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BlueSpruce

@bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy
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Social scientist, data scientist, cozy gamer, solarpunk, game dev. 40-something biracial woman, she/her. Solo developing Cave Oasis at Shylake, a hopeful futuristic […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mstdn.games/@bluespruce, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026
Sharing a quick look at the nonbinary character customization in my cozy sci-fi video game. There’s no gender specification, it’s a multi-species extraterrestrial community so everyone’s referred to as they/them. The player character has options for four body […] [Original post on mstdn.games]
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alxd of the Story Seed Library @alxd.writing.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026
The 150th illustration in the #storySeedLibrary comes from @the_lemonaut and represents something largely missing in the #solarpunk visual language so far: #openHardware collaboration, both engineering and scientific, on the example of the #openFlexure […] [Original post on writing.exchange]
International collaboration between engineers and scientists who work with the OpenFlexure microscope shown as a comic happening inside of the Open Hardware logo, a cog that opens slightly at the bottom to the shape of a keyhole. In each panel is a pair of people busy at their desks. One from each pair crosses the panel boundaries to pass a tool to the next person. Others are constructing their microscopes or doing research using them. A git flow diagram runs along the cog, nestling in its teeth. Behind the cog is a colorful mess of curling cables, overlapping tools, roots, and splashes of water, referencing what the included scientists are working on which involved the microscope.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026
And here’s the new trailer for the Early Access release date announcement! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OqJr7BfIxM #trailers #gaming #games #farmingsim #lifesim
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026
My game has a release date for Early Access! It’ll go live on Steam on October 28, exactly one month from today. Cave Oasis at Shylake is a gently weird, leftist, nerdy, hopeful, extraterrestrial spin on a cozy farming and small town life sim game. More info on the Steam page, including the […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Random thought for higher education researchers: I’d love to see someone make a ranking of schools and training programs based on what percentage of former students end up owning the products of their own labor (participating in worker-owned or hybrid co-ops, comfortably self-employed, etc […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026
I’ve been quiet the last few months, focused on getting my game to the near-complete stage for early access release. It’s very close now! The free demo on Steam has been updated with the latest changes: store.steampowered.com/app/3689220/… These include updated […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 07/07/2026
@sab I came on here looking for info about this too. It's really weirdly written, since it's just a call for donations (which I've also supported in the past). But the opening reads like it's going to be an explanation for something (and there have been some concerning things I'd like to see […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2026
@Quasit From a quick skim of your past book recs, I see your expansive tastes include murder mysteries? In which case you might enjoy A.E. Marling’s Solarpunk Mysteries, starting with Murder in the Tool Library. They’re all excellent, hopeful, compelling, fun. I see you also like a lot of […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 06/03/2026
Cave Oasis is one of the games featured in the Women's Day Sale right now on Steam! There are also a ton of other great cozy games by women-led studios, including Sally, Ritual of Raven, The Wandering Village, Loddlenaut, etc. My game's free demo […] [Original post on mstdn.games]
In the upper left is an embedded image that is the key art for the game Cave Oasis at Shylake. The game's logo appears at the top of the embedded image, and on the bottom left is a female character facing away from the camera, toward a town in the cave below, and a clear dome toward the upper left with solar panels and wind turbines outside. The surrounding background is the promotional art for a game event that this game is part of. On the right half, there's cartoon art showing a character standing in a puddle with rocks and an animal skill to the left. The character is facing away, doing something with her hands like casting a magic spell with light rays coming out. There's a sword behind her, and a large feminine face on the horizon beyond. In the lower left is the name of the event, "Women's Day Sale", and subtext "games by women-led studios", and across the bottom is the platform "Hosted on Steam," the event dates "March 6th to 15th", and the organizer "Organized by Wings".
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 06/03/2026
I just saw Becky Chambers' announcement for her new book and release date! It's called As You Wake, Break the Shell, coming in October: www.otherscribbles.com/news/2026/3/… The announcement says it'll be the first of two forthcoming books in a new setting […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 24/02/2026
It’s Day 2 of Steam Next Fest! And some lovely indie content creators have included my game (Cave Oasis at Shylake) in their recommended games for the fest! Take a look, they’re all fantastic roundups: - Maybe Sarisa: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFnrCv9IMgY - Cozy by Joshy […]
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Fully Automated! Solarpunk RPG @fullyautomatedrpg.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 13/02/2026
Happy Friday the 13th! Here's a gift: Our all new #solarpunk adventure is out now! Politically Reactive is a #ttrpg political thriller set in a post-capitalist future! Investigate a conspiracy amidst a turf war between #demsoc and #ancap leaders in the SF Bay! And as a post-capitalist product […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 06/02/2026
The Cave Oasis demo is now on itch.io! Downloads for Windows, Linux, and macOS. bluespruceinteractive.itch.io/cave-… (It's also on Steam, but I finally made a page on itch.io and uploaded the latest version of the demo there too. Maybe a little backwards but doing my best […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 04/02/2026
I just finished making a new trailer for my game: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG11aquS3CY This one shows more of the game’s main story, with dust storms on the surface of the moon threatening to block the town’s precious sunlight. That means we need to diversify the town's energy tech […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 31/01/2026
I’ve released a pretty big update to the demo for my #videogame Cave Oasis at Shylake! It adds main story events that now start from day 1, with dust storms starting to appear on the surface of the moon, that the player will need to help the little cave town prepare to withstand. This includes […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 12/01/2026
Blue Otter made a fantastic overview of the Cave Oasis demo, watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXJFv0kWQJw #indiegame #videogame #cozygame #streamer #letsplay #youtube
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 19/12/2025
A bunch of wonderful indie gaming streamers/content creators have made some lovely videos of the Cave Oasis demo. These are generally small creators, and they’ve been so supportive and offered tons of great feedback. I should have shared here sooner, please give their videos some love! […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 18/12/2025
LadiesGamers wrote up a lovely first impressions article about my game’s demo! ladiesgamers.com/cave-oasis-at-shyl… It's an indie + wholesome games site that I love, started by a couple of older women gamers. I don't think they're on Mastodon, but they're on BlueSky […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 08/12/2025
@TechArtisan Thanks so much for the great feedback! I love the reference to Bayanihan, I want to read more about that. Regarding multiplayer, that isn’t planned for this game, but I’m not ruling it out entirely down the road. There’s still a ton more to implement for the full game first. I’ll […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 07/12/2025
I’m completely off of Chrome now! I’ve been using the Vivaldi browser for a while and liking it, finally moved all of my profiles over. None of that agentic stuff for me thank you. An agentic OS or browser sounds like handing over my computer or use of the internet to some intern who’s really […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 06/12/2025
I just subscribed to COYOTE Media Collective, 15% off right now! I found them a month or so ago (from another toot :D). It’s a worker-owned media collective (!!) of 11 veteran journalists covering SF Bay Area (w/ strong emphasis on Oakland/East Bay). The site is an alt-weekly style pub of […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 03/12/2025
The free public demo for Cave Oasis at Shylake is now live! “So it’s like stardew but weird?” (from TikTok) Pretty much! Or as I like to put it, “eco-socialist alien Stardew”. Or, with a few more words, it’s a sustainable moon town farm/life sim, with […] [Original post on mstdn.games]
Screenshot from the game Cave Oasis at Shylake, showing the main character walking along a path through town under a large dome ahead at the top of the screen. On the right there's a snack shop with outdoor seating, and on the left there's a ramp to an outdoor elevator going to the lower level of the cave. A tree root bridge is visible ahead, along with other plants and buildings.The player character is shown walking between two rows of hydroponic planters in the game's greenhouse. On the right, the planters have fully or partially grown crops, including several planters full of corn. An icon appears above one of the planters, showing that the player can "Open Control Panel". On the left, the planters are freshly planted with seedlings, and several of them have glowy exclamation points hovering above, showing that they need nutrients.The player character is walking along a path down by the lake at the edge of town. Several extraterrestrial NPCs are visible ahead, and one is calling out "Hi Lou!" to great the player, with an icon indicating that the player can respond ("Say hi to Finnly"). There is a building on the right, with grasses and wildflowers at its base, more plants and buildings ahead, and the lake is on the left with a couple pillars of the boat dock just visible.The player character is approaching the bar in the town's lounge. An extraterrestrial NPC bartender is behind the bar, available to chat. Several other NPCs are sitting in chairs talking to each other. The lighting is low, since it's nighttime outside, there are boxy chandeliers hanging from above and a few extraterrestrial potted plants are visible. There is a shop tablet on the bar, and drinks visible behind the bartender.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 02/12/2025
More on system requirements: you won’t need a fancy gaming PC to play this game. It works reasonably well on: - my 2021 M1 Macbook Air, - my Mom’s circa 2021 non-gaming Dell Windows laptop with built-in Intel graphics, - my 256 GB LCD Steam Deck (there are occasional crashes just when loading […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 02/12/2025
I’ve made a Discord server for my game! discord.gg/TnGPeKHWhR Made it for demo players to chat, get help, share feedback, etc but also anyone remotely interested in the game and its broader themes. It’s brand new, hardly anyone there, come join us! The game is Cave Oasis at Shylake, a […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 24/11/2025
I just read this from Wired: "Activists Are Using Fortnite to Fight Back Against ICE" www.wired.com/story/activists-are-u… Focused on the New Save Collective, a group of kind, supportive activist gamers, who've been organizing events to teach […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2025
New #gamedev blog post about crafting and cooking in my game: bluespruceinteractive.com/blog/5-cr… The idea is that almost everything needs to be growable, harvestable, reusable, and compostable, to keep up a self-renewing cycle […] [Original post on mstdn.games]
The top half of the images shows 3D art for various baked goods. Left to right, there are three different colored loaves of bread, then three trios of muffins or cupcakes, then three trios of different colored cookies, then three slices of pie. The bottom half shows 3D art for a variety of craftable tables, some sharing the same design for top or legs, all in different colors.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2025
I just read The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente. It was rude, salty. Devastating. I couldn’t put it down.
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alxd of the Story Seed Library @alxd.writing.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2025
I have to tell you that I'm very happy seeing such a beautiful mix of recent art at the #storySeedLibrary - works of Taylor Seamount, Exhell, our Mastodon @NIGHTEN and Yuuna Maiko. You can see so many different facets of the #solarpunk movement and […] [Original post on writing.exchange]
A grid of the recent illustrations from 4 different artists from the Story Seed Library: Taylor Seamount, Evhell, Nighten, Yuuna Maiko. Different styles and subjects show different aspects of a better, sustainable future.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2025
There's an Investigative Journalism Game Jam! Hosted by Floodlight Games and Anima Interactive (Anima recently hosted the solarpunk game jam). You have to apply by tonight in order to participate, because it seems they'll be distributing a package of investigative reports to developers and some […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 27/07/2025
I wrote a blog post on the economy in my video game: bluespruceinteractive.com/blog/4-vi… It's long. There are a lot of moving parts, and I wanted to explain my interwoven reasoning for all of it. (Don’t we all.) But I think it’s now at least coherent. It explains a lot […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2025
@FullyAutomatedRPG Hey thanks, that's great to hear!
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 17/07/2025
@FullyAutomatedRPG @alxd Absolutely, Octavia Butler too! Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents made a big impression on me and I think many others, as well as the rest of her work.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 17/07/2025
@alxd (Btw, I read your review of KSR’s Ministry for the Future and I agree, but it felt like a deviation from his classic work. Like he was trying hard to write very near term for a broader audience, to convince people that change is possible but will require big radical solutions. So he […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 17/07/2025
@alxd @mgifford I very much agree with these, and I’d put Kim Stanley Robinson’s work up there too. The Mars Trilogy probably had the greatest impact on the development of my solarpunk thinking, along with Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Ruthanna Emrys’ A Half-Built Garden. (Even more than […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 10/07/2025
@fritzoids Woah yeah that is a very long time to wait for a sequel!
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 10/07/2025
Ugh, I should never read new series-starting books right after they come out. Now I have to wait however long it takes for the author to write another very good novel so I can read the sequel. The book is Jayán F.R.’s The Wind of Venus: The Aeoliad Part I (www.jayanfr.com/books). I had […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 28/06/2025
There are several interwoven conflicts that shape the story, but probably the most important one occurs within the main character. It involves a scientific development related to reincarnation, and I struggled to believe that part at first. But like all plot lines, it was a device to facilitate […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 28/06/2025
I just read @sarenaulibarri 's #solarpunk #novel Another Life. I really enjoyed it. Like the best solarpunk stories, it focuses on a close-knit, supportive community, one that is complex and subtly flawed, but deeply hopeful and inspiring. When the story begins, the community is well formed […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 05/06/2025
New #gamedev blog post about setting my eco-socialist alien Stardew-like game in a cave on a moon: bluespruceinteractive.com/blog/3-wh… If it seems like everything’s sky islands these days, this is kind of the inverse of that. I thought a cave setting would make a […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 04/06/2025
Oh wow, I just finished @susankayequinn 's Nothing is Promised series. It was good throughout, but it’s breathtaking at the end. The last book is powerful. And it made me appreciate more fully what she did with the whole series. It’s really one big, sweeping story, over four books (short novels […]
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alxd of the Story Seed Library @alxd.writing.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2025
Our #storySeedLibrary has just been updated with 12 more #solarpunk panels from none other than #CommandoJugendstil ! storyseedlibrary.org/authors/comman… A wonderful series on different aspects #sustainable #city in our #climate […] [Original post on writing.exchange]
A colorful illustration of a seaplane parked just next to a wooden structure with people waving to each other. The seaplane has solar panels on its wings.
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 22/05/2025
I wrote a blog post about my approach to game dev and the solarpunk influences behind the video game I’m developing. You can read it here: bluespruceinteractive.com/blog/1-so… It’s fairly broad, I needed to start somewhere. Essentially, I'm a social scientist […]
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 07/05/2025
Hey this looks cool! There’s a new print and play solo tabletop game for Citizen Sleeper, called Spindlejack, where you play a space courier trying to make your deliveries. Free on itch.io: jump-over-the-age.itch.io/citizen-s…
jump-over-the-age.itch.io
CITIZEN SLEEPER: SPINDLEJACK by JUMP OVER THE AGE
//A solo-TTRPG about zero-g bike couriers
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BlueSpruce @bluespruce.mstdn.games.ap.brid.gy · 07/05/2025
@disappearinjon Have you read Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries? They're amazing! Also most of them are novellas and they're fast reads. More action than Becky Chambers but just as much feel good, more dry wit than I think anyone else manages. Deeply human. You might also like Ann Leckie's […]
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