jwest

Firsts by Geoffrey Mugford A game poem about beginning

What if a game was about beginning, not winning?

I made a tiny, wordless interactive poem called Firsts about the feeling of starting something new.

It is in the first issue of Game Poems Magazine.

Five quiet minutes:
namidasai.itch.io/firsts

@xanderrhysvo.bsky.social got any input?

fish of the day!!! i love the humphead forever. #indiegame #indiedev #cozygames #wholesomegames

Its #bandcampfriday make sure to #remember to #buy everything ive ever made fot 100 dollars each please.

I would love u very much!

skooka.bandcamp.com

Pizza Jam (✨Pizza Prize!✨) A game jam from 2026-03-13 to 2026-04-10 hosted by ComputerJames. Hello! This is a themed 9 day jam that runs from 7pm Friday March 13th until 7pm on Sunday 22nd (GMT+1), in order to WIN A PIZZA. Ther...

If you're looking for an excuse to make a game (and win a delicious pizza) the next PIZZA JAM 🍕 starts March 13th

itch.io/jam/pizza-ja...

So far Ive had pizzas delivered to Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Norway, USA, Italy, Taiwan, Germany, Argentina

%100 feel this. It feels easier to find those kind of groups online, but it still makes huge difference meeting and spending time with the people behind online profile pics, and that in particular was what I felt I was missing. There aren't any communities like wonderville or boshis where I live

Going to GDC last year was probably the closest to the industry I’ll ever be, but it honestly just made me aware that what I needed the most was community

But then Double Fine drops another documentary and I’m back to looking at industry postings 🥴

I still ended up getting a lot of creative satisfaction making small things, but usually it’s chipping away at the tiniest of projects. What takes me 2 months probably takes others a weekend. But it’s never been a “second job” to me.

I’ve had this on my mind trying to figure out what my own answer is. There was definitely a time when I wanted to be in the industry, but all the talk of crunch and layoffs going on when we started our family shot that down pretty quick.

as started making a game last year, I went close to gaming industries which led me deeply depressed. what helped me to look forward again was the existence of hobbyist game makers who create things for own personal pursuit. regarding those, this article pushed my back and eased a sense of isolation

Hey yall. As you've seen here - unfortunately a large portion of the ivy road team was laid off today, myself included. We're all looking for work! Gonna do a quick thread about those who were laid off today and why you should hire them:

While we've gotten affirming feedback on Engine Angel, pitching unfortunately hasn't been successful. As a result, we've had to make the hard decision to lay off five team members. Each of these devs are incredible: if you have a place on your team, or know someone hiring, please keep them in mind!⬇

stay warm, y'all #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

DAMMIT WHY IS THERE WEIRD POPPING SOUNDS IN THE TRAILER 💀💀

"It's the wildest west"

Never reposted faster

Announcing Bog Bodies from Dreamfeel!

A "short hike”-alike 3d adventure set in a far future Ireland populated only by radioactive talking cats.

Players explore a late 19th c inspired landscape full of strange characters and stories...

Slowly unmuting everyone now that this season is winding down, I missed my gamedev gremlin friends

Never Meant 64, by kanna lost her jaw track by kanna lost her jaw

Big love to kanna lost her jaw, who made the Mario 64 cover to Never Meant. As soon as I heard it I knew I wanted it in the trailer <3

kannalostherjaw.bandcamp.com/track/never-...

Link to the update:
jwest.itch.io/2pppp4p/devl...

YouTube video by Jonathan West 2PPPP4P - Trailer

2PPPP4P has gotten it's last update (for now, at least).

I love how this ended up, especially since it started as a gimmicky prototype to fill in the quiet hours I had on paternity leave. It's an oddball, but I hope anyone who tries it has as much fun with it as I have 📸

youtu.be/ZwrI5vDsZUE

Man this game is great <3

This is gonna be a good one

in our game you parkour up mountains with your friends: you might think we have metrics.

but we never graybox. it's just more fun to download models and prototype in real places, like blood gulch.

#screenshotsaturday #indiegame #gamedev

FECK

Doing a bit of a hard reset and just muting everyone for a bit. I love you all but I have a bad habit of opening this app multiple times a day and ending up like 🥴

Some of those sources probably have game definitions in them too, like Schells book of lenses

PLAY IS (Zine) by JWest Play in your browser

I don’t have one for games but I did a bit of research on play?

jwest.itch.io/play-is

You Should Write Your Taste Manifesto! Do it.

I'm a fan of game designers leaning into their personal taste. One way to do that is to write a Taste Manifesto. I wrote about mine here, and why you should write yours!
open.substack.com/pub/ezraszan...