15 Days: Part 25 – April 16th to April 30th 2026

I Told You Blue Prince Was Good.

Part 25, hey? Not bad. Not bad at all. And some great stuff lined up this time.

I write this over the UK May Bank Holiday weekend, where for the first time in as long as I can remember, I’m unwell. No energy, incredibly tired, and off my food a little, so it’s a valid reason to sleep, rest and if I can, go for a walk around the neighbourhood for some fresh air. I also sat down to rewatch John Wick but apparently buying a digital copy on the Playstation Store years ago means nothing because it’s no longer available to watch. I cannot see any reason why other than it’s a licensing issue but, as a consumer, I paid for a copy, so I should be able to watch it whenever I want but I can’t because it’s just not there. Or it’s there in my library but there’s ‘an error’. Anyway, thanks for that, Sony. I just wanted to watch a film while I felt sorry for myself. I’m thinking rude words at you. My advice, people, is buy physical copies of the entertainment you know you’ll go back to.

Anyway, I’m starting to feel better as time goes by and my silly sense of humour and occasional breaking into song around the house is slowly returning, much to the amusement (or irritation?) of my wife, which is a sign that I am starting to recover from whatever illness this is. Now I am here, quietly writing this blog, because it makes me happy to do so.

Coming up, we have:

• Website Birthday

• Blue Prince wins a BAFTA

• Debug Games Festival

• Mythwrecked Deluxe Edition

• D6 Learning – QA course

• Talking QA on the Pixel Pizza Podcast

• Game Dev Heroes 2026

Website Birthday: April 16^th marked two years since I launched this website. I think time has gone much faster than I thought but when I look at the number of projects I’ve worked on, the blogs, and generally the overall feel of then and now, I think it’s been time well spent, and I’ve enjoyed it so I’ll keep it going. No cake though. That’s on me. I forgot. Maybe next year.

Blue Prince wins a BAFTA: I probably sound like a broken record but I always felt Blue Prince was going to get numerous awards. You all know how much I enjoy the game, and how lucky I feel I am to have been a part of testing it, so to see Blue Prince win the BAFTA for Game Design was a very special moment and I am so pleased Tonda has this acknowledgement for his dedication and hard work. I watched the ceremony online and when Blue Prince was announced as the winner, I had the biggest smile and punched the air in celebration. And now, unexpectedly and with no idea that my journey would link me to this, I can say that, along with everyone who worked on the game, I have tested and been credited on a BAFTA award winning game. Pinch me, because I am dreaming.

Debug Games Festival: Next up was my first gaming event of 2026: Debug Games Festival. I headed down to Norfolk on the Friday, meeting up with the Brazen Gameplay team, while we talked all things UrbX Warriors and then attended the event all day on the Saturday. As each year passes, Debug gets bigger and better, and the Showground Arena is a good new location after the previous events of 2024 and 2025 at the Metronome, Nottingham.

As is now custom for me, I met up with good people and tried new games. This is a far cry from when I first attended gaming events and I knew no-one; now I can call many I see there my friends, and the energy I got from them all was a tonic I needed more than I realised. My buddies behind Lucy Dreaming (Tom) and Sleepytime Village (James) were showcasing their games, The Gaming Newsagent is always a joy to visit (I buy something from his stall at every event I go to), and UrbX Warriors played strongly throughout without a single bug or crash encountered by any who played the demo. The hard work put into the showcase build giving strong results on the day.

I met the guy behind Immortal Joysticks, who talked me through everything technical in how their products are made. They’re very, very impressive and I’ll be talking to him again soon about getting one to help me with my testing. Controller, mouse and keyboard, touchscreen is a staple but I am missing a joystick. It may not sound like a necessity but after the ‘Invisible Block’ bug I mentioned in Part 11, there’s a style of play I need to add that only a joystick can offer.

Of the 150 demos showcased at Debug…I played three. A poor effort by me but there was a lot of catching up with people and of these three demos, I spent some time giving feedback and offering suggestions. I spotted a few potential issues and came away thinking two things: it’s good that I can give feedback and it’s positively received and heard, and I wonder if I’ll ever play a game again just for fun and not spot something… But, listen, it’s what I do. Sometimes I can turn the bug-hunting radar off and sometimes I can’t. Just so long as it’s useful to developers, that’s something.

My personal highlight though was meeting someone in person that I’ve only ever spoken to online, and when I saw him standing in front of me and chatting to Tom, I had the biggest smile on my face.

I speak of Lucan Monks AKA ZombiWorkshop AKA Lucan’s Tees often and with great enthusiasm. If you don’t already know, he did the artwork for my website and contact card. He also streams demos on a Tuesday evening and although I don’t often have a chance to watch every week or for very long, when I do, it’s a great place to be, and I can watch several demos being played that I wouldn’t have heard or seen before. These demos then get some extra attention on his socials during the following week with links and a few thoughts from Lucan. Aside from this, he’s simply a great guy. So, when he turns to me after speaking to Tom and says “Hey, cool hoodie.” (I was wearing my Spectrum Knightmare hoodie) I smiled even more as realisation dawned on his face and he saw who he was talking to. Smiles and a hug followed and we spent a good chunk of time chatting. I am really pleased we got to meet. It was the standout moment of the weekend. Alas, no photo but there’s always next time.

I’ve mentioned a lot of people above, so if you want to check any of them out, here are the links:

Debug: https://www.teamdebug.com/
Lucy Dreaming: https://tallstorygames.com/
Sleepytime Village: https://www.lightfootbrosgames.com/

Brazen Gameplay / UrbX Warriors: https://www.brazengameplay.com/

The Gaming Newsagent: https://x.com/GamingNewsagent

Immortal Joysticks: https://www.immortaljoysticks.co.uk/

Debug Demo – Contact Protocol: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3846690/Contact_Protocol/

Debug Demo – Crypts of Carith: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3342670/Crypts_Of_Carith/
Debug Demo – Dear Edmund: https://mind-the-grease.itch.io/dear-edmund
Lucan Monks: https://bsky.app/profile/zombiworkshop.bsky.social

Zombiworkshop: https://www.twitch.tv/zombiworkshop

All-in-all, Debug was fun, and it was a great way to start off the gaming events for 2026.

Mythwrecked Deluxe Edition: I had hoped this would arrive before Debug because the developer and director, Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou, was also there and I was after an autograph. As the second title from Polygon Treehouse, after Röki, I played Mythwrecked over a few nights and enjoyed it. At the time, it had been a while since I’d just played a game from start to finish, no testing interruptions, and so adding this deluxe copy to my collection was an easy choice.
You can grab a copy from Red Art Games via this link if you’re interested:
https://www.redartgames.com/games/940-mythwrecked-ambrosia-island-ps5-deluxe-edition.html

D6 Learning – QA course: Being a fan and previously signing up for D6 courses, this Rethinking Game Quality: Skills, Growth, and Professional Identity caught my attention. I signed up for the introductory session to find out what it’s about and found it very interesting. For me, personally, with what I’ve done so far and what I’ve learned, it probably won’t give me as much as I’d need but for someone who has an interest in QA and how to get started, there’s a lot that I believe this course can offer. Well worth taking a look. I believe this code will also offer a special discount if you enrol before May 4^th: QADAY15.

Link: https://www.d6learning.com/course/rethinking-qa-5-2026

I’m not part of D6 but I’ve always enjoyed their courses and anything that promotes QA is something I will always be an advocate for.

Speaking of which…

Talking QA on the Pixel Pizza Podcast: A couple of days after Blue Prince won its BAFTA, I posted this:

Now, I’m not great at promotion but even I could see the sense in this. And, for a few days, I had a bit more attention than normal. Among some requests for QA and testing, I was invited to talk about QA on the Pixel Pizza podcast. I had fun and time flew by. I don’t have much experience with podcasts so I was a little apprehensive to listen to it when it came out but, to my relief, I think I did OK. And, again, anything where I can shine a light on QA, I’ll do my best to do so. I hope you get something positive from it.

Here’s the link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/061MgtuVvmqJXind0Oa6dp?si=c6596fba43e44dba

Which brings me to one final link drop: https://gamedevheroes.co

Game Dev Heroes 2026 are closing their nominations for the event on May 4th so if anyone who’s worked with me and is reading this wants to help their favourite QA guy out, now is the time. ❤️

And with that, 15 Days: Part 25 is done.

Until next time, as always, stay safe and thank you for reading.

Paul.