iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thank you, and thank you for being such a good friend the past year!! You rock sis ❤️🔥

010

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thank you so much!!! Its been so much fun tuning into your streams or vods when im able, thank you for playing ❤️

110

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thank you!!! It maybe doesnt sound like much but it's a big barrier many of my favorite games have never breached, so its really weird to have made a game that has. As for the cube, go kick it's ass!!!

120

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thank you so much!!!! Also I want to say how grateful I am for all the nice things you had to say about the game, both last year and in the noclip pod's GOTY talk earlier this year.

120

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's WILD to think that this stupid climbing game idea that is basically just an excuse for me to shove every fixation and dumb idea into has come this far... I am just so so SO humbled by it all.

0360

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

and thats just english language if you look at all languages it's 15k 🤯 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

1330

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

aaaaaaaa wuckle hit 10k overwhelmingly positive steam reviews aaaaaaaaa yall thats fucking nuts what

1719926

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

werty @wertyiscoolness.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

some White Knuckle renders ive made recently

1288

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

TrashQwn @trashqwn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I AM GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, EVEN IF I WANNA PISS MYSELF twitch.tv/trashqwn

Beans the Possum standing in a new section of White Knuckle lovingly named the Body Cavity. They are backlit by one of the new entities, appearing to be an angry pile of rusted gears. Full of fear.

0357

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

Vex🐲✨🃏 @vexplays.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

White Knuckle has a lot of lore documents you can ready, some reaching 20+ pages... So I read a 9 page legal document! Enjoy this bonus vid. #whiteknuckle #gaming #youtube youtu.be/1wB-RKWNb78

youtu.be

Reading an entire legal document | White Knuckle Bonus | Vex Reads

YouTube video by Vex Plays

1143

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

Panic @decisivepanic.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

New Video. This time we're talking about the design of stealth games. youtu.be/OZL18nP0GI8

youtu.be

Stealth Games Are Flawed (And Hard To Fix)

YouTube video by Panic

263

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Just landed in Seattle for PAX West!! Going to be hanging around the DreadXP booth most of Saturday if anyone wants to drop by, but ill probably be around a bit Friday and Sunday too! I have some wuckle pins to hand out too! Hopefully enough!

1300

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Next up: February 2025, and the rest of Habitation.

2110

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

January was also when we started working with our publisher DreadXP in a formal capacity. It was fun getting into the routine of development; adding features, meeting with the team, talking to Dread about our plans and what we needed.. It didn't feel real. It still doesn't, I think.

1150

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

During January I also worked on the big new systems coming with Early Access: Perks and Saves! The foundation for both came together over the course of the month, but would continue to be worked on until the launch of early access.

1120

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Hab was not about simply climbing faster to get away, You could take your time in places, you could explore and find secrets, and you never knew what would be around the next corner. Our vision of Habitation shifted to a place that let us explore a variety of different gameplay styles in wuckle.

1120

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

How did we do that? We put him in a pitch dark elevator shaft of course, one that required you to pull out your flashlight to recharge it, or your flare gun to scare Teeth off. It was an eye opening moment for us, I think, in terms of informing the variety we could push region to region.

Another image of Service shaft, while the player holds a flashlight.

An in-blender image of a service shaft level before being brought into unity.

1140

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

So, to make him work, we put him in a big vertical shaft. This ended up being a blessing in many ways, since not only did it reduce the complexity of our plans but it also let Teeth act as a filter, a filter that demanded players get accustomed to inventory manipulation mid climbs.

1140

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

His role in the game had to be repeatedly stripped back because as a small indie team with limited time and resources making a climbing enemy that could chase the player through the varied complex environments that the game offered was just way too daunting.

1130

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

January was also the month where I worked on Teeth, one of the main antagonist enemies stalking you through part of Hab. Teeth was, to be frank, a nightmare to design.

Early Teeth clambering around a dev environment

1160

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

There's some fun stuff too, like a long process for figuring out the main factions in the game's world and their history. I went through a ton of different logos for the SRA, the agency which long ago controlled the superstructure. Many of the ones not chosen would be reused for other sub-orgs, etc.

Various logos that I developed while exploring what I would want for the final Superstructure Research Authority organization.

Some of the others would be re-used for various other sub-entities within the game, from human noetic/psionic research departments to highly classified [REDACTED], I love elements about a lot of these.

1170

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This was also a period of formalization for the game itself, for its lore, for it's codebase. Turning a weird little demo into a full game necessitated ripping out much of the og codebase to de-spaghettify, and we talked a lot about what kind of story we actually wanted to tell.

2150

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Been a busy week, but here's a dev screenshot from January of 2025. This was the first month I was able to full time development of the game, and I dove headfirst into content and features that we would need in the full game.

1150

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Daily Wuckle Screenshot: 01/13/2025 [HABITATION]

Service Shaft, the first new subregion coming with Habitation and Early Access

2412

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

Hyperstrange @hyperstrangesa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

DERELIKT demands you press forward. But with the right gear in hand, old corridors hold buried secrets. 😮 Watch the latest environment showcase for a closer look at the sectors you'll explore. 🪐 #DERELIKT #RetroFPS #PS1 #IndieGame @visuwyg.bsky.social

18621

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thanks for the kind words <3 and hey getting those marionette hands is a real challenge, fantastic work!!!

010

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Up next: January 2025. A new year, a publisher, and full time development!

0150

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

When Jack came back after that weekend, he was flabbergasted at the amount of work we had done. That's a memory I look fondly on! I love the Chimney as an area, and it has let me live my fantasy as a designer that makes silly seasonal events. Looking forward to many more silly seasonal events!!!

1160

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

It was no small amount of content. Because I wanted it to kinda satiate the growing community who were really desiring new areas to play in (and considering it would be many months before early access), I made the areas *hard*; designed for players who had mastered the demo and wanted more.

1110

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I wanted to do a seasonal event, and while Jack was out me and Quinn *kinda* lost our minds and developed an entirely new mode with new hazards, levels, and items over the course of a single weekend. They worked on the reskin/new item art, and I worked on everything else.

Chimney development screenshot in blender, with no lighting.

Spritesheet for a grub with a santa hat.

Chimney level with 'k coolant', the mass equivalent for the area.

2160

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

It was a super productive month, but no week was more productive, nor more unhinged, than the week before Christmas...

1120

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I also began the main new system coming with the early access game: The computer, and Perks! I started out by porting my OS systems from a previous game project (Which we internally called Bunker)

Early in game computer, with various windows open.

The early computer, set in Interlude Lockdown.

1160

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Missed a day since I've been very busy! Back to the topic at hand: wuckle dev history. Through december we spent the month really ramping up production of the third region of the game, Quinn was working on the new item and denizen art. I worked on props and textures, and wrapping up extra levels.

Concept art for the Vent Things, by Quinn

1180

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Daily Wuckle Screenshot: 12/15/2024 [HOLIDAYS]

White Knuckle's Chimney seasonal event. A cold concrete structure.

3405

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

root @freshroots.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Hi, I made a steam page for my game, Soft Ruin. If it seems interesting, please consider giving it a wishlist. Thanks! store.steampowered.com/app/2882230/...

873133974

Reposted by Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist

Hollyrious 💗💎 @holly.bsky.zoner.work · 26/08/2026

holy wow my hands ache but 115k in ladder, beat my friend's score, beat my personal best, 15th on the global leaderboard, owie 🤯 #whiteknuckle #wuckle

White Knuckle escape screen showing a score of 6.6 million and a distance of 115 thousand meters after a 2 hour and 54 minute run

0225

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Within a month of the demo being out we had nearly hit 20,000 wishlists. I can't tell you all how appreciative I am of everyone who has supported us at any step of the way. Seeing all the fan art, all the jokes, all the love and effort and *everything*. I am forever grateful of it all. love yall <3

1170

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

In any case, things were moving forward. It was, ultimately, a cooling off month as we figured out how the hell we were going to make this demo a full game. In celebration of the game's success so far, my spouse made an adorable little crochet gold roach. I cried when they showed it to me

3211

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

We ended up talking to many publishers, big and small. Our favorite from the bunch was our current publisher (DreadXP). There's a really funny story about how we got in contact with them outside of their showcase, and the circuitous journey that sent us on, but I think that's a post for another day.

1100

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Quinn got started on the planned items and some concepts for the new area. We weren't sure what the timeline was going to be, WK was still a side thing for us after all, but I was optimistic that maybe with the Patreon or if we found a publisher I could make it something more real.

Quinn's 3d model for the flare gun coming with the third region.

Another early concept from Quinn for the pre-destruction version of White Knuckle's third region: Habitation.

1100

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

In short, to continue from yesterday's post the demo was a success! Over the course of November we watched the game grow as we shifted our focus onto the next region: Habitation. I also spent the month fixing loooots of bugs and generally interacting with the amazing growing community

A Pipeworks level I had started work on to fill out the region more for the full game.

190

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Honestly the main reason I wanted a grapple hook was because I have opinions on what makes a good grapple hook in a game and wanted to implement my ideal version lol Originally, we were thinking of giving the player a hook in the final region of the game, but settled on making it a side item!

110

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I know this is less gamedev heavy than the others, but that's kinda how October was!! Next Up: November 2024!

1221

Holly @ PAX - Wuckle Scientist @jonka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Three days after the showcase, Alpha Beta Gamer did a video on the game. He was a big youtuber we had all watched, so it was a shock. Things picked up wildly after that, and less than a month later I was considering quitting my full time job. But that's a story for another day! (tomorrow)

4240