Rob Stenzinger
@robstenzinger.bsky.social
Game and UX designer, current project Word Turtle Island now in early access on Steam. Also made Guitar Fretter, This Panda Needs You, Game Construction Kit. Husband, dad, progressive. Links to blog, games, contact at https://linktr.ee/robstenzinger
Word puzzle game prototype progress! It's a bit backwards but also kind of fun to make the words hide instead of showing. Maybe that will be in the game on purpose as I evolve the prototype and land on my design goals for this game.
#gamedeveloper
#devjournal
#wordgame
#prototyping
#creativecoding
#gamedeveloper
#devjournal
#wordgame
#prototyping
#creativecoding
October 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Word puzzle game prototype progress! It's a bit backwards but also kind of fun to make the words hide instead of showing. Maybe that will be in the game on purpose as I evolve the prototype and land on my design goals for this game.
#gamedeveloper
#devjournal
#wordgame
#prototyping
#creativecoding
#gamedeveloper
#devjournal
#wordgame
#prototyping
#creativecoding
What a wild fun surprise and I really appreciate it, thank you 2D Con community! Word Turtle Island won an award, voted by attendees of 2D Con. The Indie Island developer showcase art direction award (digital category)! 😍 🏆 🎮 #indiegames
#2dcon #gamedeveloper #wordturtleisland
#2dcon #gamedeveloper #wordturtleisland
August 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
What a wild fun surprise and I really appreciate it, thank you 2D Con community! Word Turtle Island won an award, voted by attendees of 2D Con. The Indie Island developer showcase art direction award (digital category)! 😍 🏆 🎮 #indiegames
#2dcon #gamedeveloper #wordturtleisland
#2dcon #gamedeveloper #wordturtleisland
For a few years I partially set aside making games and focused on visual storytelling via comics. Art Geek Zoo was my main project, a story about a talented penguin guitarist named Pick who had major challenges with stage fright and his grumpy mystic guitar friend named Crunchy.
August 22, 2025 at 4:48 PM
For a few years I partially set aside making games and focused on visual storytelling via comics. Art Geek Zoo was my main project, a story about a talented penguin guitarist named Pick who had major challenges with stage fright and his grumpy mystic guitar friend named Crunchy.
Word Turtle Island a few weeks into development vs what it looks like now. From placeholder art to my own art, from only typing action to now word action whether you type, use a game controller, touch screen or mouse. From no story to a narrative about saving the most awesome library in the galaxy
August 21, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Word Turtle Island a few weeks into development vs what it looks like now. From placeholder art to my own art, from only typing action to now word action whether you type, use a game controller, touch screen or mouse. From no story to a narrative about saving the most awesome library in the galaxy
Celebrating the official 1.0 release of Word Turtle Island tomorrow 8/12. So many events this year showing the game and new arcade cabinet. Midwest Gaming Classic, VGM Con, Minnebar, STEM Fest, 2D Con Summer Pop-up at MOA. 4 years in the making, now/soon at Steam, Google Play, Apple
#indiegames
#indiegames
August 11, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Celebrating the official 1.0 release of Word Turtle Island tomorrow 8/12. So many events this year showing the game and new arcade cabinet. Midwest Gaming Classic, VGM Con, Minnebar, STEM Fest, 2D Con Summer Pop-up at MOA. 4 years in the making, now/soon at Steam, Google Play, Apple
#indiegames
#indiegames
Word Turtle Island's 1.0 launch is on 8/12/2025! This post is more than a mere ad it's hope and call to action for a special indie game, made with a joy for words, an action game that's about overcoming conflict with words. #indiegames
August 8, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Word Turtle Island's 1.0 launch is on 8/12/2025! This post is more than a mere ad it's hope and call to action for a special indie game, made with a joy for words, an action game that's about overcoming conflict with words. #indiegames
Intertwined creative challenge: make an ambitious game, make it a business, succeed in marketing it well. In this I focus on the marketing part of that challenge, what I've learned the past few months publishing video every day.
July 28, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Intertwined creative challenge: make an ambitious game, make it a business, succeed in marketing it well. In this I focus on the marketing part of that challenge, what I've learned the past few months publishing video every day.
A glimpse into my music process for my game soundtrack
Here I'm setting up and warming up to make another music track for my game Word Turtle Island. Some of the tools I use are my guitar with a midi pick up add-on and the app loopy Pro on my iPad.
#indiegames
#gamedeveloper
#behindthescenes
Here I'm setting up and warming up to make another music track for my game Word Turtle Island. Some of the tools I use are my guitar with a midi pick up add-on and the app loopy Pro on my iPad.
#indiegames
#gamedeveloper
#behindthescenes
July 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM
A glimpse into my music process for my game soundtrack
Here I'm setting up and warming up to make another music track for my game Word Turtle Island. Some of the tools I use are my guitar with a midi pick up add-on and the app loopy Pro on my iPad.
#indiegames
#gamedeveloper
#behindthescenes
Here I'm setting up and warming up to make another music track for my game Word Turtle Island. Some of the tools I use are my guitar with a midi pick up add-on and the app loopy Pro on my iPad.
#indiegames
#gamedeveloper
#behindthescenes
What sort of questions do you have for a UX generalist / solo indie game creator? Art? Sound? Code? The design/business/product aspect of solo creator stuff? Interdisciplinary artist, generalist, T-shaped. Something you'd like me to explore or questions you have for me, I'd love to hear. #indiegames
July 21, 2025 at 10:48 PM
What sort of questions do you have for a UX generalist / solo indie game creator? Art? Sound? Code? The design/business/product aspect of solo creator stuff? Interdisciplinary artist, generalist, T-shaped. Something you'd like me to explore or questions you have for me, I'd love to hear. #indiegames
New trailer for Word Turtle Island! A gentle rogue-lite with RPG and cozy elements, flexible input, and flexible difficulty. See how word action works, where you use words to rescue books and readers in battle. Then you level up in the library and unlock more battles to rescue more.
#indiegames
#indiegames
July 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
New trailer for Word Turtle Island! A gentle rogue-lite with RPG and cozy elements, flexible input, and flexible difficulty. See how word action works, where you use words to rescue books and readers in battle. Then you level up in the library and unlock more battles to rescue more.
#indiegames
#indiegames
Excited and humbled to have Word Turtle Island in the 2D Con popup at the MOA this weekend. Will be there with the WTI arcade cabinet alongside 5 other local MN indie game developers. Seriously cool games that it's an honor to show alongside. Play games and talk with indie devs.
#indiegames
#indiegames
July 3, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Excited and humbled to have Word Turtle Island in the 2D Con popup at the MOA this weekend. Will be there with the WTI arcade cabinet alongside 5 other local MN indie game developers. Seriously cool games that it's an honor to show alongside. Play games and talk with indie devs.
#indiegames
#indiegames
What does it look like when I build Word Turtle Island to publish? I use Python scripts and batch files! Lot of game devs use a cloud build system like GitHub Actions or GitLab, which I started doing that, but it just takes too much resources on the more affordable service tiers.
#gamedev
#gamedev
July 1, 2025 at 3:49 PM
What does it look like when I build Word Turtle Island to publish? I use Python scripts and batch files! Lot of game devs use a cloud build system like GitHub Actions or GitLab, which I started doing that, but it just takes too much resources on the more affordable service tiers.
#gamedev
#gamedev
Thank you to all the Doodle Creatures players. Lots of great art made by kids and their adults at Twin Cities STEMFest.
Each time someone plays the design sketching game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, they make an imaginative creature then design something to help their creature #stem #gamedeveloper
Each time someone plays the design sketching game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, they make an imaginative creature then design something to help their creature #stem #gamedeveloper
June 30, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Thank you to all the Doodle Creatures players. Lots of great art made by kids and their adults at Twin Cities STEMFest.
Each time someone plays the design sketching game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, they make an imaginative creature then design something to help their creature #stem #gamedeveloper
Each time someone plays the design sketching game Doodle Creatures Have Needs, they make an imaginative creature then design something to help their creature #stem #gamedeveloper
Cute creatures time lapse digital painting. Started as a 2 minute sketch, here I'm refining it to cleaned up lines and colors. Speed painting video using Clip Studio Paint. Big fan of the way the vector line brushes and erasing works in CSP.
#timelapseart #gamedeveloper #indiegames
#timelapseart #gamedeveloper #indiegames
June 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Cute creatures time lapse digital painting. Started as a 2 minute sketch, here I'm refining it to cleaned up lines and colors. Speed painting video using Clip Studio Paint. Big fan of the way the vector line brushes and erasing works in CSP.
#timelapseart #gamedeveloper #indiegames
#timelapseart #gamedeveloper #indiegames
Working on Word Turtle Island for over 3.5 years is a big chapter of my life, mixed in with many other big things. Feels good to be close to 1.0 also daunting and exhausting at the same time. If you're working on a big project I wish you good fortune and hope and pride. #gamedeveloper #indiegames
June 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Working on Word Turtle Island for over 3.5 years is a big chapter of my life, mixed in with many other big things. Feels good to be close to 1.0 also daunting and exhausting at the same time. If you're working on a big project I wish you good fortune and hope and pride. #gamedeveloper #indiegames
Tie-dye apron, trying for a cute skull design with lightning energy all around. Turned out different than I expected. Make something fun. Try something different. If it goes wrong, it was an adventure. If it goes well, it's free treasure. #visualart #learning #summersolstice #creativeprocess
June 26, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Tie-dye apron, trying for a cute skull design with lightning energy all around. Turned out different than I expected. Make something fun. Try something different. If it goes wrong, it was an adventure. If it goes well, it's free treasure. #visualart #learning #summersolstice #creativeprocess