iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Just uploaded a new version of Profit Motive which fixes & modifies a few little things I've noticed over the rating period. The post about what's changed is here: machinescreen.itch.io/profit-motiv... and, as ever, you can play or download the game here: machinescreen.itch.io/profit-motive #gamedev

The camera looks up to a large greyish monster with bulging eyes and a triangular facial orifice. It's in a corridor clad with corrugated sheet metal.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Hi all you new followers, and everyone else! My latest little jam game release is Profit Motive which is sort of incremental pac-man but also first-person PSX-style horror... Play the game right now in browser (or download it) here: machinescreen.itch.io/profit-motive #gamedev #horrorgames

A large horrific creature runs towards you in a grimy, dimly lit sheet metal clad corridor. There is a metal door to the left, some large copper-coloured coins on the floor and a glow stick.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Think it's time for a new pinned post. MachineScreen here. Been making short, free games for some time now. Recently they've been more horror or horror-adjacent. Everything's available to play in browser here: machinescreen.itch.io #gamedev #horrorgames

Profit Motive - First-person incremental horror

Stratum - First-person megastructure metroidvania

The Waiting Rooms - The horror of monotony and infinity

Dark Facility - Sci-fi stalker horror grid-based dungeon crawler

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Threw together a little trailer for my new game, Profit Motive, a short incremental horror jaunt about getting very good at picking up coins in a maze. 🪙 You can play it here: machinescreen.itch.io/profit-motive #horrorgames #gamedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I've just released a new game! Profit Motive is a short, first-person incremental horror game where you collect coins in a maze and then buy abilities and items to help your next run. Play it here: machinescreen.itch.io/profit-motive #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

A dark sheet metal-walled corridor with copper coloured coins on the floor and a neon-green glowstick.

A horrific looking being in a dark sheet metal-walled corridor. There are silver coins on the ground.

A black and white shop interface showing various upgrades that can be purchased.

The player is just about to interact with a metal door. There's something very close to the right of the picture...

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Unexpected and excellent strip in my kid's comic this week...

A child and a father donut are talking. Child: Hey, Dad! How come some people have lots and other people have nothing? Father: Oh, well, that's a big question Emmy. In a world of limited resources, there will always be some form of competition for those resources. Those born with an advantage in this competition will accrue more resources, and then use those resources to give themselves further advantages... And so on and on, until over time those inequalities become more extreme and entrenched. Child: Huh. We should burn everything down.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

A metroidvania without a traditional jump?! That's Stratum, my first person megastructure #metroidvania. More texturing progress. #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Still (slowly) working on my first person #metroidvania Stratum. Started doing some texturing today and previously added some stencil light effects for explosions among other things. #gamedev #indiedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I believe these settings in the Import tab under the Blender heading are what Godot uses as parameters when it calls Blender's GLTF export functionality as part of the importing or reimporting process - there isn't another place I'm aware of.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

New version of my megastructure #metroidvania Stratum is now available on @itch.io. It adds a fair few fixes and enhancements compared to the jam version and there's now a Windows build to download: machinescreen.itch.io/stratum #gamedev #indiedev

A floating mask-like entity with red eyes bears down on you in a large room which has numerous fin-like objects hanging from the ceiling.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Can you get all the enemies in Stratum into the same room? Yes, you can. And they're a noisy bunch!

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Here's a short trailer for Stratum, my #MetroidvaniaMonthJam entry, that I just put together. #metroidvania #gamedev #lowpoly #retrogame

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Couple more screenshots from my new game, Stratum, that I made for the #MetroidvaniaMonthJam. It's a first person megastructure metroidvania. #gamedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I finished my #MetroidvaniaMonthJam entry, Stratum, and you can play it in browser here: machinescreen.itch.io/stratum It's a bite-sized 3D metroidvania set in a forboding megastructure that will take around 45 minutes to complete. Ratings and comments welcome! #gamedev #indiedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

The things that are getting in the way of me working on my #MetroidvaniaMonthJam game are becoming farcical. Yesterday it was replacing the wing mirror on our car, today its resealing the back of the bath because it leaks when we shower... 😒 #gamedev

The level for my Metroidvania Month Jam game in Blender.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Well it took a while to work out how to do this but I've just finished this animatable #lowpoly hospital curtain in #blender. Very useful exercise as I learnt a lot about stuff I've never touched before - like Hooks and Drivers. #gamedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Finally found a way forward for the game I've been chipping away at for a while. I'd been worried it was very samey and potentially boring but I'm much happier with the plan for the overall structure now. #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame #ps1

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Interestingly with Use Bicubuic Filter off the luxels aren't aligned to the edge this time, so it's needs to be on - which the opposite to what I found with pre-creating the UV2 in Blender. Off on right here.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Ok, so now I've decided to see how #Godot does at generating the UV2 itself. I just entered the luxel dimension on import and that fixes the bleeding because, unlike my original Blender UV2, Godot puts margins between each face, 2px by the looks of it. However there is still the alignment oddness.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Looking at the lightmaps side by side with an overlay showing the edges of each face demonstrates a couple of problems with the lightmap generated by #Godot. Bleeding between faces and the shifting of the central brightest areas up and to the right so the whole thing is off centre.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

So I've now adjusted the generated lightmap manually to what I reckon it should be and it looks perfect. Only slight quirk I found is the lightmap needs a 1px border top and left. The difference between this and the generated one is significant.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Ok, so I seem to have fixed the odd dark ceiling by rearranging the UV2 in Blender. Possible that Godot doesn't like it when parts of the UV2 map are in negative space. Doesn't fix the aligment problems though... or the bizarre extra stuff on the lightmap...

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Coming to the conclusion there might be something kinda broken about the way Godot 4 calculates lightmaps. Maybe this kind of thing isn't particularly noticeable with high resolution lightmaps but it's definitely noticeable with low-res Quake style lightmaps...

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Yeah it definitely isn't the centre of the luxel that is being used to calculate it's value as this spotlight doesn't pass through the centre of the two luxels on the right in this image, yet they are being lit.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Turning off Use Bicubic Filter in the Lightmapping Project Settings seems to 'fix' the alignment issue, there are now 6x6 luxels on the plane. But the values of the luxels don't make much sense to me... Maybe the calculations are based on a corner of luxels rather than the centre? #gamedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Finding some odd behaviour with LightmapGI in #Godot. I pre-generated a second UV map for this plane in Blender with a super low resolution of 6x6. For some reason Godot is moving the luxels so they no longer align with the edges and also it generated a tonne of unnecessary extra lightmap data...

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Funny how making menus makes a game seem much more 'real' and complete (even if it isn't... 😬) #gamedev #indiedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Been playing around with dynamically switching between lightmaps in #Godot in a similar fashion to the original Thief game. Unfortunately due to not being able to bake lightmaps from a script it does involve quite a bit of upfront manual work to get set up. #gamedev #indiedev

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Haven't posted much about my current project recently as I've been mostly trying to fix an odd performance issue that reared its head. Think I might be finally getting somewhere. To celebrate here's a silly clip of me tearing through the forest at 100mph... #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Adults don't normally pose a problem if you're already engaged. #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame

Looking up at a green-tinged sky surrounded by dead trees. A giant fly is passing overhead. Text reads: This is not my first time. Nor, I'm sure, will it be my last.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I wake to a singular instruction boring deep into my brain. "Feed me", it says. #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame

In a dark, underground burrow there is a giant yellow maggot in the foreground and behind it a mound of earth. Above the mound is a hole, where light and rain are coming in. Text reads: My stomach is empty. I don't have what it needs.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Today I've been working on a system to display the player character's thoughts in quiet moments. They might provide some insight into what's happening in this world. #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame

Dead trees in a green mist. It's raining. Text reads: My memories of what came before this are fragmented, suppressed by their power.

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Wander infinite waiting rooms and have an existential crisis in my short psychological horror walking simulator. #gamedev #indiedev #horrorgame #retrogame

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MachineScreen @machinescreen.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

The Waiting Rooms is my entry for the #ScreamForever jam. It's a psychological horror walking simulator preoccupied with monotony and infinity. Got a spare 10 minutes? Play in browser now: machinescreen.itch.io/the-waiting-... #gamedev #horrorgame #indiedev #retrogame

Dark blue room with large globe lights hanging from the high ceiling. There are rows of double sided benches and clocks on the walls. Text reads: 'Every room is just like the last. An endless parade of emptiness'.

Dark blue room with large globe lights hanging from the high ceiling. There are rows of double sided benches and clocks on the walls.

Looking up at the ceiling of the dark blue room with large globe lights hanging from it. There are clocks on the walls.

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