iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Sell sheet prototype photos are taken! This was a cell phone shot but i have a bunch on the DSLR to edit and insert. #boardgame #design

An array of cards, markers, a 6 sided die, a 1 minute sand timer, notepad, and pencil showing an early, polished prototype of the board game Platformer.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It printed a bit darker than I'd like but that's trial and error. The fact is I learned enough about how to use Aseprite that I can viably use it to quickly develop resources for this game.

A printed out level from the upcoming board game Platformer.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

PLATFORMER TO-DO LIST 1) Finish translating MIDI selections into actual maps 2) Sort out which obstacles get which seeing 3) Learn Aseprite to create the art 4) Apply the art to the cards. 5) Have 4 cards as examples 6) Create power up card examples 7) Create a sell sheet to advertise it.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I am feeling fucking wrecked, y'all, and in the best way possible. I saw @thedreameaters.bsky.social last night and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. I laughed, I cried, I danced my ass off! I maintain that Tongue is on par with Don't You Want Me. youtu.be/tKdR_DpTC3Q?... Go see them!

Jake from The Dream Eaters adjusting his guitar pedals

The Dream Eaters (And Steve) at the end of the show

Me with The Dream Eaters, holding one of Steve's drumsticks!

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

When drawing obstacles for Platformer, it really reminded me of MIDI piano roll files. So I sat at my keyboard last night, played, then printed the file and made this little frame to build levels that way. The 27 minute rambling audio is up for paid Patreon members www.patreon.com/thedisintegr...

A purple frame over printed out midi piano roll

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

We have a few consoles and a fair amount of physical media. So to keep track of what's in what systems, I designed and printed this multi-case stand. The only downside is steelbooks don't fit. If we decide to get PS1 games, multi disc cases won't fit either but that's a problem for later :)

A photo of a rainbow colored, oddly shaped, disc case holder

The cases holder at work from a corner view, showing the cases of Final Fantasy 13 (ps3), We ❤️Katamari (Ps2), Metaphor Re:Fantazio (Ps5), and Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

The cases holder at work from a side view, showing the cases of Final Fantasy 13 (ps3), We ❤️Katamari (Ps2), Metaphor Re:Fantazio (Ps5), and Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

The cases holder at work from a front view, showing the cases of Final Fantasy 13 (ps3), We ❤️Katamari (Ps2), Metaphor Re:Fantazio (Ps5), and Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

If you wonder what I folded my graphic design practice back in February, it had nothing to do with bullshit technology, and everything to do with looming international economic instability. 95% of my clients were American. I'd be fucked six ways from Sunday.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Another week, another trade communication breakdown between Canada and the USA. This volatility is why i folded my freelance graphic design practice. Ninety percent of my clients were American and the constant dangling of a trade embargo has made everything too uncertain.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

We were looking for a way to store and sort our SNES and GB games. At some point, I suggested a wall mounted shelf or box from Ikea. We had a few different options at the store but Skogsmosaic won out. I printed and pasted Chrono trigger art on the back and 3d printed cartridge holders.

An ikea shelf with 2 studied boxes with Chrono trigger artwork pasted to the back

An Ikea shelf with 2 smaller boxes and Chrono trigger art pasted to the back. The smallest box has a 3d printed game boy cartridge holder. The other box has a SNES Game Genie. And there's a row of SNES games in a 3d printed cartridge holder along the bottom.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I finished my first large scale 3d printing project this morning! Go me! I got the files here: www.printables.com/model/970400...

A stacked light blue and light green 3d printed shelf with bucket trays

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I cleaned up the map in Affinity and printed a cute little guy from www.printables.com/model/825253...

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Platformer quick prototype play test. It needs refinement, of course. Considering this is a general scribble of an obstacle, but it's nice that the general idea works! Also the caffeine has yet to work.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I just wrote the outline, roadmap, whatever for the AEGIS 2.0 book. Well, books. The original game book took 8 months of concentrated time during school. The sex shop book took me a year and a half between the idea and publishing. This is very much the long game while I do other stuff.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Nobody told me that 3d modeling on my phone is a special kind of Hell. After much consternation, and dealing with 3 different apps that suck in their own special ways, I managed to print out a card tray, solving a logistical/game information problem I had with this game idea.

A screenshot of a 3d modeled card holder tray

The card holder tray holding a card with a picture of grasses and trees, the word Grasslands on the top right and the words"Enemy Ratings" on the bottom left over 8 boxes with different amounts of stars on them

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

What about the other games? Thralls is still slow in production until I have a clearer idea to differentiate it from its inspirations. AEGIS, I feel like I've been in the weeds, character creation wise. I'm pretty close to finishing that part, setting the rules and writing the text for it.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I know it's been a long while since I've posted in general, but especially about game stuff, but! BUT!! Seeing What Sticks, the party game I started with creating will be released on Patreon for paid members! Want in? Join up here! www.patreon.com/thedisintegr...

patreon.com

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Testing the rough looking mess of a catch and develop bag with some black and white film. I also got a 52mm lens adapter for the Polaroid which is now on there but good! I added a UV filter and have a couple of other filters to play with :)

A Polaroid photo of the sign for Bar Le Stud

A black and white Polaroid of a highway overpass

A black and white photo of the mural sign for Bar Taboo

A black and white Polaroid of a sculpture behind Papineau metro station

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

I'm not going to share the link but a website platformed Jeffrey Epstein associate, misogynist, and transphobe Richard Dawkins and his growing AI delusions. The site is called "Unherd," which is a snappier name than "Libertarian Pissbabies."

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Here we go again. To test things, I need to create characters. To create characters, I need to give them abilities. To give them abilities, I need to come up with a system to do so. Multiple spreadsheets later, I can make characters to test the ability and battle mechanics.

Character sheet for a TTRPG with a large circle with 24 pieces

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Photography hot take: Good lordt, fuck expired film and fuck romanticizing it. I had to process the shit out of these scans before I got anything other than teal blobs. They look like third generation photocopies now, even after significantly reducing the ISO on the camera.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

On the one hand, this feels like busywork. On the other, it's going to be a lot easier for me to sort rather than going back and forth on a PDF. Consolidation is key here between small heals, scanning enemies, item fabrication/repair, etc.

12 piles of cut up paper under the readings Bard, Blaster, Brawler, Engineer, Fighter, Healer, Ninja, Protector, Ranger, Rogue, Tamer, and Wizard

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I'm going back to the old book to look at the abilities so i can run some battle tests between casters and tanks. Casters include dark, light, and red mages, bards, chemists, anything that avoids physical melee. It needs some serious retooling before i test it. Maybe i should print the old book out.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I'm going to put longer updates for game design and photography stuff over on bigdumbanimal.ca like I just did :)

bigdumbanimal.ca

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Game Design, Music, & Photography

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

In the original book, I spent the majority of tone coming up with classes and 2 skill paths per class. It was a lot of work and a lot of icons. Here's part of the Animal Tamer set. I was absolutely getting lost in the weeds here. 🪡

A page of Game Boy style icons describing abilities and cost

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Duel20 rolls are necessarily going to have different rules for different roles. Ranged rolls have a higher threshold needed to connect and a lower weapon strength, but to balance it out they have both the distance and a lower threshold for special abilities than melee players.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

When I wrote the original AEGIS book, it was too broad and I didn't think to really playtest it. I was approaching it like a graphic designer, not quite understanding the mechanics at play. I'm currently testing and streamlining what I call the Duel20 system, a series of head to head dice rolls.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

In 2018, I developed a basic TTRPG ruleset that, at the time, seemed awesome. It was my Bachelor of Design thesis project. The problem is it was so open ended that it wasn't really useful. After I finish the sex shop book, while Seeing What Sticks and Thralls are in testing, I'll get back to it.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Playtesting a 4 player version of Thralls while the store is empty. The added dimensions made strategizing more of a challenge that would probably be a lot of fun. It also meant separating the hands into 2-element decks. Final scores were 12-10-9-5. I won!

A lot of cards with numbers laid out on paper

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I don't know how you're spending your ice storm eve, but I made a very, very limited prototype of Thralls to try playing just for the mechanics. One game against myself took about 25 minutes, and sadly, I lost.

Cards with different numbers on a cutting mat facing in different directions, one has a green arrow on it instead

Cards with different numbers on a cutting mat facing in different directions. Fingers are pointing at the cards.

Cards with different numbers on a cutting mat facing in different directions. The board is full.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Proof of living at a neat neighborhood bakery and cafe while I do laundry. Last night, i started moving the cards into Tabletop Creator Pro, editing some of the clunky ones. I really need to spend more time learning this program, especially when I start the card creation phase of Thralls.

A middle aged man in glasses sitting with a coffee

A grid of blue cards that say "Seeing What Sticks" in Tabletop Creator Pro because someone didn't feel like taking a screenshot.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Aaand playtest postponed. At least i managed to play a game earlier and it shows I'm on the right track with this one.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Update: Work is dead so I just did a playtest of the game with my coworker and it was a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to tonight more now :)

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It's playtest day!! I really wish I were more excited but I'm exhausted, at work, and in pain after falling up some concrete stairs in the subway station on Friday. Weh!

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Looking at the RNG results of my cards this morning, I came to the conclusion that it would be way too easy for players to construct OP decks based on the even distribution of low, medium, avec high start cards. Yes this should be obvious. This is my first time making something like this.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Filling up a spreadsheet with random integers for card values and then printing it so the numbers stop frigging jumping every time i do anything in it... I am a very smart idiot, I promise.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Before i even had my first playtest,I realized a point of confusion in the game. There was no way to tell what kind of sex toy players would be making. This has been addressed and fixed by using dice and updating the rule card. I really want to play this with people!!

A prototype tabletop adult party game called Seeing What Sticks. There is a pad with paper designed for the game, a blue card box with "Seeing What Sticks" taped to the top, a blue 6 sided die, and a pack of pencils. These are standing on a small black canvas bag.

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Reposted by Big Dumb Animal

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 20/02/2026

The rules are pretty simple, Trump can do whatever he wants to minorities, immigrants, his political enemies etc. but he can't fuck with the money.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Ultimately, I'd love the game to be packaged with whiteboards for players but for prototype purposes, that's not economically viable. So I whipped up a notepad in Affinity cut and glued it. I'll have to do a couple more coats of glue later but for now I'm happy with this!

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

199 game cards and 1 rules card that didn't print well. A lot of slow cutting showing why it was never my strong suit but at least I didn't need stitches this time. All of the cards slipped into sleeves and stuffed into a box fit to burst. I'd call this toy Audience Participation.

A boxed prototype of a party game called Seeing What Sticks with the rules card and "Laugh track," "Built in ring light," and "Multiple Patterns" cards fanned out next to the box.

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

One piece of advice I've taken from my studies in game design is prototype early and often. Watching a video on preparing prototypes, a lot of it followed what I did for deliverables in school and keeping it simple. I never thought I'd have to invest in mount board again.

A sheet divided into 9 card shaped rectangles

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I spent a couple of hours reading last night, both the Board Game Designer's Guide and Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design. This brought to mind things that made me not want to play board games: skipped turns, player disadvantages, alpha players, and overestimation. 🪡

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Hey so I'm probably going to put all of my game design stuff here. At the beginning of the month, I ostensibly ended my graphic design business, such as it was, and decided to pivot into tabletop game design. I have a few ideas, some simple, some very conceptual, and I'm doing a lot of studying.

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Reposted by Big Dumb Animal

Friendly Sex Shop Worker @friendlysexshopman.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Hey y'all! Since it's the week leading up to Valentine's Day, I'm gonna give you a good buyer's guide to help you pick out what to get your significant other! 🪡 1) Gift card/certificate. Autonomy is sexy and shows you care about their needs. Get it in advance and make a date shopping together!

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

The world is teetering on the brink due to a demented toddler. I want to create things that bring joy and conscious consideration to everyone that encounters them. I don't think graphic design alone is going to do this. It's a part of it, and a necessary pivot. While I'm working on the FSSW book,

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Big Dumb Animal @bigdumbanimal.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I know I say this every time it comes up but when my CC subscription ends next month, that's it. The only thing I'll continue paying is the smartphone apps/portfolio/fonts tier. This means spending more time in Affinity. This also means no more pixel art the way I've done it historically.

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