iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Did you know... You're one of the main reasons I got into indie gaming? It was Origins and you just basically said "hey you're into weird games aren't you?" And I asked "like what?' and 15 mins later I was playing Fiasco with Kira ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It means not black and white. So make sure to add some cross-hatched, gradient-shaded, and stippled art along with every opinion. ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ok, this sounds right up my alley. I'll have to snag it.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Their comedy is best when it's dry — I laugh loudest at some of Cpt Pikes reaction shots. But, I think after the success of the musical ep (which I liked) they've been relying on slapstick eps too much, and it's where their writers are by far the weakest.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Hang in there. I suspect Ep 8 may hold up. Despite it's flaws I also kind of enjoyed the Chiascuro ep partially as a commentary on original trek style writing. Plus I liked the cinematography.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Thank you for your kind words!

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

There's more than will fit in an article that looks at a number of perspectives. I got to read some of the data on the first batch of kids and some of the stories really had me fetching tissues. We truly cannot imagine how our games will impact other peoples lives.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Grateful is probably more accurate.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I often wonder if I should be doing something else with my time, but hearing these things makes me realize that when the world is on fire (as it kind of is) making games that help us build and reinforce bonds with friends and community, is in many ways more important now.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A friend linked the Rascal podcast episode where they talked about Band of Blades to me, and hearing someone talk about how the game caused them to go back to school and what they learned about themselves and responsibility really reminded me why we make these things.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

When you write a game you never know who will play it or what it will mean to them. It can be someone's first game. It can be someone's last game. And if you're very very lucky, you'll sometimes get to hear about it.

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Reposted by Tea Vampire

Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

1996: can't use the internet without your phone 2010: the internet stretches before you like the vast expanse of a new frontier. You dance through it, unhindered. Unburdened. You have never heard of 2-factor authentication. 2026: can't use the internet without your phone

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

It's not an obvious show reference (btw watching season 4 currently) but "One of the Bad Guys Cars" had me laughing so hard.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Also don't ask me why facts like these live rent free in my brain but they do. But a friend asked me about it while playing a video game so I figured other folks might also be entertained by it.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Random Nerdy Fact: Did you know in 40k the acronym stands for [A]bominable [I]ntelligence? It's called that since it was in big part responsible for the Fall - ending the golden era (aka Dark Age) of Technology. The Imperium is a pretty terrible place, but they did outlaw this as a BAD IDEA (tm).

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Good news though, vampires appear since time immemorial in stories, myths, and legends around the world, and vampire fiction has never "died" (pun fully intended). So it's mostly just a question in my mind of _when_ not _if_. ^_^

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I remember a lot of vampire-themed video games at the same time as Vtm back then. A lot of the big swings in that space (like Vampire Diaries) reflect in stuff like Monsterhearts. So I'm curious if something in particular will spin up at some point when there's another wave of fiction like that.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Agreed on the vampire front. I wonder if it's because Vampire was hitting when Anne Rice was all the rage, and folks aren't sure of the market-share at the moment, or how to approach it from a different angle when the WoD books eat up so much mind-space.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Good thread, and totally but a minor note: Undying is by Paul Riddle. Magpie does publish it currently, but even though Paul did the actual work and should be credited always — it's particularly egregious here since they just snagged reprint/stocking rights years after the game was out.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This one made me spit out my tea. I laughed pretty dang hard.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Of course, and depending on the era, don't forget the crossbow, crossest bow, and of course the best known... double-cross bow! ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

How ELSE would would anyone else know how many polearms you can name! ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

This is kind of incredible.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It's the kind I use in all my games ^_^ Looking forward to what you cooked up!

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I have 2020 still on my shelf ^_~ We'll call it... reference material. :P

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Ohnoes. This isn't fair. On one hand RuneQuest because I (believe it or not) still haven't played it yet. But on the other... you have like the beating heart of cyberpunk there. One an old classic I love, the other the best new modern example imo. >_<

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Also the dragon was a different color than I imagined but that's just my imagination and black-and-white art ^_~ That's not on them. I don't know if that helps or changes your mind, but as a fan of the manga I can suggest it's worth at least maybe watching a few minutes to see how you feel.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

In the entire run, I found 3 spots where I thought it deviated from almost panel-by-panel replication, and after double checking it turns out two of them were my brain seeing a still not realizing the background wasn't a drawing but something that would be animated.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I can't tell you what to do - but I can tell you it's very faithful to the manga. It stems from the fact that the author did a bunch of reference for the designs/keyframes/stills and skeleton/body pose studies for the animators.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

That whole anime is real good. I spent a bunch of time staring at it in wonder. The animation is something else. So much loving detail.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Rainbows ... in the Dark? ^_^

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I'm a simple person, I see St Seiya art and I heart ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

My preferred comics style is very low stakes, and local. I'm much more of a Spidey fan where the stakes are "can he save a person AND make it home to help his aunt before she's disappointed in him," but I do enjoy my cosmic level nonsense now and again (extra points for weird jack kirby stuff) ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

When they FINALLY make it back, defeated, having lost even their initial stakes - they are ready to close the school only to find out that one of the mutant kids with earth-powers figured out he could grow diamonds and the problem had been resolved days earlier. (yes this is an actual story-line)

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A wildly powerful cosmic level alien uses physics nonsense to warp his body (adamantium-and-all) and Wolvie is stuck bent into weird shapes, relying on the kid to both take care of him and try to figure out how to get them back to earth.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

He decides to take the #1 problem teenage student who also happens to be an astronomically powerful telepath to space to try and cheat at the biggest galactic casino-planet. Since this is an absolutely brilliant plan, things obviously go horribly wrong.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

He had funded the rebuilding/reopening of the school out-of-pocket, but turns out the piles of shi'ar tech was using astronomical amounts of power, and some of the collateral he had relied on using didn't hold up (plot reasons) so he has very limited time to fix the problem.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I think most of my favorite stories fall into this category, but the one I'm gonna share has to do with a single issue tale (#6) of "Wolverine and the X-men". This entire run has Wolvie being the headmaster of the school because every important mutant was off elsewhere for quite some time.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

You can throw the "metal" symbol at art of a knight staggering into doomed battle against a monstrosity double his size, and also enjoy a nice calm pond amidst the doomscrolling. Just relax and study it and delight that what you thought was a boulder is actually cute deer napping. Both is good. ^_~

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Reposted by Tea Vampire

Vanessa Hoskins @gamedesigner.ninja · 09/07/2026

For you my friend...

Two panel meme. On top is Picard from Star Trek Next Gen pointing and saying "Dice!" On bottom is Worf with his arms crossed saying "Die."

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

It's sometimes very strange having to explain One Piece with a straight face <_<

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

He ate a magical giraffe fruit. No. That is not a joke. He's a man with a long nose who is a secret government agent posing as a shipbuilder (aka larping). After working hard and enjoying life for 5 years he regrets having to use his magical fruit powers again as a specially trained assassin.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I grew up watching Star Trek TNG — their super talented cast after the show ended contributed their voices to a number of animated series I adore (like Gargoyles!) Being able to pick out Gates McFadden or Michael Dorn voicing some of the characters on this show brings a big smile to my face. ^_^

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Time to make cereal, and watch Saturday morning cartoons. It's X-men 97 Season 2 day! :D Woo! (Followed by some My Adventures with Superman S3 episodes I've been saving).

Classic 90s era x-men using their cartoon designs coming towards the screen in action poses. Includes a "X-men '97" title at the top.

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

That art! *fans self* Those look amazing ^_^

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I'm used to "one hand, index and middle fingers crossed held above the shoulder in the air". Similar reasons but the 'fingers make X' has some cultural "this is false" connotations that makes it more intuitive than a fist. I've also seen roof-shape with 2 hands above head, and colored bands ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I think ARISE and a lot of the re-imaginings (like 2045) maybe change the tone a bit. But it may be time for a re-watch ^_~

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Tea Vampire @stras.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Pretty bad I'm afraid. -_- Though I'd argue SAC is also very contemplative. There are entire episodes discussing the nature of the soul and what qualifies as a 'ghost' or a 'person' especially when all parts of you have been replaced.

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