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Sam

@smbns.bsky.social
289 followers 1.2K following 230 posts

🏞️ UI & Visual Designer 🧱 Building Geomancy - a sustainable indie studio 🕹️ 🎛️ Documenting the indie dev journey along the way 🏰 Worldbuilder, 📝 Writer, 🎮 JRPG fan

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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Very strong Shinra energy in this reference shot
Video game screenshot from Final Fantasy 7, depicting the main character standing in front of a power company headquarters which stands looming in the distance, mammoth in size.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
This looks so good!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
I'm unsure on their stance in AI or if they have features but tally.so can build custom surveys and is free within fair usage I believe.
tally.so
Free Online Form Builder | Tally
The simplest way to create forms. Say goodbye to boring forms. Meet Tally — the free, intuitive form builder you've been looking for.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Not sure if you are aware @playtester.io but the install as PWA on your site is blocking the actual navigation for me on mobile making it hard to use
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
I use this simpl.fyi which I think is ran by the guy who designed inbox. It had bundles.
simpl.fyi
Simplify Gmail: Transform Gmail into a premium experience
A browser extension for Gmail from the co-founder of Google Inbox that boosts productivity, strengthens privacy, and reduces️ stress.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Sorry, wasn't clear, I very much enjoyed it! 🤣
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Top tier shit post here Alex, well done 👏🏻
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Reposted by Sam
John Woodruff @johnbwoodruff.com · 11/08/2025
Also if you’d like to check out Novella, you can download it at novella.app
novella.app
Novella - Elevate Your Writing Experience
Discover the future of writing with Novella - the modern, distraction-free application. Unleash powerful functionality without the complexity of traditional word processors.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Not to mention her screen is backwards... meaning X-ray vision is required.
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Jason Lengstorf @jason.energy · 27/06/2025
today is my 40th birthday. to toot my own horn a bit, I'm the happiest, healthiest, and most successful I've ever been, so I'm going to indulge myself and do one of those "40 things that made me who I am" threads so buckle up (or mute me for the next little bit 😆)
portrait of Jason in Portland
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
These are looking so good, such a vibe!
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The Cozy Gaming Club @cozygamingclub.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
✨ Introducing The Cozy Gaming Club WEBSITE ✨ I've teamed up with @nikkyscozycove.bsky.social to create a home for all the cozy gaming news and releases! Check it out: www.cozygamingclub.co.uk
Screenshot of The Cozy Gaming Club website home page. A header image comprising of four games is the focus of the screenshot. One game shows a woman with long blonde hair standing in a field, the second shows a green cart that has been turned into a bookshop, the third shows a woman with brown hair riding on a broom and the fourth shows a picturesque castle with two sheep outside it.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Strong Nausicaa vibes from this one.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Mortal Fucking Engines! So good.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
This looks great!
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Mr #PitchYaGame @liamtwose.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Our mission remains; to recognize indie games from "all" corners of the world. 🌐 pitchyagame.com/mission/ 😤
pitchyagame.com
Our Mission - #PitchYaGame Live
Our mission with #PitchYaGame is to provide a voice and platform for independent video games from all over the world. To get real eyes on. A mission we as a team are proudly undertaking. There are so ...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
This is looking really great already 🦀 I definitely need to explore more Rust/Bevy when I get a chance
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Mr #PitchYaGame @liamtwose.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Breaking: #PitchYaGame is now LESS than 30 days away! 🥰 🔹June 6th 2025 Another day of recognition for #IndieGames, across the world, approaches. 🥳
media.tenor.com
a cartoon character named spongebob is smiling and holding a shovel in his hand
Alt: Animated Clip of Spongebob Squarepants, the yellow sponge character from the cartoon of the same name. Spongebob has an excitedly toothy grin on his face, with his hands locked down his sides, moving them up and down in quick motion.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I took a video also to show it.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Found a good real world example of subsurface scattering with the light changing on this plant. #gameart #reference #photoreference
A good example of Subsurface scattering taking place in the real world, as sunlight is coming from behind a plant and changing the colour of the leaf from light greenish to a crimson colour due to the way the light comes through the translucent leaf.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Thanks @maxpears.bsky.social for sharing @andrewchambers.bsky.social Youtube channel in your last video - its a treasure trove of information on game design #gamedesign #indiedev
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
I didn't even realise you had a newsletter @flarup.bsky.social - this is an easy instant subscribe, I encourage others to do the same - www.flarup.email?r=q4ofl&utm_...
flarup.email
flarup.email | Michael Flarup | Substack
A personal newsletter by designer Michael Flarup about the joy of creating things. Stories from his journey in design, games, and life—along with early access to his projects, creative insights, and c...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
This is a cool world, take a look if you have the time!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Friday means its Godot lunchtime learning - added an SMG model, fire rate and learnt about inheritance #godot #gamedev #learning
A screenshot from the Godot game engine showing some code which allows a user to cast a ray when clicking to fire in the game, the SMG model recoils and the raycast prints what the user shot at. The image shows a windowed game running showing the SMG model in a FPS shooter style.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Love this Mikey and seeing Keyple develop!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Are you looking specifically for pixel UI art? Or other UI style - I've worked in gamified UI for an app and might be able to help.
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Tibo @heytibo.com · 14/02/2025
👉👈 if you like what I make and want to support me for future projects, please consider sharing my game to people who might be interested. I'm making this game on my own, I don't have a huge network or big company backing me. Just sharing it helps me a lot. ❤️
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Congrats on getting that far so quickly, I've been playing with Godot alongside a full-time job and kids for 2 months also and have only just almost completed a single udemy course
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
The skull icon feels great though from weight to style 💫
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
These are a cool starting point, trying not to be too critical, but for Regen you are using a different arrow type compared to defense/attack up/down, you'd probably want it to be consistent. Also cast range feels like its more an outline style icon compared to the rest which feel solid.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Tomes & Tactics - Issue 002 is sent 💌 feels good to be getting into more of a rhythm with it, and good to share what I am doing. #indiedev #solodev #gamedev #newsletter
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Tomes & Tactics newsletter number 2 goes out tomorrow - a great time to jump on the list today 💌 Find yourself some new worlds to explore and a bunch of potentially useful links for worldbuilders, writers and game developers arcanepyre.com/newsletter/ #gamedev #solodev #worldbuilding
arcanepyre.com
Newsletter - Arcane Pyre
Resources and tutorials for indie game developers Tomes & Tactics is a newsletter for solo and indie game developers with a focus on tools, resources and processes, for all aspects of game development...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Great thread Tom! I love finding little gateways like this in the wild, its inspired some parts of a fantasy world I am world building too!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
I saw an ad for one of these and was curious how accurate/useful it is, would love to know how you get one once you've been using it for a while
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
OSHA 😂 This is all CSG and CSGcombiner nodes for the boolean operations
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Made some more progress learning Godot, first sandbox level design for @bramwilliams.co.uk Robo Rampage course! #godot #solodev #gamedev
A screenshot from inside the Godot game engine showing a sandbox level created with CSG objects in colours orange and grey. The level has cylinders to jump between, sets of stairs, some bridges and a few archways between walls.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
The shape and form on this are 😍 Luke!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
This sort of time next week I will be sending another newsletter 💌 - great time to jump on the list! I'll be sharing links to cool resources for #gamedev and a couple of cool worldbuilding projects arcanepyre.com/newsletter/ #indiedev #solodev
arcanepyre.com
Newsletter - Arcane Pyre
Resources and tutorials for indie game developers Tomes & Tactics is a newsletter for solo and indie game developers with a focus on tools, resources and processes, for all aspects of game development...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
If you an #solodev or #gamedev looking for more insight into developing a game engine, go follow Ben on twitch! www.twitch.tv/lazybengames
twitch.tv
LazyBenGames - Twitch
Engine Coding and Game Dev Monday-Thursday @ 9:30 am (GMT)!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Yeah that could work or any other contrast checker ie. colorable.jxnblk.com
colorable.jxnblk.com
Colorable
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Its a nice set of colours, the only thing to be mindful of is how the white text colour has contrast against the green - some players with low vision scores might struggle to read it, just a thing to check, it might be fine!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
This looks beautiful Daniel!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Been quiet recently as I got my head down to working through a Godot course - built this little tower defense game and learnt a ton about the engine and how these type of games are built. Now on to build an FPS and learn from that #Godot #IndieDev #Learning
A screenshot of a tower defense game called Babarian Blaster from a Godot course on Udemy. It has a beige path which 4 babarian character models are walking along and one tower situated in the middle of where the path loops. Several trees and rocks fill the grass land grid map and a castle is standing in the top left of the screen with. text overlaid showing 50 out of 50 health left. In the bottom left is some UI text showing gold 110.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
I love how this visually shows how chaos becomes calm within a design/drawing process
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
These are so cool already Anyrava!
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
And with that the first newsletter issue is gone 🛫💌 a little preview below 🕹️
A image with a gradient background showing some screenshots of the content in the first Tomes & Tactics newsletter. The screenshots show the email with a title for '2 inspiring worlds' then showing a screencap from Studio Atma's Gravastar game and some material images next to text for the 3 useful finds.
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
2 hours until I send the first Tomes & Tactics newsletter; its got an update on what I learning next, 2 inspiring worlds and 3 useful links for game developers 🕹️ arcanepyre.com/newsletter/ #indiedev #gamedev #solodev
arcanepyre.com
Newsletter - Arcane Pyre
Resources and tutorials for indie game developers Tomes & Tactics is a newsletter for solo and indie game developers with a focus on tools, resources and processes, for all aspects of game development...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Hey Andy - sorry jumping in on this - but if you are looking for a cool book with lots of illustrations, spaceships and maps, try Rob's book - thisnorthernboy.gumroad.com/l/wfwbook @thisnorthernboy.bsky.social
thisnorthernboy.gumroad.com
Weird Field World - digital book
Full colour 88 page science fiction book written and illustrated by Rob Turpin.Weird Field World, Rob Turpin’s first book, tells the story of how humanity breaks out from the boundaries of their limit...
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Sam @smbns.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
The art style is looking really good already on this!
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