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Simon Roth

@simoroth.bsky.social
1.3K followers 398 following 1.5K posts

Indie game developer (Maia, Trash Goblin, Compound Fracture, Soccer Story, VVVVVV, Kinectimals), technical artist, photographer, and community gardener.

PostsRepliesMedia
Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I guess it's most frustrating in games because there isn't much of a downturn in spending on them yet. The money is just getting aggressively siphoned out.
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𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜 @killvore.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Looks like A.I." is shorthand among my 9yos peer group for cheap low effort garbage, the kids are all right
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The world's most powerful debugging tools at my fingertips and yet...
Me using a print statement to debug some code.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Got a feedback doc from a client on a project and its a quarter gigabyte powerpoint. Told myself that at some point maybe I will start to enjoy suffering and made myself sad-laugh enough to open it.
A cenobite from Hellraiser.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My friend is Gen-Z, and not terminally online like me, and even he can still point them all out quickly. To him (and me) it immediately gives the impression that the place is a dump. I wonder if boomer and gen-x business owners realise how many potential customers they are giving the ick to.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Went and visited a friend in Gloucester this weekend and we noticed and skipped-on several pubs and restaurants using Gen-AI posters, menus and signs. If you are that lazy with your marketing, does that laziness continue into food hygiene, fire safety, door staff and violence?
A crap looking pub sign with an obvious Gen-AI layout and loads of little mangled details.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm a quite worried that I am rapidly approaching my end of working in games. I still get jobs, but every project I am on has a budget 1/4 of what similar games had 3 years ago. I've seen a lot of extremely talented dev friends out of work for months to years. ... and I don't see this improving
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When software does not correctly perform its function, it should be considered broken and buggy. It should be withdrawn from use and patched. It annoys me no end that LLM sellers keep spinning it into the hype cycle.
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D.W.A.P. (Ben) @andwap.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
When your gamedev friend shows you progress on their new engine.
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Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 24/09/2026
fun addition to this: kotick didn't just threaten publications, he threatened individuals. One of his lawyers was tasked with keeping an eye on every post I wrote about him, and they'd hound ownership about them if they didnt like them.
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Chris Bratt @chrisbratt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In recent years, the media has quietly begun to change the way in which it writes about Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard. PMG investigates how Kotick used the threat of defamation to reshape his legacy in the games business, one article at a time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKwp...
youtube.com
Inside Bobby Kotick's Campaign Against the Press
YouTube video by People Make Games
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Zach Soares @voxels.ca · 24/09/2026
The economics *expected* from studios don't make *rational* sense, that's why he and many of us just don't understand it. We can't understand a petulant child who wants everything for nothing.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Finally caved and asked my GP for information on getting an adult ADHD diagnosis. She told me she'd send the info over but it's all been defunded so not to get my hopes up. 🙃
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Erlend Grefsrud @erlendgrefsrud.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Something I think a lot about is how Aaron Swartz ended up dead after downloading some PDFs from JSTOR while his YC stablemate Sam Altman (who Swartz described as "a sociopath" who "could do anything") downloaded the entire fucking internet and is celebrated as a captain of industry
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Obviously it's never been, and it's had a huge resurgence since the pandemic, but when this guy started most the stuff he was selling was not available from the record labels.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ok this guy making copies on a dead format goes to prison for 3 years.. So copyright IS important? Now throw everyone at the AI companies in prison for the rest of their lives then. www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news/city-of...
cityoflondon.police.uk
Man jailed for 3 and a half years after UK’s largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl records
Man jailed for 3 and a half years after UK’s largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl records
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
There's a reason many successful cultures have a long history of divination driven by randomness (osteomancy, tea leaves, scrying, etc). Making decisions fast is often far more useful than getting things right all the time.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Sometimes I really hate this country.
Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson joins Palantir
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Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Oxford United have apologised for releasing a clothing collection with the slogan ‘United 93’, after the club’s founding date in 1893. United Airlines flight 93 was one of those hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11. OUFC say “we are reviewing our approval processes”.
The United 93 clothing
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Katie 🍤✨️ @ktcreating.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
absolutely buzzed to be announcing that I've been working hard behind the scenes to help kickstart a brand new indie showcase in Brighton the autumn 😎 its been a year in the making and I am so chuffed with the team we've got onboard for this project I think its gonna be a great event!
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Dominic Tarason @dominictarason.com · 14/09/2026
It's TIME! TO! GET! HYPE! Today, I get to proudly unveil Steam Hype, the project I've been working on with the help of @hookshot.media for the past two and a half months. A new PC gaming site which aims to demystify PC gaming, cut through the 100+ daily releases and spotlight indies as much as AAA
steamhype.com
Steam Hype
Steam Hype is your go-to destination for discovering the latest, greatest, and most talked-about games on Steam.
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Zach Soares @voxels.ca · 11/09/2026
I'm available for work! - Characters - Rigging and Animations - Environments Art I've worked on Teardown, Vampire Crawlers, Moonglow Bay and many more! Feel free to DM me or email zachary.soares@zsinked.com
Teardown Marketing screenshot showcasing the second level of the Relics of Barkuna DLC. Vampire Crawlers screenshot from within the library. Environment art can be seen with the array of bookshelves and propsMoonglow Bay selfies screenshot from the main character. Soft and light art styleA screenshot from On The Nose, interrogating our first suspect Mr. Deerest.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
A billion dollars spent making a video game and all I can see is a bad grip and a bar that isn't aligned properly with her ulna. Poor video game woman is going to injure herself.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I went in blind and enjoyed watching Backrooms. It's a genuinely interesting little horror film with a touch of sci-fi and the metaphysical.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A friend posted a video of me wearing the goth/techwear/anthro hood I made for NYE, and it got so much attention that I am now genuinely considering making more and selling them. Making and selling physical objects in 2026 would be quite a sideways step.
A hooded cowl with #techwear, #anthro and #alternative styling.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In a painful situation where I have loads of freelance lined up but, due to certain funding groups and publisher quarters, every single bit of it starts in October.
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Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 21/08/2026
i thought hard about publishing this, since its a game (a james pond rerelease) nobody cares about and the publisher straight up denied using AI, but like come on man, look at this image
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
As someone who is probably a bit neurodivergent, I love how I had to spend years working on my attention to detail, because the small mistakes I'd make were intolerable and a huge moral failing on my part. Then for LLMs to come along and everybody stops caring about anything being correct at all.
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Kirk McKeand @mckkirk.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
It’s because they use CrowdTangle and other tools that measure virality on Facebook and suggest trending topics. It’s the same shit Gaming Bible use. They do these headlines to force anger/curiosity clicks from social media platforms. It’s cancer.
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Andrew Fray Helps Automate Video Games @andrewfray.dev · 18/08/2026
If you're going to #gamescom and you are: - work in build servers - work in test automation - are excited about how to use engineering to improve quality Then I've got the mixer for you! Come have some drinks, sponsored by BespokeCI, and trade stories with industry pros. luma.com/ges2v38b
luma.com
BespokeCI Quality Engineering Happy Hour At Gamescom · Luma
Do you help projects through tooling, CI/CD servers, automated tests or infrastructure? Maybe you do this full time, or maybe you're a lead or senior engineer…
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Resisted the urge to make it do something extremely expensive as some poor neighbourhood somewhere in the states is currently being choked by the toxic fumes of a gas turbine, whilst having their water poisoned, to generate this crap.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
If you make a horrible unsafe LLM AI agent pop up annoyingly on your website I *will* break your crappy guardrails out of spite.
Me tricking a Rightmove AI LLM agent to write C code for me.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
New indies look at you like you're crazy if you tell them that we used to sell games direct to customers. I sold something like £60k worth of copies on my own store and got close to £58k of that after fees and chargebacks. Probably not feasible now with new tax laws and stolen card key scammers.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I really wish smaller studios and indie devs had figured out a way to keep money in the games industry and make things sustainable. There was a time from 2010-2016 where it seemed like we had things worked out. The pandemic was a huge factor, but also a huge shift to selling things solely via Steam.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 18/08/2026
England’s ancient oak trees dying in extreme hot and dry weather
theguardian.com
England’s ancient oak trees dying in extreme hot and dry weather
Woodland Trust says trees struggling in drought stress, with older ‘survivors’ disproportionately affected England’s ancient oak trees are dying in the summer’s extreme heat and dry weather, according to the Woodland Trust, with trees and ecosystems unable to adapt fast enough to the changing climate. The heatwaves across much of Europe this summer have had a notable impact on crop growth and plant health. To cope with the extreme conditions, many trees are undergoing “early autumn”, wilting and losing their leaves early. Crow Leasow oak, Shropshire. Tea Party oak, Suffolk. King John oak, Devon. Enmore oak, Somerset. Lydham Manor oak, Shropshire. Old Knobbley, Essex. Pwllpriddog oak, Carmarthenshire. Continue reading...
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Tara Voelker @tarav.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
So, who’s hiring? (Yes, I was impacted by the Netflix layoffs even though I was the single accessibility person in gaming.)
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Kirk McKeand @mckkirk.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It’s my turn now! The newsletter didn’t take off so I’ve been laid off. If you’re looking for someone with 15 years of experience as a writer and editor, please get in touch. I’ve also written dozens of mock reviews and my clients say they’re good.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
RE: Last retweet. Moving to Threads is just "Pivot to Video" again. Fraudulent stats from Meta once again killing small businesses.
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Aidan Moher @aidanmoher.com · 13/08/2026
Actually, the internet is better when everyone is splintered into smaller communities that fit their vibe, instead of everyone cramming into one outhouse where the stinkiest shit makes the biggest impression.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
In the background is a desert that used to be my garden. 🥲
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Just about to hit 45C under my pergola. In mid August. 😑
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Don't worry about your A level results kids. A bunch of middle aged men are going to tweet tone deaf things about their crap grades and high social status with zero acknowledgement of the real world or their obscene privilege.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A day over 35C expected this week. In mid August. After four intense heatwaves. Oxfordshire's becoming uninhabitable.
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Heather Flowers (500FF DEMO OUT NOW) @hthrflwrs.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
The 500 FINGER FILLET demo has reached 40 reviews at 100% positive!! Can we get it to 50 reviews before the end of the weekend???? store.steampowered.com/app/4973880/...
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Haha, no worries. At least unlike the other site, I don't have to worry about nazis flooding the replies.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I've been struggling with a bunch of VR stuff in Unity that used to be (relatively) seamless and it feels like the toolkits, SDKs and engine are regressing now that the investment has gone elsewhere...
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Chris Bratt @chrisbratt.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
We're so used to seeing these sorts of sky-high numbers relating to executive compensation that it's easy to become numbed to the reality of what the numbers actually mean. This chart (not the one shown in the preview) drills home the true absurdity of it all. Look upon it and despair.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
It's always one little constant I've refactored into a separate file to make things look more professional.. and then forget to push, making myself look like a tech illiterate simpleton.
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Opened my phone to a 300+ notifications panic attack. 😂
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Simon Roth @simoroth.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Ok, it's pretty good.
A chunk of rainbow cake with strawberries and cream.
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