iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Zach Gage

Orta Therox @orta.io · 28/09/2026

Welcome back to the week, for folks who might have missed it. I've been working on allowing 3rd party games on @puzzmo.com this year and we're opening the doors just an inch to test the waters for this week bsky.app/profile/stfj...

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Orta Therox @orta.io · 28/09/2026

New blog post: On realising I need to evaluate my engineering principles in a post-LLM world This year, I've come to understand that the values (which have paid off incredible dividends) for the last decade aren't as applicable today as they were blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2026/0...

A screenshot of my blog post masthead, it reads:

A link I have relied on for the last 8 years broke:

<https://github.com/artsy/README/blob/main/culture/engineering-principles.md>

The link was a markdown document in Artsy's shared open-source documentation repo, it was the result of a few introspective sessions by the Artsy dev team where we settled on a series of principles that describe our general approach to software. I used the link in blog posts, hiring notices and in private chats a bunch.

Here's [the fixed link btw](https://github.com/artsy/README/blob/e4b7dff3209b43f4ab63bad919f2500972aade1b/culture/engineering-principles.md) because it's a git repo. I think the removal of the engineering principles isn't some ominous mark against the current day Artsy dev team, but I wonder if they just spotted a cultural change before I noticed it.

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Orta Therox @orta.io · 25/09/2026

For almost a year the largest project I have been working on is building support for non-Puzzmo games on @puzzmo.com Ribbit was built in 90% of that system, and Hue Complete Me was 100% in it. A month ago I ported the Crossword to it. Got a game? We're exploring opening up bsky.app/profile/stfj...

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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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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 08/09/2026

wild reading this previously unpublished interview from 2018 with Jesper about casual vs hardcore, fairness, games and art, and sometimes going against the grain of indie games culture. The whole world has changed, but i still stand by it all.

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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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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 30/08/2026

I like the little thrill when I have to type in an 2FA passcode and I open up my authenticator app and I’ve only got like three seconds remaining

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Messhof @messhof.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Blood Dungeon is OUT NOW on Steam, Xbox Series, Windows Store, Game Pass, Switch 1+2, and PlayStation 5! RTs very much welcome. I love you. #boneup blooddungeon.com youtu.be/rmbXDEdb6Y0

youtu.be

Blood Dungeon: Release Trailer

YouTube video by messhof

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 17/08/2026

The kids and I finished dragon quest 11 tonight. Wow what a totally great game and what a fantastic and fantastically told story. It really became quite a bit more that I expected!

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 11/08/2026

Thank you ego but I already know my microwave-less life is a misery I don’t need it rubbed in at breakfast

Oven: preheat, bake
Microwave: place, heat, laugh, enjoy

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 10/08/2026

Here's something cool we're announcing today: Knytt Classic, a faithful and complete rebuild of Nifflas' classic 2006 indie platform adventure for modern PCs, is available today, totally free to own store.steampowered.com/app/2656050/...

store.steampowered.com

Knytt Classic on Steam

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the indie freeware classic, rebuilt for modern machines! Explore a maze-like planet as the Knytt, a peaceful being abducted by aliens, find your missing ship parts, a...

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 09/08/2026

This is completely mind blowing - youtu.be/87DyyMV0kCY?... we are living in the cyberpunk future of hacking and it’s going to make for a really catastrophic security world in the near term

youtu.be

Black Hat USA 2026: The 'Breaking' News: The OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident

YouTube video by Black Hat

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Bennett @foddy.net · 06/08/2026

a fusion of two of my all time favorite games by one of my all time favorite indie devs <3

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 03/08/2026

Um omg is this Jeeves???

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Orta Therox @orta.io · 01/08/2026

Reminder: I want to see more @puzzmo.com accounts when I'm on Bluesky! Help me juke my stats, if you've hooked bsky to Puzzmo, but don't have a paid account; DM me your profile link in the next 6 days and I'll gift you a year's sub (The link is in the dropdown when you click on your nav avatar)

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 24/07/2026

we released a new experimental game today on Puzzmo for subscribers! puzzmo.com/play/hue-com...

puzzmo.com

@helvetica's finished Hue Complete Me #1013

Play the best daily puzzles on Puzzmo

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 15/07/2026

i've finally updated the work on my site stfj.net. there's a lot there, sorry. I built this site to be the kind of comprehensive archive I would want from any artist I liked — going all the way back to college (even to work that's not that good) no i dont have a SSL cert nor is the site responsive

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The Secret Lives of Games @secretlivesofgames.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Ep. 157: Going Off-Grid with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo Crosswords) We chat with @xws.bsky.social about showrunning @puzzmo.com’s daily crossword, her prolific career as a constructor, the impact of cultural biases on puzzles, the perils of editing, and so! much! more!! secretlives.games/157-going-of...

secretlives.games

The Secret Lives of Games: 157: Going Off-Grid with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo Crosswords)

We chat with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo, New Yorker, A24) about creating, stewarding, and showrunning a daily crossword for the web-based puzzle phenomenon, Puzzmo. Our discussion covers Puzzmo's first 1,00...

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Reposted by Zach Gage

brooke husic @xws.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

for puzzmo day 1000, @orta.io and i made this website for you! data.puzzmo.com

data.puzzmo.com shows the grids, titles, and bylines for the daily midi, daily mini, and most recent big crossword. there's a tab to look at all of puzzmo's puzzles, a search bar for looking up any of our 202 constructors, and a word vault containing the clues for about 70 thousand puzzmo answers and 8 million answers from the wider crossword universe.

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Puzzmo @puzzmo.com · 11/07/2026

Today marks 1000 days since Puzzmo launched! If our games make you happy, let us know 🥳 🎂 www.puzzmo.com 🎂

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Reposted by Zach Gage

puzzlebyrinth.bsky.social @puzzlebyrinth.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

『SpellTower』『Good Sudoku』『Puzzmo』の Zach Gage を、本人インタビューだけを根拠に読んだ。知っている定番を作り替える設計思想、無限に遊ばせない倫理、母の新聞や反面教師 Sid Meier という影響源まで。私は彼を「画廊を出た概念芸術家」と読む。 puzzlebyrinth.com/articles/designer…

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 12/06/2026

Today I built my dream bmp->vec tool. You can paste or drag in an image, it upscales it w/ upscayl, traces it w/ vtrace, and then you have an interface to remove bits, and even apply smoothing to reduce control points to individual shapes then copy or save out. mac app-> github.com/stfj/VectorC...

A screenshot of the interface showing sliders.

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 08/06/2026

Drop whatever you’re doing and watch this completely unreal CTWC grand final www.twitch.tv/classictetris

twitch.tv

ClassicTetris - Twitch

CLASSIC TETRIS WORLD CHAMPIONSHP 2026 | CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY | !MATCHERINO !BRACKET !SU2C !DONATE

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 30/05/2026

I had a dream last night that my neighbor had a demon that wanted to meet me. She told me the demon was really dangerous and evil but I found the demon to be a cute nice dog who just wanted to help. The demon had magic powers where it could grant any wish. Tell me any secret. Accomplish any feat.

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 29/05/2026

Extremely proud to have helped Michael out on this amazing game in a small way

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Reposted by Zach Gage

The Secret Lives of Games @secretlivesofgames.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

All Systems Brough: A Chat with Michael We’re joined by @smestorp.bsky.social himself to celebrate the launch of 868-BACK (out now!), as we discuss his journey to launch, how his process has changed over the years, his impressions of our series so far, and more. secretlives.games/all-systems-...

secretlives.games

The Secret Lives of Games: All Systems Brough - A Chat with Michael

We're joined by Michael Brough himself for a bonus chat on the thrilling occasion of 868-BACK’s release day. Don’t worry, we don’t spoil the new game at all (except to say it’s fantastic! Go buy it no...

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 28/05/2026

So incredibly stoked that Michael is releasing games again and what a way to come back

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 27/05/2026

really cool to see some of the press outlets picking up on Ribbit! big thanks to wes fenlon over at pcgamer www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle... and @mackeza.bsky.social over at the guardian! www.theguardian.com/games/2026/m...

theguardian.com

Ribbit is the new Wordle, and I’m here to share it with you

A gentle daily puzzle is quietly becoming the most joyful part of my morning routine and reminds me that not every win needs to be epic

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Reposted by Zach Gage

sincerely, rob dubbin @robdubbin.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

sad news: spelling bee eaten by frogs

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Reposted by Zach Gage

andrew webster @andrewrweb.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

this is my goty

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 22/05/2026

Today we launched Ribbit — An Anagram game where you'll find every word — live to everyone! Letters are only linked if they're used in a word. As you find words, the grid prunes itself. By the end, there's just one word left. Then frogs sing to you. Play here: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 21/05/2026

I reverse-engineered the closed source firmware of my op-1 to add scale/type quantization (I know the quanted scale is starting at the wrong note on the keyboard I’ll fix that tomorrow). Literally cannot believe this was possible to do i am over the moon.

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 20/05/2026

im not proud of my results on todays mini but im sharing it anyway because it's one of the best crosswords i have ever played. just a totally unbelievable achievement. I bet if you try it you'll even do better than me! puzzmo.com/play/crosswo...

puzzmo.com

@helvetica's finished Cross|word

on the flip side

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Fellow Traveller @fellowtraveller.games · 23/04/2026

📣 Titanium Court is OUT NOW! ⚾ To the detriment of humanity, the IGF award-winning game has escaped to Steam “Delightfully weird” and "incredibly clever" have been used to describe this game. We wouldn't dare to try... Stop reading this and play the game!👇 🏰 bit.ly/TC-Steam

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Fellow Traveller @fellowtraveller.games · 14/04/2026

Apparently, some joker leaked the Titanium Court release date‼️ Don't be alarmed, we have our top maintenance worker on the case. In the meantime, please avoid the leak and avert your eyes ⚠️ 🏰 bit.ly/TC-Steam

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 14/04/2026

somehow baby steps is such an incredible piece of art that it consumes related media and brings them into the work itself. two recent examples. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQx_... www.ign.com/articles/bab...

youtube.com

Baby Steps Developers React to 7 Minute Speedrun

YouTube video by IGN

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 28/03/2026

I almost never post negative things online but good lord. The message from the NYT here literally is: the no kings protests are failing / can't work because they don't have "...the help of an expansive political infrastructure and wealthy donors..." 🙄🤮

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 25/03/2026

for the past few months Andy Hull and I have been revamping some of my older iOS games, starting with... Really Bad Chess! We shipped the first of several planned updates a few days ago on iOS. it includes bug fixes, prestige mode for ranked (with leaderboards) and a new daily puzzle: knight hike

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Reposted by Zach Gage

The Secret Lives of Games @secretlivesofgames.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

GDC! See you tomorrow! (?)

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 10/03/2026

At gdc? @madebygare.bsky.social over here at puzzmo made a better scheduling app for us to use— gmjosack.github.io/gdc-schedule/

gmjosack.github.io

GDC 2026 Schedule

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Reposted by Zach Gage

Puzzmo @puzzmo.com · 10/03/2026

Join the Puzzmo team for our third annual Crossword Con one month from today — in Manhattan or online! www.crosswordcon.com

crosswordcon.com

Crossword Con

Crossword Con is a half-day conference about crossword puzzles

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 06/03/2026

PSA to people who do not have children: grapes have apparently gotten completely incredible in the past 30 years

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Zach Gage @stfj.net · 03/03/2026

We shipped Bluesky support on @puzzmo.com! Not only can you use it to sync who you follow, but you can also get these cool little badges to figure out who else out here in the bsky-verse plays (you can see em on me and anyone else if you follow our labeler). connect up at puzzmo.com/bluesky

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The Secret Lives of Games @secretlivesofgames.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

GDC attendees! We'll be having our annual listener meetup at 4pm on Wednesday, at the usual spot (around the cement benches just beyond the northeast edge of the park). Hope to see you there! maps.app.goo.gl/Xx4CBusosu92...

a satellite photo of Yerba Burna park with arrows pointing to the meetup spot

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