Emily Merritt | No Small Games's Avatar

Emily Merritt | No Small Games

@aspecificegg.bsky.social

Co-host of @nosmallgames.bsky.social podcast | Enjoyer and reviewer of indie games | Fullstack Web Dev by day | Streaming indies on Twitch by night | Proud member of the Gremlin Grove https://nosmallgames.com/emily-merritt/ ๐Ÿ“ง Biz: aspecificegg@gmail.com

2,891 Followers  |  2,004 Following  |  1,164 Posts  |  Joined: 17.10.2024  |  2.8127

Latest posts by aspecificegg.bsky.social on Bluesky

LOL you know what? I love a silver lining! Iโ€™m kinda drowning in work rn, so it kinda worked out for me in the end too!

And Sunday will be just as fun and scary lol

17.10.2025 19:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Iโ€™m not crying, youโ€™re crying ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

Go play an indie this weekend, folks

17.10.2025 19:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Screenshot from Discord where Emily is explaining thereโ€™s an issue with her internet and that there wonโ€™t be a stream tonight. The community responded with heart and hug emotes and also a silly face of her dog

Screenshot from Discord where Emily is explaining thereโ€™s an issue with her internet and that there wonโ€™t be a stream tonight. The community responded with heart and hug emotes and also a silly face of her dog

The silly scrunched up face of Emilyโ€™s chihuahua after a nap

The silly scrunched up face of Emilyโ€™s chihuahua after a nap

The bad news is no stream tonight. My internet is all busted up. Weโ€™ll get to check out all the cool horror demos I had lined up from Next Fest during Sundayโ€™s stream instead.

The good news is at least the community has a sense of humor about it ๐Ÿ˜‚

17.10.2025 18:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Promotional graphic announcing a new article on the No Small Games website, with the title "Ritual of Raven Impressions." The graphic shows a laptop with a screenshot of the article on the No Small Games website, with key art from the game, showing an pixel art farm with fairy lights and plots for little vegetables. The main character is standing next to a big cauldron

Promotional graphic announcing a new article on the No Small Games website, with the title "Ritual of Raven Impressions." The graphic shows a laptop with a screenshot of the article on the No Small Games website, with key art from the game, showing an pixel art farm with fairy lights and plots for little vegetables. The main character is standing next to a big cauldron

โ€œThis game will challenge you on what you think you know about farming sim gameplay, as theyโ€™re making an innovative departure from the classic approach.โ€

Check out @katerblossom.bsky.socialโ€˜s Impressions on Ritual of Raven by @spellgardengames.com!

nosmallgames.com/2025/10/ritu...

17.10.2025 15:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Damn, thatโ€™s another angle I havenโ€™t even been thinking of, but itโ€™s so true! AI slop totally has the potential to skew people who are new to the indie scene in how they perceive the landscape of indies! ๐Ÿ˜“

16.10.2025 19:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Oh this is super handy!! Thanks for highlighting this, Dave!

God, Iโ€™d love to get my hands on Steamโ€™s API. I love SteamDB but I feel like there are so many more mini tools that could make our lives a lot easier as we vet games

16.10.2025 19:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Graphic announcing that the No Small Games episode covering Fear the Spotlight is now live! It features key art of the game, with an illustration of two teenage girls, one with glasses wearing slacks and a sweater vest and the other wearing a white shirt with a pentagram and a black skirt. Both girls are looking into a shining light, looking scared

Graphic announcing that the No Small Games episode covering Fear the Spotlight is now live! It features key art of the game, with an illustration of two teenage girls, one with glasses wearing slacks and a sweater vest and the other wearing a white shirt with a pentagram and a black skirt. Both girls are looking into a shining light, looking scared

We're celebrating Halloween a little early this year with Fear the Spotlight from @cozygamepals.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‘ป

Episode 53 is live! Listen wherever you get your podcasts ๐ŸŽง

nosmallgames.com/2025/10/ep-5...

16.10.2025 11:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 19    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
Selfie of Emily, all ready for stream

Selfie of Emily, all ready for stream

I'm live on Twitch, babes!!

It's #SteamNextFest time and I've got a heck ton of demos picked out. But how will we choose???

twitch.tv/aspecificegg

15.10.2025 18:12 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 16    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thank you Nikky!! I canโ€™t wait to hear about your favorite demos too! ๐Ÿซถ

15.10.2025 17:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
aSpecificEgg Stream Schedule for the week!
Wednesday, October 15, 2pm EST - Steam Next Fest Demos
Friday, September 17, 2pm EST - Horror Demo Day
Sunday, September 19, 2pm EST - Steam Next Fest Demos

aSpecificEgg Stream Schedule for the week! Wednesday, October 15, 2pm EST - Steam Next Fest Demos Friday, September 17, 2pm EST - Horror Demo Day Sunday, September 19, 2pm EST - Steam Next Fest Demos

I'm gonna be playing HELLA Next Fest demos on stream this week!!

Friday's gonna be exclusively dedicated to horror demos, but tbh there are so many interesting looking horror titles in the mix, it might just bleed into Sunday too (no pun intended)

15.10.2025 16:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 14    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Don't Ask:
"Why won't site x cover this indie game?"

Ask:
"How can I better support indie games media?"

For indie games to succeed, those covering them need to succeed as well.

Here are some you can start following. Tell me your favs or who I miss.

10.10.2025 00:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 39    ๐Ÿ” 15    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image Post image Post image Post image

Expect both tricks and treats in this week's indies:

Oct 15 - BALL x PIT (@kennysun.com)
Oct 15 - GlitchSPANKR (@theclassifiedx.com)
Oct 16 - The Cabin Factory (@internationalcat.bsky.social)
Oct 17 - Away From Home (@squishedy.bsky.social)

And more: the-indie-in-former.com/2025/09/25/2...

14.10.2025 21:03 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 24    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

Totally agree!! I don't want it in my games and I don't think that we should have to put our detective hats on and dig so deep down into the storefront pages to find the disclosure

14.10.2025 17:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's so perfect ๐Ÿ˜‚

lmao when you get inspired to make youtube thumbnails while looking through your own wedding photos, that's how you know you're a real content creator ๐Ÿคฃ

14.10.2025 16:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Same!! It's so frustrating to have to scroll all the way to the very bottom of the game's storefront page to see if it has the disclosure! Especially when the Next Fest page refreshes/re-randomizes the whole list of demos if you leave that page ๐Ÿ˜ญ

14.10.2025 16:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿซก just hoping for a little more humanity in my games! ๐Ÿซก

14.10.2025 14:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thanks! I think it would get a lot of use. I know it would be really helpful to me personally

14.10.2025 13:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
a man is sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of him that says movieclips ALT: a man is sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of him that says movieclips

omg imagine transparency!! delicious

14.10.2025 13:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The way Joseph looks like he's hosting Deal or No Deal is sending me

I cannot wait to listennnnn ๐Ÿคฉ

14.10.2025 13:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Right? And it's supposed to be disclosed anyway. We know it's in the database. Why not surface the data? You know, as a treat ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

14.10.2025 12:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Big same! I also worry that there are probably a lot of devs using AI and not disclosing it, especially if they're "only" using AI for small specific things here and there. Personally I still want to know no matter what it's used for, and will avoid it as much as I can

14.10.2025 12:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Hey @valvesoftware.com, you know what would be really rad? If we could filter out games that used AI in pre or post production while we browse through Next Fest demos.

Might also give you some interesting data on how people feel about AI games. Could be fun, could be cool

14.10.2025 12:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 84    ๐Ÿ” 23    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 8    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Oh my goddddd youโ€™re speaking my language!! Balatro and minigolf?? Hell yes, Iโ€™ve added it to the list! ๐Ÿซก๐Ÿ™

14.10.2025 09:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿซก๐Ÿซก๐Ÿซก

13.10.2025 17:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
I tried every Balatro-like game I could find in Steam Next Fest I hunted down every Balatro-like game that I could find in February's Steam Next Fest and documented my impressions so you can get to gaming.

The side quest:

nosmallgames.com/2025/03/i-tr...

nosmallgames.com/2025/06/i-tr...

13.10.2025 16:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Key art for the October 2025 edition of Steam Next Fest, "A celebration of upcoming games" from Oct 13- Oct 20

Key art for the October 2025 edition of Steam Next Fest, "A celebration of upcoming games" from Oct 13- Oct 20

Everybody stop what you're doing, it's my favorite time(s) of the year!! It's Steam Next Fest babyyyy

#indiedev and #indiegame fan friendos: what demos should I be playing this #SteamNextFest? ๐Ÿ‘€

Bonus points if you have a Balatro-like for me, so I can continue to pursue my fav Next Fest side quest

13.10.2025 16:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 20    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Collage of screenshots from the retro-inspired horror game Fear the Spotlight. At the bottom it reads "Ep. 53 - Fear the Spotlight streaming Thursday, October 16"

Collage of screenshots from the retro-inspired horror game Fear the Spotlight. At the bottom it reads "Ep. 53 - Fear the Spotlight streaming Thursday, October 16"

Imagine all of the things that could happen when a seance goes wrong ๐Ÿ‘€

Get ready to find out this Thursday...

13.10.2025 16:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 10    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Publishing โ€” Six One Indie

What is @sixoneindie.com teasing????

www.sixoneindie.com/publishing

13.10.2025 14:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 16    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

That's amazing to hear!! I'm also going to have to take a little break from it, but can't wait to get back to digging into all the lore and puzzles. I love to hear that it continues to hit just right for you!

13.10.2025 13:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

No, seriously, thank YOU for crafting such a gem of a game! ๐Ÿ˜

13.10.2025 10:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@aspecificegg is following 20 prominent accounts