iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 07/04/2026

We deserve a better world. Help @pmakesthings.bsky.social and @valiantdorian.bsky.social make whole new ones - Kickstarter live now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/one...

A cloudy swirl heading a blue page. Below that, one out of five stars represented by one yellow star in front of four greyed-out ones.
A gold headling in quotes: '"We deserve a better world."'
Below that, text:
'Armaan Babu says:

We deserve a better reality.

I want to see a world of joy. Hope. Room for creativity, and a safe space where wild ideas can crash and burn until one of them takes off, soaring towards the stars.'

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 09/09/2025

From 'Where the Water Tastes Like Wine'

A wolf in a brown suit, holding a hand of three cards. On the table in front of him is a lantern that lights the room, and a skull. A caption box at the bottom of the screen reads, 'Hearing stories is important work. Everyone wants to be heard, and so few are listening.'

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 22/08/2025

I'm sorry, when was someone going to tell me I'm going to spend all of Campaign 4 vaguely feeling like they're just mispronouncing my name? This is a nightmare. A nightmare!

Travis Willingham, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Marisha Ray and Matthew Mercer looking mildly confused, standing just behindthe word 'Araman' in gold lettering.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 04/08/2025

Shoutout to the amazing @adamreck.bsky.social who has forever immortalized how obsessed @pmakesthings.bsky.social and I are with K-Pop Demon Hunters. Go check out his page! He's accepting commissions at great rates! He's awesome! ko-fi.com/adamreck/gal...

Poorna and Armaan dressed in outfits from K-Pop Demon Hunters, singing "You know together we're golden - gonna be, gonna be golden."

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 03/08/2025

Roll 1d12 until you either reach 9 Melancholy, and spend your life grumbling about the unfairness of it in the back of a dimly lit bar, or 9 Joy, finding a new love for golden retrievers and eventually opening up a spa for dogs.

An excel sheet table, with the heading 'Roll to Cop':
1 - You remember the time a golden retriever stole your ice cream as a child. +3 Melancholy.
2 - You recall the time you were playing fetch with your cat. It caught the ball - and never returned. It now plays for the Boston Red Sox. +2 Melancholy.
3 - You try to do golden retriever things, such as wagging your tail and having a wonderfully shiny coat. You fail spectacularly. +1 Melancholy.
4 - You try to do golden retriever things, such as playing fetch with friends, having a smile everyone loves, and eating food people have dropped on the floor. It works out great, and you begin to question yourself. +2 Melancholy, +1 Joy.
5 - You lobby for the rules to be changed. Golden retrievers are now banned, as are chimps, apes, birds, reptiles of all kinds, and invertebrates. The internet cancels you, but you win your next game. +2 Melancholy, +1 Joy.
6 - You conspire with the neighbourhood cats for revenge. Their plans turn out darker than you could have imagined...but it's a start. +1 Melancholy, +1 Joy.
7 - You're distracted by cute cat videos. Roll again.
8 - You lobby for the rules to be changed. Golden retrievers are now banned, as are chimps, apes, birds, reptiles of all kinds, and invertebrates. The internet cancels you, but you win your next game. +2 Melancholy, +1 Joy.
9 - You take up painting, leaving behind baseball forever. You miss it - but you've also found your calling! +1 Melancholy, +2 Joy.
10 - You find a new style of training - retriever style. After weeks of this (and an extensive flea care routine), you're ready to outplay a dog. +1 Joy.
11 - After weeks of painstaking research, you find an obscure rule that doesn't ban golden retrievers, but DOES ban the way they hold a bat. +2 Joy.
12 - You realize that you can have your OWN golden retriever on your team. Best new bud AND teammate? Aces! +3 Joy.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 03/04/2025

When you can't wait to show off your new tabletop purchase to the tiny little red-faced criminal you keep on your play table, but he takes it as a threat.

Cover for DC's 'Two-Face' #5, featuring a white-haired white woman wearing a jacked covered in dice and a white shirt.
The woman is standing over a green felt table, triumphantly holding a six-sided die, with a speech bubble that says "DIE!" Another die has already hit the table.
On the table, a small Two-Face is running from this woman. He does not look happy.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 13/03/2025

I will never stop asking people to buy this game. I'll leave you with this, from a character narrated by none other than Sting himself. "Hearing stories is important work. Everyone wants to be heard, and so few are listening."

An illustration of a wolf holding cards in a simple wooden room. The wolf, lit by lantern light, is wearing a simple brown suit and tie. A skull sits on the table.
A box of text reads: "Hearing stories is important work. Everyone wants to be heard, and so few are listening."

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 13/03/2025

All of the 200+ stories are mere glimpses, but they *linger* with you, especially with the old, grizzled narrator telling you of each one, and the simple but evocative imagery each story has. You're mostly just an observer - but sometimes, you have a small chance to decide what the story becomes.

An illustration in green of a young girl pushing a wheelbarrow stacked with hay.
In a box, text reads: "'Lost? Me? Oh, not at all!' She stands up taller and squares her shoulders, projecting an image of adulthood so stiff she looks almost about to tip over. 'But, I guess I could use a little help. Can I ask you somethin', pretty please?"

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 13/03/2025

In exchange, these travellers will share their own tales with you. Each tale allows you to get to know them a little better. Their tales depend on the nature of the story you told them - but when you get to know them enough, their true nature will become clear to your devil-cursed eyes.

A hooded figure with a burning light for a face is surrounded by smaller figureswith light burning from their helmets. The main figure holds a pair of pickaxes, and is sitting beneath an apple tree, illuminated by firelight.

A black text box at the bottom of the screen reads: "Just seems like there's so much of it, like it goes on near forever. Seems fair for eachof us to get a square, don't it? Do you dare hope?"

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 13/03/2025

Everyone has a need for stories. They will ask you for stories of darkness, comedy, strangeness, tragedy - and using your judgement, you will pick which of your stories you feel applicable.

A painted illustration with a closed eye on top of the page. A brown haired woman in a loose fitting brown jacket and striped lavender pants sits beneath a tree, illuminated by a campfire, looking straight out the screen.
A block of text at the bottom of the picture reads: "So-got any good hopeful stories? Anything about what the world should be?"

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 13/03/2025

This reorganization inspired by my entry to the Imaginary Cards jam - make a single card for the CCG you have neither the time nor bandwidth to design! Check out the Jam here! itch.io/jam/imaginar...

A creeping border around a framed illustrated image of a pale woman dressed in white, staring at a twisted red tree with yellow and blue fruits against the background of a stormy sky.

A side heading to the left reads "FABLE"
A heading below the image reads "A Marvellous Chance"
Below that, medium size text reads:

"When you draw this card, you may ask the DIVINE one question. The DIVINE decides which of the PANTHEON the question applies to you, and either grant you:

- One BLESSING from their highest tier.

- Seven FOLLOWERS.

This card is then permanently removed from the game until NAULA and ATTIKLIK attain a joint victory."

Below that, smaller text reads: "Rosalie saw before her eyes a tree of marvellous beauty"

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 11/03/2025

Rough notes on the game are done. I plotted out a road map for what sections the full version of the game need to be written up to be done. Once that's done, and another playtest is done to make sure all this still works, y'all can get your grubby little mitts on this game yourselves!

A numbered list, that reads:
001 - Intro, 002 - What This Game Is, 003 - What You'll Need, 004 - Overview of Gameplay, 005 - General Advice on Play, 006 - Character and World Creation, 007 - Game Setup, 008 - Battles, 009 - Hero's Post-Battle Resolution, 011 - Journal Entry - Hero, 012 - Post-Battle Resolution - Villain, 013 - Journal Entry - Villain, 014 - Completing a Set, 015 - Ending the Game, 100 - Character Abilities, by Level, 101 - Opponents and Abilities, 102 - Alternate Modes of Play, 103 - Tracker Sheets, 104 - 'Bonus Content', 105 - Examples of Play, 106 - Acknowledgements, 107 - Similar Games I've Made

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 02/03/2025

The second is 'Why. Won't. You. Stay. DEAD?!', an asynchronous duo-journaling game about a villain and a hero who has a seemingly endless number of lives, and grows stronger with every defeat.

Two purple shaded eyes look out over a heading: 'Why. Won't. You. Stay. DEAD?!", which hovers over a knight looking up at a stone castle.
Sub-headong, 'Rage against the dying of the dark.'

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 02/03/2025

The first is 'To the Hilt', a two-player game that uses a deck of cards to tell the twin stories of a sentient weapon and their wielder.

A hand reaching for a sword, a gold thread connecting them. The heading 'To the Hilt', sub-heading "A two-player game of power, agency and trust."

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 03/01/2025

My own game is fairly simply compared to the other brilliantly creative entries here. I've always loved incremental games - the dream of slow, but steady progress. With the new year beginning, this can be a handy little game for people who want to create but don't know if they have the time.

A single page with six dice faces displayed. Each face has writing on it, with the words 'Start Here' pointing to the first dice face.
1 - "Write a word, give it a page."
2 - "Add a word to any page."
3 - "Write a question."
4 - "Answer a question, or reroll."
5 - "Reference another page."
6 - "Using the pages, write a story fragment."

All faces point to words in the middle, which say "Roll When Done".

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 16/01/2024

The other is Even Dragons are Trampled Before Us, a short game where you play as a group of horses fighting off a dragon invasion - a game with a whole campaign run written into its light rules. armaanautomatic.itch.io/even-dragons...

Heading: Even Dragons Are Trampled Before Us
Description: The year is 1524, and dragons have invaded your kingdom. As the humans run helter skelter, it’s up to the more surefooted horsekind to save the day. Find them. Prepare for them.Survive them.
In bold, and underlined: Trample them.
There is a solid silhouette of of a flying dragon on the left, and a rearing horse on the right.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 09/01/2024

"If you see this, post a robot." Ironically, the best image I have saved for this is this.

Image of the Vision, standing next to the Wasp, who is saying "He's not a *robot*. He's a *synthezoid*, artificially built by Dad's "son", Ultron, but human in structure.
"I can show you father's notes sometime if you'd like to go over them."

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 21/11/2023

Also want to share some images from Air, a comic I just read a few weeks ago, marvelling at how well it hits on the spirit of our game.

Comics images of three men discussing the sovereignty of Narimar in the lead up to Indian independence, with a representative from Narimar pointing out that Narimar is neither Indian nor Pakistani, neither Hindu nor Muslim - which presents a problem for the British attempting to carve maps up along those lines.

Comic image showing officials telling a Narimar representative being told that his country will be taken - and that the world will forget it ever existed.

Comics credits page of Narimar being bombed, with the title Letters From Lost Countries Part 3, crediting G. Willow Wilson as writer, M.K. Perker as artist, Chris Chuckry as Colorist, and lettered by Jared K. Fletcher.

Comics images showing the aftereffects - as the city tried to rebuild, they found they weren't able to leave Narimar, and that post no longer came. "You cannot send letters to a country that doesn't exist. Eventually, we realized the truth: we had been thought out of existence."

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 19/10/2023

Four more reasons to love Doom Patrol.

White text over a black background, crediting Aveena Sawyer, Marissa Rosen, Ishmael Gonzalez and Alex Gibson as singing sex ghosts 1 through 4.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 14/08/2023

I know it's early days, but getting those rare "only 0.something% of players have gotten this achievement" thing does give me a certain sense of pride - and getting this one is my absolute favourite:

A radiant gold outlined square image of two chairs around a table, next to text. Heading 'Hot Date', sub-heading 'Go on a date with Karlach - now that's playing with fire. 0.1% of players have this achievement.'

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 11/08/2023

My girlfriend got me this nightstand for glasses *specifically* because of this problem.

A wooden stand in the shape of a nose with an obnoxiously large fake mustache.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 11/08/2023

Presenting Baldur's Gate 3's BEST new character.

3D image of a fluffy cat with blue eyes with with text below that says "Kira the Cat: Come to pay your respects to the real lady of the house, I see. What a clever creature you are!"

3D image of a fluffy cat with telling the adventurer it's their lucky day, she is accepting compliments, followed by a series of options of ways to elaborately and poetically compliment the cat - and a few options not to.

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Armaan Babu @armaanautomatic.itch.io · 25/07/2023

Introduce yourself One book One comic One movie One video game (music defines me FAR less than video games have, but hey, this game DOES have a fantastic album)

Cover to Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, showing a skeleton with glowing blue eyes in a Santa suit on a sleigh drawn by large boards through a cheery night sky.

Cover to 'The Unwritten' #1, featuring a man on top wrapped in words reaching down through the title and a tendril of words towards an open book.

'Across the Spider-Verse' poster, featuring Miles Morales (young, black male in a black and red costume) in the foreground, Spider-Gwen (young white female in a white, black and pink costume) behind him, and an assortment of Spider-characters in a bright yellow and purple spiral in the background.

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