Bench (Ben Frenchman)
@benfrenchman.bsky.social
Writer and Narrative Designer. Names and flavour text for Magic the Gathering; previously Lorcana, Lively, Fusebox, Nintendo. BAFTA Connect member. Ask me about my fairy cat game 🧚🐱
Me: this person is so right. People should start things without needing them to be good right away My brain: except you :) Me: except me :)
Kory Bing@korybing.bsky.social · 2d agoi've struggled with perfectionism my whole life and "I can't do it unless it's good from the start" has kept me from starting SO many projects. It's been a lot easier now that I can go "well literally anything I do will be better than THIS" has really helped my confidence
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice In Chains.
doc@docseuss.bsky.social · last wk.Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice In Chains.
Weird accomplishment: I was heavily involved in the naming of two (2.5) characters who ended up in Super Smash Bros.
Nazih Fares 🔜 Gamescom@nazihfares.com · 2w agoWeird accomplishment: I'm responsible for some of the very few editions of Arabic physical packaging for Blizzard games.
When I lived in Japan, my colleague Scott and his Japanese wife were looking to buy a house. They found one that was insanely cheap for the size, and when they asked the estate agent why it was so cheap, they said 'oh, because it's haunted'.
The Fake History Hunter@fakehistoryhunter.net · 2w agoJust found out that in Japan you can be a ghost inspector, you get paid to stay in a house to make sure its not haunted. Sounds like my kind of job, although I'd be secretly disappointed when ghosts keep failing to show up and answer my history questions.
Without saying your age, what's your favourite movie released the year you turned 18? Yeah I'm old
Aragorn's Coronation: Lord Of The Rings
Alt: Aragorn's Coronation: Lord Of The Rings
static.klipy.com
JuniperTheory is gay@bimbo.city · 2w agoone of those times where I really want it to be a bunch of weird underground films I love but no i gotta be true to the film that hit me when I was 18 like a fuckin truck
In the history of video games, "laziness" has never been and never will be the reason behind a choice made during development.
Cara Ellison@caraellison.bsky.social · 4w agogame devs: what are the myths that a lot of players of games think are true about making games that are completely untrue? If you could snap your fingers and they suddenly all knew the truth about it what would it be?
Binface wins the election. He takes off the bin. It's Theresa May. Everyone is disappointed. But wait. There's more. Theresa May removes her face. It's Banksy
Sisyphus: [doomed to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity] Me: [first time the boulder rolls back down] well fuck this
Can't wait for FIFA to invent something called the World Cup of Hosting the World Cup and give the USA the inaugural cup
In football, when you do something bad you get a yellow card, which is a warning, or a red card, which gets you sent off. When you do something good, you should get a blue card, which gives a 5% speed increase, or a green card, which provides a flat bonus to crit damage
Alex: We asked our contestants to bring in their 'most disruptive item.' Eris: so I've brought an apple Greg: Good news, Odysseus, your completely normal wooden horse is saved from getting 1 point
Ned Hartley@nedhartley.com · 5mo agoGreg Davies: Great task, well done. Didn‘t eat a thing. Persephone: Thank you. Alex Horne: Ah. Well. Let’s take another look at that pomegranate.
The silhouette they chose to use for the human makes it look like she's desperately trying to put the spark back in their marriage while he heads off to the pub again
People in BBC articles: what it means to be English is a deeply contentious debate that threatens to tear the country apart People in real life: these microwave sticky toffee puddings say 90 seconds but really they take 2 minutes
Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · 2mo agoBut is it deeply contentious? Really?
No rest for the wicked - made it through the second round of the Short Story, so I'll have another story to write this weekend. Round 3 is where I fell last year (with a not-very-good ghost story), so hopefully I can make it through this time!
NYC Midnight@nycmidnight.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe 2nd Round results for the Short Story Challenge 2026 are up at nycmidnight.co/4ugr5jB! Congratulations to the top 5 in each group for advancing to the 3rd Round, which kicks off this Friday, June 5th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!
Did this over the weekend. It was a great example of the magic of the prompt system - at first, I had no idea how I was going to use the prompts I got, but I just relaxed, let my mind wander, and ended up with a story I never would have written otherwise. I'm quite proud of it. Fingers crossed!
NYC Midnight@nycmidnight.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe 1st Round of the 500-word Fiction Challenge 2026 is underway! View the list of participating writers, genre/action/object assignments, and a countdown until the submission deadline at nycmidnight.co/4uCDfEv. Best of luck to the 3,400+ writers participating worldwide over the next 48 hours!
I never played Warhammer, but I painted a lot of miniatures and owned a lot of sourcebooks. John Blanche was one of those artists where every painting was a signature - absolutely unmistakeable. As a kid I was in awe, as an adult even moreso.
Paul Scott Canavan@paulscottcanavan.com · 2mo agoTruly gutted to hear of John Blanche’s passing. I was obsessed with his art when I discovered it in the Warhammer 40k 2nd Edition box back in the 90s and still am. Rest in peace, legend x
Is there a word for constructions like '-ception' and '-gate' that have an agreed-upon meaning that is not what they originally meant?
aaa!! PLAY OUR DEMO on itch!!! pantaloon-io.itch.io/offbeat all music you make in the game is exportable to wav!! send us your tunes on discord: discord.gg/9he97xJEaw #OFFBEAT #indiegame #indiedev #musicproduction #synth #chiptune
pantaloon | OFFBEAT OUT MIAOW 🙈@pantaloon.io · 2mo agoShh listen, listen! You hear that!? It's the sound of people making glorious music in the FIRST public Demo for OFFBEAT, which is NOW LIVE exclusively on @itch.io Create music! Make money! Share your creativity with the world 🎵 pantaloon-io.itch.io/offbeat
Used to be Ben Kaestner-Frenchman, but I've gone back to Ben Frenchman :)
In 1872, the Chicago Evening Post published an absolutely brutal editorial mocking people who objected to sharing public spaces with Black people. Still some dated language but a remarkable piece. “Hire a carriage and you can sit all alone by your own sweet self for $2 an hour.”
Started sketching out a picture of Harrow and Gideon exploring the secret study in Gideon the Ninth, but as if it was a Disco Elysium screenshot. I am enamoured with the concept but pulling it off to the standard my imagination requires would be... let's face it, impossible.
“I’m waiting for you at the Cathedral. There’s something here you really need to see…” Luna Abyss is OUT NOW! Available on PC & Consoles! Enjoy a 20% discount to celebrate the launch!
oh no, i don't use the ai for <thing that i am paid to do> it's terrible at that. it's great for <thing you are paid to do> though.
Replacing FPTP is *urgent*. Next election is going to a be a wild lottery, with a government formed largely at random, because our voting system is going to arbitrarily discard the vast majority of people's voting preferences.
‼️3 DAYS TO GO ‼️ Don’t be afraid, little wanderer. All we need is the key. All we need... is you.
