the murmuring return
the murmuring return
This month's here and then gone is the result of two impulses: 1.) I had very little time, so built it on top of last month's piece, and 2.) I played/watched/read Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story and was reminded how much I love Jeff Minter's sensory overload shooters (e.g. Space Giraffe and my personal favourite, Gridrunner Revolution).
So I made a very simple arcade shooter with slightly awkward controls and events triggered every 10 seconds to either increase the difficulty or (very occasionally) give you extra tools to deal with the chaos. And at 70 seconds it enters full on visual overload territory. It doesn't come close to matching its inspirations, but it was fun to make it over the course of a day.
Download the murmuring return
Controls: escape: quit;cursor keys, gamepad left stick: move
The Rules:
- The file at this link will be deleted 1 month from now (7/2/26).
- All downloads are zipfiles containing a Windows executable.
- All source code and assets are included, licensed under the Anti-Capitalist Software License.
- As long as you abide by the license, you can do whatever you want with the download.
Further Reading
Beautiful, melancholy indie rock recorded live in a Russian apartment block corridor (bandcamp).
I loved this SCP tale told as a series of posts on a 2000-era paranormal phenomena forum. Particularly the final exchange between GonnaBeYou and Bystandard_.
A beautiful mastodon thread about model railways and community.
I really enjoyed Orbo's Odyssey. Fun movement mechanics and some really enjoyable, slightly surreal level design.
Robert Yang writing about his new game, Rainbows are Carnivores:
"We obsess over numbers and metrics because it gives us an illusion of control over our lives. But numbers aren't reality, numbers guarantee nothing. Even if fish are made of numbers, those numbers still can't make a fish love you back."
I understand very little of it, but the documentation for the Potato pansharpening library is fascinating (via):
"I have come to suspect that, alongside the subtle reasons, a serious problem is an aspect of media theory and optical physics understood by toddlers: that faraway things look small. And, relatedly, that we live sideways."
"A list of offensive methods & strategic approaches for facilitating (algorithmic) sabotage, framework disruption, & intentional data poisoning."
A wonderful SCP entry about the livestreaming servants of an ancient, benevolent eldritch god.
I saw We're All Going to the World's Fair earlier this year, but I only just got around to watching I Saw The TV Glow this month, and I'm kicking myself I waited so long. I always struggle to find the words when something really moves me, but I think this might be the best thing I watched in 2025.
It's now 2026 as I'm writing this, and it's a cold and bright morning here. Looks like there's some amber weather warnings to the north this weekend. Hope you can keep warm and safe if that's where you are (or wherever you are, really).