iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Tuned in to the tail end of #TheLastNightoftheProms (expecting #MOTD) and it cheers my heart that at this bastion of conservative patriotism there were more EU flags being waved that Union Jacks. Was it always ever thus?

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I really should crack on with the next ish of @debug.plus, which means I need to find another victim/subject for this soon-to-be series. So, if you're an #indiedev that sees themselves more on the left of this pic, who might be the person on the right that you'd like to quiz?

Image from Debug++ magazine with Eric Barone on the right, and relative unknown indiedev Kye Cavender on the left.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

I've often wondered how life might've turned out had I taken the other job. Would I have been thrown on the scrapheap after working on SWOS 97/98 (as some were) to never trouble the industry again, or risen through the ranks elsewhere, throwing other people on the scrapheap 23/24?

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

EVE's reign as my most played game is about to end o7

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Career aspirations have been met

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

My skills are more transferable than I thought.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Not someone you expect to bump into in #EliteDangerous

Screenshot from Elite Dangerous showing a ship being flown by 'Hellmar'.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

For those that would like to compare and contrast with the version depicted in the #BlackMirror episode, here are some pics from the PC Zone office in the 90s. That's me in the orange shirt and that last pic was my desk. There's an overflowing ashtray in there somewhere. Absolute filth and carnage.

It's me in the PC Zone office in the 1990s

The clutter of the Zone basement in Bolsover Street, London

Paul Hendo Henderson at the desk of Paul Mallo Mallinson.

My old desk at PC Zone. Mags, games and other gaming detritus everywhere. Buried under it all somewhere, no doubt, is an overflowing ashtray

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

A bit lucky in the first half, brilliant in the second. Play up to stay up!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

I started the year working on four games mags, one of which was very advanced. That one unexpectedly stalled last month (which I'm still pissed about) and another has just been shot down entirely (which was expected and I'm ok with). The other two are still on course. I remain hopeful.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Valentine's Day breakfast courtesy of my amazing wife. Gonna crash hard in about an hour.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Here's my entry: This is Margeaux. She whines when she’s not in my lap and snores when she is. If you’ve ever spoken to me on Zoom and wondered about the noise, it was Marge. But when deadlines abound, she is a reminder that nothing is worth getting stressed about, unless it’s a place to kip.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Checking out the new ish of @debugmag.com and loving the bold simplicity of this feature layout. A fine read courtesy of @jupiterhadley.com too!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Loved these as a kid,which is why I've just bought them off eBay. Don't judge me. I'm not going to vote for Reform or anything. Not until I'm 70+ at least.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

I don't know which is creeper, making "clippings packs" or buying them. If these were for games though, it would break my heart to see so many magazines butchered. (For the record, I was looking for an old Warlord annual, which this person has for sale. Not sure I want it now though.)

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Great cover on the new issue of Pixel Addict. I had no idea how much I wanted to read about a 50yo CPU until seeing this.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Found an entry form for the 2001 BAFTAs. £125 to have your game considered in one category, plus another £95 for any additional categories.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Your Spectrum magazine changed its scoring system 3 times in 2yrs (and again with the full transformation into Your Sinclair) and was the inspiration behind the convoluted and unintuitive scoring system I've devised for the new mag. It's out of 3, x3, basically.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

New mag delivery today. Surprised and pleased that it's A4, but it feels like it was designed for A5. Great idea to focus entirely on new games for retro platforms. Hopefully issue 4 is in the works.

BrewOtaku magazine covers, issues 1 to 3.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

I'm sure you've done splendid work, but if between now and the new year you post a bulleted list of all this things you have done during 2024 and one of them is to have witnessed something, I will think less of you. Your brain processing sense data is not an achievement.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Can we get a mop bucket racing game? Hear me out! Not only do you have to get to the next aisle before the other cleaners, you have to not lose too much filthy water on the way. I'd wishlist it!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Pic in the MCV 30u30 supplement suggesting I might want to throw in a couple of jokes into my stand-up routine.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Got the latest @debugmag.com just now. And Crash, Next, @pixeladdict.bsky.social and Atari Addict. Lots of reading to be done this holiday season!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Mike Singleton appreciation night

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Dangerous precedent here: crediting the platform the program was written on rather than the creator ;)

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Only just realised it was Thanksgiving as the missus extracted a perfectly executed pumpkin pie from the oven. Can't stand the stuff myself, but it smells glorious. Christmas begins!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

My last issue as editor has gone to print. Time to play some games and try and find some freelance.

Cover of the 1,000th issue of MCV/DEVELOP magazine, showing the masthead and party balloons.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

A stressful thyme for the missus, it seems

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Bugsnax obsessed 11yo very happy with today's delivery.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Getting mad genius vibes now.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Been playing a lot of this take on Terraria/Satisfactory for the ZX Spectrum. It's far from finished, but already pretty smooth. Might just be the most ambitious game for the 42 yr-old 'puter I've seen. Online multiplayer as well, would you believe!

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

Technically doing better that last season, right? One place higher.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

A thing for a thing I've been working on. ... I didn't create the thing. I'm just working on the thing the thing might be in.

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

My 2 fave blokey bands have produced my 2 fave albums of the last 2 yrs, both about growing old and mortality. Angry, poignant and reassuring, they offer a soundtrack to rage against (and perhaps come to terms with) the dying of the light. Uplifting stuff, if you like that kinda thing. I do.

The Cure's Songs of a Lost World album cover

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Richie Shoemaker @zptr.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Transporting in from Planet X in the nick of time, it seems. Just need to shower off the Musk and I can report for duty.

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