Brenden
@brendengibbons.bsky.social
Senior Game & Narrative Designer (Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Say No! More, Minute of Islands, Last Day of June, etc) - He/Him - Avatar by Viv Schwarz
Portfolio: brendengibbons.me
Portfolio: brendengibbons.me
Oh my god they're playing BEYBLADES at Gamescom??
August 22, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Oh my god they're playing BEYBLADES at Gamescom??
If you're going to #Devcom or #Gamescom '25, there's train construction work that could affect you.
If you're staying in Düsseldorf, the S6 would've been one of the trains you'd take straight to the conference. Now, it's endstation is Köln Mülheim and you'll need to get an additional tram.
If you're staying in Düsseldorf, the S6 would've been one of the trains you'd take straight to the conference. Now, it's endstation is Köln Mülheim and you'll need to get an additional tram.
August 3, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Oddsparks 1.0 is out on PS5 & Xbox Series! 🥳
🟢 www.xbox.com/en-US/games/...
🟦 store.playstation.com/en-us/produc...
and it'll be out on PC at May 27th, 7pm Central European Summer Time!
⬛ store.steampowered.com/app/1817800/...
🟢 www.xbox.com/en-US/games/...
🟦 store.playstation.com/en-us/produc...
and it'll be out on PC at May 27th, 7pm Central European Summer Time!
⬛ store.steampowered.com/app/1817800/...
May 27, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Oddsparks 1.0 is out on PS5 & Xbox Series! 🥳
🟢 www.xbox.com/en-US/games/...
🟦 store.playstation.com/en-us/produc...
and it'll be out on PC at May 27th, 7pm Central European Summer Time!
⬛ store.steampowered.com/app/1817800/...
🟢 www.xbox.com/en-US/games/...
🟦 store.playstation.com/en-us/produc...
and it'll be out on PC at May 27th, 7pm Central European Summer Time!
⬛ store.steampowered.com/app/1817800/...
We've worked hard on making the genre approachable and accessible without dumbing it down. Like, we spent a lot of time making our Logic tools understandable, and we see folks talking about using it with their kids!
Use our game to teach yourself or your kids how an OR gate works!
Use our game to teach yourself or your kids how an OR gate works!
May 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM
We've worked hard on making the genre approachable and accessible without dumbing it down. Like, we spent a lot of time making our Logic tools understandable, and we see folks talking about using it with their kids!
Use our game to teach yourself or your kids how an OR gate works!
Use our game to teach yourself or your kids how an OR gate works!
We love this subgenre and we wanted to crack it open for people. Stardew Valley can be calm and cozy AND get people to pull open a spreadsheet to rush year 1 community center. We wanted to toe the same line and from the reviews, I think we did pretty well, especially since a few has 500+ hours!
May 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM
We love this subgenre and we wanted to crack it open for people. Stardew Valley can be calm and cozy AND get people to pull open a spreadsheet to rush year 1 community center. We wanted to toe the same line and from the reviews, I think we did pretty well, especially since a few has 500+ hours!
Yeah, this is an occupational hazard of being a game designer.
December 18, 2024 at 10:52 PM
Yeah, this is an occupational hazard of being a game designer.
The World Ends With You on the DS also made great use of unusual hardware. It was a fantastic JRPG that asked you to juggle two fights with different controls. The writing was a bit cheesy but I loved the combat system and its thematic focus on self-expression throughout the story and mechanics.
October 26, 2024 at 5:37 PM
The World Ends With You on the DS also made great use of unusual hardware. It was a fantastic JRPG that asked you to juggle two fights with different controls. The writing was a bit cheesy but I loved the combat system and its thematic focus on self-expression throughout the story and mechanics.
I love games with weird hardware and interactions. Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand is a GBA game where you're a vampire hunter and the cartridge has a solar sensor and you being in the sun powers up your solar gun.
It was SO COOL.
It was SO COOL.
October 26, 2024 at 5:23 PM
I love games with weird hardware and interactions. Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand is a GBA game where you're a vampire hunter and the cartridge has a solar sensor and you being in the sun powers up your solar gun.
It was SO COOL.
It was SO COOL.
I like Roguelikes but folks nowadays think that means Hades. Hades is great, but I mean Berlin-Interpretation, Was-Once-Only-Available-In-ASCII, "games like Rogue" roguelikes such as Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup for opaque, turn-based nonsense.
Yes, I am planning to pick up Caves of Qud 1.0.
Yes, I am planning to pick up Caves of Qud 1.0.
October 26, 2024 at 5:15 PM
I like Roguelikes but folks nowadays think that means Hades. Hades is great, but I mean Berlin-Interpretation, Was-Once-Only-Available-In-ASCII, "games like Rogue" roguelikes such as Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup for opaque, turn-based nonsense.
Yes, I am planning to pick up Caves of Qud 1.0.
Yes, I am planning to pick up Caves of Qud 1.0.
I play a lot on my phone, and atm it's Balatro but everyone knows about Balatro.
Slice & Dice is a dice-based roguelike where every character and enemy has a dice with all their abilities. The way that this game explores the depths of its own systems to absurd endings is incredible. It feels great.
Slice & Dice is a dice-based roguelike where every character and enemy has a dice with all their abilities. The way that this game explores the depths of its own systems to absurd endings is incredible. It feels great.
October 26, 2024 at 4:02 PM
I play a lot on my phone, and atm it's Balatro but everyone knows about Balatro.
Slice & Dice is a dice-based roguelike where every character and enemy has a dice with all their abilities. The way that this game explores the depths of its own systems to absurd endings is incredible. It feels great.
Slice & Dice is a dice-based roguelike where every character and enemy has a dice with all their abilities. The way that this game explores the depths of its own systems to absurd endings is incredible. It feels great.
Oxygen Not Included is a base building game where you task little guys into making an asteroid into a comfy home.
It tickles my brain the right way and gives me lots of "aah!" moments with its interlocking systems, and then everyone dies due to overheating. Or germs. Or starvation. Rip little guys.
It tickles my brain the right way and gives me lots of "aah!" moments with its interlocking systems, and then everyone dies due to overheating. Or germs. Or starvation. Rip little guys.
October 26, 2024 at 3:23 PM
Oxygen Not Included is a base building game where you task little guys into making an asteroid into a comfy home.
It tickles my brain the right way and gives me lots of "aah!" moments with its interlocking systems, and then everyone dies due to overheating. Or germs. Or starvation. Rip little guys.
It tickles my brain the right way and gives me lots of "aah!" moments with its interlocking systems, and then everyone dies due to overheating. Or germs. Or starvation. Rip little guys.
Jet Set Radio was pretty formative for me.
The amazing OST, the cel shaded style, the world and story felt like a holistic vision that showed what videogames could be.
The controls are now dated though. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear Bomb Rush Cyberpunk delivered on being a modern JSR.
The amazing OST, the cel shaded style, the world and story felt like a holistic vision that showed what videogames could be.
The controls are now dated though. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear Bomb Rush Cyberpunk delivered on being a modern JSR.
October 26, 2024 at 3:06 PM
Jet Set Radio was pretty formative for me.
The amazing OST, the cel shaded style, the world and story felt like a holistic vision that showed what videogames could be.
The controls are now dated though. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear Bomb Rush Cyberpunk delivered on being a modern JSR.
The amazing OST, the cel shaded style, the world and story felt like a holistic vision that showed what videogames could be.
The controls are now dated though. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear Bomb Rush Cyberpunk delivered on being a modern JSR.
Final Profit: A Shop RPG is a really interesting exploration of the non-combat parts of JRPGs. You dethroned yourself from being queen to run shops and climb up the corporate ladder to destroy capitalism from the inside.
It's made with love and care, with a lot of depth. Try the demo!
It's made with love and care, with a lot of depth. Try the demo!
October 26, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Final Profit: A Shop RPG is a really interesting exploration of the non-combat parts of JRPGs. You dethroned yourself from being queen to run shops and climb up the corporate ladder to destroy capitalism from the inside.
It's made with love and care, with a lot of depth. Try the demo!
It's made with love and care, with a lot of depth. Try the demo!
Writing good teen dialogue is difficult. You have to flip between awkward anxiety and earnest exuberance, toe that line where nothing and everything matters.
Butterfly Soup knocks it out of the park. It's sweet, silly, queer, and can be played in an afternoon.
Butterfly Soup knocks it out of the park. It's sweet, silly, queer, and can be played in an afternoon.
October 26, 2024 at 2:39 PM
Writing good teen dialogue is difficult. You have to flip between awkward anxiety and earnest exuberance, toe that line where nothing and everything matters.
Butterfly Soup knocks it out of the park. It's sweet, silly, queer, and can be played in an afternoon.
Butterfly Soup knocks it out of the park. It's sweet, silly, queer, and can be played in an afternoon.
I love short games! No Case Should Remain Unsolved is a detective game where you're going through transcriptions of conversations for a cold case. You're figuring out who says who, connecting conversations with each other for about two-three hours as you uncover the mystery of a missing child.
October 26, 2024 at 11:13 AM
I love short games! No Case Should Remain Unsolved is a detective game where you're going through transcriptions of conversations for a cold case. You're figuring out who says who, connecting conversations with each other for about two-three hours as you uncover the mystery of a missing child.
Tactical Breach Wizards is a well executed tactics game with great narrative. The game itself is snappy, the character writing is funny and earnest. Plus you get to help overthrow a magical theocracy.
The whole package is great, approachable for those new to the genre and great for tactics fans.
The whole package is great, approachable for those new to the genre and great for tactics fans.
October 26, 2024 at 10:46 AM
Tactical Breach Wizards is a well executed tactics game with great narrative. The game itself is snappy, the character writing is funny and earnest. Plus you get to help overthrow a magical theocracy.
The whole package is great, approachable for those new to the genre and great for tactics fans.
The whole package is great, approachable for those new to the genre and great for tactics fans.
Card Survival: Tropical Island does what it says on the tin, it's a survival game abstracted to cards where you take care of unnecessarily realistic stats like stool liquidity or coconut satiation.
If you like discovering combinations in interlocking systems, look past the art and try the demo.
If you like discovering combinations in interlocking systems, look past the art and try the demo.
October 26, 2024 at 10:24 AM
Card Survival: Tropical Island does what it says on the tin, it's a survival game abstracted to cards where you take care of unnecessarily realistic stats like stool liquidity or coconut satiation.
If you like discovering combinations in interlocking systems, look past the art and try the demo.
If you like discovering combinations in interlocking systems, look past the art and try the demo.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a dance pop album turned into a rhythm video game. It oozes style, and is ultimately a sweet story about self acceptance and forgiveness.
In general, Simogo makes a bunch of great games, but I'll save the deep cuts for later.
In general, Simogo makes a bunch of great games, but I'll save the deep cuts for later.
October 26, 2024 at 9:53 AM
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a dance pop album turned into a rhythm video game. It oozes style, and is ultimately a sweet story about self acceptance and forgiveness.
In general, Simogo makes a bunch of great games, but I'll save the deep cuts for later.
In general, Simogo makes a bunch of great games, but I'll save the deep cuts for later.
It's the weekend, so I have some time if you want to know what weird games I like.
October 26, 2024 at 9:32 AM
It's the weekend, so I have some time if you want to know what weird games I like.
Currently at the "pepe silvia" phase of designing systems, where I'm staring at my miro board and chewing over all the disparate pieces of information and how the building costs and the quests and unlocks and the loot drops and the recipes and new features all meld into a single experience.
October 24, 2024 at 11:18 AM
Currently at the "pepe silvia" phase of designing systems, where I'm staring at my miro board and chewing over all the disparate pieces of information and how the building costs and the quests and unlocks and the loot drops and the recipes and new features all meld into a single experience.
playing Nekoatsume 2 on my phone and irl
October 23, 2024 at 7:03 AM
playing Nekoatsume 2 on my phone and irl
Hey, I'm Brenden. I'm a queer British Indonesian Game & Narrative Designer for #videogame and #TTRPG!
My day job is Lead Game Designer and in my work, I love to make people feel, think, and be happy. I love to cook and I have two cats.
My #gamedev portfolio's at www.brendengibbons.me
My day job is Lead Game Designer and in my work, I love to make people feel, think, and be happy. I love to cook and I have two cats.
My #gamedev portfolio's at www.brendengibbons.me
October 20, 2024 at 8:20 AM
Hey, I'm Brenden. I'm a queer British Indonesian Game & Narrative Designer for #videogame and #TTRPG!
My day job is Lead Game Designer and in my work, I love to make people feel, think, and be happy. I love to cook and I have two cats.
My #gamedev portfolio's at www.brendengibbons.me
My day job is Lead Game Designer and in my work, I love to make people feel, think, and be happy. I love to cook and I have two cats.
My #gamedev portfolio's at www.brendengibbons.me
Since I think I'm about to lurk more here, you can get a few more cat photos.
October 18, 2024 at 10:22 AM
Since I think I'm about to lurk more here, you can get a few more cat photos.
Inexorably tired of social media and performing pieces of my life for a potentially public audience, so I'm mostly lurking, but if you know me personally:
I'm doing well. I'm living in Cologne and I have two cats now, they're adorable, look at them.
I'm doing well. I'm living in Cologne and I have two cats now, they're adorable, look at them.
July 29, 2023 at 6:05 AM
Inexorably tired of social media and performing pieces of my life for a potentially public audience, so I'm mostly lurking, but if you know me personally:
I'm doing well. I'm living in Cologne and I have two cats now, they're adorable, look at them.
I'm doing well. I'm living in Cologne and I have two cats now, they're adorable, look at them.