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Brendan Allen

@brendanallen

poet / little gamemaker / doctoral student "bibliomancer" when wearing my gamer pants https://bibliomancer.itch.io/ https://brendan-allen.com/

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21.11.2024
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Latest posts by Brendan Allen @brendanallen

[looks at currently-drenched birdman PC with no shoes on] uh

07.03.2026 02:09 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

and these bones, too, will be passed to my next of kin [dead from bones]

07.03.2026 01:46 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

your honor i swear it was ludo-environmental storytelling

07.03.2026 01:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

look my pocketed vest is as full o' bones as possible, better not be more in the next roo-

07.03.2026 01:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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current qud run is going swimmingly (in bones) @unormal.bsky.social

07.03.2026 00:57 ๐Ÿ‘ 34 ๐Ÿ” 5 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 6 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Nice! I'm headed to present at Narrascope too -- I'll say hi and try to see your session!

06.03.2026 13:43 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
You Are Elon Musk by Kris Lorischild A Billionaire Simulator

You asked for it! The long-awaited sequel to You Are Jeff Bezos is finally here:

YOU ARE ELON MUSK

200+ passages. 7 endings. Secrets. In-jokes. Giant robots. All with the purpose of doing one thing: SPENDING ALL OF ELON MUSK'S FUCKING MONEY

direkris.itch.io/elon

03.03.2026 16:59 ๐Ÿ‘ 570 ๐Ÿ” 290 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 21 ๐Ÿ“Œ 21
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09.12.2024 02:22 ๐Ÿ‘ 149 ๐Ÿ” 30 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3 ๐Ÿ“Œ 5

Thank you! It's a weird anachronistic little thing but anachronism also feels like my daily practice at this point.

04.03.2026 14:13 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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i love you, shoppinglist.png

04.03.2026 05:14 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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now that i've (barely) figured out Decker's prototypes and contraptions we're off to the races baby

04.03.2026 05:08 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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the loveliest thing about this toy theatre project thus far is that decker's built in "wipe up" transition is perfect for a stage curtain

04.03.2026 01:29 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thanks! It really did feel like a threshold moment pulling lessons from tools from all over the place. In some ways I'm always a little wistful that I didn't pick this stuff up as a kid, but on the other hand finding myself in a space to excitedly learn new skills and language in my 30s is a treat.

02.03.2026 20:12 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I'm really glad I've explored a wide variety of high-level gamedev tools. RPGMaker, Bitsy, Puzzlescript, ZZT, Twine, Ren'Py all have vastly different priorities and toolkits, they've all encouraged me to approach creation in different ways.

02.03.2026 16:24 ๐Ÿ‘ 33 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

and then lo and behold! Such immense pride once I began to figure out functions in pico-8

02.03.2026 19:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I really agree with this wholeheartedly. I've only been making games about 5 years, no prior programming exp, started out in Twine and bounced around to a few of the tools you mention. Everything I've made thus far has been a productive result of learning a system and responding to constraint

02.03.2026 19:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It's so slick!

01.03.2026 21:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I watched it three times the first time I encountered it - it's an engrossing enigma

28.02.2026 04:01 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Oh! I love this

27.02.2026 17:40 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

how will the new episodes of scrubs address Turk's massive cultural contribution of the default fortnite dance. with some gravitas I hope

27.02.2026 13:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

oh. oh, oof.

26.02.2026 17:17 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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โ†™ + โ’ถ

25.02.2026 15:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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*bonk *bonk* *bonk* oh so that's how transparent canvases and underpainting work........... *bonk* *bonk* *bonk*

25.02.2026 05:16 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Continuing work on the Tiny Toy Theatre Kit. While I'm in love with many of Decker's constraints, tracking variously hyperlinked cards without a visual aid doesn't work for my brain. So back to my first love, Twine, to mock up the basic organizational flow before plopping things on Decker for real.

24.02.2026 18:24 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

still impressive! (but yes I was also Freaking Out trying to figure out how the heck you pulled this bit off in bitsy)

24.02.2026 00:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Wow this opening is wildly impressive!

23.02.2026 22:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

SHIVERS - Snow falls and there is no answer. Some things are not for mortals to know.

23.02.2026 03:21 ๐Ÿ‘ 91 ๐Ÿ” 34 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

(having now completed the demo and hit a tasty tasty groove with it i'm absolutely furious (i.e. pleased and giddy about this weird fun game) that I can't keep playing!!! until it's finished!!! demos, man)

15.02.2026 22:58 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

rpgmaker definitely isn't the right tool for everyone, but I think using opinionated pre-baked tools to make some games would be very instructive to a lot of folks setting out to make their epic custom dream game. they're a much lower-stakes way to learn important lessons like "how to tell a story"

14.02.2026 20:12 ๐Ÿ‘ 380 ๐Ÿ” 49 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 15 ๐Ÿ“Œ 6

Partway through Titanium Court's demo and it's an engrossing, layered trickster, plus one of those Special Games That Galvanizes You To Make More Games Too

14.02.2026 05:07 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0