Players frequently blame poor performance and bugs on laziness of game developers, when every shipped video game is a fragile miracle. It's strict corporate deadlines and poor management decisions that causes these broken mechanics.

“player agency” is something gamers tend to complain and ask for, but a railroaded experience is often times much more impactful

Starting in 3 hours. Come get you some sci fi noir

We all seem to have forgotten one of the most truly delightful and surprising indie interactive fiction drops of the last decade. 17776 is ostensibly about football, which is why at first glance I thought I wouldn't like it. But it really makes me smile, and the world could use that right now.

I wrote a response to this incredible bit of craft advice from @thelincoln.bsky.social bettermyths.com/turning-on-t...

To the cavalcade of new followers from the ND starter pack, hello. I am Cory. This game tells you basically everything you need to know about me: bettermyths.com/amoraldilemm... I almost never post. You're welcome.

I'm sorry but if you have 4,000 employees and your revenue is 6 billion, you make 1.5 million per employee and if you can't make a profit margin there, you are simply embezzling it.

Layoffs are not just “how the industry is going” They happen because pieces of shit who care only about themselves are put in positions of power Pieces of shit who have ruined this industry Never forget what these people have done. This industry is devastated, and their bank accounts are bulging

This is happening this Friday! Come see me talk about sci-fi noir at C2E2!

Yo if any of you nerds are going to C2E2 I'm doing a panel, check it out: www.c2e2.com/en-us/things...

you can read @kevinbaker.bsky.social’s new piece if you promise to think seriously about this: “You do not have to use a language model to let it organize your attention or distort your thinking.” artificialbureaucracy.substack.com/p/kill-chain...

Yo if any of you nerds are going to C2E2 I'm doing a panel, check it out: www.c2e2.com/en-us/things...

I'M SO AMPED FOR THIS

I was asked to give my thoughts on generative AI usage in games - here they are!

Powered by AI

I can't possibly come up with a representative quote from every cool game in this year's Experimental Gameplay Showcase. But I can report that Tommy Maranges & Cory O'Brien yelled "MAGIC CIRCLE BAYBEEEEE" while showing Inhuman Conditions and Eric "Magic Circle Jerk" Zimmerman couldn't stop laughing

I went into GDC creatively exhausted and kinda pessimistic about the industry. But spending the week around people who are genuinely passionate about the things they're making has been incredibly healing. I'm inspired to make some small, beautiful things.

Do you work in games? Are you tired of corporate greed taking over our industry? Do you miss when industry events were by workers, for workers? The United Videogame Workers of CWA, in partnership with other unions and worker-centered organizations, announce the #GameWorkersConference. May 22-23 ❤️‍🔥

Everyone doing youraislopboresme.com is a fucking genius

We used to manufacture consent in this country

Data Centers in Chicago use a LOT of electricity, and we're adding some stats to show you just how much - in this case, 7 data centers use as much energy as 480 median large Chicago buildings! More data coming soon to electrifychicago.net/property-typ...

5 authors I've read at least 5 books by: Ursula K. Le Guin Douglas Adams William Gibson Joe Abercrombie Raymond Chandler

Microsoft has disabled the delete key in paint 3d and has replaced it with a "Generative Erase" that takes 10 seconds to remove black text from a white background. This feels like a joke but it is real life

I am done with these fucking captchas. Never have I felt more like I was doing a robot's homework for it. Can't wait for a Waymo to mow down a pedestrian because I didn't answer its pop quiz fast enough.

As for me, I'm simply not going to die. Rip to the rest of you but i'm different.

I know there are a lot of terrible things happening in the world right now but Southwest Airlines now making you pay for specific seats in advance and charging for checked luggage just feels like salt in the wound.

hello and welcome to the political genius exam. here is question one. which is a more compelling message: - the president is sending armies to occupy cities and kidnap and kill people and your town could be next - a meal at the cheesecake factory that previously cost $100 now costs $104.9

Games industry dot biz is asking how you are using AI, do your thing! survey.alchemer.com/s3/8679343/b...

The workers of Ubisoft care about their team, and they care about what they make, and they want you to have better games made by happier people. Solidarity forever!

Some terrifically titled papers from a discovered collection of NASA research documents found in a skip (with thanks to @juliarez.placid.horse)

✊

For all my Illinois people, call Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and demand they hold the line against the DHS funding bill, no compromises. Durbin: (202) 224-2152 Duckworth: (312) 886-3506 If you can't get through, try their websites. They've gotta know we're paying attention.

writing a cyberpunk novel but spending 200 pages on how brazil invented a new type of ass shaking music that no one was prepared for

btw indies, you should really hire @thisisstar.bsky.social if you can for trailers - her trailer for TR-49 is up on GameTrailers where it has 10x the views of anything released around the same time (except, I think, Warhammer). And for a game which is *really* hard to trailer too...

A lot of "crunch is good" bullshit is said in bad faith, but the saddest thing to me is the very senior devs/directors I've worked with who've so internalized these ideas (through long-term trauma) that they take pride in working themselves to death rather than asking if better things are possible.

I say this with utmost respect, but Taylor is an absolute tool for saying this privately or publicly. I can say on good authority that it takes 7 to 10 years to develop game development skills to “good enough” to produce commercial game content. 7-10 years plus the cost of a university education.

Earthbound so real for this

I wrote a post about expecting trophies for basic competency, but you can scroll to the bottom if you just want a recipe for rice and beans: bettermyths.com/how-to-make-...

I wrote a post about expecting trophies for basic competency, but you can scroll to the bottom if you just want a recipe for rice and beans: bettermyths.com/how-to-make-...

AAA video game character going to the toilet: "I'll take these stairs." "Ah, there it is, the bathroom." "Better open the door." "The door's open, nice." "Gonna pull my trousers down now." "Sitting down." "Okay, here we go." "I needed that." "Okay, time to fl

Literally got one of these this morning. The best part is they're all 14 paragraphs long, full of vapid praise for the book, and I was so starved for approval on these titles that I almost fell for the first one.

There's truly art to creating placeholder text. When I'm working with Quest Designers who stub dialogue, there's a huge difference between the ones who try to write their own dialogue, the ones who write nothing (forcing me to chase them down for context) and the ones that understand the assignment.

Hahaha, right?! Or what about mandatory disclosures for the discrepancy between the salaries of the CEO and their lowest paid worker? That would be so funny, right?! Let’s do it as a funny joke!!!

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE by @bettermyths.bsky.social - gay MC - in a near-future LA, a combat-drone vet lives simply in a storage container - until cops show up about a murder: not by him, but his ex - noir sci-fi where data is currency & your own brain is used for storage, but that use corrupts memory

This seems outrageously cruel. And just a handful of months before these folks would have been set to enjoy the release of one of the biggest games of their careers too. The imbalance of power in the games industry remains utterly fucked.

Sorta wondering what forms of exercise other people are perverts for. Any curlers in the chat?

I wrote a post about what swimming does for me. bettermyths.com/love-being-w...