Alexander King
@literallyaking.com
Game Designer, Economy/System Design. Adjunct Professor at NYU Game Center & Parsons DT. Staff Data Analyst for ACT-UAW Local 7902. Spreadsheet aficionado.
(He/Him)
(He/Him)
I joke, but I'm yet to be disappointed by a kid's book about this (my kid's a train guy). Without fail, they celebrate the pluralistic and egalitarian nature of urban mass transport. Take "Subway" by Anastasia Suen / Karen Katz (2008), each page of which celebrates the magic of a normal subway ride.
January 26, 2026 at 12:51 AM
I joke, but I'm yet to be disappointed by a kid's book about this (my kid's a train guy). Without fail, they celebrate the pluralistic and egalitarian nature of urban mass transport. Take "Subway" by Anastasia Suen / Karen Katz (2008), each page of which celebrates the magic of a normal subway ride.
I feel something of this is captured in the children's book "My Subway Ride" by Paul DuBois Jacobs & Hennifer Swender, illustrated by Selina Alko (2004), which poetically draws attention to the inherent uterine symbolism of the subway
January 26, 2026 at 12:51 AM
I feel something of this is captured in the children's book "My Subway Ride" by Paul DuBois Jacobs & Hennifer Swender, illustrated by Selina Alko (2004), which poetically draws attention to the inherent uterine symbolism of the subway
Finished the new season of culinary class wars last night, and while I thought the season was only okay overall, I absolutely loved Venerable Sunjae, a Buddhist monk who cooks temple cuisine.
More game shows needs to have monk contestants! Someone with no attachments is utterly terrifying.
More game shows needs to have monk contestants! Someone with no attachments is utterly terrifying.
January 14, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Finished the new season of culinary class wars last night, and while I thought the season was only okay overall, I absolutely loved Venerable Sunjae, a Buddhist monk who cooks temple cuisine.
More game shows needs to have monk contestants! Someone with no attachments is utterly terrifying.
More game shows needs to have monk contestants! Someone with no attachments is utterly terrifying.
It's funny seeing that WSJ article making the rounds about having an LLM "run" a vending machine. There was the exact same story from the exact same company six months ago. Even punchline (it's bad at it, but in a funny way) is the viral-share-encouraging same. It's just an ad basically?
December 21, 2025 at 10:47 PM
It's funny seeing that WSJ article making the rounds about having an LLM "run" a vending machine. There was the exact same story from the exact same company six months ago. Even punchline (it's bad at it, but in a funny way) is the viral-share-encouraging same. It's just an ad basically?
It looks less like a steering wheel and more like the punishment for stealing from your liege lord
December 13, 2025 at 3:43 PM
It looks less like a steering wheel and more like the punishment for stealing from your liege lord
📊📊 Hey wanna make some spreadsheet makes?? 📊📊
This saturday it's @beetleeggblues.bsky.social's 2 HR GameJam Club at @wonderville.nyc, and this month's engine is Google Sheets!! So I'll be there doing a workshop, sharing some spreadsheet gamemaking tricks of the trade.
⊞✋👨
This saturday it's @beetleeggblues.bsky.social's 2 HR GameJam Club at @wonderville.nyc, and this month's engine is Google Sheets!! So I'll be there doing a workshop, sharing some spreadsheet gamemaking tricks of the trade.
⊞✋👨
December 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
📊📊 Hey wanna make some spreadsheet makes?? 📊📊
This saturday it's @beetleeggblues.bsky.social's 2 HR GameJam Club at @wonderville.nyc, and this month's engine is Google Sheets!! So I'll be there doing a workshop, sharing some spreadsheet gamemaking tricks of the trade.
⊞✋👨
This saturday it's @beetleeggblues.bsky.social's 2 HR GameJam Club at @wonderville.nyc, and this month's engine is Google Sheets!! So I'll be there doing a workshop, sharing some spreadsheet gamemaking tricks of the trade.
⊞✋👨
It's this- (I actually thought it meant being burned at the stake, but I guess that was only sometimes)
(And auto can also mean car)
(And auto can also mean car)
December 10, 2025 at 3:56 AM
It's this- (I actually thought it meant being burned at the stake, but I guess that was only sometimes)
(And auto can also mean car)
(And auto can also mean car)
Hey if you're attending Roguelike Celebration, I'm giving a talk in about an hour, watch it live on the @roguelike.club stream at 6:45pm Eastern! I'm giving a little lightning talk on an underused mechanic for deckbuilders
October 26, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Hey if you're attending Roguelike Celebration, I'm giving a talk in about an hour, watch it live on the @roguelike.club stream at 6:45pm Eastern! I'm giving a little lightning talk on an underused mechanic for deckbuilders
Don't be insulting my man Cassius. You gotta remember they're from, like, the Victorian era. Put in their proper context, they're not any less kitsch, but are much more hilarious. You've got Picasso starting his rose period or whatever, and Coolidge is over here banging out masterpieces like this-
October 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Don't be insulting my man Cassius. You gotta remember they're from, like, the Victorian era. Put in their proper context, they're not any less kitsch, but are much more hilarious. You've got Picasso starting his rose period or whatever, and Coolidge is over here banging out masterpieces like this-
A typical day for Shanon, Chong and Susannah:
October 16, 2025 at 7:19 PM
A typical day for Shanon, Chong and Susannah:
This has been my go-to, using the whole body of the vehicle to clamp onto the object, then lifting it up to clear the ground. I've been using variants of this for most jobs (or mainly a bigger version with more wheels and pistons etc), it works great, but can't do the soft or multi-piece ones
October 11, 2025 at 8:58 PM
This has been my go-to, using the whole body of the vehicle to clamp onto the object, then lifting it up to clear the ground. I've been using variants of this for most jobs (or mainly a bigger version with more wheels and pistons etc), it works great, but can't do the soft or multi-piece ones
Can't wait to get an AI signed copy of my AI generated issue of ... wait a minute... bonerme?
October 10, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Can't wait to get an AI signed copy of my AI generated issue of ... wait a minute... bonerme?
Fantastic piece about the unionization victory of teachers at the Manhattan School of Music. Some really far-ranging takeaways, definitely relevant to other precarious lines of work like games-
brooklynrail.org/2025/10/fiel...
brooklynrail.org/2025/10/fiel...
October 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Fantastic piece about the unionization victory of teachers at the Manhattan School of Music. Some really far-ranging takeaways, definitely relevant to other precarious lines of work like games-
brooklynrail.org/2025/10/fiel...
brooklynrail.org/2025/10/fiel...
This picture makes me laugh every single time I read my kid's book about visiting the doctor. She looks like a "without downloading new pictures how are you feeling?" meme that's come to life
September 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM
This picture makes me laugh every single time I read my kid's book about visiting the doctor. She looks like a "without downloading new pictures how are you feeling?" meme that's come to life
Lot of interesting stuff in this survey-
Looking through it, another one that jumped out at me is the "Is there anyone who speaks for people like you?". 60% of all respondents say no. Of Democrats Bernie is the top answer (at 4%), AOC is 3rd, and Mamdani places ahead of basically all elected Dems.
Looking through it, another one that jumped out at me is the "Is there anyone who speaks for people like you?". 60% of all respondents say no. Of Democrats Bernie is the top answer (at 4%), AOC is 3rd, and Mamdani places ahead of basically all elected Dems.
September 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Lot of interesting stuff in this survey-
Looking through it, another one that jumped out at me is the "Is there anyone who speaks for people like you?". 60% of all respondents say no. Of Democrats Bernie is the top answer (at 4%), AOC is 3rd, and Mamdani places ahead of basically all elected Dems.
Looking through it, another one that jumped out at me is the "Is there anyone who speaks for people like you?". 60% of all respondents say no. Of Democrats Bernie is the top answer (at 4%), AOC is 3rd, and Mamdani places ahead of basically all elected Dems.
Whoops cropped the question out of the survey data. Here it is with the question-
September 27, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Whoops cropped the question out of the survey data. Here it is with the question-
Hmm, although it makes me wonder how much of this is just colored by "progressive" being a much more nebulous designation vs "democratic socialist" being very specific, especially absent a choice for "liberal". Like here is how that question was actually asked:
September 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Hmm, although it makes me wonder how much of this is just colored by "progressive" being a much more nebulous designation vs "democratic socialist" being very specific, especially absent a choice for "liberal". Like here is how that question was actually asked:
One the things I'm really loving about Consume Me is how unmistakably it takes place in NYC, in subtle but detailed and grounded ways. Reading on the subway, going on dates at museums, the manhattan mall, doing laundry in the basement. I grew up here too, and I never see the city shown like this.
September 26, 2025 at 2:38 PM
One the things I'm really loving about Consume Me is how unmistakably it takes place in NYC, in subtle but detailed and grounded ways. Reading on the subway, going on dates at museums, the manhattan mall, doing laundry in the basement. I grew up here too, and I never see the city shown like this.
Interesting preview of the bubble collapse here. Nvidia is sort of paying to rent their own GPUs from the companies that buy those GPUs to resell compute, so that those companies can raise more debt, to buy more GPUs. It's driving demand by using debt, whole thing seems liable to topple over.
September 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Interesting preview of the bubble collapse here. Nvidia is sort of paying to rent their own GPUs from the companies that buy those GPUs to resell compute, so that those companies can raise more debt, to buy more GPUs. It's driving demand by using debt, whole thing seems liable to topple over.
Mario accurately reflecting the findings of "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Man" (2014)
September 7, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Mario accurately reflecting the findings of "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Man" (2014)
Some further detail of the monkey heroism which the mural commemorates.
August 31, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Some further detail of the monkey heroism which the mural commemorates.
I noticed this mural at the Prospect Park zoo of... monkeys fighting a mountain lion? It feels like a monument that monkeys themselves commissioned to celebrate some epic battle.
Can't find out anything about it, but it's New Deal era. This is why we need publicly funded arts programs people!
Can't find out anything about it, but it's New Deal era. This is why we need publicly funded arts programs people!
August 31, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I noticed this mural at the Prospect Park zoo of... monkeys fighting a mountain lion? It feels like a monument that monkeys themselves commissioned to celebrate some epic battle.
Can't find out anything about it, but it's New Deal era. This is why we need publicly funded arts programs people!
Can't find out anything about it, but it's New Deal era. This is why we need publicly funded arts programs people!
Fantastic show! Lot of great games and I saw lot of folks playing the Suzzzy Show by @bugfoe.lol!
August 23, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Fantastic show! Lot of great games and I saw lot of folks playing the Suzzzy Show by @bugfoe.lol!
There's a lot of interesting data in this, but the one most interesting to me is this one.
It's funny that 7 is such an overwhelming winner, but it's a "lucky number", so maybe that makes sense. But look close, and all the odd numbers are locally favored over the even numbers-
It's funny that 7 is such an overwhelming winner, but it's a "lucky number", so maybe that makes sense. But look close, and all the odd numbers are locally favored over the even numbers-
August 17, 2025 at 8:43 PM
There's a lot of interesting data in this, but the one most interesting to me is this one.
It's funny that 7 is such an overwhelming winner, but it's a "lucky number", so maybe that makes sense. But look close, and all the odd numbers are locally favored over the even numbers-
It's funny that 7 is such an overwhelming winner, but it's a "lucky number", so maybe that makes sense. But look close, and all the odd numbers are locally favored over the even numbers-