taleb also wrote ‘antifragile’ and he himself sees that book as a more complete perspective on the same idea. i tend to agree, but black swan was a bit more specific and applicable for me somehow

i still think about the ideas in that book every few weeks 20 years later. even though it’s not about game development specifically, it speaks to attributes of things with luck and chance that is applicable to game dev. like why to prototype & iterate, or what ideas to pick up, how markets work, etc

Organizational Culture & Leadership, 5th Edition, it's a textbook sorry it's not specific to game direction because I don't think the industry-specific skills are nearly as difficult a challenge as the whole "how to navigate and lead and effect change in an organization full of people" problem

We're only just now starting to get decent contextual accounts of games as a medium, and I find that it's much easier to internalize lessons from related but external media. Someday Valve and Steam may be the subjects of similar documents, but we're still too much in the current moment to understand

"I Want My MTV" by Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks. It's a tremendous highs and lows accounting of how a dominant cultural movement began and how it shaped the art and world around it, in a way that can only be properly be understood after the fact.

That said--as someone literally handing over the reins right now--I made it clear when recommending reading that almost every business book I've ever read was 80% filler around fairly simple (even if novel) concepts. Just read a couple summaries & watch the TED talk.

David Graeber - Bullshit Jobs

black swan by taleb

Horrific, unspeakably violent greed.

Keep thinking about this term "pre-digested" that Kojima used to describe art that's instantly gratifying. And how it's better when people grow to love something instead. I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.

I know everyone talks about this book, but I quite honestly always revere it as the most helpful book I've ever read in my professional life Radical Candour. How to be a kick ass boss without losing your humanity www.radicalcandor.com/our-approach

Genuinely only know one book that targeted. Ashamed to say (that despite owning it) I haven't read it, but really enjoyed working under Brian: www.directingvideogames.com

GameDev peeps. Keen to hear your ultimate videogame lit rec: You're a game director. You have an upcoming, hungry, talented individual on your team that you want to assist in succeeding you in the role of game director at the studio. You can recommend them only one book. What is it?

hey i haven't logged on in a while, but has anyone here figured out how to stop thinking about arc raiders yet?

Want to be one of the first people to get hands-on with Streets of Fortuna? We'll be a selecting a small group for our Steam Alpha Playtest in 2026. 🏛 Sign up here: store.steampowered.com/app/2946850/...

A good day of gaming.

If it’s Shogun 3 I will shit a brick. Sumimasen.

TOMORROW: Nuclear Throne 10th anniversary, update 100, 10am Pacific Time. store.steampowered.com/app/242680/N...

Let's gooooooo! 📔📈👀

ONLY ONE HOUR LEFT! And so close to $100k and 1k followers! @tdcpresents.bsky.social approached us in 2023 with the idea of a Kickstarter for a collection of his novellas. Almost all of the money from your pledges go directly towards supporting his great work. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lea...

We all work in a joke industry run by anti-intellectual unserious people. This is the most powerful and promising medium of all humankind and corporate America’s uncultured conservative values has its foot firmly on our artists’ necks, while they sell us off to the Saudis. Santa Ragione 4eva. ✊🏻

also games yeah exactly

Incredible how many people say "sorry, just saw your email now" in a world that has had email read receipts for 15+ years. Brother, I can see that you already opened my email precisely 13.7 times in the past month. We're all terrible at emails. No need to lie. Join us.

My Armello Kickstarter collaboration with @leagueofgeeks.com is drawing to a close in 24 hours, but what a ride it's been! We're over 300% funded, and inching closer to a killer stretch goal to boot! If you haven't checked it out yet, now's the time! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lea...

There is nowhere near enough coverage of how extortionate font licensing firms are, specifically to game developers. The last font we had to license even the representative for the licensing company effusively expressed how much they despised their superiors and loathed the business model. Crooks.

Only two days remain! Printed end pages, two never released novellas, Bandit Clan skins for Armello, and more! And almost 300% funded! Back the Kickstarter and secure your copy of this premium omnibus of nine (!!) novellas set in the Kingdom of Armello! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lea...

What if the measure of how much skill it takes to do you job is if AI is useful for it. What if we flipped pay scales to account for that

Every conversation I've had with Keita since we first met over a decade ago has been in a word, completely refreshing. He is defiantly an artist in the face of so much commercial pressure within our medium. This episode is one not to be missed. Thanks Keita, for your vulnerability and honesty here.

If you've got kids in your family and are looking for swashbuckling adventures that have the consequence and grit of the dark fairy tales of old, this collection of Alex and my Armello novellas will make for fine bedside storytime fodder. The book quality and design is something special too. 💖

I love Brandon. A colossal, enduring force for good. ❤️

I wrote this story almost 15 years ago as a tone and style test for Armello, but also as a worldbuilding activity. No one except five or so folks within LoG have ever read it. Excited for it to be a part of this omnibus alongside Alex’s gems.

Rolled credits on Keeper last night. A truly astounding experience that rises and rises from start to finish to become something almost transcendent in spirit. An incredible achievement. Do not miss this. It may be the best 5hr game you’ll play in years.

Working in the game industry

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with blops6, but it was the most ethically bankrupt & creatively shizofrenic game I've ever played. A CoD campaign every few years was my guilty pleasure, but with the BDS boycott & the clear disdain for developers and their players, I'll likely never play CoD again.

Hey chat is it good if your computer crashes during the game’s benchmark,

Ambrosia Sky: Act One is now available! Here's how you can support the game: 💸 Buy the game on Steam & EGS! ✅ Leave us a review! 💛 Join our community Discord! 💌 Follow us on our socials! 📚 Read our devlogs and updates! You can find links to all of these here: linktr.ee/softrains

All of you should be playing Ambrosia Sky. 🫵🏼

This episode of the Game Maker's Notebook with @trentkusters.bsky.social and Dave Oshry from @newblood.games is a wild ride.

"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk

One stretch goal down, and the next one revealed! Hell yeah, get it! Come and join the party! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lea...

Let's goooo! Can we hit the first stretch goal in DAY ONE? :O

We're all going to write pieces about what you can learn from tonight but it's actually pretty simple: The frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

Let's goooo! Can we hit the first stretch goal in DAY ONE? :O

😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎

When your 10 year old IP is crushing kickstarters in just three hours. Hell yeah, gang! We love to see it. Can't wait to have this pretty book in my hands. 📔👀🤤

Already >50% funded in less than 30 mins! Spread the word and get in there! 🦁👑📔📈 www.kickstarter.com/projects/lea...

You left. Now they're dead. Immersive sim narrative first person cleaner AMBROSIA SKY is coming out NEXT WEEK! "beautiful, intimate, and deeply affecting" - @ign.com "equal parts System Shock and Powerwash Simulator" - @pcgamer.com Steam & Epic, November 10, 9am EST. Links below!

This game has one of the smoothest difficulty curves I've ever felt in a "puzzle sickos" game. I've been stumped for the exactly correct amount of time by every single puzzle. It's a quite the feat. Highest recommendation. (I'm playing on my phone, but I'm sure other platforms would be good too.)