Bex
@bexsaltsman.bsky.social
1.8K followers 43 following 160 posts
CEO + co-founder of FinjiCo.
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bexsaltsman.bsky.social
This is my very first game design credit- I helped solve a very tricky design problem while Adam was working on it and, tbh, I didn't know I was doing game design.

I always laugh a bit in my head that this happened to be on a game with devs I *wildly* admire.
Reposted by Bex
finjico.bsky.social
Tomorrow! 🏳️‍⚧️

Finji will be at the TransFuse Night Market in Grand Rapids, MI! If you're local, you should come say hi & play the Usual June demo! ⭐
A flyer for the TransFuse Night Market on September 27th 5-10PM Fulton Street Market in Grand Rapids, MI.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
but really- he was extubated and he is breathing on his own which is really the thing that had my brain running in circles instead of calmly taking care of tasks all day today.

I might even get to bring him home tomorrow.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
And he is out- my little dude's ear was way worse than everyone thought (totally had an active bad infection, had a lot of extra bone growth due to chronic inflammation, definitely had lost hearing awhile ago, etc).

His airway disease is also quite bad- there is no healing that.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Poptart's surgery was pushed to today because of some critical emergencies showing up at the hospital.We are doing the surgery now because he is actually healthy *right now* which decreases the risk with all of his comorbidities.

Anyways- he is in surgery as of 44 min ago... only 2 hours more to go
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
So send good vibes- he is my bestie and while I am sure he is delighted to be charming the hell out of all of the vet students, techs and doctors at MSU this week...

I would like him home and safe.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Surgery on pugs is scary in normal times. They all have some kind of airway disease. But Poptart's is quite bad and has been for 4 years (he was diagnosed at 2 with this). Intubation is super scary for a dog like him... but his middle ear infections are causing increasing nerve damage to his face.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Wish Poptart (the pug) good luck today.

He has stage 3 airway disease (tracheal folds, etc) and has to go in for a pretty major surgery today. He is having a TECA-BO done on his right ear, which is the full removal of his ear canal (his ear flap gets to stay).

I am so anxious.
Poptart asleep in his pastel octopus dog bed
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Last summer, his bff watched all of our interviews on youtube when he found out about our work in games.

And our kid was horrified 💀 (he's mostly gotten over it- now the bestie asks all sorts of questions "Ms Bekah do you have games on playstation? Ms Bekah what do you do when you travel" Ms Be...)
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Adam and I have teens. Our jobs are weird and our oldest definitely has a bit of "don't perceive me because of my parents work" embarrassment with his peers- he DOES NOT talk about our work with anyone.

I told him many of his classmates would find NITW this year. Got a text today from him today-
Reposted by Bex
qdork.bsky.social
important game dev advice #gaming #indiegamedev #gamedev #indiegame #gamedeveloper #indiegamedeveloper
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
(obvs I am being a little sarcastic here. But only like a little bit with my answer of "email")
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
What made you get into games? What is your degree in? Where have you worked? What do you do day to day in your job? Advice for new game developers? etc.

1) Answered in past interviews.
2) Also answered past interviews.
3) Answered by linkedin
4) Email.
5) Make sure you have a backup.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
I am not a professor- I can't get all y'all in a room to talk to you. Do you all have a discord somewhere? Link this post there and then complain about me in academic circles but also then stop doing this. I will still come talk to your class and help you find others. But no more email interviews!
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Please ask them to do something else. Please.

And no- it is very likely they cannot visit our studios either, which you should know. This industry is 100% secrets.

Ask us to do anything else to help you train up the kids coming up behind us.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
4) You could ask them to do LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE.

Anything else other than these emails which arrive from September through May, every year, year on year, for studios, devs, freelancers, etc.

And you are grading kids on whether they can convince any dev to answer questions in email. Why?
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
3) You could just ask them to look up devs and read a bunch of interviews they have given over the years. Maybe make them do something thoughtful with it and get them to add their sources... Do you know how much incredible information is available on podcasts, real interviews, GDC talks, etc?
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
2) You could put together a WHOLE series of these Q&As bringing in people from different parts of the industry and asking your students to write responses to each Q&A session.

I mean- what is the purpose if not to do like career job survey? At least the kids are learning about possible jobs...
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
1) You know you could just email people like me yourself and ask me to come do a Q&A with your students on Zoom. I would likely say yes assuming it fits into my schedule. And I would be talking to a lot of students instead of one asking the same stupid questions via email.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
It's that time of year again when I need to call out professors and teachers who keep asking their students to cold email developers to interview them for a class assignment.

Stop assigning this to students.

No really. STOP. Please stop.

I have other suggestions for you- stay with me...
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
But I refused to join his classes because god forbid anyone find out.

This is your reminder that teenagers are stupid- and teenage me was also very stupid.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
It did mean that I knew a whole lot about computers in middle and high school and teachers didn't know I was on the internet in chatrooms via telnet instead of typing (which I could do quite young and didn't need lessons in)

My computer teacher in high school knew I was secretly a computer nerd.
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
Bekah- why tf did you have personal computers in your house in the 80s? I don't know. I truly do not. As a grownup now I really appreciate this weird upbringing though.

My dad bought stuff like this and would bring home shareware games he got from work (he was an electrician and liked electronics)
bexsaltsman.bsky.social
The first I remember was the 286 in the early 80s... We also had a 386 at some point. And then I remember having a computer with color that ran like windows 3.0 and then 3.1.

This was my fave game growing up: Styx by Windmill Software en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(W...