iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Once again, it feels like some devs are refusing to see the broader industry picture and need a scapegoat: the greedy shareholders. Nobody's willing to acknowledge that "traditional" gaming is no longer growing and more competitive than ever (more studios compete for less player money).

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

July 2023: writing in my solo-dev (at the time) pitch "yeah I guess this could work for mobile eventually" September 2026: it's happening!! Life's surreal sometimes #gamedev #dropduchy

183

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Casually browsing reddit for Drop Duchy's mentions, and I stumbled upon this. The original poster is clearly a bot, but then the confidence of the AI-enthusiast coder to claim that 2 months should be more than enough to make the full art of the game (it was 30+)

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

It’s interesting how « live service » is now a synonym for « repetitive stretched out design ». Execs are right: players don’t hate « live services », they love getting more of the games they play. But let’s be honest, with Horizon HG it’s a different problem (1/5)

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

My 2026's mood so far (as an indie studio owner): - Phase 1: this shit is hard, the industry is fucked and we're all going to be out of job when the game fails - Phase 2: life's good, everybody's happy in the company and we're building something awesome!! - Phase 3: repeat

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Another great explanation by Mr Schreier. My (unpopular?) opinion is that AAA shouldn’t make « smaller games ». Let the smaller companies make them and (hopefully) be able to thrive. AAA should focus on big billion live services/franchises. We’ll make the new stuff youtu.be/6y3Gx_Aw2Oo?...

youtu.be

Why Big Game Companies Don't Make Small Games

YouTube video by Jason Schreier

110

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Everybody is saying this was obviously going to fail, but Microsoft didn't even try the only strategy that worked for Netflix & co: making exclusives that you can ONLY get through Game Pass. (not that it would have been a desirable future for gamers or devs, just sayin')

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

L'industrie grandira quand on arrêtera de prendre les 2-3 gagnants annuels du loto pour les brandir en porte-étendard du "regardez c'est ça qui marche". Je donne 1 an max avant que tout le monde se plaigne que "ouin ouin les indés ils font que du friendslop" (comme pour les roguelites en fait)

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Gaming industry rn Day 1: celebrating an (indie) game getting ultra-mega-massive success Day 2: mourning the loss of jobs in (less successful) studios Day 3: repeat (It’s almost as if there’s a connection to be drawn there in a finite market with increasing competition)

200

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

En même temps, la compétition est largement encouragée par les éditeurs/investisseurs indépendants qui attendent de plus en plus tard pour s'engager sur les projets. Sauf qu'un jeu prend du temps, les pro avec de l'expérience ont des enfants, des crédits et ne peuvent pas se le permettre

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Moi la semaine dernière: les températures sont pas mal retombées, c'est cool pour une fois on va pas crever de chaud au Game Camp La météo à Lille la semaine prochaine:

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Two things can be true at once: - Steam is an incredible platform with tons of qualities for both gamers and developers - Steam has an effective monopoly and that poses a unique risk, so they should be under scrutiny

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I get no longer having the internal expertise/people/tools to make a beautiful 2D game but, like, why remaking the exact same levels and story and mechanics (with a bunch of bonuses)?? It feels like one of these Disney "live action" remakes

120

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Honnestly, if I'm Ubisoft I'd start remaking my entire catalogue at this point. Scrap the new IPs, the ambitious sequels. Focus on execution speed, empowering a new generation of developers. People just want the same games they played 10 years ago, it's a fraction of the risk, so why not?

110

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

There's a trend in recent years for game schools to have 15-20 students on a single final-year project and I don't get how this is helping them to find jobs? Seems like they're instructed to optimize for beauty in order to get awards and release on Steam, but does that teach them well?

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Am I the only one noticing an increase in « we’d be fine if publishers/investors weren’t so greedy » as of late ? It has become sort of a norm on social media to claim that a game isn’t a failure but a mild success or that it was going to climb back up if given the time.

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

My time working on the VR games with them was amazing, some of the fondest memories of my experience at Ubisoft. Wish I had the opportunity to visit them, almost happened but the trip was always pushed back.

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Sandfall & Clair Obscur did irreversible damage to the industry by restarting once more the whole « why don’t AAA studios make games faster with smaller teams that they can sell cheaper ». I’m not kidding, Jason Schreier litterally wrote an article about this being a talking point at DICE

130

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

If we win this, I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet but it’s going to be crazy. Starvaders already won over Drop Duchy at the Thinky Game awards though, so the odds aren’t looking likely …

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I'm seeing this reaction to Highguard's studio downscaling everywhere, and it makes me realize how most players don't have any idea how much games cost and how much they make. "Just keep it running, it could be profitable eventually!" or it could burn more cash and doom the other employees.

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

So, they really did want to shadow drop that game, the Game Awards was a bonus. It did create mystery and attracted crowds on launch, but the lack of pre-release feedback will definitely hurt them more unless they release quick updates (a mode above 3v3 for instance) kotaku.com/highguard-ga...

kotaku.com

The Highguard Devs Explain That Terrible Game Awards Reveal

The original plan was to completely shadow drop the game just like Apex Legends

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Ubisoft number 1 problem is that it has lost its capacity to ship game efficiently, and it seems like the top management isn’t even trying to course correct. Will there be deep dive audits to understand how all these projects can be behind schedule all at once? How is this even possible

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

2026 is still the year of Drop Duchy !

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

The story behind this must be crazy. Announcing a game with a single cinematic trailer, no info anywhere (not even the Steam page has details), no gameplay, no screenshots Are they rushing the release because they’re going bankrupt but the game awards thing was planned long time ago?

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

The Steam replay is the depressing annual reminder that players do not purchase new games and stick to the very few they already know

010

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

To add insult to injury, the default Steam Deck settings (which you can’t change) look truly awful when you can find on the web some console config that makes it look much better (at the cost of dropping to 28 FPS occasionally). But hey, the game’s great right ?

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Valve when indies try to make their game Steam Deck verified: « this text is font size 10, we require making them to be 11 minimum » Valve after E33 makes an update to « improve some texts legibility » (taking them from 5 to 6): « here’s your well-deserved green badge » (Yes I’m salty)

030

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Merci pour l'invitation sur Point'n Think pour parler de Drop Duchy, toujous un plaisir de parler de la production du jeu (spoiler: ça s'est bien passé, faut le dire aussi quand c'est cool) podcast.ausha.co/point-n-thin...

podcast.ausha.co

RIP #5 | Drop Duchy | Ausha

Dans ce nouvel épisode de RIP, Inksushi revient sur la production et la sortie de Drop Duchy avec le créateur du studio Sleepy Mill Studio. Jeu hybride mélangeant stratégie, deck building et roguelite...

000

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

People over here and on Reddit unanimously react by saying « no it’s you, your games are bad, always the same formula!! » but it’s the truth. Ubisoft used to thrive on games that weren’t super great or original but had enough quantity to be attractive 10-15 years ago. This is their tragedy.

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Life has been so surreal since this game comes out, it’s not a big hit but getting such recognition is truly awesome!

130

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Maybe I'm just old but I find it annoying when roguelites conceal their ending condition for ... mystery? I'm ok with mysteries & secret endings but playing CloverPit right now and having to look on reddit for "the dev said on stream that it triggers when.." doesn't sit right to me.

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

My gaming pet peeve is journalists/Linkedin influencers who use the annual number of Steam releases to make dramatic articles about the state of gaming, without doing any research to back their claims with actual data. Sorry, I love the guy and his books/articles, but not this one...

110

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Publisher ghosting is a real annoyance in the gaming industry but after releasing Drop Duchy, I discovered something even worse: people who reach out to you for interviews/partnerships/events/etc and then stop responding after you said you’re interested. Why contact me in the first place then?

110

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Ok, the game is extremely anticipated, people would have paid any amount for it and that’s awesome for Team Cherry. But worshipping them like they’re some sort of industry saviors for not selling it for a higher price??? Yeah, that’s going to far imo

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

This. I’d go even further and say that when you’re the most anticipated game of the year, you shouldn’t go with a « let’s get all the Gamescom attention on us » strategy. You can do it at anytime and get the same results, while others have this one silver bullet to thrive.

110

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I've been playing Skull & Bones a lot lately for... huh... research... and I've never seen anything like it. There are so many mechanics, so much content, but the game doesn't seem at all interested in onboarding the player. Everything is just ... overwhelming?

100

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

LinkedIn influencers are unironically sharing this advice all day long, using Clair Obscur and Balatro as proofs that the strategy 100% work

020

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

The game works much better than I anticipated, and all I can think about is that I have to redo all my plans for the studio now…

020

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Even if I'm not fond of the concept of noting games, I've got to admit that waking up to this makes me proud www.metacritic.com/game/drop-du...

171

Reposted by JB Oger

The Arcade Crew @thearcadecrew.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Drop Duchy is now AVAILABLE on Steam! 🧩 build your duchy piece by piece ⚔️ rally your forces and storm through fierce armies 🃏 customize your deck with +110 unique (unlockable) cards 🔁 enjoy endless replayability in this hybrid rogue-lite game 🔗 store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...

54126

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

What if Blue Prince final unsolved puzzle was: why did the creator threw away such a perfect game loop to create a subpar meta-escape room?

100

Reposted by JB Oger

The Arcade Crew @thearcadecrew.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

#DropDuchy new demo is LIVE on Steam! 🧩 Build your Duchy piece by piece ⚔️ Prepare your forces to storm through fierce armies 👑 Learn to master the power of the City with the new Republic faction 🃏 Customize your deck to suit your strategy 🔁 Enjoy unlimited runs!

1109

JB Oger @jboger.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Mon processus de conception sur ce jeu:

030

Reposted by JB Oger

The Arcade Crew @thearcadecrew.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Drop Duchy’s demo is available NOW on Steam! 🧩 Build your Duchy piece by piece ⚔️ Prepare your forces to storm through fierce armies 🃏 Customize your deck to suit your strategy and optimize your realm’s growth 🔁 Enjoy endless replayability in this hybrid rogue-lite game youtu.be/BSeCdQJpjVY

youtu.be

Drop Duchy | Gameplay Overview

YouTube video by The Arcade Crew

264