iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 19/05/2026

While I'm very much about the journey not the destination... that's not the case with automation. Screw that journey, every time.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 20/04/2026

Watched Pom Poko with the kids this weekend. It was a great movie, but I'll tell you that if you go into it blind like I did: a few areas of the story are pretty... nuts.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 30/01/2026

Apple's rejection process on the App Store is awful. In a recent client submission, they rejected for a nonexistent privacy issue, we replied in <24h and were told we don't need to resubmit and they will continue the review. That was seven days ago.

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Jake_Vig @jakevig.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Overheard: "I think that creepy guy is listening to our conversation."

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 18/12/2025

Let's get on all those "great games under $10" lists now, amirite?

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Rose Whitcomb @gamingmistress.com · 01/12/2025

It'd be cool if ya'll considered CIPHER ZERO (@cipherzerogame.com ) for the following categories! • Game of the Year • Best Approachable Game • Best Challenging Game • Best Puzzle Design • Most Innovative Game • Best Art Direction I'm still so incredibly proud of this game. 💜

A screenshot of CIPHER ZERO's opening area, Lake, done in a minimalist design and colors.

A grey and lonely lake, vague shapes of mountains in the distance, multiple phases of the moon is seen in the grey sky.. Rocks of hard edges jut out of the water's surface, as sunbeams cast themselves over one of the rocks. A green train races across the surface and continues on off screen. A telescope sits in the foreground, aimed out towards the open lake.

A solved puzzle from CIPHER ZERO. A 3x3 square grid, missing the center square. A dot sits in the center of it. The left column has a single horizontal dash above it, the right column has two. The center row has a single vertical dash to the left of tie, and the bottom row has two. The bottom left square is lit up green while the bottom right and center right are as well.

The background is an upside-down landscape of a farm area, done in shades of green and black to match to green of the puzzle.

An incorrectly solved puzzle from CIPHER ZERO. It's a 5x5 squared, grid-like puzzle, done in shades of black, white, grey, and orange. Some of the symbols on the puzzle are lit up with that orange, while parts of the grid is a lighter gray over other darker parts.

A screenshot from CIPHER ZERO's City level, done in a minimalist design.

A large apartment building sits center of the view, a large blue and faint orange sign with illegible text. Below that is an empty restaurant and bar. A covered train track runs behind it, as more skyscrapers are seen in the background with various billboards.

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Erik Asmussen / 82apps @easmussen.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

New trailer for Factory Town 2 just dropped!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEcR...

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Factory Town 2: Paradise [Official Trailer]

YouTube video by 82apps

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Terrible Posture Games @terribleposture.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

We hope you're as excited as we are! Grab Good Boy now! #earlyaccess #indiegame #excited

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 26/09/2025

Sometimes, you need to stand your ground.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 16/09/2025

Now that I say that out loud though, the perception of authenticity has absolutely seen an uptick in importance in recent history, in terms of consumer sentiment.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 16/09/2025

One of the more saddening things that I see with LLM tech is the uncertainty borne from its existence. As if we didn't have enough bullshit to wade through, we now get to suffer the question if something was purely "AI-generated" or not.

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 09/09/2025

From smoke tests to playtests, accessibility to empathy, QA for CIPHER ZERO was more than just bug-hunting. Join Emma and Rose as they lift the curtain on hundreds of hours of the care behind CIPHER ZERO. #GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/06-whe...

A close up of an office building from CIPHER ZERO's City biome. Three floors are shown, each with their own empty meeting rooms as a couple of trees poke up from the bottom of vision.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 05/09/2025

We used MailChimp free for awhile until they deleted all our contacts with no recourse when we didn’t send a campaign for awhile. Since then we moved to Sendy backed by MailJet. It’s flexible, easy to setup, and we control all our data.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 02/09/2025

Home automation is an absolutely wonderful rabbit hole to fall into. Sure, I can hit lightswitches myself, but to have my house just automatically light (and dim) things based on preference, time, and occupancy is downright magical.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 30/08/2025

This finally pushed me over the edge to start looking. I've bounced off of beatport (loved the focus but not the software) and qobuz (didn't like the software either).

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 29/08/2025

We're in the Rules Discovery Games Bundle! Get 20% off on: 🧩 Strange Jigsaws (@flebpuzzles.bsky.social) 🔳 LOK Digital (@letibus.bsky.social) 🔲 CIPHER ZERO (@cipherzerogame.com) 🪨 Linelith (@cwpat.me) zpdt.co/RDGBundle202 #GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDev

An image of four game splashes: CIPHER ZERO, LOK Digital, Strange Jigsaws, and Linelith

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 27/08/2025

Kinda like how it would always take three tries to plug in the older USB cables

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 26/08/2025

All of this advice is way too realistic. Grab a D20, roll, and count that many from the top of the backlog. That's in this sprint. Next roll proceeds from there.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 25/08/2025

Just spent the week away for a much needed break. Missed a lot of the comforts of home, including my keyboard. 🤓

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Andy Robertson @geekdadgamer.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

🎉LUDOCENE LAUNCHED 🎉 So excited (and nervous) to send our game-finder into the world. Ludocene.com If you want a better way to find amazing games that rewards experts and is in the hands of players, this is our shot. Thank you to the 1000's backers and supporters.This is just the beginning.

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 05/08/2025

Join Annie (@nyanfood.bsky.social) and Saul (@saulamander.bsky.social) in how they brought the moon — a constant, ever-shifting presence during your journey — to life in the sky above CIPHER ZERO's worlds. notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/05-fra... #GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog

A cropped screenshot from CIPHER ZERO's Suburb's level, done in minimalist designs, soft colors, and paper-like textures.

An elevated, covered train track runs across the bottom, a couple of squared off tree tops in front, various shades of green. The sky is a smattering of green, blue, pink, orange, and golds. A waxing moon is in the center of the sky, a geometric glitch haze around it.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 31/07/2025

I know they say don't meet your heroes, but maybe you can send them Steam keys?

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 31/07/2025

Wrote some short thoughts and a little more context around the development of CIPHER ZERO. I hope you read it!

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 30/07/2025

A huge thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to leave a review for CIPHER ZERO! We're sitting at Very Positive on Steam thanks to you! If you’ve played but haven’t left a review yet, we’d love to know what you thought! zpdt.co/playcz #CipherZero #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX

A yellow fire hydrant in the middle of a grey, rocky, barren area, with tiny star flower plants nearby it. A dark starry sky is seen in the back, the sides are littered with glowing thumbs up, and across the top center says "THANK YOU!"

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 28/07/2025

Ian and Will did such a great job with this system. We set a high bar for what we wanted to achieve and I'm really proud of what came out of their work.

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Bread & Fred | Gnaughty Gnomes @sandcastlesstudio.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

And so on with more than 120 upgrade cards. #indiegames #gamedev

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 24/07/2025

Really wanted to launch with this, but I’ll take two days post-launch. :)

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 22/07/2025

Here's an example of two different "review" sites contacting us. Often they have very repetitive content. Sometimes the sites they list straight up don't exist.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 22/07/2025

It is wild to see how releasing a game has changed in the last 15 years. So much fake content creators and curators to wade through. For smaller devs, it's a burden of labor you must endure as you try to identify real folks who are going to help spread awareness for your title.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 18/07/2025

Even after working on this project over the last five years, it's a blast to read about. :)

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 14/07/2025

Don’t measure leisure time in “work days” you goof.

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 09/07/2025

The weeks leading up to launch *could* be a stressful time but this team is so amazing, I've been getting more relaxed each day. There's no question that we're doing our damnedest to give CIPHER ZERO the best shot it can get by the time it goes live. ❤️

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nyanfood @nyanfood.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Hello #PortfolioDay I'm a game dev by day, potato mom by night, and I squeeze in music and art when I can My studio's game @cipherzerogame.com will be coming out on July 22! I worked on the visuals, some UI, some music Please check us out and wishlist store.steampowered.com/app/1332180/...

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nyanfood @nyanfood.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

I entered the @vograce.bsky.social creative contest Please vote for me here so I can be seen by the jury after the preliminary round 🙏 (you can vote once a day!) vograce.com/pages/creati...

Humanity is a capricious child who floats under the ossified head of mother ocean. She wears a red and white dress, surrounded by the ghost of her mother's corals which she discolored and killed in her innocent foray into adulthood.

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 29/05/2025

A minimalist logic game. Can you solve for 𝒙? zpdt.co/playcz CIPHER ZERO. July 22, 2025. Wishlist now. #PlayCipherZero #GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 08/06/2025

One more week to try out the #CIPHERZERO demo! Wishlist and follow to stay up to date on the latest news. Starting tomorrow, we'll make our way through the world of CIPHER ZERO with the first location, LAKE. zpdt.co/playcz #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 05/06/2025

Thank you again to #CerebralPuzzleShowcase for having us! Our demo will be up until June 15th, giving you a little more time to work through the puzzles in LAKE. Don't forget to add CIPHER ZERO (and other games you enjoyed) to your wishlist! zpdt.co/playcz #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 04/06/2025

Great point. (Leaders: this doesn’t exempt you from effort, you must dig for this information too.)

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 29/05/2025

Join us today at the very first Thinky Direct, filled with trailers and announcements from all the games that scratch your brain. Tune in to see #CipherZero news! 6pm BST/10am PDT/1pm EDT! www.youtube.com/live/iXyyhQd... #PlayCipherZero #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #ThinkyDirect

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 29/05/2025

Today’s a huge day for the studio, really excited for the next couple of months over here. 🤞

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michael carriere @michael.carriere.org · 24/05/2025

Experience is *not* attempting a major version upgrade on a critical component of your stack when you should be working on finishing the game. 😇

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CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 21/05/2025

We're thrilled to be part of the Thinky Direct next week! We can't wait to show you what we've been working on. Stay tuned for updates! #PlayCipherZero #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX

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Boston Game Dev @bostongamedev.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

That's a wrap on the very first Boston Gamedev Week! We were totally blown away by how many people showed up to every single event, wore our pins and embraced BGW enthusiastically. Thank you to everyone who took this leap with us, and to all of our incredible organizers. Let's do this again!

A table with several BGW pins, name tags, and a poster that says "this event is brought to you by Boston Game Dev!"

A photo from Made in MA. Manny Mallea is holding a frog plushie from the game Frogmageddon in front of a mounted camera. Its big frog face appears on the large screen behind Manny.

The Boston Indies Demo Night. A crowd of game devs socializing and playing demos outdoors in the evening.

Our Make Games Make Friends event. A crowd gathered indoors is chatting and ordering drinks.

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