Elissa
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elissablack.com
Elissa
@elissablack.com
Makes games, shoots photos, does other stuff, etc. 🏳️‍🌈🧛🏻‍♀️ she/her

Currently: Death by Scrolling (Out October 28th on PC!), Deck & Conn, Dungeons of Freeport.

The lesbian roadkill of the information superhighway.
Pinned
Death by Scrolling, my game with @grumpygamer.com, is out! It’s a vertically scrolling arcade roguelite with a sense of humour. Grab it on PC now - with console coming soon!
Save 10% on Death by Scrolling on Steam
Welcome to Purgatory, inc. now under new management! Death by Scrolling is a rogue-like vertically scrolling RPG where you kill enemies, collect gold, and avoid the Reaper long enough to pay the Ferry...
store.steampowered.com
Blog: Notes on Film 1 - Sorcerer (1977) and The Thin Red Line (1998)
Notes on Film 1 - Into the Jungles
Note: Yes, I know I wrote a complaint about ’everyone reviewing things’, and especially how ‘reviewing’ things meant I stopped enjoying them. I’m starting a new little series here, not to review films...
goodnameforablog.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Elissa
regular content updates for years because that is what the gamers who bought it for $5 in a sale deserve.
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Woke up early, so wrote a blog post.

"Undead Game Genres" - on how lots of game sub-genres long-dormant have a second life now, but not GTA-like games...
Undead Game Genres
Around the time I was pushing 18-20 years old, adventure games died. RIP adventure games. Gone forever, never to come back except in Germany, etc, etc. I wasn’t particularly upset by this at the time,...
goodnameforablog.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Had a nightmare last night about being stuck in a dark trailer with Happy Healthy Harold.

Life Education Australia and the Australian education systems have a LOT to answer for.
November 10, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Ohh THAT'S what I've been doing wrong...
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Decided which cameras to bring for my trip this weekend.

Leica M5, the Cadillac of Rangefinders, and my new Fujifilm X-E5.
November 7, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Filling out the GDC State of the Game Industry survey...

gdconf.typeform.com/SOTI26
November 5, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Elissa
Dead Static Drive already got me going oh hell no
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Elissa
HEY, you know what? You could literally be playing DEAD STATIC DRIVE right now. It is out. NOW.

store.steampowered.com/app/1166940/...
Dead Static Drive on Steam
Dead Static Drive is Grand Theft Cthulhu. An indie survival-horror game following a nightmarish road trip across a 1980s Americana. Evade police. Equip yourself and those close to you, and follow your...
store.steampowered.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Elissa
Finally, our love letter to management sim games is here 💚

Run your dream cosy tavern. Decorate every corner. Experience a witty RPG full of choices. Manage all the details... and the chaos.

Tavern Keeper is OUT NOW on Steam Early Access! 🍻
November 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Life can be exhausting. I feel like we should be able to pause it briefly. Y'know, just take a little break away from existence and pop back in later after some tea.
November 3, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Lukewarm take: one of the best deliveries of the feeling of “exhausted from dealing with bureaucracy” on film is Han Solo saying “I’m tryin’ to reach Lando Calrissian” in Empire Strikes Back.
November 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Welcome to Monday.

Adding banking establishments to Dungeons of Freeport. Even in video games, finance will fuck you.

#GameDev #IndieDev #Roguelike
November 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Organising a game dev meeting and the engine coder is like "Any time is good for me... I'm actually not sure I follow any mundane rules of time anymore."

This could be basically any coder I know.
November 2, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Y'know how in games we call things Roguelikes or whatever? Should do that with movies.

Like, "Ballers is an Entouragelike."
November 2, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Any Austin analysed all the ways the mainline GTA games get airports wrong. [33m]

It's very funny.
Are Grand Theft Auto's Airports Realistic?
YouTube video by Any Austin
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Breaking the silence of an early Sunday morning, echoing around the courtyard of a neighbouring apartment building, come the fetid screechings of AM talk-back radio.

I've heard things no woman should hear.
November 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I partied with some Italian women last night, and tragically am now dead. Any illusion of life, such as making games, taking photos, or shitposting, is merely a particularly cunning ruse on behalf of my very hung-over ghost.
October 31, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Happy Halloween, mothafuckas. I look the same as every other day of the year.
October 31, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Elissa
the Jennifer's Body 2 we need
October 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
For anyone playing Death by Scrolling on Steam Deck and finding stutters... we can confirm the stutters didn't happen on old Steam OS versions. JUST on the new OS version that came out the day of our lunch. We're trying to figure out the problem now with Valve.

*sigh*
October 30, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Random woman: "I love your halloween outfit!"
Me: "Oh that's right it's halloween."

The ONE day of the year I fit in, and I don't like it.
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Reposted by Elissa
removing straight as an option is peak game design and i will NOT be clarifying
some people asked us if our game is LGBT+ friendly but no one's asking if it's straight friendly 🤔

#datingsim #lgbt #indiegamedev #indiegame #gamedev #indiegames
October 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Elissa
when Tom Holland and Zendaya get married, he should take her last name and become Tom
October 29, 2025 at 11:22 PM
"May you be forced to spend time on the Steam discussion forums." -- ancient game dev curse
October 29, 2025 at 12:16 AM