iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Was true 16 years ago. Is still true. Games are, categorically, better when the people who play them are allowed to change them. gamedesignadvance.com?p=2180

gamedesignadvance.com

Make More Tennis Balls – Game Design Advance

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

oh wow, that new Zelda game looks ugly. I guess they're just letting DLSS art directed entire remakes now?

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The NYU Game Center has some pretty accomplished alumni at this point and when they come to give lectures I often asked if they could talk about the games that influenced them in their design practice, and every person that works in corporate game dev has said they are forbidden from discussing that

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

One of Hideo Kojima's real talents is that he would have exactly this idea but the stew would be dropped off by a drone that sings a little jingle which can alert enemies if they're in range. You then get a phone call from a nuclear scientist who warns you not to eat too much starch and dairy.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I have no idea how much video games are to blame for this (probably not much), but I continue to think a pernicious quality of games is not that they are violent but that they tend to simulate the past as involving far less random death than it actually did.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is a good joke but I genuinely once suggested to a student that you could think of pianos as a type of creature that had evolved to sound pretty so that humans would keep reproducing them.

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Cooper Lund @cooperlund.online · 11/08/2026

Ah, I see that people are discovering the DSA paradox: Local chapters can be very competent challengers to the Democratic Party but the national org has been largely captured by kooks, encouraging the independence of local chapters.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Current experience has made me start to think that Blippi is the Jordan Peterson of children's media. No matter how many times you tell YouTube you're *not interested* the algorithm refuses to believe you (and your child) and will keep putting it in your feed just in case you've changed your mind.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

It's probably a lot of idiotic and greedy management, but there is also a possibility that we got used to a level of quality in our entertainment products that is simply not sustainable in a more constrained financial environment.

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Bruno Dias @brunodias.dev · 21/07/2026

The main way in which AI has negatively impacted games industry jobs is not through actual automation of those jobs or even untrue claims about automation. It's by making capital unavailable because it's tied up in AI investments while also destroying the consumer base for video game hardware.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Having played around with AI coding tools for a while now, I will say my favorite thing is when you ask it to the review the code and it responds with something like "This code is well structured and documented." A real 'Obama putting a medal on Obama' moment.

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Marios Richards @mariosrichards.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbOG... Spent the first 10-20 minutes assuming this was obviously a spoof/mashup and that Kermit would appear and get his face melted off ... ... but actually it was me whose face was melted off. By timeshock (okay, this is only 2 years after The Prisoner - but still).

youtube.com

Jim Henson's Lost Masterpiece: THE CUBE (1969) Remastered 4K

YouTube video by Blackout's Box - Blackout / Michael Biggins

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

My conflicts of interest are off the charts on this one, but I agree that this is a really cool game that's just getting started and more people should check it out.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I'm VERY upset by the recent God of War announcement. These games have been an important part of my life as a gamer, and to see the franchise tarnished like this is really disappointing. Laufey's music doesn't fit with GoW and there are many more Icelandic singers that are more deserving of the atte

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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

when u tax the rich

4 panel comic

Panel 1:
An irate rich husband in a tuxedo is screaming at his rich wife, who is freaking out in a fancy dress.
Rich Husband: Darling, they’re TAXING US
Rich Wife: NO

Panel 2:
Rich Husband (looking disgusted): The bastards are TAXING US
Rich Wife (fists clenched, looking mad): NO

Panel 3:
The rich couple are now hugging and weeping.
Rich Husband: We’ll only have enough money to live in luxury for the rest of our lives
Rich Wife: Oh God

Panel 4:
Close up of Rich Husband, eyes huge, tears streaming. He whispers: Now I know how the slaves felt

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Rhythm games are slowly replacing mini-game collections as the genre where my students think they are way easier to develop than they actually are.

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Kaptajnen @kaptajnen.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I choose to believe this is how most 90s arcade race tracks were initially conceived #gaming #retrogaming #arcade

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Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

At Wizards, we learned from painful experience that the game designers in R&D could look at sketches and diagrams and evaluate a game proposal without it looking nice. Everyone from other departments needed the game proposal to look nice or else they'd get caught up critiquing the visuals.

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

“I have a responsibility… not to put garbage in the world. … If you start trying to figure out what it is that people want, you are doing what AI does. The idea of AI precedes AI itself…. It’s why they remake the same five movies every 10 years. It’s why they have a formula for what a movie is.”

theguardian.com

‘Hollywood has everything to do with the terrible state of the world’: Charlie Kaufman on AI, Eternal Sunshine and toothache

As his most commercial film, 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is re-released, the critically acclaimed director says he can’t get a movie off the ground now – but will never give in to th...

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NYU Game Center @nyugamecenter.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Announcing: NYU Game Center Lecture Series Presents Chris Plante Thurs. Apr. 23rd, 7pm RSVP: chrisplantelectureseries.eventbrite.com (also live streaming at twitch.tv/nyugamecenter) @plante.bsky.social will provide a guided tour through 50 years of games media! Poster by @vor-bokor.bsky.social

NYU Game Center Presents:
The Nine Lives of Games Journalism
Chris Plante, Founder of Post Games, former Editor-in-Chief at Polygon

7pm, April 23rd, 2026
Room 202, 370 Jay St.
Brooklyn, NY

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I think this is not too far from the setting of Rain World

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Look, I've never been in the military, nor am I a military historian, but when you attack another country for several weeks, accomplish nothing, and then "decide" to leave, I believe that is traditionally classified as a 'defeat' in the official records.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Looks like Hot Streak is the second @cmyk.games release where I'm going to have to buy a second copy because my daughter fell in love with the pieces

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I really understand the sentiment of posts like these, but it feels like the people who cheer it on have a heavy overlap with people that decry the huge amount of layoffs in the game industry recently, and those two positions seem incompatible to me.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

The way arts education should happen is that on the first day, when students meet their professor, the professor should just say: "Go. When you can explain to me why the CG in Matrix: Revolutions looks outdated and the CG in Kung Fu Hustle is still perfect you can return, and our work will begin."

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Death Stranding 3 - A Game by Hideo Kojima

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Couldn't agree with this sentiment more! All these games are worth playing, but I'll give a shoutout to Tower of Druaga, which is a very fun and weird arcade game. Always great to play video games from before everyone started to think they'd figured out how to make video games.

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Alex Blechman @alexblechman.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Video games often have floating platforms, but they don’t explain why the platforms are floating. That’s where game writers come in, to say that platforms are kept aloft by “ghostium” an invisible fog created by the souls of every dead person

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

The thing that no one is thinking through is that if AI is conscious then it is plagiarism to have it write your midterm paper. And also, all these companies are going to owe it a lot of back pay. Engineers aren't cheap!

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

I do not have the necessary expertise to make this claim, but I have had a strong feeling over the last dozen or so years that the visual language of figure skating has been slowly transitioning from ballroom dance and musicals to Final Fantasy and anime. The feeling just got a lot stronger...

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I saw a video titled "The History of SegWit and Taproot with Peter Wuille", posted by someone called Isabel Foxen Duke, and thought "This is either about a UK children's book author I've never heard of, or some Silicon Valley thing." Turns out it's about BitCoin

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Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美 @halfrobot.com · 11/02/2026

The NYU Game Center's hiring! A senior, tenure-track professor post for an experienced game designer, artist or industry pro with a notable body of creative work. Experience finishing games and mentoring/teaching more important than any kind of academic credential! gamecenter.nyu.edu/were-hiring-...

gamecenter.nyu.edu

We're Hiring! Join the NYU Game Center Faculty as an Associate Professor! - NYU | Game Center

Description Associate or Full tenure professor position for the NYU Game Center New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Position Overview The NYU Game Center is seeking applicants to join its fa...

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Hey @jessefuchs.bsky.social, remember when we had an exercise in Intermediate Game Design where students had to re-balance a deck of Magic cards?

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I think about this little cutscene constantly. Hard to find a more elegant sequence of pixel animation

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Those of us old enough to remember Second Life can tell you that money people and mainstream journalists have always thought the most interesting thing about video games is 3D virtual worlds, and that the rest of it is just sophomoric nonsense.

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Marie Foulston @tigershungry.co.uk · 02/02/2026

<whimsical reminiscing soundtrack plays> In memorandum of my 4 beautiful years curaring @nyugamecenter.bsky.social's annual No Quarter exhibition I've pulled together an archive of each of the 4 cohorts & the 16 weird & wonderful works they brought into the world www.goodafternoon.uk/four-quarters

goodafternoon.uk

Four Quarters. — Good Afternoon

NYU's No Quarter Exhibition and commissioning series 2022 - 2025

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Not to pick on this post, since I have observed this slow transition in student papers for several years now, but I am still sad that the term 'roguelike' has now devolved into denoting little more than a video game where you restart from the beginning. www.theverge.com/entertainmen...

theverge.com

All You Need Is Kill is a dazzling movie with the soul of a video game

The new All You Need Is Kill is for the roguelike lovers.

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mausimus.bsky.social @mausimus.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Introducing ShaderBeam - ShaderGlass' sister app focusing on applying @blurbusters.com CRT Beam Simulation technology to Windows desktop. Re-experience the motion clarity of CRTs on a modern high-refresh display. Free and open source. github.com/mausimus/Sha...

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Jordan Magnuson @jordanmagnuson.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I'm excited to share that Game Poems Issue 1 is now live at www.gamepoems.com/issue01 A new online literary magazine dedicated to exploring the artistic and poetic potential of short-form videogames by publishing new games directly in a playable format. Thanks for playing and sharing!

gamepoems.com

Game Poems #1

An online literary magazine publishing short-form videogames directly in a playable format. Issue #1 features interactive works by international artists and game designers.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

My first 'the kids are not alright' moment was when I saw a video essay on West Side Story called something like "Exploring an Underrated Masterpiece". Look, say what you will about West Side Story, but it has been and continues to be very accurately rated.

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

According to the ongoing stack ranking I keep every year, these were the best games I played in 2025: 1. Unicorn Overlord 2. Flamme Rouge 3. Chaos Zero Nightmare 4. Foundation 5. Hollow Knight: Silksong 6. Baby Steps 7. Innis 8. Death Stranding 2 9. Ghost of Yotei 10. Horizon: Zero Dawn

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Ashley Carter @ashleycarter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Happy birthday to legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, who turns 100 today!

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Just got done arguing to some students visiting the NYU Game Center that single-player, story driven games will not, as a specific form of game be important, or maybe even around, by the end of the century and, hmm: kotaku.com/netflix-warn...

kotaku.com

Netflix Considers Warner Bros. Games To Be Worthless

The entire gaming division behind Hogwarts Legacy and the Arkham franchise wasn't even factored into the price of Netflix's bid

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My Password is Louvre @bmceuen.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Once again, one of the most consistently replicated findings in the history of experiments is that giving people cash with zero strings attached has massive social benefits for those receiving the cash as well as the community around them

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charlesjpratt @charlesjpratt.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

What has mostly been forgotten is how much AAA games were becoming theme park rides before Dark Souls took the industry in a whole different direction. In 2006 I beat Gears of War, which popularized the cover shooter as a sub-genre, on the hardest difficulty setting *without taking cover*.

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Dave Chisholm @davechisholmcomics.com · 06/11/2025

Remember, artists: when people say, “I’d buy a print of this,” they don’t mean it. That sentence itself is just a weird compliment that rarely converts to an actual print sale. It’s like if someone ate a very good hot dog and then said, “I could eat 10,000 of these right now.”

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