Today's new video is up! 🐞 🎮
Spring Has Sprung! | Deep in the Woods - Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq_MIvJkdUg via #YouTube #youtubers #youtubegaming #gaming #gamingvideos #games #subscribe #subscribelikeshare #content #contentcreators

Happy Friday the 13th! Here's a gift:

Our all new #solarpunk adventure is out now!

Politically Reactive is a #ttrpg political thriller set in a post-capitalist future! Investigate a conspiracy amidst a turf war between #demsoc and #ancap leaders in the SF Bay! And as a post-capitalist product, it's free and open-license! Check it out now!

https://fully-automated-rpg.itch.io/fully-automated-politically-reactive

#cyberpunk #hopepunk #rpg #gamedev #indiegame

I know mental health care talks a lot about self care but I think community care is just as important.

The Fedi is one of those space for me. Just talking to folks and meeting new people with similar interests and experiences without having to physically go to an event somewhere is so helpful for me.

And with that - thanks for being here. 💜🫶🏻💜

#MentalHealth #SelfCare

Hello #fediverse!

i've been lurking for a while on another server, but it's time to make my home here.

So here's my #introduction post. My handle is @vitskapsdama, which means the Science Lady in Norwegian. I'm a medical writer and #science educator, and have worked for a non-profit youth organisation.

I'm born in #Indonesia, grew up in the #Netherlands and moved in the early 2000s with my family to a small village in #Norway.

I'm interested in Life, the Universe and Everything, love to explore what comes my way and am a lifelong #learner. I love learning by doing and am an #arts and #crafts person.

I try to lead a #sustainable life and to minimize my #footprint, but modern society does not make that easy. So I like to learn from others and maybe share what works for me.

My main hobbies are #cooking and eating #food, #fiberarts like #crochet and #embroidery, #origami #handwriting, #postcrossing, #notebooks and #fountainpens.

I love #books and #libraries, and I mainly read for enjoyment. My favorite genres are old-school #fantasy and #sciencefiction. I also play #games when I have the time.

I post a daily picture of my life over at pixelfed.social (just look up my handle there). I'm not sorry at all for the long post and love to connect with interesting and open-minded people.

The Cave Oasis demo is now on itch.io! Downloads for Windows, Linux, and macOS. https://bluespruceinteractive.itch.io/cave-oasis-at-shylake

(It's also on Steam, but I finally made a page on itch.io and uploaded the latest version of the demo there too. Maybe a little backwards but doing my best, hoping to reach indie game lovers one way or another!)

#itchio #gamedemo #games #gaming #gamedev #indiegames

Do people know about this?? The Economic Hardship Reporting Project is a nonprofit org that produces journalism on economic inequality in the US. We give grants to independent journalists reporting on issues related to poverty, class, workers’ rights, & income disparity in the U.S....

Pitch Portal

Hello hello! I’d love to know what your favorite cozy video games are! Please boost for more input?

Thank you!

@k8 I love cozy games so I guess I should weigh in! My all-time favorite is also probably the most unoriginal opinion, but Stardew Valley was a gateway game for me and I replay it more than any other. For similar games, I also really enjoyed My Time in Portia/Sandrock, Roots of Pacha, and Little Known Galaxy.

After Stardew, the games I play most tend to be survival crafting games with no combat or a peaceful/easy mode, which I think count as cozy. My favorite is Eco, closely followed by Raft, Planet Crafter, Subnautica, and Empyrion. Aloft is solid too, I haven't played it as much but should see what they've added lately (it's in EA).

Other gems: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is excellent, point-and-click coming of age life sim. Beecarbonize is a solid climate change-focused environmental strategy card game. And I really liked the start of Out and About, a foraging-focused town life sim, though I set it aside to wait for more content so I haven’t gotten very far (also in EA).

How about yours?

@ZDL I wondered if this question would come up, thanks for asking!

It's not like our moon, more like Mars (actually a thicker atmosphere than Mars, though also more surface radiation). There's no oxygen or water above ground, but enough air to kick up occasional dust storms.

During typical weather, there isn't much wind (though often a light breeze), hence the town has relied on a solar field for power. But when the dust storms hit, they're going to need other power sources.

It does seem like Mars can produce quite strong winds, enough to power turbines, especially during storms. I'm using vertical turbines, which seem best in the lighter and more variable wind conditions on the game world.

A lot of the emphasis will be on expanding energy storage, though, so the town can charge up its various physical batteries when the sun is out.

I just finished making a new trailer for my game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG11aquS3CY

This one shows more of the game’s main story, with dust storms on the surface of the moon threatening to block the town’s precious sunlight.

That means we need to diversify the town's energy tech (solar field and geothermal battery), adding wind turbines, biodigesters, compressed air and buoyancy storage, etc.

I've also added the first dust storm-related events to the demo on Steam, hoping to get feedback on those before Next Fest! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3689220/Cave_Oasis_at_Shylake/

#videogames #indiegame #gamedev #solarpunk #godot

I’ve released a pretty big update to the demo for my #videogame Cave Oasis at Shylake! It adds main story events that now start from day 1, with dust storms starting to appear on the surface of the moon, that the player will need to help the little cave town prepare to withstand.

This includes investigating the situation and options for alternative renewable energy sources and energy storage tech during low sunlight events, hydroponic farming quests to stock up on supplies, and other steps to help prepare the wild biomes and the community.

Demo on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3689220/Cave_Oasis_at_Shylake/

#videogames #indiegame #CozyGames #scifi #renewableenergy

@Vita On my server, on the right-hand side, there's a menu option for "Live feeds" and if I click on that, it takes me to a feed of all of the latest posts on my server in chronological order. Not sure if yours has the same. Happy exploring!

@geoff_eg @utopify_org @alexskunz

I think it’s actually important that Wikipedia took this step. AI companies turning the internet into proprietary products is bad for the world. They collect revenue from everyone’s labor and keep it for themselves. People are trying to fight back, with copyright lawsuits and efforts to block bots that don’t respect any terms of use, etc.

But many of those people, artists, writers, etc, do not have much power. So it’s important that large publishers, news outlets, image libraries, and information platforms like Wikipedia use their bargaining power to set the precedents needed to compel AI companies to pay for what they take.

Wikipedia is now making AI corps pay more of the true costs of what they produce. It doesn’t enrich Wikipedia’s owners, it’s a nonprofit. It helps keep Wikipedia alive. The added costs cut into AI profits, and that can help change the economics of AI, revealing a different calculus about whether this tech in its current state is adding value at all.

@geoff_eg @utopify_org @alexskunz

I agree with this perspective. $272 million is a ridiculous amount of money for an individual. It is a very small amount of money for a global information platform.

Based on Wikimedia Foundation’s latest annual financial audit (here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_reports/Financial/Audits/2024-2025_-_frequently_asked_questions ), that amount of money represents 17.1 months of operating expenses.

The vast majority of Wikipedia’s revenue comes from donations. Without donations, Wikipedia would be gone in less than two years. The amount I donate each year is really a very low cost for the value I get from Wikipedia; I pay more for a lot of other far less valuable subscriptions. And paying for Wikipedia is entirely voluntary.

This article also came out today and is an important read on how Wikipedia's survival is threatened more than ever today: https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedias-existential-threats-have-never-been-greater/

Blue Otter made a fantastic overview of the Cave Oasis demo, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXJFv0kWQJw

#indiegame #videogame #cozygame #streamer #letsplay #youtube

I suggest you support Standard Ebooks 📚

“Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain ebooks that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of … copyright restrictions, and free of cost.” ⚖️

See what’s free to read on January 1 👇
https://standardebooks.org/blog/public-domain-day-2026

Please boost 🙏

#StandardEbooks #PublicDomain #PublicDomainDay #Copyright #Ebooks #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #Python

CC @standardebooks

I just read Sim Kern’s novel The Free People’s Village. It was captivating and thought-provoking, think it should be on any #solarpunk reading list.

It’s speculative fiction set in an alternate present-day Houston, if Gore had won the US presidency in 2000 and launched a “War on Climate Change”, and everything else in our world was the same, so the rich and powerful controlled that war, greenwashed their own actions and used the climate mandate as a new form of exploitation.

But it doesn’t give in to cynicism, it breaks down economic and social consequences while examining the steps needed to rectify them. It’s kind of like KSR’s Ministry for the Future, except it’s a local story from the point of view of the people not in power. So it doesn’t glorify carbon credits, it depicts where they go wrong and the struggles to address underlying systemic problems, in an emotionally fraught journey that pulls you along with just barely enough hope to keep going. Just barely, but enough.

#books #climatefiction

I've opened up the underwater lake scene in my game's demo! You can now swim and forage for seaweed and aquatic fungi in the lake depths. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3689220/Cave_Oasis_at_Shylake/

#indiegame #pcgaming #videogames #gamedev #underwater

A bunch of wonderful indie gaming streamers/content creators have made some lovely videos of the Cave Oasis demo. These are generally small creators, and they’ve been so supportive and offered tons of great feedback. I should have shared here sooner, please give their videos some love!

LadyShelab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1HHjYbEtls
TwinMinds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOYQgqmneQE
Hawksu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pf_3X5a1EM
RileyKSGaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrecn7I1kk
Little L80: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oh444UJuZQ
Poksmox's Gaming Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVSVnUCY8M
cozybeagaming: https://www.tiktok.com/@cozybeagaming/video/7585244279585377567
naninoprostreaming: https://www.tiktok.com/@naninoprostreaming/video/7580193106109254943
Missy Spooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE_mlzsBHRk

#gamedev #indiegames #cozygames #streamer #contentcreator

LadiesGamers wrote up a lovely first impressions article about my game’s demo! https://ladiesgamers.com/cave-oasis-at-shylake-demo-impressions/

It's an indie + wholesome games site that I love, started by a couple of older women gamers. I don't think they're on Mastodon, but they're on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/ladiesgamers.bsky.social

Thank you, LadiesGamers!

#indiegames #cozygames #gamedev