Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 2d

it's alive!

Reposted by Rachel Helps

Aura/Moom @moomanibe.bsky.social · 2d

IMO this has always been a choice gamedevs have had to make - fidelity vs scale. it's just that the common wisdom tilts heavily towards fidelity these days.

chrono cross on ps1 made a choice when it decided to have 50+ playable party members and what it sacrificed was unique per-char dialogue

Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social · 2d

I think choice is becoming a victim of technological advances and player expectations. If you choose whether Bob or Jim live in a SNES RPG, you’ve got a different set of pixels and text boxes. Now you‘ve got a new set of voice lines, Hollywood tier animations, etc.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2d

Thinking about it, the original Deus Ex may be the king of choice in a game with a story, because your choices are significant, linked to gameplay and unforced. From the very start, for instance, whether you use or avoid lethal force against the “terrorists” determines something about you.

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 3d

I have argued about library shushing and I think in designated quiet areas it is appropriate

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

Bruno Dias @brunodias.bsky.social · 3d

Six years ago, I wrote most of the Tragedian dialogue for Pathologic 2 in iambic pentameter. I'm back now doing the same for Pathologic 3. I figured it was helpful to write a guide on *how* I did it – in case I get hit by a bus and the team has to carry on without me.

azhdarchid.com/so-you-want-...

So You Want to Write Iambic Pentameter

In which I share the dirty secrets of the world's least useful skill

azhdarchid.com

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 4d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · Apr 3

Could you use help explaining the value of #cataloging & good metadata to your admin, coworkers, #MLIS students, etc.? Happy to share this set of resources put together by an ALA working group chaired by @magsjoy.bsky.social. All of these & more are available at hdl.handle.net/11213/22872. 📚

A flyer for a set of documents "Demonstrating the value of cataloging". Six folders are labeled "talking points for administrators, top 5 reasons why you need a cataloger, annotated bibliography, resources list & acronym cheat sheet, side-by-side comparisons of good administrators bad metadata, and introduction to metadata zine. At the bottom text reads you can find these resources at the link in the post, and they were created by the ALA SAC Devaluation of Cataloging Working Group, 2025.

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 5d

here is a little draft, let me know if you know of some sources I can add to it (URL is temporary and may go to different things in the future) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rw...

User:Rwelean/sandbox2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 5d

well here's one review in infoworld books.google.com/books?id=Hjw...

InfoWorld

InfoWorld is targeted to Senior IT professionals. Content is segmented into Channels and Topic Centers. InfoWorld also celebrates people, companies, and projects.

books.google.com

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 5d

I'm saddened to find that there is currently no Wikipedia page for Encarta Mind Maze (it currently redirects to Encarta). Is Mind Maze something that would have been reviewed in videogame magazines?

screenshot from Mindmaze (taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLmudzYWY94). A card with an illuminated green "Q" and decorative elements in bold primary colors shows a trivia question about who introduced baseball to Europe and Eastern Asia. In the background is a large room with a black-and-white checkered floor and a medieval fantasy stone doorway with a wooden door. The UI at the bottom shows lighted torches on the left, a grid map with a goal in red and your location, and potential answers to the trivia question.

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 5d

this one is part of my Halloween decor

a two-headed monster appears, scaly, with heads that look like feral cats, framed by wooden beams from which algae or vines hang. They provide a visual parallel to the algae or skin or seaweed hanging from the monster. six men stand in front. They are all wearing intricately patterned clothing. the man in the front has a crazed look on his face, and the other fice are looking at him with expressions of worry or skepticism. the man in the front has short black hair, and is gesturing toward himself with his left hand. The whole art piece is in black and white.

Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 5d

Now we just need some secondary sources about the rest of the cover in order to change the Wikipedia page

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

Colin Spacetwinks @spacetwinks.bsky.social · 8d

you already know what's up

(steam sale rec thread (extremely condensed version cuz they did it way early and only a week long this year) is what's up)

as always, i focus on older, obscure, and just plain weirder games, as big name titles don't need the help.

so, onwards!

a fake version of an old PC Gamer cover, edited to say SPACETWINKS REC THREAD, featuring Citizen Sleeper art

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 7d

I know there are angels in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir because the pre-conference pieces were pre-recorded and I saw my decreased neighbor in the soprano section

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

💤🌵🤖 @boringcactus.com · 7d

My employer’s remote work policies are changing, and Salt Lake City isn’t “commutable distance” from Boston, so I’m looking for a new job. If you’re hiring software developers to work on something that’s prosocial and technically ambitious, DM me, or check my website for my email.

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 9d

ah yes,

a material culture vulture

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

Found: 650-year-old shoe, in vulture nest

Many unexpected human artifacts have been preserved, for centuries, in vulture nests.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 8d

@robinjohnson.bsky.social

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 8d

Dang what web browser are you using?

I'm very interested in your VN!

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 9d

as the friend of a few professional library catalogers I really appreciate these kinds of lists

Thinky Games @thinkygames.com · 10d

Cay rounded up some games with old computer interfaces!

Cay Macres' collection: old computer interfaces · Thinky Games

A collection of thinky games created by Cay Macres.

thinkygames.com

Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 9d

please tell me there will be a forthcoming essay on this topic

Jacob Geller @jacobgeller.com · 9d

Hey! On November 11, I'm going to be giving a live talk in Boston about what a "Jewish video game" could possibly be. I'd love to see you there! Tickets on sale now: ticketing.bostonjfilm.org/websales/pag...

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 9d

wish I could be there and compare notes! I made a little presentation on Mormon interactive fiction a few years ago rwelean.itch.io/mormon-if

Guide to Mormon Interactive Fiction by Rachel Helps

A Twine presentation on print and digital IF by and for Mormons

rwelean.itch.io

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 13d

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 13d

regrettably if you try to point this out online you'll get yelled out by 79208 journalists going OH SO YOU WANT JOURNALISTS TO STARVE??? even if you're, say, a journalist yourself, and point out that while there are clearly no easy answers, the status quo isn't exactly working for society

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 13d

I hope they had different birthdays

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Rachel Helps @rachelhelps.bsky.social · 13d

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

Tyver Foucault @thedoorthedoor.bsky.social · 14d

Banker's yeast feed on the value of the dollar, causing prices to rise

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Reposted by Rachel Helps

🪴 @dezmo.bsky.social · 15d

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