iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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sam @soulware.us · 09/09/2026

ever since i was a child i wanted to make esoteric video game secrets (pictured: notebook at 8yo)

notes from my notebook when i was younger:

ULTRA Guy
extra version in 3
• go to level select 3-10 bonus level
• find secret Jump house goto the back & get 1 token (hidden one)
• keep jumping
• teleported to area
• press B, A, select to get extra game

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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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Jack @jackturps.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

wrote some stuff about the level generation and its different relationship to novice and expert players

jackturps.com

A Deathless Roguelike

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 08/09/2026

played some of that game at pax (east) and it rips, will need to cop the tape

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 31/08/2026

comedy, horror; brlka and co do it all!

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 31/08/2026

if you haven’t already you should try Holding It next

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 30/08/2026

i had the thought that a separate first try leaderboard would be fun to track, although trivial to cheat

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 30/08/2026

been playing this almost every day since it came out. early on i would fight to climb the leaderboard (and try to beat the dev’s time) but now i’m having fun doing just one blind playthrough each day and seeing how i rank

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 29/08/2026

this and the previous section are some of my favorite puzzles ever

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 27/08/2026

it’s actually crazy, since getting my steam deck i have used my switch 2 for one game exactly and it was rhythm heaven

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Ａ．Ｄｅｇｅｎ　Ａｒｔ @adegenart.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

THE EARTH HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED; MANKIND HAS ATTAINED THE ABILITY TO DOUBLE-JUMP PART ONE IN THE NEW FUTURE JUMPERS SERIES FROM thecatamites INTERNATIONAL OBSESSION w/ some art by me and music from @demonshome.bsky.social thecatamites.itch.io/internationa...

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 22/08/2026

this is so awesome!! i would love to be able to race against my own PB ghost, as fun as it is to judge my pace by when torcado laps me

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Toby Alden @brlka.com · 22/08/2026

🚨🚨🚨 NEW GAME 🚨🚨🚨 brlka.itch.io/todays-star-is 🚀🚀🚀 Today's Star Is... ⭐️⭐️⭐️ brlka.itch.io/todays-star-is A new level every day to do your best in! 🗓️ brlka.itch.io/todays-star-is ⏳👻 (What could the post-game be...?)

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Blaž Urban Gracar (Letibus Design) @letibus.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

We let the cat out of the bag in yesterday's Draknek Podcast. So here's the first look of the upcoming "Workworkwork Digital". A digital adaptation of the award-winning puzzle book Workworkwork, made in collaboration with a mysterious co-developer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jix...

youtube.com

Workworkwork Digital - First Look

YouTube video by Letibus Design

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Jake Clover @jakeclover.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

kayak mode guy adventure

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 21/08/2026

i want to do this so bad but it’s hard to justify the price when i’d need to join remotely. will be considering…

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 20/08/2026

bsky.app/profile/ella... liz ryerson phrases a similar thought in a more nuanced way here

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 20/08/2026

bsky.app/profile/ella... liz ryerson phrases a similar thought in a more nuanced way here

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Stuffed Wombat @stuffedwomb.at · 20/08/2026

responses to this are kind of infuriating. as if a single pay-walled blogpost had the power to stop the steadily progressing agency-removal in media consumption habits. if we want people to think about the stuff we make we should of course push back.

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Jake Clover @jakeclover.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

fishing guy bad ending

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maud @peloriemate.net · 18/08/2026

this is the rpg mode of puyo box ps1 for the curious. its good. this is how arle opens doors in it

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lily valeen @itsmelilyv.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

i wrote a new blog post called "Tempo and Tempo Shifting in Video Games" it's about designing your game & considering the player's feeling of control, moment-to-moment please give it a read if you like that sort of thing itsmelilyv.com/blog/z1_tempo

itsmelilyv.com

It's Me Lily V

A site by Lily Valeen, and your source for miscellaneous artifacts from the digital phenomena

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 19/08/2026

while it’s looked upon fondly now, in 2008 people would flame you for having this watermark

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 18/08/2026

last game I played was perfect tides station to station. so basically i have to live in 2003 new york city for a year. i think i can manage

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Stuffed Wombat @stuffedwomb.at · 18/08/2026

new weekendblog about near-death-experience hiking and work on MARBLE SOULS --> stuffedwomb.at/weekendblog#...

stuffedwomb.at

Stuffed Wombat

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 17/08/2026

genre that started as self-parody is now just earnestly the thing it was created to mock

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 17/08/2026

i am so over incremental games

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ivy sly @ivysly.com · 15/08/2026

felt like rngdle's ultralimited poetry composer was the only actually interesting part of the whole thing, so i spun it off into my own daily web "game". everyone gets the same 30-40 words each day to compose a prose poem with fridge magnet poetry tiles. fridgle.net #gamedev

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sylvie @sylviefluff.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

outer wilds was great but enough fucking around it's time for a real open world game

Road Trip Adventure for the PS2 title screen

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 12/08/2026

i haven’t stopped thinking about this game since i played it in my head a few weeks ago. genuinely one of my top games of the year.

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 09/08/2026

can you beat my score?

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 09/08/2026

avoidance jam is some of the most fun i’ve had with a game jam. making a VR game was a fun new experience but just playing all the other submissions has been super fun. really nice size for a jam where i can actually play every submission itch.io/jam/jacks-av...

itch.io

Submissions to jack's avoidance jam

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 08/08/2026

one of the most effective comedy games i’ve ever played

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 06/08/2026

i made a VR avoidance game called little lightbulb. you move a lightbulb through a 3D volume to avoid darts. my first time doing a VR game! check it out xenozane.itch.io/little-light...

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sam @soulware.us · 06/08/2026

i made a new game for the avoider jam! "a void danced as ash meant for you flew by" How long can you dance in the balance of avoidance and attraction? special thanks to @brlka.com whom this is heavily inspired by! Play now: soulware.itch.io/a-void-danced

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sam @soulware.us · 26/07/2026

"The guests are outside so you have to cook really fast" - new game for gmtk jam! action cooking game where you have to keep track of all the timers you have going! soulware.itch.io/tgao #gmtk

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 23/06/2026

and it’s not that the next move should be so constrained as to be obvious, but it’s nice when a puzzle facilitates solving with logic rather than bruteforce hypothesis testing

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 23/06/2026

sokoban style puzzles or any puzzle games where you manipulate a character tend to have more logical solves than arbitrary grid filling puzzles. there are exceptions in both directions, but sokoban is easier to reason about a next move

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 23/06/2026

one thing i really appreciate in puzzle games is a logical solving process. when it becomes guessing at constraints it becomes tedious

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Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I wrote a manifesto for making games, and (not) selling them, for #manifestojam illomens.itch.io/no-one-is-go...

illomens.itch.io

NO-ONE IS GOING TO BUY YOUR GAME by ill omens

A Manifesto For Making Games

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insert credit @insertcredit.com · 05/06/2026

What’s something from a video game you say in real life? insertcredit.com/show/443

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 06/06/2026

god i love classic tetris

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SceneTree @scentree.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Excited to be running our first official GodotCon as SceneTree. Come to GodotCon Boston 2026 July 21 - 22 at the Microsoft NERD Center. conference.godotengine.org Early bird tickets are on sale until June 5th. Accepting speakers, workshops, and Godot project showcases until June 15th.

Promotional key art from GodotCon Boston revealing the dates as July 21 & 22, the location as The Microsoft NERD Center in Boston.

It is done in the style of a comic cover.

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 26/05/2026

pushed up a small update to this game so that it saves your progress. also added a couple puzzles that should help clarify some rules better. give it a shot if you haven't played yet!

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Zane @handcrushe.dev · 19/05/2026

i made a short gardening puzzle game where you need to help an eccentric farmer remember the rules of the game play it now in your browser: soulware.itch.io/puzzlingardens (it should work on mobile devices as well!) #godotwildjam

soulware.itch.io

puzzlin' gardens! by soulware, XenoZane

a rule-discovery gardening game

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