Neven Mrgan's website

NEW!

• How it feels to get an AI email from a friend 2024

  Recently I received an AI-written email from a friend. I'm trying to understand why I had the reaction to it that I did.

• The best home-oven pizza 2023

  Your regular oven can produce wonderful pizza—no sourdough, stand mixer, or kneading needed.

• The Barkless Doctrine 2023

  A Playdate game; an interactive comedy novel where YOU choose how to avoid dealing with the apocalypse.

Writing

• My Tumblr

  Against all better judgment, I use a Tumblr as my primary blog. It mostly features jokey writing and images.

• Have You Tried Sketch? 2016

  A book of sketch comedy—the thing you normally expect to see on TV (or on the stage, assuming you live in Chicago) except in book form. I'm serious. Available on iBooks and Kindle.

Games

• Hidey Spot

  A game I made for Playdate: a little Christmastime adventure where searching for presents hidden around the house leads you to find much more…

• Grayout 2015

  A text-centric game about aphasia, set in a medical dystopia. Made with James Moore. Available on iOS.

• Blackbar 2013

  A game of text, censorship, and the triumph of human ingenuity over capricious authority. Made with James Moore. Available on iOS and Android.

• Stagehand 2017

  A reverse platformer where you don't control your character… you control everything else. Made with Matt Comi under the Big Bucket brand. Available on iOS.

• Space Age 2014

  A tactical adventure with a story out of the Golden Age of Sci-Fi; cinematic, nostalgic, cosmic. Made with Matt Comi under the Big Bucket brand. Available on iOS and Mac.

• The Incident 2011

  A fast-paced, retro-style, vertical platformer. Made with Matt Comi under the Big Bucket brand. Available on iOS and Mac.

• Out Line 2017

  A short interactive-fiction game experiment, all about ending an argument between a separating couple. Free on the web.

• Pauper's Bride (And Gun) 2017

  A short comedy game about the narrative notion of “Chekhov’s Gun”. My first project made in the Bitsy editor. Free on the web.

• Pie Guy 2008

  An early experiment in CSS+JS iPhone gaming; I'm keeping it up since it still kind of runs on my iPhone X and it's sort of cute? Free on the web; try it on your phone, where it may or may not work (sorry.)

Food

• Pizza romana / pizza al taglio / thin pan pizza

  Soft like focaccia, thin like a slice-joint pie; the optimal pizza.

• Buttermilk Biscuits

  When it comes to biscuits, there's really only one thing to master: many, many folds.

• Sourdough Focaccia

  It's the best of all breads, and that's all there is to it.

• Sourdough Bagel Recipe

  The easiest bagels I've ever made were also the tastiest.

• Burger Bun Recipe

  For fans of "hamburgers."

• Sourdough English Muffins

  Airy, bubbly, and pleasantly sour, with the requisite flat top.

• Sourdough Pan Pizza Recipe

  Pan pizza is the best pizza you can make in a typical home oven. With this sourdough recipe, you can put it together with ~0 work.

• Sourdough Pizza Recipe

  My current recipe for sourdough, thin-crust, Neapolitan-meets-NYC pizza. Simple, lazy, flexible, and beyond delicious.

• Broccoli Breakfast Sandwich

  Inspired by a Tyler Kord recipe, I have been eating broccoli breakfast sandwiches for breakfast since 2017. I think you should try it!

• Pressure Manual

  A collection of recipes I frequently make in the Instant Pot. A good starting point if you've just bought one and are wondering what to make first.

• PDX Food

  My recommendations for restaurants and food carts in Portland, OR, with a focus on quick, casual, and interesting spots you'll enjoy and remember.

• Hà VL Daily Soups

  My fan website for the legendary Portland restaurant serving Vietnamese soups for breakfast. It shows their rotating menu of daily soups.

Web

• Check!

  A simple list of tasks to complete before launching a new project or product. Reduce launch-day stress by plugging a dozen small holes in your marketing dam as you go.

• Glyphboard 2008

  A very old "web app for iPhone" (lol) that lets you copy special characters not available on the iOS keyboard. I'll update this some day, I swear.