Alex the Abyssal Novelist
@abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.6K following 1.2K posts
Gamedev menace, taker of artistic liberties, scourge upon the world. I do narrative + gameplay design and gameloc. You can find my portfolio here: https://abyssalnovelist.carrd.co Email me at: [email protected]
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abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Hi Bluesky folks! Finally made an account! I'm Abyssal Novelist, but you can call me Alex!

I'm an indie narrative designer and writer, hailing from a gameloc background. I also dabble in regular game design ;3

I'll mainly be posting about my #gamedev journey! The attached image is literally me BTW
A mean-looking black cat with green eyes and white splotches sits by a small table. Behind him is a white wall. The cat is wearing a purple robe and wizard hat with silver stars on them. Next to him are some notebooks and assorted game pieces, including plastic figurines. That would make him a wizard gamer cat.
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Congrats, and good luck! Fingers pressed they keep on rising!
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
twoscooters.bsky.social
My subconscious is out here inventing new forms of Economic Anxiety
Dreamt I applied for this job and when I got there it was an “AI training” job for a startup, but I needed the money so I stayed for the interview. Turned out the way it worked is that the founder had somehow made this dolphin hyper-intelligent and the dolphin was supposed to implant a chip in my brain that would basically let the AI learn how humans think in order to mimic it better. But the guy thought I was overpaid and didn’t like that my previous experience was in the game industry

So I desperately tried to explain all the transferable skills I’d gotten from 15 years of making games and how it made me the ideal candidate for a dolphin to perform brain surgery on until I woke up
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
tirkarokujo.itch.io
to this day I'm still trying to decipher the cryptobro mind when it comes to game design. Under the decentralized utopia, you can't nerf my character's class because ???? I own a stake in it???? Do you just make a different fork of the game or something??? what does it all mean.
bitchyami.bsky.social
From the creator of Ethereum
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
I swear I've specifically translated the same sentence about the life-changing benefits of an in-app subscription at least a dozen of times. Let me out.
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
adactivity.bsky.social
This is cool after the war on everything called “porn” by platforms and payment processors. A machine that stole all your words can generate and sell “erotica” but you can’t haaa
mattburgess1.bsky.social
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
I'm currently translating the most brain-numbing marketing text. I could swear I've translated those exact same sentences, just in slightly different order with different emojis, hundreds of times.

They pay me, but this is brain-numbing work. Let me work on a game again.
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Cats just so happened to be the last movie I watched (in cinemas, admittedly) just before the pandemic. Besides me and a friend, the theater was hauntingly empty. I've had similar thoughts ever since.
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
castpixel.bsky.social
I'm castpixel, a senior illustrator and art director with more than 20 years of experience (ok, it's 21 years). One of the best pixelartists working today. I'm looking for a project.

Clients: WB Games, Minecraft, SEGA, HASBRO

Hire me! I make your game look good.

[ #portfolioday ]
My cover illustration for the game Space Jam a New Legacy, which I also art directed and animated #art Character sheet #art Screenshot from a pitch for a TMNT point-and-click adventure game featuring April o Neil as a mystery investigator Isometric pixelart illustration for Minecraft, while I was working at Mojang. This is meant to show off the world and it's thrills. It lives in the how-to-play section in-game
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
What a mood + congrats, those are some neat numbers!
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
So, how is Steam Next Fest going for everyone here?
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Good luck! Steam Next Fest is always super exciting!
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Current mood: drinking one of those plant-based chocolate "protein" milks.

Pros: Doesn't taste like chalk!
Cons: Decadent
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
relicabyss.bsky.social
Next Fest is now LIVE! Our new demo is currently still in QA but we'll let you know as soon as it's playable!😭🙏

You can still play our current demo on Steam! PSA we'll be removing the Stats placement system on the new build so last chance to try it out before it's gone! 👀🤓

#SteamNextFest #gamedev
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
Morbius had one great scene and I will die on this hill
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
There are two wolves inside of me:
One wants to remove nearly all friction from games and always advocates for anti-frustration mechanics and design

The other one thinks he could make Funger worse, actually
badgameszip.itch.io
i used to REALLY not like stuff like this, like anti-player design. but over the past 3 years I've really grown to appreciate the thought and intention behind that kind of design!!! i think it's really neat now even though it usually kicks my entire ass
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
One day I'd like to make a horror game that really punishes you via the game design. Things like how saving the game works in Fear and Hunger, etc.
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
This is what non Path of Exile players hear when you explain to them how juicing maps or crafting works.
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
littlekuriboh.bsky.social
When I see voice actors posting how they wanna work on the supposed Duolingo anime despite that app being openly in bed with AI
An old tweet by Reby Hardy that says “and fuck that owl.”
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
I firmly believe the hardest part of indie gamedev is finding devs that are not only competent, but also nice, and also driven. It feels like there is always at least one of these three qualities missing.
abyssalnovelist.bsky.social
This is inexplicably The Sims 2 coded
Reposted by Alex the Abyssal Novelist
majormcdoom.bsky.social
Today I learned that Godot and I have the exact same IPD (interpupillary distance), so now I feel less bad for making them wear my PICO.

#GodotEngine
A Godot plushie with a ruler held in front of its face, measuring the distance between its pupils. The Godot plushie wearing a PICO VR headset.