Zach Gage @helvetica Twitter profile

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Zach Gage

4 months

New game from me and the Puzzmo team: ♥️♠️ Pile-Up Poker ♦️♣️ Poker for Solitaire lovers (and Solitaire for Poker Lovers) Play it for free here:

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Last Seen Profiles

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

I have been working on this project, in secret, for almost two years now. Puzzmo is *the* place to play daily newspaper puzzle games online. We are launching a brand new daily crossword (designed to be approachable like all of my games) alongside with 2 other new games from me.

Puzzmo

@puzzmotoday

1 year

From award-winning game designer @helvetica and engineer @orta , along with @hearst_np (cc: @hearst ), Puzzmo is a fresh spin on a cultural mainstay: the newspaper games page. Be among the first to play at #puzzmo #puzzmotoday #sneakpeek

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

truly hate it when my game fails because i tuned my compulsion loop to 2 minutes instead of an hour

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

many years ago i decided to get completely off google. it wasnt the simplest thing in the world, but it is pretty remarkable how every alternate product is either just as good or way better i use: apple maps - maps fastmail - mail/cal notion/apple notes - docs kagi - search

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

So excited that Ridiculous Fishing EX is finally publicly announced !! We have been working so hard on it with @KOOPMode ! It has been a longtime dream to see our game come back to life :)

Slay the Spire, Stardew Valley, and Ridiculous Fishing remaster coming to Apple Arcade

Apple’s subscription service has a stacked July ahead

www.polygon.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

every single ai-person in this synthesia dot io promotional video looks like they are recording under duress from the uncanny valley.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

fuck off unity

Unity introducing new fee attached to game installs

Unity's new "Runtime Fee" will kick in after developers cross specific revenue and install thresholds.

www.gamedeveloper.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

It has been really exciting to finally share Puzzmo with the world! There's so much careful design inside it that I felt would be difficult to understand at the outset, so as part of this sharing process, I wrote a manifesto —

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 months

i guess it’s pretty earth-shattering to discover ‘check’ for the first time

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

If you are wondering a bit more about what Puzzmo is like, digital trends has you covered —

Giovanni Colantonio

@MarioPrime

1 year

Big day for puzzle heads: Puzzmo is a new daily puzzle hub that replicates the look and feel of a newspaper puzzle page. It's also a one-stop hub for Zach Gage's puzzle games. I got some insight into its creation from @helvetica .

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

10 months

What a wild fever-dream for me that this is a thing that happened.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

I quit the adobe suite today! we'll see how this goes. very potentially exciting.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

it feels kind of tragic that we have these incredible sci-fi pocket computers and we still call them “phones”

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

i generated it and now i cant put it back in the box so im showing it to you

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Waypoint

@waypoint

2 years

We know video games don't cause real-world violence, but that hasn't stopped some game developers from feeling guilt about their work.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

truly stoked that knotwords was one of Edge’s top mobile games of 2022. Edge has been a bit of a white whale for me and i did not expect this at all

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

I am so stoked Edge was down to print our playable screenshot idea !!

Alex Spencer

@AlexJaySpencer

11 months

Meanwhile, our story on Puzzmo comes with a bespoke puzzle page from @Helvetica & co. Exactly the kind of stuff that makes me love working in print. (...oh, and one of that '& co' is someone I still can't believe we got art from)

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

i miss the ipod scroll wheel

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

one fun thing about designing knotwords was reimagining systems that we knew most players wouldn’t encounter for a while. this streak implementation is one i’ve been sitting on since 2020! it’s very cool to finally have it in the wild

Matt Demers 🍵

@MattDemers

2 years

Shit I love about #Knotwords : if you lose your streak, you can get it back by starting another 7 day streak. So many games that do this probably lose people permanently if a large streak gets broken. Salvaging is a nice compromise.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

this is very smart

joelfm

@freemagic

2 years

Hey! @lanewinfield built a game to simulate the 23 hour drive South Texans will have to endure for healthcare to raise money for @FundTexasChoice and it kicks off tomorrow!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

this is good, and also i must be getting old and disconnected from gamedev culture — uhh people look down on piracy ?? has game dev really become this uncool? sure i buy games *now*, but now i can afford it pirate everything! play as much as you can!

Samantha Greer

@SamMGreer

2 years

Ok, here we go. I've spent the past year collaborating with People Make Games on this, exploring the shocking lack of working class folk in the games industry. Please watch, please share. It's probably the most important work of my games media career.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

If you’re still on the fence about Kagi for search here’s a side-by-side of a search I just did (vs. google/duckduckgo). I know this is my 2nd tweet about Kagi but it’s kind of bringing back some of the joy of searching the internet for me.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@tayl1r story: 9/10 compulsion loop: 3/10

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

just left a puzzmo invite under this rock here

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

I’m not gonna say it hasn’t been fun to watch Musk tweet dumb stuff, but maybe the lesson we should learn from witnessing the world’s richest man spend most of his time emotionally wading neck-deep into this stupid website should be that twitter is a really dangerous drug.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

🌞Suns out guns out🌞 Ridiculous Fishing is back!! I am so excited our remake? reboot?? is finally available. It was amazing working with @KOOPMode , @aeiowu and @vlambeer on this game again. Good luck catching all the new fish!

KO_OP🎣BACK TO SCHOOL OUT NOW! 📚

@KOOPMode

1 year

It's o-fish-ally here! ⚓️ We’ve been working with the Original Fishermen, @Vlambeer @aeiowu @helvetica , to bring you Ridiculous Fishing EX! With new visuals, fish, and a Pro Fishing mode, you’ll be hooked😉! 🎣 Ex-clusively on @AppleArcade 🐟

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

10 months

oh wow Puzzmo made PCGamer’s best pc games of 2023 ! what a year to be on a best of list!

The Best PC Games Of 2023

2023 has been a strong year for PC gaming on both the triple-A and indie front, and here are our favorites.

www.gamespot.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Just totally horrifying

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

im also so close to dumping the adobe suite and i’ll be so thrilled if i can pull that off pixelmator pro - photoshop figma - illustrator still need to get totally comfortable before i cancel my subscription also still looking for indesign and media encoder replacements

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

7 months

April 5th, @puzzmotoday & @xandraladee are presenting While there are many crossword tournaments, there is no crossword conference. We aim to fix that! Crosswords are so much more than daily puzzles, they are a vibrant amazing community — come join us!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

it doesnt even work? all-you-can-eat services eg netflix or humble bundle are death sentences now how do they track on private markets like apple arcade & consoles? i knew @unity didn't understand how games are developed, i didn't realize they also don't know how they're sold!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

wow really honored to see knotwords from @games_by_jack and i nominated for an Apple Design Award!!

2024 winners and finalists - Apple Design Awards - Apple Developer

Meet the winners and finalists for the 2024 Apple Design Awards

developer.apple.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

This is a post in the middle of an extremely jarring privacy thread about a feature that didn’t get built at twitter but almost did… and i guess seemingly exists elsewhere? Scary stuff

Steve Krenzel

@stevekrenzel

2 years

I wound up meeting with a Director who came in huffing and puffing. The Director said “We should know when users leave their house, their commute to work, and everywhere they go throughout the day. Anything less is useless. We get a lot more than that from other tech companies.”

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

We were inspired to shift into 3d by Killerko's 3d-print model of the boat from the original ()! The game works so well with 3d models, it's almost like it was designed for this all along.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

This New Yorker piece on Yoko Ono is spectacular and beautiful and heartbreaking. Read it through to the end.

Yoko Ono’s Art of Defiance

Before she met John Lennon, she was a significant figure in avant-garde circles and had created a masterpiece of conceptual art. Did celebrity deprive her of her due as an artist?

www.newyorker.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

whoa and also thanks Stuff for making knotwords their mobile game of the year ! holy moly

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

love when google releases an android phone with this aspect ratio

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@ID_AA_Carmack agreed!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Im working on the most exciting thing i've ever worked on with @orta and @samanbb right now If twitter dies before it launches, find me at: mastodon: discord: podcast: email blog:

Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games

Candid conversations with game creators that dive deep into the art, craft, and process of making games.

eggplant.show

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

One thing i like about this time on twitter is that everyone seems to finally agree that it’s a toxic party. Nobody is trying to defend territory. It feels a lot more like it felt at launch weirdly. Its freeing. There’s a lot of joy going around.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

10 months

Today we launched a major revamp of Wordbind on Puzzmo. I’m really proud of where we landed. It’s an anagram game without the bit where you have to excavate every single word, and with a variety of solution sets. Play here with a puzzmo subscription —

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

we just shipped a major update to knotwords that fixes many bugs and revamps the share feature with this magical gif that @games_by_jack got working! 🪢 📝

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

And it's not just a remaster. We have added a bunch of features... including a daily pro fishing mode inspired by the card of darkness daily dungeons. I hope you enjoy it when it releases!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

10 months

if you have been curious about my latest games, but aren’t a subscriber to puzzmo — Through Dec 28th we’ve unlocked Wordbind and Cube Clear, for everyone! We also put together a 4-page holiday print and play puzzlebook it’s all available for free at

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

ok well that was a pretty wild hour. we're working on the bugs and will post more keys tomorrow!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

@unity and judging by this PR it applies to any updates that are shipped starting jan 1st? people already have contracts that they've done the math on. even if unity rolls this back, the reveal that they are even considering making these kinds of changes is the end of dev trust

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

as a highschooler there’s no way i could have possibly conceived that gym class would be the class i miss the most as an adult

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

We'll also be bringing many of my old games (and collaborations with @games_by_jack ) to the web, and new designs. Puzzmo is responsive and works across computer/tablet/phone. For years I have been dreaming of what I could do if I had the resources to build a platform for games.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

6 months

for World Meteorological Day we collaborated with The Weather Channel on a special crossword. Their CEO and Brooke clued it together!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

Happy Halloween!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

7 months

Are you a Junior game/frontend web dev? Come join us at Puzzmo!

mastodon.gamedev.place/@samanbb

@samanbb

7 months

We’re looking for a full-time, NYC-based junior game developer to help us push what’s possible with divs. You’ll work closely with myself, @helvetica , and @games_by_jack to make @puzzmotoday ’s web games even more polished and native-feeling. Apply at

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

@games_by_jack It has been incredible to work with @orta and @samanbb on the site. And with @xandraladee and @AVCXWord on the what I think is the most exciting and modern daily crossword ever launched! During prelaunch we only let in 500 people a day, so get at em! I hope you enjoy Puzzmo!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

i feel like lately ive been doing a lot of breaking my rule of only sharing positive things on twitter. sorry about that i am working on some really big secret stuff and i hope to say more about it soon

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

new keys just dropped at also! the puzzle for today is Flipart, a brand new game from @games_by_jack and i!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

truly one of the all-time greats is now on switch

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

6 months

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

dealing with the beauracacy at The New School drove me to quit teaching as soon as I had the option. The dots are starting to connect for me…

The New School

@TheNewSchool

2 years

As announced on Monday, we have made the difficult decision to stop paying wages and premiums for healthcare benefits for employees who are striking. Up to this point, we have continued to compensate our faculty and staff who have chosen to exercise their right to strike.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

this is so good. Worthwhile reading for anyone who makes anything

zach lieberman

@zachlieberman

2 years

Relevant

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

For the past two years @orta and i have been working on a gigantic exciting secret project with a small incredible team. We are looking to hire an expert backend engineer. if you ever wanted to work with either of us and get paid very well, have a look —

Senior Software Architect

Senior Software Architect, Engineering Do you enjoy thoughtful puzzles and games? Ever been involved with making one? Would you like to work with world class designers and engineers on a completely...

eevd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

Knotwords update — we are still working on a fix for the standard puzzlebook, but the dailies are fixed. To access the fixed puzzles, either: - quit the app and restart - go into the menu on a given daily and hit 'restart'

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

500 new Puzzmo keys just dropped! Nab one by solving today's Really Bad Chess at

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

the last few photoshop updates have made it essentially unusable im so impressed with how great pixelmator pro is. figma isnt exactly an is replacement, but for so much of my design work it’s much better than illustrator.. still feeling it out

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

So excited about Knotwords coming to @AppleArcade on Nov 3rd! Grab it here:

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

e-man add a feature where anyone can pay $1 to delete anyone elses tweet

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 months

👀New big thing — Game Clubs. Puzzmo is a dream of two things: 1: A home to a great set of deep, original, daily games. 2: A community for you to enjoy games within. Yesterday marked the launch of game clubs, a huge step forward for us on point #2 .

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

finally i have always dreamed of becoming the lord of my own ring the plot of the book!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@orta @samanbb this thing we’re building has so much design in it, so many problems ive been trying to solve for years.. it’s huge. i cant wait to share it

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

Todays keydrop is truly the dark souls of launch puzzles

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

lately with all the bad news i have noticed that like 95% of the “same-side” arguments are people who are at different stages of grief un-empathetically engaging with each-other

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

whoa we are so honored that Knotwords was one of @AppStoreGames ‘s 10 favorite games of 2022!! Here’s to more cool stuff in 2023!

‎Our Favorites of 2022 : App Store Story

‎Learn about collection Our Favorites of 2022 featuring Diablo Immortal, MARVEL SNAP, Automatoys, and many more on Mac App Store. Enjoy these apps on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

apps.apple.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

mood goals

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

6 months

this was one of my favorite conversations trust we’ve had on eggplant

localthunk

@LocalThunk

6 months

Was a ton of fun to be on @eggplantshow to talk about Balatro! The wonderful hosts and eggplant community had so many awesome questions, it was really great diving deep on the design of the game. Give it a listen! ->

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

4. Play is healthy Play is not kid stuff, or time-wasters, or gamification. Mindlessly matching gems while you watch tv is not play. Doing light math advertised to keep your brain elastic is not play. Work cannot be magically reformulated to become play. Play is its own thing.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

We made a mini-puzzlebook you can print-and-play with your fam* this thanksgiving — and if you solve it, you’ll all unlock access to puzzmo. download it at !

Puzzmo

@puzzmotoday

11 months

At its best, Thanksgiving is an ideal time to relax, hang out with people you love, and most importantly: track down the old inkjet to print out a special holiday puzzle zine. Download our free mini-puzzlebook and unlock access to Puzzmo for all.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

man wow, Knotwords also was the Tapsmart game of the year! I really did not expect all these lists! what a nice way to wrap up this year. thanks everyone for remembering an early year release :)

Tips & Tricks - for iPhone

Tips & Tricks - Secrets for iPhone or iPad Lite is the easiest way to master your iPhone or iPad. Learn hidden shortcuts, get regular App reviews and more.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

the galaxy brain tweet i've been waiting to see is someone taking the stand that it's unethical to edit out midjourney's signature off its own art

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Dicey Dungeons is great and it's finally out on iOS the platform it is so perfect for!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

New puzzmo keys just dropped!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Dust-to-digital is my #1 twitter follow recommendation

Dust-to-Digital

@dusttodigital

2 years

Moroccan artist Habiba Ryah playing the qanun.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

fresh keys are live at ! today is a really bad chess day — our toughest launch puzzle! Good luck everyone!

Puzzmo

@puzzmotoday

1 year

Today’s puzzle is Really Bad Chess. You are playing as white. Your goal is to checkmate the black king. #reallybadchess #puzzmo #puzzmokey #rbc

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

scary article - It really seems like Google’s head of safety ops isn’t a parent or doesnt own a phone. it’s not just telehealth, have they never used photos to track a condition? And Dr. Haney’s quote further down reads as just totally unhinged.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

At least for the foreseeable future— I replaced the twitter app on my phone with mastodon and that has gotten me unhooked from this habit. I dont come here anymore. I’ll still reply to @‘s, and post news, but for everything else please follow me there:

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

--- Play is a deep breath in and a slow release out. It is what gives us the space to recognize ourselves inside the tumult of the machine — and the clarity to recognize everyone else too. Play is why we’re here.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

if you were looking for some kind of sign that we millennials have truly ascended in the workforce: the financial times just published an investigative report where they discovered sbf actually isnt very good at league of legends long may we reign

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

I'm excited to check out Wilderplace! Saman and I have been working together on a secret project and it has been a joy.

mastodon.gamedev.place/@samanbb

@samanbb

2 years

Wilderplace is available now. The Divine Garden needs your help! Get it here:

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

i really enjoyed the book “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin. not my typical genre but it was really good and some of the research into game design was uncanny.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

my hot take is that elmo is a gentrifier

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

gonna be a later afternoon key drop today everyone

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

soooooon

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Right now everything in America is alternatingly scary and sickening and outrage inducing and probably the last thing you want to do is listen to a videogame podcast. But if you do need a moment, I really enjoyed this conversation we had about such an effortlessly ambitious game

Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games

@eggplantshow

2 years

Ep. 93 Cheating Depth with Card Shark @arnaud_debock of @nerial + @PluralGames join us to discuss their innovative new adventure game about cheating. We discuss its filmic inspirations, the narrative progression of chaining tricks, and designing a game loop of teaching/testing.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

1 year

3. Players, not users Games must never trick you out of your time. You should never wonder “what am I even doing with my life?” when you play a game. Good games are a collaborator to you in the pursuit of fun. Good games inspire curiosity.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

11 months

The Puzzmo team is doing an AMA right now on reddit, and we're also sharing some keys! Come and ask us questions! —

From the puzzles community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the puzzles community

www.reddit.com

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

I loved Aconite's last game Holovista. They're running more public playtests of their next game soon --

Aconite

@AconiteCo

2 years

ARBITRATE CHAOS INTO EMPATHY. BE MORE THAN YOUR MONOVERSE. ASSIST THE MULTIVERSES WITH THE BMA.

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@ID_AA_Carmack

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@bbrode Hey Ben I'm loving SNAP, we'd love to talk with you on @eggplantshow if you have any interest!

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

wow mastodon has gotten really good

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

@alfredsteiner Illustrator — Affinity Designer (art) and Figma (design) Photoshop — Pixelmator Pro Media Encode — Apple Compressor

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

Knotwords 1.0.11 is out on iOS! Amongst some other great fixes we finally have iCloud Support! Be sure to thank @games_by_jack !

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Zach Gage

@helvetica

2 years

If you're curious what some higher level Snak gameplay looks like check out this video from @JMaq (Snak is my Playdate S1 game)

Snak - Playdate Season 1

Welcome to your Future Retro future! Playdate delivers two games a week for the first twelve weeks you have the system, and I'm going to play a bit of each o...

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