iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I really wanted to do this chapter title gag in The Mermaid Mask, but it’s the kind of idea you have early on that ends up getting cut because it’s too silly or frivolous, so I’m glad we stuck with it. Same goes for Gripp’s fake shop interface

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The newest issue of @edgemagazine.bsky.social has a full studio profile on SFB Games! 6 pages, covering our entire career so far! What an honour, thanks so much to the wonderful folks at Edge

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I thought the new Resident Evil film was great. I liked how it broadly matches up with the experience of actually playing a RE game; finding guns, looking for ammo, opening paths to new areas, solving puzzles, etc. It’s really funny, too. Go see it!

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

to add a new section I press this little tickbox here.

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

a little look at how we write the script for The Mermaid Mask - I write the script directly into the Unity editor, including the voice directions. Then that gets automatically exported into a document for the actors to read. Then, once we have the audio, we import it back into the dialogue system

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

If you haven't played The Mermaid Mask yet, here's an advert in the form of the Save Data Team's faces during the ending store.steampowered.com/app/1696770/...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Mermaid Mask has been nominated for TIGA awards in four categories!!

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The Crow Country intro starts with the current year and then counts down to 1990, which means the intro takes slightly longer to play through each year

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

haha yeah, very occasionally I'll remember I can delegate work to an expert so I hire an expert and they do a great job and make my life easier, and it's like... huh

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

If anyone's interested, I posted a whole bunch of my work-in-progress diagrams for The Mermaid Mask over on my old tumblr account: adamvian.tumblr.com

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

yeah this photo of Stephen King was my starting point for Wirman

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

yeah it's a fun design for a slightly different character. fun fact, we stole that outfit wholesale from German mathematician Emmy Noether:

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

some early character drawings for The Mermaid Mask

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

very early designs of some of the characters from The Mermaid Mask, including one who was cut (although I suppose they were replaced with Mariana Moon)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Here is one of my earliest drawings of The Mermaid's Tongue (for The Mermaid Mask) Originally, it was capable of its own form of speech (it was even one of the suspects, at one point!) I had fun researching the earliest automatons and talking machines, all of which are, of course, rather unsettling

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I found this in the library, The Queen in the Cave by Júlia Sardà. It’s so beautiful I can’t stop thinking about it. It has just about the best art I’ve ever seen, go read it

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Finally updated the SFBGames.com website with the Mermaid Mask release platforms. It’s always nice seeing our games lined up like this. I wonder what will be next?

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It's astonishing to me that The Mermaid Mask has only been out for 2 and a half weeks and we've already got over 2000 reviews on Steam... (and 99% positive!)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

if the Mermaid Mask characters were Pokemon trainers

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Thanks so much! It just ran out to get it! (Although all the issues in my local WHSmiths had quite an unfortunately mis-cut cover…)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

all the sentence-puzzle icons I had to draw for Tangle Tower, and then again for The Mermaid Mask. There's an obvious scope difference, but it's also interesting to compare the colours and vibes - Tangle Tower is all punchy fruit/flowers/gems/etc, Mermaid Mask is quite murky and slimy in comparison

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

A look at what people are saying about The Mermaid Mask on Steam (store.steampowered.com/app/1696770/...)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

The Mermaid Mask has hit 1000 reviews on Steam! Thanks again to everyone who took the time to write a review - I've actually been reading them!! (Normally I'm too scared to read steam reviews) store.steampowered.com/app/1696770/...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The initial inspiration for Symmetry Silkmoth (and her whole vibe) in The Mermaid Mask was Jan Švankmajer's 1971 stop-frame film Jabberwocky, one of my personal favourite things ever

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Fun fact: I stole the basic idea for this Mermaid Mask puzzle from Resident Evil 4 remake

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A day later and we're somehow now at 738 reviews... This is honestly beyond my loftiest expectations (Crow Country was a hit so I was trying to be realistic/pessimistic and assume the universe would not allow me two hits in a row)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

[vague indirect spoilers for The Mermaid Mask] These are moodboards I made during the casting process, to try and get across the general vibes I had in my head for each character. (I deliberately gave too many suggestions, so the actors wouldn't just imitate one thing) 1/2

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

In just a couple of days, The Mermaid Mask has already hit Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam! Thanks so much to anyone who played it and wrote a review

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

The Mermaid Mask is out now on Steam, PS5, Switch 1 and Switch 2 - and it's been getting some really excellent reviews...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The Mermaid Mask already has 136 reviews on Steam and they've been so positive ;_; thanks so much to everybody who has written a review, it means a lot to me!

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

🫠Steam is showing the game... !!!

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

🪸The Mermaid Mask🪸 is OUT NOW on Steam, Switch 1 and Switch 2 - and hopefully very soon on PS5! A murder-mystery detective adventure aboard the world's strangest submarine...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

The Mermaid Mask (our new murder-mystery detective adventure game) comes out TODAY!

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Lastly, a bit of tech art from @sfbtom.bsky.social - Catherine's art has a coloured outline - not immediately possible with 3D, but Tom made a shader that adds it dynamically - taking the colour it's closest to and producing a darker version of it, and then pinching and warping it to look painterly

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Here's a look at the Captain's Jacket model and the amazing painted texture that Kindra made (from scratch) to match Catherine's painting style. (Don't ask me how the UV wrapping works, this part is still pure wizardry to me)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

One of the most rewarding art challenges we took on in The Mermaid Mask was to make all the clues fully 3D. @catherineunger.bsky.social would paint the 2D image as always, and then @kindradantone.bsky.social modelled and painted a 3D model to match it exactly - and the results were quite incredible-

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Here's a closer look at them (although they are designed to appear quite small on screen)

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Like Tangle Tower before it, the characters in The Mermaid Mask all have 'chibis' that are used on the map screen, diagrams, etc. But since I learned some rudimentary 3D modelling during Crow Country, I was also able to make 3D versions of the chibis, which ended up being incredibly useful...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The Mermaid Mask got a glowing review from Eurogamer Spain: www.eurogamer.es/the-mermaid-...

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Reading the Mermaid Mask reviews:

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Adam Vian @sfbdim.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Ahh!! The Mermaid Mask got a 9/10 from Gameinformer!! (the game releases on Thursday) gameinformer.com/review/the-m...

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