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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 17h

One might think that the game-jam project I undertook just before this NextFest (brukholevin.itch.io/principessa) took valuable time away from promoting Kenoma (store.steampowered.com/app/2933260/...). Perhaps this is true. I can certainly make up for it now, though.

#NextFest

Kenoma: Action Without Action on Steam

Answer the question of mortality in this sidescroller inspired by the adventures of old. Wander the depths of two parallel worlds. Confer with gods, locals, and other travelers. Solve problems through...

store.steampowered.com

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 1d

the Steam Next Fest begins today, and Kenoma: Action Without Action is participating. Examine the game and play the demo at your leisure here!

store.steampowered.com/app/2933260/...

#nextfest #indiegames #gamedemo #indiedev

Kenoma: Action Without Action on Steam

Answer the question of mortality in this sidescroller inspired by the adventures of old. Wander the depths of two parallel worlds. Confer with gods, locals, and other travelers. Solve problems through...

store.steampowered.com

1 5

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 4d

in lieu of a blog-post this week, I offer a short game. Made in a little under a month for a game jam, please give "Principessa della magia del sangue" a look!

brukholevin.itch.io/principessa

#indiedev #jamgame #pointandclick

Principessa della magia del sangue by BrukhoLevin

I was in town for a death in the family. You never left.

brukholevin.itch.io

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 5d

something interesting: the "dialects" found within the online video sphere are quite diverse. mass-audience videos are quite overblown and overlong, the livestream-highlight genre leans towards snappy and concise, educational/technical video tends to be all business. each of these with clear reason.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 6d

Some music is hard to discuss because the sound is convoluted and airy. Some music is hard to discuss because it has an extremely convoluted history. Some music is hard to discuss because the band is named "WHORES." These distinctions are important to understand.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 7d

it was my greatest wish as a younger creative to be the fabled "art goblin", who would periodically emerge from the earth to present a new, wholly complete work before crawling down into the depths again. alas, there is little place for such creatures in the food web.

Reposted by Jack L.

splendidland🌱 @splendid.land · 8d

a dinosaur was an amazing kind of animal that lived in a volcano and ate rocks

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 8d

"Which is more frightening: success or failure?" Failure, clearly. Success has nothing on it in terms of anxiety, fear, and other such negative emotion. Who thinks these questions up?

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 11d

this week's weblog: where Kenoma's world comes from, and the two false starts it had before the current iteration.

brukholevin.itch.io/kenoma-actio...

www.tumblr.com/brukholevin/...

#weblog #worldbuilding #gamedesign

Where, What, and Why: The History of Kenoma's Internal Mythos

Kenoma, being composed primarily of text, is generally more about the world and its people than any game-play loop. For these to feel real, then, the people need to have places they fit into in the wo...

brukholevin.itch.io

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 12d

Since my viewing of "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" this monday, it's remained in my head with a rather strange consistency. There really is something otherworldly, dreamlike about it. Beyond the walls of understandable cognition. Exploring the deeper recesses of the mind.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 13d

There are many people in the world with what may be called "opinions". These are noxious emissions of carbon dioxide gas that often are accompanied with sound, in a particular structure that conveys meaning. Typically, the meaning conveyed is subjective. Text can also be a vector for their spread.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 14d

Messages go out on the first of each month.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 14d

A reminder: I operate a mailing-list that offers all of: consistent proofs-of-life, brief explanations of what I've been doing, and free gifts that may range from apocryphal music to small, strange games.

sign up here: www.brukholevin.com/mailinglist....

#mailinglist

Mailing List Signup

www.brukholevin.com

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Reposted by Jack L.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · Jul 16

Do not forget: it will release this year. And there is a free demo available.
store.steampowered.com/app/2933260/...
brukholevin.itch.io/kenomademo

#indiedev #demo

Kenoma: Action Without Action on Steam

Answer the question of mortality in this sidescroller inspired by point-and-click adventures of old. Wander the depths of two parallel worlds. Confer with gods, locals, and other travelers. Solve prob...

store.steampowered.com

3 5

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 15d

fact: video games are all of them bad
fact: all art is bad
fact: there is nothing you can do
#thereisnothingyoucando

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 18d

bit of a shorter weblog this week, and probably in general going forward. it is about the things we feel in games and how they're cultivated.

www.tumblr.com/brukholevin/...
brukholevin.itch.io/kenoma-actio...

#weblog #gamedev #therolesweplay

Who Am I? Who Are You?

Many games base their design decisions on evoking certain emotions. Making you feel the stuff of a fantasy adventurer, noire detective, super-soldier, etc., being an explicit target for the developer....

brukholevin.itch.io

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 19d

deadlines are a funny thing. they provide a kind of nervous energy to any undertaking, and always seem too short. sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. what makes a good one?

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 20d

Little else to do but pull the levers and hope.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 21d

Posting is a strange thing. It is like attempting to strangle the lion and wait upon the lamb. It is burning the morning oil in a midnight fashion. Taking the mind and wringing it dry, pouring the liquid into a large funnel that has "THE ECONOMY" written on it. It is ultimately a kind of writing.

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 22d

fiction relies heavily on the human tendency to anthropomorphize anything that seems to have complex enough thought. your little fictional people aren't humans, but they give the appearance of humanity through language, body movement, etc. this process also drives people to extremes over LLMs.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 25d

this week's weblog: what inspirations do in general, and what they did to Kenoma in specific.

www.tumblr.com/brukholevin/...
brukholevin.itch.io/kenoma-actio...

#weblog #gamedesign #gamedev

Post by @brukholevin · 1 image

💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Inspirations; or, "Dark Souls" Meets "Zork" In This New Indie Instant-Classic · A common way for developers to pitch or market a game is to describe it as a combination of two or t…

www.tumblr.com

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 26d

I've decided to start taking the day by force. Sending cavalry charges into the noontime sun. Running battering rams into the gates of dawn. Besieging the fortified "Light Palace" to which the sun retires at night. Et cetera.

Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 27d

Does anyone out there truly enjoy the work of distribution? Not the logistics, but the promotion. The phone calls and e-mails and so on. I'd imagine there must be someone who loves this work for the tasks themselves, but who exactly that would be escapes me.

Reposted by Jack L.

Benoît Blary @benoit-blary.bsky.social · Aug 9

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Jack L. @brukholevin.com · 28d

Oft groused: the divisions of time we live under. None of it is well-shaped or satisfying to understand, and even the year is not a whole number of days. "Leap Years"? Are we men, or beasts?