I have thoughts about how Magic's Universe Beyond push has a lot to say about the death of art, the devaluation of original stories, the ascendancy of brands that peddle safe, comforting sameness and the broader decline of culture but whenever I mention those things people get *really mad*, so...

management are also often subject to The Shareholders who cannot imagine a world more creative than the ‘current successes’. remember that before BG3 and disco came out, selecting unvoiced branching dialogue options was considered ‘old fashioned’ and ‘not what the kids want these days’. then whoops

Ghost of Yotei seems to have somehow regressed in terms of side quests and core narrative which is a big shame. Also - how long are we going to be stuck with every single game being ostensibly a tale of revenge that’s really about the recurring cycle of trauma‘? Like other narratives DO exist.

Underwhelming state of play again. Saros is a guaranteed banger but otherwise only the controversial za/um game that looks to include any kind of meaningful narrative. And then just remakes, ports and a sliver of Wolverine‘s Creed gameplay that looks flash but formulaic.

For my new @debugmag.com column - I’m looking for examples of indie games with innovative difficulty/accessibility settings. Something more than ‘enemies have more health‘ or ‘tooltips appear with hints‘. Any suggestions for me folks?

When using hashtags like #PitchYaGame and #ScreenshotSaturday please make sure you have DMs* turned on! ~20% of games we want to cover, we have to skip because we can’t contact the developer *or a link to contact details

I wrote a deep drive narrative design retro of Backbone/Tails Noir narrativedesignlife.substack.com/p/narrative-... Learn all about what went into THAT controversial ending, how we set ourselves up to be a big hit but didn’t stick the landing, and why the dialogue was so universally praised.

Looking at how successful Palworld - and thinking how successful the new farming game will be - makes me feel depressed. Shameless plagiarism of the highest order, creatively bankrupt creature designs, cynical laundry lists of meme mechanics, and it’s en route to becoming a massive franchise.

Pandemonium on Sega Saturn! That was a good game.

I’m finally getting around to writing a narrative retrospective of Backbone/Tails Noir. It wasn’t perfect by any means but we had a heckin’ VIBE going. Still sad i never got to work on a sequel.

Still not enough people talking about Little Goody Two Shoes. Incredible jazzy soundtrack. The most hilarious 90s anime style cutscenes. Great dialogue and characters. Cozy yet creepy. Interesting mini social sim mechanics. And just look at it.

I miss games with genuine secrets. I miss games with surprising variety like when a 3rd person shooter suddenly throws you into a 2D fighting game or some shit. I REALLY miss instruction manuals. I miss GENUINE replayability. Make me happy and recommend some modern games like this.

Get yourself in print! Tell us in 300 characters why you love your favourite indie game, and we will print it in an upcoming issue of Debug! Full credit given.

Same for games.

I just think about how they are going to be calling me in to clean it up when all the assets are made and totally unalterable so I have to make a lesser story than they could have made if we had planned how to scale the branches properly

I’m gonna go one further and say any list of people is inherently bullshit. Tell me about one person, in detail, anything else is just an SEO pyramid scheme.

I guessed I was nearing the end, so I’d been putting it off, but I’ve just finished Harold Halibut. A lovely game, and the ending was absolutely perfect.

Ages ago i ‘digitised’ my old ‘best of’ collection. I like to be minimalist about my physical goods so this is a great way to relive the memories.

Finished reading the Liveship Traders trilogy and it’s somehow even better than Farseer. Robin Hobb has got to be the great living master of social fantasy, and believable and compelling interior lives. Immense stuff. The PoV characters are completely unforgettable.

Hell is Us (demo) is the first game in a long time i’ve played that has gripped me with its atmosphere. I LOVE the complete lack of UI, map etc. Finding it extremely immersive so far.

reinstalling Harold Halibut to get my brain out of political cascades Seriously, if you've never played it, it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Disco Elysium as like, a light to the darkness

I put Spinal Tap refs in any game I work on at the first opportunity. Haven’t managed ‘smell the glove’ yet though but … give me time.

Live-A-Live on Switch is so good. Amazing little short story-game anthology. Each one is very genre but always with a twist and is really tightly plotted. I love games like this! It’s the JRPG equivalent of Edith Finch. Can totally see the inspiration on Octopath.

Apparently Replaced was shown at Gamescom and it’d absolutely crack me up if that manages to come out before The Last Night

Don’t sleep on probably the best and definitely the funniest tactics game of recent years.

finished harold halibut yesterday and was really blown away by the whole experience. charming characters, great soundtrack, beautiful visuals. just wanted to throw my recommendation out there for anyone who enjoys narrative games that are essentially like interactive movies

Like, literally the secret is that that's how taste is formed. We can not like it, critique it, lie to ourselves that we / society only likes things organically, but in an industry - that's just not the case!

Harold Halibut coming to PS+ in August! So you really have no excuse not to try it if you didn’t already.

Game writers, this is what i mean when i say you need to kill your backstory. Write just enough to allow for internal continuity and cohesiveness between departments. The rest will only be an albatross.

Writers should internalize Lao Tzu's lesson about how the emptiness at the center of a wheel is what makes it useful, and how a pot is valuable because of where the clay *isn't*. Corporate geek culture has warped us into thinking that negative spaces are flaws that need to be fixed.

to solve a problem, it’s good to first look at: who has been trying to solve this problem the longest? and what do they find does not work? Is the reason the problem has not been solved bc it’s complex/expensive to build? It is rarely because those involved are not ‘positive’ or smart enough

Genuinely baffling that writing jobs are still expecting new hires to move cities/countries in order to be hybrid. Aside from it being ableist (I have universal healthcare here), a risk with layoffs, what do they think writing looks like? No one needs me in an office making faces while I type!

UFO50 on switch finally let’s gooooooooiooooooooooo

Watch this if you’re serious about having a happy life youtu.be/BUp5YxPe2Qw

@slowbros.bsky.social Harold Halibut (in which I play alien Weeoo) is in the Handcrafted Steam Bundle along with @moonhood.bsky.social ’s beautiful Midnight Walk! If you love handmade art and exquisite stories, this is the bundle for you! store.steampowered.com/bundle/56282...

Little Goody Two Shoes just keeps getting better. The life-sim 'work' is done via pixel-art mini-games and they're hilarious. There's been a surprise musical number, equally hilarious and yet beautifully drawn. Elise is a bratty but brilliant protagonist and without spoiling...dark undercurrents.

Well said!!

95% of all talent/success is just good decision making. The other 5% is genetic predisposition/upbringing which you can't control. Invest in improving your decision making above and before anything else if you want positive outcomes.

Oh my god

A new shore is on the horizon. Harold Halibut pre-orders for the Mac App Store are now open. Your voyage begins soon.

Finally trying out Little Goody Twoshoes and I can’t believed i’ve not heard more about this game. It’s utterly beautiful for a start, the writing is snappy and the mix of cozy life sim with slow burn horror is great. Anyone played it??

Introducing Debug++ The free games industry magazine from the Debug team. Out now! 🎮 Dev deep-dives 🧠 Industry insight 👀 Stories behind the screens Subscribe now and read today: debug.plus #gamedev Updates: @debug.plus

A lot of people come into the games industry and pretty soon develop a cynical attitude that the industry is largely run by business guys who don't know a thing about video games. It's only after a few years and some seniority that you realize that those guys don't know shit about business either.

I wrote this column and I'll just say that the original headline was much meaner. The piece itself, though, is still very angry and very mean, I assure you.

SkillUp is an incredibly nuanced critic, and pretty much the only one I currently know of who can properly, deeply and holistically engage with narrative design www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxMJ...

I think about this constantly

Sometimes I just sit here and think about how clever the narrative design of Returnal was. A lot of people will never experience it because of how challenging the game could be but my god there were some smart and well realised ideas in there.

Narrative design is, in part, understanding there's no "boring parts" of a game: it can all be used to tell the story, it's all an opportunity for creativity, and if you view certain parts as "boring" you are missing out.

Finished Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Never played another game like it. It’s flawed - especially the combat, save system, lack of accessibility options and poor signposting of objectives, and choice/consequence transparency. But it’s also incredibly immersive, ambitious and the cast is exceptional.

Watching movies in which heroes stand up for the little guy, do the unpopular brave thing simply because it is right, help those in need, are kind to people different from them, and grinding my teeth in frenzied rage at this political bias that is personally attacking me, a massive piece of shit.