michael carriere
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michael.carriere.org
michael carriere
@michael.carriere.org
170 followers 160 following 1.8K posts
chief beard at @zapdot.com
geek. dad. designer. developer. perfunctory pun factory.

on the infinite road to better!
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michael.carriere.org
Let's get on all those "great games under $10" lists now, amirite?
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · 22d
CIPHER ZERO is under $10 for the Steam Winter Sale!

Happy Holidays from everyone on the team. :)
December 18, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
gamingmistress.com
It'd be cool if ya'll considered CIPHER ZERO (@cipherzerogame.com ) for the following categories!

• Game of the Year
• Best Approachable Game
• Best Challenging Game
• Best Puzzle Design
• Most Innovative Game
• Best Art Direction

I'm still so incredibly proud of this game. 💜
A screenshot of CIPHER ZERO's opening area, Lake, done in a minimalist design and colors. A grey and lonely lake, vague shapes of mountains in the distance, multiple phases of the moon is seen in the grey sky.. Rocks of hard edges jut out of the water's surface, as sunbeams cast themselves over one of the rocks. A green train races across the surface and continues on off screen. A telescope sits in the foreground, aimed out towards the open lake. A solved puzzle from CIPHER ZERO. A 3x3 square grid, missing the center square. A dot sits in the center of it. The left column has a single horizontal dash above it, the right column has two. The center row has a single vertical dash to the left of tie, and the bottom row has two. The bottom left square is lit up green while the bottom right and center right are as well. The background is an upside-down landscape of a farm area, done in shades of green and black to match to green of the puzzle. An incorrectly solved puzzle from CIPHER ZERO. It's a 5x5 squared, grid-like puzzle, done in shades of black, white, grey, and orange. Some of the symbols on the puzzle are lit up with that orange, while parts of the grid is a lighter gray over other darker parts. A screenshot from CIPHER ZERO's City level, done in a minimalist design. A large apartment building sits center of the view, a large blue and faint orange sign with illegible text. Below that is an empty restaurant and bar. A covered train track runs behind it, as more skyscrapers are seen in the background with various billboards.
December 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
easmussen.bsky.social
New trailer for Factory Town 2 just dropped!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEcR...
Factory Town 2: Paradise [Official Trailer]
YouTube video by 82apps
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
terribleposture.bsky.social
We hope you're as excited as we are! Grab Good Boy now! #earlyaccess #indiegame #excited
November 14, 2025 at 3:40 PM
michael.carriere.org
Sometimes, you need to stand your ground.
September 26, 2025 at 7:44 PM
michael.carriere.org
One of the more saddening things that I see with LLM tech is the uncertainty borne from its existence. As if we didn't have enough bullshit to wade through, we now get to suffer the question if something was purely "AI-generated" or not.
September 16, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
cipherzerogame.com
From smoke tests to playtests, accessibility to empathy, QA for CIPHER ZERO was more than just bug-hunting.

Join Emma and Rose as they lift the curtain on hundreds of hours of the care behind CIPHER ZERO.

#GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog

notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/06-whe...
A close up of an office building from CIPHER ZERO's City biome. Three floors are shown, each with their own empty meeting rooms as a couple of trees poke up from the bottom of vision.
September 9, 2025 at 3:54 PM
michael.carriere.org
Home automation is an absolutely wonderful rabbit hole to fall into. Sure, I can hit lightswitches myself, but to have my house just automatically light (and dim) things based on preference, time, and occupancy is downright magical.
September 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
cipherzerogame.com
We're in the Rules Discovery Games Bundle!

Get 20% off on:
🧩 Strange Jigsaws (@flebpuzzles.bsky.social)
🔳 LOK Digital (@letibus.bsky.social)
🔲 CIPHER ZERO (@cipherzerogame.com)
🪨 Linelith (@cwpat.me)

zpdt.co/RDGBundle202

#GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDev
An image of four game splashes: CIPHER ZERO, LOK Digital, Strange Jigsaws, and Linelith
August 29, 2025 at 6:34 PM
michael.carriere.org
Just spent the week away for a much needed break. Missed a lot of the comforts of home, including my keyboard. 🤓
August 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
thinkygames.com
This abstract logic puzzle game is a lot of fun and has very pretty art!
Discover the logic puzzle rules in an abstract industrial world (CIPHER ZERO)
CIPHER ZERO is certainly a very pretty implementation of abstract logic puzzles! It's really nice to see games like this and Nurikabe World being made, where they don't necessarily try to do something *bigger* than just logic puzzles (like Taiji or The Witness), but they do aim to make them really p
www.youtube.com
August 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
geekdadgamer.bsky.social
🎉LUDOCENE LAUNCHED 🎉

So excited (and nervous) to send our game-finder into the world.

Ludocene.com

If you want a better way to find amazing games that rewards experts and is in the hands of players, this is our shot.

Thank you to the 1000's backers and supporters.This is just the beginning.
August 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by michael carriere
cipherzerogame.com
Join Annie (@nyanfood.bsky.social) and Saul (@saulamander.bsky.social) in how they brought the moon — a constant, ever-shifting presence during your journey — to life in the sky above CIPHER ZERO's worlds.

notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/05-fra...

#GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog
A cropped screenshot from CIPHER ZERO's Suburb's level, done in minimalist designs, soft colors, and paper-like textures. An elevated, covered train track runs across the bottom, a couple of squared off tree tops in front, various shades of green. The sky is a smattering of green, blue, pink, orange, and golds. A waxing moon is in the center of the sky, a geometric glitch haze around it.
August 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
michael.carriere.org
I know they say don't meet your heroes, but maybe you can send them Steam keys?
July 31, 2025 at 7:31 PM
michael.carriere.org
Wrote some short thoughts and a little more context around the development of CIPHER ZERO.

I hope you read it!
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · Jul 31
Against a wealth of advice to chase fads and virality, we set out to create a highly-polished experience that invisibly led a player through a challenging, solitary experience.

notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/04-we-...

#GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog
A wide screenshot from CIPHER ZERO. A telescope sits in a barren area, a greyed out bicycle nearby it, as well as squared off ruins. The sky is littered with stars as a star trail runs along the left hand side. In the center of the sky is the Earth, the telescope pointed at it.
July 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
cipherzerogame.com
A huge thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to leave a review for CIPHER ZERO! We're sitting at Very Positive on Steam thanks to you!

If you’ve played but haven’t left a review yet, we’d love to know what you thought!

zpdt.co/playcz

#CipherZero #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX
A yellow fire hydrant in the middle of a grey, rocky, barren area, with tiny star flower plants nearby it. A dark starry sky is seen in the back, the sides are littered with glowing thumbs up, and across the top center says "THANK YOU!"
July 30, 2025 at 5:31 PM
michael.carriere.org
Ian and Will did such a great job with this system. We set a high bar for what we wanted to achieve and I'm really proud of what came out of their work.
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · Jul 28
"Were we overly-ambitious? For sure. [...] We wanted our soundtrack to be dynamic in a unique way... and I think we succeeded."

Join Ian in how he wove the sounds of CIPHER ZERO into its dynamic score.

notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/03-ass...

#GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog
A screenshot from CIPHER ZERO done in minimal style, a varied color palette, and layered in textures. Inside a train, a booth's table is littered with random objects, such as a lava lamp, a camera with film next to it, an open CD players, an old school monitor with blue text. In the background, out the window, the background of a city and its pier can be seen.
July 28, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by michael carriere
sandcastlesstudio.bsky.social
And so on with more than 120 upgrade cards.

#indiegames #gamedev
July 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
michael.carriere.org
Really wanted to launch with this, but I’ll take two days post-launch. :)
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · Jul 24
CIPHER ZERO is now Steam Deck Verified ✅

Take your logic puzzles on the go! No settings to tweak, just pure brain-bending bliss.

🎮 zpdt.co/playcz

#SolveForX #GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDev
Screenshot of Steam Deck email: Deck Compatibility status: Verified Four icons are below with labels: A dotted circle with a questions mark labeled Unknown A grey circle with a line through it labeled Unsupported A yellow circle with an i in it labeled Playable A green circle with a checkmark in it labeled Verified
July 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
michael.carriere.org
Let's do this. :)
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · Jul 22
A minimalist logic game. Can you solve for 𝒙?

❓ Infer the rules of each glyph without hints
🧠 Over 300 handcrafted across evolving lands
🎶 Chill, reactive soundtrack as you play

CIPHER ZERO. Out Now.

zpdt.co/playcz

#PlayCipherZero #GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX
July 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
michael.carriere.org
It is wild to see how releasing a game has changed in the last 15 years. So much fake content creators and curators to wade through. For smaller devs, it's a burden of labor you must endure as you try to identify real folks who are going to help spread awareness for your title.
July 22, 2025 at 12:43 PM
michael.carriere.org
Even after working on this project over the last five years, it's a blast to read about. :)
cipherzerogame.com CIPHER ZERO @cipherzerogame.com · Jul 18
"There are two truths we must face when we look at nostalgia: first, that memories aren’t necessarily identical to reality; and second, most of us firmly believe that it is." -- @nyanfood.bsky.social

notes.cipherzerogame.com/posts/01-dra...

#GameDev #IndieDev #SolveForX #DevLog
A screenshot from CIPHER ZERO of the Road section, done in minimalist colors and designs. A road crosses the screen from left to right, open dumpsters in the foreground along a chain link fence. An elevated train platform can be seen behind the road, as well as an elevated highway, lined with street lights.
July 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
michael.carriere.org
The weeks leading up to launch *could* be a stressful time but this team is so amazing, I've been getting more relaxed each day.

There's no question that we're doing our damnedest to give CIPHER ZERO the best shot it can get by the time it goes live. ❤️
July 9, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by michael carriere
nyanfood.bsky.social
Hello #PortfolioDay
I'm a game dev by day, potato mom by night, and I squeeze in music and art when I can

My studio's game @cipherzerogame.com will be coming out on July 22!

I worked on the visuals, some UI, some music
Please check us out and wishlist
store.steampowered.com/app/1332180/...
July 8, 2025 at 9:32 PM