Gabriel aka mystal

I had the great pleasure of taking an @sfpc.study class called HTTPoetics this past summer. It was an absolute delight to make tiny fun creative web sites alongside a diverse cohort of folks. I'm really happy with what I made and plan to talk more about the class and my sites soon :)

I've had a personal web site for nearly a decade now, but basically never posted on it. Something about fear of putting things out in the world. I like to think I've made enough progress in that department that I'll be less precious about what goes on there but we'll see ya know?

Atm it's Fashionably Empty, but if for some reason you wanna see it here's the link:
mystal.cafe

Slowly chipping away at my new personal web site. I want a central place to post my games, projects, and writings and we all know the Internet as it is just don't cut it.

Once I've got a few more pages filled in I think it'll be ready for a Very Modest Reveal

Work really hard and one day this can be you (followed by graffiti of a headstone that says “RIP worked really hard” on it

happy sunday, remember that you are completely expendable to your employer and that when you die they will forget you ever existed within weeks and easily replace you

comic cover!!! featuring the main character, Dina, looking nervous and sweaty. She’s a young woman in an ill-fitting work shirt and pencil skirt with her dark hair tied up in a bun and bangs pinned with a dog-shaped clip. Some sort of ominous shadow looms over her. Text reads: FELT BAD, MET GOD by molly kate young (aka longfusilli) (aka ME!!!!)

hiiiii here’s a comic i made about having a job and being overwhelmed (1/7)

If you're cancelling Game Pass today, grab a cheap indie game or two, and then put the rest of the money toward supporting indie games media by subscribing to your favourite podcasts/websites/etc.

Matt Graczyk - Environment Artist

Can't believe I'm saying this again so soon, but I've been laid off from Heart Machine.

Please check out Possessor(s) on Nov 11th, I'm incredibly excited for you all to experience what I've been working so hard on the past year.

Gonna just keep on moving forward and makin art

mattgraczykart.com

Lmfao, yeah I booted it up for a minute and got wrecked. I'll be playing more later tonight

Panel 1: "Grappler Type Relationship". It's a man in a suit with their hands up in a powerful stance. He has a bouquet of flowers in his left hand, and his right hand is open. He has sunk into the wedding altar he's in in this stance, sending some chunks of it into the air. Sliding into him is a woman in a wedding dress, but she is equally yolked, and honestly coming at him like a bullet train. Panel 2: "Zoner Type Relationship". It's a girl in pink and purple, and a guy in green in blue. They are standing far away from each other along a sidewalk, giggling and blushing while looking away, and throwing gifts at each other. Flowers, candy, a teddy bear, a wrapped gift, and ice cream are flying through the air. A man with a dog stands in the background, looking.

Open Social — overreacted The protocol is the API.

i wrote about atproto and why it matters

“We are told by leaders that we are the future. But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.”

Incredible speech by Violet Affleck who warned about the ongoing dangers of COVID & Long Covid, & advocated for masks and clean air at the UN today!

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪

Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.

I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:

In all and complete honesty, GDC has not been for *developers* for a long time, and especially not for *workers*.

We need a Game Workers Conference. Unironically.

doodle of samus aran in her power suit with a pink poodle skirt too

i had a dream about Metroid but all of Samus’s powerups were in the form of poodle skirts

🌳💕🫂

Fiiiine, I'm gonna give CrossCode a fifth chance. Maybe it'll click this time

Person that's only played Fantasy Strike: I'm getting a lot of Fantasy Strike vibes from this

Okay, I played like 20 hours of Cross Code and was lukewarm on it after all that. I really wanted to like it, on paper it sounds like a perfect game for me! But alas no...

However! I just finished the Alabaster Dawn demo and hot damn it's good! Can't wait to play more

me: making art is difficult. criticism is harsh and cruel.

doctor: treatment is simple, stay away from your worst critics. go spend time by yourself

me, bursting into tears: but doctor,

Hey! I have no idea how to do this, I’ve never made a List or Starter Pack before, but:

⭐️ If you’re a Games Writer/Narrative Designer looking for work, and you’d like to be added to my Starter Pack, lmk!
⭐️ If you’re looking to hire a Games Writer/Narrative Designer, check out this Starter Pack!

You off-hand said this at Riot once when teaching us Guilty Gear and I've never forgotten it. I keep it in mind when designing my games to this day <3

Oh, also be aware that a lot of doctors are not familiar with it, even allergists! You might have to read up on it yourself and advocate a fair bit. I was lucky to find both an allergist and hematologist that specialize in it who are treating me.

Good luck!

Hi, I'm not a doctor, but I suffered from shifting allergies for most of my life. Recently I got diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), which definitely ticks all the boxes for my experience. I'd recommend looking into it!

it's so funny to see America's health insurance companies be like "look. If there's one thing we love it's denying you care. but we ran the numbers - and we cannot BELIEVE we're saying this - and it's cheaper for us to just pay for the vaccines than deal with you going to the ER."

Why complicated fighting games are weirdly good for beginners [This essay was funded by my generous Patreon supporters. If you liked this and want to see more, please consider joining the crew!]

this came up again recently and i think it was one of the most important things i learned from guilty gear

pattheflip.medium.com/why-complica...

Excellent thread about change vs iteration in game writing. But it applies to game design and programming as well.

So many times at the many companies I've worked at we were told to go a different direction because something wasn't working perfectly. Instead of being given the time to iterate

YouTube video by Gamblor Propane Genesis Evangelion - King of the Hill Anime OP

It's the channel's only video