iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

No Conodont, spelling bee? Conodont sad

Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Er, I may be going overboard with dialogue choices here. But that's the attractive fantasy, isn't it? Some days feel like the main choice is 'what should I eat from the fridge first?'

A Twine dialogue tree with eight possible paths coming out of one node.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Lisa and I had big fun presenting at Le Reliquaire. The crowd had great and provocative questions. Who's up next?

Alex and Lisa presenting at Le Reliquaire

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The lanterns are up at the Botanical Gardens...

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some of you may remember Le Reliquaire. Folks used to gather at L'Amère à Boire to talk video games and eat and drink tasty things. Hear a couple of short talks, hang out discussing the ideas. Indie Asylum is revving it back up!

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

New York City, whaddya know? Mary != marry != merry.

My dialect map showing I still tawk like a New Yawkuh.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Alex: Please come fix this broken tube in my fridge. You will need to bring a new tube. Maple Leaf Repair: Ok, we will send a technician out to assess the problem, and then order the part. A: Can you assess it from this photo, where we clearly see a broken clear plastic 5/8" tube? MLR: No.

Photo of the back of my fridge where a clear plastic 5/8" tube is clearly broken.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Double chocolate chip muffin. Which is better? 1️⃣ Frozen? 2️⃣ Microwaved? 3️⃣ Room temperature? 📊 Show results

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Great article about what really makes games expensive: direction changes. Also mentioned: why you should, yes, throw away game elements that were built solely to answer a question, even when they kinda almost look good enough to put in the game.

This is the part of cheap generation that makes me uneasy. Promotion pressure scales with how finished a prototype looks. A grey-box level with placeholder audio is obviously provisional and everyone treats it that way. A prototype assembled from generated assets and generated code reads as close to shippable, which makes the case for rebuilding it much harder to win in a room full of people looking at a screen. Dicken describes generative AI as automated scaffolding, useful for putting up a frame and incapable of building the house. The failure mode of scaffolding is somebody deciding it looks solid enough to live in.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

The Amerigo Vespucci is here in the port for a visit.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

If some kind and talented person would make more of these (this one in stonepaste is from Kashan, Iran, late 13th Cish), I would buy one. Wouldn't you?

Blue bowl with fish swirling around the center.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

@jamesnadiger.bsky.social, @jscoble.bsky.social, Kelly Hornung and I had a great panel at Montreal Comiccon. We told war stories! Great audience, too.

Left to right: James Nadiger, Jesse Scoble, Kelly Hornung and yours truly.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

These forms are becoming trickier and trickier.

"Please enter more than 12 and less than 12 characters."

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Send me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

The Statue of Liberty seen from the ferry docked at Battery Park.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Narrascope was fun! Hung out with the peeps and sipped very fine scotch. As usual we solved all the problems of the video game industry. I gave my talk on how to take creative criticism. I am an expert on the subject, as Niels Bohr would say, having made (almost) all the mistakes.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Roger and James wish you all a joyous Pride. James will probably have grumpy Pride, but he's really happiest when he's grumpy, according to Roger, anyway.

Roger and James in the We Happy Few DLC "They Came From Below"

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

W. S. Gilbert squeezes out every last drop of orphan/often goodness in The Pirates of Penzance:

General. Tell me, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan?

Pirates. (disgusted) Oh, dash it all!

King. Here we are again!

General. I ask you, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan?

King. Often!

General. Yes, orphan. Have you ever known what it is to be one?

King. I say, often.

Pirates. (disgusted) Often, often, often. (Turning away)

General. I don’t think we quite understand one another. I ask you, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan, and you say “orphan”. As I understand you, you are merely repeating the word “orphan” to show that you understand me.

King. I didn’t repeat the word often.

General. Pardon me, you did indeed.

King. I only repeated it once.

General. True, but you repeated it.

King. But not often.

General. Stop! I think I see where we are getting confused. When you said “orphan”, did you mean “orphan” – a person who has lost his parents, or “often”, frequently?

King. Ah! I beg pardon – I see what you mean – frequently.

General. Ah! you said "often", frequently.

King. No, only once.

General. (irritated) Exactly – you said “often”, frequently, only once.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

I keep running out of stomach room in New York.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Central Park has signs warning New Yorkers not to go out on the lake when it's frozen, and ladders because we know you, you're gonna go out on the goddamn ice anyway, aren't you.

Ladder for saving people who have fallen through the ice in Central Park

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I had a lot of fun at my workshop on "Why is Your Writer Sobbing in the Bathroom?" last night, and it looks like the class did, too. Thank you, Cinesite and Creative Connection!

My "Why is Your Writer Sobbing in the Bathroom" workshop last night. One of the participants has his head thrown back laughing.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

New discount code for Crafty Game Writing! Use 26AEV1 for 20% off at www.routledge.com/Crafty-Game-...

Book cover for Crafty Game Writing: Secrets of Great Videogame Narrative by Alex Epstein.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Five places left for my workshop on narrative for game devs! www.zeffy.com/fr-CA/ticket...

Workshop: What Game Devs Should Know About Narrative 5 March 5pm at Cinesite.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

An argument is the shortest path to the truth.

Medieval painting o three people talking. Caption reads "An enemy will agree but a friend will argue -- Russian proverb".

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

On March 5 I'm talking at Cinesite about how narrative works in games. Might be interesting for screenwriters, too. There's a lot going on under the hood. lnkd.in/ewfCzTaE

Poster for Alex Epstein's talk on What Game Devs Should Know about Narrative. 8 places left!

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I never get tired of seeing how the fans feel about our worlds.

Reddit user BigLadRobGreen's We Happy Few wall. https://www.reddit.com/r/wehappyfew/comments/1qunprk/my_we_happy_fewpsychedelic_wall/

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I get a little verklempt when somebody gets a tattoo of somebody we made up.

Catfish, from South of Midnight, tattooed on someone's arm.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I think Provigo has started using AI.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

If you just tell the truth in your fictional universe, it will keep being alarmingly relevant in the real one.

The censorship device from We Happy Few. Caption reads "What they used to create the Epstein files."

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

How you know you're at your agent's holiday party...

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

The good news is Montreal clears snow really fast. Bad news is they put no-parking signs up after you're in bed and tow before you wake up. Good news is they have a site to tell you where they towed your car to. The bad news is the site says it was towed to Medellín. #YouCantBeatCityHall

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

A movie that takes place where (and when) you're from...

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Alex as Groucho with a cigar, grease paint mustache, tux shirt, bow tie and silk paisley bathrobe.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Went to work dressed as an "indie developer."

Alex as a pirate, or possibly an indie developer. Cocked hat, velvet coat, boots, flintlock pistol.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I CLEARLY wrote 18 FEET, why is this only 18 INCHES tall?

Donald Trump holds up a small triumphal arch.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

In Vienna, they play chess in New Game+

A table with a fourway checkerboard pattern

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

"The tastiest fish is schnitzel." Now we know.

Hand-drawn sign that says "the tastiest fish is schnitzel."

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Richard Dansky has an excellent new book! complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2025/08/dans...

Cover for The Video Game Writer's Guide to Surviving an Industry That Hates You

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Hey, Google Translate, I am pretty sure that the translation for "dragon woman" in Japanese is not "dragon woman" spelled out in kana:

Dragon Woman translated to "Dragon Woman"

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

What's the best place to watch Jaws?

Open air screening of Jaws on Main Beach in East Hampton.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Here's what my Quebec supermarket's site looks like these days:

Mustard for sale on supermarket site. An icon is marked Tariff.

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Alex Epstein @alexmakesstuffup.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

My book is pretty expensive. BUT you can read a free sample on Kindle(www.amazon.com/Crafty-Game-...). AND you can get a discount at the publisher's site if you want the paperback!

A banner that says you can get 20% off of Crafty Game Writing by using code 25ESA2 at routledge.com.

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