iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by james martini

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 · 19h

The Steam Autumn Sale starts today and it's also been a year since I released BYTE!! The game is on sale now (conveniently until my birthday on the 8th) ⚰️ store.steampowered.com/app/2946750/...

store.steampowered.com

Save 33% on BYTE on Steam

To love for all eternity is hard. To live for all eternity is even harder. You play as Jonathan Harker, Dracula’s real estate agent, completing work tasks while exploring the castle, speaking with its...

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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

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 02/10/2026

I'll be at PRGE on Saturday showing BYTE!! I haven't been to PRGE in quite literally over a decade so I'm excited to be back for it 🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️

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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Damn me, but all things are queer, come to think of ’em.

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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 · 07/09/2026

Just got out of the bikini kill show and feel pretty confident that kathleen hanna is the coolest human to ever live

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lex luddy needs a nap @lexluddy.xyz · 13/08/2026

Now's probably a good time to share the original conclusion of my Black Ops 7 review, which did get published for a few hours, only for someone high up at Moonrock (or above) to get upset about it, resulting in one rather noticeable cut.

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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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Reposted by james martini

Shawn Alexander Allen @shawndoublea.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Indie devs need to start selling games drm free on CDs with printed art & potentially small manuals (and probably a steam key in the box). Go the full indie merch route. Give your fans another way to support. Indie mucisians sell singles on CDs...

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Reposted by james martini

Aftermath @aftermath.site · 31/07/2026

The ghouls who run EA deserve to burn aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabi...

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 30/07/2026

I wrote game reviews for a media site in college for about a year and across almost two dozen reviews I never received even a single note on anything I wrote

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 05/07/2026

one might choose to describe this as the greatest day of my life

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loren schmidt @lorenschmidt.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

when folks say that manual procedural generation work is not the same as generative AI, this is what we mean. it's all just humans making artistic decisions, even if it is generated. it's more often than not a highly manual process as detail oriented as when i'm manually making environments.

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Reposted by james martini

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

a couple of little announcements today of new(ish) stuff. The first is that BYTE is now available on @itch.io! Because of itch's significantly lower cut, the base price is a little less than on Steam (and this one is completely DRM-free ;P) ⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️ jamesmartini.itch.io/byte

jamesmartini.itch.io

BYTE by James Martini

To love for all eternity is hard. To live for all eternity is even harder.

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 27/06/2026

thanks!!! i'm happy you're liking it!

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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 · 26/06/2026

I'll also hopefully have the BYTE DVDs available online soon as well, I'm just deciding on the best way for me to ship them 📭

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

jamesmartini.itch.io

BYTE by James Martini

To love for all eternity is hard. To live for all eternity is even harder.

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 16/06/2026

Also for anyone curious I made byte 50% off for a full week because of pigcon and made almost as much money selling DVDs physically at the one-day event as I did from my game with 3k wishlists being half-off on Steam for a full week

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 16/06/2026

I guess “dependent” is a big word considering that most months I make $0 on Steam but that probably just demonstrates my point even further

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 16/06/2026

I guess I’m still dependent on steam because I keep putting off making a new itch page for byte but I’ve long thought that Steam is a functionally useless platform for new and smaller developers now

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Reposted by james martini

cain @cmddx.itch.io · 11/06/2026

alright, here's my thing for manifesto jam cmddx.itch.io/i-hate-your-...

cmddx.itch.io

I Hate Your Cozy Game by cain

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 09/06/2026

As something of a vampire expert let me tell you that if you’re not watching the vampire lestat you’re missing out on the biggest innovations in the vampire space in decades

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Reposted by james martini

🐔 Brian Bucklew 🐔 ₑͤ＞∿＜ₑͤ ∞🌮 @unormal.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

we used to think games needed systems and interactivity but the truly wise know they only need systems

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

as I said to my friend who was sad they missed the con, luckily, much like count dracula, byte is forever

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

Gonna hopefully have the remaining DVDs up for sale online soon if any other lit majors wanna get in on this action 📖📖📖

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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 · 26/05/2026

Thanks!! Yeah I bought the cases and discs and eBay and just burned them myself and then used Mixam to print the booklets and printdirtcheap for the disc labels since those seemed like the cheapest options. Putting it all together took a couple days but wasn’t too bad

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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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Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 18/05/2026

PIGCON is a great way to share your game and meet other gamedev folks! The show is May 30th & 31st in Portland, and our speaker schedule is up now. pigcon.pigsquad.com Here is another lil trailer to help explain :) youtube.com/shorts/-0G0c...

youtube.com

PIGCON 2026 Trailer - Join the Portland Indie Game Squad for an indie dev con on May 30th & 31st!

YouTube video by PIGSquad

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Reposted by james martini

james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/05/2026

guess who's going to be showing their hit vampire vn/rpg BYTE at @pigsquad.com's PIGCON on May 30th??? (it's me) if you're in portland come say hi and grab a sticker (special-made for this event :P)

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james martini @jamesmartini.me · 06/05/2026

guess who's going to be showing their hit vampire vn/rpg BYTE at @pigsquad.com's PIGCON on May 30th??? (it's me) if you're in portland come say hi and grab a sticker (special-made for this event :P)

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Reposted by james martini

Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 06/05/2026

Tickets are live, and the presentation schedule is up now! More details & full games list coming soon 🌲 We're just over 3 weeks away! pigcon.pigsquad.com

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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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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I know it’s annoying that I constantly ask people to sub, but subbing makes a huge difference. @aftermath.site has around 5,000 paying subs right now; most of us still work other jobs on the side. we have over 90k bluesky followers. if a fraction subscribed, it would literally change our lives

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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 · 27/01/2026

In a culmination of my long-standing desires to write more, have more fun, and make a zine, I’ve started a little digital zine I’ll be using to contain most of my writing and devlogs from now on whalewatching.neocities.org

whalewatching.neocities.org

Whale Watching

Whale Watching is a blog about art.

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

as an additional effect I have gotten very in-depth with godot lighting as well

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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 · 18/12/2025

BYTE’s 50% off for the Steam winter sale right now!! It’s not Halloween anymore but it’s always vampire season 🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️ store.steampowered.com/app/2946750/...

store.steampowered.com

Save 50% on BYTE on Steam

To live for all eternity is hard. To love for all eternity is even harder. You play as Jonathan Harker, Dracula’s real estate agent, completing work tasks while exploring the castle, speaking with its...

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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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