Spam.

AI generated site that re-hosts an existing game.

Example of clearly AI drivel, the instruction for the player to “explain your answer”

Norway in tourist season.

It’s so funny to be reminded of that period in the 90s where any first person game was described as a “DOOM clone”, because DOOM itself was the first FPS that hugely took off.

Assume I’m a psychopath C-level executive. Why would I spend huge resources on a success that earns money when I can earn money on fifty screwups instead?

“You can now get multiple pets (after getting max hearts with your starter pet).”

“You can now place hats on cats and dogs.”

I have a goal for my next playthrough

Youtube channel “Second Wind” has excellent indie game coverage.

They do “Bytesized” for short reviews of new games. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBKwq0XD0uesOmUb2GTsc6rVp0mILcOY&si=lB8ZOIy3hraaMyG6

Also they have “Hidden Gem” where they stream an older indie game that went under their radar.

Plus most of their other stuff is pretty on the indie pulse.

Excel: 12th of Nutuary 1970

At some jobs, I can get away with “Señor Developer” or “Computer Toucher”. Those are the nice ones.

Otherwise it tends to be “Senior Software Engineer” that carries the least constricting baggage.

I SWEAR big company middle managers hear “developer” and they can only ever see you as an infant who without guidance would just keep coding some absolute random shit and not think about product, market, customers, integration, or prioritize their own work.

Needlessly rude and void of useful feedback.

Antichamber - clever first person puzzle game. I played it exactly once and I loved it.

When you say “apply to the closed beta”, where do you want people to apply?

I think it’s clear, but discussion here and other places indicate it’s not immediately clear.

I don’t see the problem.

That’s fine. I was providing context for the otherwise confusing claim that the curator was de-recommending games.

Ah, they’ve changed it. Yes, I see same as you.

This was also reported on during the weekend, and when I looked into it then they had the Sweet Baby Inc logo with a big “forbidden” slashed red circle over it.

it didn’t say avoid apparently

It originally did

It still remains in the curator’s logo.

A game with open source is better than the same game with closed source, basically by definition.

A problem open source games tend to have, is that they often have an overly democratic development process. Art by committee can at best closely resemble another piece of art. It also makes it hard to reject ideas and kick out people who pull in the wrong direction.

The focus also often ends up on the code being presentable rather than the game being engaging. Real games that are made in reasobable time and have the necessary tons of little tweaks and adjustments needed to be fun have HORRENDOUS code as a result. Few developers are willing to settle for that if they know the world will scrutinize their code and judge them for it.

So yeah, go for it! But beware the pitfalls :)

I’m somewhere between sad for the people whose talents are being directed to this, and feeling so profoundly unexcited about this game that I keep having to re-read the post title to remind myself what it was about.

(This was not a complaint on the post btw - upvoted)

Feels easy to get stuck in. Progression balance is better.

It’s still the same basic game, but some of the changes make a big difference. Like they added a second layer, and the stacker machine works across both levels with the top item dropping down on top of the other. And the colors are now liquids.

But, as silly as it may sound, the graphics change make a huge difference in game feel. Every tiny thing is animated fully in a way that makes sense and nothing ever disappears into a machine to reappear later. The underground belts are replaced with launcher ramps and catcher ramps, which does the same thing but feels more fun.

The entire background, music and artstyle give it such a beautiful surreal abstract vibe that I can get lost just staring at it and moving the camera around. (Although as a kid I used to hold up and stare at CDs for ages, so your mileage may vary)

Managed to try Shapez 2 Demo. It has me proper hyped for the release.