iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 19/10/2026

I'm sorry, this is supposed to be a *Republican* mailer? The only explanation I can think of is they're trying to split the Democratic vote?

A mailer from the "Massachusetts First Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee":

Maura Healy is a liberal.
But Andrea James is a super liberal.
X END all state cooperation with ICE
X IMPLEMENT rent control and tax the rich
X PROVIDE free childcare and healthcare
X MANDATE electric buildings and vehicles
X BAN Israeli companies from Massachusetts
X STOP construction of new state prisons

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 29/07/2026

Finally connected Project OY to Steam! And honestly, its automated build system is now better than Iron Village's 🙃 #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

A blank library page on Steam, with the name of the game mostly blacked out, apart from the letters "oy". A blue "Install" button is waiting, itching to be clicked.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 23/07/2026

Super exhausted from @godotcon.bsky.social , so a couple of days late, but... Iron Village is on sale for 40% off as part of Steam's Train Fest! store.steampowered.com/app/3011060/... #citybuilder #pixelart #godot #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

Steam Train Fest
July 20-27 at 10am PT (UTC-7)

In the background is a steam train with a tender and four passenger carriages on top of a very high and long viaduct. Further in the packground is a picturesque view of some mountains, hills, and an evergreen forest.

In the foreground is Iron Village's capsule art, alongside a price label showing -40%, $4.79 (USD)

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 22/07/2026

Perfect timing with the Onion, our senators clearly understand this

At the top: the post from Mekka
At the bottom: a post from the Onion, with the caption "Cobweb-Covered Skeleton Gripping Senate Desk Expected To Seek 15th Term"

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 20/07/2026

"It is child abuse to bring a baby on a plane." Welp, not going to beat this hot take, time to stop scrolling and go to sleep.

(Name censored)

(Anti-cyclist label)

Family member deaths and health emergencies are good excuses. Celebrations? No. Sorry. Send a gift and go out and visit when the child is 3. It is child abuse to bring a baby on a plane.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 16/07/2026

It's definitely odd to see an official state website say "idk, go ask California". (I mean, it makes sense, we haven't really had to deal with this until this decade, but it stood out.)

AIR QUALITY ALERT for fine particles for Massachusetts - Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) - Air is forecast to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, including those with lung or heart disease, older adults, and children. For information on how to protect yourself from smoke, visit:
California wild fire smoke website

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 09/07/2026

I still exist! And so does Project OY! Just popping up for a little dev diary. lunarchippy.games/2026/07/09/d... #devdiary #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

An in-engine shot of something being worked on for Project OY. There is a rail line traveling through a valley flanked with snow capped mountains, crossing a small river. Pixel art clouds float above it all.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 02/07/2026

A little surprised I didn't end up further left, lol

You are...
The Union Organizer
patron saint: Cory Doctorow
AI is a real tool being used to extract real labor value from real people without paying them. You don't care about the singularity — you care about the artists, writers, and workers getting strip-mined by capital. You're not anti-technology. You're anti-theft.
Impact: -1.1 • Valence: -4.9

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 24/03/2026

Hard to believe Iron Village has been out for a whole year! To celebrate, the 1.3 update is now out, including a couple of bugfixes, a new train, and placeable growable trees! lunarchippy.games/2026/03/24/d... for full release notes. #gamedev #indiegamedev #citybuilder #pixelart

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 17/03/2026

Lol, occasionally the old Google shows up, this time (correctly) marking its own Gemini advertisement as spam.

Email subject: Michael, create music, try Nanon Banana 2, and more (Spam)
From: Google Gemini
to: me

Why is this message in spam? This message is similar to messages that were identified as spam in the past.
[Report not spam]

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 24/02/2026

After a crazy few weeks, including a blizzard-extended February vacation, it's time for another dev diary! Still nothing Lunar Chippy related yet though, so here's more games I played, including brief thoughts on CS2. lunarchippy.games/2026/02/24/d... #gamedev #indiegamedev #devdiaries

A picture of a tree sapling at 800% zoom. (Teaser image of Iron Village.)

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 12/02/2026

Iron Village is on sale for Valentine's... so of course I had to put together a silly little Valentine's train, complete with heart-shaped puffs of smoke. linktr.ee/lunarchippyg... #IronVillage #gamedev #indiegamedev #indiedev #citybuilder #townbuilder #pixelart

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 31/12/2025

Looking back on 2025... or at least, the gamedev related parts, not the dumpster fire that is everything else. lunarchippy.games/2025/12/31/d... Iron Village is still on sale for 30% off if you haven't snagged it yet! store.steampowered.com/app/3011060/... #indiegamedev #devdiary #citybuilder

Iron Village at BostonFIG, December 2024

An image from Iron Village 1.1, showing off some of the (then) new features.

Another sneak peek at Project OY. A person looks out the window of a wooden train car.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 23/11/2025

The Puritans & Capitalism Sale for Iron Village started yesterday, but rather fittingly I was sick and had a fever for the past two days... Anyway, you can go buy it for 30% off on Steam or Itch! #IronVillage #gamedev #indiegamedev #indiedev #pixelart #townbuilder #citybuilder

A train is traveling along the tracks, carrying a car full of gold and treasure, with two people with pilgrim hats on top. The two panels on the bottom read "Puritans & Capitalism Sale" and "-30%".

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 27/10/2025

A new dev diary, this time about a concept I made up (that probably already exists): Semi-Automation! lunarchippy.games/2025/10/27/d... Also, the biggest teaser of project OY yet! #IronVillage #ProjectOY #devdiary #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder

A screenshot from the development of Project OY, an unannounced game under development. A naked & bald pixel art character (well, implied nude) is standing inside a boxy train car, visible from outside the front windshield.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 10/10/2025

Hahaha, ooof, I've been there 🙃

Steam Review:

👎 Not Recommended
0.3 hrs on record

Posted: March 27

Nice game. Refunded for trans flag train. Keep gaming fun not political.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 03/10/2025

Managed to get a weekly streak of these dev diaries going... it's #61! Looking at the timing of sales so far, plus an excessively cryptic teaser for Project OY. lunarchippy.games/2025/10/03/d... #IronVillage #ProjectOY #gamedev #devdiary #indiegamedev #indiedev #steam

A graph of net sales over time: The y axis is net sales (i.e. sales minus refunds), stretching up to 1500, the x axis is time, stretching from mid-March through today. A series of numbers 1-6 annotate the graph, which are explained in the linked dev diary.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 26/09/2025

The Iron Village 1.2 launch has gone pretty smoothly! Just in time to switch work to a... project OY? It's Dev Diary #60! lunarchippy.games/2025/09/26/d... #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #godot #devdiary

A very-cropped screenshot from Aseprite. There's three windows and a door (with its own window) on a rectangle with a light green stripe and a teal/turquoise background. There's also a black trapezoid at the bottom.

Windows and door frame are by https://jamiebrownhill.com/, and no I'm not (yet) providing further context outside of credits :)

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 18/09/2025

Tomorrow - the long distance train arrives at Iron Village 1.2 at 13:00 EDT (17:00 UTC)! (Yes, I meant to post this >2 hours earlier. Oops.) #IronVillage #gamedev #indiegamedev #indiedev

19:30 Platform 18
Nova Porthladd
Calling at:
Cochlurca
Iron Village
& Nova Porthladd

Iron Village 1.2
Releases 18 Sep @ 13:00 EDT
(17:00 UTC)

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 10/09/2025

So uh, yeah that's a lot of villagers. (For context, there used to be a population cap of 120, but it'll be adjustable in 1.2.) #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #pixelart

A cropped screenshot of Iron Village. The population is 208, with enough housing for 210. Notably, this high of a population count is not possible before version 1.2.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 05/09/2025

Windows, Charts, Spreadsheets, and... LinkedIn? It's Dev Diary #57! lunarchippy.games/2025/09/05/d... #IronVillage #devdiary #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #godot #opentowork

The updated Railway Status *window*, with a set of buttons arranged at the bottom to access more information.

A *chart* showing the current production rates for resources in this town.

A *spreadsheet* of population statistics, covering population, housing, jobs, major issues, and food & water consumption.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 03/09/2025

So it's a pretty minor feature, but I'm really glad I managed to squeeze this in for Iron Village 1.2: Full Town Screenshots. Now you can press a button and spit out an image containing all of your town! More details about 1.2 in the next dev diary. #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

A screenshot of the town I've been using for testing Iron Village 1.2. You can see the whole map, including tunnel entrances on the sides where the trains enter and exit.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 27/08/2025

Finally put together a dev diary, this time about the ***Iron Village Cinematic Universe*** lunarchippy.games/2025/08/27/d... #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #worldbuilding

A topographic map of a continent, placeholder name “Amé”, in a window of Inkscape. Just to show the insane scope of what I’m talking about.

This is a Köppen Climate Map of the same area, to give you a sense of the info I’ve been tracking.

Some very rough sketching I did to try to vaguely map where the Iron Realm (cyan), Iron Village (purple), and Nova Porthladd (Maroon) would be. Note that Nova Porthladd is probably going to be a tiny bit south of that circle, at the mouth of the slightly larger river.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 11/08/2025

Turning Points: The day job is coming to an end, but what are the plans for Iron Village? And what's this about game #2? lunarchippy.games/2025/08/11/d... #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder #godot #devdiary

A train coming up to a 90 degree curve in the tracks. The engineer driving the train is confused, with a giant visible pink question mark above and to the right of their head.

Disclaimer: Not in game footage. No curved tracks are planned for Iron Village, sorry.

A screenshot of Iron Village. The Immigration Office has been built across the tracks from the Headquarters, with an overpass connecting the two.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 01/08/2025

So uh... can anyone fill me in on what lorg is?

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 30/07/2025

Iron Village 1.2 is going to be all about your workers and resources, so... (New Dev DIary: lunarchippy.games/2025/07/30/d...) #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #devdiary #pixelart #townbuilder #citybuilder

A preview image of the Railway HQ, level 2. It is built on top of a decently sized hill.

A preview image of the Railway HQ, level 3. The main building is now one story taller, and two extensions have been added to the sides.

A preview image of the Railway HQ, level 4. The main building clock tower is now another story taller. The extensions have widened, and a new story has been dug into the ground. The facade has changed to be part stone, part half-timbered.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 18/07/2025

So I've been messing around with some things in Iron Village/very early prototyping the next game. I went ahead and removed 2 pixels of height from some of the train cars and locomotives, and is it just me, or does it suddenly look like way better proportions? #gamedev #indiegamedev #indiedev

An image of a locomotive from Iron Village, in Aseprite. (This one is technically an older asset, but not substantially different from the one in use now.) On the left is what happens when I cut the height by 2 pixels - I'm annoyed I hadn't done this already!

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 15/07/2025

It feels like it's been awhile, here's another dev diary! Taking a look at what's planned for Iron Village 1.2! lunarchippy.games/2025/07/15/d... #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #godot #pixelart #solodev #townbuilder #citybuilder

A window in Iron Village, showing:

Maximum Production Rates

This window shows the maximum attainable production rates of your buildings, not counting the time required for villagers to get to work and fulfill their needs.

Mushrooms 5.1/4.8 -> Potions 2.4/Hour
Water 82.5/8.4 ---^V
Wheat 15.0/12.0 -> Flour 6.0/6.0 -> 12.0/Hour
Cow Milk 8.0/2.0 -> Cheese 2.0/Hour
Sheep Wool 4.0/2.4 -> Clothes 2.4/Hour
Iron Ore 24.0/4.0, Coal 24.0/4.0 -> Steel 8.0/7.2 -> Tools 4.8/Hour and Jewelry 2.4/Hour

The Railway Headquarters on a hill to the right of town, overlooking the tracks. A sign next to it says the name of the railway, "Faearnic Railway".

A screenshot of a town showing some new resource storages, including coal, wood, stone, and steel.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 30/06/2025

Two quick updates: (1) Iron Village is in the Steam Summer Sale for 20% off! Save a whole... $1.80! Probably not much, but it adds up if you buy too many games this sale, haha. (2) The version number went up twice. Here's why: lunarchippy.games/2025/06/29/d... #IronVillage #indiedev #indiegamedev

Steam Summer Sale
June 26th - July 10th @ 10am PT
Iron Village
-20% $6.39 (USD)

In the background seems to be robed cultists gathered around a large hole in the ground and rejoicing. No, I don't understand it either. On the right is an image of the capsule art for Iron Village, showing a small village with some farm fields.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 21/06/2025

So I *should* be taking a break, reaching out to various media, YouTubers, etc. after 1.1's release... Instead, I made a clock. (WIP) #IronVillage #citybuilder #townbuilder #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev

A screenshot of Iron Village with a small HQ on a hill. It has a large clock on it, telling the actual game time.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 19/06/2025

It's here, Iron Village has now been updated to 1.1! To celebrate, it's now 20% off! Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3011060/... Itch: lunar-chippy.itch.io/iron-village Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/d... #IronVillage #Godot #gamedev #indiegamedev #indiedev #pixelart #citybuilder

A zoomed out screenshot of Iron Village. Notable additions visible here include a large fortress to the left and many new building variations.

Iron Village 1.1: June 19
Русский & 한국어
Android Version
Construct a Fortress
Move Buildings
Build Rotated Buildings
Host Monarch Faearn for the City Status Ceremony
Pause Resource Production
Zoom In & Out
Hide the UI for Better Screenshots
New Villager Animations
Less Strict Resource Capacities

Bugfixes, Including:
Corrupt Steam Cloud Save Names
Stuck Villagers, &
Missing Tooltips

All of this is on top of a mockup of a town in Iron Village that has these features present.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 09/06/2025

Big news: I finally beat Baldur's Gate 3 today! Slightly lesser news: Iron Village 1.1 now has a release date, June 19th! Host a Royal Ceremony to officially earn City Status, and utilize a ton of quality of life features as well. #indiedev #indiegamedev #gamedev #IronVillage #citybuilder

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 25/05/2025

An updated preview of the fortress, and a new dev diary: how much money has Iron Village even made so far? And how much does Lunar Chippy Games actually receive? lunarchippy.games/2025/05/25/d... #IronVillage #devdiary #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder

The preview window in Aseprite, showing the front right of a castle and a long stairway up to the entrance.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 23/05/2025

A preview of things to come. (The last main chunk of "content" in Iron Village 1.1!) #IronVillage #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #wip

The "preview" window of the pixel art software Aseprite. Here I've mashed together the shape of a castle from Krishna Palacio's Minifantasy Mountain Stronghold set.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 08/05/2025

Surprise! There's Iron Village prints at the Boston Indie Game Developers both! (18105) #paxeast #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #ironvillage

A table with prints as well as free handouts, at PAX East. The one at the top is the Iron Village capsule art.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 07/05/2025

Good, and just barely lawful. (Of course, this is based on my own input, so there's obviously some bias.) www.idrlabs.com/moral-alignm...

Moral Alignment Test
Results:
(In the upper left section, touching the line between lawful and neutral)
You are 68.3% good, 39.2% lawful, making you lawful good.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 04/05/2025

Finally making some progress on Iron Village after a week of vacation and a week (so far) of allergies that have been brutally murdering me. The arrival of Monarch Faearn works! #IronVillage #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #solodev #pixelart #trains

A gif of Iron Village. The royal train arrives at the station of Vila do Ferro (i.e. the default village name in Brazillian Portuguese), and the Monarch leaves the train, walking up off of the screen. They are headed towards the Royal Palace.

Also note that the UI is in Russian, a new language coming to 1.1.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 22/04/2025

This seems on brand: a literal anti-fascist locomotive.

A small blue diesel locomotive on the tracks, surrounded by other locomotives and cars in the Museo del Ferrocarril in Madrid.

TRACCIÓN DIÉSEL

Locomotora diésel de maniobras 10201

(La Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima, España, 1935 bajo licencia Deutsche Werke kiel, Alemania)

En 1935 La Maquinista fabricó de modo experimental para la Compañía MZA, dos pequeñas locomotoras diésel de transmisión mecánica, siendo de las primeras de esta tipología que funcionaron en España. El objetivo era sustituir progresivamente a las locomotoras de vapor que realizaban maniobras en estaciones y depósitos, pero el estallido de la Guerra Civil impidió dar continuidad a los ensayos.

En plena contienda, ambas máquinas fueron blindadas en los talleres de la compañía británica The Great Southern of Spain Railway en Águilas, Murcia, para formar parte de los trenes blindados del ejército republicano. La locomotora circulaba en cola, empujando el convoy para evitar ser dañada por explosivos colocados en la línea. Además, para camuflarse de los ataques aéreos, se pintó de color gris con manchas irregulares y en el techo se colocaron dos carriles simulando la vía.

Finalizada la guerra, esta locomotora llega a Madrid para su desblindaje y formar parte, desde entonces y hasta la década de 1960, de las locomotoras de maniobras de RENFE. Actualmente se expone con sus colores originales.

Pieza IG nº 89

----

A photo of the locomotive with its armor is in the top right.

Alt text continued in next post

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 11/04/2025

Also, a tiny peak at things I've been working on - yes of course the royal train is electrified, why wouldn't it be? #indiedev #indiegamedev #gamedev #IronVillage #solodev #pixelart

A screenshot of Iron Village. The royal train is parked at the station, with Monarch Faearn standing at the back. A normal cargo train is in the foreground.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 11/04/2025

So I'm hoping this dev diary is going to be interesting/informative/helpful: How much did it cost to make Iron Village? I'm hoping that transparency around the money side of things will be helpful. lunarchippy.games/2025/04/11/d... #indiedev #indiegamedev #gamedev #IronVillage #solodev

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 11/04/2025

That's not the April showers I was expecting... ( @weatherishappening.com )

A photo of the backyard, focused on a pine tree 🌲. There is a thin layer of snow on it, as well as on the deck in the foreground.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 01/04/2025

Despite the sun, it is not nice cycling weather this morning - pretty impressive turnout for Littleton though!

A bike rack at the Littleton commuter rail station with four bikes parked. The sun is out, but it is hella windy. Not pictured: two abandoned bikes, one off screen to the left, and one off screen to the right.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 30/03/2025

So it's been about a week since Iron Village was released to the public... which means it's time for a patch! lunarchippy.games/2025/03/30/d... The star of today's show: doors! #gamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder #ironvillage #cozygames #pixelart #indiedev #solodev #indiegamedev

A screenshot of Iron Village, with four large fancy houses. The one in the top left has open doors.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 24/03/2025

0 days remaining! Iron Village is now available for PC, Mac, and Linux (incl. Steam Deck) on Steam and Itch! Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3011060/... Itch: lunar-chippy.itch.io/iron-village #gamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder #ironvillage #cozygames #pixelart #indiedev #solodev #indiegamedev

A screenshot of Iron Village. At the top is the Deep Mine, a minecart-accessible mine and quarry that accesses the the depths. To the right is the royal palace, and to the left is the number 0 drawn in stone roads.

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Michelle Gruar @mgruar.northsky.social · 23/03/2025

Tomorrow! 9am EDT (13:00 UTC) Iron Village pulls into the station. (Help I'm running out of railway puns!) Available on Steam and Itch for PC, Mac, and Linux, including Steam Deck! #gamedev #townbuilder #citybuilder #ironvillage #pixelart #indiedev #solodev #indiegamedev

A screenshot of Iron Village. We're back in the lower right corner, where a 1 has been drawn between a kitchen in the top left, a quarry in the top right, a blacksmith on the left, and a steel forge in the bottom right.

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