iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/10/2026

obviously there are ten thousand issues and a ton of placeholder art but considering that this video contains ZERO keyframes of animation and is controlled entirely with about 30 lines of code i feel like things are getting pretty close to a usable state finally

a screenshot of the code from the video in the previous post in the thread

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/10/2026

for almost the entire past year i've been working on a comprehensive procedural animation system essentially so i can make cutscenes using code and avoid learning actual animation and i've finally gotten things to a point where i can make things happen that don't look horrifying and terrible

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 08/09/2026

my only opinion on new ocarina of time is rest in peace jpeg town ⚰️⚰️⚰️ gone but not forgotten ❤️‍🔥

An image of hyrule castle town from the N64 Ocarina of Time. The town is one static panoramic image that the 3D characters are just rendered on top of.

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 08/08/2026

I am currently in the Lloyd Center food court

Byte placed on a chair in the Lloyd center food court

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 08/08/2026

To Portland people planning on being at Lloyd Center for its last day tomorrow (💀), I’ll be hopefully setting up to sell my BYTE DVDs at Lloyderpalooza from 11-3 🩸🧛‍♀️

Center of the BYTE DVD, showing the disc and the back of the booklet

Back of the BYTE DVD, showing the soundtrack CD

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 26/06/2026

secondly, I have a new issue of my whale watching zine out now!! This one is largely about The Vampire Lestat, the show, the book, and the very real guy that I am obsessed with. Johnny Pandora also appears and a few notes from showcasing at PIGCON jamesmartini.me/posts/2026-0...

cover of Whale Watching Quarterly's June 2026 issue, styled after a punk concert poster. On the top is the vampire lestat, and on the bottom is Johnny Pandora

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 04/06/2026

Forgot to actually post anything from pigcon but if I learned one thing over the weekend it’s that my game that’s more a rewriting of the novel Dracula than it is a game really appeals to people who look like they were lit majors more than it does gamers

Picture the BYTE table at PIGCON in Portland, OR. On one monitor is the title screen of the game and the other has the trailer. The DVD-ROM and stickers are also on the table

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 25/05/2026

if you’re at @pigsquad.com’s PIGCON on Saturday, come find my table to buy a physical DVD-ROM edition of BYTE! 🩸🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ Not only does it come with the physical disc and TWO digital codes, as well as a game booklet, but it also has an EXCLUSIVE soundtrack CD 💿💿💿💿

Front cover of the BYTE DVD release, with the cover art of Dracula’s castle and an emblem reading “PC - DVD-ROM”

The opened BYTE DVD package, showing the back of the game manual and the game disc

The back of the BYTE DVD package showing the soundtrack disc and a sticker with the contents

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 29/03/2026

last week I finished my next issue of whale watching quarterly In this issue: - Hara-Kiri: Death of a SamurAI - Skate Story: Micro-review - Death Stranding: On Games that Aren’t Games whalewatching.neocities.org/posts/2026-0...

The cover of the March 2026 issue of Whale Watching Quarterly featuring Hideo Kojima in front of a waterfall in Death Stranding holding up his Twitter bio that says “70% of my body is made of movies”. The title of the issue is “I heart games that aren’t games”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 27/01/2026

Featured in issue 1: - I love Taiko no Tatsujin - The Year of Yassai Mossai 2003 - First dev update in a while - Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City

The cover of Whale Watching Quarterly Issue #1, with the feature being the cast of Kisarazu Cats Eye in front of text reading “The Year of Yassai Mossai 2003”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 22/12/2025

Moved onto some other stuff for the time being but I found out about @ambientcg.com pbr materials and have decided that realism is going to be my thing now #blender #godot

A booth in a dimly lit diner with a jukebox in the background

A woman standing a the bar of the diner with counters and a fridge behind her

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 30/11/2025

Now I get to move onto character modeling and I have to actually learn how to model faces and hands after like eight years of using blender

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 30/11/2025

work on my recreation of Portland’s Pearl District continues I now have a whole bunch of buildings, cars, and started on a diner #gamedev #godot #blender

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 29/10/2025

I’ve been trying a few different things at once but for a few different projects I want to work on i want to recreate Portland’s Pearl District in game form. So far I have a little pretty corner in progress

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 16/10/2025

Just got the email that byte is officially Steam Deck verified!! You can now officially trust that byte will run with full functionality on the go 🏃‍♀️ #indiedev #steamdeck #indiehorror

A screenshot of the Steam admin page showing that byte is completely Steam Deck verified

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 07/10/2025

byte’s out now(🧛‍♀️) but there are lots of punk movies I never got to so here are my letterboxd reviews of four final certified punk! classics™️ - Ikebukuro West Gate Park (2000, show) - Repo Man (1984) - Linda Linda Linda (2005) - Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Letterboxd review of ikebukuro west gate park that reads “just a cool show about boys hanging out in a bathhouse and then a park and then a bathhouse again and then getting into gang wars because a goth ballerina decides they aren’t doing enough crime and then they kiss”

Letterboxd review of Repo Man that says the movies tag line, “it’s 4 am. Do you know where your car is?” but all the letters are equally spaced one space apart

Letterboxd review of Linda Linda Linda that reads “just a wonderful delightful movie truly as fun as it gets”

Letterboxed review of velvet goldmine that reads “david bowie x iggy pop fanfiction with full frontal ewan mcgregor nudity”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/10/2025

Day 5(!!!!!) of waiting for steam to respond to me. today you should watch hackers. It’s maybe the most famous punk movie and it’s awesome. Just wall to wall 90s hacker names and rollerblades

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 04/10/2025

Day 4 today’s movie is slc punk. it’s my favorite punk movie and one of my all-time favorite movies. this typically gets a little underrated in punk movie rankings because it starts out with the usual punk movie absurdity but ends shockingly honestly and seriously. I love the ending tho

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 04/10/2025

Day 3 of not being able to release byte until Steam gets back to me. Today you should watch brass knuckle boys. It’s written AND directed by the great Kankuro Kudo and it understands 21st century punk on a level I haven’t seen anywhere else (except other Kudo works)

Poster for brass knuckle boys. It has the main character, Kanna, with a lollipop in her mouth and the faces of the four band members of brass knuckle boys stamped on her face

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 02/10/2025

Still no response from Steam support so instead I’ll just post about punk movies I’ve been watching lately until byte is out. This image is from wild zero, a 1999 zombie movie that is mostly an excuse for Japanese noise rock band guitar wolf to break stuff and scream about the power of rock and roll

Movie poster for Wild Zero (1999), featuring the three members of Guitar Wolf

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 01/10/2025

Steam still has not gotten back to me about the error (bug?) blocking me from releasing byte so I’m choosing to follow the wise words of my hero guitar wolf and believe in rock and roll in order to get this game out there

An image of guitar wolf, from the band guitar wolf, in the movie wild zero, saying “Believe in rock’n’roll!”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 13/09/2025

Back in 2018 I wrote a concept for a twenty one pilots fan game based on the Trench story. Over the years that merged with other ideas to become BYTE, so it’s surreal that their “conclusion” to the trench story released three weeks before BYTE. A real full circle moment for me. Good album too |-/

The album cover for twenty one pilots’ new album “Breach”, from the Digital Remains version

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 02/09/2025

still avoiding looking at the internet because that’s where the true horrors lie but popping back in to say that byte releases in one month from today!!! I’ll be posting more updates and info this month but for now enjoy 180p Jonathan thanks to the new resolution settings 👾🧛‍♀️👾 #indiedev #indiehorror

an EXTREMELY low resolution image of the chapel in byte where Jonathan is just barely recognizable from the eight pixels that compose his tie

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 02/08/2025

I’ve been busy not being online lately but I’m super excited to share that BYTE is going to be included in this week’s @tinyteamsfest.bsky.social Steam event from August 7th-14th!! Stay tuned for a new demo update and keep an eye on the official streams to see BYTE in action 🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ #tinyteams2025

The official Tiny Teams selection key art for BYTE

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 11/06/2025

Very thrilled to get to use one of my favorite sports copypastas for this one. Who is Jonathan Harker if not the lebron of real estate anyway?

The meme from @BronMuse on twitter that involves variations of the phrase “They said you’re washed 6” and ending with “How will you respond 6” and a picture of lebron james

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 11/06/2025

They said you can’t write emails, Harker. They said you have no charisma, Harker. They said you can’t buy a property, Harker. They said you’ll never make it in NYC, Harker. How will you respond, Harker? Help Jonathan prove the haters wrong in BYTE’s demo right now: s.team/a/2946750/

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 10/06/2025

I’ve got my game, BYTE, in next fest right now! It’s a persona-inspired tactics-rpg/visual novel based on Dracula 🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️ s.team/a/2946750/

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 10/06/2025

It’s breakfast time, let's all gather around Nyssa to bless our meal. Uh…..oh…..uh…..okay. I guess that was nice… BYTE demo available on Steam now! s.team/a/2946750/ #IndieGame #IndieHorror

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 09/06/2025

BYTE is in this month’s Next Fest with a new demo that showcases some brand new FMV! I shot all the videos in Oregon recently and they’re used in addition to 3D diorama scenes in some of the game’s cutscenes. Take a look here and check it all out in the demo now! #indiegame s.team/a/2946750/

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/06/2025

It’s #PitchYaGame time!! In BYTE, take the role of Jonathan Harker, Dracula’s real estate agent as you work with the Count and investigate ominous events in the castle BYTE’s a game about fear and desire. Experience the gripping visual novel story and tactics combat in the demo right now!

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 05/06/2025

got some new screenshots for byte’s Steam page 📸📸 #indiedev #indiehorror

And image of Count Dracula with the text “Through the Count’s concern I felt a hiss in his voice, like a snake reaching out and licking Arthur, checking his taste”

An image of Van Helsing on a cliff in the rain, holding a severed head up in the air

The fair bride leaning over Jonathan, saying “His love devours wholly. So does hers.”

Mermaid sitting atop a rock saying to the player, “Good girl.”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 03/06/2025

here’s a little 45-second preview of the videos I shot in oregon for byte. They’ll be available to see in my next fest demo next week 🎥🩸🎥❤️🎥

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 30/05/2025

haven’t checked out BYTE’s demo yet? It’s on Steam’s homepage right now as part of the Games in NY Steam event!

BYTE in the demos carousel for the Games in NY Steam event alongside Demon Tides, Banned Together, Brass Lament, and Tough Love Arena

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 26/05/2025

Have been catching up on emails and wanted to share that BYTE’s demo was selected to be a part of @nyugamecenter.bsky.social’s upcoming Games in New York Steam sale! It runs from 5/29-5/31 and will feature tons of cool games made in NY 🍎🦇🍎🦇🍎

Poster for the Games in New York Steam sale that lists the dates and time from 1pm EST on 5/29 through 1pm EST on 5/31

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 17/05/2025

I don’t have good video for it yet but I’m adding fmv into byte #indiedev #indiehorror

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 10/03/2025

Finally finished playing through another build of byte and forgot about this killer line I wrote

A screenshot of Jonathan in BYTE reading a pamphlet with a quote from a doctor that says, “Well, the river can flush out a lot, but I’ve never seen it vacuum out a fella’s blood like that”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 24/02/2025

Haven’t been able to work because I’ve been consumed by pirate yakuza in hawaii so instead enjoy goromi

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 19/02/2025

I’ve been waiting for this moment for months but I fear the bot is going to chop up my favorite line from moby dick

A screenshot from chapter 94 of moby dick that reads “Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 16/02/2025

derailed all my free time the past week working on a little side project but it’s finally starting to look good

an screenshot of an early 3D-styled game with a young punk standing a dimly-lit diner with a trucker sitting at the counter

The same punk in the same diner but this angle looks out this front window, looking out on a dark street lit only by the street lights

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/02/2025

Lastly, there’s a new dream journal entry! This entry continues the story of the first of Lucy’s dream journals and introduces a new character and plot thread 🧜‍♀️

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/02/2025

I also added in exercise! Now you can have Jonathan work out to build up his MP 💪💪💪💪

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/02/2025

Firstly, this build includes a couple of examples of my new diorama system! This system makes some of the journal cutscenes much more visually interesting and increases the amount of unique art in the game

An image of Lucy laying in Mina’s lap with Mina’s journal saying, “Nonetheless, we must, of course, press on and do what we can to help”

An image of Dracula coyly covering his mouth with his hand and a Mina journal entry reading, “Through the Count’s concern, I felt a hiss in his voice, like a snake reaching out and licking Arthur, checking his taste”

An image of Arthur passed out on the ground with a Seward journal entry saying, “I could easily see that he is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see the usually anemic signs”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 20/01/2025

I’ve spent basically all weekend building onto my Lucy’s Dream Journal mechanic and have been having too much fun with the dialogue #indiedev #indiehorror

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 17/01/2025

Obviously like half of all artists on earth are inspired by David Lynch in some way but still I cannot express how dramatically his work affects me 🌲🌲🌲🌲

An image of Special Agent Dale Cooper entering Twin Peaks at the beginning of the show, saying “I’ve never seen so many trees in my life.”

An image of Jonathan Harker in BYTE sitting in Dracula’s solarium exclaiming “I mean look at these trees! Such monstrous beasts!”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 12/01/2025

Adding diorama cutscenes into BYTE and having a lot of fun with being more precise about posing and camerawork #gamedev #indiehorror

A screenshot from BYTE that shows the Fair Bride lounging on a church pew with dialogue from Jonathan reading, “Her pallid, soft thigh appeared to glisten in the moonlight streaming in.”

A screenshot from BYTE showing the Fair Bride leaning over Jonathan with dialogue from Jonathan reading, “I felt a desire for her to lean closer to me, kiss me with those lips, permanently stained with blood, but I knew this was just her vampire’s seduction.”

Screenshot from BYTE showing the Fair Bride and Jonathan in the same pose as before, with the Fair Bride telling Jonathan, “You should have left long ago, realtor.”

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 29/12/2024

Took a break from anything I needed to work on to mess around with a city street grid creation tool I’ve wanted to make for a while. I got it to generate the roads as one mesh with seamless texturing and I’m very happy with it #indiedev

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 28/12/2024

last night I found the coffin (also I saw the movie)

A picture of me standing next to the Nosferatu sarcophagus

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 25/12/2024

Merry Christmas 🎄🎄🎄

My cat roo chomping a plastic Charlie Brown Christmas tree

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