#moonshiners — Public Fediverse posts

Dev Pile: Constraint Cascades in Moonshiners

June involved writing an absolute spoonfull of stuff on the Moonshiners case study, and that involved revising it further and further. What I have here in this post, down below the fold, is one such example of a big chunk of case study writing, in the ‘pre-revision’ stage. An important part of this process is getting words out there, so I can refine them, and a big part of that for me is making sure that every day I can look back on it and say ‘oh hey, yeah, I wrote about a thousand goddamn words there.,’ Guess what you’re getting to see today, if you want to see my thinking before I’ve converted it into proper formal academic language? Yeah, it’s one of those!

[…]

Dev Pile: Constraint Cascades in Moonshiners

June involved writing an absolute spoonfull of stuff on the Moonshiners case study, and that involved revising it further and further. What I have here in this post, down below the fold, is one such example of a big chunk of case study writing, in the ‘pre-revision’ stage. An important part of this process is getting words out there, so I can refine them, and a big part of that for me is making sure that every day I can look back on it and say ‘oh hey, yeah, I wrote about a thousand goddamn words there.,’ Guess what you’re getting to see today, if you want to see my thinking before I’ve converted it into proper formal academic language? Yeah, it’s one of those!

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Lore Update

I’ve said that part of the problem with Moonshiners’ development, and why I resist the use of generative art in it, is that I want the conversation about Moonshiners to be about immersing in its world and playing within that world’s spaces. Most of what I’ve been writing on it in this blog has been the name of fully fleshing out and realising the mechanical complexity of the game, and even as-expertly-as-possible collapsing the art needs (which yes, I have done more of). What I haven’t done much of, not lately, is pen down the lore I have to fill this space. This is a reasonable part of the mechanical structure of the game! I need the lore to cohere to the demands of the mechanics, and that’s why beyond the broadest sense, I haven’t really done any of the hard definition that I would have rathered to do.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Lore Update

I’ve said that part of the problem with Moonshiners’ development, and why I resist the use of generative art in it, is that I want the conversation about Moonshiners to be about immersing in its world and playing within that world’s spaces. Most of what I’ve been writing on it in this blog has been the name of fully fleshing out and realising the mechanical complexity of the game, and even as-expertly-as-possible collapsing the art needs (which yes, I have done more of). What I haven’t done much of, not lately, is pen down the lore I have to fill this space. This is a reasonable part of the mechanical structure of the game! I need the lore to cohere to the demands of the mechanics, and that’s why beyond the broadest sense, I haven’t really done any of the hard definition that I would have rathered to do.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners V4 Prototype

You know, considering the amount of effort this post is going to represent, it’s pretty funny to me that I’m probably going to be really scrounging for a word count. Anyway, I have been working on improving my playtest kit of Moonshiners. Back in April (April!), I spent a day making a print-and-play version that could be easily put on sticker paper and then playtested from there. And… well, I’m going to give you full-resolution versions of those images here. Right here. Just after the fold.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners V4 Prototype

You know, considering the amount of effort this post is going to represent, it’s pretty funny to me that I’m probably going to be really scrounging for a word count. Anyway, I have been working on improving my playtest kit of Moonshiners. Back in April (April!), I spent a day making a print-and-play version that could be easily put on sticker paper and then playtested from there. And… well, I’m going to give you full-resolution versions of those images here. Right here. Just after the fold.

[…]

Dev Pile: Catch-Up Mechanics in Moonshiners

I’m working on playtesting with Moonshiners and reflecting on things I’ve seen in it. You like playtesting notes? Course ya do!

[…]

Dev Pile: Catch-Up Mechanics in Moonshiners

I’m working on playtesting with Moonshiners and reflecting on things I’ve seen in it. You like playtesting notes? Course ya do!

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Playtesting Notes

I have this spread across a few locations, but! I was able to take the latest version (v3) of Moonshiners to a family gathering and did some play testing with it. Now, part of the point of this play testing is to reflect on feelings I have in the experience, not to, in any way, represent the other people’s opinions. That is to say, no direct quotes, no names or faces of anyone involved in the play testing. But it was a play testing session and it was delightful to finally feel this ‘feature-complete’ version of the game under people’s hands, especially because finally, I was able to see how I felt about things when there was a tension between what I was experiencing and what others were. A lot of the play testing thus far, after all, has been done with either a much simpler version of the game, or, well, me playing with myself. That sounds vulgar. You know what I mean.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Playtesting Notes

I have this spread across a few locations, but! I was able to take the latest version (v3) of Moonshiners to a family gathering and did some play testing with it. Now, part of the point of this play testing is to reflect on feelings I have in the experience, not to, in any way, represent the other people’s opinions. That is to say, no direct quotes, no names or faces of anyone involved in the play testing. But it was a play testing session and it was delightful to finally feel this ‘feature-complete’ version of the game under people’s hands, especially because finally, I was able to see how I felt about things when there was a tension between what I was experiencing and what others were. A lot of the play testing thus far, after all, has been done with either a much simpler version of the game, or, well, me playing with myself. That sounds vulgar. You know what I mean.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Prototype Notes

Imagine me pulling the rip tab on a drink and sculling half of it in one go, except because I’m in my forties, this time the drink is a bottle of fridge-cooled water. It’s late at night, I spent all day making a new prototype for Moonshiners, and these are some notes of the latest version based on handling the interface of the game with all the information on it, at the scale that the final game is going to be, for the first time.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Prototype Notes

Imagine me pulling the rip tab on a drink and sculling half of it in one go, except because I’m in my forties, this time the drink is a bottle of fridge-cooled water. It’s late at night, I spent all day making a new prototype for Moonshiners, and these are some notes of the latest version based on handling the interface of the game with all the information on it, at the scale that the final game is going to be, for the first time.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Case Study – Prototype Construction Challenges

In the process of developing Moonshiners I have made four different prototypes. Each of them has suffered ignonimous fates and as I write this, I am looking around my house for scraps of each remaining form.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Case Study – Prototype Construction Challenges

In the process of developing Moonshiners I have made four different prototypes. Each of them has suffered ignonimous fates and as I write this, I am looking around my house for scraps of each remaining form.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Case Study – Drafting Part 1

In my thesis, I am working on a series of case studies explaining games and their development. Their playtesting and their production is part of this, and once I’ve made the game’s prototype, I reflect back on the process. How I do this is by starting with a plain-language, general-reference kind of version of the case study.

What’s going to follow here is a template of the process, developed in making Lysen Co, and then the first section of that text template filled out. I dont’ imagine this is going to include much new information if you’re absolutely keyed into how Moonshiners works.

[…]

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Case Study – Drafting Part 1

In my thesis, I am working on a series of case studies explaining games and their development. Their playtesting and their production is part of this, and once I’ve made the game’s prototype, I reflect back on the process. How I do this is by starting with a plain-language, general-reference kind of version of the case study.

What’s going to follow here is a template of the process, developed in making Lysen Co, and then the first section of that text template filled out. I dont’ imagine this is going to include much new information if you’re absolutely keyed into how Moonshiners works.

[…]

Dev Pile: The Actual Moonshiners PnP

I did it, I finally did it. I wanted to do it weeks ago and I’m going to complain about that a little bit, but I finally, tonight was able to sit down and get all the files together despite the slow loading times and all it took was lowering a significant quantity of my standards and accept that getting it done was so much more important than getting it done perfectly or prettily.

Content Non-Warning: This is a version of the Moonshiners Print-And-Play that doesn’t involve any generative art. You can look at it without being shocked or surprised.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-44-the-actual-moonshiners-pnp/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: The Actual Moonshiners PnP

I did it, I finally did it. I wanted to do it weeks ago and I’m going to complain about that a little bit, but I finally, tonight was able to sit down and get all the files together despite the slow loading times and all it took was lowering a significant quantity of my standards and accept that getting it done was so much more important than getting it done perfectly or prettily.

Content Non-Warning: This is a version of the Moonshiners Print-And-Play that doesn’t involve any generative art. You can look at it without being shocked or surprised.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-44-the-actual-moonshiners-pnp/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Art Direction Guide

In the last post I talked about the problems of using generative images, but I did use them. This week, I’ve put together the results of reflecting on those, which is specific art direction to consider those character artworks in a way that I can present them to an artist in a way that’s useful. Ready? Go go go.

This is going to be a post about generative images, but I’m not going to include any. This is because I don’t think you, the audience, want to see it, and also, the point of this post is art direction. You don’t need to see the art to know this process is about reflecting on that process of what to ask for in art.

Plus, you know, every time I put gen images on this blog there’s just such a disclaimer to do.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-43-art-direction-guide/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Art Direction Guide

In the last post I talked about the problems of using generative images, but I did use them. This week, I’ve put together the results of reflecting on those, which is specific art direction to consider those character artworks in a way that I can present them to an artist in a way that’s useful. Ready? Go go go.

This is going to be a post about generative images, but I’m not going to include any. This is because I don’t think you, the audience, want to see it, and also, the point of this post is art direction. You don’t need to see the art to know this process is about reflecting on that process of what to ask for in art.

Plus, you know, every time I put gen images on this blog there’s just such a disclaimer to do.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-43-art-direction-guide/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Not Showing My Cards

It’s important to have a plan.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-42-not-showing-my-cards/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: Not Showing My Cards

It’s important to have a plan.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-42-not-showing-my-cards/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: Don’t Worry, No Gen Art In This One

Grrrrrrrrr art problems in Moonshiners and thick descriptions of my feelings about art direction experiences.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-40-dont-worry-no-gen-art-in-this-one/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Don’t Worry, No Gen Art In This One

Grrrrrrrrr art problems in Moonshiners and thick descriptions of my feelings about art direction experiences.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-40-dont-worry-no-gen-art-in-this-one/

#moonshiners

I have a suspicion. 🤔

Every summer, right around mid-June, the cane sugar disappears off the grocery store shelves for about four weeks around here.

I mean completely out. If I haven't stocked up beforehand, me and my coffee addiction are just out of luck until mid-July.

Then it hit me... Somebody up here is making a fruit mash moonshine whiskey y'all. 😂

#Moonshiners
#OldPeopleOfMastodon

I have a suspicion. 🤔

Every summer, right around mid-June, the cane sugar disappears off the grocery store shelves for about four weeks around here.

I mean completely out. If I haven't stocked up beforehand, me and my coffee addiction are just out of luck until mid-July.

Then it hit me... Somebody up here is making a fruit mash moonshine whiskey y'all. 😂

#Moonshiners
#OldPeopleOfMastodon

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Faces

The aim for this week is to construct the digital components that are necessary for making a printable prototype of Moonshiners. The aim is to have something so that in about a week I can print-out and play with a version with other humans that let me see how the basic ideas work out.

Content Warning: This post is going to feature Image Generator material. I made it using a free website called Dezgo, and it’s done to have example objects. I didn’t pay anyone for these images.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-33-moonshiners-faces/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Faces

The aim for this week is to construct the digital components that are necessary for making a printable prototype of Moonshiners. The aim is to have something so that in about a week I can print-out and play with a version with other humans that let me see how the basic ideas work out.

Content Warning: This post is going to feature Image Generator material. I made it using a free website called Dezgo, and it’s done to have example objects. I didn’t pay anyone for these images.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-33-moonshiners-faces/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: The Second Mouse

Let’s do something wildly different this week and talk about a cute game with mice in it.

Content Warning: I include a generative image in this post.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-32-the-second-mouse/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: The Second Mouse

Let’s do something wildly different this week and talk about a cute game with mice in it.

Content Warning: I include a generative image in this post.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-32-the-second-mouse/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Contemplating The Crush Depth

Something I’m trying to do with the ongoing diarising of game development is to consider games in terms not just of a narrative thread of X to Y to Z, but rather in terms of the pieces that go in. I want to open the box of the game and pull out everything that’s in there, but also crucially, pull out what’s not in there.

‘That sounds like nonsense,’ yes but don’t worry, we’ll get there.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-30-contemplating-the-crush-depth/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: Contemplating The Crush Depth

Something I’m trying to do with the ongoing diarising of game development is to consider games in terms not just of a narrative thread of X to Y to Z, but rather in terms of the pieces that go in. I want to open the box of the game and pull out everything that’s in there, but also crucially, pull out what’s not in there.

‘That sounds like nonsense,’ yes but don’t worry, we’ll get there.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-30-contemplating-the-crush-depth/

#lysenCo #moonshiners

Dev Pile: How Did I Make Lysen Co?, Part 5

This is the last piece of reflective writing on making Lysen Co. This is the plain text writing that will be formalised into academic language and given proper citations to become a case study in my PhD.

[…]

Dev Pile: How Did I Make Lysen Co?, Part 5

This is the last piece of reflective writing on making Lysen Co. This is the plain text writing that will be formalised into academic language and given proper citations to become a case study in my PhD.

[…]

Dev Pile: So Many Bones!

Alright, today has been a lot of work and it’s been very fiddly, so let’s talk about what I have. Today I made what I call a paper skeleton for Moonshiners. That is, as of right now, I have all the card titles, mechanics, and values for Moonshiners. I essentially know what all the cards should be, and I’m ready to proceed making a playtesting copy that I can bring to a stranger and see what they think of it.

This article is going to be a bunch of lists, some short, some long, but I’ll try and fill out the heading area with explanations to make sure it’s clear what these sections are trying to express.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-21/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: So Many Bones!

Alright, today has been a lot of work and it’s been very fiddly, so let’s talk about what I have. Today I made what I call a paper skeleton for Moonshiners. That is, as of right now, I have all the card titles, mechanics, and values for Moonshiners. I essentially know what all the cards should be, and I’m ready to proceed making a playtesting copy that I can bring to a stranger and see what they think of it.

This article is going to be a bunch of lists, some short, some long, but I’ll try and fill out the heading area with explanations to make sure it’s clear what these sections are trying to express.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-21/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Reflection on the Botch

Sorry, folks, calling something of an easy mode on this one. See, this week has featured some vet visits and an election and some general bad times for sleep so I’m taking an easy route here and going to talk about a game that’s not part of the ongoing Moonshiners and Bloodwork game designs.

I’m gunna talk about revising The Botch for a new era.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-20/

#cardGames #devPile #gameMaking #lysenCo #moonshiners #theBotch

Dev Pile: Reflection on the Botch

Sorry, folks, calling something of an easy mode on this one. See, this week has featured some vet visits and an election and some general bad times for sleep so I’m taking an easy route here and going to talk about a game that’s not part of the ongoing Moonshiners and Bloodwork game designs.

I’m gunna talk about revising The Botch for a new era.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-20/

#cardGames #devPile #gameMaking #lysenCo #moonshiners #theBotch

Dukes of Hazzard, una storia esistita davvero

#boomerissimo #dukesofhazzard #generallee #jerryrushing #moonshiners

https://boomerissimo.it/2023/09/29/general-lee-dukes-of-hazzard-storia/

Dukes of Hazzard, una storia esistita davvero

#boomerissimo #dukesofhazzard #generallee #jerryrushing #moonshiners

https://boomerissimo.it/2023/09/29/general-lee-dukes-of-hazzard-storia/

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Bid Deck

Hey, check this out.

Man, this was a lot of work.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-19/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Bid Deck

Hey, check this out.

Man, this was a lot of work.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-19/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Progress

At the start of April, I had the aim that I would have, by the end of April, a Print-And-Play PDF of Moonshiners ready to go, and able to share with you, the audience.

That did not happen.

Some of it was ambitious to start with; even if I was generating art for every card, or had the art already lined up, I still had to . Another part was the way that I kept spacing my work

The aim was that I’d be doing it side-by-side with my students, which meant I could use this mid-semester period to show them the stages of going into game making. Instead, silly me, I forgot to check the schedule, where there’s three weeks of classes where the students are working on a different assignment.

With that said: I want to have something to show them in class at their next class, and that’s what this post is about.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-18/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Moonshiners Progress

At the start of April, I had the aim that I would have, by the end of April, a Print-And-Play PDF of Moonshiners ready to go, and able to share with you, the audience.

That did not happen.

Some of it was ambitious to start with; even if I was generating art for every card, or had the art already lined up, I still had to . Another part was the way that I kept spacing my work

The aim was that I’d be doing it side-by-side with my students, which meant I could use this mid-semester period to show them the stages of going into game making. Instead, silly me, I forgot to check the schedule, where there’s three weeks of classes where the students are working on a different assignment.

With that said: I want to have something to show them in class at their next class, and that’s what this post is about.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-18/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: The Guff You Gather

Ho boy let’s do something while sleepy, why not.

I said that I need to work on the sets for Moonshiners, that is, the stuff you’re bidding on. This is because Moonshiners is a set collection auction game, where there’s a push-your-luck mechanic for resolving bidding. I’ve done playtesting of the push-your-luck mechanic for bidding and last week had some notes on the way that deck will be constructed, but now I need to work on the materially different second deck, which is going to be a square deck of assets the players bid over.

I’ve talked about the vibes of this in general and how pieces in this set work, but this week I want to talk about the actual breakdown of what goes into this deck, and what they represent. Particularly, this is about a formula I can multiply out and repeat.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-17-the-guff-you-gather/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: The Guff You Gather

Ho boy let’s do something while sleepy, why not.

I said that I need to work on the sets for Moonshiners, that is, the stuff you’re bidding on. This is because Moonshiners is a set collection auction game, where there’s a push-your-luck mechanic for resolving bidding. I’ve done playtesting of the push-your-luck mechanic for bidding and last week had some notes on the way that deck will be constructed, but now I need to work on the materially different second deck, which is going to be a square deck of assets the players bid over.

I’ve talked about the vibes of this in general and how pieces in this set work, but this week I want to talk about the actual breakdown of what goes into this deck, and what they represent. Particularly, this is about a formula I can multiply out and repeat.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-17-the-guff-you-gather/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Playtesting Round

It’s been another week, and class activities haven’t featured a good window of time to do prototyping activity. Don’t worry, it’ll come up this week. Instead, this week, I did something else, something far more exciting.

This week, I got to playtest the core game loop for Moonshiners.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-16-playtesting-round/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Playtesting Round

It’s been another week, and class activities haven’t featured a good window of time to do prototyping activity. Don’t worry, it’ll come up this week. Instead, this week, I did something else, something far more exciting.

This week, I got to playtest the core game loop for Moonshiners.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-16-playtesting-round/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Prompt Refinement And Final Product

Well, generative image software has been around for a few years now and it has managed to reach a level of popularity and success that makes it roughly as exciting to most people as in-mall advertisements. The aesthetic of Shrimp Jesus and its associated horrorshows have created an existing language of fascist aesthetics, which is also fascinating because of how the worst people in the world seem to agree on the worst possible choices for this kind of trash. But the tools are capable of more than that and notably, the tools produce stuff like that when you’re using them to produce bulk volume garbage.

Because this month I’ve been working with students to understand these generative tools — to both recognise them, understand their limits and their applications — I brought up a meaningful use case for them . Specifically, one of the use cases is to make prototype art quickly rather than use unrelated stand-in art to help a prototype feel more real.

Content and Spoiler Warning: There’s going to be some examples of generative images in this post, and a discussion of how to get them.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-14-prompt-refinement-and-final-product/

#moonshiners

Dev Pile: Prompt Refinement And Final Product

Well, generative image software has been around for a few years now and it has managed to reach a level of popularity and success that makes it roughly as exciting to most people as in-mall advertisements. The aesthetic of Shrimp Jesus and its associated horrorshows have created an existing language of fascist aesthetics, which is also fascinating because of how the worst people in the world seem to agree on the worst possible choices for this kind of trash. But the tools are capable of more than that and notably, the tools produce stuff like that when you’re using them to produce bulk volume garbage.

Because this month I’ve been working with students to understand these generative tools — to both recognise them, understand their limits and their applications — I brought up a meaningful use case for them . Specifically, one of the use cases is to make prototype art quickly rather than use unrelated stand-in art to help a prototype feel more real.

Content and Spoiler Warning: There’s going to be some examples of generative images in this post, and a discussion of how to get them.

[…]

https://press.invincible.ink/dev-pile-2025-14-prompt-refinement-and-final-product/

#moonshiners