iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I literally only just started Galley House but my first impression is positive and also Blake Manor is really good, so if you're at all into detective games, get this 👇

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Okomotive @okomotive.ch · 26/09/2026

There is a new cool pinball game that just released TODAY!! by @fallosophygame.com Give Fallosophy a try while waiting for PinKeep. Don't forget to write a review! #pinball #indiegame #Steamgames store.steampowered.com/app/3989550/...

store.steampowered.com

Fallosophy on Steam

Use just two buttons to climb a colossal pinball table spanning the history of western philosophy. Fallosophy is a minimalist game that turns pinball into a quiet struggle against gravity. No score.…

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Currently dealing with a family member who is mentally very much not doing well and I'm struggling with the two wolves inside of me saying "we should normalize discussing mental health and posting when things aren't great" vs "airing your family grievances on public platforms is trashy"

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Horses of Hoofprint Bay has a 99% positive review ratio on its demo (7 negative reviews of 990 total) so when I see there's a new one I get almost a little excited about it, like "oh is there applicable feedback or something we should be aware of?" and then I go take a look and it's this

screenshot of a negative steam review, showing a thumbs down at 0.3 hours of playtime. the review only says "bitte macht mal was Gescheites" which google translates as "Please do something sensible for a change." but I cannot stress enough the degree to which "macht mal was Gescheites" has a connotation of a parent telling you to "get a real job" or something along those lines.

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I was invited to Horses in the Morning 🥰 Usually I tend to tell game people things they don't know about horses, this was a fun lil switcharoo of getting to talk to horse people who might not be super familiar with games 😁 Listen to the full show (or just my segment) at the link below 👇

Horse Video Games, Westfalen Champ and Weird News for September 23, 2026 by Chewy - image of a person and her horse (another guest on the show), image of me, Horses in the Morning Podcast

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

oh hey look tomorrow is mongolian courier rider game pronouns day, for all who celebrate

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I am still figuring out my hat game. I do like the big floppy ones for style in combination with skirts and dresses, but also it’s just infinitely more practical to wear a baseball cap that I can stow in my backpack when I’m not actively in the sun.

Selfie, I’m wearing a big straw hat and a brown cardigan over a white top, and a black-beige patterned skirt, my hair is down

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I totally agree with this, my point here is less "just make romance games" (though that too) but especially that someone could relatively easily have a huge impact in doing the sort of community building and audience consolidation work that I've been successfully doing for horse games for 8 years

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I usually let my bf take the pictures while diving because I already use more air than him due to being slightly nervous but I am pleased to inform you that I took some really neat photos of small fish that are usually tough to capture because they‘re fast and flighty 😌 (Species ID in alt text)

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Reposting so I remember to watch this when I have time

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is once again the exact same situation as I‘ve seen in horse games and it pisses me tf off. „Well but see we tried it with minimal effort/budget and prople didn’t want it so there‘s no market“. Why tf is it so hard for people to get that you need a certain product quality to prove a market 🙃🙃

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Reposting so I remember to watch this later because that first reply is very convincing

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qdot @buttplug.engineer · 18/09/2026

Every sex and romance game panel at GDC for the past 20 years has pretty much been this

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Elizabeth DeLoria, Pope of Chili-Town @yourdadloves.me · 18/09/2026

People would be shocked how often a romance mechanic is planned or pitched for a game that could genuinely benefit from it, only to be blocked by a single oldhead dude in leadership despite everyone else being into the idea because he thinks romance game play is "weird" or "cringe."

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Oh look another „please give me my romantasy fix in the video game medium“ recommendation request post www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers...

reddit.com

From the GirlGamers community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the GirlGamers community

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Random thought I could probably write a whole essay about some time: the fact that there aren‘t more mainstream Romance video games is such a bizarre failure, like don‘t you people wanna make money? Why not cater to the infamously ever hungry audience of Romance book readers in another medium?

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PandaMonium @pandamonium.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

RESKEET It’s crazy that we live in a world where romance novels are taking the fuck off, but we still don’t have dating sims other than “haha what if the toaster is bangable.” Don’t get me wrong, “haha what if the toaster is bangable” is great, but how do we not have serious dating sims in the west?

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

All of the „but readers wanna read, not play games“ and „but there are already SOME games and they‘re not THAT successful“ reaponses is the exact same shit I‘ve been hearing about horse games for years. The audience is there, it just hasn‘t been consolidated and served to you on a silver platter.

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In other news: scuba diving still fucking rocks, I just checked

Picture of a cavern that‘s half underwater, partly lit by flashlights

Underwater close up picture of a shrimp-like crab, probably Stenopus spinosus

Underwater close up of an octopus resting on rocky ground

Underwater close up photo of a comber (serranus cabrilla, I think), a fish with a striped reddish pattern

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In other news: scuba diving still fucking rocks, I just checked

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

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Dan Thomas @heydanthomas.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I'd happily help with this. I can advise on strategy, technical setup, and making the most of your platform. I'm clueless about romance media, but obsessed with people finding and making the most of "their thing". If yours might be romance games, step forward 👇

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

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Swiss Game Hub @swissgamehub.com · 10/09/2026

Horses & Beyond Niche Communities @malicedafirenze.bsky.social shares what she learned from building The Mane Quest and how embracing a niche can help you find and grow a passionate community around your game.

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Look I‘m on vacation but the consensus in my discord seems to be „who tf yassified epona“ and „what is that arabian head doing on that draft body“. Comparisons to some particularly bad barbie horses have been made

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

It do be like that. There‘s no place in my life I encounter as many trans dudes as in my horse game community

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"hmm this reminds me of porn" - guy who never sees women outside of porn

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

this was a very random thing to become my second most liked bsky post of all time but alright then. can I get this reach for my horse game marketing efforts next time?

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"hmm this reminds me of porn" - guy who never sees women outside of porn

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

me when I open bsky to zero notifications after a week of not posting anything 😠

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

oh cool PC Gamer posted the interview they did with me about Hoofprint Bay and our saddle controller at gamescom, let's see what.... uuuhm okay then never mind

screenshot of a facebook post showing the Horses of Hoofprint Bay booth at gamescom. The top comment is "this is some fetish thing isn't it lol" with four likes, other commens include "what the actual...", "gonna be popular among the ladys" and someone tagging a "cursed controllers" group

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The Verge @theverge.com · 02/09/2026

As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.

theverge.com

There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series

You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

if you've missed my talk at gamescom dev last week, there will be another chance to discover the huge potential of "picking your niche and sticking with it" (and tips on how to do that) in October!! Come to the Gamespace Conference in Zurich: gamespace.ch/program

gamespace.ch

Gamespace Conference

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My nephew is 16 years old so obviously he's interested in video games and always short of money to buy them. He's asked me before if I can buy him some kind of ingame currency in whatever sports game he's playing and I said no, but that I'll literally buy him any indie game he wants. I'm trying okay

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

my speedrun strats are not working out, it's been five days now and I'm still not really fit again

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Angie H @erbsenfrau.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Can't wait for @thoglistudios.com 's Horses of Hoofprint Bay? Got something cute here to pass the time in the last few days before its release - Blackboard ponies is coming out only a few days prior! 🐎 Wishlist, so you don't forget 😊 store.steampowered.com/app/4670040/...

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Tanya X. Short @tanyaxshort.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

god, you guys, just buy the indie game that looks kinda cool. don't play the demo, don't agonize over the reviews or wishlist, JUST BUY THE INDIE GAME!! if you didn't like it, oh well, whatever, maybe next time, meanwhile you supported an artist, thanks for coming to the gig, want a t-shirt?

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I‘m speedrunning the con flu this year. I was already fucking miserable with throatache on the way home on Friday, completely dead all of Saturday, still mostly horizontal on Sunday and starting to feel better today. Wiesely I did not plan to get much done this week before going on vacation next WE

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I actively avoid using AI as best I can and I have zero desire to incorporate LLMs into any of my work. My Google search is web only (no AI overview), my articles on TMQ, my emails and all my consultation work is written without any LLM involvement because of quality concerns and moral objections.

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

It‘ll be a while until I can share the full talk, but the slides from my talk about how you can (and why you should) build niche communities for your specific interests are already up here tinyurl.com/tmq-gamescom2026

Intro Slide from my talk „horse games and beyond - how to leverage your niche interests for emotional fulfillment and commercial success“

Slides from my talk „horse games and beyond - how to leverage your niche interests for emotional fulfillment and commercial success“

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thogli studios 🐴 Wishlist Horses of Hoofprint Bay @thoglistudios.com · 29/08/2026

the wall is filling up! 🤩🦄 if you're at #gamescom come by, draw a horse and ride in the saddle! Hall 10.2, GamesBavaria booth (E051g)

on person drawing on a postcard, on person sitting in a saddle at the Horses of Hoofprint Bay booth playing the game

wall with lots of drawn horses on postcards, in the background the Games Bavaria booth and Theresa in a yellow shirt

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

With everyone talking about GTA VI leaks and trailer footage, it is my duty to remind you all of the ACTUAL best gaming news for November:

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I'm in the train home from gamescom so naturally I am brainstorming possible Maraoke lyrics again, but I feel like I will need to do this when I have friends around to bounce ideas with. I really think "Mario on a Kart" (Mary on a Cross) could be excellent but do I know enough about MK gameplay?

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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

See you all next year, nerds, I‘m heading home ✌️❤️

Selfie of me in front of gamescom‘s south entrance

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Alice-Ann @thecuriousalice.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

@malicedafirenze.bsky.social I did read your reviews to make sure I wasn't totally crazy for this suggestion list. just ignore that last one I'm so sorry.

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gamingcurious.bsky.social @gamingcurious.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I shared a few of my favorites and a few I'm gaming curious about myself! Most of them are highly reviewed by the lovely Mane Quest team and are certifiably good for horse girls. except maybe that last one. 🫪

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