iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 20/09/2026

Elite on the Commodore 64. I could never even get very far (I sucked at space combat, also docking), but I loved the space trader fantasy so much that I kept coming back.

Screenshot of the Comnodore 64 version of Elite (1985). A wireframe spaceship spins above a prompt that asks "Load New Commander (Y/N)?"

141

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 16/09/2026

BREAKING: The alien soprano from The Fifth Element will no longer be opening for Ed Sheeran

The opera singer from The Fifth Element, a blue alien with tentacles coming out of the sides of her head, sings her aria in front of a window looking out onto a blue planet.

060

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 07/09/2026

Name your favourite Shakespeare adaptation

Poster for Forbidden Planet (1956), with a sinister dome-headed robot carrying an unconscious blonde lady

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 15/08/2026

I guess generative AI has done one thing for me: I've got a lot of followers thanks to being on a list of developers who don't use it. (Hello new followers!)

Bluesky notification saying 30 people have just followed me via the "Zero Gen AI game devs" starter pack

2461

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 14/08/2026

Writing first-pass placeholder text has got a lot quicker now I've realised I don't need to think of solutions to the player's problems yet, I can just do this:

PLACEHOLDER: But by now I've had time to organise my defences. You must next pass through a heavily defended and surveilled area.
PLACEHOLDER: Correct option!
PLACEHOLDER: Incorrect option.

030

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 12/08/2026

My wife is away for the week, so I am cutting loose and...watching Battlestar Galactica (1978).

DVD box set of "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series" with the 1970s versions of the Cylons and Battlestar Galactica on the cover.

110

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 23/07/2026

Yes! An interactive pulp sci-fi story narrated by the villain.

Attention, creatures of Earth! I, Vorak the Master Brain, have taken control of your primitive communications systems.

Your planet has the honour of being the newest addition to my space empire. Your world government will be dissolved, your population will be upgraded with cyber-implants, and your planet's resources will be redirected towards the goals of Thorlon super-science.

Even as I speak, my space dreadnought is entering orbit of your planet. It is protected by a neutronic ray shield and carries thousands of Thorlon battle-cyborgs. Your primitive technology is no match for it!

Do not attempt to resist. Surrender now, and some segment of your population may retain limited autonomy as my minions.

110

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 11/07/2026

My wife always gets me nerdy T-shirts for my birthday but this year she's outdone herself. I had no idea this Venn diagram intersection of nerdery could possibly exist.

130

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 07/07/2026

Fellow authors: without any context, what's the first line of your current WIP?

Attention, creatures of Earth! I, Vorak the Master Brain, have taken control of your primitive communications systems.

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 04/07/2026

I like to think I've grown a lot since I was 15, but if you strip away the layers you'll find an Asimov nerd.

First edition cover of I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. A metal robot with glowing eyes stands ominously in a minimalist red landscape. (This was not the edition I read, just the first picture I found online.)

120

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 18/06/2026

License to Bluesk kojira.github.io/bluesky-lice...

BlueSky license for John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames

Stats:
Web of Trust: 4/5
Generosity: 5/5
Streak: 3/5
Engagement: 5/5
Velocity: 2/5
Veteran: 4/5

031

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 16/06/2026

Just launched an update to Beyond the Chiron Gate to add a dark-on-light colour scheme, for those who like the darkness of space a little less dark spacegoblingames.itch.io/beyond-the-c... store.steampowered.com/app/2960700/... apps.apple.com/us/app/beyon... play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Screenshot of Beyond the Chiron Gate system view in light mode, with black text on a white background and light blue links.

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 15/06/2026

I thought writing a whole game in the voice of an over-the-top pulp space villain would be fun, and it is, but it's also *exhausting*.

Such glorious destruction!

Inconceivable energies crackle across the void, as a dozen ray batteries unleash their destructive power at the Starfury—while you turn the Starfury's lasers and missiles on those batteries one by one.

Your gunship's armoured hull glows white hot as it dissipates that terrible energy—but it holds, and eventually the last of the ray batteries that had a firing solution on the ship fall silent.

Damaged but still intact, the Starfury careens towards—
Your command spire!
The hyperspace engine!
The main hangar bay!
The ray shield generator!

120

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 15/06/2026

I will say that the giant sexy hologram scene hits differently when you see it in context.

Giant sexy purple hologram Ana de Armas points at depressed blade runner Ryan Gosling as he stands on a bridge in the dystopian gloom

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 06/06/2026

You know what old comic could make a good movie? Jeff Hawke. Space hero guy but he's more of a diplomat than an action hero, but actually he's mostly a straight man to a bunch of weird bickering aliens who are the real stars.

Jeff Hawke newspaper strip featuring a humans man and woman in space suits, a dog-headed alien, an alien in a bulky metal suit, and a floating orb creature with a single eye and tentacles.

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 02/06/2026

Wondering how long I can spend coming up with spaceship names before it becomes procrastination.

shipNames: {
fast: [
"Angel",
"Aurora",
"Condor",
"Eagle",
"Falcon",
"Freedom",
"Horizon",
"Nimbus",
"Nova",
"Paladin",
"Phoenix",
"Quasar",
"Star Hawk",
"Viper",
"Zephyr"
],
tough: [
"Avenger",
"Defender",
"Dragon",

101

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 20/05/2026

Quote with a fictional band that isn’t Spinal Tap

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan, who together are WYLD STALLYNS!!!

020

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 30/04/2026

Also, nice selection of cards at the bottom of the scryfall.com main page today:

Magic cards with the titles "Banners Raised", "Union of the Third Path", "Fight On!", "Stand Together", "Protect the Negotiators", "Together as One", and "Banner of Kinship".

000

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 27/04/2026

Okay, we did movies and games. Now tell me what books you've read more than once.

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance. In a frosty landscape with a ziggurat in the background, a black-clad woman with a black sword stands as if about to behead an identical but white-clad woman kneeling before her.

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 26/04/2026

Does playing until you decide this game is done count as completing?

Screenshot of the space empire grand strategy game Stellaris

010

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 17/04/2026

Taking a short break from Foolish Earth Creatures to work on an alternative dark-on-light colour scheme for Beyond the Chiron Gate.

Text-based game screenshot. The passage text is in black on a white rectangular box, which floats in front of a black space backdrop.

020

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 07/04/2026

Space Goblin goes to the opera! Nell of Lamp Post Projects (lamppostprojects.com) painted this for me as thanks for playtesting their Fantasy Opera games. One doesn't wear a space helmet to the opera, so he's wearing an opera coat with a star pattern.

Watercolour painting of a smiling green goblin wearing an 18th-century coat and ruffled shirt. The coat is dark blue with a night sky pattern and a gold star trim.

120

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 03/04/2026

I broke my favourite mug :( so I glued it back together to use as a pen holder. Thought I'd share it in case you also need to hear that you're doing a good job and your hair looks nice.

A large white mug with a cartoon picture of a blue dinosaur saying "you're doing a good job and your hair looks nice". It's filled with pens, and there are barely visible cracks on the handle where I glued it back together. Behind it are a small Lego spaceship and a standing microphone.

000

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 14/03/2026

Playing the demo of this now and it's a really clever game. The story is great and the card battles seem to have a lot of strategic depth. Also how can you not love a game that has a card called "the AUDACITY"?

2298

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 06/03/2026

"Choose your own ship name" Amazing, more games should have this.

The spaceship from the game Command Deck but it's named the CFV Space Goblin

132

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 04/03/2026

After days of being blocked I'm making progress again, and have finally reached The End! (Technically a spoiler I guess, but how else was this game going to end?)

Game screenshot of an angry alien face above the text:

PLACEHOLDER: Defeated, Vorak escapes in his escape pod.

Curse you, Commander Quasar. You win this time...

...But we will meet again!

020

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 21/02/2026

No cheating; your last saved picture of a celebrity is your therapist. I don't have any saved pictures of celebrities, unless a Batman meme counts?

Panel from The Dark Knight Returns where Batman breaks a gun and says, "THIS is the weapon of the ENEMY. We do not NEED it. We will not USE it," and the gun is labeled "AI".

100

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 30/01/2026

Me when everyone keeps carrying out their intentions

000

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 28/01/2026

Personal nerd goal achieved: I've got my hands on scans of old Eagle comics so I've been able to read the 1960s Dan Dare stories that have never been reprinted. And it's a pity they haven't been reprinted, because they're pretty good!

Comics cover depicting a globular black spaceship resting on a landscape of colourful vegetation. Art by Keith Watson for "Dan Dare: Operation Time Trap" (30 March 1963).

110

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 17/12/2025

"Don't waste your time on anything that doesn't thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos."

Screenshot of a Facebook post that reads:

If you are reading this, then Janet pas posted it as I asked her to

My life has been an amazing journey. The opportunities I've had, the people I've met and the love I have given and received have made my 82 years on the planet deeply satisfying.

My journey has taken me from Arkansas to New York to Los Angeles, and finally, to my home in NOrth GEorgia with my amazing wife, Janet, of 18 years. It's been a great ride, but inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has.

Don't waste your time on anything that doesn't thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere int he cosmos.

030

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 16/12/2025

Cool feature: You can press a thing on the top and the engine opens up. Seeing how the mechanism worked as I built it was pretty fun. Annoying feature: The astronaut has a big backpack but when you put her in the cockpit there's nowhere in the ship for the backpack to go.

Lego spaceship with engine in closed position.

000

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 12/12/2025

Filling in placeholder text today and sometimes I come across a bit that I'm not sure can possibly be improved.

PLACEHOLDER: Ha ha ha! You are being sucked towards a whirling fan of death!

020

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 07/12/2025

Interesting to compare Wilma Deering from the 1939 movie serial with the one from the 1979 TV show. Both are badass space soldiers who are respected by their peers, but it's 1970s Wilma who feels the need to make clear that she is also a *woman* with a woman's heterosexual urges.

Constance Moore as Wilma Deering with Buster Crabbe as Buck Rogers in the 1939 serial

Erin Grey as Wilma Deering in the 1979 TV show

100

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 07/12/2025

Space hero research notes: the 1979 Buck Rogers TV series has aged fairly well, but Twiki the robot is still annoying and also I now have the song stuck in my head.

Poster for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). Buck and Wilma, both in shiny silver space clothes, stand in front of a futuristic city. Twiki the stupid annoying robot stands next to them while the beautiful Princess Ardala does the floating villain head thing in the background.

110

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 02/12/2025

In the end Dale pushes Queen Valkir into the terrocrab pit, and she lets Flash go after he saves her from them.

Dale Arden pushes Queen Valkir into the terrocrab pit!

000

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 02/12/2025

12: Terrocrabs! (their claws have a paralyzing poison)

Flash fights a swarm of large green-and-red lobster-like creatures.

100

John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games) @spacegoblingames.com · 02/12/2025

5-11: Not seen because at this point Valkir gets bored of the whole thing and skips ahead to the final death.

Flash hugs Dale Arden while Valkir haughtily sentences him to "the last and worst ordeal."

100