droqen
@droqen.bsky.social
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droqen.com lost game designer (toronto)
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droqen.bsky.social
the end of gameplay.
5.

and yet time does
what time does

and in time,
all the doors of
the tower became
locked.

//

pixel art opposite: brown doors in grey-purple tower. bunny.
droqen.bsky.social
what have you found out? :)
droqen.bsky.social
i dont really know if i care either way which thing happens though. like, is it better for B and A to talk about the thing that A has observed? who knows. i think it's been nice being off bluesky and not trying to get into arguments or agreements. i can just like things on my own for the most part 😌
droqen.bsky.social
(im not doomposting about modern platforms btw, this is just a perfectly neutral observation which i believe to be objectively true)
droqen.bsky.social
it's pretty common to construct this statement as combative though, and such combativeness also increases engagement which tends to increase visibility on modern platforms, so
"x is cool" is generally buried beneath
"x is cool AND Y IS BAD"
droqen.bsky.social
but i dont think this is really the truth of any situation, however if *either* A or B sets themselves up to be the enemy of y or x respectively then it just kind of falls into a defensive spiral.

ideally it would be more like

A: i saw great potential for thing to do x, but it doesn't, im sad
droqen.bsky.social
these are just vague wordshapes but how are A and B positioning themselves relative to one another and in relation to x and y? it's easy to imagine that A just thinks x is good and B just thinks y is good and they can never agree
droqen.bsky.social
use my very lovely character names i'm still confused haha

who's missing the achievement of y? A or B? it surely can't be simplified down to just one example but this is kind of the conversational pattern im imagining:

A: i wanted x, but it does y
B: wow why cant you just appreciate it for being y
droqen.bsky.social
i guess that says im easily influenced by others perspectives hah. what do you think it says about you?
droqen.bsky.social
now i can't unsee this as an unloaded blur image
droqen.bsky.social
which ironically is pretty much equivalent to B stating "i wanted x but thing is y" of A's statement rather than adequately addressing what A's statement is or does ha ha ha
droqen.bsky.social
your use of pronouns here is ambiguous, so i might be saying the same thing, but as i see it

A: "i wanted x but thing is y"

is commonly perceived by B as A's failure to even identify thing's y-value, rather than acknowledging A's statement as potentially intentionally or knowingly dismissive of y.
droqen.bsky.social
you might be interested in Against Platforms. it provides imo a very good bunch of bits for understanding these problems, and concludes by proposing the vague shape of a much better solution than technological protocols. (that solution being: institutions)
droqen.bsky.social
ironically, Consume Me feels like the first game ive played in years that is not just interested in consuming me. kill gameplay
droqen.bsky.social
. . . and yet is at the same time (in spite of this or because of this pointless plotlessness) extremely human and meaningful and makes me think about what it is to be a person and make choices and have friends and care about anyone or anything at all.

anyway i hope you go play it. you deserve it
droqen.bsky.social
. . tells an incredible story that i found very touching and revealing. i think describing it this way is silly because i haven't even read very many but it feels like i imagine reading a classic novel to feel--the kind that runs in circles through a dumb long pointless period of a person's life . .
droqen.bsky.social
breaking my social media fast to say i really like Consume Me

store.steampowered.com/app/2359120/...

i havent been playing a lot of games lately in large part because i dont think they really have anything to say about life at all, let alone anything relevant to my life. but Consume Me . . .
Save 10% on Consume Me on Steam
did you feel stupid, fat, lazy, and ugly in high school? well i did...but at least i made a life-simulation RPG about it!
store.steampowered.com
droqen.bsky.social
one may be a subcategory of the other, but even in that case the difference in scale/scope is significant
droqen.bsky.social
big, huge difference between "build upon something that already exists" and "reproducing very-very-catchy qualities of works they grew up liking"
Reposted by droqen
hantani.bsky.social
some twitter gamethoughts... hmmMMm
cool being in the generation of indie devs where people who had hits 10-15 years ago are now in their 30s and 40s, and are still defining part of the culture by putting out things that are a good portion based on their teenage years fav games stuff

and like the psychological motivation often feels like something that (compulsive or not) is designed to really just suck you in for as long as possible through heavy detail and stuff. the vector of mental movement is to keep you circulating in their gameworld.. idk. weird

i mean its a given that a game is essentially taking a mental train to a different station. But I guess to me it's like is that experience like getting you to buy into the Disneyland Adult Universe, or is it like some different kind of trip or purpose fulfilled there.

when i think of droqen's kill gameplay, the previous thread is the kind of thing my mind thinks about - it's a quality to games I feel should be put up to criticism, that is kind of hard to put into words... and it's not compulsiveness, it's not gameplay, it's this other Thing
Reposted by droqen
cryocannon.bsky.social
i made a short lil game at @droqen.bsky.social’s game workshop today! it’s baby’s first downpour and it is pretty topical downpour.games/~cryocannon/...
"don’t get raptured" by cryo
A Downpour game by cryo
downpour.games
droqen.bsky.social
the end of gameplay.
5.

and yet time does
what time does

and in time,
all the doors of
the tower became
locked.

//

pixel art opposite: brown doors in grey-purple tower. bunny.