Well, dang. The free Total Annihilation-like RTS Beyond All Reason is going commercial. And Hooded Horse are publishing. Apparently the current multiplayer-focused version will remain free while the paid version will have the solo campaign and other co-op stuff.

Beyond All Reason and Hooded Horse: a new chapter ⇀ News ★ Beyond All Reason RTS

After almost seven years of development, BAR is going professional and teaming up with one of the most respected publishers in the strategy space to bring the game to a full Steam release.

beyondallreason.info

I’m excited to announce I’ve been working on a full release of Draftula! A rougelike twist on the classic tetris formula. Build your castle by strategically placing rooms, and see how high you can get before the hero knocks it down. link in the comments #gamedev #GodotEngine #godot #indiedev

there are uses for AI that I'm fine with, but the tech feels so fundamentally rotten, not to mention responsible for cancerous growths all over our creative spaces and communication channels, that I feel gross even using it for innocuous things

ky.fyi/posts/ai-bur...

Do I belong in tech anymore?

On quitting, the spread of AI, and the loss of an ideal.

ky.fyi

Since I'm posting about applying real-world agronomy to worldbuilding, here's another thread: How video games have probably misled you as to how crops work!

Heya, Will here! Been hearing "oh submissions close next week????" lately and I think I needed to work harder on spreading the word about due date. We're gonna extend submissions through April 13th! Stoked to see yours, and excited by the massive response we have so far 🤩 pigcon.pigsquad.com

Portland Indie Game Squad@pigsquad.com · 5mo ago

PIGCON game & presentation submissions are now open! pigcon.pigsquad.com Share your insights, skills, and weird stuff on the show floor or speaker hall in a weekend of wonderful people & games :) Applications close April 6th!

Old Town malarkey

Did you know you can test Steamworks Networking on single machine? Because I FUCKING DIDN'T!!!!!! Shoutout to @tsfreddie.bsky.social for the absolutely life saving article that I just happened to find. tsdo.in/blog/test-st...

Today is the 2 year anniversary of Pacific Drive's release. I'm also in the thick of refining my GDC talk about it, which I was meant to give last year before I needed emergency surgery, so it's been on my mind a lot lately. Here's a long 🧵. If you'll be at GDC: schedule.gdconf.com/session/paci...

I can finally reveal that I worked on the multiplayer implementation for STS2!

Mega Crit - Slay the Spire 2 Out Now! ⚔️@megacrit.com · 6mo ago

The Spire awakens once more in Steam Early Access on March 5, 2026! ⚔️ New characters, enemies, environments & more await you in Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to the iconic roguelike deckbuilder. Will you attempt the climb alone... or enlist the aid of your fellow adventurers?

I found this jigsaw puzzle among a deceased friend's things, but it almost looks like we're missing some pieces. I think it's @riotgames.com internal because of the names in the image. Does anyone have info on "wombat 2021"? Maybe @jaideng123.bsky.social ?

A note from our editors:

Angeline Era is like a dream: random, transcendent, frustrating. That feeling made it one of my favorite games of 2025. My review: unwinnable.com/2026/01/29/a...

Angeline Era vs Videogames - Unwinnable

In Angeline Era, discursive difficulty leads to meaningful experiences.

unwinnable.com

QBJ3 has been updated! lots of map fixes and updates, and weapon tweaks. go grab it! www.slipseer.com/index.php?re...

Makkon@makkon.bsky.social · 7mo ago

had to wait until the servers weren't so overloaded, but I'm proud to announce that Quake Brutalist Jam 3 is out now! there's a standalone version that works like a game for those who don't own quake too! www.slipseer.com/index.php?re... this was a tremendous group effort, I couldn't be happier!

I've been running an indie games studio for 15 years now, and it felt like a good time to boil down what I've learned into 4 pieces of advice: www.pentadact.com/2026-01-08-1... I hope it's of use, not least because goddamn I forgot how long blog posts take to write.

Not every game company is hopping onboard the AI hype train. Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse bans gen AI art in its contracts. "If I sound frustrated, it's because, like, honestly, all this thing has done is made our... https://kotaku.com/hooded-horse-gen-ai-art-ban-4x-strategy-steam-2000658179

One Game Publisher Is Pushing Back Against AI Art With Contracts That Ban It: 'It's Cancerous' - Kotaku

Hooded Horse won't work with developers that use gen AI

kotaku.com

had to wait until the servers weren't so overloaded, but I'm proud to announce that Quake Brutalist Jam 3 is out now! there's a standalone version that works like a game for those who don't own quake too! www.slipseer.com/index.php?re... this was a tremendous group effort, I couldn't be happier!

Jam - Quake Brutalist Jam III

Quake Brutalist Jam III is a megalithic community project more than a year in the making. It features an entirely new arsenal, a set of new monsters, new powerups, and a complete visual overhaul of Qu...

slipseer.com

The third Quake Brutalism Jam - launched last night. Largest community project of its kind. The biggest surprise: It's available both as a mod or as a FULLY STANDALONE FREE GAME. 77 one-shot Quake adventures using a whole new set of weapons, enemies and a whole lot of concrete. qbj3.slipseer.com

QUAKE BRUTALIST JAM III - Release Trailer

YouTube video by Fairweather

youtube.com

Quake Brutalist Jam 3 is breathtakingly gorgeous and cleverly constructed. Incredible work by the team and in my opinion - worthy of joining the modding pantheon with Arcane Dimensions And it's free, you can go play a standalone version, even if you don't own Quake: www.slipseer.com/index.php?re...

HYPERBEAT ON GDQ IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to show off one of the best games from this year! Get ready for some absolute BANGERS! 🎵🎶

Frame Fatales@framefatales.com · 7mo ago

We're proud to present. . . The #FrostFatales 2026 schedule!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats to all of our runners and thank you to everyone who submitted a run!! 💜💛 https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule/64

Please do not purchase Luck be a Landlord on Xbox. I will be making a $10,000 donation to The Palestine Children's Relief Fund to (hopefully) help offset the revenue the game has generated for Microsoft.

Chris Bratt@chrisbratt.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Why We're Boycotting Xbox: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybj1...

Over on tumblr someone posted this in response to the same observation.

I made a map for Quake 1 in 2025! Here's my writeup on what went well & lessons learned. straypixels.net/qbj3-retrosp...

Quake Brutalist Jam 3 Retrospective

The lessons I learned while creating a Quake 1 map.

straypixels.net

"save systems should dynamically handle object IDs and automatically populate the serialized data of every object that requires save states, and then for dialogue progression it needs to-" team cherry: WRONG. 1400 hardcoded fields in PlayerData.cs

consider my feedback: i loved working at @larianstudios.com until AI. reconsider and change your direction, like, yesterday. show your employees some respect. they are world-class & do not need AI assistance to come up with amazing ideas.

Jason Schreier@jasonschreier.bsky.social · 8mo ago

NEW: I spoke to Larian boss Swen Vincke about their ambitions for their new RPG Divinity, cutting down development time, pressures from Baldur's Gate 3, why BG3 wouldn't have happened without Tencent, how Larian uses generative AI, and much more www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Ed / @chaosed0.bsky.social's pick: Quake 1 🔫 "I played it for the first time this year. While the game itself can feel dated, the modding community is incredibly vibrant, breathing new life into an old engine. Shoutout to the QBJ3 team!"

Threw together some quick timelapses of my map for Quake Brutalist Jam 3. Full retrospective coming soon.

still thinking about this article today. so many societal ills are caused by people white-washing what actually happens. it's awful to see games do it too. can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator

a wholesome plane has hit the second cozy tower

more like no thoughts to declare

blog.giovanh.com