Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Eric

Em Reed (Debut novel MORE BUGS out now)!!! @dayofthemutants.bsky.social · 1h

A new batch of Domino Club games dropped this week and I've been too sick/busy with work chaos to post much about it! Maybe that will give you a hint which, if any, of the games I contributed to... or not... 😈 domino.gallery/jams/boneyar...

BONEYARD JAM

Boneyard Jam. Aug 30 - Oct 5, 2025

domino.gallery

3 4

Reposted by Eric

amr al-aaser @siegarettes.bsky.social · 2h

CHICAGO!
If you've ever wanted to learn mold making, my partner will be teaching a class THIS WEEKEND at the Insect Asylum!

You can learn how to create and cast 3D molds from animal bones, including using neon pigments and glitter!

Oct. 11, 1-4pm at the INSECT ASYLUM.

Links and info below:

2 5 7

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1h

If I wouldn't live in a different city, that's in a different country and on a different continent, I would totally go there.

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1h

the secret is to have at least one evil Rodent in it. The rest sort of falls into place on its own.

1

Reposted by Eric

Eric @mokkograd.net · 6h

Hi! Have you read this?

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

New Blog Post!

Anything Can Be A Battle (If you want it to be!)

2300 words about how game design talk often too prescriptive, musing on the nature of abstract turn based battle systems and the various ways how you might make your fights more exciting.

mokkograd.net/posts/2025-1...

Blog Post

mokkograd.net

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 2h

yeah, one thing I've seen people in tabletop games do is use itch's "email previous customers" feature to make people aware they've put out something new, but it's a bit of a weird way, because that's not really what that features was meant for.

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 3h

one reason why I've stopped pushing my game's itch pages is because it was really hard to get anyone to actually go there.

No idea if this has changed in any way though.

1 1

Reposted by Eric

Si F Sweetman @sifsweetman.bsky.social · 1d

Conference. Personal work, 2023.

In a sea of darkness, underlit by eerie green, a greencloaked figure kneels in the ripples. They offer a long sheperd's crook and glowling ball of greenish liquid to the lilac hands in front of them. The hands are cupped together. They dwarf the figure. Their forearms show odd veiny structure that opens up into nothingness, their flesh become a lattice, with nothing but void behind it.

1 5 38

Eric @mokkograd.net · 4h

also uploaded it to my private youtube, because I couldn't be bothered to log in to the other account.

Anyway, I'm currently looking over the game again for reasons and I'm just in a place right now.

Eric @mokkograd.net · 4h

You can see how well my brain functions by the fact that it took almost 5 Months to realize that I never uploaded Virtue's Heaven's release trailer to the youtubes:

youtu.be/FYXK2S9_lyg

Virtue's Heaven Release Trailer

YouTube video by Eric Merz

youtu.be

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 4h

one reason why I'm occasionally obnoxious about people buying Virtue's Heaven is because it increases the likelihood of someone stumbling over some of the stuff I put in it.

Eric @mokkograd.net · 5h

I honestly didn't really think that much about what a role enemy formations could play (even where in the formation you place enemies) until I read your post and had to work myself through my thoughts.

Same goes for how you could use rare "unfair" enemies as tools to draw the player's attention.

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 6h

Hi! Have you read this?

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

New Blog Post!

Anything Can Be A Battle (If you want it to be!)

2300 words about how game design talk often too prescriptive, musing on the nature of abstract turn based battle systems and the various ways how you might make your fights more exciting.

mokkograd.net/posts/2025-1...

Blog Post

mokkograd.net

1

Reposted by Eric

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

New Blog Post!

Anything Can Be A Battle (If you want it to be!)

2300 words about how game design talk often too prescriptive, musing on the nature of abstract turn based battle systems and the various ways how you might make your fights more exciting.

mokkograd.net/posts/2025-1...

Blog Post

mokkograd.net

1 4 7

Reposted by Eric

shoy's little quiet spot @shoyslayer.bsky.social · 2d

CYCLE is finally out.
Thank you for waiting.
store.steampowered.com/app/1947160/...
dvtzr.itch.io/cycle

1 45 46

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

Sure you can link to my post! I'm also glad you liked it and I'm really interested to see how your game turns out.

1 1

Reposted by Eric

despelote ⚽ OUT NOW! @despelote.game · 8d

despelote is 30% off as part of the steam autumn sale!

people always say this is the best season to play soccer, maybe it is also the best season to play despelote? (unless ur in ecuador where we have no seasons so it is always the best time to play soccer)

buy it now!

Save 30% on despelote on Steam

A slice-of-life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of Quito, Ecuador in 2001.

store.steampowered.com

23 64

Reposted by Eric

sink @sinksadventure.bsky.social · 1d

My new open world precision "batformer" Vampire's Best Friend is out now on Steam and itch with a 10% launch discount!

Vampire hunters are after a mischievous vampire girl, and it's up to her pet bat to save the day!

20 260 680

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

you can also have the value increase and/or decrease in random steps

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

slightly different variations to these two:
Enemy 1: Killing the other enemies first also decreases enemy 1's max HP, making it easier to kill them.

Enemy 2 has an attack where the strength depends on how long you take for your inputs. The quicker you are, the harder they hit.

2 1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

An enemy formation where the enemy that's the default target has the highest hp, but is way less threatening that the rest

An enemy with an attack that does damage based on the amount of time the player has hit the "confirm" button

Okay, I actually only have two, but you get to the point, right?

1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

because I just finished that post about variety in JRPG battles and such, here are some fun ideas how to play with player potentially just buttonmashing through encounters:

1 1

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

Today's post is a good example why I need to find a better blog setup.

It took me over an hour to get the post from a document over to my website and into a publishable state.

That's an hour too long.

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

Because the internet is hard and I want to be clear:

This isn't me saying Kyle's wrong, or anything. In fact comparing some of his own solutions it's interesting to see how in some ways similar they are to what I build.

1 2

Eric @mokkograd.net · 1d

this is pretty much a reply to @kylelabriola.bsky.social post from the past weekend that I suggest folks also read, even if I personally disagree with a lot of its initial framing:

blueberrylemonade.pika.page/posts/rpg-de...

RPG Design For Beginners Vol. 1: Attack Variety - Blueberry Lemonade

Right at the top: I have no expertise with designing RPGs. It’s something I’ve always dabbled with for fun, but I wouldn’t call that expertise. So, this is partially a tutorial and partially just a pu...

blueberrylemonade.pika.page

2 1