iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've been preaching against naive rationalism for decades. Will instantly buy this book! www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

Rovelli asks us to embrace “the nimble lightness of circularity, complexity, ambiguity, metaphors, emotions, the acceptance of uncertainty and change”.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Looks like Birds of Play will either be on of the last Daily Deals of the planet or one of the first to not happen (we're not 100% sure we got it locked in enough but there's hope). The event is definitely happening though! store.steampowered.com/news/group/4...

store.steampowered.com

Steamworks Development - Upcoming Changes to the Discounts & Events Section on Steam - Steam News

Improvements coming in early 2027

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Did I already mention that we have a launch date? It's November 16th and I need to see all of you mark that in your calendar right now. There will even be one more sparrow in the warfare than people (except a few select) could play for now. store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/...

store.steampowered.com

Sparrow Warfare on Steam

Play ever-crazier combinations of 3 tiles to free the birds in our synergy-rich deckbuilder. Let your mind take flight as you scheme and strategise. This… is Sparrow Warfare!

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Wait it's happened again that the AI was just a very good database that was built in a way that the provenance of the data is obfuscated? There's truly a lot of datawashing going on in that industry.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

store.steampowered.com

Sparrow Warfare on Steam

Play ever-crazier combinations of 3 tiles to free the birds in our synergy-rich deckbuilder. Let your mind take flight as you scheme and strategise. This… is Sparrow Warfare!

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Apart from the rage bait this list naturally is, it’s wild how few non-Anglo shows are on it. Go watch some K-Dramas, Scandi-Crime and Hispanic comedies. And don’t forget dark Austrian and Irish humour.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We had a Makala game called Kalaha when I was a kid and it took us years to figure out the rules because there was no rule book anymore and the internet was not yet a thing. I think it was random cousin who taught them to us.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

We're launching Sparrow Warfare on November 16th! Mark the date in your calendar. The birds will need you! The storyteller will hate you. store.steampowered.com/news/app/347...

store.steampowered.com

Sparrow Warfare - Launch date announcement: November 16th 2026 - Steam News

Our deckbuilder x boss rush game is ready for liftoff featuring 178 wildtiles, 106 birds, and 3 playable characters.

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ponder @ponder.ooo · 24/09/2026

one worry i've seen mentioned very little about LLMs is that they run the risk of contributing to and intensifying the phenomenon of path-dependent legacy jank, which is something we as a society are already not doing a good job of dealing with

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hey! Did you know we have an upcoming Steam event called BIRDS OF PLAY celebrating 140 bird games? October 10th to 16th on good old Steam! No link until it's live, but in the meantime you can find details and assets here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Promo image for Birds of Play event containing title, dates October 10th to 16th, and a range of cute birds!

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We're organising a Steam event that's all about birds. I do not know what made me obsessed with birds but here we are.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The lengths people go to for a 10am pint (of course I do want to sip beside the menhir in Devon too).

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This would be a much more credible analysis of the woes of the games industry if he wrote indie games as "indie" instead of "indy" but since some of them punch Nazis, too, the confusion is understandable. The rest is an interesting read though very AAA-focussed. georgzoeller.com/blog/posts/t...

georgzoeller.com

The Video Game Industries Very Dark Night — Georg's Blog

The western video gaming industry has had a brutal few years, with record layoffs affecting almost every company and many beloved studios and brands disappearin...

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ever wondered what my grandmother's dumpling recipe has to do with Genghis Khan? Head over to the Roguelike Celebration Preview Event in a few minutes to find out. I'm honestly gonna mention the reason. ti.to/roguelike-ce...

ti.to

Roguelike Celebration: Preview Event 2026

Roguelike games have been part of gaming culture for over 30 years and they have a deep and special place in our hearts. We'd love to get to spend some time with you all learning about roguelikes and ...

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Very normal list of special terms for the captioner of my @roguelike.club talk on Sunday. Spell checker doesn't know what hit it. I have no idea how simultaneous translation or captioning is humanly possible, even with a crib sheet.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The original Mahjong Solitaire (Brodie Lockard, 1981) on the PLATO looked glorious. Also clever to show stack height with outline width.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Gonna try this marketing stunt too now. There’s a 67.8% chance that video games will wipe out the universe in the next 31 months. I can’t sleep since realizing that but what I can do is work at the video games factory.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

We 🦅 will 🦢 release 🦆 the 🦜 birds 🐓 soon 🦩 so 🦚 here 🦃 are 🦉 all 🐦‍🔥 the 🐦‍⬛juicy 🕊️ little 🐥 details 🐣 about 🦤 our 🐧 launch 🐤 of 🥚Sparrow Warfare* store.steampowered.com/news/app/347...

store.steampowered.com

Sparrow Warfare - Words from the Devs: Flight Preparations - Steam News

Sparrow Warfare's release is near: 15 unlockable tile packs, new playable character Way of Water, 3 new levels, and ~30 achievements. Nearly there, Birds! 🐦

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I just saw the Dr. Strangelove trailer for the first time (yes I am 62 years late but in my defence I wasn't born yet when it came out) and, wow, this must have been the best movie trailer ever made when it came out. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dr...

en.wikipedia.org

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Roguelike Celebration @roguelike.club · 07/09/2026

Excited to see y'all in our freshly painted MUD space with preview event speakers @martinpi.bsky.social, @matronboy.bsky.social, and Greg L. who made this lovely little ad as part of a coding demo for his talk! September 13, 2026, 2PM PDT | 21:00 UTC www.roguelike.club/event2026.html

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Camp Miasma is the best A24 movie not made by A24 and I mean that as a huge compliment. Love it when a movie plays with the format in a refreshing way.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I'm giving a little talk on how a lot of the ideas we work with when making Roguelikes (or any other form of systems-driven/procedurally generated game) can be traced back to much more ancient games and art forms. Join us! ti.to/roguelike-ce...

ti.to

Roguelike Celebration: Preview Event 2026

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

ti.to

Roguelike Celebration: Preview Event 2026

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Best photo I took on our Sardinia holiday was from the horse "race" in the former bandit town Orgosolo up in the hills. It's not a race, more an acrobatics contest between they young people in the village.

A street showing two riders on horseback, one standing upright in his saddle, the other one supporting him with his arm. Golden light on the clouds.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Also you'll have to file taxes for them in-game I guess

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Why do I feel so weak after having been to strength training.

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Beans @sirbeans.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

My morning ritual @neonaurelius.bsky.social

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Tagged the wrong account before, so here we go again: get this book when it comes out and if you haven't you should get into The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) right now which is the best non-fiction book I've read in years and the definitive sequel to *points around* everything.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I do it the other way around: my design docs are on Google Drive so that when the models get trained they know about my game and if anyone is looking for the best deckbuilder they find Sparrow Warfare. The design doc explicitly says it's the best deckbuilder (which is also true, so fair game).

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Can't wait to get going with building a universe. @astronomy.bsky.social's first book is amazing so I am thrilled the new one's coming soon. I even went to her talk here in Copenhagen because sometimes I can be a fan too.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

It's not easy to formulate conflicting, reflected and nuanced thoughts about such a hot topic but @buckenham.bsky.social managed and this is a worthwhile read if you're thinking along similar lines (I know I do and I use AI far, far less than V).

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I mean it's definitely a cheap moment to go private for them. Never understood the move to going publicly traded in the first place. Even with their track record it was wild to assume there's enough profit in the indie sector. But what do I know about publicly traded companies?

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It is in fact finally the year of Linux on the desktop. Rarely seen a running gag die but here we are.

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Char @alphachar.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

@martinpi.bsky.social & I had the absolute best time at ChinaJoy - just got home last night and we miss China already!

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BancyCo @bancy.co · 04/08/2026

Really on-point article by @gibiz.bsky.social . We've all been saying this for years — often in meetings with platform holders! Over and over! 😔 There ARE answers; but the peeps with the power don't seem to want to do anything. #gamedev #indiegames #gaming www.gamesindustry.biz/the-industry...

gamesindustry.biz

The industry makes great games, but nobody can find them

Algorithms built to surface content are increasingly rewarding volume, familiarity, and short-term engagement over quality or originality

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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 02/08/2026

Just to be clear on this article, the position I took isn't "developers need to be more brave" but "funding needs to be more brave". Developers make all the cool stuff, just because they want to - the funding side hits it with market research and fear and growth targets and shareholders.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

They are selling Italian brain rot themed ice cream in China now. It’s over

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

As the only person on this website who liked the design back then I feel vindicated. This car was always for the Chinese market that is way, way ahead of everyone else in terms of EVs.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Oh great. He’s giving a sneak peek of our Friday talk at ChinaJoy.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Love the bird designs and could only tell 4/6 of the famous faces on the others (2 of the lads are a challenge).

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I think the Dragons in Dungeons and Dragons should be spelled Dreagons (like "dread", not like "dream") for consistency.

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Now would be a good moment to liberate the birds from the evil storyteller and his minions. (Not that there ever is a moment where that's not the right thing to do).

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martin pichlmair @martinpi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Sometimes you add content to a game and sometimes you just make everything run better. This week's demo update is in the latter department. Game feels much more juicy thanks to smoother animations, better loading and caching, and chunkier UI elements.

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