Tanya X. Short

HBO executives, I am available to negotiate on Qud's behalf

this morning, my 6yo asked me that question every parent dreads. "mom, is there a space between video and games or not?"

thanks. from now on when I am served goat or lamb or venison I will taste it and nod appreciatively. "Tastes a bit gamer"

perhaps you have already eaten a WeeabooSmore, but allow me to share it with you, which we (re?)invented from first principles:

1 pocky
plus 2 large marshmallows, skewered first with chopsticks, then put on the pocky
toasted or roasted

equals

DELICIOUS

you're welcome

I genuinely love this as a look

Skeet that shows Caves of Qud running on a handheld in front of a stand of winter trees. Below it is a skeet showing someone holding a book entitled "Reigmes of Inequality" against trees displaying fall colours.

When the timeline delivers.

there are people who use google meets,
and people who use discord,
and people who use teams,
and then there are people who use teams and will refer to it always, loyally, as TEAMS, a small gesture of respect that it has not earned and will not reward, and these people should not be trusted

this morning
as we were packing up and leaving our old office
we saw the biggest raven land on a neighbor roof
and dig intently in the snow
it pulled and pulled, revealing a wing of a long-dead pigeon
and we looked away
and moved to the next office.
we didn't talk about it
or metaphors ever again.

why yes LinkedIn, I WILL accept Sam Altman's job, thank you for offering it to me, now look at my left hand for just a second

why yes, my title in 2010 when I was hired on Age of Conan was "AI Designer"

why no, I do not have any--hehe--comment on--- hahahaaa aahahahaahaha ... phew.. okay... I'm... HAhaaa hahaha!

Heartwarmed and flattered by a new crop of folks getting into Caves of Qud on Switch. If you're having trouble with how deranged it is at the start, please stick with it: it gets much worse

Reminder to other indie dev teams especially new teams. Most of us are happy to share advice and give feedback on publisher/funding/platform deals and terms. There are some shady predatory biz weasels that will take advantage of you as soon as your game starts to pop off. Please reach out.

Are you making a story-focused indie game? 📖

Applications are open for the Story-Rich Showcase, our event that will run during the Summer Game Fest period and is built to champion narrative games that deserve the spotlight ❤️‍🔥

You can apply here 👇
📋 storyrich.games

thanks to qud's revolutionary progression system, switching from your profile on the nintendo switch to pc is easy. when your character dies, start a new one on the other platform! all the accumulated knowledge and experience from playing on one will be present with you on the other!

marketing advisors really will send you top-game lists that read a bit like a bad Saturday Night Live fever dream. several zillion-dollar IPs from 20 years ago, but also a couple of totally random Adjective + Nouns to spice it up. Crimson Desert. Burglin' Gnomes. Sure. definitely also just as real.

Since there are undoubtedly going to be people playing Caves of Qud for the first time today and in the coming weeks, I'm gonna share a few basic tips that I figured out along the way. Because I'm original like that:

yeah, an extremely neat database game, and/or database puzzle within a game, attn Lucas Pope admirers/impersonators

Caves of Qud is out now for Nintendo Switch!

🍄 Buy on the eShop: www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/...

Rewriting the Player Contract: Legibility and Trust in Game Development Whether you mean to or not, as a game developer, you will find yourself embedded in contracts with your players, of both explicit and implicit varieties.

Some designers recently wrote a big piece on "player contracts" (expectations) that might help think through it if you haven't seen it -- mostly from the perspective of video games, but one ttrpg designer as well as a co-author: polarisgamedesign.com/2025/rewriti...

doing a kickflip of the soul, deciding not to feel guilty about not answering a bunch of work messages and instead feel virtuous about it

there are many other plausible reasons to ask to see a save file and log ahem

I mean, the trouble is, we keep intentionally making games in which this is the expected behaviour, whoopsie

"the NPC saw me from across the map!"
...no... a different one popped in you didn't see..
"the NPC remembered me from 3 hours ago!"
...no... that's just a random bark actually, maybe we should rewrite it...
"I teleported through the mountain!"
ok wait yeah that sounds like a collision issue hold on

hasn't happened to me in awhile but it happened on the bigger MMOs I worked on all the time. it even became designer shorthand when we got a bizarrely-worded bug. "players lie!" we'd cry, chortling, and get to work reproducing it.

nothing better than when a player describes something in the game that is literally impossible. "they're lying!" you think but they seem sincere.

and you go review the footage of the event and see they've so profoundly misunderstood what happened that they've invented a new reality. chef's kiss.

👾 ANNOUNCING 868-BACK!
Dismantle capitalism one server at a time in this computer-hacking strategy roguelike game by Michael Brough!

Play the free demo in Steam Next Fest on Feb. 23rd!
Wishlist on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3304110/...

A Dialogue with Austin Walker - Unwinnable Austin Walker is a writer, game developer, and a prolific podcast host.

"But I do think culturally we are back to brunch."

This month in Dialogue, @austinwalker.bsky.social goes long on craft, industry, and doing the work.

Screenshot of Ostranauts's Arena Mode main menu. A charcoal gray frame, hosting 3 LCD-like panels with glowing orange text and full-color images. Like an old laptop. The left panel includes a list of available ships, with a big CHOOSE below it. The center panel includes the ARENA MODE title, a text description of the mode, and a big, orange LAUNCH button at the bottom. The right panel is a detailed view of the currently selected ship. A top-down picture at the top, plus stats, and an orange EDIT SHIP button below.

For those that missed it yesterday, you can now play a sneak peek of our upcoming ship combat in Ostranauts!

Arena Mode lets you build spaceships out of working Lego-like parts, then field it against endless waves of hostile ships to see how far you get. #gamedev

steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/...

how dare you call my valiant efforts quixotic. shut up. the windmill started it. also it would be profitable if I were victorious. so here I go again.

fair enough!