Shawn Alexander Allen
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shawndoublea.bsky.social
Shawn Alexander Allen
@shawndoublea.bsky.social
Director @nuchallenger.com
Fan of Hip Hop & sneakers
Writing, design, production, occasional art
Beatdown City Survivors, Treachery in Beatdown City + more

Ex-Rockstar/Ex-MLB
Organizing the future of games

#blackgamedev✊🏽 they/them
beatdowncity.com
Pinned
🤜🧟Beatdown City Survivors🧟 🤛
A bullet (fist?) heaven
survivors roguelite
set in a gritty, beat-em-up *style* city is releasing Q1 '26!

🛠️lots of weapon crafting
👥fun unlockable characters
🏗️dynamic/destructible environments

Wishlist today! beatdown.city/bdcsrstm
#pitchyagame
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
It's been a long time coming! Oh!Ware, a roguelike inspired by Mancala, is officially live on Steam!

🔵 Collect marbles.
⚔️ Challenge gods and spirits.
✨ Bend destiny.

WISHLIST NOW!
store.steampowered.com/app/4121430/...
Oh!Ware on Steam
Sow the seeds of victory, forge alliances, and carve your own destiny. A spiritual Mancala roguelike where every marble shapes the board and your fate. Every pit is a choice and every marble, a desper...
store.steampowered.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
time to listen to this on repeat over a hundred times youtu.be/Kcie6qQL8ls?...
The Trammps and Rob Zombie - “Burn”
YouTube video by Bill McClintock
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 3:30 AM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Hi Casey!

Currently getting ready to ship
🤜🧟Beatdown City Survivors🧟 🤛
A bullet (fist?) heaven survivors like
set in a city trying to kill you.

🏗️fully dynamic destructible environments🗽
🛠️lots of weapon crafting 🗡️
👥fun unlockable characters 🐱

Wishlist here beatdown.city/bdcsrstm
#showcasey
January 19, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
For MLK Day on @letterboxd.social I decided to do a list of essential Civil Rights and Black Liberation movies.
Freedom Now!: a starter pack of 24 films about the Civil Rights Movement and Black liberation • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Robert Daniels recommends 24 films that shed light on the Civil Rights Movement and the ongoing fight for Black liberation in America.
boxd.it
January 19, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
It's not just a heist. It's a rescue mission.

On 10 February 2026, Relooted arrives at a museum (and store page, we guess) near you.
#indiegame
January 15, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Martin Luther King Jr in denim speaking at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, November 1967. (Sadly this year I have to add, not AI) Photos by Jim Peppler digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/coll...
January 19, 2026 at 7:17 PM
A piece of advice I give devs is if you're on a team where a high performing person always protects a friend who does no to barely any work, run.

The problem with school projects is you get stuck with folks lile this, with no escape.

But game dev (& game dev expo org) allows you to leave.
Generally speaking if you hated group projects in school perhaps game dev is not for you.
January 19, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
It was amaaaazing. Congrats to the @compulsiongames.bsky.social audio team for winning best music at the New York Game Awards! I was honored to accept the award on their behalf.

They captured the sounds of the South beautifully and the award is so deserved!
January 19, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Canada this week cause im insane

EU/UK soon come

mikeeaglestinks.tumblr.com/post/8966612...
January 19, 2026 at 1:22 AM
This is an unsurprisingly shitty take coming from a corporation that can't figure out how to keep stores open and bought $500 million in crypto last year
January 18, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Something every parent needs to learn is that if your child keeps waking up strange places asking for Silent Hill, you absolutely do not need to take them there.
January 18, 2026 at 12:56 AM
The whole interview is amazing

youtu.be/6YewCzbBsmQ?...
January 17, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
People of San Francisco! I’m doing many shows this weekend as part of SF Sketchfest, including a Sup, Bro? with Alison Leiby on Saturday night at Cobb’s! Come enjoy jokes!!! (Photo by Sam Brooks!)
January 16, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Whenever you're talking about Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or Franco's Spain, you have to include the Jim Crow South.

Otherwise it's inadequate or intellectually dishonest
January 17, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Malcolm speaking on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, who was murdered 65 years ago today.

And while America didn't physically pull the trigger, the CIA was holding the puppet strings on the person who did.

RIP Patrice Lumumba
January 17, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
thanks for saying y'all like the interface. I *was* a UI artist at minecraft for a year and a half :)
I made a tool that makes retro anime sound effects. Meet AnimeVox!
I made it for a game, but it's free to use.

I'm using the forgotten (but popular in 80s japan) Schroeder reverb algo, and some wobble.

If you find it useful consider supporting me on itch :)

castpixel.itch.io/animevox
January 16, 2026 at 7:15 PM
The drama! 🫣 1970s Sesame Street hits different.

youtu.be/IsEXYYVJfYE?...
Bert Leaves Ernie to Live with Big Bird and Oscar | Sesame Street Classics Full Episode
YouTube video by Sesame Street Classics
youtu.be
January 16, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Facts on facts. I had the same thought re: Slave Catchers.

But a lot of people won't make that connection certain people don't want to teach/learn about slavery and what really was going on in that time because they can't blame some other country.

Source:
www.instagram.com/reel/DTb2VBJ...
January 13, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
HORSES was nominated for the Grand Prize and Nuovo Award at the 2026 Independent Games Festival! What a great opportunity to give shoutouts to the incredible talent that made this production possible. Check out the following posts to find out who they are, and what else they worked on! Thread:
January 15, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
And don't forget to short $THATBABY

store.steampowered.com/app/3642000/
January 15, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Thing is, I've done "sensitivity reads" for a few indie games, which notoriously typically have a designer who is forced to be a writer, but they all came with narrative design as a solution for what might have been a bad idea otherwise.

The narratives became more compelling. Avoid tropes. Etc.
January 15, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
The reason I say “Sweet Baby Inc is a team of Writers & Narrative Designers” so often, is because even people who support us are often under the impression that we are sensitivity consultants.

Sensitivity consultants are great, but again, Sweet Baby Inc is a team of Writers & Narrative Designers.
The top reason studios use consulting labour for narrative is that they all want to avoid having a greater quantity of writers and narrative designers on the full-time payroll. That's it. It's to get the stuff designed and written but also save money/commitment.
I think the thing that gets muddled about us over and over again is that we *do* write things! We *are* game devs! And so when people say we just give feedback or opinions it looks like we’re being caught in a lie.
We are being paid by the studio to write whatever it is they pay us to write.
January 15, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
Reposted by Shawn Alexander Allen
They’re gassing the populace with toxins and apparently its spreading across the city, y’all. This is vile. Those who are there, please stay safe
I was supposed to be in bed an hour ago but sending links and videos to people so they know to avoid the green gas (zinc chloride).

Once a lab steward, always a lab steward.

Seriously, I was a chemist twenty years ago, you do NOT want heavy metal toxicity. It fucks you up in weird ways.
January 15, 2026 at 11:03 AM
I forgot how much I enjoyed dotAGE, but geez, I also forgot how to advance the game, and was sitting, staring at the game confused how to progress.

Sometimes UI just needs to be a *bit more* obvious (even a context sensitive clue) I basically stumbled onto how, and it all made sense again.
January 15, 2026 at 8:09 AM