iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

That's such a cool trick! I bought a display for nail polish to display some of my loose games.

Gameboy, PSP and DS games organized on a display for nail polish.

NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The PS1 Version is really beautiful and I'm glad I was able to get one. The neon pink is pretty in general but the black part bothers me. It's always too big of a contrast to the rest. And it always looks like the controller is wearing a spaghetti strap top. 🙃

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

This weeks thumbnail! From the beginning I wanted to use one of the circles from Gecko Gods to symbolize the cycle in both games. Moomins game with the seasonal cycle and Gecko Gods with the generational cycle. Therefore the look changes from icy cold (left) to warm sandscape (right).

A wheel in the middle with different states of seasons around it. Text says: Winter Warmth

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Here is a closeup of my thumbnail! The game has some eerie moments that I wanted to portray. The idea of the main character spinning in a 3D space somehow manifested in my mind immediately. The text is actual dialogue from the game and the background is all jumbled up text snippets as well.

Collage of Easy Delivery Co. The cat looking character spirals in 3d space. Text says: There is somewthing wrong. It's gotten worse.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Sharing a bigger version of my thumbnail as usual. I wanted to use a grid stricture to arrange some cool screenshots I took. Sometines you don't know what you want it to look like but then you start and everything just falls into its place.

A collage of screenshots from Endless Monday Dreams and Deadlines

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Einer meiner absoluten Lieblingsmanga, nein Kunstwerke im Allgemeinen. Trifft mich auf so eine besonders tiefe Art in der Seele. Hab eine schöne Collects Edition davon.

Rückseite von der Gute Nacht, Punpun collectors edition

Vorderseite von der Gute Nacht, Punpun collectors edition

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

For the thumbnail I didn't go too crazy this time. I took the main frame of the loading screen and added in-game text and my self-made scanlines. I mainly edited the colours and lighting this time. Tonal correction, colour hue, brightness and saturation affect the vibe and look a lot.

Collage of the loading screen from House of Necrosis with text and effects.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Please check out the Steam Page! There is also a free demo available! store.steampowered.com/app/3979870/... Let me also share this weeks thumbnail. I am finding and improving my own style. I love to play around with multiplying layers, applying different effects and adding a surreal touch.

A surreal display of three owls with the text "Watcher".

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Published a bit too early by accident but now it's ready :D Todays thumbnail was supposed to play with the idea that Bonnie is a bear in a frog costume. Since self worth plays a big role in the game, I created a kind of existential crisis with old Win98 windows.

A collage with elements from Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime. Uses Win98 inspired windows

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

The moment I saw the vs. screen in Placid Plastic Deck, I knew I'd use that as a frame for the thumbnail. I added some elements from both games and gave it my usual surreal touch. What do you think?

A vs. screen from Placid Plastic Deck. Background shows screenshots from Rhell

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Forgot to share my thumbnail work! Their creation is my highlight :) I mention that Love Eternal breaks out of its confinement and I wanted to represent this. So I decided to overlap UI design and a striking background in 2D, while adding looping text boxes in 3D. Elements clash, yet unify~

Collage of Eternal Love and Esoteric Ebb. A big dog statue is the center piece, with 3D text boxes fading into the background

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

For the thumbnail my initial inspiration was this freaky Ecco the Dolphin add but it somehow turned into something different ;D My thumbnail on the left, the inspiration on the right.

A collage for Steam Next Fest with screenshots from Sucker for Love, Phonopolis and Burden Street Station

Ad for ecco the dolphin. A boy is playing under water and screenshots are displayed on the right.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Do you miss gaming magazines from your past? I got you covered! For the first month of my blog Freaking-Indie, I created a recap, in the style of a magazine! This took quite some time and I hope you like it. I'd love to get feedback! :) drive.google.com/file/d/1ZPbK...

Cover of a self published gaming magazine called Freaking-Indie

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

No big inspiration for this weeks thumbnail. In essence of the two titles I covered, I wanted it to be playful and without specific structure. I generally like more designed and chaotic layouts.

Collage of elements from Lil Gator Game and Operation Octo

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

This time I wanted to create a very surreal looking Thumbnail. It honestly turned into a bigger clusterfuck than planned :D Might edit it a bit at some point since I am not 100% satisfied. First pic shows the result, the rest shows some of the used material.

A surreal composition including elements of Valkyrie Saga and Berry Bury Berry.

Loading screen of Valkyrie Saga with a tip at the bottom: "Press jumo to jump (if you want to)"

A surreal background. The Voice says: "If you don't, the island will crumble, and hustle towards the earth."

A small room resembling a bright garden with a hole in the bottom. Someone points some kind of gun at it.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Born in 1994, I am very nostalgic for the Y2K aesthetic. Since I talked about Catsnap, I wanted to make a collage and that reminded me of those old Bling collages. Struggled at the start but then I locked in! Result on the left, inspiration on the right. What do you think?

Thumbnail inspired by Y2K Bling collages

Old school bling collage. Lots of messy pictures, bling-bling, symbols and text.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

For the thumbnail I took the console idea of CorgiSpace and made a character from 10S FOREVER play on a TV I created from the settings screen of Rhythm Doctor. The scanlines were cut and inserted with lower transperancy. Part of the background overlaps with the TV. Right pic shows the raw material.

Thumbail. A big version of a character from 10S FOREVER is pointing at a TV screen. The Screen shows a CorgiSpace and 10S FOREVER. The background and the TV are form Rhythm Doctor. Text says Week 04

Screenshots from multiple games to show off the elements used in the thumbnail

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Please met the mascot of Freaking-Indie: Freaky! This little duck is the face of my work and was done by the lovely LittleOphis [www.twitch.tv/littleophis]. Please leave kind words for it and the creator

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Don't we love it when you work on something for weeks and find it neat, yet all of a sudden you think it's awful. So you start to change the core of it but now everything you build around it crumbles, so you kinda start it all over and now you wonder if the change is actually better or not (╯°□°）╯

A version of the "This is fine" meme with Kirby. Kirby is sitting in a burning house with a cup of coffee in front of them while saying "This is fine" with a soft smile.

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NikuNicole || FreakingIndie.com @freakingindie.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Truly beautiful! One of my favourite experiences this year was Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog. Beautifully caught the aesthetics and vibes of old PC-98 games. The writing and characters were so endearing, that it left me hoping for more in the future. store.steampowered.com/app/2118420/...