iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Merlin

Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 10/09/2026

Share your game with our booth at the largest retro games show there is! We're at @retrogamingexpo.bsky.social again this October and submissions for showcasing your game or volunteering with us are open now! pigsquad.com/form-prge-2026 VERY excited for this year 😍🕹

A snapshot of the Portland Retro Gaming Expo show floor - PIGSquad's booth has purple-clothed tables backed by purple PIGSquad walls. Numerous monitors, TVs, laptops, and table dressings are arranged on the tables, sharing multiple different games with expo goers playing on controllers and keyboards. Developers of the games sit behind the booths to chat with attendees and other devs.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

What was the point of the Cheetos tube? Was a bag not enough? Did they theorize that a tube could better transport a large sum of cheese puffs en masse? Or did a case study prove that tubes sell better than bags? Will the future be tubes? And is my pantry to someday become a catalog of tubed snacks?

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Mino @art-mino.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Made a sci-fi comic for #makeaterriblecomicday2026 Got too into it but I was having fun lol. Didn't end up making the second page I planned out. Used the occasion to finally try a sample screen-tone sheet I had lying around.

A title in the corner reads: "XEBIUM V CHAPTER 907".

Two aliens are standing in an alley. One alien is lanky and has a long face and goggles. One Alien is spiky and has a cloak and has a big collar and cool visor with headphones.

The lanky one holds out a briefcase and says "A Geal's a Geal! here's Perftwent Grumbos!" The spiky one says "I was promised Perfthirt."

Lanky says "GBO 4/7 raids are making z-boff hard to come by. You'll get the other Perften soon."
Spiky says "Are you trying to globon 7 me?
Lanky says "Suscount it if you don't believe me."
Spiky tensely retorts with "Why don't YOU trucount it?"
Lanky looks called out, with a bead of sweat running down the side of his face.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Replace any song with "baby" in the lyrics with "maybe."

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Mega Man Star Force is one of the few games I've played that manages to relay childhood trauma in a way that connects with its target audience. I won't laud it as a pinnacle of storytelling, but as I'm replaying the legacy collection I'm realizing it was a formative part of my adolescence.

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Reposted by Merlin

Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 24/03/2026

Friday, April 3rd, is our 15 YEAR ANNIVERSARY 🌟 We're hosting a feedback night & fundraiser at an evening party in NW Portland if you can make it 🤩 pigsquad.com/events-list/... Bring your game, come play games, and check out our next silent auction, it's going to be a blast.

A large group of people waves to the camera in a rustic party room. Some folks are seated at game setups, playing on laptops or with board games at a PIGSquad showcase.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Coming soon to the Switch 2, Yoshi's Book.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I've posted before about the absolute inanity of older RPGs perpetuating the "Win the fight, lose the cutscene" trope and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness does not defeat the allegations. Brother, I have a fox that can maul your face and your Pokemon are all dead, kindly un-kidnap the professor.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Animal insults are peak. Love when someone gets called a snake, dog, chicken, pig, rat, etc.

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Reposted by Merlin

Mino @art-mino.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

A friend of mine asked for advice on her pixel art drawing of a hand (labeled "Original"). Another friend suggested I post my response here (got OP's permission. edited for bsky). 🧵Thread below🧵 Anyone reading this is free to hit me up for drawing or pixel art feedback any time, my door's open

The image features five labeled pixel art drawings.

The drawing labeled "original" shows a green hand laying flat, viewed from below. It has white highlights facing different directions and a dark shadow covering the bottom half of the palm.

"No Shading" shows the same hand with no shadow and some detail lines to imply the shape of the palm

"Shading" shows the hand with shadow implying the bottom of the palm and fingers. The Highlight has been reduced to a one-pixel highlight.

"Primitive" shows a rectangular slab, draw at roughly the same angle as the hand. It is shaded with the same palette as the hand. The bottom of the slab is in shadow, to illustrate the methodology used to shade the bottom-facing planes of the "shading" drawing. There is a slight highlight on the slab's corner that most faces the light source.

"Primitive 2" shows the same slab, with one side shaded completely white, to illustrate a potential rendering style that uses white to accentuate a plane direction instead of a highlight.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Check it out, we're putting on a convention! It's been in the works for a long time and we're super excited to finally announce it. Hope to see you there!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I finished Path of Radiance last night and it's been a while since I did one of these so here's my review after playing this game for the 3rd (?) time. It's a little hard to be objective because this was my first Fire Emblem game and I was around 12 years old when it came out. Anyway, spoilers ahead

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I got to be on a podcast recently! Check it out!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Going live in about an hour! Come hang out and watch!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Join me on Sunday for a stream featuring some local indie games!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Every fantasy setting be like, "Once there was a war between humans and a magical race of creatures that are way better than humans. The humans won"

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Taking a break from making my game to work on a little fan project. Any theories as to what it might be?

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Reposted by Merlin

Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 14/11/2025

Last chance for you to get your Cubepig Castle shirt, designed by @marlowedobbe.com and printed locally! Sales end next week Tuesday and we're shipping first week of December. Pick it up before it's gone and support the PIGSquad nonprofit 🏰⚡😍 pigsquad.com/store/cubepi...

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

They announced DLC for a game before it even came out

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Why don't laser tag places go harder. I want character classes, changeable weapons, and environmental hazards. We can add RPG mechanics like levels, quests, and status effects too. The framework is all there guys

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Star Rift Saga, the metroidvania I've been making art for released today! Go check it out!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Been getting back into digital painting a bit so I did some (unofficial) key art for Arc, the main character of Star Rift Saga!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

I've been doing threads on all of the RPGs I complete, and I completed the last of the extra content over the weekend, so I think it's finally time for a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 post. As usual, spoilers ahead, so read on with caution.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

If you like Metroidvanias, I highly suggest checking this game out. And not just because I made artwork for it 😉

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Jacob Vela @jacobvela.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Star Rift Saga is part of Steam Next Fest, and the demo is playable now! I've been working on this for a long time, so it's something of a relief to be so close to the finish line. Go check it out now!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

I rolled credits on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a few days ago. I'm probably going to do a thread on it soon but I'm still processing it, so in the meantime here's some fanart. The Chromatic Abbest!

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Reposted by Merlin

Portland Indie Game Squad @pigsquad.com · 03/06/2025

Announcement! Our friend Davis will be joining the orgteam as a Lead Volunteer, and Merlin is becoming an Officer with the nonprofit after being a Lead Volunteer for many years. Join us in celebrating them & reach out if you have questions or ideas that can help the community make games together!

A photo of Davis and a photo of Merlin ~

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Popeye the Sailor Man series revival that's set in the same continuity but aged up for its audience so it addresses mature concepts like trauma and prejudice and also Popeye is allowed to say Fuck

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

It's been years since the last time I finished a book. Last night I finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Since this has become my review platform I figure I might as well talk about it. Obligatory, "Spoilers ahead," but I'm going to try to avoid them as much as possible.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

The game I made art for has a demo! Go play it!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Okay, I have to come clean. I did not play Call Of Duty this month. I don't think I've played more than 2 hours of Call Of Duty total in my life. I am sorry for my deceit and will accept whatever punishment the community deems worthy of me.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Crushing heads with bare hands seems to be the theme of the decade for superhero media.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Okay the Call Of Duty franchise REALLY nosedived at Call Of Duty: Fuck. Like what were they even thinking with this game. This is dogshit.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Got my desk cleaned up, rate my little buddies setup

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

You can tell they kind of lost the plot when they made Call of Duty: Bombalicious. I won't deny that all of the explosions are fun but why even make it a Call of Duty game if it's not about guns?

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Call of Duty: Shoot Gun seems to bring the series back to its roots by returning the game to its core value of shooting a gun

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Just started Call of Duty: Gaiden and I'm kind of surprised at the sharp turn in the series' game mechanics. I'm going to reserve judgement until I've finished the tutorial because I've heard it's fun once you've figured things out, just wish it wasn't locked behind 20 hours of content.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

I have to say I did not expect the world-building in Call of Duty 2 to have so much depth. You can tell they spent a lot of time thinking up back stories for each of the nations in the World War. Props to whoever came up with this stuff, feels very realistic.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Call of Duty 1 is more fun than I expected. It makes you feel like you're shooting people. I love shooting people!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I think we can all agree that my Final Fantasy franchise marathon is a lost cause at this point, so instead, starting today I will be playing through every entry in the Call Of Duty franchise.

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Reposted by Merlin

Ripley's Believe it or Else 🎃 @ripleylacross.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Oregon's Vote-by-Mail bill is being challenged, and the public has only been invited to testify with 24 hours notice. Monday, March 31st, 1PM. www.koin.com/news/politic...

koin.com

New bill proposes repealing vote-by-mail in Oregon, public invited to testify

A public hearing on a proposed bill to repeal Oregon’s standard vote-by-mail system is set to take place in Salem on Monday.

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Reposted by Merlin

Rebel Wing @rebel-wing-game.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Imported one of my models to blender and it had this material on it for some reason haha

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Reposted by Merlin

Seth Fulkerson @seth.games · 28/01/2025

Oh hey, this got announced! I was responsible for developing this port. I'm stoked that more players will be able to experience this awesome game. Go wishlist now!

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

When I was growing up in the '90s we would rent video games for the Super Nintendo. My brother and I remembered one that was incredibly difficult but somehow imprinted itself on us in that we could, for the rest of our lives, recount a single song from one of the levels.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Let's talk some more about Blade Chimera's mold-breaking design choices. Metroidvanias have two types of progression throttles: Event triggers and unlockable abilities. I call these Event Gates and Feature Gates because they gate players off from areas they shouldn't be able to reach.

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Merlin @merlinthewizard.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Blade Chimera breaks several of the core tenets of metroidvanias and gets away with it because the developers know how. The biggest one is that it almost completely does away with backtracking. They take this a step further though by making it so you can teleport literally anywhere.

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