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nick.aetheric-games.com
nickbell 🆗️
@nick.aetheric-games.com
1.1K followers 1.5K following 830 posts
Indie game generalist at Aetheric Games some of the time, and game dev lecturer at Edinburgh College other times. Undercover, queerly neurospicy nerd, attempting to infiltrate the normals with a big coat and a fake moustache. https://aetheric-games.com
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nick.aetheric-games.com
The quoted post contains an image of the phrase "All video games should have BLANK", inviting you to reply/repost filling the blank. This image has "not" written on it in shaky mouse-hand, to read "All video game should have not."
November 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
people who read this and are now letterboxed:
Some very silly people from a superperson movie, who have been trapped in the Geometry Dimension. It looks a bit cramped, and they don't seem very happy about it.
November 8, 2025 at 11:52 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
aromatic 😅
T'Pol from Enterprise, giving bombastic side eye while sipping her tea.
November 6, 2025 at 12:44 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
is *this* the torment nexus?
A screenshot of a bluesky profile, showing that the user (me) has been blocked by @pfrazee.com Paul Frazee, the CTO of Bluesky. The context is that he, Paul, is vewy gwumpy. After demonstrating his poor media comprehension and lack of imagination and empathy, taking a sci-fi-related meme about the hubris of tech bosses and misapplying it to express his disdain for the user base he is responsible and their legitimate concerns about the management of the platform, people thought he ought to be embarrassed. And although he is a vewy big boy with a big important job and vewy clever, he _is_ embawassed. And angy. Poor Paul.
November 4, 2025 at 10:49 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Weenies be like:
A screenshot from Half-life 2, showing the Combine Citadel (an enormous tower) in the distance.
October 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
gonna tell mykids this is Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick
October 27, 2025 at 10:16 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
happy #BisexualVisibilityDay from Neelix
Neelix from Voyager, but he's bi now, with big colours and flag, etc, and he's doing a litle coy pose at the camera. Like, he knows.
September 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
done.
Screenshot of a reply to the AI tool on the UE5.7 roadmap. The user name is the name as this account. It reads: "If you insist on ramming genAI tools down my throat, by putting them into UE whether they're wanted or not, how can I ever trust Epic as a company again? You'll be making the most insane business decision in the history of Unreal Engine. The massive waste of energy burned away for nothing when a simple fuzzy search would do is beyond belief. If you let genAI tools touch my content, you're putting me and work at massive risk... and how am I supposed to trust you that you won't do that? Only gormless hacks use genAI assistants, and the unfortunate people who they employ and force into it too. Get a grip before you loose your entire market share."
September 14, 2025 at 10:22 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
#itch @itch.io is and always has been, an ally to queer indie game devs. These people hating on them don't know they're born. Itch deserves some gratitude. For a couple of weeks I'm setting the rev share slider to 100%. (And you can also get Bonbon and Interactivity for $5.)
itch.io/s/159020/-it...
A screenshot of a sale on itch.io. The title of the sale is "itch deserves some gratitude, 100% rev share sale" with white hearts around it. The description of the sale says: "Itch Dot Eye Oh is and always has been, an ally to queer indie game devs. A small, anti-establishment gang trying to hold a space for all of us weirdos. It sucks to see how they've been treated lately by people who've been eating at their table every day for years - people aiming their righteous anger in the wrong direction. So, for a couple of weeks at least Bonbon and Interactivity are in a $5 bundle, and I'm not taking a penny." Underneath it shows the itch.io rev share slider set so that the developer has chosen to give 100% of the revenue to itch.
August 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
"Raw data were not weighted and are therefore only representative of the individuals who completed the survey." ...You don't say!

Also, who is the arbiter of what a "game dev" is here? Who did they ask? People who signed up for emails from Google about AI?
A slide from a Google sales pitch that is pretending to be a not-very-scientific study. This is the "Methodology" page. It says: "Methodology The research was conducted online in the United States, South Korea, Finland, Norway, and Sweden by The Harris Poll on behalf of Google Cloud among 615 adults age 18+ working in game development. The survey was conducted June 20, 2025 - July 9, 2025. Raw data were not weighted and are therefore only representative of the individuals who completed the survey." It then goes on to talk about how accurate the survey is, which, given that it ONLY represents the selection of people they surveyed, has a surprisingly low accuracy.
August 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
This entire article and the "study" it's promoting is haute garbáge, but *this* slide in particular is one of the more nonsensical.
A slide from a google marketing presentation about their AI services that is disuised as a very unscientific study. This slide says: Can AI foster more responsible games? On the other hand, developers are also seeing AI helping support responsible games. Roughly one in three see possibilities for AI helping with the following tasks: -Making monetization systems more transparent -Enhancing accessibility for players with diverse needs -Providing real-time player support and mental health resources -Improving the moderation of user generated content When it comes to content moderation and community management, some also see AI as helping lower toxicity levels and providing a more supportive environment. In fact, 37% are currently using AI for this in their workflows. And 22% of them see it as the single area where AI might most enhance the player experience. There's more, but I'm so done transcribing it. It's nonsense. All lies.
August 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
August 14, 2025 at 11:41 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
is this anything?
Key art for the game Blue Prince (a large ramshackle house in cool blue tones) with the yellow logo for Maniac Mansion superimposed on it.
July 22, 2025 at 12:28 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Ahhh laundry day!
🧼🫧🧦⛲️🌞🌬👕🤍😭
A photo looking down on a washing machine in pieces with parts and wet towels over a tiled kitchen floor.
July 7, 2025 at 3:50 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Ok, so, you know the thing where some cats look like Ron Perlman?

Somehow I did not remember that the 1980s Beauty and the Beast tv show with Linda Hamilton also starred RON PERLMAN, as thirsty CAT MAN?!
Side-by-side, close-up photos of two chaps with long faces, heavy brows, wide mouth and very prominent lower-face and jaw. One is a ginger cat that appears to be lounging in a bathroom sink, the other is a silver haired Ron Perlman seemingly snapped on a red carpet while effecting a kind of tolerant half-smile. Side-by-side, close-up photos of two chaps with long faces, heavy brows, wide mouth and very prominent lower-face and jaw. One is a long haired white cat in a posed portrait photo. The other is a Ron Perlman. Neither of them look very happy to be photographed. Promo pic for the 1980s tv Show Beauty and the Beast. Linda Hamilton, with wavy hair and wistful expression, is leaning into Ron Perlman, who is wearing some kind of medieval-ish leather bag suit, a long, voluminous ginger wig, and facial prosthetic makeup that deepens his brow, widens his cheekbones and flattens his nose, with a deep cleft palate. He has extra facial hair up his nose and brow (also ginger). He's a cat. The "Beast" is Ron Perlman's cat fursona.
July 1, 2025 at 9:07 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Screenshot of a Steam refund request. The "notes" text box says, "The game does not publicly disclose that it is made using genAI content, but according to posts and images I have seen since purchasing it, it contains bad AI generated 2D art, in-world text with visible GPT wording left in it, and garbage generated subtitles. If the studio has so little discernment and disrespects their craft so badly, then I don't trust them to have made a good game, and I don't want them to have my money in payment for stolen art. Aren't they supposed to have disclosed this stuff to Valve? If they did not, doesn't that put them in violation of their terms as Steam developers?"
June 28, 2025 at 10:12 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Hello! This is Pizza Rat Collective - an exploration and puzzle game about skilling up your rattie crew and working together to get that pizza. It's kind of only soft announced but will definitely come out one day, promise.
aetheric-games.com/pizza-rat-co...
An in-game image of six rats of different colours, hanging out somewhere with pipes and rubbish. The art style is made up of print-like dots and bright colours. There is a logo in the top left that says "Pizza Rat Collective".
June 28, 2025 at 9:45 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Dang, that's even better than Twin Beaks.
A posed photo from a Sesame Street shoot for a "Twin Beaks" skit. Cookie Monster is in a diner with 3 bird-muppets who each have 2 beaks. One of them is carrying a grumpy-looking log.
June 28, 2025 at 9:22 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
I wanna play *this* game!
June 26, 2025 at 5:22 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

But, the more you know, the less you know about what others don't know more.
An image from the Fellowship of the Ring movie in which a gathering of hobbits are looking confusedly at each other, just after Bilbo has said to them, "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
June 24, 2025 at 9:21 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
(If it matters, this is from my short game Bonbon, the section where I force the player to sit still and listen to me read them a creepy bedtime story for like 3 whole unskippable minutes. You have my full permission to use it as you like.)
The wedding guests were already assembled. There were mice and voles and stoats in the congregation. The choir was made up of crows, who were already singing. The registrar was a big fat spider, with spectacles on. And the priest was a long, grey weasel, who was busy rehearsing the right words from the hymnal. Hans walked Hilda down the aisle, and the Big Brown Rat was waiting. The weasel said, "Do you accept this offered paw in binding and inescapable holy matrimony, Hilda Girl-Child?"
June 17, 2025 at 6:54 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Here's another sneaky peek of a #gamedev student demo that you can play TOMORROW, Thu 5th June, at #ECGx, the #Edinburgh College Games Expo!
Free tickets and info: dub.sh/ecgx2025

This is puzzle-platformer, The Three Mushkateers! It's like a single-player co-op, with lil shroom peeps!
#scotgamedev
June 4, 2025 at 11:52 AM
nick.aetheric-games.com
It's now only 2 sleeps to #ECGx! Where did all those sleeps go?

If you're in #Edinburgh this Thursday, come to CodeBase from 17:30 to play 40 student and #indiegames, including Keeno, a lo-fi village-management game that's not to be slept on.

Free tickets and info: dub.sh/ecgx2025
June 3, 2025 at 5:44 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
9 sleeps until #ECGx ! 👀

Here's some more pics from our amazing FE & HE #gamedev students. Come to #Edinburgh College Games Expo, 5th June, CodeBase, and you can play these amongst 40 games from both students and #indiedevs. Yes, FORTY!

Get free tickets & info here👉 dub.sh/ecgx2025
#scotgamedev
Screenshot of "Epic Wizard Game". Purple platforms are set against a lilac sky with pink clouds, with stylised sprites of wizards and cute monsters on them. Screenshot of "Htraes Trail". An epic, flat-shaded landscape, with a lo-poly mountain standing against a bright moonlit sky. In the distance a huge snake-like monster is rearing its head. A screenshot of "Come Bye". A sheepdog is surrounded by sheep in a bright and sunny meadow. The on-screen UI mentions that there are 33 sheep today, and that total sheep saved and lost is 25 and 4. A poster for ECGx. It should 3 screenshots of student projects and an image of a young person with blue hair and a checked shirt playing a puzzle game on what looks like an old CRT. (The game is CRT7, by Amicable Animal.) At the bottom are the words "Let's play some games!" and details of the event, including the date (5th June) and the URL https://dub.sh/ecgx2025 where you can find more info.
May 27, 2025 at 7:25 PM
nick.aetheric-games.com
Oooh, I get it! Ohana means sanitising socio-political themes for fragile racist egos!

(see all text)
Side-by-side screenshots from the original Lilo and Stitch, and a shot from a trailer for the new one, showing the two versions of the same character: a fat guy with an icecream, who is always silently surprised to see some shennigans. In the original, he's clearly a sunburnt tourist, but in the remake, he's an indigenous Hawaiian. The original icecream guy is depicted in isolated composition that clearly marks him as out of place. The pink and red of his skin contrast strongly against a backdrop of natural colours. He looms, docile but potentially dangerous, like a cow. In the movie, his silent observation feels related to how he is benefiting from colonialism and systemic oppression of indigenous people and culture, perhaps without even knowing it. He is mildly surprised, but not confused or frightened, as if he is watching some quaint performance. The new icecream guy is native, but he seems to be embedded in the tourism scene, as if he and the holiday makers are no different. He is sitting in the shadows, not looming. His face carries an expression of confusion, rather than silent observation, a kind a "what now?" look common in non-white comic relief characters. While both versions have a comic element, the new one not only removes all socio-political commentary about colonialism, privelege and othering of indigenous people, it actively pushes in the other direction. Some (probably) white person with a fragile ego and a mind closed to uncomfortable ideas must have thought, "oh, this could be seen as racist to white people, we need to change that!" I saw this before I heard about the ending, and while the ending is bad, changes like this are more insideous. It makes my skin crawl.
May 25, 2025 at 9:47 AM