Zack Delaney

I adored working with Max Inferno on A Little to the Left, and am very excited to be working with them full time on the next Thing!

📢RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Draft your units and prepare for war as 🌟Superstar Strategy launches on Steam NOVEMBER 28!

❤️Wishlist the game so you get notified on launch day!
store.steampowered.com/app/1756730?...

#steam #srpg #rpg #indiegame

Come meet us tomorrow at the AGO!

We're getting packed up with our last big update for A Little to the Left! Available June 26 on Steam & Consoles, "The Packed Update" adds:

🧩 3 NEW Drawer Puzzles
📬 Daily Tidy Enhancements (1 New Puzzle, Streak Tracker, Badge Selector & Hints)
🌈 2 Game Modes (Colour Assist & Shuffle)
🔭 Zoom
+ MORE!

" On April 5th, a 54% tariff goes into effect on a wide range of goods imported from China. For those of us who create boardgames, this is not just a policy change. It's a seismic shift. At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans. We do know that we can't absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We've done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely. Here are the numbers: A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean. Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That's not a luxury upcharge; it's survival math. Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" I wish we could. But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production – specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components – doesn't meaningfully exist here yet. I've gotten quotes. I've talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labor, and timelines simply aren't."

Steve Jackson Games posted this to their blog and the post is getting so many hits their site is effectively crashed but the point is worth repeating

It’s dangerous, of course, to stand up to such a powerful entity as The Player — usually, The Player is the closest thing to a god in these little realities. The game does what they expect it to do. Whether the core loop is building a farm or shooting bad guys, most commercial games are different flavors of escapist fantasies. Even when power and domination don’t play an active part in that fantasy, players like to feel in control. Most of the time, our job as game designer is to make sure input is carefully related to output in a way that creates the impression that the player can predict the outcome of their various decisions and actions.

Check out this new article by @tanyaxshort.bsky.social on Disobedient Game Design, a short summary of the findings from the Polaris Game Design Retreat.

📃 Read on the Kitfox Medium account: kitfoxgames.medium.com/5245fbc0b774

Just realized I totally forgot to change my profile to reflect it but I'm at gdc this year!

Today, there's more #ALittleToTheLeft to tidy on iOS!

Our award-nominated expansions, Cupboards & Drawers and Seeing Stars are out now on AppStore as standalone premium apps, so you can dive straight into either one. That's pretty neat!

Coming to Android soon!

🐾 apps.apple.com/us/developer...

A Little to the Left "Cat Constellation Chart" Letterpress print This print is a collaboration between myself, and the team at A Little To The Left, by Max Inferno Games! The print is a "cat constellation...

Check out this print from @paulghammond.bsky.social, based off the latest DLC "Seeing Stars" from Max Inferno's game "A Little to the Left!" Hammond is a local graphic artist who has collaborated with Max Inferno on game art.

paulghammond.bigcartel.com/product/a-li...

You may think you don't have strong opinions on coding practices until you meet someone who does it wrong.

This is my favorite board game ever... | Sponsored Spirit Island - Jagged Earth Check out the Jagged Earth DLC for Spirit Island: https://www.handelabra.com/jorbsSponsored by Handelabra Games Inc. Variety Games: https://www.youtube.com/c...

Check out our friend Jorbs playing our digital adaptation of Spirit Island 🏝️

Love to see it ❤️

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5rP...

Just hit a 206 in A Feast For Odin! First time hitting 200+!

A Little to the Left on Steam A Little to the Left is a cozy puzzle game that has you sort, stack, and organize household items into pleasing arrangements while you keep an eye out for a mischievous cat with an inclination for cha...

We're starting to feel pretty festive over here, so we've stacked some gifts under the Christmas Steam 🎄

🎁 Trading Cards for A Little to the Left are finally here! 🎁

Plus ALTTL will be included in the Steam Winter Sale starting at 1pm EST today! Cozy on up!

store.steampowered.com/app/1629520/...

OK for airplane food or legitimately acceptable? I feel like those are two very different things.

all I'll say about the "Now it feels like indies are making the same 3 genres" discourse is that if you really think that, maybe do some digging? Go on Itch once in a while? There's so much experimental art being created on a weekly basis that maybe isn't getting as much attention but it's out there

Save 40% on A Little to the Left on Steam A Little to the Left is a cozy puzzle game that has you sort, stack, and organize household items into pleasing arrangements while you keep an eye out for a mischievous cat with an inclination for cha...

FYI, A Little to the Left is -40% and both DLC's (which rarely go on sale) are -20% over on Steam!

store.steampowered.com/app/1629520/...

Keep the Heroes Out - Digital Game Heroes are better served roasted! The award-winning cooperative dungeon game is coming to PC & Mac.

Nova Scotian game designers Luis Brueh and Daniel Nascimento (@yarncatgames.com ) have just launched a new Kickstarter for the digital game version of Brueh's board game "Keep The Heroes Out!"

www.kickstarter.com/projects/lui...

I got into making Portal 2 maps in university, when they first launched the Perpetual Testing Initiative. There's one map I remember being quite proud of, I should send it to you folks and see if it holds up!

Beauty shot of the A Little to the Left: Extra Tidy Edition for Nintendo Switch, showcasing the 5-sheet sticker puzzle pack-in and reversible cover art.

We've always dreamed of making a real-life game to hold.. and it came true!

A Little to the Left: Extra Tidy Edition is OUT NOW for Nintendo Switch! Includes both Cupboards & Drawers + Seeing Stars DLCs on-cart, and every box comes with a 5-sheet sticker puzzle that doubles as reversible cover art!

Busy getting my booth set up so I can see all you Hal-Con folks this weekend! 😁 I'm right by the door this year so I should be easy to find but here's a little map just in case!

#halcon #halcon2024 #artistalley #artistalleybooth #novascotiaevents

Tintin strikes again.

I'm never going to have a better use for this meme.

I'm mildly jealous of the Beastieball plush back there!

New month?

📰 NEW COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER 📰

Featuring a guest post by @merrykish.bsky.social, Head of Community at Twitch!
🌹 Struggling with player feedback? Learn how to understand and use it with The ROSE System
🔹 Job posts, resources, and an activity

Read 👇
thevtran.ck.page/posts/unders...

I had a similar experience!

I remember my main motivation was seeing all the cool environments; the story didn't grab me at all. Eventually I got bored and just ran around from place to place with no regard for where I was supposed to go, saw everything and then stopped. Still a fun time though!

"Claiming playing games delays Alzheimer’s or makes you better at maths is like saying sex burns calories. It's missing the point." killer pull quote.

I don't have a joke about game development, but I have a lot of strong ideas about how game development jokes should be written.

It happens, although for me normally it's "not much code", not "no code". Sometimes if I'm really writing nothing and thinking in circles it's a sign that I need to get up and go for a walk, or do some other task to unstick my brain. Might be worth a shot?

Played Compile for the first time last night; what a cool card game! I can definitely see why SU&SD had such effusive praise for it

A Little to the Left is now available to play for all Nintendo Switch Online members!