I made a now page. This page was updated Nov 2026 This page is all about stuff I am working on now. I like to work on quite a lot. I welcome contributors to all of the activities.

Building stuff

nodenogg.in’s funding means it has been fully rebuilt and we are using more widely. This is also now part of a wider concept called The Strange Tool Store

Writing stuff

A few articles for various outlets about games and making games are being reviewed.

Playing stuff

Mainly FM26 - which has a lot of issues but is fun to play.

Project stuff

RailBreak

What do you think makes a good railway? Do you want cheap tickets, good accessibility, or reliable Wifi? Maybe you simply want to be able to get a good cup of coffee on your morning commute? Or perhaps a good railway is one well integrated with local buses, taking you right to your front door?

RailBreak is an interactive installation combining a collaborative tabletop game with a working model railway and adaptive soundscape. Grounded in research into Britain’s “broken” railways, RailBreak invites players to make collective decisions about improving the railways and to see and hear these decisions come into effect in real time, in miniature. Through play, RailBreak empowers participants to imagine a better railway, to learn about the political and economic decisions behind today’s “broken” system, and to engage in a public debate about what makes a good railway, for everyone.

The aim of the game is to get more people happily riding the rails by making decisions which increase staff and passenger satisfaction and modal share. But success isn’t simple. Players must work together to navigate structural realities, like the negative effects of the profit imperative, alongside everyday operational challenges like leaves on the line, signal failures, or animals on the tracks. Depending on their decisions, the model train will slow down, speed up, or break down completely, while the soundscape reacts to each decision. Beyond the game, RailBreak acts as a unique starting point for public conversations about what it’s like to ride the rails in the UK, and how it could be.

RailBreak has been designed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers across the University of Southampton, including game design, electronics, music and sociology.

Secondment to Education Policy Innovation Centre (EPIC) at the Department for Education (DfE)

One day a week I am working with EPIC and DfE to discuss nodenogg.in, local-first, privacy and peer to peer focussed software.

Reading Stuff

Check this link - NEED TO FIX

Podcasts

Same Old Wombles