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bastianthun.bsky.social
Bastian Thun
@bastianthun.bsky.social
340 followers 260 following 180 posts
Running communications for @UbisoftMainz - Home of the ANNO strategy game series.

Former Crytek / Bioware / EA

#gamedev #cancersurvivor #queer

He/Him 🌈
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bastianthun.bsky.social
Bastian Thun @bastianthun.bsky.social · Nov 18
Hey fantastic people! 👋
I am queer #gamedev vet with experience in community, production and marketing; in charge of the communication for Ubisoft Mainz, the home of the "Anno" series.

Besides gaming, I care about art, Japanese culture, my husband and cat children and am an avid equestrian. 🌈 👐
A bald man with glasses, entering a well-lit back alley in Japan, which ends in a street with some people.
bastianthun.bsky.social
Big week for our team, waiting for the reviews is always a very tense when releasing a game 100+ people spent years working on it.

Reviews coming in hot. 🔥

#Anno117PaxRomana dropping this Thursday. 🏛️

#gamedev
Key Art of the upcoming building game Anno117:PaxRomana, showing a Roman governor overseeing a Roman harbour city to the right, displaying Celtic settlements to the left.
November 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
comraven.bsky.social
Time flies- believe it or not, today marks the 14th anniversary of starting my first gaming job at BioWare in Ireland.

It's been a crazy whirlwind of depressing lows, intoxicating highs, and everything in between, across 6 companies, 4 countries and dozens of launches! 1/3 #gaming
November 1, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
sandpenguin.bsky.social
When people ask me why I don't post more WIP stuff, this is why
October 26, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
butwhytho.net
The Anno 117 campaign is more expansive and in-depth than its predecessor, with two storylines and unique characters adapting history.

Read our hands-on imressions:
Anno 117: Pax Romana’s Campaign Offers A Robust Historical Narrative
The Anno 117 campaign is more expansive and in-depth than its predecessor, with two storylines and unique characters adapting history. Read our hands-on imressions:
butwhytho.net
October 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
mdashow.bsky.social
Warning to anyone who has their art on Spreadshirt.com: They now have a feature where anyone can remix your art and it's impossible to opt out unless you just leave the site altogether.

Spreadshirt to artists: We’re taking your designs for AI pivot-to-ai.com/2025/08/19/s...
Spreadshirt to artists: We’re taking your designs for AI
Spreadshirt is an online print-on-demand store. You can sell T-shirts and mugs and so on. My wife Arkady Rose is an artist as well as a musician, and had a pile of designs on Spreadshirt and Redbub…
pivot-to-ai.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
scarlettfu.bsky.social
Hello new followers, thanks for joining 🦋! Think it's a good time to provide a (re)introduction.

Currently a Senior UI Artist in #gamedev. Will mostly be sharing my own art / projects. Let's connect! 👋

#artist #art #drawing
Red pink and purple hues. Pink neon light from outside illuminates a diner seat inside an abandoned hong kong style café. Futuristic background in the distance with digital floating advert and signages as floating red taxi and star ferry drive by next to each other Painting of set meal. Yellow and red hues. Painting of a restaurant exterior in Japan. Red signage dimly lit with its white light illuminating the entrance below. Red hues Interior and exterior concept design for a takoyaki shop. Yellow and purple hues.
November 27, 2024 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
gibiz.bsky.social
Funcom is closing Metal Hellsinger studio The Outsiders

www.gamesindustry.biz/funcom-is-cl...
Funcom is closing Metal Hellsinger studio The Outsiders
The Outsiders founder and creative director of Metal Hellsinger, David Goldfarb, has confirmed his studio has been shut…
www.gamesindustry.biz
October 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
bastianthun.bsky.social
AI is a truly empowering.

First, it defeats capitalism through hyper-capitalism, so we no longer have to work.

Naturally, that means we get everything for free and can finally devote ourselves to creativity as our skills will thrive thanks to AI enabling us to become master of any craft.

(ㆆ_ㆆ)
September 23, 2025 at 12:27 PM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Every time I see an AI generated AD on YouTube, my body reacts with strong repulsive reactions.
Do most people out there seriously not see or feel that?

It's like populism, where I think "who the F falls for that stupid shit" while the harsh truth is, it works like a charm on the majority of ppl.
September 4, 2025 at 10:27 AM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Service Announcement: Our limited time Demo of #Anno117:PaxRomana will be out later today and run until September 16th.

Perfect opportunity to check out the game before we release on November 13th, happy building! #strategygames #gaming

Find our FAQ here: www.anno-union.com/everything-t...

🏛️
Everything to know about the Anno 117: Pax Romana Demo
How long does the demo last and what's the content? All info are collected here.
www.anno-union.com
September 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Back from Gamescom, it was incredibly successful for us, and I met great folks from our community and industry peers.

While gamers experienced an exciting event, the #gamedev talks circled around the same dire strait topics: high risk, missing money, hard to get publishing deals, funding and jobs.
A picture of the Anno 117: Pax Romana booth at Gamescom 2025, showing the Roman dresses walking act crew and the post creator in front of a big statue and Ubisoft sign.
August 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
rainbownerdguy.bsky.social
I caved and bought the full display of Funism Evangelion Figurines at Gamescom. 😖

No regret. They're so well made!
A photograph of the Funism Evangelion Chibi figurine display. It's unopened and sits on my living room table. To the left, there's a special edition acrylic standee with all four pilots, Rei, Shinji, Asuka and Mari in front of a slide show print of their respective Evas. A photograph of the unpacked figurine of Ikari Shinji and his Evangelion-01. In front of them is their holo-foil card with some info about the characters. A photograph of the unpacked figurine of Ayanami Rei and her Evangelion-00. In front of them is their holo-foil card with some info about the characters. The full set of pilots and Evas in Front of the display, the acrylic standee sits on top of the closet display now. Just the rare figurine of Eva-01 heavenly berserk is sadly missing. I didn't have any luck pulling it.
August 26, 2025 at 11:17 AM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Welcome to Rome! #Anno117PaxRomana

You do WANT to get your hands on our game, so check out our booth 6.1 C021 - it is quite a looker, you can't miss it! #gamescom
Selfie at the Anno 117 Gamescom booth, showing an impressive Roman Aquaduct in the background.
August 20, 2025 at 8:29 AM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Hello Cologne!

Easy start, skipped ONL this time for a relaxed evening. Will check out the Courage Cologne #gamedev party later.
#gamescom

Also Kattwinkel is a nice #queer bar close to the media harbour I can recommend if you need a break.
A photo showing some outside seating at a bar in Cologne and Cocktail. The card on the table shows the name of the bar "Kattwinkel"
August 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
jimmysbowers.com
LOOKING FOR WORK 📢⚡

Community Manager (5+ Years experience). Previously at Rebellion, SumoDigitalLtd, and nDreams.

Available for immediate start. Open to FTC, Part-time, and Full-time positions. Available for remote, flexi-remote, or hybrid roles.
A looking for work graphic for an out of work Community Manager in the games industry outlining experience and key skills.
August 18, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
ramiismail.com
AI is moving wealth from the people to the super-wealthy at a record pace
August 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
bastianthun.bsky.social
Hello #gamedev folks: I will be at #gamescom this year from Wednesday til Friday.

This one will be huge for us, as Anno 117: Pax Romana will have a very prominent and impressive showing at the show, so come over and say hi and ping me via DM if you have biz inquiries.
August 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
bastianthun.bsky.social
This is a passion project from one of my best friends and industry vet.

If you love deck building games, medieval art and fantastic creatures, you need to keep an eye on @wyrm-saga.com and @borb-games.com

With the state of our industry, I kindly ask you to follow and share!
#gamedev #indiegames
wyrm-saga.com Wyrm Saga @wyrm-saga.com · Aug 8
We're going to be in Cologne from August 18th-22nd for #devcom & #gamescom to show our brand new trailer around. If you're interested in catching up, let's meet!

We are looking to connect with fellow indies, influencers & history nerds!

#gamedev #indiedev #dragons #historygames #handcrafted #noAI
An infographic showing our three main characters you can choose from at the beginning of a playthrough - the drake, the guivre and the wyrm. The drake is a quadruped dragon with tiny wings, the guivre is a bipedal critter with a rat's tail, a bird's beak and fluttery wings, and the wyrm is a serpentine creature with two legs and a fierce scowl. Above the characters, there's a banner reading: "WyrmSaga goes Gamescom!" Below the characters, there's a white box with our Borb Games logo, reading: "Meet us at the Hessen Booth in Hall 4.1, Row D, #060G with Artex or Reach out directly!"
August 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
bastianthun.bsky.social
Hello #gamedev folks: I will be at #gamescom this year from Wednesday til Friday.

This one will be huge for us, as Anno 117: Pax Romana will have a very prominent and impressive showing at the show, so come over and say hi and ping me via DM if you have biz inquiries.
August 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
garyjkings.bsky.social
This year's Summer Games Fest presentation was really concerned with how few people made a lot of those games, huh?

It feels kinda fucked up. Not just because they're often misrepresntating the real size of these teams, but because I think it's playing directly into a new(ish) flavour of dev hate.
June 7, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
smoothdunk2.bsky.social
Brand Manager getting ready for Pride Month
8 panel comic Panel 1: Yellow guy is working on a laptop in the background. In the foreground is a Brand Manager. Yellow Guy: “Sir, shall I put up our rainbow profile picture?” Panel 2: Brand Manger snaps his head round and hisses “Cool your jets, Eugene. I’m checking the Profitometer” Panel 3: Gonna do my best to explain this. We see The Profitometer. A huge machine that whirs and ticks. A digital display at the top of the machine reads “Supporting Pride equals”Beneath this display is a huge gauge with “Max Loss” on the left and “Max profit” on the right. There is a needle that is pointing exactly half way between the two extremes. Panel 4: Close up on Brand Manager’s face. His teeth are gritted. Sweat trickles down his brow. Panel 5: Close up on gauge. The needle remains exactly central Panel 6: Close up on Brand Manager’s eyes. They are concentrating intensely. Also, more sweat. Panel 7: Close up on the gauge. The needle clicks ONE DEGREE towards profit Panel 8: Brand Manager screams like a football coach “GO GAY EUGENE”
May 31, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
rainbownerdguy.bsky.social
I'm like this with the PlayStation booting sound.

It's the summer of 2001 and we're playing Vagrant Story in my bedroom. My boyfriend & I are taking turns grinding weapons & reading the official guide book to gear up to beat the Earth Dragon.

We never succeeded. But I married him last week.✨
retroblastpod.com Retro Blast 🎃 @retroblastpod.com · May 24
Seeing/hearing this is still bittersweet.

I'm right back in my bedroom playing Shenmue over winter break during Junior year of high school. It's nice and cool outside. I didn't know it then, but it was one of the best times I'd ever have.

I know I can't go back, but I'll hold onto the memories. ✨
May 24, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
butwhytho.net
We spoke with Anno 117: Pax Romana's Creative Director talks about choice, new players, hardcore fans, and how the Ubisoft Mainz team ( @ubisoft.com ) is planning for the future.

Read our interview here:
Anno 117: Pax Romana Creative Director Talks New Players, Choice, And Post-Launch Support
Anno 117: Pax Romana's Creative Director talks about choice, new players, hardcore fans, and how the dev team is planning for the future.
butwhytho.net
May 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
rainbownerdguy.bsky.social
Valnet's passionate speech about understanding what Polygon means for the gaming ecosystem is betrayed by their idea of 'focus'. Laying off 20% of the people who ARE Polygon reveals the acquisition as a power move to secure another brand in the ecosystem and use it as a shell.
#GameDev #Gaming
May 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Bastian Thun
eeephi.bsky.social
ALMOST [booking] TIME!
My books will officially re-open on June 13th!

This booking round will be for appointments for the second half of this year (July - December 2025).

PS: If you want to make extra sure to not miss it, I made a newsletter for tattoo booking stuff:
subscribepage.io/ephictattoo
Illustration of a comic version of myself over-excitedly announcing my upcoming tattoo booking round, in a pink and turquoise/mint color theme. Some handwriting on top with the same content as the post text.
May 1, 2025 at 9:05 AM