Stephen Rubino
NYU Game Center MFA, aspiring layabout
- recapped the first semester of my MFA and my final presentation's thesis: open.substack.com/pub/shrubino...
- balatro so good it's got me downloading Love2D. as if that was the problem
- Finally wrapped up Grolf, my gravity-swapping, minimalist minigolf game. Play it on Itch and lemme know what you think! shrubino.itch.io/grolf
- A quick piece about how shitty games sections are finding their way into every website shrubino.substack.com/p/why-does-e...
- made a little postcard from my summer in GameMaker
- WIP
- The rumors are true: I, too, took part in GMTK 2025 with my pal @shreeshayelameli.bsky.social. Lots of learning, some laughs, and four days of scrappy spriting and coding. Is our game good? It's a game! Give NEBULON 5000 a go, and see if you can beat my high score: shrubino.itch.io/gmtk-filler-...
- 5-min bird for today's theme. I kinda hate this guy @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- quick #guts sketch for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- I wrote about games that actually tell a story vs. those that just hint at one: shrubino.substack.com/p/does-chess...
- 1-bit #fencer for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- quick #loading sketch for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- some successful, some unsuccessful -- dithering and lighting practice for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- this was take #3 on today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme, boulder
- I can't help but feel like outlining is CHEATING
- Wrote down some thoughts about memes as decodable language that follows the structure of gameplay. give it a read! open.substack.com/pub/shrubino...
- quick #cephalopod(s) study for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- #acorn for @pixeldailies.bsky.social -- I'm wildly out of practice on my cursive
- Launching a substack to write more about games, jokes, narratives, pathfinding. First post is a depository of all the ideas I'll never be able to finish: open.substack.com/pub/shrubino...
- #Locus for @pixeldailies.bsky.social, or: more concept art for a game I'll never finish. "Universail", a sunship yacht racing game where you navigate gravity and solar currents to outcompete your rival at Mercurial Royale Marina
- #plinko (Smart Ball!) for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- Little #carrot using all 13 colors of this palette for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- "if you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind" quick little @pixeldailies.bsky.social to get back in the habit -- theme is "cold"
- today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social is a fanart of any trans creator's work, obviously there's only one option:
- today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme is #orange, slowly finding ways to make lil animations faster
- today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme was "cover" but at first I read it as "clover" which is, conveniently, a type of cover
- For the #B1T game jam, my pal @whoiskevinflynn.com and I made a lil game in a week!
- Technically submissions are still wrapping up, but it's live here if you want to play TWIN ZEN: shrubino.itch.io/twin-zen
- 1-bit yarn studies for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- animated 1-bit #jars for @pixeldailies.bsky.social
- first shot at animation for @pixeldailies.bsky.social "forklift" #pixelart -- wayy more time intensive than I'd like, but that's learning for ya
