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Florence Smith Nicholls

@florencesn.bsky.social

8.6K followers 2.2K following 2K posts

Video game archaeologist + game dev// PhD on archaeogaming as play preservation + procgen// Prev: Story Tech @gutefabrik.bsky.social, Planning Archaeologist at Museum of London Archaeology they/them 💾 florencesmithnicholls.com

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · Nov 4

~Thread of my past publications~

"Virtual Dark Tourism in The Town of Light"
2018, Routledge

In this book chapter I argue that video games marketing a setting associated with historical suffering can be considered dark tourism experiences.

www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

The Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places
Edited by Erik Champion

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

RockmanCosmo @rockmancosmo.bsky.social · 7d

Introducing @keitaiarchive.bsky.social, a website for Japanese feature phone game preservation resources. As keitai game preservation grows, we want our tools and preserved abandonware media to be as accessible as possible. Read on for more information! (1/6)

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

surasshu @surasshu.com · 2d

the era of fliplikes is coming.........

nuzcraft @nuzcraft.bsky.social · 2d

My first #LudumDare! Random Walk is inspired by @hthrflwrs.bsky.social’s Unfair Flips and in playtesting it made a child cry in frustration. Try it out! #GameDev #IndieDev #GodotEngine nuzcraft.itch.io/random-walk

Confused hero on a path. On the left it show confusion % plus buttons to upgrade think time, reduce confusion, increase multiplier and increase step value. On the right is a log of resets and a success

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 2d

Writing something about weather in video games and Always Take the Weather with You comes on in the cafe.

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 2d

I've been invited to give a talk about my research at Manchester Game Centre! Come by at 4pm on November 12th for "Preservation by Record: Video Game Archaeology as Play Preservation"

manchestergamecentre.org/events/2025/...

Preservation By Record: Video Game Archaeology as Play Preservation — Manchester Game Centre

MMU, Geoffrey Manton 301 4.00–5.30pm Florence Smith Nicholls (Queen Mary University) Video game archaeology, or archaeogaming, broadly refers to the study of how the past is represented in the mediu...

manchestergamecentre.org

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 2d

It's a hard job, but someone has to do it 😌

Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

freya @spdrcstl.bsky.social · 3d

Exciting news! DOMINO CLUB returns for the 10th jam! It's possible I made something for it! See all the new games here:

domino.gallery/jams/boneyar...

BONEYARD JAM

Boneyard Jam. Aug 30 - Oct 5, 2025

domino.gallery

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 3d

See you space cowboy

Selfie of me wearing jumpsuit for bridge command

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Video Game History Foundation @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social · 8d

Introducing the William Volk papers, a new digital collection in the VGHF Library!

Explore thousands of documents, developments schedules, and memos from the early history of Activision.

Read more: gamehistory.org/william-volk...

Discovering Activision's early history | VGHF Library Highlights

YouTube video by The Video Game History Foundation

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Nina Freeman @ninamarie.bsky.social · 4d

So extremely amped that The Strong Museum acquired these Fantastic Arcade cabinets, including Grass Stains!!

I made this little co-op soccer game w/ my buds Aaron Freedman, @radstronomical.bsky.social and @amosroddy.bsky.social for Fantastic Arcade back in 2018.

So proud of our little cabinet ❤️

The Strong National Museum of Play acquires Fantastic Arcade’s archive

The Strong National Museum of Play acquires Fantastic Arcade’s archive of indie games

fantasticarcade.com

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

ferunando @gureito.bsky.social · 5d

@florencesn.bsky.social incidental archeology?

Jonathan C Slaght @jonathanslaght.com · 5d

super cool study found human artifacts in Bearded vulture nests, incl. "weaponry like a crossbow bolt and wooden lance, decorated sheep leather, and parts of a slingshot....a shoe made from twigs and grass is ~675-years-old." link to paper: doi.org/10.1002/ecy..... www.popsci.com/environment/... 🧪🌍🦉

Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts

Crossbow bolts, sandals, slingshots, and more.

www.popsci.com

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 5d

Wow, amazing!

Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Andy Kelly @ultrabrilliant.xyz · 6d

The Japanese Mario 64 official strategy guide is an incredible thing. "Can we make little hand-made dioramas of all the levels?" "Sure, why the hell not."

A model of the first level from Mario 64.

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Claire Kwong @clairekwong.bsky.social · 5d

I'm giving a short talk about my game practice at the WikiGameJam opening at Hex House tonight! My games aren't directly linked to Wikipedia, but I've fallen down many Wikipedia rabbit holes. I'm excited to speak among and meet other amazing game devs.

Graphic by @identikitten.bsky.social

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 5d

Finally a T-shirt I understand 😆

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

PB Berge ✨ @persephone.blue · 5d

🦋 Hey! Listen!

@madzbrutal.bsky.social and my article on Ocarina of Time, trans movement, tool-assisted speedruns, and code injections is out today at @jcmsjournal.bsky.social!

Link finally gets the Triforce and we can finally resolve the age-old question of "is speedrunning queer???"

📄🔗⬇️

a pixel art of a blue object with a speech bubble saying listen

Alt: Pixel art of the fairy Navi from Ocarina of Time hovering and shouting Hey! Hello! Listen!

media.tenor.com

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely!

Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

a toad buried under the earth @toadlett.bsky.social · 6d

My first #objectober ! A couple of cup guys!

pencil drawing of two figurines, labelled 1 and 2.
figure 1 is a kappa-like creature with a cup shape in the top of its head, holding a bowl in its hands. it has a grotesque face with bulging eyes and tusks.
figure 2 is a headless figure, squatting with elbows propped on its knees and holding a large basin where its head would be.
text under the drawings reads: 1. This grave Guardian from the Kapako region stood guard outside burial pools, in which the dead were
submerged. Mourners were expected to bring gifts of fod or money for the guardian spirit, and water,
to fill the secondary cup on its head. If either cup ran empty, the spirit would be too weak to protect
the dead from mischevious floods, which would sweep them away to the sea.
Look into the cup in the guardian’s head. Can you see if the stone is still wet?

2. This votive figure was excavated from the tunnels beneath the Great Spill. over 200 figures like it
were found, each positioned directly in the doorway of a burial chamber. Many contained offerings
of a variety of goods, including herbs, seashells, bones, coins and pieces of plastic.
What would you place in the bowl? Do you think it is a present for the dead, or for the thing that
guards it?

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 6d

"He was ranked at number 72 among the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" in 2011 by Foreign Policy."

Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 6d

Apart from how ghoulish this all is, how can we define this as acting?
Dogs are not aware they're acting in the same way a human would be but they are at least bringing sentience, skill and personality to a role!

Thumbnail from YouTube video "The Art of Dog Acting" with a shot from John Wick with an arrow pointing to a dog saying "He doesn't know he's in a movie"

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

PAUL CONWAY @doomcube.bsky.social · 7d

A lovely new Irish game launched today. Check out Ealu!

store.steampowered.com/app/3560370/...

Save 20% on Éalú on Steam

A cozy, handmade stop-motion adventure... unless the maze takes a darker turn... Guide your wooden mouse through a labyrinth full of puzzles & unknown dangers in search of an exit to a happier pla...

store.steampowered.com

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 7d

My last day in Montreal and I saw a chipmunk for the first time!

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Louise Bedford | Archaeology @louisearchaeology.bsky.social · 7d

Day 1 #ArchInk2025 - Pigment. Bison cave art from the Cave of Altamira.

Trying to use this challenge to improve my illustration skills on Photoshop. I double brushed areas to show cracks in the cave walls and added an aged paper texture background.

#ArchInk @jonaschlegel.com #Archaeology

A watercolour illustration of a cave art bison inspired by the cave of altamira,

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Christian Roth @christianroth.bsky.social · 11d

Hey there!
Interested in the connection between HCI & Interactive Narrative Design?
Join our CHI PLAY 2025 hybrid workshop (Oct 13) --> Remote & in-person!
Register by Oct 3 → waterloo-touchlab.github.io/hcni/call-fo...
#CHIPLAY2025 #HCI #NarrativeDesign

Call for Participation

Welcome to the First Interdisciplinary Workshop on Human-Computer Narrative Interactions (HCNI) at CHI PLAY 2025! We’ll engage in hands-on exploration of player-game interactivity for impactful digita...

waterloo-touchlab.github.io

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Reposted by Florence Smith Nicholls

Internet Archive @archive.org · 7d

🌐 From the first web page created in 1991… to 1 trillion web pages archived today.

Every meme, blog, tweet & vanished site is part of our shared story. This is our collective memory. And it’s being saved.

Join in our celebration this October: blog.archive.org/trillion/

#Wayback1T #WaybackMachine

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Florence Smith Nicholls @florencesn.bsky.social · 7d

Ah, wish I could be there!