droqen
@droqen.bsky.social
droqen.com
lost game designer
(toronto)
lost game designer
(toronto)
i feel a tension wrt fixing these letters as individual characters (for example, always assigning the same impulses to "v")
this will make it easier to keep ahold of the family of parts, but i wonder: will it cause my own thinking to become more rigid, overfitting thoughts to my defined characters?
this will make it easier to keep ahold of the family of parts, but i wonder: will it cause my own thinking to become more rigid, overfitting thoughts to my defined characters?
November 28, 2025 at 5:42 AM
i feel a tension wrt fixing these letters as individual characters (for example, always assigning the same impulses to "v")
this will make it easier to keep ahold of the family of parts, but i wonder: will it cause my own thinking to become more rigid, overfitting thoughts to my defined characters?
this will make it easier to keep ahold of the family of parts, but i wonder: will it cause my own thinking to become more rigid, overfitting thoughts to my defined characters?
ooh yeah i see like you're using **bold** vs *italic* for good vs neutral/bad
November 28, 2025 at 4:31 AM
ooh yeah i see like you're using **bold** vs *italic* for good vs neutral/bad
haha reminds me of this stuff
November 28, 2025 at 4:30 AM
haha reminds me of this stuff
does fighting game notation have commentary?
November 28, 2025 at 4:26 AM
does fighting game notation have commentary?
i know nothing about fighting game notation and somehow i can't find an example!! what distinction were you drawing, actions by different players?
November 28, 2025 at 4:26 AM
i know nothing about fighting game notation and somehow i can't find an example!! what distinction were you drawing, actions by different players?
((don't judge me too much for the various tones of these thoughts, this is an extremely raw document where i was not thinking at all about wording... i didn't mean to gender the person writing and the "t" part was not actually thinking "calm down", but it was easier to rapidly annotate it that way))
November 28, 2025 at 4:21 AM
((don't judge me too much for the various tones of these thoughts, this is an extremely raw document where i was not thinking at all about wording... i didn't mean to gender the person writing and the "t" part was not actually thinking "calm down", but it was easier to rapidly annotate it that way))
i nev er know what's going on but i feel like this is a specific reaction to something happening, can you describe what you mean by a cultural ecosystem and what kind of formalization has been problematically eschewed due to people's self-imaging as small? am i doing the word plumbing correct
November 26, 2025 at 8:20 PM
i nev er know what's going on but i feel like this is a specific reaction to something happening, can you describe what you mean by a cultural ecosystem and what kind of formalization has been problematically eschewed due to people's self-imaging as small? am i doing the word plumbing correct
it has been a long winding journey getting here!
November 26, 2025 at 7:07 PM
it has been a long winding journey getting here!
the review for those interested: steamcommunity.com/id/mistrom/r...
i have loved both of my negative steam reviews very much. it's always nice when someone shares a positive take but it's usually the great negative ones that really give me something to think about.
i have loved both of my negative steam reviews very much. it's always nice when someone shares a positive take but it's usually the great negative ones that really give me something to think about.
November 26, 2025 at 11:41 AM
the review for those interested: steamcommunity.com/id/mistrom/r...
i have loved both of my negative steam reviews very much. it's always nice when someone shares a positive take but it's usually the great negative ones that really give me something to think about.
i have loved both of my negative steam reviews very much. it's always nice when someone shares a positive take but it's usually the great negative ones that really give me something to think about.
--saying "I just can't look at this and think to myself "this is the direction for games."" adjacent a systemically-mandated gigantic red thumbs down (or blue thumbs up) is so different from saying it in some other context, some other way.
i have hope yet for good discourse!!!
i have hope yet for good discourse!!!
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
--saying "I just can't look at this and think to myself "this is the direction for games."" adjacent a systemically-mandated gigantic red thumbs down (or blue thumbs up) is so different from saying it in some other context, some other way.
i have hope yet for good discourse!!!
i have hope yet for good discourse!!!
i agree very much with what this reviewer is saying, here. when it comes to The End of Gameplay... for quite a while i have been thinking, there is nowhere apparent to go from here but backwards or elsewhere? the constraints of the artform of the Steam Review cast all things in a judgemental light--
November 26, 2025 at 11:36 AM
i agree very much with what this reviewer is saying, here. when it comes to The End of Gameplay... for quite a while i have been thinking, there is nowhere apparent to go from here but backwards or elsewhere? the constraints of the artform of the Steam Review cast all things in a judgemental light--
But Michael, where is Chaos Pango
November 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM
But Michael, where is Chaos Pango
arbitrary.. baffling.. i guess what i mean to say is that these both seem like euphemisms for a deeper distrust of what is going on. it's unknowable, but we also know that baffling or arbitrary decisions of Steam are different in kind from the baffling or arbitrary decisions of any individual person
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
arbitrary.. baffling.. i guess what i mean to say is that these both seem like euphemisms for a deeper distrust of what is going on. it's unknowable, but we also know that baffling or arbitrary decisions of Steam are different in kind from the baffling or arbitrary decisions of any individual person
I think that the term "arbitrary" in Jaibert's bleet and "baffling" here both speak to how the motivations of a corporate body as large as Steam are at some level 1. somewhat completely unknowable, but 2. probably influenced by profit (profit being not necessarily bad, but not reliably good-aligned)
November 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I think that the term "arbitrary" in Jaibert's bleet and "baffling" here both speak to how the motivations of a corporate body as large as Steam are at some level 1. somewhat completely unknowable, but 2. probably influenced by profit (profit being not necessarily bad, but not reliably good-aligned)
yeah based on your bringing up Fan Culture i think we are on totally the same wavelength. it's like a... parasocial third space?
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
yeah based on your bringing up Fan Culture i think we are on totally the same wavelength. it's like a... parasocial third space?
but i also recognize that it is surely happening! and i'm glad that people have access to these third spaces (even if i regard them with great suspicion) instead of not having any, especially those who don't have the resources (financial, emotional, otherwise) to construct their own
November 25, 2025 at 10:23 PM
but i also recognize that it is surely happening! and i'm glad that people have access to these third spaces (even if i regard them with great suspicion) instead of not having any, especially those who don't have the resources (financial, emotional, otherwise) to construct their own
i'm grumpy about (video)games being third spaces because of how modern game design theory tends to lean in to the non-human-controlling-force that i think is some root or symptom of the issue -- is it okay that people are learning to trust subtle technology enforcements & incentives to be keepers?
November 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
i'm grumpy about (video)games being third spaces because of how modern game design theory tends to lean in to the non-human-controlling-force that i think is some root or symptom of the issue -- is it okay that people are learning to trust subtle technology enforcements & incentives to be keepers?
i have to consciously not think about this too closely because i remain not immune to "omg a cool new gameplay idea!" but it feels necessary to smother it before it gets out of hand and ambitious imaginings take over a pleasantly generative creative process
ty drew <3
it is also very funny yes
ty drew <3
it is also very funny yes
November 25, 2025 at 10:19 PM
i have to consciously not think about this too closely because i remain not immune to "omg a cool new gameplay idea!" but it feels necessary to smother it before it gets out of hand and ambitious imaginings take over a pleasantly generative creative process
ty drew <3
it is also very funny yes
ty drew <3
it is also very funny yes
(widespread social alienation not regarding people being socially alienated in their life in general but rather... some large proportion of The Human Experience involves spending time in spaces where social trust cannot in principle exist as easily, due to various factors)
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 PM
(widespread social alienation not regarding people being socially alienated in their life in general but rather... some large proportion of The Human Experience involves spending time in spaces where social trust cannot in principle exist as easily, due to various factors)
this all seems like a natural consequence of a general awareness that a bouncer is required and yet being unwilling to or even incapable of (due to widespread social alienation?) actually trusting anyone with the role bsky.app/profile/bust...
only way to keep a nice bar is having a bouncer
November 25, 2025 at 10:14 PM
this all seems like a natural consequence of a general awareness that a bouncer is required and yet being unwilling to or even incapable of (due to widespread social alienation?) actually trusting anyone with the role bsky.app/profile/bust...