Els White
@elskwhite.bsky.social
I make games at spiderlilystudios.itch.io and I write tutorials for GameMaker, but more importantly I love my cat Tilly. Retrace, Schrodinger's Catgirl, Cabernet. 🏳️⚧️ 🏳️🌈 ♿️ he/him
Pinned
Els White
@elskwhite.bsky.social
· Aug 21
Spider Lily Studios's Commissions
Commissions Open! Click to see Spider Lily Studios's commission menu.
ko-fi.com
So! Guess who has to move! Again!! And needs to make a deposit! Again!!!
... I'm offering Game Maker tutorial commissions via Ko-fi! Use code MOVINGSALE for 40% off. ko-fi.com/spiderlilyst...
You can find examples of my tutorials at spiderlilystudios.medium.com. I specialise in VN-type mechanics!
... I'm offering Game Maker tutorial commissions via Ko-fi! Use code MOVINGSALE for 40% off. ko-fi.com/spiderlilyst...
You can find examples of my tutorials at spiderlilystudios.medium.com. I specialise in VN-type mechanics!
Reposted by Els White
We've enlisted some help for Black Friday!
Make sure to say "Thank you Bwoopy!" when your package is delivered!
Lucky Boxes are a randomized assortment of items from our vault, and EVERY Lucky Box averages DOUBLE what you pay!
Many are even more!
Character & art: @a2ziegler.bsky.social
Make sure to say "Thank you Bwoopy!" when your package is delivered!
Lucky Boxes are a randomized assortment of items from our vault, and EVERY Lucky Box averages DOUBLE what you pay!
Many are even more!
Character & art: @a2ziegler.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 11:03 PM
We've enlisted some help for Black Friday!
Make sure to say "Thank you Bwoopy!" when your package is delivered!
Lucky Boxes are a randomized assortment of items from our vault, and EVERY Lucky Box averages DOUBLE what you pay!
Many are even more!
Character & art: @a2ziegler.bsky.social
Make sure to say "Thank you Bwoopy!" when your package is delivered!
Lucky Boxes are a randomized assortment of items from our vault, and EVERY Lucky Box averages DOUBLE what you pay!
Many are even more!
Character & art: @a2ziegler.bsky.social
Reposted by Els White
choo choo, motherfucker
December 7, 2025 at 10:06 AM
choo choo, motherfucker
Reposted by Els White
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
December 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
Reposted by Els White
I'm gonna aim for at least one blog post a month starting in 2026, hopefully two a month, and ideally post weekly if I can get enough people interested in contributing.
transmascs-of-culture.bearblog.dev
transmascs-of-culture.bearblog.dev
December 6, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I'm gonna aim for at least one blog post a month starting in 2026, hopefully two a month, and ideally post weekly if I can get enough people interested in contributing.
transmascs-of-culture.bearblog.dev
transmascs-of-culture.bearblog.dev
Reposted by Els White
In case you were any doubt about how brilliantly ridiculous this cat is from the thread below, I thought I would post this exclusive video clip as absolute confirmation.
December 6, 2025 at 9:34 PM
In case you were any doubt about how brilliantly ridiculous this cat is from the thread below, I thought I would post this exclusive video clip as absolute confirmation.
Reposted by Els White
Games are such a funny medium to generalize about because like, games is an absurdly broad umbrella that we've decided is one medium even though you can easily come up with two examples of a "video game" that are more unlike each other than any two movies or novels
December 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Games are such a funny medium to generalize about because like, games is an absurdly broad umbrella that we've decided is one medium even though you can easily come up with two examples of a "video game" that are more unlike each other than any two movies or novels
Reposted by Els White
A massive problem today is the uneven distribution of shame. Some of us are running dedicated on-site shame servers 24/7 while others have no access to shame at all, even though they desperately need it. What we need to do is put shame in the cloud
December 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
A massive problem today is the uneven distribution of shame. Some of us are running dedicated on-site shame servers 24/7 while others have no access to shame at all, even though they desperately need it. What we need to do is put shame in the cloud
Reposted by Els White
Marcus Aurelius has already released you from the obligation to have a take
December 6, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Marcus Aurelius has already released you from the obligation to have a take
Reposted by Els White
6-fold ward against AI-induced psychosis
November 18, 2025 at 11:39 PM
6-fold ward against AI-induced psychosis
Reposted by Els White
At about $60K that's about 128 million graduate team indie games, at $150K about 500,000 small indie games, at $300K about 250,000 mid-size debut indie games, or at around $950K about 110,000 indie games by a team of more experienced devs.
There are a total of 110,000 indie games on Steam.
There are a total of 110,000 indie games on Steam.
Mark Zuckerberg’s gamble on the "Metaverse" has lost his company more than $77 billion.
December 6, 2025 at 3:08 AM
At about $60K that's about 128 million graduate team indie games, at $150K about 500,000 small indie games, at $300K about 250,000 mid-size debut indie games, or at around $950K about 110,000 indie games by a team of more experienced devs.
There are a total of 110,000 indie games on Steam.
There are a total of 110,000 indie games on Steam.
Reposted by Els White
it might seem surprising that the people who said “look, let trans people live their lives, but i have Reasonable Concerns about sports and toilets” aren’t up in arms about this, but what you have to remember is that those people who said that are liars who were lying
December 6, 2025 at 12:40 PM
it might seem surprising that the people who said “look, let trans people live their lives, but i have Reasonable Concerns about sports and toilets” aren’t up in arms about this, but what you have to remember is that those people who said that are liars who were lying
Reposted by Els White
I'm not going to re-write a whole piece I already wrote 8 years ago, so here
www.vice.com/en/article/s...
www.vice.com/en/article/s...
Stories in Games Aren't Problems, They're Solutions
Lots of video games have terrible stories, but that's no reason to give up telling them.
www.vice.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I'm not going to re-write a whole piece I already wrote 8 years ago, so here
www.vice.com/en/article/s...
www.vice.com/en/article/s...
Reposted by Els White
Working on a thought-tool called "stupid drunk guy in a bar". Works like this: If the take you're responding to is essentially being mumbled by a clearly very stupid drunk guy in the bar you're at, is it worth starting a big public discussion with him?
Today we've decided to center:
- some genre author with fewer than 2k followers who said something insipid about an industry where he has no relevant experience or connection
- a Cato Institute ghoul with the handle "normative" and a substack smugly saying we need to be more serious about eugenics
- some genre author with fewer than 2k followers who said something insipid about an industry where he has no relevant experience or connection
- a Cato Institute ghoul with the handle "normative" and a substack smugly saying we need to be more serious about eugenics
December 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Working on a thought-tool called "stupid drunk guy in a bar". Works like this: If the take you're responding to is essentially being mumbled by a clearly very stupid drunk guy in the bar you're at, is it worth starting a big public discussion with him?
Reposted by Els White
the weirdness of modern social media is how i am simultaneously always addressing nobody in particular here (such as with this thread) and, from the perspective of other users reading me, being taken within the context of conversations of which I'm personally ignorant or don't care to address
November 28, 2025 at 6:43 PM
the weirdness of modern social media is how i am simultaneously always addressing nobody in particular here (such as with this thread) and, from the perspective of other users reading me, being taken within the context of conversations of which I'm personally ignorant or don't care to address
Retrace is in this...! Ah, I was going to try to get a new Catgirl demo up but I got distracted programming some late game content, whoops. Anyway!!! It's cool and you should check it out!
Introducing the Choose Wisely Festival 💫
We’re returning to our first love, to host a free digital festival celebrating branching narrative games.
Join us on Steam from Dec 8-15 along with 250+ indie darling studios featuring 390+ curated titles where your choices do matter.
#ChooseWiselyFestival
We’re returning to our first love, to host a free digital festival celebrating branching narrative games.
Join us on Steam from Dec 8-15 along with 250+ indie darling studios featuring 390+ curated titles where your choices do matter.
#ChooseWiselyFestival
December 5, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Retrace is in this...! Ah, I was going to try to get a new Catgirl demo up but I got distracted programming some late game content, whoops. Anyway!!! It's cool and you should check it out!
Any indie dev who wants to test if this is working for them, reply to this or DM me with the link to your page and I'll check it out sans VPN, since I'm currently based in London.
⚠️ Attention creators on #itchio! ⚠️
If you have a mixture of SFW and NSFW projects on your profile page, you can manually Hide the NSFW projects to make your profile visible to users located in the UK. To access this, log into your account and go to your profile page, then select Edit Theme.
If you have a mixture of SFW and NSFW projects on your profile page, you can manually Hide the NSFW projects to make your profile visible to users located in the UK. To access this, log into your account and go to your profile page, then select Edit Theme.
December 5, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Any indie dev who wants to test if this is working for them, reply to this or DM me with the link to your page and I'll check it out sans VPN, since I'm currently based in London.
Reposted by Els White
This is a workaround I discovered a while back, if a creator puts their NSFW projects in a collection and links the Collection in their profile description, the the Creator page is accessible to those in the UK.
bsky.app/profile/proj...
bsky.app/profile/proj...
⚠️ Attention creators on #itchio! ⚠️
If you have a mixture of SFW and NSFW projects on your profile page, you can manually Hide the NSFW projects to make your profile visible to users located in the UK. To access this, log into your account and go to your profile page, then select Edit Theme.
If you have a mixture of SFW and NSFW projects on your profile page, you can manually Hide the NSFW projects to make your profile visible to users located in the UK. To access this, log into your account and go to your profile page, then select Edit Theme.
December 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This is a workaround I discovered a while back, if a creator puts their NSFW projects in a collection and links the Collection in their profile description, the the Creator page is accessible to those in the UK.
bsky.app/profile/proj...
bsky.app/profile/proj...
Reposted by Els White
Now, that was an unexpected read / watch: 'Three design lessons from Defunctland's deep dive into Disney's 'Living Characters' by Bryant Francis - www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three...
December 5, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Now, that was an unexpected read / watch: 'Three design lessons from Defunctland's deep dive into Disney's 'Living Characters' by Bryant Francis - www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three...
Reposted by Els White
tapping the sign
December 4, 2025 at 4:35 PM
tapping the sign
Reposted by Els White
With hot chocolate season upon us, it's time to remember Chantico, the "drinkable dessert" that Starbucks had to discontinue because people kept asking to customize it in ways that would kill them
Starbucks Chantico (2005-2005): Promoted as a "drinkable dessert", this rich, creamy chocolate drink was modeled after European hot drinking chocolates. However, customers complained that it was only available in 6-oz servings and couldn't be customized, so it was axed.
December 4, 2025 at 6:34 PM
With hot chocolate season upon us, it's time to remember Chantico, the "drinkable dessert" that Starbucks had to discontinue because people kept asking to customize it in ways that would kill them
Reposted by Els White
Cruelty is anhedonic. It rarely delivers the euphoria promised because, in the abstract, what feels righteous and joyful inevitably reveals itself to be sordid and small. Then it's "No not like that". "No not enough". "No the real battle, the forever war to make this feel good starts now". Forever.
Note how these awful people are getting exactly the exclusions of children that they demanded and *that still isn’t enough for them*: they demand everyone be delighted about it and kiss their arses for being brilliant.
December 4, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Cruelty is anhedonic. It rarely delivers the euphoria promised because, in the abstract, what feels righteous and joyful inevitably reveals itself to be sordid and small. Then it's "No not like that". "No not enough". "No the real battle, the forever war to make this feel good starts now". Forever.
Reposted by Els White
I’ve said this for many years and I’ll keep saying it: for all that I believe trans women are women, we would matter even if we weren’t. We would belong in feminism even if we weren’t. We would deserve to have others stand with us even if we weren’t.
December 4, 2025 at 1:17 AM
I’ve said this for many years and I’ll keep saying it: for all that I believe trans women are women, we would matter even if we weren’t. We would belong in feminism even if we weren’t. We would deserve to have others stand with us even if we weren’t.
Reposted by Els White
Not only are trannies worth fighting for, we’re worth fighting for AS trannies, as what we are right here and now. Not only if we’re part of some other group that matters.
We matter no matter what people think we are, no matter what standards of gender we do or do not meet.
We matter no matter what people think we are, no matter what standards of gender we do or do not meet.
at some point you have to stand up and say "I think trannies are worth fighting for and deserve dignity" and that's the one thing no one wants to actually commit to
December 4, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Not only are trannies worth fighting for, we’re worth fighting for AS trannies, as what we are right here and now. Not only if we’re part of some other group that matters.
We matter no matter what people think we are, no matter what standards of gender we do or do not meet.
We matter no matter what people think we are, no matter what standards of gender we do or do not meet.
Reposted by Els White
I wonder how different this week would have been if the Girl Guides' statement had said "we're closing the Girl Guides with immediate effect due to legal threats by transphobic organisations funded by JK Rowling, which we cannot afford to contest".
Could have been the moment the tide turned.
Could have been the moment the tide turned.
December 3, 2025 at 10:36 AM
I wonder how different this week would have been if the Girl Guides' statement had said "we're closing the Girl Guides with immediate effect due to legal threats by transphobic organisations funded by JK Rowling, which we cannot afford to contest".
Could have been the moment the tide turned.
Could have been the moment the tide turned.
unity is my enemy
i just want to display an image
i just want to display an image
a child is laying on the ground in the rain
ALT: a child is laying on the ground in the rain
media.tenor.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:21 PM
unity is my enemy
i just want to display an image
i just want to display an image