Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
@totter87.bsky.social
Award-winning gamedev. Animation/games Associate Professor. Level design author. SAAM Arcade founder. Making Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2229030/Little_Nemo_and_the_Nightmare_Fiends/
Pinned
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends on Steam
Little Nemo and his friends return for a hand-animated metroidvania adventure! Explore magical dream worlds with Nemo, the Princess of Slumberland, the mischievious Flip, and royal guard Peony as they...
store.steampowered.com
Happy #WishlistWednesday! If you like hand-animated games with multiple playable characters and big worlds to explore, our #indiegame Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends may just be the game of your dreams! Please help us out by wishlisting it at: store.steampowered.com/app/2229030/...
#2Danimation
#2Danimation
Perfect Dark is incredible on the Analogue 3D
November 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Perfect Dark is incredible on the Analogue 3D
NINTENDO SIXTY-FOUUUUUUUR!
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 AM
NINTENDO SIXTY-FOUUUUUUUR!
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
Gargoyles, grotesques, and corbels reading books are my favorites.
July 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Gargoyles, grotesques, and corbels reading books are my favorites.
Once again, I am generally very non-alarmist with game content. My kids have played old Doom and Mortal Kombat. DO NOT LET THEM HAVE ROBLOX
If we have a kid we are absolutely forbidding Roblox. I know I will inevitably cave on a number of other stupid things all their little friends are doing, but this is a hard line in the sand that no amount of screaming will change.
Oh my god that is the worst possible answer
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Once again, I am generally very non-alarmist with game content. My kids have played old Doom and Mortal Kombat. DO NOT LET THEM HAVE ROBLOX
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
I'll buy the kids all the Switch games they want before letting Roblox through our doors.
If we have a kid we are absolutely forbidding Roblox. I know I will inevitably cave on a number of other stupid things all their little friends are doing, but this is a hard line in the sand that no amount of screaming will change.
Oh my god that is the worst possible answer
November 21, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I'll buy the kids all the Switch games they want before letting Roblox through our doors.
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
Wish I'd taken the time to figure out @oskarstalberg.bsky.social's dual grid concept earlier. It simplifies everything so much while also enabling nicer tile shapes.
In short: instead of designing tiles, design the boundary slices between them.
In short: instead of designing tiles, design the boundary slices between them.
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Wish I'd taken the time to figure out @oskarstalberg.bsky.social's dual grid concept earlier. It simplifies everything so much while also enabling nicer tile shapes.
In short: instead of designing tiles, design the boundary slices between them.
In short: instead of designing tiles, design the boundary slices between them.
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
The amount of people I know who have been laid off from games industry jobs and are deciding to leave games entirely as a result is not only extremely saddening (of course), but also genuinely scary. We have lost legitimately thousands of years of knowledge and experience in the last four years.
November 21, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The amount of people I know who have been laid off from games industry jobs and are deciding to leave games entirely as a result is not only extremely saddening (of course), but also genuinely scary. We have lost legitimately thousands of years of knowledge and experience in the last four years.
My personal feelings are very much “eff off and pick up a pencil, thief”, but my “educator who has to take academic freedom into account” brain is always looking for some rubric to employ. This is pretty good (though…fails to address the IP theft or environmental impact of the tool)
I found this metric for evaluating the use of generative AI (and more broadly machine learning) technology in games very useful, as it's a topic on my mind a lot right now. I actually did not have "Enhancement" as one of my criteria but I think he's changed my mind here.
November 19, 2025 at 9:41 PM
My personal feelings are very much “eff off and pick up a pencil, thief”, but my “educator who has to take academic freedom into account” brain is always looking for some rubric to employ. This is pretty good (though…fails to address the IP theft or environmental impact of the tool)
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
Gnomeball: A fast-paced soccer game for 1-4 players set in a charming miniature garden.
sokpop.itch.io/gnomeball
sokpop.itch.io/gnomeball
November 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Gnomeball: A fast-paced soccer game for 1-4 players set in a charming miniature garden.
sokpop.itch.io/gnomeball
sokpop.itch.io/gnomeball
Do eeeeeeet
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Do eeeeeeet
PLASMAAAAA!
⭐NEW EPISODE⭐
We are joined by @monotonegent.fineti.me and @totter87.bsky.social for Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon!
flashback64pod.podbean.com/e/mystical-n...
We are joined by @monotonegent.fineti.me and @totter87.bsky.social for Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon!
flashback64pod.podbean.com/e/mystical-n...
November 18, 2025 at 12:06 AM
PLASMAAAAA!
Man, I went through all that trouble learning how to design bosses, and I could have just downloaded a guy from Turbosquid and scaled him up 100x
November 17, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Man, I went through all that trouble learning how to design bosses, and I could have just downloaded a guy from Turbosquid and scaled him up 100x
Or…hear me out…you make it pretty good but not the best you can do…and then you get so used to it that it just ends up as the shipped version…eh? Eh?
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
November 17, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Or…hear me out…you make it pretty good but not the best you can do…and then you get so used to it that it just ends up as the shipped version…eh? Eh?
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
"No one is angry about games not containing gen AI" is such a hell of a good point. It is incredibly off-putting to many customers, an absolute deal-breaker, yet there is no flip side to that, no consumer base clamouring for it, no demand. They can only try to wear people down into accepting it.
I saw this and had two thoughts,
No one is angry about games not containing gen AI, so if you wanna avoid being a part of the conversation it's easy.
But, since you have decided to weigh in on the conversation I guess we'll see gen AI made cosmetics in helldivers soon then
No one is angry about games not containing gen AI, so if you wanna avoid being a part of the conversation it's easy.
But, since you have decided to weigh in on the conversation I guess we'll see gen AI made cosmetics in helldivers soon then
November 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
"No one is angry about games not containing gen AI" is such a hell of a good point. It is incredibly off-putting to many customers, an absolute deal-breaker, yet there is no flip side to that, no consumer base clamouring for it, no demand. They can only try to wear people down into accepting it.
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
Fearless earnestness is the next cultural phase.
The new Lumines has absolutely killer art direction precisely because it has zero fear of being perceived as corny. It will just throw every idea it has at you and maybe not all will land but at some point you WILL cry about how all humans are connected while matching broccoli and tomatoes onscreen
November 13, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Fearless earnestness is the next cultural phase.
The serious games course that I teach at my university is called “Games for Impact”, and I just realized that I could be having way more fun with that
a cartoon character wearing roller skates and a blue hat is standing on a path
ALT: a cartoon character wearing roller skates and a blue hat is standing on a path
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The serious games course that I teach at my university is called “Games for Impact”, and I just realized that I could be having way more fun with that
They say your 40s are where you become the person you were always supposed to be, so would teenage Chris love Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon as much as 40 yo me does? Listen as I ponder these mysteries and more in my guest appearance on @flashback64.com!
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (With Chris and Steve) | Flashback 64 | A Nintendo 64 Podcast
Follow Chris: https://bsky.app/profile/totter87.bsky.social
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2229030/Little_Nemo_and_the_Nightmare_Fiends/
Follow Steve: https:/...
flashback64pod.podbean.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
They say your 40s are where you become the person you were always supposed to be, so would teenage Chris love Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon as much as 40 yo me does? Listen as I ponder these mysteries and more in my guest appearance on @flashback64.com!
My wife: “you keep swearing at Silksong…are you having fun anymore?”
Me: “I…don’t…know?”
Me: “I…don’t…know?”
November 17, 2025 at 4:18 AM
My wife: “you keep swearing at Silksong…are you having fun anymore?”
Me: “I…don’t…know?”
Me: “I…don’t…know?”
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
It’s #IndieAnimationDay! Staving off the animation industry crash, I’m focusing my creative energies in 2026 into making a new short film. It’s called “The Twig Gatherer” about a little bird just trying to make a home. Ramping up a crowdfund early next year to hire folks to help me make it.
November 16, 2025 at 3:26 PM
It’s #IndieAnimationDay! Staving off the animation industry crash, I’m focusing my creative energies in 2026 into making a new short film. It’s called “The Twig Gatherer” about a little bird just trying to make a home. Ramping up a crowdfund early next year to hire folks to help me make it.
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
I should probably start sharing these, huh? November development update for my #indiegame Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends store.steampowered.com/news/app/222... #indiedev #gamedev
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends - November Update - Steam News
I know we say that every month is a busy month full of progress...but this was once again a busy month full of progress!
store.steampowered.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I should probably start sharing these, huh? November development update for my #indiegame Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends store.steampowered.com/news/app/222... #indiedev #gamedev
Reposted by Chris Totten - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
When a colleague and I used to visit a local college with a game design program they liked having us because we weren't afraid to tell the students how things really worked out in the wild.
November 16, 2025 at 1:35 AM
When a colleague and I used to visit a local college with a game design program they liked having us because we weren't afraid to tell the students how things really worked out in the wild.
Following up on before where I said that game design schools need to do/be better: this is EXACTLY the kind of thread I share with students to tell them, “we want and wish you to get your dream job, but lots of places want the skills this program teaches you, so keep an open mind…”
3 years ago today, Riot Games offered me a job making more money than I ever thought I’d make in my life. I had 19 interviews over 2.5 months to get it. Partner and I were moving to LA for it. I put in notice at my job and apartment.
2 weeks later they rescinded the offer due to “headcount issues”.
2 weeks later they rescinded the offer due to “headcount issues”.
November 16, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Following up on before where I said that game design schools need to do/be better: this is EXACTLY the kind of thread I share with students to tell them, “we want and wish you to get your dream job, but lots of places want the skills this program teaches you, so keep an open mind…”
November 15, 2025 at 4:36 PM
This is exactly why I’m annoyed with the GDC salary report - so skewed. I tell people applying they’ll get a good salary (if they find a salaried position at all - contracts are more likely), but not THIS. That’s like my AAA friends 10+ years in
(every gamedev school): you could be making $142,000 right after graduating, see 📈
November 15, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This is exactly why I’m annoyed with the GDC salary report - so skewed. I tell people applying they’ll get a good salary (if they find a salaried position at all - contracts are more likely), but not THIS. That’s like my AAA friends 10+ years in