Eric
LightNews LightNews
banner
mokkograd.net
Eric
@mokkograd.net
250 followers 59 following 2.3K posts
(they/them) I'm passionate about explosions and skeletons. Header image by Simon Sweetman.

Buy Virtue's Heaven on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1929860/Virtues_Heaven/

Subscribe to my Newsletter:
https://buttondown.com/MOKKOGRAD
Posts Replies Media Videos
mokkograd.net
Just finished most of the graphics stuff for JRPG Game's second Dungeon, so have a gif where Round Robin stuffs a Debate Baum into their Monster Pot.
January 15, 2026 at 3:55 PM
mokkograd.net
Me in December: "Oh I'm going to make things easy for me for that second Dungeon for JRPG game and just re-use some of my older tilesets!"

Me, this week: *Proceeds to spend several days building a completely new tileset.*
January 14, 2026 at 5:16 PM
mokkograd.net
Making enemies for JRPG game continues to be a total delight.
Six new enemies I made for my JRPG project, from top right to bottom left they are: "Sinister Smile" - a floating smile "Gnife Gnome" a Garden Gnome looking guy with two big knives "Monster Trommel" a Floating Drum with Fangs and arms "Excessive Sludge" a red blob "Debate Baum" A Tree that has talking fruits in it "Raebueki" Some kind of Dipshit Robot looking thing. The bottom three are all palette swapped versions of earlier enemies.
January 10, 2026 at 2:49 PM
mokkograd.net
Less than a day left to get Virtue's Heaven at 20% off!

store.steampowered.com/app/1929860/...
January 4, 2026 at 9:02 PM
mokkograd.net
You know what I'm really happy about in this year of darkness?
That, after years of struggling I not only released Virtue's Heaven. I made something I'm genuinely happy about.

Please buy it:

store.steampowered.com/app/1929860/...
December 28, 2025 at 4:25 PM
mokkograd.net
Four games that defined my 2025
Promo-image for the game Dungeon Encounters Promo-image for the game Virtue's Heaven, which was made by me and pretty cool. I think you should buy it. Promo-image for the game Chaos Galaxy Promo-image for the game Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
December 27, 2025 at 2:48 PM
mokkograd.net
I was in such an existential place at the beginning of the year, that I just said "fuck it, I'm just going to put myself and my own wishes for the future in this thing, who knows if I'll get another chance".
You can see some of that in this video:
December 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
mokkograd.net
If you see this post your favorite final fantasy character.

(if you think that monsters don't count as characters I will fight you)
Screenshot from Final Fantasy 5, showing a cute Squirrel with black/grey fur. The name isn't shown here, but it is called a "Skull Eater", which definitely isn't ominous at all.
December 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
mokkograd.net
What is Virtue's Heaven? Is it an "Evil Game"? Is it an attempt at expressing our current day's malaise in an action platformer? Or is it "not a good metroidvania" with a final act that is "just weird"?
Whatever the case, it definitely is 20% off on Steam!

store.steampowered.com/app/1929860/...
December 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
mokkograd.net
A game where anything could be a battle and where the names of your moves carry meaning. In a land infused by the hatred of a dead tyrant, four travelers will kill a noble, accidentally crown a King, and kill the Moon.

It doesn't have a name yet, so I'm still calling it "JRPG Game".

#TeaseYaGame
Screenshot from my JRPG project, it shows a party of four human beings fighting a door and two vaguel robot-shaped entities, that are called "Reupel". The lower third of the screen is occupied with a menu screen. Currently the cursor sits on a move "Memory of a past encounter", which will perform whatever attack the character in question was last hit with. This can lead to some funny moments, where you accidentally heal an enemy, or alternatively kill a party member. Obviously the opposite is possible as well, which makes it pretty powerful. Another battle screen shot from JRPG game. It shows the party fighting a "Cute Mouse", which is in the process of performing a move that makes the text "Nuzzle Nuzzle" appear on screen. A perfectly harmless enemy. Nothing evil will happen in the next turn, for sure... Screenshot from what's currently existing of the Dungeon in JRPG game. It's a top down view of a character standing in an entrance hallway, to a vaguely ruinous looking tech-base environment. The upper side of the screen shows a text box that says: Excerpt from the Manuscript of Pale: As a saying among the people of Insel goes: 'The first step towards rebellion is disobedience.' Screenshot from the "Rest" scene in JRPG game. It shows the characters Vortex and Round Robin sitting in front of a camp fire, while having a conversation. A textbox underneath says: "Vortex: I just couldn't do it anymore. I just stood there, in the middle of nowhere with a sword in my hand."
December 16, 2025 at 4:35 PM
mokkograd.net
The funniest line is right at the end, and honestly sums up how most of the project was developed:
A screenshot from Virtue's Heaven's character controler, from line 203 onwards it says: This variable is old and useless, but I can't be bothered to rewrite the code stam=10 this is old code indicating that once this game had a stamina bar. I have no idea when it had one, and when I removed it. Also apologies for not putting alt text on the previous images, I simply forgot. However, you did not miss a lot, it was just hundreds of lines of badly explained variables
December 11, 2025 at 11:06 PM
mokkograd.net
Okay, after seeing this, I had to go and look at the mess I made in Virtue's Heaven. This should be most of the physics stuff, but I'm not sure.

Also if you're wondering why those first few lines look very orderly, it's because those are Maddy's code from I have no idea when (maybe pre 2010?).
December 11, 2025 at 11:02 PM
mokkograd.net
Then however came the pitstop, I want you all to pay attention to what happens to Dries after he got out of the car (it's in the last 5 seconds or so):
December 11, 2025 at 10:01 PM
mokkograd.net
He also had the task of starting the car and boy did he start it.
After a bit more than 2 hours, he opened up a 45 second gap to the rest of the field. These cars are balanced so that they should produce roughly the same laptime, but Dries kind of just drove away.
December 11, 2025 at 9:59 PM
mokkograd.net
Honestly, all I can think of is sharing this magical moment that happened in the last hour of the 2000 24 hours of Le Mans again.

Only motorsports gives you those moments where you feel nostalgic for a lack of safety regulations.
December 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
mokkograd.net
Had some loose thoughts about algorithms and how they shape the way we connect to each other.
We shape ourselves into products and offer ourselves to the machine, hoping that it directs us to other human beings, only to realize that there are no humans left to connect to, only products to be sold.
December 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM
mokkograd.net
Fantasian has some pretty cool environments, but this screen as you approach the final(?) Dungeon has to be my favourite:
Screenshot from Fantasian Neo Dimension. A very zoomed out view of a stone bridge leading towards a large temple. To the left and right of the bridge numerous stone hands are reaching out of the abyss below, as if to grasp towards something.
December 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM
mokkograd.net
It's not a JRPG, if it doesn't have a Void Realm.
Screenshot from Fantasian Neo Dimension. It shows a textbox that says 'The Void Realm has been added to the Warp Menu.'
December 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
mokkograd.net
Gog has some kind of suggestion/voting platform and someone put Virtue's Heaven on there, and I find that "help preserve it" framing so funny.
December 3, 2025 at 9:41 AM
mokkograd.net
Now this is obviously an argument that doesn't make sense from an economical standpoint, but so does making small games.

Which is something I said over three years ago already:
I get that there are economic pressures that make covering these games difficult, but the same goes for the people who are making them. The fact is that the process of making smaller and more alternative games is about as lucrative as talking about them. And yet I still believe we need more of both, because as much as I understand that the underlying problems behind all of this (it’s capitalism, as always) can’t be solved, just by having some regular, small games coverage on mainstream sites, I do still believe that having this kind of coverage can help demonstrate the possibility that things can indeed be different, instead of just repeating “well, that’s just the economic reality we live in.” over and over again.
December 3, 2025 at 9:20 AM
mokkograd.net
Was rummaging through Virtue's Heaven's Steam Curator reviews (it says there are eight, but I can only see seven) and found this one negative review that does a pretty good job at describing the game?

I might actually put that last part on the page???
Screenshot from a Steam Curator Review of Virtue's Heaven. It says: Not Recommended Virtue’s Heaven is chaotic, stylish, and clever—flashy combat, but minimal progression and cryptic systems and mechanics. Fun action game, but not a good Metroidvania.
December 1, 2025 at 9:57 PM
mokkograd.net
In case you missed it earlier, I've written a Blog about "Evil Game Design" and what it might mean.

Here's an excerpt, that I personally quite like:
Evil Games have nothing to do with "friction". Games are not rollercoasters. They are rivers. A river doesn't have friction. It both follows the shape of the land and shapes the land so that it reaches its destination. Sometimes a River ends in a Swamp.
November 25, 2025 at 10:36 PM
mokkograd.net
Funniest part of this whole mess is that I could've just driven out of this whole thing the moment I've entered it. But did ever try interacting with the steering wheel? Noooo, the allue of the forbidden place was just too strong.
screenshot from Fantasian: Neo Dimension. It shows the game's protagonist standing in front of a control console. The his left is the most uselss party member imaginable. A textbox in the upper half of the screen says: "Flee the Triangle of Calamity?" Underneath it the options "Yes" and "No" are displayed.
November 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
mokkograd.net
Friends, I went for the foreboding treasure chest and it ruined my day.
screenshot from the videogame FANTASIAN Neo Dimension. the Game's protagonist kneels in front of a treasure chest, pondering whether or not he should open it. In the upper half, a textbox says: "Open the ominous, foreboding, yet strangely tempting sealed chest?" Underneath the options "Yes" and "No" are listed.
November 20, 2025 at 9:46 PM
mokkograd.net
Today's local weather seems to be "horror-fog". Can't wait what monsters will soon roam the streets.
photograph of a body of water that is covered in a thick layer of fog. It looks like the water goes on forever into the distance, but actually it's a river and there's a town on the other shore. Neither of those are visible. Another fun fact is that this fog is entirely localized in the area around the river and quickly thins out the moment you move away from it.
November 16, 2025 at 3:44 PM