iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hey! Did you know we have an upcoming Steam event called BIRDS OF PLAY celebrating 140 bird games? October 10th to 16th on good old Steam! No link until it's live, but in the meantime you can find details and assets here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Promo image for Birds of Play event containing title, dates October 10th to 16th, and a range of cute birds!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

A little more info for the curious!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Back in the @irishwriterscentre.bsky.social next month for another round of my "Writing for Games" course! It's a workshop held over 4 Thursday evenings during which we really pack A LOT in. Know someone who might be interested? Send them here! irishwriterscentre.ie/courses/writ...

Blurb image for "Writing for Games" course starting September 3rd.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

@martinpi.bsky.social & I had the absolute best time at ChinaJoy - just got home last night and we miss China already!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Shanghai, here we come! 🙌

Picture of two happy people on their way to China for a week, from Copenhagen Central Station

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hello @studiodaimon.bsky.social & thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday! I'm half of @neonaurelius.bsky.social along with @martinpi.bsky.social & we're making SPARROW WARFARE! We're HYPE this week as we're heading to Shanghai to talk strategy at #ChinaJoy 🙌 store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

Char and Martin with their new business cards

Poster for Char and Martin's session at ChinaJoy

A screenshot from Sparrow Warfare, the hot new mahjong-inspired deckbuilder that will rock your world

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

@martinpi.bsky.social & I are TOO EXCITED about travelling to Shanghai next week for #ChinaJoy, where we're giving a talk on the roots of strategy games & offering ideas for making fresh new strategy mechanics!! Got any great #Shanghai tips?! Let us know! 🙌

Two smiling people beyond hype to travel to China next week - the people are Charlene Putney and Martin Pichlmair, here holding their new business cards

Poster for the China Game Developers Conference, showing the talk from Charlene and Martin about strategy games

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I would love to be part! Submitted, but no space to kind of "explain myself", so here goes: I'm a writer, mostly videogames, but also making the art for a new game with my partner: Sparrow Warfare. I collage, remix, recolour public domain bird images for it! 🐦 store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Hi there @playdigious.bsky.social & thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday this week! @martinpi.bsky.social & I are making SPARROW WARFARE - a bird-filled, mahjong-inspired deckbuilder. Demo on Steam with 100% positive reviews, and today's news is that we just pushed a teaser demo live on itch! ❤️

Screenshot from the game Sparrow Warfare, where the valiant little sparrow is battling agains the boss of Level 3: The Poacher.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Very exciting to receive the Scholar's Codex in the post, featuring my chapter on the story of Greirat of the Undead Settlement. If you like the worlds of From Software, you might like this book too! Now available from @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social: www.tuneandfairweather.com/products/sch...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Hi there @dieinthedungeon.bsky.social & thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday! We’re a 2-person team making weird bird deckbuilder SPARROW WARFARE. Demo out now with 💯% positive reviews! & this week, we’re working on new bird tiles - here’s Yikesaroni Toni: store.steampowered.com/app/4396770/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Proof from the big hall with thanks to @doodledemmy.bsky.social!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Exciting day for our game today - it's being played out in the world at TWO big events this weekend! Check it out if you're at: 🏰 Leftfield Collection, MCM LONDON 🏯 Bitsummit KYOTO & if you're at home? Sure, you can play the (100% positive reviews!) demo too! store.steampowered.com/app/4396770/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Everyone who knows me knows I can't wait to go to China again - & I'm so excited that I'll be there in July, to speak at the Chinese Game Developers Conference at ChinaJoy in Shanghai with @martinpi.bsky.social! If you'll be there, I hope to see you! & if you have any Shanghai tips for us, shout! ❤️

Image advertising a talk at ChinaJoy China Game Developers Conference on July 31st 2026.

Remixing Strategy: Designing Hyper-Local, Hyper-Global Games

In their 27 years of indie game development across 19 commercial releases, Martin and Charlene have learned a lot about turning game ideas into finished works. This talk is a reflection on how many ideas behind games are globally connected, while rooted in the culture their designers come from.

While working on their new game, strategic deckbuilder Sparrow Warfare, Martin and Charlene explored the history of strategy games: from ancient board games to 17th-century Austrian card games, mahjong, and today’s deckbuilders. From this, they realised how many mechanics from older games remain largely unexplored in modern deckbuilders, which often focus on a narrow set of familiar systems.

They also discovered how many strategy games from around the world are connected as if through a global web of evolving ideas and mutations. For a Danish studio presenting in China, this highlights the balance between designing hyper-locally (drawing on personal and cultural influences), and designing hyper-globally (building on game ideas that have travelled across centuries and continents) to resonate with the widest audience possible.

In this talk, they will share their collective creative process, and offer three ideas for game developers to apply in their own projects: how to find overlooked mechanics, how to transform personal influences into design ideas, and how to use remix culture to create fresh and engaging work.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday, @mantisgames.bsky.social! We made a tiny video to show you the most haunted things we could find in our game 👻 @martinpi.bsky.social & I are making SPARROW WARFARE, weird bird deckbuilder! 100% positive demo out now! 🐣 store.steampowered.com/app/4396770/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Yesterday evening 3 of the authors of “Scholar’s Codex” happened to be out together! Me, @domford.bsky.social, & @florencesn.bsky.social - don’t you want to read our Dark Souls musings?! Praise the sun!

Three jolly cooperators sharing a beer in the sun

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Super good piece by Irish writer Donal Ryan pghrev.com/as-close-as-...

The only war Ireland should wage is one of calm logic against the swollen belligerents of the world who expect other people’s children to take up arms against each other, to sacrifice their precious lives in a trillion-dollar theatre of fire and death. We’ll explain to them that our national identity is founded on the edict that no political change is worth the shedding of a single drop of human blood. So, we’ll mind our own business and they can fuck right off.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Friends, chumps, wizards-of-ill-repute: today we launched our DEMO for Sparrow Warfare! If you are into deckbuilders and somehow not already 110% consumed with Slay The Spire 2, give us a whirl over the weekend! store.steampowered.com/app/4396770/... #indiedev #indiegamedev #deckbuilder #demo

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Hi there! Thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday & I'm super excited for your demo, Alchemice looks stunning!! I see your demo is out on March 5th - ours for Sparrow Warfare is out on the 6th & we made a tiny video about that choice that you might relate to 😅 store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

It was a lot of fun to host #TurnBasedThursday last week! Check out all the cool games in the thread & here are 4 of my most-anticipated: 👾 Quasimorph - extraction roguelike in space 🃏 Forbidden Solitaire - creepy 90s cards 👻 Deck of Haunts - become a haunted house 🍲 Arcane Eats - cook magically

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I am so honoured to officially host this week's #TurnBasedThursday on Bluesky! 🗣 INDIE DEVS! Show off your turn-based games in this thread with the hashtag! PLAYERS! Come on in & 💬comment, ❤️like, 🔁repost & ✨wishlist all the great games in the thread!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

It's #BirdArtWeek2026! Here are some of my collage homages to amazing bird art that I am including in our game Sparrow Warfare, where your magnificent bird army frees the world!

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

You know what feels really really really good? Feeding the birds. It's cold out there, & most of us have the ability to walk outside with a few fistfuls of bird seed and absolutely make the day of scores of beautiful, talkative, feathered friends. Makes my day too!

Martin feeding the ducks before the lakes froze over

Lake birds super excited about bird seed as the temperature drops

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Facebook memories tells me that today 15 years ago I posted this image. Back then I was working in Facebook, longing for a creative life. Here I am, many many many mistakes later: still alive, creating, making mistakes. Life is so wonderful: as long as we breathe, we can always choose our next step.

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful, than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Hello from frozen Copenhagen!

A tiny snowman waves in central Copenhagen

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Feast YOUR EYES upon the glory I had last year! Crispy roast pork, spiced red cabbage, roast potato, in a bun with verrrrrrrrrrry rich gravy.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

A few years ago we (@joonturbo.bsky.social, @polclarissou.bsky.social, @torfi.bsky.social, @muuutsch.bsky.social & I) made a cool game about squirrels - it's on sale on Steam now & people are still enjoying it. What a delightful feeling!! ❤️

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

I like my little emoji clump, looks like a good spell

a circle filled with lovely positive emojis

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Honourable mentions: Grady Hendrix, Joyce Carol Oates, Irene Sola, Mariana Enriquez. AND to finish with an old fave, in case you haven’t read it yet, you really need “Negative Space” by BR Yeager in your life. A black hole that will rearrange your entire perception, doesn’t that sound delightful?

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“Coffin Moon” by Keith Rosson It’s almost illegal to recommend a book I haven’t finished yet but this one is such a banger that I am compelled. Vibes like Straub’s “Koko” with a pace that’ll leave you breathless.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“Pilgrim” by Mitchell Luthi Crusaders, demons, alternate realms, this bad boy has it all. Mercilessly sweeps you along with a malevolent undercurrent. Historical fiction with a lot of twists.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“A Short Stay In Hell” by Steven Peck Is it fiction or philosophy? This takes about one hour to read, ten hours to talk about with your partner, & a hundred plus hours of rumination. Incredible mental bang for the buck, and absolutely what I recommend if you’re having a meh day. Sit, read, better!

Cover for the book “A Short Stay In Hell”

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“The Lesser Dead” by Christopher Buehlman I liked this book a lot when I read it, but the more time passes the more I LOVE it. A real damn good vampire story with so many little moments that will linger with you. Buehlman’s humour and heart like friends keeping you company the whole way.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“Come Closer” by Sara Gran Losing it step by tiny horrifying step into total loss of control. Read it in one frenzied sitting and then stare at the wall for an hour or two. No matter how tough things are in life, they are not THIS bad & that we can celebrate.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“Old Soul” by Susan Barker One of those glorious books that travels around the world with different people yet has a very specific seed that grows everywhere: there is no escape. Will make you flinch at photographs and look at the night sky through your fingers.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones You’ll never feel quite warm enough or quite full enough reading this. A cold that gets into your bones as the story slides in through your eyeballs and squeezes your heart. Go in without reading anything about it, you will not regret it!

Cover of the book “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter”

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Yesterday I finished the shawl I’ve been knitting since July! It’s the Glowhair Frost shawl designed by Stephen West. Thanks to @torillelvira.bsky.social for the inspiration & @martinpi.bsky.social for the colour scheme, support & help blocking!! #showmeyourknits

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Yeaaaahhhhhhh! Thanks @caseyexplosion.bsky.social! Me & @martinpi.bsky.social are making SPARROW WARFARE, a mahjong-inspired deckbuilder with a ton of birds! We'll have a playtest coming next week, so excited to welcome folks into our bird kingdom 🙌🦜🦉🦤🦆🕊️ store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I really enjoyed this Halloween spooky bird collection from the @rspb.bsky.social, so I had to share one from our Sparrow Warfare coop: world, meet Howl!

A picture of a spooky owl named Howl with the rating 12/10 for spookiness, and the tagline "two bananas short of a fruitbowl"

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Thank you for hosting #TurnBasedThursday! We're working on Sparrow Warfare, a wild little deckbuilder with a hell of a lot of birds. We'll have a new playtest coming very soon, so looking forward to sharing with folks ❤️ store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

This one always gets me:

Far Side cartoon where there are two guys on camels in the desert, there is nothing to see for miles but endless desert. The caption reads: "Hold still, Omar. Now look up. Yep. You've got something in your eye, all right. Could be sand."

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Hi there @GOG.com & #TurnBasedThursday friends! If you: 🦜 love birds 🤺 love strategic shenanigans 🪷 love getting your brain in white-noise mode Sparrow Warfare might be for you! We're not on GOG yet (out mid 2026), but you can keep up with development here: store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

A little snippet of a screenshot from Sparrow Warfare

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Hi folks! & thanks for hosting today's #TurnBasedThursday! We're working on our next playtest for Sparrow Warfare: daily flight mode with different modifiers. Here's today's results from our 2-person team (ahem, I am literally last in the world right now). store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

A leaderboard for the game Sparrow Warfare, showing pi in first place and alphachar in second place.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

100%! We're a team of two with no artist working on our game Sparrow Warfare at the moment & I'm having the BEST fun remixing, collaging, recolouring & vectorising public domain art to make our bird tiles! It also feels like bringing little fragments of the past into the future.

A collection of bird tiles made by remixing, collaging, recolouring nad vectorising public domain bird illustrations along with other props

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Our gameplay (super weird deckbuilder) isn't retro, but our art sure is: 2-person team, no artist, so I've been making our bird tiles by collaging, remixing, recolouring, & vectorising old public domain pics of birds. Sparrow Warfare: new playtest up next week: store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I’m knitting a really huge shawl at the moment and it’s giving me a lot of joy. Each stitch is such a tiny step, and yet and yet and yet as they add up one by one it becomes something glorious. Maybe by Christmas I’ll be able to wear it 🙏

A photo of my work in progress shawl: lots of different kinds of stitches in shades of white, grey, yellow and blue.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Hey there @mantisgames.bsky.social & thanks for hosting this #TurnBasedThursday! @martinpi.bsky.social & I are making a weird deckbuilder with lots of birds called SPARROW WARFARE, & we'll have a new playtest next week - come sign up on our Steam page! store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

André Breton, Surrealist Manifesto ❤️

Surrealism is the “invisible ray” which will one day enable us to win out over our opponents. “You are no longer trembling, carcass.” This summer the roses are blue; the wood is of glass. The earth, draped in its verdant cloak, makes as little impression upon me as a ghost. It is living and ceasing to live which are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere.

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