September's Mechanic of the Month is Silksong's Swift Step. Unlocking Swift Step transforms the game into an acrobatic dance of dodges and air dashes. Honestly some of the best movement mechanics I can remember playing in a 2D game #Silksong
Pixel Primers
@pixelprimers.bsky.social
I write about games and teach game design. First book coming soon - details to be revealed shortly!
This kind of thing is bad news for game design. 'Summoning a character and letting it fight another' is far too broad a concept and should never have been taken seriously in court, but it shouldn't be possible to patent game mechanics anyway gamesfray.com/last-week-ni... #gamedesign
Last week, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company received a U.S. patent on summoning a character and letting it fight another – games fray
gamesfray.com
Now it's been confirmed we're getting Hades 2 and Silksong in the same month, I'm more relieved than ever Slay the Spire 2 pushed their release back today. Love all 3 games, but there's only so many sequels we can squeeze into the back half of 2025! #indiegame www.eurogamer.net/slay-the-spi...
Slay the Spire 2 has been delayed but it wasn't Silksong's fault, promise
Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to the roguelike deck-building game that spawned a genre, has been delayed. Developer Mega…
eurogamer.net
Nintendo kicking off their Direct with theme parks, museums and movie tie-ins feels significant. Nintendo have always been sitting on some very valuable IP, but haven't always capitalized on it like many other companies would. This definitely feels like it's started to shift now
Cryptmaster (@thecryptmaster.bsky.social) is a wonderfully weird game. It feels like what might have happened if the Typing of the Dead games had continued to evolve in surprising ways, and eventually became a whole new genre. Love that Fighting Fantasy / OSR art style too #indiegame
Caught up with The Royal Writ (@theroyalwrit.bsky.social) over the weekend, which is an exceptionally charming roguelike deckbuilder. The animation team really deserve to take a bow on this one #indiegames #animation
As excited as I am for Silksong, their surprise September release date must have been scary news for the other devs releasing this month. It might be harder for other indie devs to get press attention this month, so it's a great time to shout out any other new releases you're enjoying #indiegames
Mechanic of the Month! Each month I'll be highlighting an exceptional game mechanic from a recent game. For August's mechanic I'm choosing the bombs from Öoo by @namataka.bsky.social, which has to be one of the most elegantly designed games I've played all year #indiegame #gamedesign
Finally got my hands on the Sable book by the folks at @lostincult.co.uk. When playing Sable it always felt like it was a real passion project for everyone involved, so it's great to see the whole creative process captured so well here #indiegame #indiedev
I know I'm a sucker for a sandbox strategy game with a ton of DLC, so for my own safety I've been trying to stay far away from Age of Wonders 4. I finally caved in this week. It's time for bird pirates.
Very excited to play this incredibly weird skate boarding game soon
"i spent several eternities on the ceiling of the underworld, and when i try to escape i realize the core of my being is ___________"
Good in-depth game genre analysis like this is surprisingly rare, and Doc's stuff is always worth a read. Hopefully going to be followed by a part 2!
Hey! New article! This one's about the history of first person shooters, what makes 'em work, and why I like the shooters I like. It's also me lamenting how they've died, and talking a bit about why I want to go ahead and make one. docseuss.medium.com/first-person...
Good to see that UFO 50 is starting to come to consoles! One of the most ambitious collections of game design ideas you'll ever play. I'll forever be impressed they decided to create 50(!) games when I think people would have been just as impressed with a collection half that number #UFO50
Actually quite excited about my 3 hour train journey today as it means I have an excuse to take my Switch 2 somewhere. In other news, I am finally trying to complete Tears of the Kingdom. This game is BIG
As much as Rare's 40th anniversary deserves to be celebrated, this all feels a bit in poor taste just a month after Microsoft hit Rare with layoffs and cancelled their next big game news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/0...
Rare Celebrates 40 Years with Ruby-Themed Exclusives and More - Xbox Wire
Today marks Rare's 40th Anniversary, and they're inviting everyone to join the celebration of this impressive milestone, offering free gifts, discounts, and plenty of swag.
news.xbox.com
Watching ever more Silksong memes appear as we get closer to the Nintendo Direct (I assume we won't see anything today). As OTT as some of the Silksong discourse has become, there is something nice about the most anticipated game in the world being a project made by a team of around 10(?) people
When we played Silksong for the first time in 2019, we never expected it would be the start of a six-year wait for Team Cherry's excellent follow-up to Hollow Knight. Here's how Silksong became a meme and made us all clowns.
Given the sheer quantity of games releasing each month, getting discovered is one of the biggest challenges facing indie developers. Lots of people are doing good work in this field, but its good to see somebody attempt such a playful solution to the problem with Ludocene www.ludocene.com
Ludocene - Game Discovery From People You Trust
Game discovery for people who want to find amazing video games to play.
ludocene.com