Dylan Ilvento
@dylanilvento.com
Game dev working on cool things at @ward-games.com | he/him | dylan@ward-games.com
Trans Rights 🏳️⚧️ & Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Trans Rights 🏳️⚧️ & Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Pinned
Dylan Ilvento
@dylanilvento.com
· Dec 4
Hey Bluesky! It’s Ward Games, your favorite indie game studio. If you’re following us elsewhere across the ‘Net, you know we’re working on a pretty cool game: Project Lexa, a sci-fi mystery where you explore a planet where everything is written in an alien language! ward-games.com/post/what-th...
What the Heck Have We Been Working On?
A surprise update!
ward-games.com
Hello, Bluesky followers! In case you didn’t know, I’m making a game with a cool buncha folks and we just started talking about it on Bluesky. You should follow our studio account and check out the other devs working on it! It’s all in this handy dandy thread below 👇
Pip Boy? More like Drip Boy.
December 30, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Pip Boy? More like Drip Boy.
Replaying Pokemon Crystal on my Analogue Pocket and realizing how little that game holds your hand when it comes to figuring out where to go next. You get some signposting and that’s it. Forgot that I played these games pretty much with a strategy guide next to me the whole time.
December 29, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Replaying Pokemon Crystal on my Analogue Pocket and realizing how little that game holds your hand when it comes to figuring out where to go next. You get some signposting and that’s it. Forgot that I played these games pretty much with a strategy guide next to me the whole time.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
In Zelda 2, a woman appears in each town, beckoning Link into her home. They disappear inside and Link's health begins to refill.
One reddit user recently asked if this scene was *intentionally* suggestive. While that seems very unlikely, I thought I'd look into it.
One reddit user recently asked if this scene was *intentionally* suggestive. While that seems very unlikely, I thought I'd look into it.
December 28, 2025 at 5:49 AM
In Zelda 2, a woman appears in each town, beckoning Link into her home. They disappear inside and Link's health begins to refill.
One reddit user recently asked if this scene was *intentionally* suggestive. While that seems very unlikely, I thought I'd look into it.
One reddit user recently asked if this scene was *intentionally* suggestive. While that seems very unlikely, I thought I'd look into it.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
[smash brothers announcer voice] MICHAEL CLAYTON
[tinny voice from wiimote] ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵐᶦʳᵃᶜˡᵉ ʷᵒʳᵏᵉʳ ᴵ’ᵐ ᵃ ʲᵃⁿᶦᵗᵒʳ
[tinny voice from wiimote] ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵐᶦʳᵃᶜˡᵉ ʷᵒʳᵏᵉʳ ᴵ’ᵐ ᵃ ʲᵃⁿᶦᵗᵒʳ
December 28, 2025 at 3:33 AM
[smash brothers announcer voice] MICHAEL CLAYTON
[tinny voice from wiimote] ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵐᶦʳᵃᶜˡᵉ ʷᵒʳᵏᵉʳ ᴵ’ᵐ ᵃ ʲᵃⁿᶦᵗᵒʳ
[tinny voice from wiimote] ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵐᶦʳᵃᶜˡᵉ ʷᵒʳᵏᵉʳ ᴵ’ᵐ ᵃ ʲᵃⁿᶦᵗᵒʳ
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
Dragged myself out of bed to go to the gym on the day before *and* the day after Christmas. Please clap.
December 26, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Dragged myself out of bed to go to the gym on the day before *and* the day after Christmas. Please clap.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
I drew so many things in 2025! These are just from my series of riso prints that are all the same 3 colors. I also did a bunch of stuff for Mighty Nein, Fortnite, and other cool things TBA!
Hoping for big things in 2026!
#ArtvsArtist2025
Hoping for big things in 2026!
#ArtvsArtist2025
December 8, 2025 at 12:25 AM
I drew so many things in 2025! These are just from my series of riso prints that are all the same 3 colors. I also did a bunch of stuff for Mighty Nein, Fortnite, and other cool things TBA!
Hoping for big things in 2026!
#ArtvsArtist2025
Hoping for big things in 2026!
#ArtvsArtist2025
This Christmas Eve is getting turnt, y’all.
December 24, 2025 at 10:38 PM
This Christmas Eve is getting turnt, y’all.
I'm sure a lot of folks' capacity for rage has been overflowing for a while now, but this is some truly heinous shit that you gotta look at. I think those responsible for perpetuating this, as well as those who tried to kill this story, don't deserve a moment of peace for the rest of their lives
December 23, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I'm sure a lot of folks' capacity for rage has been overflowing for a while now, but this is some truly heinous shit that you gotta look at. I think those responsible for perpetuating this, as well as those who tried to kill this story, don't deserve a moment of peace for the rest of their lives
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
I mean the more interesting conversation (to me) isn't that Bari Weiss isn't good at journalism, it's that she's not very good at agitprop, the REAL role she was hired for
December 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I mean the more interesting conversation (to me) isn't that Bari Weiss isn't good at journalism, it's that she's not very good at agitprop, the REAL role she was hired for
When Christopher Nolan uses The Font™ 😩👌
December 22, 2025 at 10:10 PM
When Christopher Nolan uses The Font™ 😩👌
I want to do a write-up on the games I enjoyed the most this year and put it on the Ward Games site, but also I don't want to stress out about editing a piece of writing this close to the end of the year - a dilemma.
December 22, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I want to do a write-up on the games I enjoyed the most this year and put it on the Ward Games site, but also I don't want to stress out about editing a piece of writing this close to the end of the year - a dilemma.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
So much of games history has been framed as toy nostalgia by default, often even below the iceberg tips of pop culture. Art history through a lens of consumption as opposed to one of creation. But the history of our craft is so much larger than whatever I grew up with.
one of my struggles w aqualounge is to connect the broader world to the former; it is culturally rich and the video game equivalent of the criterion closet, but the world outside sees "retro", thinks of the latter group, and immediately turns away. retro streams continue to be my least attended
the retro game community is basically divided into two factions: those who are into obscurities or arty indie games, and the ones who just want to relive childhood and have youtube channels where they stand in front of their game collections and complain. this is obviously directed at the latter
December 21, 2025 at 8:45 PM
So much of games history has been framed as toy nostalgia by default, often even below the iceberg tips of pop culture. Art history through a lens of consumption as opposed to one of creation. But the history of our craft is so much larger than whatever I grew up with.
Love seeing Jake Paul's mandible get pushed into a whole separate time zone.
December 20, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Love seeing Jake Paul's mandible get pushed into a whole separate time zone.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
The Indie Game Awards stream was very good indeed.
December 19, 2025 at 1:12 AM
The Indie Game Awards stream was very good indeed.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
The Xbox Boycott (Still) Matters
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
I recently traveled to Middenmeer in North Holland to visit a data centre belonging to Microsoft.
These buildings, we now know thanks to reporting from the Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, were used by the IDF to store **hundreds of millions** of phone calls made by the people of Palestine.
These buildings, we now know thanks to reporting from the Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, were used by the IDF to store **hundreds of millions** of phone calls made by the people of Palestine.
December 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I recently traveled to Middenmeer in North Holland to visit a data centre belonging to Microsoft.
These buildings, we now know thanks to reporting from the Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, were used by the IDF to store **hundreds of millions** of phone calls made by the people of Palestine.
These buildings, we now know thanks to reporting from the Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, were used by the IDF to store **hundreds of millions** of phone calls made by the people of Palestine.
When you don't do a video game podcast anymore, you gotta think real hard about what you played this year, and what stuff from *that* was *new* in 2025.
I like that Backloggd's implementation for personal GOTY lists. This is where my head's at right now for it.
I like that Backloggd's implementation for personal GOTY lists. This is where my head's at right now for it.
December 17, 2025 at 5:23 PM
When you don't do a video game podcast anymore, you gotta think real hard about what you played this year, and what stuff from *that* was *new* in 2025.
I like that Backloggd's implementation for personal GOTY lists. This is where my head's at right now for it.
I like that Backloggd's implementation for personal GOTY lists. This is where my head's at right now for it.
Thinking about character "chirps" — those sound effects in games that imply characters talking without being full-on voice acting — and do people have a favorite version of those in a game? I think memorable ones that pop in my head are Undertale, Celeste, and Animal Crossing.
December 17, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Thinking about character "chirps" — those sound effects in games that imply characters talking without being full-on voice acting — and do people have a favorite version of those in a game? I think memorable ones that pop in my head are Undertale, Celeste, and Animal Crossing.
Reposted by Dylan Ilvento
*tearfully looking up at a portrait of the guy who illegally sold weapons to Iran and used to profits to fund right-wing death squads in Nicaragua*
The presidency once served as a reminder of our common humanity. Ronald Reagan described its purpose as building "a nation composed of good and decent people."
December 17, 2025 at 1:11 AM
*tearfully looking up at a portrait of the guy who illegally sold weapons to Iran and used to profits to fund right-wing death squads in Nicaragua*