Reposted by Ben SchneiderFrog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026“The whole world is covered with buttons, and not one of them is mine!” 014413
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Series pitch: at the time traveler's academy, the final exam is a week-long timeloop. Follow the cast of students as they make their way through. Hotshot gets everything right, doesn't notice the loop. Disorganized kid finds all clues, can't assemble. Love triangle flipflops each loop, etc. etc. 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Happy Hobbit Day one and all. And remember: no admittance except on party business! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit_...en.wikipedia.orgHobbit Day - Wikipedia 020
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026A student sits in class, wearing a tricorn hat. Me: "l hope the rest of you remembered to bring your three-corner hats today." Multiple students, from around the room: "Oh, I've got one at home, actually." 040
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I've got some thoughts on the game Peak and narrative design. Yes, Peak. And yes, narrative design. I did in fact put those two things together in a sentence. Also the debut post of my new site, A Tattered Coat. Check it out! tatteredcoat.bearblog.dev/peak-an-open...tatteredcoat.bearblog.devPeak: An Open-Faced Story SandwichHow Peak has something teach us about narrative design 052
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Me: So busy rn just gotta head down and focus My brain: so remember that cult of the warehouse boardgame idea you head? Yeah, gonna obsess about that instead. 010
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Look, I understand that Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling are technically two distinct people with some small, discernible differences. But the question I think worth pondering is: how much value do we get out of maintaining their separate identities? Isn't it a bit... inefficient? 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Just for the record: in Disco Elysium the technical *story* is "an alcoholic cop solves a murder" but the narrative experience is in fact a fantastical assemblage of situations with varying degrees of direct and thematic relation to that plot. 041
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 27/08/2026This feels like an important (and not quite so doom-and-gloom) read about the state of gamedev: www.gamesindustry.biz/the-things-t...gamesindustry.biz"The things that we based our assumptions on have changed fundamentally": Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani on the games industry's rapid transformationThe executive says that long development times, the rise of Asian developers, and the advent of new tech like AI make predicting the future hard, but indies are 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026And what if your dreams jumped off a bridge? Would you still follow them, eh? 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 15/08/2026Location: GameLoop Swag: acquired Ready to unconference. 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026I am reading this article rebutting and article I didn't read about a movie I haven't seen yet. This is totally fine. aftermath.site/the-odyssey-...aftermath.siteI Am Here To Defend The Noble Action Movie From The Classicist Emily WilsonA stupid movie isn't always a bad one. 010
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Going through my old professional junk, and this article I wrote for Game Developer way back in 2007 is surprisingly topical. 010
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Anyone else ever find themselves humming "the tie of Bob Iger" to the tune of Eye of the Tiger? Or... is that just me? 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 06/07/2026I'm talking about this: bsky.app/profile/simu... 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Good -- well, relieving news: bsky.app/profile/jaso... 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Had an all-too-detailed dream about how I had created a text-based fumblecore narrative game last year. I definitely did not. Nor should I. 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I'm declaring my 2026 #NeoTwinyJam entry complete. Turns out the combinatory space was deep and I *could* keep on going, but it works, and I'm proud of both the concept and the implementation here. droctothorpe.itch.io/the-stolen-p...droctothorpe.itch.ioThe Stolen Page by DrOctothorpeA youth, crouching in an alley, from their threadbare coat pulls out a lustrous, half-torn vellum page… 140
Reposted by Ben Schneidersam @soulware.us · 25/06/2026you can get these 2 platformers for FIVE DOLLARS ($5) during the Steam Summer Sale! Many precise and puzzling challenges lie inside for the persistent platformer player... #steamsummersale #platformer #gaming #gamerlife store.steampowered.com/app/4260640/...store.steampowered.comSave 50% on The Bomb Split on SteamTwo mysterious, challenging platformers where you launch yourself with an infinite supply of bombs. 033
Reposted by Ben SchneiderFrogmageddon @frogmageudon.bsky.social · 26/06/2026It's Freaky Frog Friday! If you don't own Frogmageddon yet, where have you been? It's on sale for the summer RIGHT NOW! #steam #frog #frogarmy store.steampowered.com/app/3201190/...store.steampowered.comSave 20% on Frogmageddon on SteamBecome the horde in this survival game! Expand your army from a lone frog warrior to a 100+ army against the slithery snake onslaught! 034
Reposted by Ben SchneiderLantana Games @lantanagames.itch.io · 25/06/2026Mondrian - Plastic Reality is 90% in the Steam Summer Sale! Also Abstraction in Beauty is 80% off, so both games are just $1. Just what the Steam Summer Sale ordered! 134
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Okay but just so we're clear, the official terms, in order of size ascending, are: - speed bump - speed lump - speed hump - speed harrumph 000
Reposted by Ben SchneiderPaul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/05/2026The USGS is showing no quake activity in the area. Still waiting for confirmation, but if this is a meteoroid explosion, it likely came apart high in the atmosphere over Massachusetts. Then again, at a minimum of 11 kilometres per second even a relatively small space rock can make a loud bang. 26715
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 28/05/2026First, bravo to Unknown Worlds (past and present), the world has validated you. But also holy heck do not run your publishing business by ChatGPT! www.ign.com/articles/sub...ign.comSubnautica 2 Has Been Such a Massive Hit That Krafton Is Paying Out Up to $250 Million to Unknown Worlds' Former ShareholdersSubnautica 2 has sold so well that publisher Krafton has reportedly agreed to pay a $250 million earnout to the developers — a bonus that was at the heart of its high-profile legal dispute with the fi... 041
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 20/05/2026May Barney Frank's memory be a blessing and an inspiration. 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Somewhere there's someone named Carl Magnusen who's just terrible at chess. 010
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Me: Time to return to my gamedev project. I wonder where I left it? <opens door> <mass of writhing bugs within> Me: Ah, yes. <rolls up sleeves, marches in> 120
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Oh wow, happy 100th to David Attenborough www.npr.org/2026/05/08/n...npr.orgDavid Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthdayHe was born before the Great Depression, came of age in WWII, and is still making wildlife documentaries. Brits call David Attenborough a national hero, as he celebrates his 100th birthday. 033
Reposted by Ben SchneiderJake Wright @bcnjake.bsky.social · 07/05/2026There are two higher ed Bluskies right now: 201033141
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Every once in a while I take a moment to stop an remember that one time at Boston #Gameloop when we spent a full hour debating what was and wasn't a metroidvania... and walked away without a shared, conclusive definition. Truly, an hour well spent. 020
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 26/04/2026Need to level up my side-eye so the next time I walk in front of that lady slow-rolling her right turn into the TJs parking lot with her phone up in her hand and clearly half her attention on it, I can send her straight into a profound spiral of questioning life choices. 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 26/04/2026As funny as I'm sure the Onion's version of Info Wars is gonna be, part of me thinks what they really should do with it is subtly and gradually transform its old content into a well-researched conspiracy theory debunking site. 020
Reposted by Ben SchneiderGillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026It's IMGD Presentation Day! We have a full-day student conference of creative and technical research. Graduate students present in the morning, undergraduates in the afternoon. If you're interested you can tune online, and I'll be sharing project work here too. echo360.org/section/b7d6...echo360.orgEmail 1144
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026Congratulations to everyone who re-enacted Pheidippides' mission to request military aid from Sparta today by running through Boston. You have done credit to the memory of the first Greco-Persian war! 140
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 14/04/2026(I'd *started* 80 Days many times... but the ineluctably ticking clock had always scared me off. The stress of it vanished about halfway across Asia.) 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 14/04/2026Having read Around The World in 80 Days and now finally played 80 Days to its completion, I can confidently state that the game is the definitive superior edition of the text. Not least of all due to its featuring steampunk conveyances inexplicably omitted from the original. 100
Reposted by Ben SchneiderCharles Johnson @charles.littlegreenfootballs.com · 11/04/2026not now, orcas 610522
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 11/04/2026Welcome back to earth, friends. (Sorry, we haven’t cleaned things up much since you left.) 050
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 07/04/2026If we stand by while the president commits clearly-threatened war crimes, we will all be to some degree culpable as a nation. 010
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Don't put a LOT of faith in these things, but this is the list fwiw. I'm sure these are all great games programs. I'm sure ours is! www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...pcgamer.comThe best game design programs, ranked by The Princeton Review 2026No matter what aspect of game development you're interested in, The Princeton Review has worked to find the best school for you. 100
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 01/04/2026I've been fancy once or twice, I guess, but getting namedropped by a college rankings list? That's a first. 1102
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Did I spend way more of my morning than I should have inventing four different story concepts (as plot outlines) for a class activity tomorrow, because I could? Uh.... maybe? 000
Ben Schneider @droctothorpe.bsky.social · 27/03/2026Dammit. Reading The Martian made me start playing the new version of Surviving Mars. Goodbye, evenings. 120