modern AAA yes but also I am sick to fuck of shunting roguelikes into games out of a perception that the games themselves are insufficiently complex and nuanced without the imposition of dice rolls

New Wizard and Hero Tokens featuring artwork from @max.circa.vision :) #mtg #finalfantasy #mtgcommander #mtgedh #mtgff #ffix #vivi #tokens

"We're making something unique" says the genre dev making a typical generic genre game for an existing, established audience that tries & fails to reinvent things that were already done properly decades ago

HD-2D was an interesting experiment but, I think it's ugly most of the time. Instead of doing something interesting with color palettes it's just forcing bloom lighting and blur over the pixels. It winds up feeling like pixel art that's ashamed to be pixel art.

we need more indies who've stared at Namco logos for years www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B_6...

Thanks again for lettin' me spin my tunes Magfest and @circa.vision, this was a 5am impromptu thang, but I had a BLASsst

one of those games that I resented as a child because I did not have the patience to really come to grips with its controls but now that I am an adult fatigued with all video games being functionally identical I really cherish those little oddball ventures

I spent the morning going into an unprocessed collection because "I think we have footage of this too!" and it turns out that we have the exact same tape. I think ours is the master shot by @parisi2274.bsky.social

A Washington Post article suggests that, beyond a certain threshold, larger homes don't make people happier. Instead, well-being is correlated with affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods where they feel socially connected. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

I think usage of "intuitive" in game design discussions would be a lot more productive if people separated it into 2 categories - intuitive in accordance to real world experiences and intuitive from past exposure to similar games & existing conventions

We’ve got new products in the shop! Stickers, magnets, and even a shirt! Pick them up today at maxfarinatoart.com and don’t forget to pick up your copy of the prologue to Lux the Lilliput if you haven’t! #comic #stickers #magnets #shirts

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jICB... swear to god they are doing a Xenogears HD2D

Gamers have become conditioned to love every single erosion of integrity from the medium all while making excuses for it in their minds and to others. And their money conditioned devs. If you for a second think that these companies wont get away with it ur fooling yourself

The medium where mtx,gacha,live service,survivorlikes have become normalized and accepted. The medium where scale is worshipped like nothing else. The medium where important history is lost and tech upgrades are treated as artistic upgrades. The fans of this medium is for sure going to resist genAI

What beloved childhood dog would you like us to threaten next? Join us tonight at 8pm for more Sketch Hour, only on twitch.tv/circavision • • • • • #fyp #explore #twitch #clips #balto

I say this with zero irony: if you are even tangentially a part of a retro video game community, it is your civic duty to push back against this company and shun anyone who doesn't. This is fascism tapping gently at the door and as soon as you let it in, it's going to invite its friends.

As part of our project to preserve the history of Sega Channel, we have recovered OVER 100 new Sega Channel ROMs, including the legendary lost game Garfield: Caught in the Act - The Lost Levels. Read more: gamehistory.org/segachannel/

The most important video for artists I’ve seen in a hot minute youtu.be/x3NPxraALq0?...

The art of Milano's Odd Job Collection is done by Maki Ohzora, who also did the art for my personal favorite Sega Genesis game: Monster World IV. There may even be a few references to it in Milano...

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Strong floor, no ceiling” Colombian President Gustavo Petro: “A clan of pedophiles wants to destroy our democracy.”

DS3 also being more of a game that relies on fundamental skill might be why the map for it never sticks in my head lol (despite putting in 90 hours)

Getting stuck causes players to explore the world. Dying causes players to think about what they're doing. An "impossible" situation causes players to learn how the game works and eventually achieve the impossible. We need to be able to design *some* games around these fundamental ideas.

Part of me feels like Dark Souls wouldn't have caught on if the first game had difficulty settings. It'd be "cheap", "pointless", etc. Arcade games had a relatively granular difficulty option via credit feeding and it played a big part in them written off as "button mashers"/"quarter munchers".

Normalize the idea that genre devs should play the games in the genres they're making to at least a somewhat competent level

we've also got some custom BMR tokens on the way, with art courtesy of @max.circa.vision #vivi #finalfantasy #mtg #mtgpauper #magicthegathering

ReBoot is the most brilliantly creative animated series I've ever seen. Holy shit.

The actual secret to why I know stuff is that I ask a question any time I don’t understand literally anything. I don’t care how simple it is. Anybody who makes fun of you for asking a simple question likely doesn’t know the answer either

Go get your copy today! I worked on this animation to help promote the first issue. I want to make sure I'm putting my all into this project.

If it does not happen at some time I will buy a hat & then eat it Dweeb will appear on our screens in the future. I am sure of it🙏

I remember 15 years ago being like "... I wanna make a metroidvania... but with combos" and thank god a bunch of people got there first to make me realize "actually no I absolutely do not." Its so superficially alluring to tack combos to stuff but we have YEARS of it mostly being lame to learn from

youtu.be/sDa6agrtvlc?... Bro are there ANY devs who like these fucking games LOL is thinking the series you're making a successor of is trash a pre-requisite that companies look for

On the other hand, when you remove genre conventions & make them unacceptable via homogenization, not only does this remove the positive cultural bias & understanding of the mechanic as a language, it turns it into a swear word, which shrinks design space. Controls already suffered cuz of this

I think critics,devs,audiences should treasure & protect unintuitive genre abstractions. Like static cameras in survival horror games. The fact that its tied to a genre makes it a known language to players. & that's a beautiful thing cuz devs wont have to do the teaching every time they use it

Thank you, New York City. Together we made history. Now let’s get to work. transition2025.com

New York City: a muslim socialist is going to become our mayor Dick Cheney: over my dead body

Art is the only way I currently make any money. Every bit of support helps. Most of that is gained through commissions, but there is also Itch for art packs and Patreon/SubStar for early access and WIPs. But a nice way to help is also just by reposting my stuff. Links: SubscribeStar Patreon Itch

STOP THE PRESSES. The ROM for the unreleased Famicom RPG Splatter World has been released (in a thread on 4chan, of all places). I've tried it myself, and it does seem to be genuine. If it's a fake, it's a damn good one. Expect (more) coverage on West Mansion soon. @hg101.bsky.social

Ys // Falcom // PC-98

I do think all four of these are pointing to the notion that you really can't just find a studio and spin up Another One. it's That Staff in That Time on That Hardware with That Engine and That Creative Talent and without that exact context it just is not possible to go back home again

Don't forget to pick up your copy of the prologue to Lux The Lilliput today! Photos by Eric Tavares. Lux The Lilliput: maxfarinatoart.com Eric Tavares: erictavares.myportfolio.com www.youtube.com/c/althentik

In case y'all haven't seen, I had the chance to create the cover for SIGNS by the big dawg MAXIMUM CRASH 🔥 it's not every day I get to make art for an album that features my extract flavor of beats so needless to say I'm beyond honored 🙇 be sure to check it out and support the big homie ‼️

I feel like this is a consequence of a complete lack of balance in modern games and how hard the more open ended sandboxy approach to challenge won. In older games, esp arcade ones but early console ones too, there was a lot less leeway to trivialize challenges so "cheese" was just strategy

Rest in peace Itagaki, one of the GOATs. He didn't just make awesome games but also changed countless people's views on what action games could & should be. Actually had a really strong vision on how to push the genre forward, directly shaping people's tastes

Tomonobu Itagaki (creator of Ninja Gaiden 2004, Dead or Alive) has passed away according to his Facebook

Fun fact: The animator who worked on this sequence, Hiroyuki Okiura, is often accused of rotoscoping. Not even remotely the case, as I understand. Please watch Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door. It's one of the most beautiful things ever made by people. Also... It's a Halloween movie!

Hey all! The first issue of my comic is now available, and I would greatly appreciate your support! Here's the new social, so you can hear of any upcoming news on it along with promos and merch. bsky.app/profile/maxf...