La Vie en Meow

Weather Room: A wind-up toy is a random weather generator created for Neo-Twiny Jam 2024. I did the writing and “coding” and my friend Jesse Perlstein did the sound. This game arose from my thinking about automata and diorama games. I’m excited to share that it’s just come out in Indiepocalypse #57, a monthly compilation of 10 games by indie creators. In the accompanying Indiepocalypse #57 zine, you can get a peek at the switches and gears inside the game and read a postmortem written by Jesse and me. So far, my favorite game from this issue is SNAKEBYTE by ToulouTouMou, an ASCII journey through a corrupted machine. Some standouts from recent Indiepocalypse issues include I PROMISE I AM WORKING ON THE GAME by manonamora, After the Janazah by cocoon (both in Indiepocalypse #56), and Eider Cake by Ayu Koyama (in Indiepocalypse #53).

I also wrote a small portion of The Maze Gallery, a bizarre museum created by 34 contributors, expertly coordinated by Cryptic Conservatory. Some of the galleries that continue to haunt me include Galatea’s pedestal, the collection of incredibly tiny art, the clown cathedral, and the hungry room. The Maze Gallery is part of IFComp 2024, and editors are currently working on a Steam release. I really loved being a small part of a huge project. I enjoyed the challenge of writing in a different style, and listening and adapting as the group’s vision and energy shifted and ultimately cohered over the course of development. I can’t wait to do something like this again!