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saman

@samanbb.bsky.social
157 followers 90 following 111 posts

designer / artist / programmer / making videogames these days trashmoon.com

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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Making progress on ability animations for Orb Ball's blademaster. This is the strongest melee character in the game. You can see mirror image and then his special tackle break in action here.
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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 25/09/2026
📣 We're trying something new over here in Puzzmo land — community games. We still have plenty of our own games coming, but if you've got a game you think would be a fit for Puzzmo, reach out! More info & the submission form here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Submissions run through October 2.
docs.google.com
Submit A Game To Puzzmo
We're thinking about having a handful of games from members of our community appear on Puzzmo later this year. We’re always working towards Puzzmo being the place for thoughtful puzzles, so this proje...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Here's another little pass play. Off ball receivers run to goals, and pressured receivers will pass to better positioned allies.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Here's a play showing off some movement tech + improved passing.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just redesigned the Phantom, one of Recluse's evolved forms. It now has a leap attack that stuns nearby creatures.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Took a break from development for a bit to make some promo art for Orb Ball. Maybe final?
A Toadman leaping at the Orb Ball logo
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
That Nathan Fielder Elizabeth Holmes trailer might be the greatest 1 minute of cinema I've ever seen.
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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 07/09/2026
Ok im gonna say something here that is going to draw a lot of different feelings from everyone, and I want to be clear i'm not "in support of this" or "against it". i'm just saying it as an observation that seems true to me: I think with the latest frontier LLMs, the “music” era of games is upon us
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I'm going to be showing off Orb Ball at luma.com/t3m8exi7 on Saturday. Excited to get some play testing in.
luma.com
Playtesting & Pints @ The Detour in SF! · Luma
A selection of independently developed games from our community will be available for play at designated tables in the venue! Come show your support for your…
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
finally, real time path previews
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
One more: Last Armageddon. PC-98 game UI was wild.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Another gem: Dragon Knight 4 by ELF
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The whole game uses I think one font style / size? Every character name is there 5 characters long. Love those kinds of constraints.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Arcana for SNES had incredible visual design
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Should I render Orb Ball's text under the CRT shader or keep it crisp and legible above? The right screenshot is what the game looks like now, but tempted to go all-in on PixiJS for all my UI.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
My four year old just said to me, in a very serious tone: "I know why they make Lego people look like robots. It's to get us used to robots." I tried to ask who "they" are and what their agenda is but he wouldn't elaborate. He just said it's a good thing.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Orb Ball devlog: trashmoon.com/blog/2026/or... - read about how and why I'm slowly backtracking from my choice to only support a head-to-head 1v1 PVP mode.
trashmoon.com
Orb Ball Devlog 4
This was a polish and refactoring week. Every lord got a simplification pass. I shipped a ton of balance changes. I rewrote the game’s movement system to be more predictable and satisfying. It’s been ...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Applying to graphics programming, the objects are still there: that's data. Rather than rendering objects, maybe you're rendering a shader on a region that reads object density and translates that into an effect. But as an artist: I ignore anyone who tries to tell me what the right way to draw is :P
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Orb Ball devlog 3 – this time, with a link to play the game: trashmoon.com/blog/2026/or...
trashmoon.com
Orb Ball Devlog 3
Exciting news: Find a friend and play the latest build right now. Just promise me you’ll leave feedback, as it’s still early days. There’s a built-in feedback form, but you can also email or message m...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Second Orb Ball devlog! I talk a lot about performance in this one: trashmoon.com/blog/2026/or...
trashmoon.com
Orb Ball Devlog 2
Devlog 2, right on schedule. I got quite a bit done this week. Most significantly, I finished a huge performance refactor. The average frame rate went from 31.5 fps to 114.2 fps. That’s more than a 3....
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Here's a more exciting output, from setup+sim phase of Orb Ball: gist.github.com/samanpwbb/f1...
gist.github.com
perftale-output-3.txt
GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Here's an example output, while idling: gist.github.com/samanpwbb/be...
gist.github.com
perftale-output-2.txt
GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Yesterday I published a tool that makes investigating web game/app performance easier, and today I just added some memory leak detection features. I find this easier than wading through flame charts + it works great with agentic workflows: github.com/samanpwbb/pe...
github.com
GitHub - samanpwbb/perftale: Extract signal from Chrome performance trace JSON files
Extract signal from Chrome performance trace JSON files - samanpwbb/perftale
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
It's nice! I think the space to left of "of the" is slightly too large (could also space out the right side). Also, maybe _slightly_ tighten the "ld". Lastly, you should give 'of the' the same weathered edge effect as the big words.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
The first ever weekly Orb Ball devlog is out. Trying something different and trying to write these in a style that is easy to knock out quickly. I have a game to make!!! trashmoon.com/blog/2026/or...
trashmoon.com
Orb Ball Devlog 1
I’ve been working on a game for about a year, tentatively called Orb Ball. I’m going to try publishing weekly, casual progress posts. I’ll grab whatever scraps I have lying around, screenshots or note...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
My Claude dot md has this:
I, a human designer, have very strong opinions and will work with you to refine things after your initial implementations.
Therefore, follow these principles unless explicitly directed otherwise, to ensure we have a blank slate for building upon:
• All text should be white.
• All keylines should be border-gray-
700.
• All backgrounds should be black.
• Only use font sizes that we have existing constants for.
• Do not use any font styling unless directed otherwise.
• Never use gradients, drop shadows, or any CSS effects unless explicitly directed to do so.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Just caught the replay of @zandravandra.com's Wilderplace play through: www.twitch.tv/zandravandra... - brings me joy to see that people are still discovering the game!
twitch.tv
Twitch
Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Wow nice this only took four years to go through.
Wilderplace has been reviewed fro Steam Deck compatibility: Verified
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
I was hoping for a guide on how to be sat on a shelf for years as bacteria slowly transform me. I was very disappointed.
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Orta Therox @orta.io · 15/04/2026
Folks! We're hiring at @puzzmo.com again. Since launch, I think the majority of my time has been spent on B2B systems inside Puzzmo - and it's time to start handing over some of those responsibilities to someone We're currently the puzzles infra for a gazillion publishers and more are coming
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Puzzmo @puzzmo.com · 06/04/2026
Today is the last day to buy in-person Crossword Con tickets! Join us in NYC for some great talks and a panel featuring representatives from companies that buy and license indie games made by people like you! 🌷 Link to tix, schedule, speaker & panelist info all here: www.crosswordcon.com
crosswordcon.com
Crossword Con
Crossword Con is a half-day conference about crossword puzzles
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I should write a blog post about it, but I made a new kind of design tool that is 100% ASCII based called Ineffable. It's design for collaborating seamlessly with AI. I don't ever want to open Figma again: github.com/samanpwbb/in...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Working close to publishing industry these days, this article articulates a problem with trying to do good work on the web in that space. I personally never use ad blockers because I want to know what the internet feels like for the people I build for: thatshubham.com/blog/news-au...
thatshubham.com
The 49MB Web Page
A look at modern news websites. How programmatic ad-tech, huge payloads and hostile architecture destroyed the reading experience.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
This is the person Google thinks I am
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
game link: trashmoon.itch.io/cursed-method
trashmoon.itch.io
Cursed Method by trashmoon, mbullington
cursed pot gameplay type action roguelike
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Takeaways from the 4th annual barn game jam: - Iteration > planning. We didn't overthink or debate, just made stuff and played it. - Pixi.js rules. We slapped shaders on everything! - AI can crank out tools/systems on demand: a game engine would have slowed us down. - My little bro is a good artist.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Cursed Method gameplay
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Completed the fourth annual barn game jam last night. I think this is our best game yet. No game engine! Web tech, built on top of pixi.js. We let loose and just tried to make something fun. I think it worked: trashmoon.itch.io/cursed-method
trashmoon.itch.io
Cursed Method by trashmoon, mbullington
cursed pot gameplay type action roguelike
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Exciting news: you will soon be able to experience secondhand the most traumatic work experience I've ever been a part of. It is a fascinating story and Clarissa is going to do a great job telling it: www.kickstarter.com/projects/cla...
kickstarter.com
The Mapbox Workers Union Oral History
A podcast about worker organizing, at a venture capital darling, in the world's most powerful industry.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Going to be playtesting a game I've been working on for a while, for the first time, tonight at www.eventbrite.com/e/first-frid...
eventbrite.com
First Friday Nights - MADE Showcase
The best day to visit the museum? First Friday every month! Play local games, and meet local artists. Have fun and discover something new!
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
My microplastic take is that I am excited for the long game. We have a plastic-infused ecosystem now. In m,illions of years our progeny will be taking microplastic supplements alongside their iron supplements.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I just saw some games market research report about player habits and turns out everyone is just playing solitaire. Like 40% of the respondents play it daily. Minecraft? Fortnite? Pretty much any other game? Looking at 1-2%. Solitaire is winning. We must defeat solitaire.
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Derek Yu @mossmouth.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Gumby screens that feel like Elden Ring @gumbyscreens.bsky.social
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brooke husic @xws.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
2 years ago: @stfj.net says puzzmo will never run minis 6 months ago: @orta.io and i brainstorm how i might design a mini that could change zach's mind today: @puzzmo.com's first mini join us for 30 days of minis that teach you how to solve crosswords. start here: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...
puzzmo.com
Puzzmo - Cross|word
Play Cross|word on Puzzmo, Take a hint.
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
We took a month-long break from making daily games to work on a multiplayer competitive word game. Just published a blog post about the design + dev process 👉 blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2025/0...
blog.puzzmo.com
The Making of Circuits Royale, a Communal Word Game for the Web
We’ve been tossing around ideas for a fast-paced multiplayer variant of a Puzzmo game for a while, and decided the Circuits launch would be a great chance to have a go at it. Circuits Royale, released...
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Did you know that cursor states stop working everywhere in Mac OS if Photoshop is open. Even if it's minimized or hidden. This has been a bug for decades. Why.
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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 28/08/2025
This monday we launched Circuits, designed by Jacob Land, on Puzzmo ( www.puzzmo.com/play/circuits/ ). Circuits is an amazing game that was first shared with me by Josh Wardle. As soon as I played it I knew that Puzzmo would be perfect to help get the news out about this incredible game.
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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 25/08/2025
To celebrate the launch of Circuits on Puzzmo we designed and shipped massively multiplayer live Circuits game called Circuits Royale! Play now: royale.circuitsgame.com
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saman @samanbb.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Here's a video showing the simulation phase in action.
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