iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

What's a question you have for someone who codes, makes visual art, music, and wraps it all together in an entertaining interactive experience? Recording a new Polytechnicast tomorrow evening with a special guest! #indiegames #gamedeveloper #behindthescenes

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Rebuilding two of my older games: Guitar Fretter and This Panda Needs You. Porting them to Godot 4 to make them easier to keep up to date in places like Google Play, but also there's been a few things I've wanted to add to both for so long now. #indiegames #gamedeveloper #workinprogress

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Cavern of Ghosts and Skulls Pinball. Sketched this pinball machine concept as a playful exercise. Been watching pinball and classic arcade videos lately and this follows naturally. #illustration #pinball #sketch

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Lexilotl dev blog: another 9 day sprint and now it's live on Steam! Creative coding dev log: a tale of two very different feeling 9 day sprints. The first was so affirming, the second was an extra tough slog. Each had great outcomes I'm proud of. #indiegames #gamedeveloper #steam #godot #wordgames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Lexilotl is coming soon to Steam - wishlist to be notified when it's there! store.steampowered.com/app/4735750/...

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Unless any new ones pop up, this year's tabling events wrapped up for me now that 2D Con 2026 is done. That was the biggest setup so far with 5 games and two as arcade cabinets. Two recent releases, two past releases, and one early prototype. In each case there's a lot to learn and all together

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is the rebuilt early prototype and art test for the Doctor Baer Video Game To-Be-Named. Showed this on my table at 2D Con and folks were excited about Jerzy Drozd's artwork, the magical cuteness of the characters and intrigued to see more. #indiegames #doctorbaer #webcomics #2DCon

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Indie Island at 2D Con has a very special meaning to me, it's an event all about gaming, in my home town, and each time I come back it's a milestone of growth both for me and the indie other indie creators. #indiegames #2DCon #gamedeveloper

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Porting my games to Godot 4, first by laying a foundation, then Lexilotl and the Doctor Baer game-to-be-named prototype. Chose to use tiny sticky notes and foam board to visualize and manage the to do list. First board is what's todo, second one is what's done.

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Game prototype progress: initial interactive animation and scene art of the Doctor Baer game-to-be-named. #indiegames #webcomics #kidlit #godot

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Do you like fun and creative science activities? This year Rob Stenzinger Games is bringing three to STEMFest 2026: game design exploration via arcade cabinets, human centered design w/Doodle Creatures Have Needs + a new hands on making a custom two-button keyboard. #stem #stemfest #artsintegration

Hand in the foreground holding the card and drawing design+encouragement game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, in the background is a Word Turtle Island tabletop arcade cabinet, at the U of Minnesota from last year's STEM Fest

Midwest Gaming Classic 2026 attendees enjoying the games Lexilotl and Word Turtle Island

Collage showing three photos, upper left is showing the 3 card types of Doodle Creatures Have Needs, right side is the Lexilotl arcade cabinet advertising the game design activity, and lower left is a photo of the underside of the custom arcade button keyboard powered by the Raspberry Pi Pico mentioning the button keyboard explore activity

OIC of America's official STEMFest 2026 flyer showing the even schedule, QR code for registration, and event sponsors

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Setup to play at Protospiel day 2, played inventive games day 1 like Pirate Puzzle, Blocknomials. Also played the compelling Shape Up by the folks who make REMIX, recently funded on Kickstarter. Testing Doodle Creatures Have Needs: card, drawing, creativity, collaboration. #protospiel #cardgames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

New video game collaboration news! Me and my friend Jerzy Drozd are making a game featuring Doctor Baer, the Wisps, and Jerzy's amazing art, story, and world of spooky adventure as seen in the awesome comics The Case of the Two-Faced Statue and The Case of the Mummy Express. #webcomics #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Played Claim: Mine Rush! this weekend and we loved it. Elements of Carcassonne, building the mine, surprise events and trying your luck when you find a gold vein. Met this games's creator Ryan Juel at VGM Con, played it there and bought a copy from Speed Robo Games! #indiegames #vgmcon #protospiel

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

The official trailer for Lexilotl, the new word puzzle game by Rob Stenzinger Games is here! Lexilotl is a letter guessing crossword puzzle where you see how many you can solve before three mistakes end your run. #indiegames #wordgames #crossword #axolotl

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Start of a poster I've yet to finish, based on my take on the story of DragonBall Z. Quirky flawed characters who seek to improve and are a sort of found family which all that I enjoy immensely. Lots of messages one can take from DBZ, for me it's: "let's make one another as strong as possible".

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Asking Psyduck what's up. This little guy I bought from a discount bin at a cool toy shop in Columbus OH called Big Fun. It had drained batteries and a broken speaker. Took a speaker from an old laptop and little repair later Psyduck is a delightful voice reacting fun creature.

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

What’s next for the WTI arcade cabinet? This past 10 months this prototype has been on the road and I’ve learned a lot watching people play. What should be in the next version? #arcade #indiegames #gamedeveloper #typing #wordturtleisland

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

How do you value your creative experiments? Lately I've been posting both still and animated colorful rectangle landscapes evocative of 8bit video game background art. I don't have a specific plan for these, only to follow my want to play and explore yet I can also see I'm learning. #creativity #art

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Some examples of drawing with rectangles: simple outlines and filled are two different yet fun paths to sketch and play visually. My robot/mecha series is one of my favorites yet I have a bunch more. Often I do these as a relaxing thing at the end of the day. #illustration #journaling

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Here are three posters I designed, each featuring robot(s)/mecha creatures. One of my designs I keep refining and need to make some prints of someday. #posters #lineart #mecha #scifi #robots #illustration

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Word puzzle game prototype progress! It's a bit backwards but also kind of fun to make the words hide instead of showing. Maybe that will be in the game on purpose as I evolve the prototype and land on my design goals for this game. #gamedeveloper #devjournal #wordgame #prototyping #creativecoding

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Thankful that often during the 2D Con, there was a few folks in line playing the arcade machine of Word Turtle Island. One moment the red dinosaur from Dino-Might was there, the next, was off to other adventures. #indiegames #gamedeveloper #2dcon #wordturtleisland #dinomight

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

New art/game dev journal posted. Polytechnicast - Word Turtle Island 1.0 and Winning an Award at 2D Con. I share what it's like now with it officially the full version, things I would and wouldn't recommend doing again looking back at the development path of WTI, and about my next game prototype.

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Gallery (photo dump) of tabling at 2D Con for my game Word Turtle Island. Photo dump isn't my favorite term, but I do think it's a widely known way to say "here's a bunch of images from an event". Includes Indie Island room, the Indie Q and A Panel, closing ceremony #indiegames #gamedeveloper #2Dcon

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

What a wild fun surprise and I really appreciate it, thank you 2D Con community! Word Turtle Island won an award, voted by attendees of 2D Con. The Indie Island developer showcase art direction award (digital category)! 😍 🏆 🎮 #indiegames #2dcon #gamedeveloper #wordturtleisland

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

For a few years I partially set aside making games and focused on visual storytelling via comics. Art Geek Zoo was my main project, a story about a talented penguin guitarist named Pick who had major challenges with stage fright and his grumpy mystic guitar friend named Crunchy.

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Word Turtle Island a few weeks into development vs what it looks like now. From placeholder art to my own art, from only typing action to now word action whether you type, use a game controller, touch screen or mouse. From no story to a narrative about saving the most awesome library in the galaxy

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Celebrating the official 1.0 release of Word Turtle Island tomorrow 8/12. So many events this year showing the game and new arcade cabinet. Midwest Gaming Classic, VGM Con, Minnebar, STEM Fest, 2D Con Summer Pop-up at MOA. 4 years in the making, now/soon at Steam, Google Play, Apple #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

A postcard style design mini-poster, showing the official launch day of Word Turtle Island! It's coming soon, please wishlist, bookmark, pick it up for you or any book loving video game playing friend on Tuesday the 12th. #indiegames #videogames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Word Turtle Island's 1.0 launch is on 8/12/2025! This post is more than a mere ad it's hope and call to action for a special indie game, made with a joy for words, an action game that's about overcoming conflict with words. #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Intertwined creative challenge: make an ambitious game, make it a business, succeed in marketing it well. In this I focus on the marketing part of that challenge, what I've learned the past few months publishing video every day.

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Is it a ferrite bead? Is it a subliminal art influence? Could be my imagination doing a pareidolia (had to/wanted to/needed to look it up, that thing where we see faces in things).

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

A glimpse into my music process for my game soundtrack Here I'm setting up and warming up to make another music track for my game Word Turtle Island. Some of the tools I use are my guitar with a midi pick up add-on and the app loopy Pro on my iPad. #indiegames #gamedeveloper #behindthescenes

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

What sort of questions do you have for a UX generalist / solo indie game creator? Art? Sound? Code? The design/business/product aspect of solo creator stuff? Interdisciplinary artist, generalist, T-shaped. Something you'd like me to explore or questions you have for me, I'd love to hear. #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

These posters are celebrating the upcoming 1.0 launch of Word Turtle Island. All about capturing the feeling of word action in how it can be urgent or playful. Then there's the recovering and leveling up in the safety of the library home base. #indiegames #arcade #wordturtleisland #cozygames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

New trailer for Word Turtle Island! A gentle rogue-lite with RPG and cozy elements, flexible input, and flexible difficulty. See how word action works, where you use words to rescue books and readers in battle. Then you level up in the library and unlock more battles to rescue more. #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

All set up for the pop-up 2D Con event at the Mall of America! I remember all kinds of video gaming events at local malls starting with the release of the Sega master system onward. So wild to be here to share Word Turtle Island. #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Excited and humbled to have Word Turtle Island in the 2D Con popup at the MOA this weekend. Will be there with the WTI arcade cabinet alongside 5 other local MN indie game developers. Seriously cool games that it's an honor to show alongside. Play games and talk with indie devs. #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

What does it look like when I build Word Turtle Island to publish? I use Python scripts and batch files! Lot of game devs use a cloud build system like GitHub Actions or GitLab, which I started doing that, but it just takes too much resources on the more affordable service tiers. #gamedev

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Thank you to all the Doodle Creatures players. Lots of great art made by kids and their adults at Twin Cities STEMFest. Each time someone plays the design sketching game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, they make an imaginative creature then design something to help their creature #stem #gamedeveloper

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

All set up for the Rob Stenzinger Games activities at STEMFest 2025! 11 to 2 PM today at the University of Minnesota campus, 3M Arena at Mariucci. We are set up for design thinking and game design fun and then tons of other teams are here with awesome stuff for all ages. #stem #indiegames #umniem

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Cute creatures time lapse digital painting. Started as a 2 minute sketch, here I'm refining it to cleaned up lines and colors. Speed painting video using Clip Studio Paint. Big fan of the way the vector line brushes and erasing works in CSP. #timelapseart #gamedeveloper #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Working on Word Turtle Island for over 3.5 years is a big chapter of my life, mixed in with many other big things. Feels good to be close to 1.0 also daunting and exhausting at the same time. If you're working on a big project I wish you good fortune and hope and pride. #gamedeveloper #indiegames

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Tie-dye apron, trying for a cute skull design with lightning energy all around. Turned out different than I expected. Make something fun. Try something different. If it goes wrong, it was an adventure. If it goes well, it's free treasure. #visualart #learning #summersolstice #creativeprocess

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The Making of Princess Mononoke is an inspiring book for lots of reasons you'd expect, and one that I found surprising. Poetry. #gamedeveloper #artist #bookinspiration #studioghibli

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Evolving my pixel-art-inspired scifi cityscapes. A poster project in development. Now they're grouped into series and each has multiple moments. Elements moving, time of day changing. Works as stand alone or invites you to connect the moments. #gamedeveloper #indiegames #poster #80s #illustration

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Playing with character designs for a simplified cartoon style of Wort and Portia from my game Word Turtle Island. If only I had capacity to make a word-of-the-day comic with these two. A side project, so we'll see. Want to make one at least. #indiegames #dictionary #comics #books #turtles

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Behind the scenes peek at 10,000+ words I put into Word Turtle Island. What if we scroll through a text document with all those words in it, one per line to get an idea of how big or small that number is? Also let's pick a word at random and see what it means. #gamedeveloper #indiegames #learning

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Rob Stenzinger Games @robstenzinger.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Learning can be fun. It's taken me a while to build Word Turtle Island and also describe how it happens to be both full of action and be about learning in a non-traditional way. #gamedeveloper #indiegames #books #learning

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