Game Designer of Some Note. Writer. Avid creator of worlds. Tour Guide to Elsewhere. Feral Artist. Made a few MMO's in my time. I like games.
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Friday is ending, so let me leave you with a drop of spice in your #GameDev tea. If I can watch a stream while I'm playing a game - why am I watching something I don't particularly care about while I play something I don't particularly care about? The science says I'm not doing either thing well.
Still think that's dope! One of my personal goals has always been to VO a cartoon character. I've got a few game VO creds, but cartoons/anime would be really sweet. That's a laurel, imho.
While I'm at it: Market #gameplay is based on scarcity. No scarcity, no gameplay. Looking at you #MMORPGs - you suck at this.
Hey it's Friday and I haven't posted any #Gamedev tea in a while. Working hard in the pixel mines. So here's one: Games are designer-modulated friction. Friction *is* gameplay.
These people are why there are always stashes of ammo and guns laying around in the post-apoc vidja games. What? Totally believable.
I stan Debord. That Guy was onto something... youtu.be/0blWjssVoUQ?...
I experience vasovagal syncope from time to time and having a physical manifestation of the truth that "My heart betrays my brain" isn't really as poetic and sweet as it sounds.
Here, since my own advice to myself today has come up like 12 times and it's not yet noon. I'll share it with you all too. "Nah dude, one thing at a time or you're gonna get lost - like a dipshit. A lost dipshit." -Me How's your Friday goin?
Corollary thought: As a heavy with a strapped heater, 75% of the shots I block aren't headed for me - they're aimed at the person who is now going to end *you* unfettered. Teamwork makes this dream work. (this isn't really about armored combat)
A roller-skating, singing, muse? 5 y/o me could not be more in love.
I'm realizing now that my esoterically aligned grandmother gave me a *particular perspective*
I thought Poltergeist was 1000% times scarier than Exorcist. One is a very specific type of incursion that only happens to Catholics, which I'm not. The other can happen to everyone, including Catholics, who would just call it the first thing anyway.
"I think it's really important to study the Huge Manatees in school." :3
The validation software ran successfully, but the self-doubt persists! #GameDev #MentalHealth #Jokes
It's a very popular engine for that.
As a professional writer of fantasy - the fact that "delve" has become a flag is disconcerting. My lexicon and divergent speech were already tics that gave normies creeps when they spoke to me. I also had a partner once accuse me of "using words like that to make (them) feel stupid!" and now this.
Great talk! Bring on the mycelia!
If they could put their thumbs in they mouths they'd be Monchichi - Dark Monchichi
WIll there be a stream or a VOD?
We write stories about monsters to remind that they can be defeated.
Hey #TTRPG frens -> there's a thing I'd like to direct your attention to.
Bronzes take googly eyes really well. But you could pretty easily throw a rainbow wristband on the statue on the regs. Flower leis, wristbands, etc. Those won't hurt. Statues can be fun :smirk:
Fun fact: in the 1960s, Civil Rights protestors were given literal classes on nonviolent protest; they didn't all just spontaneously know what to do. So, if you're planning on showing up, this weekend: read this comic. And if you're staying home, signal-boost it/link it around.
Friend of mine ended one playthrough by pummeling Alduin to death with his *fists* Not saying you have to, but that's pretty wolfy...
1. The US Transgender Survey has finally been released, and the results are stunning. - <1% of people are less satisfied after HRT. - The most common reason for detransition, pausing transition, or stopping transition is transphobia. The latest from S. Baum. Subscribe to support our journalism.
I don't know how to describe to someone that isn't aware, but like, I'm looking at the lights of Tijuana rn, and you can't see where San Diego stops and TJ starts. I see dozens of people that work on one side and live on the other every day. Oh, and what language is "Los Angeles" again? It's wild.
Somewhere a teenaged me is screaming "I told you so!"
I would like to speak on that panel, if you would have me. I do games writing quite a lot, but also fantasy & sci-fi fiction, I'm even published. I have spicy opinions sometimes, but you're well aware.
LOL, who am I kidding? I don't date :D
Sure, your soundcloud works, spotify playlist, whatever - so many bonus points if you make a cover though, that's half of the art.
OK hear me out - a dating service where your first swipe is based on mixtapes...
Wet & Cold, Wet & Cold!
IYKYK
More information tomorrow about the No ICE in California Itch Charity Bundle. But for now, here is the game jam. All games on itch are welcome, please spread the word. itch.io/jam/no-ice-i...
Y'all - MMOs aren't a single-player experience. It's in the name of the thing. And since I'm feeling spicy today - *neither is your life*
Is there any contest at all? youtu.be/IqSHqn6HmYU?...
You weirdos have a *song* about them.
Only Good Things :)
There's a lot of childhood trauma that Gen-X'ers could have avoided by just reading the book. Artax lives, y'all. Bastian brings him back with the power of the Auryn halfway through the book.
Landscapers that work in the morning are a plague - gas-powered leaf blowers and trimmers doubly so.
Oh, it's still friday? OK, more tea then. The loss of "orienteering" as an adventuring skill - and actual element of play - is a failing of adventure makers. Don't @ me. Or do, I mean, the point of all of this is discourse, right?
Pretentious? Moi!?
"precendent?" The fuck brain? Onboarding the coffee...
I've been wrestling with this a while (I often work in MMOs, where this is common and becoming more-so.) But what precendent is there elsewhere? How is it even an acceptable premise that the art and pastime itself should alter it's core to serve those that are, by their own word, not invested? 2/2
It's Friday! Time for #GameDev tea! I don't really respect your time. There, I said it. What other hobby does? What would you be asking if you said "Now that I'm older, I don't have the time to (do hobby) - so that hobby should alter it's core tenets to serve my older, less invested, self." ? 1/2
I believe that to be the entire purpose of the experience.
Considering the legal status of *all of the things* in Denver... Uh, yeah.
I'd heard there was a book...
Kinda feeling like Pepsi today. Sure, you'll take Pepsi, you guess...
It's my least favorite part of being an artist in any medium. Art gratia artis, right? Your boy needs to eat, though.
It's also free and ubiquitous.
If I could curse the entire world, Pandora style, I'd give everyone incurable sincerity. WIthout a second thought.
It's impossible to guarantee or enforce, though, so you're always stuck in a potential where one person can have the data (positive id's) and thus has the power. I think the answer is actually radical transparency - so you can't oppress outside of a spotlight either. Everyone gets all of the data.
Anonymity is less and less viable without artificially throttling pure data - and I'm against that for what I see as obvious reasons.
The Kaiju book was fun, but Starter Villain was the one that drew my follow. Gosh are you prolific though, which is nice - still/slow feeds are boring.
#Worldbuilding #Snob here: One thing I notice when up in my shit about bad worldbuilding is that we like to imagine these epic moments without ever considering what that looked like 20 minutes earlier - or how commonly 1 of the 5000 independent elements necessary to pull that spectacle off fuck up.
AI "hallucinations" have persisted even as tech companies roll out new reasoning models. I talked to researchers about the challenges of using ranked hallucination leaderboards to evaluate large language model performance. 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2479...
I think there is something to discuss about the delta between the visual drive of human beings, and the creative inspirations of those who work in text - and the space between those realms.
Generally speaking, lexical gaps in people I communicate with irritate me. Lexical gaps in the minds of our lawmakers, however, horrify me.
Right, so as long as I'm just giving you gifts of love and affection - you doing what I want you to is just a fuckin big coincidence? Disingenuous is a word, look it up.
Oh it's friday! Time for the #MMORPG #GameDev tea! Finding efficiency in levelling isn't necessarily smart. Slime-molds are very efficient.
I got one of those for my birthday too! Go forth fellow arranger ~ Gl;Hf!
FFS, can we please not have a nuclear war. Is that too much to ask.
As if "this game made money" has any direct intrinsic connection to "this game is good art"
Google assures me that "plox" is still cromulent,- so don't @ me (ploxx)
Suppose I accidentally got my shit together...
I saw this dumb shit the other day - but I'm curious how they intend to police the army of fabricated persona that authors of all gender create to position their works? Seems performative and silly, and maybe it's already being subverted?
I have now listened to 2 of @scalzi.com's books on audiblo - as read by @wilwheaton.net - and now I read Scalzi's posts in Wheaton's voice. I hope you two are proud of yourselves.
ICYMI: Authors Jeannette Ng and Lauren Beukes have established The Genre Creators for Trans Rights auction with all proceeds going to The Good Law Project and The Triangle Project 👇 #BookSky
Y'all neurotypicals ought to watch what you transfer - some of us don't even think remotely similarly to that.
Where players on their own adventures can look in on the grand hall while some sweaty guild does the line-dance. Prestige for the raiders, interesting things to see for soloists, a contiguous world that doesn't feel like karaoke booths in a grander mall you're not a part of. All wins. 2/2🧵
When I used to play Photon (laser tag) at the "Photon Arena" there was an observation deck you could watch the game from, and even shoot at players for fun if you wanted (it didn't affect our game.) #MMORPG makers should take a page and build soloable paths through prestige raids... 1/2🧵
C'mon c'mon darling - let's exchange the experience.
I was pretty certain this account was run by a cat - did I read the wrong book?
A waitperson said to me "I love when you're here, you're always dancing!" - and wow, I've never been complimented for being hyperactive before...
Harder to bind oneself up in slippery metal than in softly grippy tricot, I imagine.
Today's thoughts on what I do for a living. #GameDev #mmorpg #art & #agency
One day in Colorado, I was working in my home office and I heard a ruckus outside. When I went to check there was a Cooper's Hawk on my fence threatening my flock of backyard chickens - and my Americauna hen was standing fully chuffed between the Hawk and the rest mouthing off. Birds are badass.
FC 2 was 2008, did FC 1 (2004) have slide takedowns?
Fair assessment, like the rocket jump. Which opens the (interesting to me) conversation up about design intention vs. player application and "discovered" gameplay which segues into an (even *more* interesting, to me) conversation about how far design should let naive interactions guide ongoing dev..
I want to say Mirror's Edge did the run & slide also? You could take out cops that way iirc.
It kinda became a must-know trick for translation, but you could hit angles just right and "skate" on them, gaining velocity the whole time. A quick look got me this far: youtu.be/d846EASxiEk?... It was a trick any hardcore learned.
Anyone mention Tribes yet?
It's a cursed society wherein it's a social sin to like oneself.
One of my pet-names for my self in my internal dialog is "You big dummy" - and I know that's not cool, so I try to tell myself not to bully myself - and what do I call myself? "A big dummy" F's in the chat please.
I am under the impression that the set of roleplayers that think it'd be really cute to have dangly shit on their horns or antlers probably have never had long hair, and definitely weren't here for the "hair wrap" fad.
People spend a lot of time wondering why the left is worse at using independent media to control the national narrative. A useful exercise is to ask why the left is also worse at selling snake oil and pyramid schemes, because I think the reasons are basically exactly the same.
Seems like a flaw, right? Can you think of another hobby where mentorship isn't a thing, and new devotees can't at least learn, if not directly participate in the hobby with the more experienced hobbyists?
Which reinforces the idea that "IF you're out of level band you shouldn't play together" - which is more misinterpretation of gating and power-scale. It's an avelanch of misunderstandings that make for a wholly new game experience. and it sucks.
It's Saturday, but I'm working so I made #tea #MMORPG makers, giving players XP boosts is a trap, and a bad idea. It teaches your players that level == score and that prgoression is the goal. Both bad lessons.
The Misfits T I'm rocking today just gained awareness.
Depends on context tbh - if the scene's carried and exciting I might not, but if I absolutely am not getting it, I'll go see. Jane Eyre is one thing, Amusing asides another.
Dat OG Moxyland doe!
An anecdote: The party returns from a grand adventure, Eternal Crown in hand. But, on the way through town, Aerik realizes that he's not quite L7, so he holds up the party and starts scouting for a dog or waifish crook to kick to death for Xpease...
Hyperreality has taken us!
Character level is a conceit, and a clumsy one. It isn't, and has never been the point of a role-playing game. #TTRPG #MMORPG #Tea
I'm feelin' a bit lore-spicy today so I'm just going to say it: If you don't actually believe in magic, if you don't hang out with a pagan, or have access to a world-view that isn't the western Christian one - you're probably bad at writing magic. /shrug I don't make the rules.
Dear #GameArtists and #LevelDesigners - Love you, mean it, but when you "Rule of Cool" some rando shit into the world that clearly begs a justification, you're begging that justification *from me* - Please be kind. Thanks! <3
Endcap: MMO's are lifestyle games, and lifestyle games are hobbies. I don't ever want you to cancel your sub, I want you to come into my world to stay.