Sam Roberts
ashtonesq.bsky.social
Sam Roberts
@ashtonesq.bsky.social
#GameDev. Curator, Educator, Designer. Co-founder @indiecade. Lecturer @ UCI Informatics. Churning.
Check out the new volume of The Hypothesis Podcast on Ludological Alchemy. The most recent episode is an interview about my design practice.

lnkd.in/gnbqZeg7

And be sure to check out the first episode, where Luke talks to Christopher Badell.
LinkedIn
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lnkd.in
June 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Read:

The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them
www.theguardian.com
April 20, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
16 days away from launch for the second printing of Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall 🥡🥟🥢 if you’re interested in a TTRPG about a Chinese American family running a restaurant in the 1920s with hopping vampires creating chaos, give us a follow!

www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
Get Ready for Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall Reprint and New Hauntings
From Wet Ink Games - Get Ready for Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall Reprint and New Hauntings
www.backerkit.com
July 6, 2024 at 3:23 PM
General all around lovely human beings!

I have had the great privilege of working on adapting Adventure Time into rules and materials compatible with 5E Dungeons and Dragons.

I hope you will consider coming along with us on this fantastic project.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/cze...
Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game
Experience your own adventure in the Land of Ooo in this epic 5E RPG based on Cartoon Network's Adventure Time!
www.kickstarter.com
April 15, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Friends and Colleagues!

If you enjoy my writing or speaking on game design, systems, and/or tabletop RPGs, I think you will find my new essay illuminating! This is the first post of a ten part series, so subscribe to eventually get it all!
The Incentive to Kill in Dungeons & Dragons
Motivations in Roleplaying Game Economies Part 1
open.substack.com
March 31, 2024 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Have a 20 minute presentation/paper/panel regarding Monsters in Media and Culture? The 2024 Festival of Monsters call is now public! (The festival will be held Oct 16-19 in Santa Cruz, CA). www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/2024festcfp
2024 Call for Papers — The Center For Monster Studies
www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu
March 5, 2024 at 2:03 AM
Very thoughtful obituary of Jennel Jaquays - gift link (nonpaywall)

www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/a...
Jennell Jaquays, 67, Dies; Unlocked Fantasy Dungeons for Gamers
She created scenarios with myriad paths for Dungeons & Dragons, levels for video games like Quake II, and art that invited novices to try role-playing games.
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2024 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
IndieCade 2023 is still live on Steam!
store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieCa...
November 14, 2023 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Indiecade’s Night Games continues tonight in downtown LA at the Music Center. Admission is free! www.musiccenter.org/experience-l...
November 11, 2023 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Showing Wobble Sphere in Los Angeles at the Indiecade Night Games this weekend!
November 11, 2023 at 3:14 PM
OFK @indiecade.bsky.social Night Games!!!!!!!
November 11, 2023 at 3:31 AM
I saw Turn it Out with Tiler Peck and Friends, and the third piece, Time Spell, an ensemble devised piece she co-choreographed with Jillian Meyers and Michelle Dorrance is the greatest piece of dance I've ever seen. If you can, please go see it.
November 5, 2023 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Join us today for the IndieCade Festival 2023 Awards!
Pre-show: 10am PDT
Awards Ceremony: 11am PDT
Winners Roundtable: 1pm PT

Watch on Steam: store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieCa...
And Twitch: www.twitch.tv/indiecade
November 4, 2023 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
IndieCade Festival 2023 is here!
Join us for a two-week celebration of independent games, now live on Steam:
store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieCa...
Schedule: www.indiecade.com/festival-202...
November 3, 2023 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Get Off My Lawn - The Get Off My Lawn Team
Live Action Spotlight Nominee
Get Off My Lawn is an alt. controller FPS defense game where your goal is to keep your chair rocking while aiming your hose to spray away neighborhood kids trying to destroy your pristine lawn!
drive.google.com/file/d/13cOc...
October 31, 2023 at 7:23 PM
Carved @ Descanso!!!!!
October 29, 2023 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Puckish - Escape Character
Live Action Spotlight Nominee
In Puckish, Billiard Balls Are People. They have complex hidden relationships, inspired by the emotional tension in 19th Century British literature. On the Mixed Reality tabletop platform TiltFive.
escape-character.com
October 26, 2023 at 8:05 PM
Friends! If you have a moment, my lovely friends at Taralumen Games are doing a little product research. If you have a moment, please fill out this survey to help them out! docs.google.com/forms/d/1XgY...
Survey for CORA by Taralumen Games
Taralumen Games has created this form in order to gather information on the current need and desire for CORA, our flagship game, currently in development. CORA is a visually beautiful, single player, ...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2023 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
(val)iant: or, val's guide to having a broken vag / Cactus Studio
Impact Spotlight Nominee
A narrative game about "vagina problems", such as vaginismus. Play as Val, a nonbinary student struggling with their relationship to their body and struggling with sex.
valsguide.com
October 27, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
The Forest Quartet - Mads & Friends
Impact Spotlight Nominee
The Forest Quartet is a musical meditation. You play as Nina, the deceased singer of the quartet, who must re-motivate her former band members in preparation for a final farewell concert.
bedtime.io/the-forest-q...
October 27, 2023 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Price of Flight - WATERBOX
Systemic Design Spotlight Nominee
Fight, flight, and steal to survive in PRICE OF FLIGHT, the bird-based bloodsport of tomorrow. Aid the failing Avian Resistance, save yourself, or die on live TV in this board game-inspired RPG.
cohost.org/kkdream/tagg...
October 25, 2023 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
We Are OFK - OFK
Audio/Performance/Impact Nominee
Start a band in this dreamy musical journey from indiepop band OFK. Cry, skate, date, & run for your life in 5 interactive music videos, across a heartfelt story of what you risk to chase your dreams.
www.ofk.cool
www.indiecade.com/festival-202...
October 25, 2023 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
Chuffed to share that Wayward Strand has picked up two nominations for INDIECADE 2023.

Narrative, and performance!

Our VO is pretty special, not to mention our VO pipeline (check out the GDC talk about it!)

Anyway…yay :)
October 16, 2023 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Sam Roberts
"We're so pleased that IndieCade recognized #DesperationRPG with a nomination amid a ferocious field of talented designers and exciting games. We're in good - which is to say, weird - company. Thanks to the IndieCade nominating committee and judges." - @jmstar.bsky.social
October 12, 2023 at 10:30 PM