iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

meep meep

Trolley problem but the roadrunner is on the track. When the coyote pulls the lever, the streetcar lurches sideways off the track and flattens him instead.

Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 7h

It's really distressing to consider that I'll probably never make any work of art as completely engrossing as an oscilloscope view of a chiptune. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kgz...

youtube.com

C64 Jeroen Tel's "Cybernoid I and II" Oscilloscope view

YouTube video by Rolf R Bakke

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

a little 4 color pixel art light and shadow study i just finished of a hand rising up from quicksand. i'm not sure what this is for, but i like it!

a pixel art hand rising up out of the quicksand

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

so I heard you liked sprawling semi-autobiographical semi-surreal 175,000 word interactive fiction stories about indie rock bands in the 90s, so I made 9 Days In A Van With Your 3 Best Friends just for you! And you can even vote for it in IF Comp if you're cool! ifcomp.org/ballot#entry...

ifcomp.org

The Interactive Fiction Competition

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

this resonates so deeply. the religion of speed is at the heart of basically everything bad right now across all sectors of our culture.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

pros of making your own game engine: "that esoteric feature that I would use all the time didn't exist, but now it does and I benefit forever!" cons of making your own game engine: "that essential feature that I would use all the time doesn't exist, so I can't do anything at all until it does."

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Joseph Hewitt @gearheadrpg.com · 25/09/2026

The model of most of these content platforms- webcomic platforms, YouTube, various streaming things- is to push risk onto the creators and keep rewards for the platform. It's endless spec work where maybe you'll get paid someday.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

REwadent Evil @ewacat.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

if you ever struggle with names when worldbuilding just remember there's a whole massive mountain range called The Rockies

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Andrew | BUY INDIEPOCALYPSE ➡️ BostonFIG @pizzapranks.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The 6th annual Indiepocalypse Pledge Drive is live with the ever present goal of Breaking Even! (and more so supporting the whole catalog of contributors) Any support, whether it's contributing to the drive or spreading the good word, is very much appreciated! pizzapranks.itch.io/indiepocalyp...

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

we just had a couple folks have to cancel their tickets to tonight's performance of labRats, so we've got a couple seats open now if you're in the mood for causing a little free mischief in a live co-operative game/theatre unholy union! www.tickettailor.com/events/cirqu...

tickettailor.com

cirqueSaw

cirqueSaw – cirqueSaw explores the intersection of art and technology, co-founded by partners Nathan Leigh and Nicole Orabona in 2020. They...

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

it's only taken me 2 hours, but I've successfully recreated functionality that already existed before I started trying to fix something and broke everything!

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Eric Ravenscraft @lordravenscraft.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

holy shit, this is the whole ballgame in a single paragraph gAI systems require mass theft of copyrighted works, for the explicit purpose of replacing the market for the people they stole from, and the people in charge knew what they were doing ahead of time, and did it anyway

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

well that was the single most (gloriously) chaotic labRats performance of all time! usually things end one of about 4 ways. that was a new one for sure...

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I keep seeing videos of a guy who catches crabs and lobsters, cracks all the barnacles off them, puts a shrimp in their claws and throws them back. can you imagine. abducted by aliens but they just give you a spa day and hand you two hot dogs and let you go

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Tristan Willis @tristanbwillis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

www.1319press.com/bookstore/p/...

Trade Offer - obnoxious looking guy in a suit steeples his fingers. On one side it says "i receive: proof that there's a market for "unproduceable" theatre." On the the other side it says "you receive: a beautiful copy of my newly published play The Great Impresario Boris Lermontov Would Like To Invite You To Dinner"

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I just created a 3 minute song that can fit losslessly inside a single QR code just to prove to myself that i could and now I'm done making art for a while.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm not really sure how my usually fiercely independent cat always knows when I'm having a difficult day and seeks me out to keep me company, but it's basically the most good thing in the world.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm finally laying the groundwork for a new secret area in labRats ahead of this week's shows! We've got three performances as part of the incredible Void Space lineup and a lot of new surprises in store! seats are limited, tickets are by donation: www.tickettailor.com/events/cirqu...

a pixel art rat in an HVAC system inviting you to follow them with the text FOLLOW ME INTO THE VOID.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Ben Paddon 🎃 @benpaddon.net · 13/09/2026

An AI flyer is a brown M&M test. If your event or business is cutting corners by using an AI flyer, where else are you cutting corners? What else are you cheating out on? Why should I be bothered to go somewhere you couldn't be bothered to promote with a little of your own personality?

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Today is a fantastic day for all the kids who read A Wrinkle In Time and thought "you know, Camazotz seems pretty great actually, and It really makes some good points if you think about it."

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 12/09/2026

"CODA," the first film featuring a largely deaf cast to triumph at the Oscars, marked a watershed moment for the film industry. But five years later, director Siân Heder has seen any momentary embrace by Hollywood of the those with disabilities come and go.

bit.ly

‘CODA’ didn’t change Hollywood's attitude about disability. Siân Heder hopes ‘Being Heumann’ can

“CODA,” the first film featuring a largely deaf cast to triumph at the Oscars, marked a watershed moment for the film industry.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Patrick! @tragicgay.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

there is a weird equivalence to a world that asks me as a thirty-something to get invested in the boy wizard franchise from a quarter of a century ago, and a world that assumes I need AI to summarize every pdf I download. it is a world that presumes we're all very helpless and stupid and sad

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Aerial_Knight @aerialknight.com · 10/09/2026

Just a reminder: a game doesn’t have to be a 10/10 or even a 9/10 to be a good game. The “I only play masterpieces” shit is part of the reason the industry is where it is right now. Let games just be good.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Eric Ravenscraft @lordravenscraft.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"Sony let Kojima's next experimental game slip away to Xbox" "The hot new Looney Tunes movie was barely saved from oblivion by Ketchup Entertainment" "No one can figure out the premise for a new Muppet Show" we are living through an era of exceptionally high incompetence from corporate leadership

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I think I feel the same way about OOT as I do about Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence. Yeah, it's demonstrably worse than the version that I love, but I still have the original, so a worse version of it existing doesn't actually impact me in any meaningful way.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Bethany Black @bethanyblack.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What is consciousness? What is sentience? These are philosophical question that have been asked since the dawn of time. How lucky we are to live in a time where 7 people in Northern California realised the answer is “being able to predict the most statistically significant next word in a sentence”

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

waking up to a ton of new follows from anti-AI packs is a beautiful thing! Hi new friends! I work at the intersection of games and live theatre! My most recent projects are labRats www.tickettailor.com/events/cirqu... and the 2026 IF Comp entry 9 Days in a Van 3301.play.ifcomp.org/content/inde...

tickettailor.com

cirqueSaw

cirqueSaw – cirqueSaw explores the intersection of art and technology, co-founded by partners Nathan Leigh and Nicole Orabona in 2020. They...

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Hannah Flynn 🐀 @itshannahflynn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It is easy and comfortable to think, look at this thing we made, we have worked so hard, the hard work is the proof that it is good, people will buy it because they will see we have worked hard and thus made a good thing

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

J. L. Westover @mrlovenstein.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

YOU DON'T "CONSUME" ART MOTHERFUCKER. YOU EXPERIENCE IT. YOU FEEL IT. YOU ENGAGE WITH IT. YOU WRESTLE WITH IT. YOU LIVE IT. ART ISN'T A LITTLE MORSEL YOU GOBBLE UP.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Tristan Willis @tristanbwillis.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I truly think art alone is incapable of enacting change on any systemic level and also that’s okay. But we can’t let making art be our stand-in for taking action.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I didn't really have any intent when I put The Beatles entire recorded output on in alphabetical order, but this is definitely the most cursed possible way to listen to them.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

art is hard but when someone whose art you really admire says nice stuff about your art and helps you make it better, that's like the whole reason for doing it at all. I'm really proud of this little story and I hope it resonates with other folks! Go check out Cameo's work too!!

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

apparently Barry Gibb turned 80 today, so I'm gonna need all of y'all to refrain from coughing anywhere near him, lest the bi 9/11 turns into some manner of bi Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. thank you.

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab @bpal.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

We already had free art for people who are broke or bad at designing things, it's called the PUBLIC DOMAIN

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Kaz @kazlefay.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

You know how everything bad gets blamed on video games & the internet? I have a theory that it’s golf destroying our society. Few activities have such an outsized effect on the environment, public health and epitomizing the corruption of wealth & privilege. Limit and restrict access to golf.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

it's cool that in 15 years we still haven't run out of ways to depict the digital models of key locations in the show constructing themselves and then transforming into other key locations while 4 chords repeat ad nauseam into an unresolved crescendo

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

new Dinosaur Jr is exactly what I needed today

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

sketching out some pixel art clouds to manage the ongoing burnout. I'm pretty pleased with how these came out!

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Basil 🌱 @basil-mage.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Puppy and flower

Drawing of a puppy and a flower with the caption; "You deserve a life you aren't constantly recovering from"

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

there's a lot to loathe about AI, but the thing that kind of breaks me is how hard it is to find gardening info now that's actually trustworthy, useful, and based on actual experience. agriculture is humanity's most important technology and we've replaced it with lorem ipsum.

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

12 hours to the IF Comp deadline. It's gonna be tight, but it's no longer impossible!

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I heard a frog near the compost but I could not find the frog and now I can't focus on the work I'm supposed to be doing. How can I move forward with my life knowing there's a frog that I could be friends with on my property but who doesn't seem to want to be friends with me?

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Welcome to Night Vale @nightvaleradio.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Let's circle back to that. Let's circle around that. Let's surround that so it can't escape. Let's lay siege .

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

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Reposted by Nathan Leigh || labRats

Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 20/08/2026

Agree 100% with this. If the bros who keep insisting we have to get on their AI train or we’ll be left behind could just finish boarding promptly and go away to wherever they keep telling me they’re going to go without me, that would suit me just fine?

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Nathan Leigh || labRats @nathanleigh.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

some days you find yourself designing a text-based 90s arcade fighting game and have to wonder where exactly your life went so wrong

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