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Francois van Niekerk

@francoisvn.bsky.social
677 followers 264 following 135 posts

Studio Director at @clockworkacorn.com • he/him • leafcloud.com • Cape Town, South Africa

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Francois van Niekerk @francoisvn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Might drop a demo this week... Who's keen? ⚔️🐦
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026
The before and after it's even more haunting.
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Orta Therox @orta.io · 28/09/2026
Welcome back to the week, for folks who might have missed it. I've been working on allowing 3rd party games on @puzzmo.com this year and we're opening the doors just an inch to test the waters for this week bsky.app/profile/stfj...
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A rich person can never be held accountable. Therefore, a rich person must never make a societal decision
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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 25/09/2026
📣 We're trying something new over here in Puzzmo land — community games. We still have plenty of our own games coming, but if you've got a game you think would be a fit for Puzzmo, reach out! More info & the submission form here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Submissions run through October 2.
docs.google.com
Submit A Game To Puzzmo
We're thinking about having a handful of games from members of our community appear on Puzzmo later this year. We’re always working towards Puzzmo being the place for thoughtful puzzles, so this proje...
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Devolver Digital @devolverdigital.com · 23/09/2026
STICK IT TO THE STICKMAN HAS HIT VERSION 1.0! 🧠 new Neurolink game mode 💸 new Billionaire Bunker game mode 💥 new quests and an actual ending Get it now for 50% off on Steam and start climbing the corporate ladder!
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zep.p8 @lexaloffle.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#pico8 now has the most officially published cartridges of any console in history. Well done everyone.
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Dan Whitehead @danwhitehead.net · 22/09/2026
Nothing will ever be enough for these people.
Microsoft gross profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2026 was $60.482B, a 15.36% increase year-over-year.
Microsoft gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2026 was $225.465B, a 16.28% increase year-over-year.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2026 was $225.465B, a 16.28% increase from 2025.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2025 was $193.893B, a 13.38% increase from 2024.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2024 was $171.008B, a 17.09% increase from 2023.
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Zi @majormcdoom.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
YESSSS!! Took a couple days, but I now have one motor function that can lets penguins hit any point on anything with any point on any other thing. Probably one of the most versatile motor tasks I've made. SO happy with this! 🐧🐟🔨🙏🧊🚿🪵 #GodotEngine #gamedev #indiedev
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Cozy Lives @cozylivesgames.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In Dressmaker, you can choose fabrics, cut patterns, sew garments, and add detailed trims with complete creative freedom. Fulfill custom orders for the townsfolk or make your own off-the-rack designs. Out now on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/4019220/... #CozyGames #IndieGame #Gaming #Steam
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Justin Jest @justinjest.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Jake Birkett - Veteran Indie @greyalien.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
DLC ANNOUNCEMENT! Just when you thought the card-flipping horrors were over... new secrets are unearthed. Introducing a brand new story-driven DLC, Forbidden Solitaire: The Discarded! Please wishlist and share: store.steampowered.com/app/5238350/... New levels, enemies, jokers, sigils + more!
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Aysha U. Farah @ayshaufarah.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This is a piece of advice I always give when I consult: you need someone to have final say. Even in a co-op, even in a group of peers. There needs to be someone who can say “okay, we are implementing this” someone has to take on responsibility for the decisions
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Loot Donkey @lootdonkey.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It's official, we are launching into early access on November 16th ! Demo out now. youtu.be/p6J9jvnvDmU
youtu.be
Fool King launch date reveal trailer - PC Gaming Show 2026
YouTube video by PC Gamer
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CloverLeaf🍀✨ @clovereatscookies.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I drew the bird @clockworkacorn.com #upu #feather’sedge (Sketch)
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Draculosity Jones: Ghost Skeleton @brainmage.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Genuinely - *genuinely* - thought this was a @theonion.com headline. Holy shit.
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Feather’s Edge by Clockwork Acorn @clockworkacorn.com · 19/09/2026
If you write about or review games, stream or create content, we’d love for you to sign up for our Press & Content Creator list! Get notified about our latest games like Feather's Edge, press releases and kits, redeemable game keys, and more Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
Clockwork Acorn: Press & Content Creator List
Hello! We’re Clockwork Acorn, an indie development studio based in South Africa. If you write about or review games, stream or create content, then sign up on this form to get added to our press list....
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404 Media @404media.co · 17/09/2026
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
404media.co
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
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jazz mickle @queenjazz.gay · 18/09/2026
oh you're targeting windows and linux? thats so cute. im hitting every custom handheld ever made. i'm hitting gamecube. im hitting the fucking dragonbox pyra
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Dom2D 💜 @dom2d.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I hope you find a cute chill moment for yourself today! Let yourself enjoy something small, silly, or inspiring!
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
rip annie dillard
One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
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Jon Perry @perryjon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🎉 Party House: The Deckbuilding Game is available for preorder now! 🚶‍♀️Follow the link below to learn more and back the Kickstarter. www.kickstarter.com/projects/bit... ✨ While you're there, you also have the option to preorder a board game adaptation of fantastic videogame Baba is You!
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A.J. Wilden🏳️‍⚧️ @wcwit.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"They're not misunderstanding the film; they're co-opting a message"
Screencap from the interview linked in the quoted post

Marlow Stern (the interviewer):  You have one of the most renowned replies in Twitter history. Elon Musk tweeted out, “Take the red pill,” then Ivanka Trump enthusiastically wrote, “Taken!” to him, and then you replied, “Fuck both of you.” I’m curious how you feel about the co-opting of “The Matrix” by those on the right who don’t really seem to understand its messaging.

Lilly Wachowski: I mean, I can’t sit in a room and explain the movie to every single person who watches it. Even if I did sit in a room with Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump — yikes — it doesn’t matter. They’re not misunderstanding the film; they’re co-opting a message. And that’s what fascists do: They co-opt the messages of progressives and use it to their benefit to confuse and obfuscate what is going on and the intention of their ideology. They do it with everything. They do it with Martin Luther King Jr. Look at how they’ve changed the idea of what antisemitism is.
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Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 11/09/2026
Continuing to quietly beat the drum of "Designing without testing is like painting with your eyes shut."
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NamaTakahashi @namataka.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I used to think working on a game for years must be incredibly hard, but once you’ve spent a few months on it, that “I’ve already come this far…” feeling starts piling up, and somehow quitting just stops feeling like an option.
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Feather’s Edge by Clockwork Acorn @clockworkacorn.com · 11/09/2026
We will be closing sign ups soon, so if you'd like to become a Feather's Edge playtester, please sign up today on our store page: store.steampowered.com/app/3804760/Feathers_Edge
store.steampowered.com
Feather's Edge on Steam
Dash and slash through an innovative kinetic metroidvania. The Tower of Time awaits – a rich, handcrafted world fractured by the collapse of time. Slice through foes in tough-as-talons bite-sized batt...
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Feather’s Edge by Clockwork Acorn @clockworkacorn.com · 11/09/2026
Playtests have officially begun! 🐦⚔️ We'll be rolling out the playtest invitations in batches. If you requested playtest access, keep an eye on your emails or on our store page for an invite! For more info, check out our Announcement: store.steampowered.com/news/app/3804760/…/680761125088788890
store.steampowered.com
Feather's Edge - Steam News Hub
Updates, events, and news from the developers of Feather's Edge.
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J. L. Westover @mrlovenstein.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Secret Panel HERE 🧠 patreon.com/mrlovenstein/posts/mind-body-84972760
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Draknek & Friends @draknek.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's been 6 years since we released A Monster's Expedition!🎉 🎉 If you haven't played our relaxing open-world puzzle adventure, now is a great time! A Monster's Expedition is part of our publisher sale, on now until September 16th. store.steampowered.com/publisher/dr...
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Devolver Digital @devolverdigital.com · 10/09/2026
Shroom and Gloom is out in Steam Early Access! The double-deck building roguelite with fungal foes to battle and cook is unlike anything you've played before. It's a trip. 🍄
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Team Lazerbeam @teamlazerbeam.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Our game's launched into Early Access! Shroom and Gloom is a first-person fungal punk roguelike double deckbuilder! 🍄 Enter a hand drawn world of mushies & madness! 🐸 Build 2 decks, 1 to explore, 1 for combat! ⚔️ every attack can be infinitely upgraded! 🥘 every enemy is edible! Yay! #indiegames
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Xero now with 100% more 🎃 @artificer-ind.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Still patiently waiting to be "left behind" by AI rather than it chasing me across every damn space like a slasher in a low budget flick.
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Douglas Wilson @doougle.net · 09/09/2026
In prep for our Imbroglio episode on TSLOG, I spent a while re-reading all of @smestorp.bsky.social's old blog posts. Legit some of the best, most useful writing ever done about making videogames. Check out this nugget from May 2016, sooo good mightyvision.blogspot.com/2016/05/imbr...
"tools:
- steal ideas from another game and try to fix them
- always make the grid smaller
- save up weird ideas until they naturally fit somewhere
- write down all different ideas and then fit them all into a consistent structure
- simplify the design to avoid work you don't want to do
- abandon your original idea, it was just scaffolding"
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Kenney @kenney.nl · 08/09/2026
With today's Tiny Factory release the Tiny-series has 840+ sprites/tiles and they're all free. Combine them together to create a ton of different games! kenney.nl/assets/serie...
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Loot Donkey @lootdonkey.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Fool King’s Steam demo is now available! Grab your swords & best battle tactics to claim your title as the one & only Fool King. Can you defeat all your rivals in this asynchronous PvP auto-battler? Steam page - store.steampowered.com/app/4380860/...
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adamatomic @adamatomic.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
constraints CAN breed creativity, sort of, but i hate this way of phrasing it, because constraints can also hobble you - dogma can make you miserable and incapable of creating things what we really mean is that SOME constraints function as PROMPTS, specifically in the pre-hell-world sense
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BOGLUDDITE @brucemackay.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Somebody please buy my screenplay about a racist ghost haunting a first-time home owner’s roof. Working title: Problem Attic.
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Michael Brough @smestorp.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
barrier to entry for making videogame was once Very High,, we would spend entire weekend figuring out how to use Rpgmaker thankfully now for low price of PLANET NOT INHABITABLE you can instruct mr computer to copy someone’s code from github and put your name on it and He will tell you did a good job
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Francois van Niekerk @francoisvn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If I'm setting up a build server, is Jenkins still the goat? Is it TeamCity these days? Something else? I'm more familiar with Jenkins and our needs are pretty low, but open to other options
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Leena 🌵 @leena.reuben.games · 07/09/2026
if people were genuinely interested in preparing children for an “inevitable future” they’d be stopping global warming and solidifying concrete pathways to homeownership, not teaching kids how to play with Claude The Guessing Toy
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Hannah Flynn 🐀 @itshannahflynn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I often compare games to tins of beans. Only you know that the beans in the can are so delicious. You have to explain 1) that it's beans and 2) why these beans!! DO NOT be mysterious. DO NOT presume people will figure it out. Very few people will care enough.
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Linnea Sterte @decassette.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
defeated war god
a weird organic mech laying on a concrete floor with wires coming out of it, some people standing around looking at it
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Douglas Wilson @doougle.net · 06/09/2026
“There's an ineffable aspect to my favorite pieces of software where I don't think of it is as feature matrix but rather as an interface made by a human for humans that's a joy to use. And when you build software with AI, it leads to worse software.” brettcodes.com/im-done-usin...
brettcodes.com
I'm done using AI
Why I'm stopping using AI for coding (and anything else) after using it earnestly for a year and coming to understand the harms it causes on personal, societal, and environmental levels.
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Francois van Niekerk @francoisvn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Had a mentor session this week and it was really fun showing my mentee how far we got with "bad" code (and also some good ™️ code). Like p tightly coupled singletons, with many LOC, that still gets the job done. Although even within something like that, using good methodologies to avoid issues 🙌
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David H @nachimir.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Just over a week to get your Leftfield submissions in for MCM London this October. Deadline is September the 11th: airtable.com/appIQDFmYU3o...
airtable.com
Airtable | Everyone's app platform
Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.
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Scott Anderson @impossible.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
I did some very rough calculations using the latest @gamediscoverco.bsky.social data set. Valve's lifetime revenue, since Steam launch, is roughly $100B. If Valve made $0 from every game that made $100K or less they would "lose" $0.5B, the cost of 1 mega yacht. At $1M that number is about $2B
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Draknek & Friends @draknek.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
He Who Watches by Danga Games is OUT NOW! 👁️🏹 To celebrate the release, we have a brand new trailer featuring solo developer Bobby Vanden explaining what the game is and why it's special. Watch below! Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1070500/... itch: draknek.itch.io/he-who-watches
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ceej @ceej.online · 03/09/2026
I do think “every rich person went insane during covid because it was the first time they’ve been inconvenienced in decades” felt a little reductive at first but damn if isn’t more and more compelling as the years drag on
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/09/2026
This is demonstrably, measurably improving the health of the people who live there. Most notably, it increases the respiratory *& cognitive* health of children. They literally do better in school. If this country really gave a shit about children, this would be at the top of the public-policy list.
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Andrew Doull @andrewdoull.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
If you’re ever worried about the quality of art for your game, this is a screenshot of one of the five most influential video games of the last 15 years.
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