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John

@farawaytimes.bsky.social

510 followers 130 following 3.1K posts

Game Designer, Dual-Wielder, One Who Bears Fangs At God | (He/Him) https://farawaytimes.itch.io/ | https://mastodon.social/@farawaythyer

farawaytimes.itch.io

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · Oct 30

I'm John Thyer! I've been making games and sharing them online for free since 2013: farawaytimes.itch.io

I wrote "How To Make Good Small Games" in 2023: farawaytimes.blogspot.com/2023/02/how-...

I organized the chain game anthology Gardens of Vextro in 2022: vextro.itch.io/gardens-of-v...

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1h

yah

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 2h

nine hours is a Good Night

Reposted by John

Chris (X-YZE out now!) @chrislsound.itch.io · 13h

#x-yze V 1.02

tons of bugfixes, some QoL, minor balance tweaks. biggest things are fixing pause menu bugs related to gamepads, and a new setting to boost the brightness of the PUR background (iykyk)

chrislsound.itch.io/x-yze/devlog...

[MINOR UPDATE] v1.02 (actually kinda big)

FIXED hopefully fixed most if not all issues with pause menu strangeness fixed incorrect font credit fixed some menu sfx not playing correctly fixed being able to pause during credits fixed game think...

chrislsound.itch.io

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 14h

I've yapped a lot with writer friends about editing, I care a whole lot about it and it's something that comes up in my crit a lot I think. It's definitely a discipline I think a lot of storytellers benefit from digging into

Reposted by John

Polly, A Real One™ @pollyhead.bsky.social · 16h

socksmakepeoplesexy.itch.io/rika-furude-...

Did a small update to Rika Furude Simulator '25. Nothing major, just something in acknowledgement to those that have seen the Miracle.

Rika Furude Simulator '25 Version 1.05 Update

Added a little something to the game in recognition to those that have seen the Miracle...

socksmakepeoplesexy.itch.io

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 17h

the two game titles are still some of my absolute favorite brough stories

increpare @increpare.bsky.social · 17h

also, I forgot about this one, mentioned on X, which I would have included for sure if I had remembered - Brog's "Game Title: Lost Levels" - www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/2268

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 17h

PEAK

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 18h

Aww this is so nice

Reposted by John

Nina_Birb @ninabirb.bsky.social · 3d

Nina's Puzzling Comic - Brief History

People often compare my puzzle games to Baba Is You, and there is a reason. Baba Is You was the game that got me into puzzle games. I would spend hours making my own puzzles in the level editor for Baba Is You before I made my own puzzle games.

I wanted to make my own games for a long time, but I had trouble learning new engines, each time I would try to learn I would get overwhelmed and just shut down before I could make anything. I would often drop an engine a few days after trying to learn it. For a long time, I'd thought I would never be able to make anything.

But then I found puzzlescript, and it just clicked for me. It was easy to understand. I learned to use it by messing with the code for the example games, and I made my first game the same week I learned the engine. Shortly after I uploaded it to itch, and I was surprised how many people enjoyed it. And so I decided to stick to puzzlescript and make more puzzle games afterwards.

And from then on, I kept making puzzle games. And as I made more games, I learned more about how to make puzzle games better, so for my next comic, I'll talk about how I come up with ideas for my puzzle games.

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 18h

in my baby carrot era

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Reposted by John

caiman @gharial.bsky.social · 1d

short blog post that's sort of about FREW/HORT caimanchurchard.neocities.org/posts/2025-1...

FREW / HORT

caimanchurchard.neocities.org

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 19h

Yup, I had to pull out an external CD drive to show it to my partner 😆

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 19h

YOU DEFEATED

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 20h

My memory is that the other games are focused more on actual puzzles, where Karoshi 2.0 is all about the crazy meta jokes and constantly upending your expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if Factory had better "real puzzles", but the sense of humor is what I really loved in 2.0

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Reposted by John

JAKE @guiltyjake.bsky.social · 1d

May happiness be with gamers everywhere.

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 23h

First ones that jumps to mind are Karoshi 2.0 and Knytt Stories, also a big fan of Butterfly Soup 2 and the Project Inthri sequels

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Reposted by John

Anamnesia @anamnesiavn.bsky.social · 23h

You know, I just realized it, but this Unfair Flips game everyone is playing? That's really just a rip-off of @pollyhead.bsky.social's Rika Furude Simulator...

socksmakepeoplesexy.itch.io/rika-furude-...

Rika Furude Simulator '25 by Socksmakepeoplesexy.Net

The long-awaited update for the highly-acclaimed fate defying simulator!

socksmakepeoplesexy.itch.io

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

riki's the good one too, he's just a dad that loves his family... the noppon in X and 2 are much more taxing

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

I always max out the battle speed in the options menu in these games xD

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

doing god's work

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

I'd love to if you're not full up already xD

John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

(this crew's been at it since before ufo 50 to be fair) store.steampowered.com/app/2274110/...

The Elephant Collection on Steam

Say helloaphant to jmtb02’s classic series of elephant games–now remastered into one elephant-sized package!

store.steampowered.com

Reposted by John

Matte @mattelindsay.bsky.social · 1d

Being an adult is occasionally looking out into the clear blue skies from the wrong side of a window and considering playing every RPG on the Sega Genesis.

That's normal. Be ready for when that happens.

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

big fan of the post-ufo 50 turn of classic freeware devs putting together gorgeous anthology releases, really hope it continues www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxtf...

Good Things Vol 1 - Announcement Trailer

YouTube video by John Cooney

www.youtube.com

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John @farawaytimes.bsky.social · 1d

a man in a red shirt is giving a thumbs up while standing in front of a christmas tree .

ALT: a man in a red shirt is giving a thumbs up while standing in front of a christmas tree .

media.tenor.com