Joseph Mansfield
@josephmansfield.uk
I play, make, and share thinky games!
🤔 Sharing great games at @thinkygames.com
🧩 Puzzle playthroughs on https://www.youtube.com/@JoePlaysPuzzleGames
https://josephmansfield.uk/
🏴 Edinburgh
🤔 Sharing great games at @thinkygames.com
🧩 Puzzle playthroughs on https://www.youtube.com/@JoePlaysPuzzleGames
https://josephmansfield.uk/
🏴 Edinburgh
I feel like another article is brewing, haha.
So, IMO:
Very metroidbrainia: Toki Tori 2, Outer Wilds (+Echoes of the Eye), The Witness, Lingo.
Semi metroidbrainia: Tunic, A Monster's Expedition, Animal Well, Full Bore, Leap Year.
Not metroidbrainia: Obra Dinn, Roottrees, Golden Idol, Lorelei, Chants of Sennaar.
Very metroidbrainia: Toki Tori 2, Outer Wilds (+Echoes of the Eye), The Witness, Lingo.
Semi metroidbrainia: Tunic, A Monster's Expedition, Animal Well, Full Bore, Leap Year.
Not metroidbrainia: Obra Dinn, Roottrees, Golden Idol, Lorelei, Chants of Sennaar.
November 13, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I feel like another article is brewing, haha.
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
How do you test a game like Blue Prince that goes so deep and refuses to be predictable? Tonda Ros talks about finding playtesters and watching over 2,000 hours of playtest footage!
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
Testing Blue Prince - Tonda Ros (ThinkyCon 2025)
Tonda Ros joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Testing Blue Prince"
Talk description: How do you test a game that refuses to be predictable? This talk explores the unique hurdles of playtesting a title defined by extreme variance, and presents the unorthodox tools, and wildly impractica
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
How do you test a game like Blue Prince that goes so deep and refuses to be predictable? Tonda Ros talks about finding playtesters and watching over 2,000 hours of playtest footage!
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
In just a few minutes, we'll be streaming A Case of Fraud, The Apothecary of Trubiz, Rhombus, and The Farmer Was Replaced!
Come take a look! twitch.tv/thinkygames
Come take a look! twitch.tv/thinkygames
November 13, 2025 at 2:56 PM
In just a few minutes, we'll be streaming A Case of Fraud, The Apothecary of Trubiz, Rhombus, and The Farmer Was Replaced!
Come take a look! twitch.tv/thinkygames
Come take a look! twitch.tv/thinkygames
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
What can Hungarian mathematicians teach us about game development? Levente Bodnár and Zsombor Fehér answer this question and provide a few puzzles for the audience to solve as well!
Lessons from Hungarian Maths Education - Levente Bodnár and Zsombor Fehér (ThinkyCon 2025)
Levente Bodnár and Zsombor Fehér join us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Designing for Discovery - Lessons from Hungarian Maths Education"
Talk description: Mathematics teachers have used discovery-based methods for decades, long before it became a design philosophy in puzzle games. Drawing
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 5:58 PM
What can Hungarian mathematicians teach us about game development? Levente Bodnár and Zsombor Fehér answer this question and provide a few puzzles for the audience to solve as well!
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Listen to some of the beautiful music in Chants of Sennaar and hear Thomas Brunet tell the story of how it was composed to blend in with the vibrant world!
@thomasbrunet.fr
@thomasbrunet.fr
Composing Music for Chants Of Sennaar - Thomas Brunet (ThinkyCon 2025)
@ThomasBrunetMusic joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Composing Music for Chants Of Sennaar: The Soundtrack of Storytelling Puzzles"
Talk description: I will talk about the writing process behind the music of Chants Of Sennaar, what the constraints were, how we got to work together a
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Listen to some of the beautiful music in Chants of Sennaar and hear Thomas Brunet tell the story of how it was composed to blend in with the vibrant world!
@thomasbrunet.fr
@thomasbrunet.fr
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Developer of Bee Magic and N Step Steve, Ethan Clark, gave a multipurpose talk about making multipurpose puzzles!
@ethanclark.bsky.social
@ethanclark.bsky.social
Making Multi Purpose Puzzles - Ethan Clark (ThinkyCon 2025)
Ethan Clark joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Making Multi Purpose Puzzles"
Talk description: It's hard enough making a puzzle that does one thing. How do you design a puzzle that does multiple things? We'll talk about puzzles with multiple solutions, puzzles with multiple emotional
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Developer of Bee Magic and N Step Steve, Ethan Clark, gave a multipurpose talk about making multipurpose puzzles!
@ethanclark.bsky.social
@ethanclark.bsky.social
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Are real languages too complex to design a game around? Daria Jerjomina talks about the challenges involved in designing The Land Forgotten!
Designing Puzzles Based on Real Languages - Daria Jerjomina (ThinkyCon 2025)
@dariamakesgames joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Designing Puzzles Based on Real Languages"
Talk description: I've adopted the concepts of linguistic puzzles for my game The Land Forgotten. I would love to share the challenges that came with that and how we've overcome them.
Use
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Are real languages too complex to design a game around? Daria Jerjomina talks about the challenges involved in designing The Land Forgotten!
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
The Picto Kickstarter is Now Live!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pic...
#IndieGameDev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #mobilegame #mobilegames #androidgame #iosgame #mixedreality #mixedmedia
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pic...
#IndieGameDev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #mobilegame #mobilegames #androidgame #iosgame #mixedreality #mixedmedia
A Camera Game - Picto
Escape into a world greater than your own!
www.kickstarter.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
The Picto Kickstarter is Now Live!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pic...
#IndieGameDev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #mobilegame #mobilegames #androidgame #iosgame #mixedreality #mixedmedia
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pic...
#IndieGameDev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #mobilegame #mobilegames #androidgame #iosgame #mixedreality #mixedmedia
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Very excited to have Ivan back with a sequel to his Mathematics in Puzzles talk! This time, topology!
@chaoticiak.bsky.social
@chaoticiak.bsky.social
Mathematics for Puzzles 2 - Ivan Koswara (ThinkyCon 2025)
Ivan Koswara (chaotic_iak) joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Mathematics for Puzzles 2"
Talk description: Last year, I gave the talk "Mathematics for Puzzles", giving various examples about mathematical concepts that appear in puzzles -- logic puzzles, puzzle games, and more. There a
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Very excited to have Ivan back with a sequel to his Mathematics in Puzzles talk! This time, topology!
@chaoticiak.bsky.social
@chaoticiak.bsky.social
We are in the process of adding all the ThinkyCon 2025 talks as individual videos to YouTube! You can check this playlist to find them all as they get published: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Thanks to all the wonderful speakers for joining us!
Thanks to all the wonderful speakers for joining us!
November 11, 2025 at 4:19 PM
We are in the process of adding all the ThinkyCon 2025 talks as individual videos to YouTube! You can check this playlist to find them all as they get published: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Thanks to all the wonderful speakers for joining us!
Thanks to all the wonderful speakers for joining us!
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
I went to meet the 'Rockstar 31', the developers who were suddenly fired from their work on GTA 6 for what the studio has described as gross misconduct.
That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...
That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...
The Rockstar Workers Fired Before They Could Finish GTA 6
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I went to meet the 'Rockstar 31', the developers who were suddenly fired from their work on GTA 6 for what the studio has described as gross misconduct.
That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...
That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
@adamatomic.bsky.social has created a *lot* of small games, and we were delighted for him to join us at ThinkyCon 2025 to share how he approaches it.
My approach to making small games - Adam Saltsman (ThinkyCon 2025)
Adam Saltsman joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "CorgiSpace, or, short legs on purpose, or, my approach to making small games"
Talk description: I've made and released 14 games in the last 12 months, all in my very limited free time, and had a super fun time doing it, even though I al
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
@adamatomic.bsky.social has created a *lot* of small games, and we were delighted for him to join us at ThinkyCon 2025 to share how he approaches it.
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Next up, we were joined by returning speaker @lineygames.bsky.social for an insightful exploration of thinky games as emotional experiences.
Thinky games are emotional experiences - Caroline Clark (ThinkyCon 2025)
Caroline Clark joins us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Thinky games are emotional experiences, and designing with those emotions in mind will help you build better games"
Talk description: Games are emotional experiences. This is very clear in genres like first person shooters or adventure
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Next up, we were joined by returning speaker @lineygames.bsky.social for an insightful exploration of thinky games as emotional experiences.
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Here's the first video from ThinkyCon 2025, a beautiful 5-minute talk from @flebpuzzles.bsky.social about the art essay "Specific Objects".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkMc...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkMc...
What Donald Judd's 1964 Art Essay "Specific Objects" Means To Me - FLEB (ThinkyCon 2025)
YouTube video by Thinky Games
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Here's the first video from ThinkyCon 2025, a beautiful 5-minute talk from @flebpuzzles.bsky.social about the art essay "Specific Objects".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkMc...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkMc...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Iggy, one of the lead playtesters for Blue Prince, is in urgent need of a living kidney donor.
Please take a look at the information here and share it as widely as you can: www.iggyland.org/
The whole thinky community wishes the best for Iggy! 💛
Please take a look at the information here and share it as widely as you can: www.iggyland.org/
The whole thinky community wishes the best for Iggy! 💛
November 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Iggy, one of the lead playtesters for Blue Prince, is in urgent need of a living kidney donor.
Please take a look at the information here and share it as widely as you can: www.iggyland.org/
The whole thinky community wishes the best for Iggy! 💛
Please take a look at the information here and share it as widely as you can: www.iggyland.org/
The whole thinky community wishes the best for Iggy! 💛
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
November 6, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct.
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firings
Union says 30 and 40 people were terminated. Rockstar Games’ parent company cites ‘gross misconduct’
www.bloomberg.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Tune in for Tonda Ros' talk about playtesting a game as unpredictable as Blue Prince on day 3 of ThinkyCon! Check out the schedule to see who else will be there!
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
thinkygames.com/even...
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
thinkygames.com/even...
October 30, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Tune in for Tonda Ros' talk about playtesting a game as unpredictable as Blue Prince on day 3 of ThinkyCon! Check out the schedule to see who else will be there!
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
thinkygames.com/even...
@blueprincegame.bsky.social
thinkygames.com/even...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
🎉 Exciting news! 🎉
Wax Heads is launching in the first half of 2026!
In our first Dev Log, @patattiemurray.bsky.social dives into one of the game’s core themes – community
Check it out below 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQk...
Wax Heads is launching in the first half of 2026!
In our first Dev Log, @patattiemurray.bsky.social dives into one of the game’s core themes – community
Check it out below 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQk...
Wax Heads - Dev Log #1: Welcome To The Neighbourhood
YouTube video by Curve Games
www.youtube.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM
🎉 Exciting news! 🎉
Wax Heads is launching in the first half of 2026!
In our first Dev Log, @patattiemurray.bsky.social dives into one of the game’s core themes – community
Check it out below 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQk...
Wax Heads is launching in the first half of 2026!
In our first Dev Log, @patattiemurray.bsky.social dives into one of the game’s core themes – community
Check it out below 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDQk...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
"Spooky Express turns public transportation into a monster mash" - thanks so much for the excellent coverage of our brand new spooky puzzle game, @polygon.com !
www.polygon.com/spooky-expre...
www.polygon.com/spooky-expre...
This spooky new puzzle game is a Halloween delight, and you can try it for free
Spooky Express turns public transportation into a monster mash
www.polygon.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
"Spooky Express turns public transportation into a monster mash" - thanks so much for the excellent coverage of our brand new spooky puzzle game, @polygon.com !
www.polygon.com/spooky-expre...
www.polygon.com/spooky-expre...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Announcing the line-up for ThinkyCon 2025! 🎉 Tune in for 3 days of amazing talks from the makers of your favorite puzzly games!
thinkygames.com/even...
thinkygames.com/even...
October 29, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Announcing the line-up for ThinkyCon 2025! 🎉 Tune in for 3 days of amazing talks from the makers of your favorite puzzly games!
thinkygames.com/even...
thinkygames.com/even...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
ThinkyCon is a week and a day away, so stay tuned for the schedule and more info about the game jam that's right after the event!
ThinkyCon 2025 · Thinky Games
Puzzle design, art, development, production — learn about every aspect of crafting thinky games.
thinkygames.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
ThinkyCon is a week and a day away, so stay tuned for the schedule and more info about the game jam that's right after the event!
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Coming in Spring 2026: Oeuf, a 3D physics platformer where U egg. Wishlist innit. store.steampowered.com/app/3831080/...
Oeuf on Steam
3D physics-platformer where you are an egg! Roll, hop and slide your way back home.
store.steampowered.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Coming in Spring 2026: Oeuf, a 3D physics platformer where U egg. Wishlist innit. store.steampowered.com/app/3831080/...
Reposted by Joseph Mansfield
Our database is now a year old and has over 800 games in it! 🎉
A big genre update to celebrate the one year anniversary of our Thinky Games Database! · Thinky Games
It's been exactly one year since we launched our big ambitious catalogue of thinky games, and we've been constantly adding to it ever since. Today a huge batch of visual novel detective games have landed, greatly expanding our coverage of the genre.
thinkygames.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Our database is now a year old and has over 800 games in it! 🎉