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Tom Francis

Tom Francis

@pentadact.com

8.2K followers 310 following 380 posts

Designer/writer/coder on Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and Tactical Breach Wizards. More on those and other things I write or do or be: https://www.pentadact.com/

www.pentadact.com

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Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 2d

This is great to read. Letting players turn off permadeath in Heat Signature was sacrilege, design-wise, but trivial effort-wise - so we did it.

Hearing how much it let someone truly click with the game really shows the value of letting people engage with your stuff on their own terms.

Tont Coles @tontcoles.bsky.social · 4d

With huge apologies to @pentadact.com , I have written about #heatsignature , the best space heist stealth murder gadget hacking tactical puzzle game ever made:

open.substack.com/pub/affectio...

Heat Signature: The Definitive Review

Always. Be. Crashbeaming. Glitchtrapping. Shotgunning. Wrenching. Subverting (extreme range, self-charging)

open.substack.com

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 2d

Lovely write-up, so glad it clicked for you!

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 7d

Aw, very kind! 🙏
And yeah, undo is so useful at dev time too. Check if the crazy thing you just saw was a bug or just a counter-intuitive rules interaction - and either way, study it in captivity.

J. Thomas @nullspeak.bsky.social · 8d

Us channeling @pentadact.com - the design GOAT in respecting players’ time, including the hypothetical time / pre-commit experimentation phase.

✨⌛️🔄⌛️✨

For us, a turn’s end is the commit action. I hope we’ll see many other games embrace undo by degrees, gradually making save-crawling less appealing.

The Killing Stone @thekillingstone.com · 8d

When we were refining the card battle interactions for The Killing Stone, we needed an undo button so we could test out various card combos. We loved the results so much, we made it a feature of the game. Here's how to optimize Undo in battle, and put those demons in their place. #indiegames

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 13d

Just an absolute cat pretzel. At my *funeral* I won't be this relaxed.

My cat Jess, curled absurdly and sound asleep.

Reposted by Tom Francis

Rich Wilson @richwilson.bsky.social · 22d

Looks like I'm looking for work. If anyone out there happens to have a lead or principal level design gig in Austin or remote, I'm all ears.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · 27d

"OK, we've got nothing to brag about on quality or price, so what's our selling point?"
...
...
"Well, if you're standing right outside..."

Sandwich board reading "the closest dentist in the world"

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 28

Columbo: Boy, I think it's just marvelous what you do with these suits.

The Finest Tailor on Savile Row: Thank you, lieutenant.

Columbo: There is just one thing that's bothering me though...

Tailor: *cuts his own tie off, trousers fall down, shirt catches fire, crashes through window*

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 28

All I'm saying is, if I was better at chess and worse at not killing people, my game would suffer 1,000 elo at most. I'm not slipping on a banana skin and landing on a rake.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 28

In this Columbo ep, he hassles a chess champ enough for the guy to lose one of his 10 simultaneous games. Fair enough, happens to the best of us when we done a bad murder.

On closer inspection though, he lost in 2 moves, the literal worst moves possible in chess, and a comedy own-goal.

Screen grab of the brief view we get of the board, showing white in checkmate after only 2 moves.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 28

My strapline is answering a lot of questions already answered by my headline.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 28

And yet there's something he's not telling us...

Reposted by Tom Francis

Duncan Robson @duncanrobson.com · Sep 23

For sale:

Steam screenshot. Baby Steps, Neva and Sworn at discounted prices.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 22

Ever wake up and dice a whole bird's eye chilli into your hot chocolate?

If not, I may have discovered why not.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 20

Oh rip to Frodo but you'd resist the Nazgul? Join the club. Call me when you can finish filing your nails after a kitten puts their paw on your arm to let you know they'd like to bat that thing around your apartment for the rest of the day.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 20

Don't give me the One Ring cos if either of my cats reaches out to me with a paw, all logic leaves my brain and I give them whatever I'm holding.

Similar guidance applies to firearms.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 16

Aw! 🧡
Lovely to be working with you, and even lovelier to have a scapegoat if we screw up the next game.

Reposted by Tom Francis

Graham Smith @grahamsmith.bsky.social · Sep 16

I started my new job last month: I'm now studio manager/producer at Suspicious Developments, the team responsible for Tactical Breach Wizards, Heat Signature and Gunpoint!

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 10

Bazaar update: everyone started beating me and now I hate it. Time for a design analysis!
youtu.be/_cwTHqTZuq0 .

The Bazaar: the highs and lows of fighting other players' builds

YouTube video by Tom Francis

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Sep 5

Increasingly think a lot of the things that didn't kill me made me weaker.

Reposted by Tom Francis

Simon HB @norock.bsky.social · Aug 31

Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival

BBC News headline: Frankenstein is monster success at Venice film festival

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Aug 31

Yeah, I can imagine that'll be a prob for me eventually. I think it's lowballing me on what builds I fight atm - I beat every player but sometimes lose to the medium monsters.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Aug 31

Finally starting to click with The Bazaar. There was really no stopping this build once I screwed a Silencer onto my Dog.

Screenshot from a game called The Bazaar, showing a victory screen with my loadout, which includes a Dog and a Silencer.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Aug 30

When I first noticed how much of the strawberry's tassels Beth was gnawing off and swallowing, I hid it, and twice they heisted it back in the night, through closed draws and tied bags.

I now keep it in a floodproof, fireproof document box they've yet to crack.

Tom Francis @pentadact.com · Aug 30

The scamps both turned 2 today. They have no concept of why they got their favourite stinky fish treats or were allowed to play with The Forbidden Strawberry (a beloved choking hazard I have to watch them closely with) - but they had a lovely time.

My kittens Beth (black short hair) and Jess (tabby and fluffy), at arbitrary rotations.

Reposted by Tom Francis

Tactical Breach Wizards @breachwizards.bsky.social · Aug 22

Folks on the mailing list will also be getting a little something soon, so if you're not signed up yet, do so here: www.suspiciousdevelopments.com/mail/ .

The Suspicious Developments Mailing List

www.suspiciousdevelopments.com