iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

🎶 "How lucky can one gal be" "Ah kissed her and she kissed me" "Like a filly once said" "Ain't that a buck in the head?" 🎶

A partial screenshot of Applejack singing, from the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" season 1 finale, "The Best Night Ever".

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

#07 (2026-10-06) #WinterWitch A fairly simple adventure game that tells an equally simple, but heartwarming, story about a witch who has returned to the enchanted forest where her mother used to live in order to search for... something. Venture out […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of Winter Witch. The game uses simple, monochrome, hand drawn-looking sprites in cel shaded-looking, simple 3D environment where black objects stand out from the off-white, snowy landscape.

The titular winter witch is standing in front of her cabin in the woods wearing a coat and pointy hat in black, as well as a white scarf. She is holding and observing a pocket watch.

A screenshot of the inside of the Winter Witch's cabin. The witch had switched to lighter, in-door attire and is sitting on her couch with he cat Merlin on her lap. Merlin is a good cat.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

D#01 (2026-10-01) #CastlevaniaBelmontsCurse #demo Belmont's Curse feels like it's following the post-Hollow Knight trend of more difficult combat in Metroidvanias, but I did manage to defeat the game's first (and the demo's only) boss after a handful […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of a portion of Belmont's Curse's map screen at the start of the game. The map is focused on an area called the Central Sewer Drain in the Paris Streets, with a listed objective of "investigate the streets of Paris."

A screenshot of Rose and Trevor Belmont standing at a dock/harbor in Paris. Trevor is remaining in their small boat while Rose has stepped onto the wooden structure otherwise populated by crates and debris. Notre Dame and many burning houses are visible in the background.

Trevor says:
"There's a darkness here I haven't felt in a longtime. Not since Wallachia twenty years ago when Dracula returned."

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

#06 (2026-09-24) #BluePrince Didn't plan on playing this, but my brother got it recently and it became awfully tempting to play it due to Steam's family library feature. Really interesting puzzle roguelite that tasks you with exploring and solving […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot from Blue Prince. The player is standing in front of a breaker box in the Utility Closet room. From top to bottom, the box features the following:

A large keycard entry system switch, set to "on".

The text "V.A.C. indicators" just above a series of colored lights, which (from left to right) are set to off, blue, green, white, red, and purple.

Lastly is a space for four small flip switches indicating the power for different rooms. Gymnasium is set to off, Dark Room is on, Garage is on, and the last sign is scratched out with the switch itself missing from its slot.

A screenshot of an ending screen from a successfully completed run through the game.

On the left side is an image of the game's mansion, visibly consisting of various rooms the player has played during this run. Below is an image of a shovel and text that reads "Mt. Holly, your new home", along with stats.

On the right side is the map of the current run, with 39 out of 45 rooms filled in, plus a root cellar listed as an "outer room".

In the upper-left corner, the game indicates that this run was on day 18.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

#05 (2026-09-09) #Shantae I got a Humble Bundle with most of the Shantae games as a late birthday present, so I figured I'd go back and actually play through the original game on my #3DS. I think my existing save was a decade old, and I probably […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of Shantae as she stands on an elevated stone path in the middle of a hot desert. To the left of her is a vibrant cactus, and to the right is a hostile scorpion-centauress.

A screenshot of a town scene in Shantae, extended vertically so that two screens worth of dialogue (or 4 lines) can be visible at once.

Shantae is standing with her back towards the player, talking to an undead woman within the game's zombie caravan.

The woman says: "Zombie guys are disgusting. They only like women for their brains!"

A screenshot of Shantae and the supporting character Rottytops in a zombie-infested bog. Rottytops is a tomboyish zombie girl who has detached one of her legs so she can use the protruding bit of bone as a "skeleton key" and unlock the gate to a dungeon area.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

Started growing my own strawberries this year (bought six plants in early June), and I'm so pleased with the result so far. Two days ago, I sliced a handful of berries (half of them pictured) and ate with chocolate sauce and milk. Today I picked two […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

Intensely red strawberry slices resting in a small glass bowl of milk, with chocolate sauce drizzled over them.

A very ripened strawberry with many darkened seeds poking straight out of it.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026

#03 (2026-07-25) #SupergirlWomanOfTomorrow Having recently watched—and really enjoyed—the Supergirl movie, I was curious about the source material and asked my local library to acquire a copy. Which they did. It was, of course, an excellent story […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow cover featuring Supergirl—Kara Zor-El—standing in front of imagery of space and a red sun while holding a sword above her head.

In the lower-left corner is a sorrowful image of a dark-haired girl named Ruthye, with Supergirl's dog—Krypto—on the right. Above are the silhouettes of two sword-fighters engaged in battle, and just below the red sun at the top is Supergirl's spaceship zooming through the background.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 19/07/2026

#02 (2026-07-18) #TheIncal Based on a failed Dune adaptation? John Di Fool—crude detective in a cyberpunk city—finds himself with a powerful, sentient artifact and becomes targeted by aliens, cultists, presidential clones, assassins, et al. There's […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The cover of graphic novel "The Incal" #1: The Black Incal.

Features a yellow background, writer and artist credits for Jodorowsky and Mœbius, and imagery of protagonist John Di Fool running alongside his alien bird companion Deepo, as they both try to escape five thin, robot arms that pursue them various sharp instruments.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 13/07/2026

I'm almost a quarter of the way through The Incal. The story is in constant motion, so I have to remind myself to slow down and take in the strange, often fascinating (and crowded) art. I can see how Miyazaki Hayao took inspiration from Mœbius' style […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A photo of a panel from The Incal, page 50. It features a jet-like black space ship escaping though a blockade, with a city and mobile station in the background consisting of highly detailed line art and simple coloring with clear contrast.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 12/07/2026

#01 (2026-07-09) #LegendsAndLattes I finished the main story back in April, and finally picked the book up again a few days ago to read the last few pages of the prequel story at the end. A very sweet, cozy, and queer story about Viv—an orcish former […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The cover of the novel "Legends & Lattes" by Travis Baldree. Features Viv—a muscular, light-green orc woman—and Tandri—a pink/magenta-skinned succubus with forehead horns, short hair, and east Asian features—standing behind the counter in a coffee shop with pastries visible in the foreground.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 07/07/2026

Microsoft is such a garbage fire of a company. 1600 people laid off in one day, and another 1600 to be laid off at some point in the near future. And they have the audacity to claim that Doom and Quake are going to be among their core game franchises […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of Scott Miller—Apogee and 3D Realms founder—quote-tweeting himself.

The quoted tweet is a screen from Doom II, where the shotgun-wielding player approaches a hanged Commander Keen. The image is accompanied by the text "I'm heartbroken."

The outer/quoting tweet states: "This post was about the insider news I got this morning that a majority of id's studio is being laid off, including most (if not all) coders."

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026

#03 (2026-06-26) #PokémonPokopia Started on the 10th. Finished the story on the 20th. Post-game quests on the 21st. Kept playing at least some each day since. It's nice to have one of these cozy games where there's a concrete, satisfying "ending" […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of my freshly created, human-shaped Ditto having their first encounter with a Tangrowth that will soon be known as the Professor of this game. They are cause inside a cave.

The Ditto, named Duplica after the Pokémon anime's human Copycat character, has a somewhat femme appearance with light skin, red "hair" in "buns", and a purple outfit.

The larger Tangrowth character, who looks like an enormous, living tumbleweed colored mostly white and desaturated blue, says:
"Wh-what was that? Who's there?!"

A screenshot where Duplica—now donning a ninja outfit and a hairstyle inspired by Misty from the original games—and Professor Tangrowth are standing outside of the ruins of a Pokémon Center and observing a Slowpoke as it lets out a huge yawn.

Slowpoke is a pink, quadrupedal pokémon with a face kind of like a cartoon bear and a thick, upturned, pointy tail.

A screenshot of Duplica meeting a Gardevoir in the ruins of a city. Gardevoir is a femme-coded, humanoid pokémon that looks like they have big, light-green hair and arms, as well as a long, flowy dress.

Gardevoir smiles at Duplica with their whole face and says:
"Why, hello there! I sensed a visitor, but I wasn't expecting one as adorable as you."

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 26/05/2026

#02 (2026-05-26) #ChronoTrigger Okay, it's just been 4½ months of nothing logged. I've actually played a lot of cozy life sim type stuff, and I'll be logging a few of those soon enough. But a few days ago I picked up playing Chrono Trigger again on […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The Chrono Trigger title screen on the Nintendo DS.

The word "Chrono" starts with a "C" stylized like a clock, the word "Trigger" is wave-shaped, and a clock pendulum hangs on the right side of the screen.

A screenshot from Chrono Trigger on the Nintendo DS, showing the scene where core protagonists Crono, Marle and Lucca first meet the "prehistoric" woman called Ayla.

Four pixel art characters are standing on a grassy field in front of a mountain wall. One of them—Marle—is emoting towards Crono and Lucca with her arms stretched out.

A screenshot of the Load Game screen.

Marle, Ayla and Lucca are shown to be in the party, with levels ranging from 70 to 72. Magus, Frog and Robo are shown to be in reserve, with levels between 61 and 66.

The total play time for this New Game+ save is shown as 10 hours and 30 minutes.

A screenshot of one of Chrono Trigger's many endings

Shown is just a black screen with white letters spelling out "THE END", and Marle standing on the bottom of the screen, just to the right of the text and facing away from the player.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 11/01/2026

#01 (2026-01-11) #PainkillerGoldEdition I adored the demo in the mid-00s, with its cool Bolt Gun physics, watching as monsters got nailed to walls in cool environments. Eventually bought the game in late 2008, and it became an early Backlog Game. Now […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A title card image for Painkiller: Gold Edition, snatched from SteamDB.

A three-quarter view of a frowning white man with angry eyebrows, dark hair, and lots of stubble. In the background is some sort of enormous, demonic creature with the lower part covered in orange-red fire, and a humanoid arm sticking up from the bottom edge while holding a large battle hammer.

A screenshot from Painkiller: Gold Edition.

The scene is some sort of mine-like area. Lots of browns and not much else. The player is holding some sort of shotgun while walking over an unstable-looking wooden bridge suspended over a dark abyss. Yellow torches illuminate wooden beams and the rock walls in the background.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 29/12/2025

Oops. Binged most of the #TerminatorZero #anime this evening. Not the worst #Terminator thing I've watched. The subtitles were pretty bad, though, frequently making characters swear uncharacteristically and messing up a line that was obviously […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot from an episode of the "Terminator Zero" Netflix anime.

An woman from the future, named Eiko, stands next to a little girl, named Reika, in front of a chrome wall with an open door leading into an elevator shaft.

Eiko's line is translated in the subtitles (and presumably the English dub) as "You can stay and die, or you can come with me", but obviously should have been "come with me if you want to live."

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 28/12/2025

Okay, the first episode was kind of dull, but #TombRaiderTheLegendOfLaraCroft quickly picked up steam afterwards. Also, this one woman in episode 2, I think, clearly had some very #sapphic feelings for Lara, and by episode 4 it's been confirmed that […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A scene from the "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft" Netflix series.

Lara is in a small, Chinese village, surrounded by its people. She bows in gratitude towards a local woman who had gifted her a piece of equipment.

The woman wears brown pants with a blue sash, a medium-sleeved white shirt, and a conical straw hat. Her brown hair has two braids, resting on both sides of her chest, and she is visibly blushing.

$A scene from the "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft" Netflix series. A continuation from the previous picture, taken a fraction of a second later. The Chinese woman has pulled down her hat with both index fingers to conceal her blushing, and is preparing to turn around and run away.$

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 04/12/2025

Got my copy of #MetroidPrime4Beyond delivered today, which... I could only really afford by selling off some other possessions. There wasn't an opportunity to play it today, though. Hopefully I can borrow my brother's Switch 2 tomorrow evening and give it a spin.

A photo of the inside of a red Nintendo box, with Mario art printed on it.

Inside the box is a Switch 2 Edition copy of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, alongside a bundle of stickers, and a small pouch containing a metal keyring.

Those items are resting on a large, folded playmat/mousemat.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 19/10/2025

Just played my first game of the #Nemesis #BoardGame with my brother and a friend. It actually went really well at first, as we managed to explore most of the spaceship without encountering a single intruder. Then, once we met our first, we made it […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The standard Nemesis board in mat form. Most rooms are revealed, and most corridors have yellow noise markers in them, but no intruder aliens have appeared yet.

A closer shot of the board, where my character is standing on the Command Center room tile, and an adult alien is surrounded by four locked doors as it stands injured in a burning Engine Control Room.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2025

I'm not normally one to take pictures like this, but I spotted this purple-flowered red clover(?) in a sea of fallen maple leaves, and it resonated with me. #nature #NaturePhotography #photography #flower #FlowerPhotography #flowers #wildflower #wildflowers #fall #autumn

A purple-flowered red clover growing on a lawn; surrounded by fallen maple leaves in shades of yellow, orange, red and brown.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2025

The CEO of BlueSky showing why you should leave BlueSky.

User @antioccident.bsky.social asking
"have y'all banned Jesse Singal yet or"

Followed by CEO @jay.bsky.team mockingly replying with
"WAFFLES"

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 15/08/2025

@amoebae.bsky.social Half-Life Platinum Pack and Prey Retail were CD key registrations, but the other 5 are my first Steam purchases.

A partial screenshot of the bottom of a Steam account's licenses and product key activations:

26 Nov, 2008 – Painkiller Gold Edition.
25 Dec, 2007 – The Orange Box.
25 May, 2007 – Prey Retail.
31 May, 2006 – Half-Life 2: Episode One.
30 Apr, 2006 – Sin Episode 1.
7 Oct, 2004 – Half-Life 2 Silver.
25 Sep, 2004 – Half-Life Platinum Pack.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 11/06/2025

Just played my first game on #MTGArena since Brothers' War, I think, so late 2022? It's #FinalFantasy season, after all, and I really just want to play the limited format. Built a kind of questionable blue-green deck with a focus on 4+ mana […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

The back side of the Magic: The Gathering card "Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant". This side of the card is called "Phoenix, Warden of Fire" and is a 4 power, 4 toughness, red and white Legendary Enchantment Creature – Saga Phoenix with flying and lifelink abilities.

The art portrays a phoenix firebird against a dark sky, surrounded by a ring of fire.

Reminder text below the name states:
"As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter."

The first two chapters state:
"Rising Flames — Phoenix deals 2 damage to each opponent."

The third chapter states:
"Flames of Rebirth — Return any number of target creature cards with total mana value 6 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Exile Phoenix, then return it to the battlefield."

The Magic: The Gathering card "Lousoix's Sacrifice". It's a rare Instant card with mana cost of one blue mana.

The art portrays Louisoix Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV, as he was when he attempted to stop the Primal Bahamut during the opening cinematic for A Realm Reborn.

Its rules text states:
"As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a legendary creature or pay 2 generic mana.

Counter target activated ability, triggered ability, or noncreature spell."

Its flavor text states, attributed to Alisaie Leveilleur:
"Thank you … for everything … Pray take your rest, Grandfather … You deserve it."

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2025

Watched the first two episodes of #Iyanu on YouTube. Had to go VPN mode for the second one. It's a cute show with good action sequences and seemingly strong storytelling and characterization. Wikipedia tells me the show's world is inspired by the […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 02/05/2025

Played a game of #MagicTheGathering #Commander with my Obuun deck, against The Wise Mothman, Maelstrom Wanderer, and #Saheeli, Radiant Creator. After the Saheeli player got knocked out by radiation, after a few energy-fueled board-bounces, I managed […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2025

It's a crime against me, specifically, that #WizardsOfTheCoast commissioned this gorgeous #NissaRevane and #ChandraNalaar art and didn't actually print it on a physical, paper #MagicTheGathering card. #gruulfriends #sapphic #wlw

The digital-only Magic: The Gathering card "Wish Good Luck", featuring artwork of Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane. They smile at each other and Chandra holds Nissa's left arm as Nissa holds some sort of golden trinket in her right hand.

The card is a Sorcery from the digital Alchemy 25 expansion. One red and one green mana to create a Food token, create a tapped Treasure token, and create a 3/2 colorless Vehicle artifact with crew 1. (Which features Akira-inspired art of Chandra.)

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2025

Three days ago was the 30th anniversary of the original release of #ChronoTrigger. That's probably my cue to finally replay the game for the first time since the DS release was new (in 2009 or so). And then finally play #ChronoCross all the way […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

Official art of the Chrono Trigger cast of characters on a blank background.

Most, prominent, on the right-hand side, is spiky-haired protagonist, Crono.

Further back, from right to left, are secondary protagonist and princess, Marle; chunky robot friend, Robo; best science girl, Lucca; cavewoman bombshell, Ayla; and lastly the knightly Frog... who is a frog.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 04/03/2025

D#09 (2025-03-04) #HighEloGirls #demo Another #VisualNovel, and in this one you're a girl who gets scouted as a substitute player for what is basically a #DotA / #LeagueOfLegends esports team. The demo lets you choose between two characters to sub* […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the High Elo Girls demo release title screen.

Six girls stand atop a cliff covered in decorative stone and grass with a pillar that has a golden circle and a pointy crystal floating above it. In the background, a regular modern-day city is visible with high-rise buildings.

The girls in question (from left to right) are...

1) Athletic-looking Kae; blue-haired DPS player with a very punky appearance, the palest skin of the bunch, and a lot of attitude

2) Stout and kind-looking Seneschal, with brown skin and slightly darker brown hair, wearing what looks like workout clothes

3) The main character, whom you can name freely; a freckled black girl who dropped out of school around a year ago. Braided, dark red pigtails and looks like she's wearing lighter workout clothes along with a black and orange cap.

4) Jungle-player Grace. East Asian with sharp glasses and a blue suit with a knee-length skirt.

5) Daphne, who plays mid. Orange hair, green eyes, and lots of freckles. Wears a magenta-adjacent tank top, while the rest of her outfit is in a darker, slightly blueish green: a choker, a skirt, high-heeled shoes, and thigh-high socks.

6) Last is Toya, the top, who's the smallest of the group, a fellow black girl, and has a dark pixie cut. She wears a pale pink sweater, a pale but dark purple skirt, dark leggings, and shoes in two shades of pink. Four multi-colored star shapes hang down on the side of her skirt, from underneath her sweater.

A screenshot of one of the High Elo Girls "Reckoners of Forsaken Lands" map screens.

It's very familiar to anyone who has played a MOBA like DotA or League of Legends, with the two teams having their respective bases in the bottom-left and top-right corners of the map.

Three primary paths (top, mid, bottom) connect the two bases, with protective towers placed along the way, as well as some smaller paths through the "jungle" and a river crossing the map diagonally from top-left to bottom-right.

The main character narrates:
"I touch down in the Wasteland with a Tank Reckoner, a sturdy laner with strong teamwide engage to make up for his lack of damage."

A screenshot of High Elo Girls demo.

Here the main character, named Madelyn in my case, is crying happy tears (bottom-left) after receving some words of affirmation from other mom (middle), who is crossing her arms and grinning.

They're both standing in their kitchen, which is presented almost in pale grayscale (with the night sky visible through the window), and the mom is wearing a yellow dress with a blue flower pattern.

A screenshot of High Elo Girls demo.

Chatting with Toya, who goes by gateauchan on the chat service, the main character stares wide-eyed at a selfie from the other girl. In the picture, Toya is wearing a full set of cosplay plate armor, what looks like a fur collar, a blonde wig, and an eye-patch over her right eye.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 03/03/2025

D#08 (2025-03-03) #Peripeteia #demo I'm not entirely sure what to say about this one. You are a cyborg named Marie who wakes up on a scrap heap, much to the disappointment of the guy who bought you with the intent to scrap you for parts. Since he […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the Peripeteia demo title screen.

It's very green. Green sky, green menu elements. Contrasted with black buildings.

A screenshot of the Peripeteia demo.

This shows the inventory system on the left (a grid where items and weapons acquired can be rotated to fit next to each other) as well as the character's status on the right (in the form of a cute, green, Fallout-esque woman with a circle of abilities surrounding her Vitruvian-like pose).

The environment visible in the background is a lot of green and brown junk and steel surfaces.

A screenshot of the Peripeteia demo.

The main character, Marie, speaking to an NPC called Gardener, about growing crops in an old indoors swimming pool.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 03/03/2025

D#07 (2025-03-03) #KathyRain2 #demo I loved the original #KathyRain, by #ClifftopGames here in Sweden, so of course I was going to make sure I played this #NextFest demo of the sequel! It's a strong start, for sure. A serial killer has recently […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer Next Fest demo title screen.

The overall scene shows the titular Kathy riding her motorcycle in the rain, with a couple of cars and a cityscape visible in the background.

The is in white with gold outlines and the menu is yellow/gold text on a dark background with a metal-looking pixel art frame. The menu alternatives are "New Game", "Load Game", "Options" and "Quit".

A line at the bottom states,
"v. 0.0.9.2763 Demo — PRE-RELEASE, NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF FINAL GAME"

Kathy, a young woman with shoulder-length blue hair with red streaks, wears a white shirt, light blue jeans, black boots, a black leather jacket, and a red scarf. She also has visible piercings in her left ear and next to her left eyebrow.

She's standing her her messy living area right next her private investigator's office, looking at a few helmets on one of her shelves, and saying:
"Extra helmets. Eileen used to wear one of them when we... well, back when things were different."

(Personal note: I'm intrigued about what was going on between Kathy and Eileen.)

Kathy is sitting in front of the computer in this very brown 1998 library, with a printer right next to her.

A close-up of a piece of obsidian on the floor of a cottage out in the woods.

Kathy looks astonished/surprised and states:
"Whoa... It's an obsidian shard. This must be from the mirror left at the murder scene!"

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 03/03/2025

D#06 (2025-03-03) #FatalTwelve #demo In contrast to the previous game demo I played, this one is a #VisualNovel with a very compelling narrative. Gameplay-wise, choices were *very* limited, though, so I don't know how much you can influence the […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the Fatal Twelve demo.

Pictures is the inside of a subway or train car, with bright light shining through the windows on both the left and the right, and the door leading to another car off in the background.

On the left is Naomi; an insecure-looking, teenage girl with dark pink hair, green eyes and glasses. She's wearing a school uniform that looks to consist of a white dress shirt, a black vest with four gold-colored buttons placed vertically on either side of its front, as well as a black skirt with a horizontal, white line towards the lower end of it. Part of the uniform is also a thin and loose red ribbon tied around her neck.

On the right is Rinka, our main playable character, who is also a teenage girl but has red eyes and black hair with golden streaks in it. Instead of the vest, she's wearing a red jacket that's hanging down off her shoulders and goes down almost as far as her skirt. Her ribbon looks sloppily tied and hangs even looser than Naomi's.

Rinka is about to reach for Nami, shouting her name, as something bad is about to happen...

A screenshot of the Fatal Twelve demo. Pictured is a very emotional Miharu, from Rinka's perspective, sitting on a bench while tugging at the sleeve of Rinka's jacket to get her to stay.

Miharu has long, blonde hair and amber eyes, an artificial blue flower behind her left ear, and a golden necklace with a pear in it around her neck. She's wearing a relatively low-cut blue top with long sleeves, a white belt with a golden buckle, and a black skirt that is significantly longer in the back than the front.

Miharu is saying "What I wanted to say earlier was--" before being interrupted.

It seems very clear that Miharu has romantic feelings for Rinka, which also manifests in angry jealousy directed towards Rinka's other friend, Naomi, who might very well have similar feelings.

A screenshot of the Fatal Twelve demo.

Pictured is a villainous smuggler named Odette Malencon, who is a brown-skinned Frenchwoman with blue eyes and short, black-adjacent purple hair; some of which has been braided on her left side with a pair of blue hair-ties that look like jewels.

She's wearing a semi-transparent, very low-cut black dress with an additional, diamond-shaped boob window, as well as a black leather jacket over her shoulders and a black choker with a shiny metal ring attached to it at the front.

Odette has very triangular-looking teeth and sharp eyes to emphasize her ruthlessness, but in the screenshot she's busy gorging on Chinese food (especially Peking Duck) in a restaurant in Beijing. The background is mostly in browns and golds with a potted green plant on the very left side of the picture.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 24/02/2025

I just found out there's a gay magical girl version of Venom. Ellie Ellison AKA Necroko of Earth-41459

Variant edition cover art of Death of the Venomverse #4

Pictured is the Venom magical girl Necroko, wearing a black dress with purple ruffles and bows. Her face is a stylized Venom face with black "skin", a grin with zigzaggy teeth, and big, white eyes concealed partly by her enormous, pink hair that forms two fluffy pigtails that float upwards into the air.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 20/02/2025

Entire Kindle/Comixology #ebook collection (nearly 1000 books) downloaded: ☑ Collection stripped of DRM and converted to EPUB format so it can be backed up properly: ☑ Collection sorted by series: ☑ Comic books stripped of unnecessary HTML, CSS […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of a folder in the GNOME file browser. It contains sub-folders for the various Spider-Gwen comic runs from 2015 through 2021, prefixed with the publishing years so they're ordered correctly.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 13/02/2025

D#05 (2024-02-13) #FantasianNeoDimension #demo Disclosure: I've never played a #Mistwalker game before. I have a Limited Edition copy of #TheLastStory, but the disc has never left its case. This, though? The art is gorgeous, for sure. I'd love to […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension demo. This is from a tutorial boss fight, where Leo (amnesiac main character) fights a giant, laser-blasting, betentacled robot after it was temporarily disabled in a previous battle.

Leo, standing next to his two small, robot companions, has a speech bubble saying "You're kidding me... It's already fixed?!"

A screenshot of the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension demo. This is from a cutscene during the first encounter with a group calling themselves the Cinderella Tri-Stars. They're a group of seemingly flower-themed and very flamboyant troublemakers.

I can't really remember their names, except for Dotty, who is the group's muscle himbo. The other guy (unless there's some intentional nonbinary coding going on) is slim and on the softer side, while the presumed leader is a girlboss with metal claws on her gauntlets.

They're all dressed in red and black, while the background is in a bit of a rainbow gradient (from orange to red to magenta to blue)

A screenshot of the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension demo. This shows off one of the beautiful diorama sets, as Leo and his first proper companion, Kina, have just entered a forest.

One dirty path proceeds from the bottom towards the top of the screen, while another splits off diagonally towards the upper-left corner. The diorama production method really gives the trees a kind of stylized realness: they look like they have volume and layers.

Unfortunately my timing was terrible, so part of the screen is covered by an empty speech bubble that just started rendering.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 11/02/2025

D#04 (2025-02-11) #ChantsOfSennaar #demo A #PointAndClick #puzzle #AdventureGame focused on figuring out a fictional language as you progress through a story seemingly focused on devotees of a sun god. I had fun with the demo, and I'm both looking […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot from the Chants of Sennaar demo. The player character encounters a stranger in what seems to be a complex aqueduct facility, where turquoise water needs to be drained from the yellow-orange stone structures in order to clear a way to the door at the end.

The stranger speaks in a language the player doesn't understand, and it's up to the player to use the contexts of the glyphs displayed throughout the scenes to figure out their meaning.

A screenshot from the Chants of Sennaar demo. This shows a close-up of a lever and a sign with two "labels" that represent the upright and lowered states of said lever.

Both labels feature two glyphs; one of which is shared between both labels. As this is a lever that opens and closes a door, it is easy to conclude that the common glyph means "door" and that the other two represent the open or closed states of it.

A screenshot from the Chants of Sennaar demo. Shown is a book with a series of illustrations of one of the devotees making different gestures. (Waving, pointing away from themselves, and pointing at themselves.)

At this point, it's up to the player to connect each illustration with a glyph, and if successful determine the meaning of those glyphs.

The player is also always free to attach a note to each glyph if they think they've figured out the meaning from context clues, but the true meaning is only locked in after completing one of these two-page spreads in the notebook.

A screenshot from the Chants of Sennaar demo. This picture shows a view of the outside of the walled city the game seems to take place within.

The player character stands on a terrace with some green palm trees around it, with a the enormous yellow walls of the city taking up half of the screen space behind it. Further beyond the walls, on the right-hand side of the screen, you can see the orange-brown desert with a bluish-green sky and a couple of drifting clouds above. In the distance, a flock of birds fly across that sky.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 10/02/2025

D#03 (2025-02-10) #DropDuchy #demo My kind of game! #Tetris #roguelike #DeckBuilder where you move along a path on the map to access trade or exploration opportunities. You explore areas via a Tetris game, where the tiles are made up of either woods […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot from the Drop Duchy demo. The image shows a finished round of the Tetris gameplay, with a Wood Clearer building tile on the left that has turned a chunk of wood tiles into plains tiles, and a Farm building tile on the right that has turned four adjacent plains tiles into farmland.

The results text on the left-hand side shows that 106 wood and 153 wheat were collected throughout the round. 50 wood was collected by the Wood Clearer and the rest of the resources from exploration (i.e. completing rows of tiles).

A screenshot from the Drop Duchy demo. It's another round summary screen, but this time it features military buildings as it involved a battle.

In addition to collecting resources as usual, the goal is to place tiles (including both your own and the enemy's military buildings) so as to maximize unit production for your own side and minimize them for the opponent. E.g., if an opponent's building wants to cut down forests to produce units, you'll want to try to surround it with plains instead.

The military units come in three flavors: sword, axe or arrows. They have a rock-paper-scissors relationship, where axes gain a bonus against swords, swords against arrows, and arrows against axes.

A screenshot from the Drop Duchy demo. This image shows the player's board game piece moving across the map towards a building with a hammer icon floating above it.

The game map, which you proceed through mostly linearly but with branching path, can contain locations for you to explore (via Tetris), or various types of buildings or towns where you can purchase items, receive gifts, or trade.

A screenshot from the Drop Duchy demo. This image shows "The Wall", which is the boss battle at the end of the demo campaign.

It shows some information about the forest and plains resources available in the location, as well as the boss's military strength.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 09/02/2025

D#02 (2025-02-09) #Cairn #demo It's a mountain-climbing game where you play as a woman named Aava who plans to ascend mount Kami. The demo features a climbing gym with a series of training walls. Reaching the goal for the first three lets you […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the Cairn demo. It shows a 2D representation of the inside of Aava's backpack, with a bunch of water, food, snacks and medicine taking up space inside it. I'm unsure how involved the inventory management gets in the full game.

A screenshot of the Cairn demo. Aava is standing next to a set of tan-colored climbing walls while wearing her enormous backpack.

A screenshot of the Cairn demo. Aava is ascending the first proper rock wall in the game and has almost reached the top. The game didn't really explain the mechanics of climbing beyond the walls, so I assumed that trying to place her limbs on cracks, bumps and outcroppings and that seemed to work.

There is an advanced mode when you choose which limbs to move manually, while the standard (recommended) mode picks one automatically. At times, it felt like I would have enjoyed the advanced mode more, but probably not much.

It's okay to accept that something is good but not for you.

A screenshot of the Cairn demo. It's the inside of Aava's bivouac tent as she's sleeping through the night while bathed in warm, orange light.

Sleeping recovers health, but the tent it also used for cooking, repairing equipment, recycling trash, or just sitting around and having a nice time.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 02/02/2025

@Krux_22 Vill säga att en WASD-ikon är rätt bra, även om den inte representerar alla genrer.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 21/01/2025

#01 (2025-01-20) #SonicOrigins This is technically 4-5 games, depending on how you count Sonic 3 & Knuckles, that I finished over the last week or so? This was my first time finishing #SonicCD, and I *have* finally gained an appreciation for the […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the "original" Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Origins on the Switch.

I'm playing as Amy Rose and taking a ride on a block on top of a magma spout in the Marble Zone. Aside from the yellow-orange-red lava and the green push-block, it's all very purple: the platforms and ceiling are purple bricks, and the background is darker purple bricks with barred windows.

A screenshot of Sonic the Hedgehog CD in Sonic Origins on the Switch.

This scene features Sonic staring down a (for the time) very unique-looking Robotnik/Eggman, who had a very distinctly different head and body shape compared to the other 16-bit games. Which is kinda of funny, given that the game otherwise seemed to mostly recycle Sonic's sprite frames from the first game.

Also unlike the other games of the era, where the games were typically divided into themed "Zones" which were split across 2 to 3 "Acts" (i.e. levels), Sonic CD instead deals with themed "Rounds" which each have three "Zones" (levels). Due to the game's time travel mechanics, Zones 1 and 2 of each Round has four versions: past, present, bad future, and good future. Zone 3 always takes place in the future you've created.

This particular screenshot is taken in the Good Future version of Zone 3 of Tidal Tempest (i.e. the water world). Much of the geometry is build from magenta/pink blocks decorated with strange angles and bright circles, as well as glass-like trimmings and machines with plants growing out of them.

A screenshot of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in Sonic Origins on the Switch.

A lot of people consider Sonic 2 to be their favorite of the original trilogy/quadrilogy, but while I recognize its solid design... I have since childhood always been bothered by two things: the lack of save files for such a relatively long game, which of course contributes to its difficulty, and also the unfairly punishing and finicky final boss.

So this screenshot has Sonic facing off against the Death Egg Robo at the end of the Death Egg Zone. Despite how long it's been since I last played this game, I quickly mastered the battle against Mecha Sonic to the point that I consistently beat him with about 16 seconds on the timer.

With the Death Egg Robo, however, I died over and over and over to the point where it was frustrating despite that you don't have to worry about extra lives in this version. (I imagine it's significantly easier as Amy, though.)

You always start the zone with 0 rings, so any bit of damage will instantly send you back to the beginning, and the battle against the Robo is a dance where you have to memorize its movement and attack patterns while also making sure that you always attack from the right angles, with the right momentum, at the right time.

A screenshot of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles in Sonic Origins on the Switch.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles has been my favorite game in the series since it released. It has my favorite special stages, solid and distinct levels with interesting ways to traverse through them and cool set pieces, and the graphical overhaul from previous games just oozes style. The save files also made it much more approachable.

Unfortunately, it also feels like S3&K got the worst treatment of the games in Origins. They fixed a few rather harmless bugs from the original version, but in exchange they kind of messed up the physics a bit and introduced a whole slew of new ones. Including a few instances where just running into stationary objects caused instant death crushing damage.

This screenshot in particular is of a bug of the funnier variety. After defeating the mini-boss (by letting it attempt to crush Sonic) at the end of Lava Reef Act 1, Sonic didn't revert from his Hyper state as the "got through act" status screen went up (visible in the picture). His ring count continued to tick down, and he still had his Hyper palette and effects.

Once Act 2 started up properly, Sonic's rings got set to 0 and he reverted to his regular form, but at this point the bug had messed with the effect of the Thunder Shield he had acquired. He took damage as normal, but permanently had the double-jump ability and attracted nearby rings without any visible shield.

Picking up a different shield fixed things.

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 18/01/2025

I think the layout for www.jedimb.net is good enough that I can move on to content and save further design work for later. The menu button for the mobile version of the site is three animating lightsabers! #webdev #webdesign

A screenshot of the mobile version of my website. The text content is irrelevant, but it has a somewhat peculiar-looking hamburger menu button.

Another screenshot of the website. After clicking the hamburger button, the lines contorted and changed color so they became glowing lightsabers in red, green and blue!

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 10/01/2025

D#01 (2025-01-10) #ArtisImpact #demo I'm... not sure what to think about this #JRPG demo. Developed by a studio called Mas, the pixel art is really stylish and incredibly fluid, while the dialogue boxes and their generic fonts clash completely with […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

A screenshot of the Artis Impact demo, with the main character, Akane, standing outside of her house. She has silver hair, dresses in all black, and swing around an oversized Japanese sword. So she's very Sephiroth in surface-level appearance, but not so much in behavior.

In the screenshot, she asks her robot companion "Can you pinpoint where the sound came from?"

A screenshot of the Artis Impact demo's equipment screen, with a full-body, monochrome drawing of Akane and a list of her stats and equipment.

A screenshot of the Artis Impact demo's combat screen, where Akane wields her blade against a cute little box robot on legs, with assistance from her own robot companion.

For some reason, the background is rather detailed but grayscale brick wall. The texel/pixel sizes vary wildly in this game.

A screenshot of the Artis Impact demo, where Akane has just carried a 120 kg orb from a dungeon and dropped it on the floor at her employer's HQ... creating a dent and large cracks in said floor.

Her friend and coworker, Len, looks horrified and exclaims "Did you carry it all the way back from the Maze? This thing weighs over 120kg!"

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J M Berntson @jedimb.mastodon.gamedev.place.ap.brid.gy · 27/11/2024

[Amphibia spoilers, unofficial merch] For fans of #Amphibia who'd like to see/own a bit of (unofficial) merch... there's a Kickstarter running for another 24 days, featuring PVC figures of the "Calamity Trio" in their Calamity forms […] [Original post on mastodon.gamedev.place]

Kickstarter banner for the "Calamity Collectibles" PVC figures of the three Main Girls from Disney's Amphibia cartoon, in their "Calamity" forms.

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