Alec Austin
@alecaustin.bsky.social
Game systems designer at Netflix, reader, occasional writer. He/Him. Looking for book recs and nuanced discussions.
Reposted by Alec Austin
And Tiny Sim, who DID die
December 24, 2025 at 10:56 PM
And Tiny Sim, who DID die
Reposted by Alec Austin
American presidents who've had things named after them en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverv...
Hooverville - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 23, 2025 at 12:05 AM
American presidents who've had things named after them en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverv...
Reposted by Alec Austin
Why don't you create a separate award for AI-generated work? Surely you can't mean that all the Nebula Awards could potentially be given to people who don't write their own work?
December 19, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Why don't you create a separate award for AI-generated work? Surely you can't mean that all the Nebula Awards could potentially be given to people who don't write their own work?
Reposted by Alec Austin
Really feeling this one, yeah.
Please universe, make my rather extensive knowledge of the late Roman Republic less relevant.
December 18, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Really feeling this one, yeah.
Reposted by Alec Austin
Keep thinking about this term "pre-digested" that Kojima used to describe art that's instantly gratifying. And how it's better when people grow to love something instead.
I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.
I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.
December 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Keep thinking about this term "pre-digested" that Kojima used to describe art that's instantly gratifying. And how it's better when people grow to love something instead.
I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.
I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.
Reposted by Alec Austin
I wrote about Yankee Swap, one of the most popular but most mid of the gloriously dumb games you should be playing this month.
open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...
open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...
The Game Theory of Yankee Swap
A deep dive into the most mid holiday party game
open.substack.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:55 AM
I wrote about Yankee Swap, one of the most popular but most mid of the gloriously dumb games you should be playing this month.
open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...
open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...
Reposted by Alec Austin
turning a big dial taht says "Duḥkha" on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right
Game designer: After lots of hard work we’re proud to announce we’ve created the Wheel of Saṃsāra from the ancient Buddhist classic Don’t Get Trapped in the Wheel of Saṃsāra
December 14, 2025 at 3:30 AM
turning a big dial taht says "Duḥkha" on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right
TIL that this is an actual Canadian gas chain. Slightly scared to research whether this or 40k came first… 😅
December 12, 2025 at 7:04 PM
TIL that this is an actual Canadian gas chain. Slightly scared to research whether this or 40k came first… 😅
Discoverability is a challenge in every medium right now. The rise of BookTok, fanfic tropes in marketing, and light novel-style titles are all just people desperately trying to get people’s attention. YouTubers don’t prompt you to like and subscribe for no reason. UA in F2P is vital.
Now, now, I know there's lots of people who want to jump into how this is the evils of capitalism and all that but there's a more fundamental problem at play here - its called 'discoverability'. Which is to say, there are so many games out there - how do you break through the clutter?
/8
/8
December 12, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Discoverability is a challenge in every medium right now. The rise of BookTok, fanfic tropes in marketing, and light novel-style titles are all just people desperately trying to get people’s attention. YouTubers don’t prompt you to like and subscribe for no reason. UA in F2P is vital.
Reposted by Alec Austin
Now, now, I know there's lots of people who want to jump into how this is the evils of capitalism and all that but there's a more fundamental problem at play here - its called 'discoverability'. Which is to say, there are so many games out there - how do you break through the clutter?
/8
/8
December 12, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Now, now, I know there's lots of people who want to jump into how this is the evils of capitalism and all that but there's a more fundamental problem at play here - its called 'discoverability'. Which is to say, there are so many games out there - how do you break through the clutter?
/8
/8
Reposted by Alec Austin
excited for the Disney+OpenAI deal to backfire in some hilarious way; the likes of which we have not seen before on this planet
December 11, 2025 at 9:09 PM
excited for the Disney+OpenAI deal to backfire in some hilarious way; the likes of which we have not seen before on this planet
Reposted by Alec Austin
The people with the most creative freedom on AAA projects are senior ICs who’re assigned to own features of secondary importance with fewer dependencies and low oversight
December 10, 2025 at 8:12 AM
The people with the most creative freedom on AAA projects are senior ICs who’re assigned to own features of secondary importance with fewer dependencies and low oversight
Reposted by Alec Austin
TIME AGENTS ARE REMINDED NOT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC THAT DOES NOT OR WILL NOT EXIST IN YOUR CURRENT CONTINUUM. DAY PASSES TO OTHER TIMELINES ARE AVAILABLE
December 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
TIME AGENTS ARE REMINDED NOT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC THAT DOES NOT OR WILL NOT EXIST IN YOUR CURRENT CONTINUUM. DAY PASSES TO OTHER TIMELINES ARE AVAILABLE
Reposted by Alec Austin
constantine: will you people _please_ just establish a single hermeneutic and stop killing each other over punctuation
first council of nicaea:
first council of nicaea:
December 8, 2025 at 8:26 PM
constantine: will you people _please_ just establish a single hermeneutic and stop killing each other over punctuation
first council of nicaea:
first council of nicaea:
Reposted by Alec Austin
in the end, the future of cinema is Hundreds of Beavers
December 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
in the end, the future of cinema is Hundreds of Beavers
Reposted by Alec Austin
Okay, the crowd going nuts like someone just scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl all *through* the KDH performance is a hell of a thing to see hear/see:
November 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Okay, the crowd going nuts like someone just scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl all *through* the KDH performance is a hell of a thing to see hear/see:
Reposted by Alec Austin
I imagine most of the people trying to claim that stealing indie ebooks is leftism simply have never had to worry about paying rent or for groceries but sorry, your desire for free luxury goods is outweighed by the material needs of their creators
November 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I imagine most of the people trying to claim that stealing indie ebooks is leftism simply have never had to worry about paying rent or for groceries but sorry, your desire for free luxury goods is outweighed by the material needs of their creators
Reposted by Alec Austin
Always love a nice relaxing game of Vampire Survivors
November 26, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Always love a nice relaxing game of Vampire Survivors
Reposted by Alec Austin
If someone's actually healing you in Marvel Rivals it might be this dog https://kotaku.com/marvel-rivals-dog-healer-twitch-streamer-2000647271
November 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
If someone's actually healing you in Marvel Rivals it might be this dog https://kotaku.com/marvel-rivals-dog-healer-twitch-streamer-2000647271
Reposted by Alec Austin
Fish have committed credit card fraud
November 19, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Fish have committed credit card fraud
Reposted by Alec Austin
Reposted by Alec Austin
Can we stop reducing narratives to tropes?
Stories are so much more than the sum of their tropey parts.
Or maybe I'm the only one bothered by it, in which case, as you were. 😊
Stories are so much more than the sum of their tropey parts.
Or maybe I'm the only one bothered by it, in which case, as you were. 😊
November 16, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Can we stop reducing narratives to tropes?
Stories are so much more than the sum of their tropey parts.
Or maybe I'm the only one bothered by it, in which case, as you were. 😊
Stories are so much more than the sum of their tropey parts.
Or maybe I'm the only one bothered by it, in which case, as you were. 😊
Reposted by Alec Austin
"Player who does not pay attention may be confused," has been a problem forever, but our modern age makes distraction easier and high-level folks especially scared of any friction. I believe in getting information flow right, but the "please handhold more" directions I got were rough sometimes.
You wanna know why we're having nag line discourse in 2025? Because developers know we're fighting an attention economy war we'll lose no matter what. Players don't read, have TikTok open next to them, god forbid we are scared you miss something and then blame us for not giving you all the info.
November 14, 2025 at 8:10 PM
"Player who does not pay attention may be confused," has been a problem forever, but our modern age makes distraction easier and high-level folks especially scared of any friction. I believe in getting information flow right, but the "please handhold more" directions I got were rough sometimes.
Reposted by Alec Austin
O dear God I had no idea this almost happened!!!
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 AM
O dear God I had no idea this almost happened!!!
Reposted by Alec Austin
I want SHERMAN
"They want Grants, not McClellans." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Opinion | Democrats Sure Taught Trump a Lesson
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I want SHERMAN