Shonte Writes

Since NaNoWriMo blew up a few years back, the Discord for Interactive Narrative has held its own event: DINowrimo. It starts November 1st, and I'm looking for prize donors! If you're interested, please let me know ⚡️

very few nü independent sites place such a big focus on freelancers, despite us perpetually being the outsourced bulk of every understaffed masthead. support DR however you can - who knows, you may read something from me on the site in the future, too

It's so funny that on the final day of my game-a-day challenge, I am technically late. But I did it. I played 30 different games on itch and as usual, I had a blast! It's always so inspiring to see what people can do. These tiny games are what make games so wonderful itch.io/blog/1648908...

Btw I keep not posting my Game-a-Day challenge because I am bad at social media (this is actually a good thing), but I'm 16 games deep! It's been a blast over here! itch.io/blog/1648908...

sometimes all you need is a little teamwork… #godot #indiegame #gamedev

Once again, I've been playing a little game every day and posting about it on my blog! I'm bad about posting it here but now I'm doing it! itch.io/blog/1648908...

Day 4 and 5! I keep forgetting to post on here lol We have Daymare Stray and maskless! itch.io/blog/1648908...

For day 3 of my game-a-day challenge, I played wan-wan wash! itch.io/blog/1648908...

"Hey we just wanted to add that the kickstarter for BREAK!!'s very first supplement, START, is still accepting late pledges at www.kickstarter.com/projects/gre... " "AAAAH SKELETONS!"

Day 2 - Save Us From A Cornless World, Cob Corner! itch.io/blog/1648908...

Today's game was Celestial Coffee Quest! itch.io/blog/1648908...

I've been doing a game-a-day challenge since 2021 and I'm so excited to keep it going! I play one game a day (ideally a short, experimental game) and showcase it. If you're interested in what I play, I'll be posting it here! Can't wait! 💫

The Hotline Miami soundtrack continues to be a banger

I love Ace Attorney but man the thought of always being channeled to help out those in the living world sounds like absolute hell. Let that woman rest, goddamn!

How the hell do people put games on Steam. Like, I have watched so many tutorials and still have issues. What are y'all doing to get a game successfully on steam?

I made a twine game where you can turn into an animal (only if you want to, of course). All images are from the Cuddeback Trail Cameras gallery. Take a look! shonte.itch.io/animal-story

Got inspired by the Cuddeback photo gallery, so I made short game about animals and the afterlife. shonte.itch.io/animal-story

With only a few hours left of the itch summer sale, I've put my little murder mystery game Murder at the Cat Show for sale! 2.50 for a cute, funny, and kinda sad mystery! shonte.itch.io/murder-at-th...

Our indie studio is looking for some freelance support for our current project Mithra. If you are a 2D artist or narrative designer based in the UK, check out our job listings!

I genuinely want to make more shitty little games, but I'm working on a larger, less shitty game, and I'm unsure how to juggle them both. But I've always had a desire to make one shitty game a month

A video game studio should be allowed to make a bad game and gain some institutional knowledge without being gutted, skinned, and melted it down into glue every fiscal year.

The game I am making is slowly starting to make sense in nonsensical ways, and I'm very pleased with this.

I wrote a manifesto for making games, and (not) selling them, for #manifestojam illomens.itch.io/no-one-is-go...

Announcing ✨ In The Drift ✨ A dreamy narrative platformer about fixing the internet in space 🌠 Drive across asteroids in your truck, repair old infrastructure, make friends with your crew and find a place where you belong 🌌 Wishlist now on steam! store.steampowered.com/app/4712630/...

This probably sounds obvious, but solo gamedev for me has been a lot of talking to myself. I have a whole document dedicated to my thoughts, questions, concerns...and I'm the one who has to answer them all!

I really love Signs of the Sojourner. Just the core conceit resonates: that life experiences can change the way you talk/think about the world in ways that can both connect and alienate you from other people, that growing as a person sometimes means changing your relationships with others.

Game development feels like making puzzle pieces without fully knowing how or where they are going to join together. But then when they DO join together...man, that's just amazing.

A eulogy for Paste Games

Admittedly, I took a huge break from writing and reading any games criticism because I felt incredibly burnt out and frustrated by all of it (low pay, very few full-time jobs, etc.). My thoughts are unfinished. I just wish for it all to be better.

Oh no, not Paste Games. From 2017 - 2019, Paste was really the only place that consistently gave me a place to let my gaming thoughts fly. It was a welcoming place, and I'm so sad to see it leaving.

I've got a poem out today at MudRoom! Thank you so much for giving my poem a wonderful home.

I just finished The Three Body Problem and that shit was good. Hit me in the same spot as Outer Wilds. No matter how scientific it got, it always boiled down to wanting a better life, and the thought that something better is out there in space.

For folks who watch indie game industry news, Slay the Spire 2, in early access, outsold the *lifetime earnings* of Hades 2 AND Silksong in its first two weeks alone. Soft estimates suggest they are on track to make $250M over the next 12 months; a new record high for the Godot engine.

If you like: - A kooky, silly, short murder mystery 🔎 - Adorable hand drawn characters 🐈‍⬛ - A 2 hr game for ONLY $5 dollars (what?!!)! 🤑 Then play Murder at The Cat Show, coming soon on Steam! Or a wishlist works too 😜🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🔎 store.steampowered.com/app/1864930/...