Úna-Minh is brilliant and a delight to work with. Hire her!

Visual metaphor for the way GenAI is being used?

NORAD Santa tracker is Woke

From the people who called the protagonist "Guybrush" because it was the name of the sprite file in Deluxe Paint (guy.brush) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guybrus...

I'm convinced that the current obsession of the US government with annexing Greenland comes from people who have learned about global politics playing Risk (the board game). Just look at the map. (Image from Wikimedia commons) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ri...

Yesterday I did some last minute Christmas shopping, and I was reminded how shop aisles in the US are also classified in reductionistic, gendered sections. If you want to buy something that doesn't fit gender stereotypes or find a gift for an LGBTQ friend, there's nothing or you have to pay extra.

The thing about the claim that AI can speed up game production cycles is that game production cycles are not generally bottlenecked by the ability to make assets, and especially not low-quality replaceable assets

ROSEWATER is an adventure game set in an alternate Wild West, currently 20% off on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/1226670/... Featuring: - Hand-drawn and animated graphics - Choices that actually affect the story - An IndieCade-nominated voice performance But don't just take my word for it:

One of the selling points of Professor Layton is precisely that its design and and art are almost artisanal. Here come people who don't understand this basic fact and will kill off the series.

☃️☃️ Good news everyone! ☃️☃️ The Electronic Literature Collection call for submissions has been extended to **January 31st.** That means you can enjoy the holidays *and* still have time to submit your work. Questions? Email us at elcvol5 [at] gmail [dot] com

I’ve been in game dev for 26 years and I can’t remember any other time where a specific tech was being insistently and persistently pushed on devs as a group in the public sphere. Why would it? Cui bono? Why would any given dev have an interest in other devs using tech they don’t have a stake in?

This is a symptom of how broken academia is. The goal is to keep publishing papers nobody reads, at a pace that can interfere with rigorous work. Scientific papers equate volume of publication with quality, and now all academics fields are trapped in a rat race of poor contributions to their field.

Hey look, Beatdown City Survivors on a list of best demos on Steam! You can check it out here! beatdown.city/bdcsrstm

Lately I've been feeling so deeply exhausted about how every single creative person is wasting so much time thinking about and arguing about how this useless dogshit doesn't work and can never work; so I gotta say, seeing players overwhelmingly understand that too makes me SO happy and encouraged

This is why THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE holds up 50 years later. It's NYC: everyone hates the cowardly mayor, city services are underfunded, the subway is a trash fire and people who ride it are literally being held hostage and victimized. And you see it all onscreen

"they don't know how to express the idea" here's rian johnson's storyboard for knives out pick up a pencil and a napkin

The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.

For The New Yorker’s Cartoons & Puzzles issue, I wrote about Stephen Sondheim’s lifelong obsession with games and puzzles, and a delightful new book about it called "Matching Minds with Sondheim." This was the most fun I had writing anything all year. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

NYC residents, please help us to demand that the City Council increase and stabilize public library funding. It takes 30 seconds to send a letter: actionnetwork.org/letters/city... - we also need people to follow up with a phone call to your member.

This morning is another loud reminder that guns are dangerous and they should be regulated. Yet again. Will those who have the power to change things actually do something? If things didn't change 13 years ago to the day, they won't now.

Interested in game-writing? In early 2026 we'll be publishing a kaleidoscope: short articles by 100+ game writers - experts, freelancers, and juniors - about the craft. ~1/3 of them are in: multiple bangers, from some very famous names and games. Sign up to be notified when it's ready here:

despelote out now on nintendo switch in the americas! with a 35% discount! ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...

Still use this as a class example, from the glory days of flash games.

despelote 35% off right now. that's less than $10 in the US, less than $5 in latam! i know a bunch of u wishlisted the game after @thegameawards.com nominations, now is ur time to buy it! store.steampowered.com/app/2367820/...

Talking to another parent yesterday, we mentioned that Bluey is a good tool to teach life lessons to kids. We said "There's a Bluey episode for everything." And it's true. #IYKYK

Before the calendar year closes out, I just want to remind everyone to consider submitting to Meaningful XR! Deadline for submissions is the end of February! We look forward to seeing your research and projects surrounding VR, AR, and XR! Here's the link to the CFP: www.meaningfulxr.org

👇

Further proof that some people working in AI don’t understand humans or “natural intelligence”. Also, poor kid being raised on ChatGPT.

👇

… and he SERVED ✨

After surviving for the last two years, was a victim of Whamageddon TWICE yesterday, because there are inconsiderate people blasting Last Christmas on loudspeakers in Midtown (I know, that's what I get) and Washington Square. Gah.

My *Designing Cities for Video Games* course for #gamedev professionals returns in 2026, with lessons beginning on March 4. ▶️ Find out more and enroll here: www.d6learning.com/course/gamec... [use coupon ASOCIALCITY10 on checkout for a further 10% off]

Fun Fact: Warner Brothers has thrown out more film history than they will ever acquire in the future.

And this is yet another reason why people should go to the theatre.

RIP Tom Stoppard. Thank you for giving us one of my favorite examples that bring together two of my loves, games and Shakespeare. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri5H...

🦃🎮 Creator Day returns this Friday with the start of our Black Friday 2025 Sitewide Sale. For 24 hours we'll waive our free on all transactions. Over 15,000 projects to be on sale from this Friday through December 3rd. More details here itch.io/blog/1124058/creator...

I've spent decades dealing with people in computer science who do well with computers but completely fail at understanding human nature. BTW the best computer scientists I know usually understand that nature and people are messy and not made of binary values.

So much yes. Game creators should also go to the theatre more often.

Sachka is one of the most brilliant narrative minds I've ever had the joy to work with. I'm excited to see this latest chapter of her work 🤩

Another example of indexical storytelling:

My friends hate the way I refuse to follow directions and just get to places based on my personal definition of "vibes," so I was delighted to play a game at @nyugamecenter.bsky.social's No Quarter this weekend that was basically just "bike vibes"

Okay, I am truly jealous to see all the posts from #AdventureX this weekend. Wish I was there with all of you. Please post what is going on so I can be even more jealous.

Looking at the news worldwide, it feels like there's people who have decided to create scapegoats for their frustrations, negate obvious facts and what's right in front of them. They've invented an alternate reality that they're dragging the rest of us into. Please get us out of this timeline.

This study is the most cyberpunk thing that has ever existed.

📢 TODAY - November 21 @ 2PM ET 📢 ⚒️🏠🧑🏿💻 TreaAndrea Russworm talks about what the Black arts tradition can tell us about The Sims, broken systems, and utopian possibilities⚒️🏠🧑🏿💻 🎟️ TIX + Info: buff.ly/DDUsvVm 💸 Our talks are always FREE and PUBLIC. DONATE: buff.ly/3PQ2HDE

Finally, as if a week of events wasn't enough: SATURDAY NOV 22 at 7PM NYC's pile of weirdo/artsy/indie game-makers hosts the 14th annual NO QUARTER exhibition of games, with four never-before-seen works of play at a big party. RSVP for a free ticket WHILE THEY LAST: noquarter2025.eventbrite.com

I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.

The @adventurex.bsky.social Steam event is on! There's a collection of fantastic narrative games that are part of it, including @gutefabrik.bsky.social 's Saltsea Chronicles, which I had the privilege to work on, at a 50% discount. store.steampowered.com/sale/adventu...

If you can't do your job without AI, you don't know how to do your job.

A LOT of industry folks need to take "I think there's a very high possibility that this is all a bunch of horseshit" to HEART.