just released this video for Oceans Of Yore! It was one of the earliest "radio" songs I did for Skin Deep. Grendel had a wonderful voice and he put it to good use. I wanted to make this to celebrate the old man's legacy and create a little memorial. Captain Palanka forever 💜

My friend and industry colleague Heidi has received the devastating news that her partner can no longer fight off his cancer and must go into hospice. She will lose him soon and she is a good person who has already lost so much. Please consider helping her defray the costs and survive the aftermath.

Motivated flippers can get it in the first hundred flips. It's about determination and intent. "Unfair" is a negative mindset holding you back from ten in a row.

in ONE stream, even knowing that this superstition-game would happen, austin and I: invented a demiurge called the Red Duke, wondered whether luck was being siphoned between each other/towards previous LPs by other people, started reading barthes, and started to wrongly suspect the game was broken

TAILS. TAILS. TAILS. TAILS. TAILS. HEADS. TAILS. Unfair Flips is OUT NOW! Flip the world's worst coin over and over as you try to get ten heads in a row!! store.steampowered.com/app/3925760/...

part the silliest gambling roguelike you've ever played, part meditative art piece on the perception of probability, 100% worth doing to yourself

This is an agent of the US federal government, armed for live-fire combat against a modern army, slamming a passive and nonviolent female candidate for the US Congress into asphalt. Then walking away without checking if she has injuries, with his identity concealed behind a black facemask.

An update on The Dinner

Really good piece about the intrusion of AI into interactive fiction spaces.

New blog post: azhdarchid.com/slop-comes-f...

Bruno is very good at this

Over the past few months I've gotten a few informal questions about helping others with writing craft on a 1-on-1 basis. I'm not sure how much real interest is there, so I'm experimentally advertising tutoring/portfolio review services. azhdarchid.com/opening-up-s...

Grendel passed away today. I adopted him in 2012 from a shelter, when he was quite close to not getting adopted. When I opened his cage, he crawled into my lap immediately. He was a goofy guy who always wanted to snuggle. He was sweet to kittens and social with everyone. Some old photos...