iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

For CatBurglar, I learned a lot animating Sgt. Ruff, who narrates the tutorial. The simple "lip-sync" randomly swaps out mouth shapes and works pretty well. :D hugbug.itch.io/cat-burglar #gamedev #pixelart #animation

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For CatBurglar, I experimented with limiting the color palette to pinks, with little pops of green. Gives a sort of #gameboy feel to me? The story is you're a rookie dog cop chasing a gang of feline burglars! hugbug.itch.io/cat-burglar #pixelart #gamedev

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My best-rated itch jam gam (in terms of "fun") was a little sound puzzle game. Follow the cat sounds to arrest the cat burglar! #gamedev #pixelart hugbug.itch.io/cat-burglar

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WIP on a little experiment. Not sure if I'll ever finish it LOL. #codenames #gamedev

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For one of the first game jams I ever tried, I made this hex-based version of #Minesweeper. I still go back and play it sometimes. :D hugbug.itch.io/beesweeper #pixelart #gamedev

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I had a lot of fun turning the classic Legend of Zelda dungeon tiles into isometric versions. In my #fangame you play as Princess Zelda, taking her rescue into her own hands. #pixelart #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/diary-of-z

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Thought I'd share some #pixelart of the first isometric game I made. Here's the start screen for my Legend of Zelda fan game. :D #loz #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/diary-of-z

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Here's are some end screens for my #dokijam game. Still in that warm, grateful, post-jam stage where you feel like you made something good... that's a small step toward something better. #makerlife #gamedev #pixelart Wherever you are, whatever you're working on, GO! hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist

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I love the score reveal of itch jams. Tells you a lot about what you're doing best and what to improve for next time! (haha and to always pay better attention to the theme!) #gamejam #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist

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The origin story of how Doki rescued her bunnies.

Well that's a wrap on #dokijam 2025! After 2 weeks of crazy-hard work, I got 21st place out of 240 entries. Feeling very satisfied and happy right now. hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist #gamedev Onward!

hugbug.itch.io

Lab Heist by HugBug

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Avatar walk animations for my #dokijam game! #pixelart #indiegamedev #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist

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For my little #dokijam game, I made a classic #nes style manual. Just a few pages to set that nostalgic vibe. :D #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

One #pixelart trick I've been playing with recently is adding these big "spotlights" to the background. Creates a nice sense of atmosphere very cheaply. Even if the foreground sprites don't get shadowed at all, it kinda works! #gamedev

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Welcome animation and 1st cut scene of my retro #pixelart entry for #dokijam. Had so much fun with this jam! hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist #gamedev

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A lot of times downscaling #pixelart in "nearest neighbor" mode gets all crunchy. Looking forward to the post-jam period for #dokijam so I can clean it all up. Haha ran out of time for that, too. hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist #gamedev

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The evil F.U.R. was doing mean things to bunnies for my #dokijam game. This is the map of their facility, shaped like their creepy logo, of course. hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist #gamedev #pixelart #gamedesign

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For my #dokijam game, I ran out of time to color the cutscene pixel art, so I went with an emergency "3 color" look, which I ended up liking quite a bit. hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist #gamedev #nes

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

My retro pixel adventure game for #dokijam. It was a lot of fun to live in someone else's universe for a bit! hugbug.itch.io/lab-heist

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Here's the start screen for my latest project. #dokijam #pixelart #gamedev

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Working on a new jam! Got some pixel art welcome screen action. #Dokijam #gamedev #pixelart

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

I had a lot of fun for my #AscendantJam game making isometric pixel art. Here's a key scene, where our hero comes across an unfortunate moment. #gamedev #pixelart hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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HugBug @gohugbug.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Old #NES games have such a specific feel to the start page. Here's mine for my #ascendantjam game. Haha not 100% sure the original hardware would have enough tile space to render this, but hopefully it hits the nostalgia vibes. #gamedev #indiegamedev hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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Spore Storm is an isometric metroidvania / LOZ style game. You run around unlocking doors and navigating through a maze, with cut scenes between the levels. Takes about 15 minutes to play, which seems just right for a jam game? #gamedev #gamedesign #ascendantjam hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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1 week into #AscendantJam and it's time to make my avatar. I wrote a JS tool to convert #MagicaVoxel into 2D isometric sprite sheets. I drew voxels 1st (3 parts to the hero... legs, torso, head) and flattened him into pixels. Result ain't perfect, but it saves LOTS o'time! hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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I was a day or two into #AscendantJam, and the next thing I did was my @itch.io page. I've never been a "developer art" believer. Making pretties = momentum! SO important for nights-and-weekends #gamedev. At this point I STILL didn't know much about the game itself. Haha. hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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I had a jump start on my #AscendantJam #gamedev. A prior project was an "isometric #nes game" ... so thank goodness I had an engine (sorta) working, and the #CSS magic for animating the carts. That 1st game was janky, but at least it was a start! hugbug.itch.io/diary-of-z hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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If you've ever cracked open an old #nes game, you know the beautiful, chunky design of those carts. Mmmm plastic and dust smell! This was the 2nd image I made for my #AscendantJam game. I had no idea what the story was. I just liked a "2 words x 5-letters" title. #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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For me, the gold standard of #NES cutscenes is the old #NinjaGaiden. The #AscendantJam team provided some character art, and I picked a dude name Mitch Dougan as my protag. But all good stories have a romance, right? So I created Amy and sketched my 1st cutscene. #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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For my #AscendantJam game entry, I started with a question: What would a AAA shooter franchise look like if it launched in 1983? Toys! Cartoons! Comic books! The first image I designed was the mission statement for the project. #photoshop #indiedev #gamedev hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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For my #AscendantJam project, I scratched my usual itch, which is nostalgia, simple games that attempt to tell an emotional story, and some kind of visual hook I can't stop thinking about. What if Ascendant were released in 1983? It'd be an #nes game, prolly! #retro #80s hugbug.itch.io/spore-storm

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ASCENDANT JAM ($50,000 Prize Pool)

My latest #gamedev project was a (for me) super long jam called the #AscendantJam. 2 months?! Nice prize pool, which is exciting (and weird) in and of itself, but the thing that really caught my attention was the well-developed cyberpunky world that came along as inspiration. itch.io/jam/ascendant

itch.io

A game jam from 2025-05-02 to 2025-08-15 hosted by ascendant.com. Welcome to the ASCENDANT JAM, with over $50,000 in prizes! UPDATE - Deadline extended to August 1st and ASCENDANT JAM WEEKEND announce...

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Since I started video game dev in 2022, I've made about 20 little games on itch... though tbh most are small brainstorm ideas. #Gamejams have been super great for giving me deadlines, but not so great for 100% polish. Still, the fast iteration means lots of learning. hugbug.itch.io

hugbug.itch.io

HugBug

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