iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Man I really fumbled not submitting Guinea Pig Gunner for @gdocexpo.com this year. Ah well, live and learn!

Reposted by John Watson

Softpale Games Indie Hub @softpalegames.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Indie Game Coming Soon Game - Guinea Pig Gunner Play as a cyborg guinea pig armed with a throwable teleporter in a fast 2D run-and-gun. Release Date: 21 Sep, 2026 Wishlist Guinea Pig Gunner on Steam. store.steampowered.com/app/3996660 #indiegames #steamgames #indiedev

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Two (2) positive Steam reviews for Guinea Pig Gunner so far! Onward and upward! 📈 store.steampowered.com/app/3996660/...

Steam review except: GPG is incredibly endearing and it made me excited to see what will come next with this really solid foundation of dialed in and responsive movement mechanics mixed with classic run and gun gameplay that feels like a heartfelt love letter to the likes of both Sonic the Hedgehog and Contra. If you want to form your own opinion, the short and skinny is that you should check it out and see it through to the end.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Seeing people log multiple hours of playtime in just the past day since shipping is really validating. My game design is resonating with people. 🥲

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Just shipped my first Steam game today and already thinking about the next one. Making games is fun!

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

18 months and 25,000 lines of GDScript later, Guinea Pig Gunner is launched today! Taking this from a quirky little experimental action/puzzle platformer on my hard drive to a full-fledged Steam release has been quite the journey. store.steampowered.com/app/3996660/... #indiegames #gamedev #godot

store.steampowered.com

Save 15% on Guinea Pig Gunner on Steam

Play as a cyborg guinea pig armed with a throwable teleporter in a fast 2D run-and-gun. Blink through walls, telefrag enemies, chain acrobatic movement, and tear through an arsenal of weapons to stop ...

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Reposted by John Watson

Joe Wintergreen @joewintergreen.com · 20/09/2026

no game dev skill is more important than making up your fuckin mind

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Adriaan @adriaan.games · 17/09/2026

Godot contributors and Godot Foundation people are really good people, ya’ll. There’s so much goodwill and best effort action, many of their efforts unpaid, under-appreciated, and invisible. Please continue to send them kindness. And donate a bit of what you can spare. fund.godotengine.org

fund.godotengine.org

Godot Development Fund

Join the Development Fund and support the Godot Foundation to work on Godot Engine.

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Reposted by John Watson

BAD Collective @badcollective.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

ICYMI: Playtesting & Pints this past Saturday! Thanks again to everyone who came out to play an #indiegame or two and every #indiedev who showed a game! (If you missed out: don't worry, there'll be another one soon enough!)

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I added a cool "materialization" effect to the teleporter gun in Guinea Pig Gunner. Shaders are fun! Should I do a devlog about it? Check out the demo and add it to your wishlist! #wishlistwednesday store.steampowered.com/app/3996660/... #indiegames #steam #indiedev #gamedev

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matthew | ENCHAIN out NOW @mattlawr.dev · 17/08/2026

speedrun of a challenge trial from the recent patch. time trials are not a focus but they highlight the game's movement. the past two updates I have made these trials more robust, so they'll be simple to setup in new areas. only thing missing is some kind of replay ghost system...

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Makkon @makkon.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

yall should get South of Midnight now. it's self-published by Compulsion Games, microsoft is out of the picture. they could use the support! store.steampowered.com/app/1934570/...

store.steampowered.com

South of Midnight on Steam

South of Midnight is a new action-adventure from Compulsion Games. Explore the mythos and confront mysterious creatures of the Deep South in this modern folktale while learning to weave an ancient pow...

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

If Half-Life took place today Gordon Freeman would have been born after Half-Life came out. You’re welcome.

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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 07/08/2026

This isn't about games but same for games. Please don't let anyone tell you you're doing creative things "wrong", including myself. You're not here to make my things, or their things, you're here to make your things. Feedback is just another perspective - believe in yourself.

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Luke Reilly @i2games.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It’s #WishlistWednesday! ✅ Reply with ONLY your game's name and the storefront link. 🔀 Repost this Let's share and help spread some Indie love! � #indiedev #indiegames #gamedev #madewithunity #art

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𝕵𝖎𝖒𝖒𝖞 𝕸𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖈𝖊 @jimmymakepeace.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

the bullies at school keep making me squeeze through narrow gaps so that they can seamlessly integrate cutscenes into gameplay without a loading screen.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Why can’t my game get the same kind of motion as this bullshit comment I left on TikTok a month ago 😭

Screenshot of a TikTok comment saying, “Heels to nuts is crazy”

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Me with “Halo isn’t good anymore” video essays

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Reposted by John Watson

Dan Marshall @danthat.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Godot's rise is something I've seen a lot of behind the scenes lately. If you're a jobbing coder, it's definitely worth spending some evenings getting to grips with it so you can slap it on your CV. Lots of indie/ AA titles are gravitating towards it.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I was being hyperbolic. Just fixed a boundary break bug. The teleporter gives more edge cases to worry about.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Pro-tip: if you’re thinking about designing a game with a teleporter gun mechanic, don’t 🫩

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Random grunt marked as friendly in the Truth and Reconciliation mission of Halo: Campaign Evolved, lol (a marine scolded me for taking him out 🥲)

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Just realized that shader compilation eats into your refund time grace period on Steam. Clever bastards.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

New Guinea Pig Gunner trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQrR... Wishlist and grab the demo if you haven't already! store.steampowered.com/app/3996660/... #indiedev #gamedev #indiegames

youtube.com

Guinea Pig Gunner Gameplay Trailer

YouTube video by Glowmatic

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Chasm of Xal’ Goroth is kinda like “hey what if Doom was Myst for a while” and honestly I’m here for it

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

As a lifelong fan of Doom and Quake the news about id Software is heartbreaking. I'm sure it's wishful thinking but if there was some way for them to band together and create something new, I'd love to see what a team of that caliber can create independently.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Discord (in bio) is probably the easiest. Or shoot me a dm here if you want. Or support at glowmatic dot net.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Not really. It’s a common pattern in Godot to make component-ish child nodes. Godot itself does it with stuff like CollisionShape2D. I use that pattern in my own games. If anything the node model is a bit nicer for stuff like GUI. If I really need to break out of nodes Godot makes it pretty easy.

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🐔 Brian Bucklew 🐔 ₑͤ＞∿＜ₑͤ ∞🌮 @unormal.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

imagine if they fired every band member every time an album came out

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

No real workarounds, just a mindset shift going from GameObjects/components to node trees. I’ve worked with different engines and even built games without an engine. I don’t feel like I’m missing much of anything.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Oh, also, there's currently no rate limit on the player firing. There's a lot of subtle feel stuff that probably isn't conveyed well in a video clip. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you ever get around to playing!

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

At the moment I’m firmly on Team Godot. It’s not perfect but it’s serving me well atm. 💪

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

There are multiple weapons and some weapons are definitely better than others with this boss. Proximity is also a factor. The game is still in development so open to adjusting the boss’s strategy (which includes multiple phases)

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I like Unity as a piece of software, but I can't ever feel comfortable with Unity as a business partner after the runtime fee stunt. Not only did they try it in the first place, but they doubled down for a whole year. They showed no respect for their customers.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I think this retention anxiety is why everything has to be a roguelike these days. Everyone's afraid that players are gonna go, "this is too hard" then hop back on TikTok. And from what I've seen that's not exactly an unfounded fear. Has me feeling very "old man yells at cloud"

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The teleporter gun lets you fake out enemies and do cool platforming tricks. Check out the demo if you haven’t already. 😉 #indiegames #gamedev #madewithgodot #steam #wishlist #platformer #megaman #sonic #runandgun #metroidvania

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

A lot of game design feedback these days feels like, "a user has to be able to perfectly execute everything on their first try of playing the game, otherwise it's poorly designed." Like, it's okay if people fail to execute on a challenge and have to try again. Tired of this "retention" mindset...

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Having a dev account on Steam is funny because what do mean my business dashboard is tied to my edgelord username account I made to play Counter Strike Source when I was 16

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Rémi Verschelde @akien.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I see some concerns raised about Godot's policy on contributions using AI. TL;DR: Godot isn't vibe-coded. As a whole, the Godot foundation and maintainers are fairly critical of AI usage, and don't make nor accept vibe-coded contributions. Godot doesn't include AI features nor intends to add any.

Godot's current policy on AI-assisted contributions reads like this:

"The use of AI to contribute to Godot is discouraged, and contributions made entirely by AI are prohibited.

We acknowledge that AI can be useful, but we are convinced that human effort results in better and more relevant contributions.

If you do use AI, we expect that you put in effort to proofread and improve anything it generates, and that you disclose what you used AI for. As maintainers spend significant time reviewing your code, please make sure that the code you submit is well-tested and functional. Please be respectful of their time and only submit something you have put thought and effort into."

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

As much as I want to indulge in new hardware, my 5 year old Razer laptop has the same amount of memory as a Steam Machine, along with a 4tb drive I added aftermarket. I can comfortably run DTDA at triple digit frame rates, and my current setup of Pop OS running Cinnamon desktop is running nicely.

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

In this interview I talked about my influences and motivations behind building Guinea Pig Gunner, while the interviewer did his first blind playthrough of the demo. It was a ton of fun! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJwm... #indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #platformer #sonic #megaman

youtube.com

Developer's Commentary with the Creator of Guinea Pig Gunner (Glowmatic)

YouTube video by wash

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Aerial_Knight @aerialknight.com · 19/06/2026

Happy Juneteenth! If you're looking for something cool to play today to support a black business in the U.S., check out some of my games. - Studio is Black-owned - Black characters - Black Voice Actors And racist trolls hate us ♥️ linktr.ee/aerial_knight

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I'm a dev, not a content creator. 😅 Congrats on the demo, though!

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John Watson @jwtsn.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Megapain is like a weird alternate universe version of Serious Sam if it came out during the PSX/Saturn era. It feels like outsider art. It reminded me of ambitious solo projects in the early 2000s made with tools like DarkBASIC. #SteamNextFest store.steampowered.com/app/4400030/...

store.steampowered.com

MEGAPAIN on Steam

A dynamic retro shooter with intense arena battles and co-op mode! Gear up with pistols, assault rifles, and rocket launchers to annihilate hordes of mutants solo or with friends. Every arena is a new...

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