John Ayliff (Space Goblin Games)
@spacegoblingames.com
Indie text game developer, creator of Seedship and Beyond the Chiron Gate. Now working on a pulp sci-fi adventure narrated by the villain!
Website: https://www.spacegoblingames.com/
Blog: https://write.as/johnayliff/
Header and avatar by Tom Morley
Website: https://www.spacegoblingames.com/
Blog: https://write.as/johnayliff/
Header and avatar by Tom Morley
Peabody is of South Asian descent, which is a great way to make the strip more diverse--the original cast is all white but there's no reason they have to be.
On the cover she's also holding a *massive machine gun*, which seems out of character for her? But I assume it'll make sense in context.
On the cover she's also holding a *massive machine gun*, which seems out of character for her? But I assume it'll make sense in context.
November 14, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Peabody is of South Asian descent, which is a great way to make the strip more diverse--the original cast is all white but there's no reason they have to be.
On the cover she's also holding a *massive machine gun*, which seems out of character for her? But I assume it'll make sense in context.
On the cover she's also holding a *massive machine gun*, which seems out of character for her? But I assume it'll make sense in context.
For me, interactive fiction is all about letting the player express themselves through their choices.
For example, do you want to engage a giant alien cyborg on the moon in a gun fight, a sword fight, or a fist fight?
#screenshotsaturday #interactivefiction
For example, do you want to engage a giant alien cyborg on the moon in a gun fight, a sword fight, or a fist fight?
#screenshotsaturday #interactivefiction
November 8, 2025 at 10:45 PM
For me, interactive fiction is all about letting the player express themselves through their choices.
For example, do you want to engage a giant alien cyborg on the moon in a gun fight, a sword fight, or a fist fight?
#screenshotsaturday #interactivefiction
For example, do you want to engage a giant alien cyborg on the moon in a gun fight, a sword fight, or a fist fight?
#screenshotsaturday #interactivefiction
If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula
October 31, 2025 at 6:43 PM
If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula
My writing career summed up in one image:
October 2, 2025 at 3:27 AM
My writing career summed up in one image:
Dale is 100% checking out Flash's ass in this panel, right?
September 27, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Dale is 100% checking out Flash's ass in this panel, right?
Dale Arden: badass.
I feel like a modern comic would have had the gun projecting out of the panel over the gutter rather than cutting it off, but I guess they didn't do that kind of thing in the 1940s.
I feel like a modern comic would have had the gun projecting out of the panel over the gutter rather than cutting it off, but I guess they didn't do that kind of thing in the 1940s.
September 27, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Dale Arden: badass.
I feel like a modern comic would have had the gun projecting out of the panel over the gutter rather than cutting it off, but I guess they didn't do that kind of thing in the 1940s.
I feel like a modern comic would have had the gun projecting out of the panel over the gutter rather than cutting it off, but I guess they didn't do that kind of thing in the 1940s.
Share your favourite black and white movie.
September 24, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Share your favourite black and white movie.
What movie do you consider "perfect"?
September 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
What movie do you consider "perfect"?
At last we're back on Mongo, planet of beautiful women in floor-length skirts and uncomfortable looking metal bras.
September 20, 2025 at 12:55 AM
At last we're back on Mongo, planet of beautiful women in floor-length skirts and uncomfortable looking metal bras.
I don't know, Zarkov, maybe it's the rocket ship design on the wall behind you.
September 20, 2025 at 12:36 AM
I don't know, Zarkov, maybe it's the rocket ship design on the wall behind you.
There follows a story arc in which Flash and Zarkov use advanced Mongonian technology to build a rocket ship and use it to defeat an enemy invasion fleet.
It's a piece of desperate wartime wish fulfillment. What if we had a super rocket ship that could win us the war?
It's a piece of desperate wartime wish fulfillment. What if we had a super rocket ship that could win us the war?
September 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM
There follows a story arc in which Flash and Zarkov use advanced Mongonian technology to build a rocket ship and use it to defeat an enemy invasion fleet.
It's a piece of desperate wartime wish fulfillment. What if we had a super rocket ship that could win us the war?
It's a piece of desperate wartime wish fulfillment. What if we had a super rocket ship that could win us the war?
The Mongonian rulers want to make Flash their new president, but Flash receives distressing news and rockets back to Earth to fight in a lightly fictionalized version of World War 2.
It's June 1941.
It's June 1941.
September 19, 2025 at 4:38 AM
The Mongonian rulers want to make Flash their new president, but Flash receives distressing news and rockets back to Earth to fight in a lightly fictionalized version of World War 2.
It's June 1941.
It's June 1941.
After Ming is deposed, the strip makes a point of showing how difficult and delicate it is to rebuild a dictatorial empire as a free democracy, when you can't be sure how much of the army and police you can trust. Interesting to see this given how many similar stories gloss over this.
September 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
After Ming is deposed, the strip makes a point of showing how difficult and delicate it is to rebuild a dictatorial empire as a free democracy, when you can't be sure how much of the army and police you can trust. Interesting to see this given how many similar stories gloss over this.
OK so I had a pretty religious upbringing and a hazard of that is seeing Jesus parallels everywhere, but I will note that Flash's eventual victory over Ming comes immediately after he apparently dies, is publicly buried, and then returns from the dead.
September 18, 2025 at 1:11 AM
OK so I had a pretty religious upbringing and a hazard of that is seeing Jesus parallels everywhere, but I will note that Flash's eventual victory over Ming comes immediately after he apparently dies, is publicly buried, and then returns from the dead.
By 1941, Ming is looking less like an orientalist fantasy villain and more like a straight-up Nazi, with concentration camps and guards who dress like this.
September 17, 2025 at 3:32 AM
By 1941, Ming is looking less like an orientalist fantasy villain and more like a straight-up Nazi, with concentration camps and guards who dress like this.
Forget the squirlons, my new favourite Mongonian creature is this goofy-ass electric tentacle monster from the ice land of Frigia.
Which was just minding it's own business until Flash and co. decided to go hunt it!
Which was just minding it's own business until Flash and co. decided to go hunt it!
September 13, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Forget the squirlons, my new favourite Mongonian creature is this goofy-ass electric tentacle monster from the ice land of Frigia.
Which was just minding it's own business until Flash and co. decided to go hunt it!
Which was just minding it's own business until Flash and co. decided to go hunt it!
I had been assuming that Mongonian men were all naturally bald, but no, it turns out that Ming is bald and passed a law that all men had to shave their heads.
The fact that Ming's vassal and son-in-law Barin is openly defying this law is a sign that Ming's rule is beginning to crumble...
The fact that Ming's vassal and son-in-law Barin is openly defying this law is a sign that Ming's rule is beginning to crumble...
September 11, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I had been assuming that Mongonian men were all naturally bald, but no, it turns out that Ming is bald and passed a law that all men had to shave their heads.
The fact that Ming's vassal and son-in-law Barin is openly defying this law is a sign that Ming's rule is beginning to crumble...
The fact that Ming's vassal and son-in-law Barin is openly defying this law is a sign that Ming's rule is beginning to crumble...
By 1937 Mongo is looking more and more European. Ming is still a Yellow Peril stereotype but his generals are starting to look distinctly Prussian.
September 10, 2025 at 1:10 AM
By 1937 Mongo is looking more and more European. Ming is still a Yellow Peril stereotype but his generals are starting to look distinctly Prussian.
*Everything* in my new game is going to be in the villain's voice, and that includes warning messages like this.
September 5, 2025 at 7:03 PM
*Everything* in my new game is going to be in the villain's voice, and that includes warning messages like this.
FWIW by the next issue Dale has got a stick from somewhere and is helping with the fight.
September 4, 2025 at 4:54 PM
FWIW by the next issue Dale has got a stick from somewhere and is helping with the fight.
All the animals on Mongo are weird aggressive variants of Earth creatures with ridiculous names. My favourite so far ar these "squirlons".
September 4, 2025 at 2:38 AM
All the animals on Mongo are weird aggressive variants of Earth creatures with ridiculous names. My favourite so far ar these "squirlons".
My one-person games studio now has a logo! #SpaceGoblinGames
August 19, 2025 at 9:02 AM
My one-person games studio now has a logo! #SpaceGoblinGames
I didn't realise the extent to which the plot would be driven by Flash Gordon being sexually irresistible. Multiple times now he's been saved from death because a Mongonian queen or princess fancies him.
August 15, 2025 at 12:21 AM
I didn't realise the extent to which the plot would be driven by Flash Gordon being sexually irresistible. Multiple times now he's been saved from death because a Mongonian queen or princess fancies him.
Flash Gordon: surprisingly kinky for 1935.
August 14, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Flash Gordon: surprisingly kinky for 1935.