I really like what cards of prophecy is doing with themed tiles/units and being an actual proper deckbuilding TD (rather than cards as aesthetic). Really interested in watching the development of this one. The public demo for it drops the first week of March: store.steampowered.com/app/3256450/...

"Are There Aliens?" is a silly question - statistically speaking, there absolutely are. The question isn't "if" it's "where" - and any alien outside our solar system would have to be infinitely more technologically advanced than us to visit here, we would be sub-ape intellect compared to them.

I absolutely hate simulation sickness - and it has gotten worse as I've gotten older (went and tried minecraft, couldn't even finish clearing out a mansion without getting sick)... Started noticing it when trying to replay some PS1/2 games ~10 years ago. Some classics may be off limits now :(

Yes, I'll be covering the warlock thing for d2 in about 30min. I don't want spoilers for the class though. notes: - From the announcement video, I fully expect the pricetag to be way too high for the return. - No, I don't know how far we'll play through with it. - No, I won't be speedrunning it.

Am I alone in feeling the need to turn off political talk in my community spaces? I'm exhausted even if it's stuff I agree with. I stay informed, and I am extremely vocal on the assaults on human rights in the US... but I find myself too tired to juggle it outside of research & the public fight.

I can take a shit in 5 minutes, but I'd rather eat the enchiladas that I took a couple hours to make

Internet's still borked... here's hoping it fixes itself by tomorrow morning so we can at least get some bg2 progress done (well, we did take down an interdimensional demonic prison warden...but yea)

Hmm... anyone happen to know why bluesky puts a weird desaturation effect on video links btw?

While it doesn't do anything wildly unique, the simple combination of an assembly line game and a tower defense in Golemworks performs exceptionally well in this format, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else they do to play with the formula.

In off camera TTRPG results: Eldrin Expectation: "Burn Evil Wizard guy's lab to ground with arcane Thermite" Eldrin Result? "Evil Wizard Tower and Prison Destruction Service" I think my 12 int Sorcerer forgot to carry the 1.

A combo of Murder Mystery+Deckbuilder, I really enjoyed the feel of The Killing Stone and am looking forward to the full release. Only major nitpick I have is that cards could be a bit more durable to emphasize the tug-of-war aspect of battles, and make the units feel more unique.

Going to have to give it another run with the new changes - pretty much hits most of my list of requested changes (except key rebinding)

Also, no stream today on main, if I end up doing something besides coding stuff - might do some game dev stuff though...

Are people really surprised people like Kotick are in the emails? That would be like being shocked Trump is in there...

Spam Filters are your friends

Sometimes I want an epic story, other times I just want something cathartic to relax to - and really Arcadium fits the bill for me - since it's essentially Asteroid given a lot of modern polish and Roguelite progression. The session length is "just right" at ~15-30 minutes per run.

I get why it happens, but it always bothers me when balance shifts are made, not for fun, but explicitly to "beat the player" - sure, remove exploits and keep it challenging, but your goal in game design (just like DMing) isn't to "win" against your player, it's to challenge and engage them.

One Day I'll get these posts right the first try, that is not today. If you have an #indie game you want me to cover, reply here and/or send an email to the address in the image. I also cover AA games, but only rarely cover AAA if they're compelling.

If it hasn't been said enough today: - ICE is a state funded terrorist organization. - Generative AI degrades the environment & society, and is a financial bubble, with almost no positives. - Trans Rights are Human Rights. - I believe in one less God than you do. If this is a problem, bugger off.

I enjoy the chill nature of Slumber Realms - it mixes deckbuilding and dice mechanics in a fun (and straight-forward) manner, but still makes it feel fresh with a day-night cycle and making the metaprogression dip into an almost Unpacking style intermission.

face reveal, wrong answers only

what #ttrpg channels do most of you watch out of curiosity? (twitch or youtube preferred)

I might get some flak for this - but am I the only one that feels like Frieren is a true spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, despite not being even remotely in the same genre? They both really land the concept of the finite nature of life and experiences - how there is always a last time.

If you enjoyed BallxPit you might want to keep your eye on Abyssal Merge - while it lacks the city building aspect, it does have a pretty compelling combination of the ball mechanics + a merging mechanic. Had a lot of fun with the playtest: store.steampowered.com/app/4290070/...

I'll repeat this until I'm blue in the face - but ALWAYS include options to disable stuff like scanline/static/etc. visual features in your games. By having it always on, you're going to have capture artifacting for people covering it AND platform artifacting. (meaning your game will look potat)

Am I not blatant enough with the fact that I won't cover ai-slop games? I swear half the emails I've gotten this week have been gen-ai written OR the games themselves are neck deep in slop. Seriously one essentially said: "but I only used it for the art, cutscenes, voices, writing, and coding!"

Can we stop using the phrase "free with your subscription"? - if you're paying a subscription, that shit isn't free.

Clicked on some anime for background noise while working on some coding... my mistake picking Maquia - it must be raining in here after that ending. I was expecting fantasy, not depression.

Two irks I have with a number of modern roguelites: - Grind-walling (ie "can't win first X runs because game is impossible without metaprogression") - Inverted Drip Feed (making early unlocks slow, late unlocks fast) It's an appeal to try-hards imo - not a way to grow a playerbase.

Strongbod Spongepnats - that is all (and not a typo)

I really wish this AI shit would just up and fucking die. Five years ago, you could search for how to do something online and probably find the solution in minutes - now I'm here spending half an hour trying to find something that isn't a fucking hallucination that doesn't work. (work rant ended)

Another #ttrpg question: in a fantasy (or fantasy adjacent) system, what is your preferred archetype when getting started in a new system? do you start as a sword and board fighter? or dive deep into complex magic? stealthy rogue maybe? or chaotic inventor/crafter?

Not sure how many replies I'll get to this (still sad no poll option) - but #ttrpg folks, what type of magic resource systems do you prefer? (currently bouncing between spell slots and spell points - with a lean towards the latter, since it can facilitate spell customization easier)

Also worth noting - I'm not bothered by fan-service in media (to an extent at least), but more than once I've seen otherwise "actually good games" be pigeon-holed and dismissed, simply because they decided to aim for the low hanging fruit, rather than trying to push that good game to 11.

I'm slightly torn on titles like Kotama & Academy Citadel - on one hand I enjoy the gameplay, and it's a pretty good metroidvania. I just think on a wider scope, it would've been taken more seriously (and gotten more coverage) without the fan-service. store.steampowered.com/app/3639650/...

I'm on the fence about Tower Lab - I love the concept, but I'm not sure if I'm just stupid or it needs some balance passes. But the idea of a physics based tower defense rather than a raw damage focused one is awfully cool, and it works for the most part: store.steampowered.com/app/3084810/...

As someone who knows the tech behind LLMs - I wouldn't trust that shit with a cookie recipe. Every time I see someone citing it or openly using it as a crutch, I just lose a bit more faith in them as a person. It gives bad code, incorrect advice, and made up data constantly.

If you're looking for a demo to try, and happen to like monster hunter or pikmin (it's an 80:20 split) - I can definitely recommend the Moulder demo - has quite a few similar premises to monhunt, but has you weaponizing a maggot army (ala pikmin) to help: store.steampowered.com/app/3919810/...

Why do I mock maga/ice/trolls/etc.? Because ignoring/tolerating/etc. this type of behaviour is condoning it. If you want to rot in hell, I'm going to make sure my laughter at your aggression and idiocy is burned into your brain as you hate-read my words and hate-watch my videos.

Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers.

That's a wildly stupid claim - games aren't a commodity, and there are very few nations that have so few people that they can't staff multiple studios with exceptionally talented teams. Though considering the source... not surprised ;) The dude is basically the Rob Liefeld of boobs and butts.

This is continuously worth sharing, and is a pretty solid summary of my view as well.

It is telling of an individual or organization when their demand is "comply or face harassment/death/etc" - these horrible people have been around for ages. They're the bullies that peaked in jr high, they're the internet trolls that can't take "no" and make veiled threats online. They're Garbage.

Anyone know some smaller youtubers/streamers into TTRPGs (they don't have to cover ttrpgs, but I'm thinking I might do some one-shots/short campaigns in the next few months, time allowing - and wouldn't mind getting a list of interesting/fun people to approach for it)

Think I might just turn off notifications on stuff for a while, I'll still be posting, but going to just focus on making for a while - and focus on adding what little I can to the world because frankly - I'm exhausted. If you need to reach me, there's streams, discord, and email.

I'm thoroughly tired of living in interesting times.

Stream will start a little late today, but it is coming.