the doubling cube is so critical to strategic play and it's sad people don't use it / know what it's for
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 AM
the doubling cube is so critical to strategic play and it's sad people don't use it / know what it's for
also quite vindicating for critics imo. the arcades dominated and had instant populist feedback ("fun" as gauged by quarter consumption) but the smartest critics would dissect a game and point out what worked and what didn't. reviews fed back to designers and were what _actually_ improved the art
November 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
also quite vindicating for critics imo. the arcades dominated and had instant populist feedback ("fun" as gauged by quarter consumption) but the smartest critics would dissect a game and point out what worked and what didn't. reviews fed back to designers and were what _actually_ improved the art
idk I feel like other large-scale media (the "novel", the "movie", the "album") went through similar cycle where the Thing existed before the Study of Thing, but we're far enough removed from that where it's hard to imagine "how could you not know how to make a book? just, write it?"
November 29, 2025 at 8:57 PM
idk I feel like other large-scale media (the "novel", the "movie", the "album") went through similar cycle where the Thing existed before the Study of Thing, but we're far enough removed from that where it's hard to imagine "how could you not know how to make a book? just, write it?"
like you'll play a series and the first one does System A that's Fun and System B that sucks, but overall it sells. so they make a sequel, but they don't rightfully cut System B... just do more of both. it's like they lacked any framework to even think about games, as their parts or a whole
November 29, 2025 at 8:55 PM
like you'll play a series and the first one does System A that's Fun and System B that sucks, but overall it sells. so they make a sequel, but they don't rightfully cut System B... just do more of both. it's like they lacked any framework to even think about games, as their parts or a whole
I have not thought about that app in ages!
November 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I have not thought about that app in ages!
fun fact! you can do an arbitrary rotation with three skew operations, which means you do not need to leave MSPaint next time
November 28, 2025 at 2:11 AM
fun fact! you can do an arbitrary rotation with three skew operations, which means you do not need to leave MSPaint next time
Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash, a VIC-20 BASIC maze game with a quick Ultima rebrand to make a buck for Sierra. There is really not much to it but it's mercifully short, I got to the end in a couple hours of false starts. A short action break between sprawling RPGs.
November 27, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash, a VIC-20 BASIC maze game with a quick Ultima rebrand to make a buck for Sierra. There is really not much to it but it's mercifully short, I got to the end in a couple hours of false starts. A short action break between sprawling RPGs.
On to Ultima III. This is like 75% of the way to being good but it's held back by more grind and frustrating "tactical" encounters. Had to restart a lot. Not spoiling the ending (it's... really something). but I do think the manuals were beautiful, loved the elaborate descriptions of each spell
November 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
On to Ultima III. This is like 75% of the way to being good but it's held back by more grind and frustrating "tactical" encounters. Had to restart a lot. Not spoiling the ending (it's... really something). but I do think the manuals were beautiful, loved the elaborate descriptions of each spell
Ultima II - bigger than Ultima I, but thats its only selling point. Gold grind is a major pain, the world too sparse, the extra planets are jokes, dungeons bigger & pointless. There were wisps of good ideas here and the final battle was tense, but not much else. (I did watch Time Bandits to prepare)
![You have saved the universe,
and completed Ultima ][! Seek
now to conquer wicked EXODUS,
found in Ultima III!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vuwi7zajg2r4k5cdfnanujpr/bafkreifytwnr4cgoyvshpynmmf3t7gwwfyi3c3wbxr7nb74sm2vf6wxo2y@jpeg)
November 27, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Ultima II - bigger than Ultima I, but thats its only selling point. Gold grind is a major pain, the world too sparse, the extra planets are jokes, dungeons bigger & pointless. There were wisps of good ideas here and the final battle was tense, but not much else. (I did watch Time Bandits to prepare)
next was Ultima I, already mentioned above. Interesting to find the core of Akalabeth mostly unchanged, the overworld and quest received a huge overhaul instead. The mechanics are pure experimental jank but it was short enough not to get irritating to me. Spaceship part is still wack though lol
November 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
next was Ultima I, already mentioned above. Interesting to find the core of Akalabeth mostly unchanged, the overworld and quest received a huge overhaul instead. The mechanics are pure experimental jank but it was short enough not to get irritating to me. Spaceship part is still wack though lol
haven't been posting these but actually me + pals are playing through the whole Ultima series, one game every 2 weeks-ish. First is Akalabeth ("Ultima 0") which is a simple but focused quasi-rogue-like. I liked the small dungeons, stick figure monsters, and the game loop was easy to get into.
November 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
haven't been posting these but actually me + pals are playing through the whole Ultima series, one game every 2 weeks-ish. First is Akalabeth ("Ultima 0") which is a simple but focused quasi-rogue-like. I liked the small dungeons, stick figure monsters, and the game loop was easy to get into.
oh the government? those guys who currently hate women and minorities and gay people? THAT government? sure put them in charge of all Culture, what could go wrong
November 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
oh the government? those guys who currently hate women and minorities and gay people? THAT government? sure put them in charge of all Culture, what could go wrong
I still say "THIS ARE NOT WORKING" after a post-it note attached to a damaged PowerMac in a high school in 1999
November 24, 2025 at 11:24 PM
I still say "THIS ARE NOT WORKING" after a post-it note attached to a damaged PowerMac in a high school in 1999
let's just check in on the enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk that the studio was honoring by firing this employee.... oh.. oh hmmm...
November 24, 2025 at 9:27 PM
let's just check in on the enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk that the studio was honoring by firing this employee.... oh.. oh hmmm...
Reposted by Greg
EverQuest sent a LOT of information to the game client that wasn't visible to the player including every mob alive in a zone. a program called ShowEQ allowed players to scout a zone in seconds. unable to fix without a redesign, the first elite raid zones had hidden mobs named "ShowEQ Users Are Lame"
November 24, 2025 at 7:01 AM
EverQuest sent a LOT of information to the game client that wasn't visible to the player including every mob alive in a zone. a program called ShowEQ allowed players to scout a zone in seconds. unable to fix without a redesign, the first elite raid zones had hidden mobs named "ShowEQ Users Are Lame"
Reposted by Greg
All of Mumbo’s dialog sounds in Banjo Kazooie are samples of Grant Kirkhope saying the phrase
“Come ‘n ‘ave a go, if ye think yer ‘ard enough”
“Come ‘n ‘ave a go, if ye think yer ‘ard enough”
November 24, 2025 at 1:10 AM
All of Mumbo’s dialog sounds in Banjo Kazooie are samples of Grant Kirkhope saying the phrase
“Come ‘n ‘ave a go, if ye think yer ‘ard enough”
“Come ‘n ‘ave a go, if ye think yer ‘ard enough”
Reposted by Greg
When you hear the Fallen shouting in Diablo II, what sounds like nonsense words or a Fallen language is mostly just the names of people on the dev team: "Colenzo," "Kubasco," "Dashow," etcetera.
November 23, 2025 at 11:52 PM
When you hear the Fallen shouting in Diablo II, what sounds like nonsense words or a Fallen language is mostly just the names of people on the dev team: "Colenzo," "Kubasco," "Dashow," etcetera.