Sign in

Evan Balster 🍂

@art.imitates.life
339 followers 108 following 307 posts

they/them. 🪗 game dev, audio software, harmony and decay, swords into ploughshares. Free Palestine. worked on: imitone, Cave Story, SoundSelf, MIDI 2.0 standard. currently: HYPERCITY VERMIN, a co-op game 🏠 @evan@merveilles.town

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
The Zium Railway (Available September 13th) @theziumsociety.itch.io · 13/09/2026
In the Valley of the Underground Mountain, within the compartment nation of Lyptch... 🛤️🏛️🎨The Zium Railway🎨🏛️🛤️ an open world gallery, a new exhibition, now available! Free admission. Be welcomed and enjoy. thezium.art/theziumrailway
youtu.be
The Zium Railway - Exhibition Now Open
YouTube video by The Zium Gallery
57835
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 22/08/2026
This evening please join me as I send all my chi, chakra, mojo, mana and prayers to Sabbath the Awful Cat, and also to those raccoons
A ponderously blurry photo of a grizzled black tomcat is set beneath a fully-capitalized bulletin:
"THIS IS SABBATH. HE IS A FERAL CAT THAT I HAVE BEEN FEEDING FOR 7 YEARS. HE IS WILD SO DON'T TRY TO PET HIM. HE WILL ATTACK  YOUR CATS SO KEEP YOUR CATS AWAY FROM HIM.  IF YOU SEE HIM , PLEASE SET OUT SOME CAT FOOD. HE WILL EAT ALL OF IT AND LEAVE. I'VE  BEEN CALLING HIM FOR TWO WEEKS, I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD. IF YOU SEE HIM  PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL TRY TO GET HIM TO COME BACK HERE BUT THE RACCOONS CHASE HIM AWAY. THE BABIES ARE RELENTLESS."
131
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Covid lockdowns demonstrated, in a deeply imperfect way, the possibility of large-scale social solidarity for a higher cause. That is a prime reason why so many powerful people want us to run screaming away from them into the comforting arms of selfish individualist competition.
483858842
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 05/07/2026
PSA: If you live in the United States, there are going to be a ridiculous number of lost dogs and other pets tonight and tomorrow due to all the noise. Keep an eye out.
021
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 22/06/2026
Petitioning to replace Achilles' Heel with Houdini's Stomach in the metaphorical canon.
100
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 21/06/2026
OK, bring me a knife that can cut off its own handle.
110
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
jason grinblat @jfg.land · 12/06/2026
I wrote a SIMULATIONIST'S MANIFESTO for #manifestojam2026 ptychomancer.itch.io/simulationis...
ptychomancer.itch.io
SIMULATIONIST'S MANIFESTO by ptychomancer
1019544
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 11/06/2026
No, no, you see, this is kitchen ink.
My ink-stained fingers handling two shaggy inkcaps.  The first is a day immature and pale cream in color; the second is fully matured and deliquescing itself into an ominous black slime.
100
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Mike Boxleiter @boxleiter.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Hey! I'm making a new game that's been included in Day of the Devs and I'm announcing it TODAY! Lazy River is a zombie waterpark adventure that you can play co-op with up to three friends, wishlist it on Steam now! store.steampowered.com/app/2743290/... youtube.com/shorts/QKbl5...
youtube.com
Lazy River Announcement Trailer (Vertical)
YouTube video by Mike Boxleiter
182
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 02/06/2026
This month instead of passing we're mentioned in passing.
The asexual flag: stripes of black, grey, white and purple.
010
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Roguelike Celebration @roguelike.club · 04/05/2026
The Call for Proposals for Roguelike Celebration 2026 is OPEN! We're looking for speakers to deliver cool talks about procedural content, roguelike game design, generative art, and more! Roguelike Celebration is a virtual conference, no physical attendance required. Check it out and tell a friend!
roguelike.club
Roguelike Celebration - Event 2026
18754
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Rasheed Abueideh - Now crowdfunding Dreams on a Pillow 🍉 @rasheedabueideh.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
As kid my way to school was always blocked by checkpoints From that day i know my life gonna be different But i didnt imagine my game will be blocked or my posts would be flagged as a spam just because I'm Palestinian Please consider supporting this gorgeous game about Palestine launchgood.com/1948
launchgood.com
Dreams on a Pillow - First Stage Achieved. Support The Full Release | LaunchGood | LaunchGood
The development of the pseudo stealth adventure game about the Nakba is moving into next stage
2287219
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 28/04/2026
You may have come a long way but never forget your childhood friends from the blood islands.
"Microglia are specialized macrophages capable of phagocytosis that protect neurons of the central nervous system.[22] They are derived from the earliest wave of mononuclear cells that originate in the blood islands of the yolk sac early in development, and colonize the brain shortly after the neural precursors begin to differentiate.[23]"
001
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
gate @gate.itch.io · 09/04/2026
If ya'll could boost my game I'd very much appreciate it! Trying to get to 50 reviews for the Steam algorithm. I already have glowing reviews from the likes of Raigan Burns (N++) and Daniel Linssen (Leap Year) and just need a handful more. Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3641010/...
11288153
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Hex @hexcat.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Happy 20 years of Neil banging out the tunes 🐀🎶🎉
Neil banging out the tunes April 13, 2006
39156247891
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 31/03/2026
I had the pleasure of playtesting Scrubbin Trubble's co-op with a friend. The way they've done cooperative turn-based action is *fascinating*: players move independently until they're in combat range with the same enemies. Then the game switches to an immaculately-telegraphed lockstep combat mode.
020
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Cottage in the Woods @cottageinwood.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Humans love the scent of rain (petrichor) because we have evolved to. Our noses are 200,000x more sensitive to the smell of raindrops touching the soil than sharks are to blood in the water... 🌧 🎨 Carlos Bracho
36618
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
neotl @ctrlcreep.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Magic can be counterintuitive. Summoning a white rabbit is trivial, the "hello world" of thaumaturgy. Summoning a black rabbit is unsolved
113430
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Micah @rincewind.run · 15/03/2026
friend, this is Marcus Junius Brutus CAESAR has declared himself DICTATOR FOR LIFE and MUST BE STOPPED can you rush a donation of ten denarii today to show that you STAND WITH THE REPUBLIC?
2882362529
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Lena Guerrero @lenagrrarrow.com · 13/03/2026
Our adventure will (optionally) include feeling the sand under our #GDCFeet, a labyrinth, and everyone’s favorite: a mysterious and ancient sea cave. Bring water, snacks, and sunscreen! There’s also an easy out midway at the Cliff House if you’d like to leave early or join late!
063
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Lena Guerrero @lenagrrarrow.com · 14/03/2026
three hours until we breath fresh ocean air and hear the chorus of water meeting ancient rock!
031
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 13/03/2026
@crayondev.ie I propose a conference for psychedelic trash animal game development.
120
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 13/03/2026
@bjarkeal.bsky.social earlier this year I encountered the choir ferry. bsky.app/profile/art....
010
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 13/03/2026
Starting to hear about folks coming down with COVID at #GDC. Remember, folks: it's not over and it can erase your brain for a year.
040
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Richard Lemarchand @rich-lem.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
🌲 It’s going to be sunny on Saturday, so join us for a walk along the beach and through the woods with #GDCFeet ! We’ll be hanging out with @art.imitates.life and @lenagrrarrow.com for a radically inclusive experiment in game design and community! All welcome! 💖 No liability assumed or implied by us
3137
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Lena Guerrero @lenagrrarrow.com · 12/03/2026
lets hike! a collective memory of GDC 2026, constructed by you 11am Saturday @ Powell Street Station #GDCFeet
1154
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 09/03/2026
Twelve months since the fire. I'm doing better. medium.com/@EvanBalster...
medium.com
Twelve Months since the fire.
I have been hiding from the world.
191
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Megan Fox @glassbottommeg.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
This is why I'm still annoyed people ain't on Mastodon Y'all gotta figure this shit out, I know it's thorny but the era of frictionless expansive internet is donezo, you gotta get back in a scrappy 90s mindset bsky is great, that's very FOR NOW(tm), dip your toes in other waters while it's easier
1222
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 06/03/2026
An attempt at articulating some complicated feelings about last year's fire, the support I received from colleagues in gamedev, and the slow process of unpacking grief in our new home. www.gofundme.com/manage/my-ho...
A photo of my bedroom nook, occupying a bay window at the tail end of a renovated RV.  The window is decorated with a botanical poster overlaid by an alchemical symbol.  This is flanked by plastic vines and a pair of lamps.  The decor is in shades of moss green, mimicking the colors of the pine forest beyond.
3131
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
saoirse @naceallabug.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
The biggest thing conspiracy theories get wrong is that they see a long line of cause and effect and think it's so perfect it had to be planned => we have to stop the planners When actually most of the steps are OPPORTUNISM towards negative goals, and the issue is the systems that enable the steps
2103
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 03/03/2026
Did a compact mug warmer write this?
An illustrated, brightly-colored page from an instruction booklet reads:

"The compact mug warmer is stylish and powerful. 
The 59 inch plug cord will fits on your desk perfectly."
100
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 02/03/2026
I'll be making tea at this little picnic.
020
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 28/02/2026
I heard stories of people who've fed crows, and been given gifts in return. It sounded charming, so I began doing that. Then, one night, there was a rapping on my bedroom window. I stumbled up and opened. A crow flew in and spoke: "They're coming for you. You must flee." I only just made it out.
111090341
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Peter Kirn @pkirn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
An enormous loss. Looking back in portraits, interviews (EN, FR), remembrances (including the essential writing of Louise Gray):
cdm.link
Éliane Radigue has died at 94; portraits - "the sound before sound" - CDM Create Digital Music
Who but Éliane Radigue could work with sound as a medium seemingly in the air and environment itself; whose presence spanned every epoch of electronic music and contemporary acoustic composition quite...
03011
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Ty 💀 @tys.work · 21/02/2026
come to my GDC talk this year schedule.gdconf.com/session/co-o...
schedule.gdconf.com
Co-Ops Are the Future: A Step-by-Step Guide to Founding Your Own Worker Cooperative Game Studio | Agenda | GDC Festival of Gaming
This session offers a practical guide to founding and running a worker cooperative game studio, with insights for both U.S. and international developers. Presenters will walk attendees through key ope...
0105
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
qntm @qntm.org · 14/01/2026
THERE IS NO ANTIMEMETICS DIVISION ebook is discounted to £1.99 for one day only, get in there 🐆
amazon.co.uk
There Is No Antimemetics Division: The thrilling new sci-fi horror novel, 'mind-bendingly brilliant' Guardian
There Is No Antimemetics Division: The thrilling new sci-fi horror novel, 'mind-bendingly brilliant' Guardian eBook : qntm: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
810946
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 12/01/2026
I went back and looked at TIGSource today. Why did we ever leave? It's still there, and will continue to be there until its reclusive Truck Number guy dies in a mountain unicycling accident.
360
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 30/12/2025
Waiting to depart the Des Moines airport w/ fellow gamedev @tedmartens.bsky.social, a very drunk Paulie Shore is drawing a lot of attention to himself despite wearing big sunglasses to lay low. We board first and as he walks by he stops to ask us "are you guys in a band?" bsky.app/profile/bolt...
120
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 19/12/2025
I still think about this game years later. Iconoclasts tells a rich and deeply unsettling story about people who, having already come of age, are done changing. Beneath the sparkling facade is a stern essay against the necessity of character development.
010
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 07/12/2025
The haunting melody of MV Puyallup charging into the December chill of Puget Sound at midnight. A music-loving custodian explained how fixture-holes in the railings catch the air like flutes. The guardrails act as resonators, reverberating through the windward hull. soundcloud.com/evan-balster...
soundcloud.com
Keening of the ferry MV Puyallup
The haunting melody of the ferry MV Puyallup, recorded at midnight last night as the chill air of Puget Sound blasted the railings. I met a crewman who shared my fascination with the sound... He des
020
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
👁️saac 👁️o @eyesack.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
I put up a recent track I'm fond of for bandcamp friday! another arcadia is a love letter to the deep desert: isaacschankler.bandcamp.com/track/anothe...
isaacschankler.bandcamp.com
another arcadia, by isaac io schankler
track by isaac io schankler
275
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Shane Liesegang, SJ @sjml.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
a tweet from Sept. 8, 2021, quoting Gene Park's tweet "oh no. the new york culture critics have only just now learned about "games as art" discourse and are tweeting"

OptimistPanda's (my) commentary is: "The year is 1997 and I’m reading basic intro “games as art” discourse.
The year is 2003 and I’m reading the identical discourse from different scholars who refuse to read prior work.
The year is 2015 and new scholars are having the exact same intro discourse.
The year is 2021 and"
093
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 05/11/2025
Illicit activities are commonly concealed behind legitimate businesses. Criminal mathematicians want an optimal cover — so they use the Pareto front.
010
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Andrew Doull @andrewdoull.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Roguelike Celebration (2025)
1339
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Maria J Pérez Cuervo @mjpcuervo.com · 22/10/2025
Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
Snickers bar and a metal whistle
10251961354
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 13/10/2025
Currently four weeks into my third and mildest-ever case of COVID. Being able to do 50% of my normal activities makes me feel like I'm recovering rapidly. But the next-day PEM penalty for attempting 60% is pretty harsh. Solidarity with all the long-haulers out there. I see you.
010
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Ryan McDiarmid @ryanmcdiarmid.com · 07/10/2025
This is why everyone should put up a monthly donation to @comradery.bsky.social.
111
Reposted by Evan Balster 🍂
Mr. Joshua @pantspants.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
102327256
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 02/10/2025
Fair Lady briefly became Final Girl. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEN2...
youtube.com
24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA
YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla
000
Evan Balster 🍂 @art.imitates.life · 01/10/2025
Spoke too soon. Somebody make a *Roguelike* inspired by the Sumud Flotilla.
012