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#gamedesign — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #gamedesign, aggregated by home.social.

  1. [P] I'm going to finish up this with a treat as a starting point for younger gamers

    randomeower.com/random-game-ge

    I love that thing. Just put in '06 as the end year, and give it a spin! If you get a PC game, don't forget to drop by PC Gaming Wiki.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -9

  2. [P] The choice for a modern kid is obvious. "A three-course meal for free? Or access to the slop lever for $80?" And why '06 as a cut-off? Thaf was the birthplace of ensloppificatoon. Devs play by the same rulebook today with only slight alterations. DLC, Mtx, preorder content, brolen console games that need patches from now-dead servers. Ensloppification began in '06 and only got worse. So, yes, easy choice.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -8

  3. [P] And being so few? They're *very* hard to find amidst the slop-factory of modern gamedev. Sfeam is a better bet than most, but even there it's a hunt. A hunt that takes time and energy. Or, one could go year-by-year on MobyGames, from the late '70s of UK home computers to the death knell of the sixth gen in '06. That's a lifetime's worth of games, and it's what modern devs are competing with, and failing.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -7

  4. [P] So when younger people learn about these older games? It's an introduction to a vast, diverse menu of three-course meals. If they use emulation and/or opt for abandinware, these meals are free! If they opt for PC gems from GOG, they can get a bucket of classics for a pittance. It isn't that there aren't any great games anymore. I've named some, prior. Omno, Little Gator Game, Neurodiver, but they're too few.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -6

  5. [P] And most devs prefer this, they provide access to the slop lever. Just look at how many soulless tidy-up games exist. I keep coming back to Edens Last Sunrise because it's a masterclass, it's a great complete experience, an intentionally finite, delicious, and nutritious three course meal. A tiny dev team did the best with what they had, and built a slop-free experience. But that kind of game is vanishingly rare.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -5

  6. [P] But BGIII was the closest thing to a completr experience in years, it was heralded. It had af least half of a meal from that three-course meal there, so they gobbled it down hungrily, even if the rest was utter slop. The issie with modern games is that devs—even indies—have locked themselves into incomplete experiences. And most now even believe that it's what they want to create. Fill the gap with slop.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -4

  7. [P] We need variety and complete experiences, this is especially true for neurodivergents. I remember seeing the reaction to BGIII and thinking "oh, you poor bastards." Only Act I was even half complete, and thanks to a last minute rewrite, the characters were one-dimensional yes-men and the narrative was a spaghetti-junction joke, with hundreds of threads that went nowhere. The second and third acts wrre ephemeral.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -3

  8. [P] If one puts an impoverished younger person in front of a three course meal, delicious, nutritious, and quite intentionally finite, then offer them an empty bowl and access to a lever for an infinite slop machine that pumps out infinite-yet-flavourless mulch, barely palatable gruel? Even the most impoverished teen would take the three-course meal. We all know, instinctively, that we can't live on slop.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -2

  9. [P] I've seen critics loosely ruminate on why Gen Alpha is obsessed with retro games from '06 and earlier. This one's been on my mind too, I think I have the answer. Astoundingly rare indie games aside (looking at you, Eden's Last Sunrise), how many games provide a complete experience? Almost none. Even most indies don't. This is the age of slop. I have a food analogy for this! Let's talk about actual slop.

    #psychology #actuallyautistic #videogames #gamedev #gamedesign #writing

    -1

  10. Designed a 3D printed case for Hop Shot my micro dexterity board game currently in final testing.

    Also commissioned an illustrated card back that's pending; once done will order a batch of cards and be ready to ship out prototypes to those interested in playtesting.

    #boardgames #gamedesign #gaming #3dprinting #3dprint

  11. Designed a 3D printed case for Hop Shot my micro dexterity board game currently in final testing.

    Also commissioned an illustrated card back that's pending; once done will order a batch of cards and be ready to ship out prototypes to those interested in playtesting.

    #boardgames #gamedesign #gaming #3dprinting #3dprint

  12. Designed a 3D printed case for Hop Shot my micro dexterity board game currently in final testing.

    Also commissioned an illustrated card back that's pending; once done will order a batch of cards and be ready to ship out prototypes to those interested in playtesting.

    #boardgames #gamedesign #gaming #3dprinting #3dprint

  13. Designed a 3D printed case for Hop Shot my micro dexterity board game currently in final testing.

    Also commissioned an illustrated card back that's pending; once done will order a batch of cards and be ready to ship out prototypes to those interested in playtesting.

    #boardgames #gamedesign #gaming #3dprinting #3dprint

  14. Designed a 3D printed case for Hop Shot my micro dexterity board game currently in final testing.

    Also commissioned an illustrated card back that's pending; once done will order a batch of cards and be ready to ship out prototypes to those interested in playtesting.

  15. Threat rating stays low by design — this isn't a boss fight. Speed and a disappearing act handle most encounters before combat starts. The one exception: corner it, or threaten whoever it's bonded to, and it stops leaving.

    #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGameDev #WorldBuilding #CreatureDesign #GameDesign #KoFi #Patreon

  16. Threat rating stays low by design — this isn't a boss fight. Speed and a disappearing act handle most encounters before combat starts. The one exception: corner it, or threaten whoever it's bonded to, and it stops leaving.

    #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGameDev #WorldBuilding #CreatureDesign #GameDesign #KoFi #Patreon

  17. Threat rating stays low by design — this isn't a boss fight. Speed and a disappearing act handle most encounters before combat starts. The one exception: corner it, or threaten whoever it's bonded to, and it stops leaving.

    #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGameDev #WorldBuilding #CreatureDesign #GameDesign #KoFi #Patreon

  18. Threat rating stays low by design — this isn't a boss fight. Speed and a disappearing act handle most encounters before combat starts. The one exception: corner it, or threaten whoever it's bonded to, and it stops leaving.

    #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGameDev #WorldBuilding #CreatureDesign #GameDesign #KoFi #Patreon

  19. Threat rating stays low by design — this isn't a boss fight. Speed and a disappearing act handle most encounters before combat starts. The one exception: corner it, or threaten whoever it's bonded to, and it stops leaving.

    #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGameDev #WorldBuilding #CreatureDesign #GameDesign #KoFi #Patreon

  20. One of the things I've been thinking about a little bit with persistent world games is "exaggerated death".

    If a player dies somewhere, it's tradition to leave their corpse so they can go loot it or whatever.

    But I always preferred the Nethack approach, where you're more likely to find them wandering as a ghost or ghoul, armed up with what you had when you died.

    If the death penalty is unrelated to you recovering your corpse, a lot of potential avenues of play/content open up-

    #GameDesign

  21. If GTA 6 is Vice City, then why does it look different from GTA Vice City? They're completely different using the same name Vice City. Isn't that concerning?

    #gta6 #gtavicecity #rockstargames #gaming #gamehistory #gamedesign #lore #videogames #worldbuilding #tech #popculture #reflections #gamers

  22. 📣 Announcing the judging panel for the 2026 Toxify Game Design Challenge!

    🧐 This panel of experts in game design and/or trauma-informed practices will score & critique the games submitted by this year's Finalists. Winning games will share a $10,000 USD prize pool.

    📆 The Finalists will submit their completed #toxify games by July 28th.

    🌐 toxify.org/judges/index.html#j

    #gamedesign #gamedev #contest #indiegame #TraumaInformed #nonprofit #games #toxic #GameStudies #prevention #GameJournalism #VideoGames #education #manosphere #ToxicRelationships #noAI