Sign in

Nikhil Murthy

@murthynikhil.bsky.social
590 followers 331 following 804 posts

Experimental game designer currently working on Hoop Dungeon. Previous games: Syphilisation, The Quiet Sleep

PostsRepliesMedia
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 23h
The key here for a designer is that you have to understand how to control how loud and soft your features are. Armor stats are very loud because the game says that they are important because of how many features use the stats. Armor looks are soft because their value is implicit and not quantified.
000
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When walking around Portugal in snail season, you'll see lots of handmade signs in restaurants advertising that they have snails. Someone made a website of just these signs. hacaracois.pt
hacaracois.pt
Há Caracóis
Photos of the handwritten “Há Caracóis” signs that appear outside cafés, tascas and restaurants across Portugal every summer, when snail season arrives.
043
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Josh Sawyer @jesawyer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There have been two occasions in my career where I had to go to war with teammates against mistaken understandings of probability. In both cases, it was because people expected large numbers of d6s to occasionally result in maximum damage. But the curves for 3d6 and 15d6 (e.g.) look like this:
Two curves showing the distribution of results across 3d6 and 15d6.  At the extreme ends of the first, 3 and 18 are both 0.46% likely.  On the second curve, the extremes are 15 and 90 damage, but the probability drops below 0.00% below 29 and above 76.
4369799
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This does hurt but on the other hand, it gets you to finally ship something
020
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Verbante @verbante.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
🚨🚨🚨 MURDER TETRIS 🚨🚨🚨 my entry for #fallingblockjam is complete! if you are excited like our detective you can play it here: verbante.itch.io/murder-tetris #pico8 #gamedev
934673
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Adriaan @adriaan.games · 28/09/2026
i’ll beat this drum over & over again: game devs obsessing over Steam as if it’s the only viable platform is self-sabotaging and potentially the death of their business. case in point: rift riff was designed for Steam with $30k marketing spent. yet it makes 6X on the App Store with $0 on marketing
1312718
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!
29486481
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I appreciate @edwinet.bsky.social for his engagement with the politics of strategy games. I also really like Sin Vega for this and would love to read more of her work.
020
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
boshi's place @boshis.place · 25/09/2026
(reposting to correct the date on the poster) NEW BOSHI PLAYTESTING EVENT wed 10/7 : ) submit your WIP games by wed 9/30 or come playtest other devs' games! (more info and google form on our website boshis.place/events/26-10... )
372
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Guardian is doing some major hiring right now! If you have 2-3 years' experience in journalism, media and/or content creation, you can apply for the Digital Journalism Scheme - full time roles including 20% training time, £48k pa workwithus.theguardian.com/digital-jour...
workwithus.theguardian.com
Digital Journalist Scheme
68465
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Esther Wright @enwright.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This November we’re hosting a free interactive discussion event as part of Cardiff Univeristy’s @beinghumanfest.bsky.social! Come for history&games, stay for @chriskempshall.bsky.social & @hollynielsen.bsky.social saying excellent things! (I will be there too..) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fact-versu...
eventbrite.co.uk
Fact versus Fiction in the Gaming World
A free interactive discussion panel to explore and imagine historical video games
02717
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I had no idea Shogun Showdown was free on Epic. It's a great roguelike, if you're in the mood for one. store.epicgames.com/p/shogun-sho...
store.epicgames.com
Shogun Showdown | Download and Buy Today - Epic Games Store
Download and play Shogun Showdown at the Epic Games Store. Check for platform availability and price!
000
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If anyone is at the intersection of games/art history or games/science and technology studies (or has grad students who are), both ASAP (asapjournal.com/submit/) and Configurations (litsciarts.org/news/books-t...) are looking for people to review The Impossible Reversal!
asapjournal.com
Submit - ASAP/Review
021
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Gwen Marshall @drgwenmarshall.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The Onion ran this amazing article and thought, I wanna play this! So I made it! 38 pps, PbtA, plus every mechanic mentioned in the article, and a bunch of Rodrigo song references. And it's free! Enjoy! #OliviaRodrigo @theonion.com #theonion #ttrpg #itch.io drgwenmarshall.itch.io/high-winter-...
drgwenmarshall.itch.io
High Winter Elves of Girlville by Gwen Marshall
A satirical game based on an Onion article about Olivia Rodrigo making a TTRPG!
482195768
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Here's a quick video explaining how I used friendship to replace XP systems in Hoop Dungeon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=syEK...
youtube.com
Friendship in Hoop Dungeon
YouTube video by Nikhil Murthy
010
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
SMD's pension @anothersmd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
this is utterly adorable and i think if i saw this show as a kid i would've been bouncing off the walls
0488156
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The san’yaku fights of day three and four have been top drama
001
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
[untitled games event] Amsterdam @untitledgamesevent.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We are so excited to announce the first [untitled games event] weekender: a prototype festival. 3 days of experimental games and playful arts in Amsterdam. 20+ games and a full program of workshops, talks, and collective playthroughs. Free and BYO. Details: buttondown.com/untitledgame...
Here’s what the first UGE Weekender looks like: 

FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER
[untitled games event] at the Rijksakademie

SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
UGE Workshop DLC

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
[untitled games event] #9: “dreams and disquiet”
12812
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
⚡️Marina Díez is finishing a new game! @ninfadp.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A rule I established for my team when Im directing: No one in the production works outside of the engine It saves a lot of time and headaches and eventually the team members that felt more insecure end up feeling super empowered.
5225
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Esther Wright and Nick Webber from the Historical Games Network; how do players think about history, how do games (and their marketing) depict it? Webber on oral histories, the artefacts produced by players (scorecards, chat logs, folk and household rules, etc). It’s giving @florencesn.bsky.social!
Dr. Esther Wright
Cardiff University
@enwright.bsky.social
Dr. lain Donald
Edinburgh Napier University
@doni.bsky.social
Prof. Nick Webber
Birmingham City University
@doktomick.bsky.social
www.historicalgames.net
@HistoryGamesNet.bsky.social
3153
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Busta talks about how Dilla beats are not built on the metronome but instead have a human rhythm to them. I've never really thought about how much of my games are on quantized, perfectly repeating intervals. I'm going to see if I can put in a little drunkenness to the timings of my next game.
010
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Docs as blueprints - nearly worthless Docs as a quick and cheap way to prototype an idea for yourself - deeply underrated
030
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I enjoyed reading Run and Jump but I think that I do not get as much from projecting profundity on unsuspecting video games any more. I am very glad it exists as a lens to read games and I think designers need to be able to use it and to engage with its use but I want two-way dialogue instead.
000
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is an excellent point on secret design from Run and Jump
Achieving that uncanny effect is not about the rewards the player discovers but the process of hiding.
The placement of secrets needs to establish new rules, and the level designer must follow them consistently.
Moreover, those rules must differ from the stated goals of play while remaining within the scope of a player's imagination.
030
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This looks to follow the card game Fungi in games that @edwinet.bsky.social writes about that are tailor-made for @anayaka.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/lovely-anime...
rockpapershotgun.com
Lovely anime Sherlock series The Apothecary Diaries is getting a PC game spin-off, with Maomao chasing down another court conspiracy
The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother is a new PC game based on Hyuganatsu's sleuthy palace intrigue manga and its anime adaptation.
021
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Aura/Moom @moomanibe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
These testers have zero investment - they didn't spend 60 dollars on the game. These days their recordings probably are also being analyzed by "AI" LLMs that pipe random comments into buckets like "NEGATIVE - THE USER WAS CONFUSED FOR 0.5 SECONDS".
2786
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Dr Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Thousand Hells is out NOW. A tactical narrative game about staging heists in different hells that blends mythology and surrealism from the creators of King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages - there’s nothing like it. I’m delighted to be one of the writers involved store.steampowered.com/app/3794210/...
store.steampowered.com
Save 10% on Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists on Steam
Recruit your team, choose your path, and descend into hell. Four heroes must overcome the trials of the underworlds in tactical narrative encounters. A new systemic storybook experience blending mytho...
1024791
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Aaron Lim 林家丰 @ehronlime.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
games excel under rules, constraints, and friction; why can’t designing games also be a game
0142
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Robert Yang @radiatoryang.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
for game design, I think technical constraints are mostly good for creativity. you react to the brick wall and figure out how to wall jump. the wall is a tool
529237
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
For Hoop Dungeon, watch: 2007 NBA WCF (Suns vs Spurs) 2008 NBA Finals (Lakers vs Celtics) 2009 NBA WCF (Nuggets vs Lakers) 2015 NBA ECF (Bulls vs Cavs) and Blue Lock and Haikyuu!
000
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Now that Gandhi is coming back to the Civ series, it is a great time to read my article on how games fail Gandhi by reducing him to a joke about a bug that probably never existed. www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-video-ga...
rockpapershotgun.com
How video games consistently fail Gandhi
Gandhi was something completely different, and yet games try to represent him with the same pieces they use for everyone else - and so they always make him some
000
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"decolonization is always a violent phenomenon. At whatever level we study it [...] decolonization is quite simply the replacing of a certain 'species' of men by another 'species' of men." - Fanon talking to people making postcolonial cozy games.
140
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Sarah Ford 🐍🎨🖥️ SleepyTime Holiday @angeloslh.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Awright you lot, any timezone flexible and/or JST community managers looking for work?
027
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I appreciate @jamesandstuff.bsky.social piece on Onimusha for making its point so well. www.rockpapershotgun.com/onimusha-way...
rockpapershotgun.com
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is best when it's silly, and despite some gloomy open world slogging, sometimes even remembers it
After a few hours in parryfest hack 'n' slash Onimusha: Way of the Sword, it's a shame that it's not always as goofily funny as the excellent opening sequence.
010
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Jordan Magnuson @jordanmagnuson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Today's the day!
055
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Konstantinos Dimopoulos @konstantinosd.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A lovely person used GameMaker to let us play the Amiga version of Settlers again. Find it here: polytricity.itch.io/settlers-gm
1248
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Other games may have launched today, but if you want a game that doesn't hate basketball and doesn't hate you, you should definitely check out Hoop Dungeon. store.steampowered.com/app/4250030/...
store.steampowered.com
Hoop Dungeon on Steam
Hoop Dungeon is a basketball turn-based tactical roguelike game. Use the powers of friendship and rivalry to become a better basketball player and conquer the Hoop Dungeon.
012
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Raj Patel @rajio.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
For most of the publicly traded companies with the most games job layoffs, their gross profit year over year has been increasing every year. The overall trend among most public companies doing layoffs is continued growth. This does not show a revenue consolidation causing the wider layoff trends.
parent companies known to have experienced layoffs for games industry jobs since 2020, sorted by most known total layoff headcount.
312035
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
From 1969 to 2008 John Margolies photographed the eccentric roadside architecture and ephemera of the US. @librarycongress bought the lot, a total of 11,710 colour slides, and lifted all copyright restrictions on them. Here's our highlights: publicdomainreview.org/collection/j...
219271
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Join the Washerwoman Potlatch! In the week before GTA6 launches, we will each make something about an indie game we have no connection to. itch.io/jam/the-wash...
itch.io
The Washerwoman Potlatch
A game jam from 2026-11-12 to 2026-11-19 hosted by whynotgames. Two washerwoman, stuck on a desert island, made a living by taking in each other's washing. I often hear that we indie devs cannot make ...
030
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Folk Emerging 🦣 stone age 4X (OUT NOW) @curiousdynamics.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Excited to host this week's official #TurnBasedThursday thread! 🎮 If you're a #gamedev with a turn-based game, showcase it in the replies, and use the hashtag #TurnBasedThursday. We're all boosting this thread! ♖ If you love turn-based #Gaming: ❤️, 🔁, & follow your faves!
hunting for great turn-based games
4910552
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Goodness but I would love a game narrative kaleidoscope but for short GDDs for good game ideas that designers have but can’t justify making. I would subscribe to a journal like that. It would be the highlight of every month.
000
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Thank you Mr. Silver.
000
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
John Romero @johnromero.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Check out my trip to the Dutch Pinball Museum where I discover a new FPS, possibly the first FPS. dutchpinballmuseum.com
331636450
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
#TurnBasedThursday - Turn-Based Game Showcases @turnbasedthursday.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This week's host is a #TurnBasedThursday co-organizer, essential to organizing our yearly Steam sale and wonderfully helpful to so many in our community. A solo dev who just released his first (impressively deep & addictive) game, follow @CuriousDynamics.bsky.social for tomorrow's thread!
Screenshots from Folk Emerging, a pre-historic / Stone Age nomadic 4X strategy game by @CuriousDynamics.bsky.social.
1165
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Dr. Emily Price @emilyprice.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
My planned columns about women and the games industry return; this time I’d like to talk to women who review video games about their experiences landing and writing reviews, especially recently. If this is you, reach out via DM or eaprice.work@gmail.com
3118111
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
loren schmidt @lorenschmidt.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
this morning i'm playing 'The Ruins of Calaworm! this just came out, and just received its first patch! it's been really fun watching the development of it. the game is here: erdbeerscherge.itch.io/ruins-of-cal...
47912
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Fujinokawa and Atamifuji at sekiwake is hilarious. At least they average out to two standard sumo wrestlers.
020
Nikhil Murthy @murthynikhil.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
My computer cannot run the majority of even lo-fi indie games right now but it sure as hell can run my own game just fine
130
Reposted by Nikhil Murthy
Sahil Bajaj will BRB (for real this time) @sahilbajaj.dev · 31/08/2026
Hey y'all, My buddy at WIRED Middle East is looking to comission a games journalist familiar with the Middle East for a particular story and I was wondering if any of y'all would be open to covering this or know someone who would? If so, DM me and I can tell you more about this.
496128