Ben Taels

photograph from the 80's of the wrestler Sting wearing a Gold's Gym shirt and sunglasses, leaning against a shelf in a bookstore and positively cheesing at an open copy of The Far Side Gallery 2, a collection of Far Side Cartoons.

what if i told you, through the power of forensic analysis, we are closer than ever to knowing the exact Far Side cartoon that is making Sting smile in this iconic photo. 🧵 👇

In games where players manage inventory by dropping items consider where those items physically land

Having them still in view but to the side of the character (or even slightly behind in 3rd person) may help reduce players accidentally picking them back up

#gamedev #ux

If the Labour Party can't commit to repealing these anti-workers rights reforms it should change its name.

NZ has not really come to terms with how far developed the disinfo networks were that led to riots and flames on the parliament grounds.

It's been brushed off as individual cookers without much serious introspection in public of the information ecosystem and funding conditions that led to it.

Four hundred thousand dollars. The gaming community has raised $409,189 in just one week to support Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota with the No ICE in Minnesota charity bundle on itchio. I’m honored to be at the helm as the organizer,

https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2026/02/14/viral-video-purportedly-shows-student-holding-pro-ice-sign-getting-punched-by-another-student-at-lake-zurich-high-school/

"you're going to face consequences" #pixelart #humanart #humanartist

I understand framing the AI bubble RAM supply crisis in terms of stuff like video game consoles because nerds can conceptualize that but the framing does really undersell the sheer magnitude of how it's going to fuck up everything that even touches a computer.

Havoc Engine Toolkit - Rowan, Rook and Decard Create your own Havoc Engine TTRPG with this SRD toolkit, full of useful suggestions and information about how to make your own game system work.

This advice is part of the Havoc Engine (the TTRPG one, not the video game one) Toolkit, which can be found here:

rowanrookanddecard.com/product/havo...

A section of the Havoc Engine Toolkit. It reads: PLAY THE GAME It is – theoretically – possible to write a perfect game on the first draft. But it’s hugely unlikely. Run the game for a couple of different groups and see how different players react to it. Which bits are confusing? Do situations come up that you didn’t plan for (they will, it’s a roleplaying game) and are they important or difficult enough to manage that you need to write more game to accommodate them? Don’t trick yourself into only thinking about what’s wrong at this stage: pay attention to what goes well and be proud of it. Games are hard.

Wonderful advice from @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social on the value of playtesting AND the excellent point that in addition to finding issues you want to be also celebrating what works well!

Making games is hard & when they work it should be celebrated

When they don't, iterate

#gamedev #ttrpg #ux

No.

Nonono.

While it’s terrible that the studio got this blast of hate from “the gamers”, you cannot overlook the poor management and zero marketing that should have both insulated the game (and the studio’s staff) from public misconception and better prepared people for the launch.

Jennifer @JenYetAgain@beige.party in 2017 a popular twitter game was to type a partial phrase then see what your phone auto-completes it with. this proved so popular that it is now the only business model in the US. Feb 9, 2026 at 4:35:18PM Boosted by 968: Favourited by 1324:

mom they’re roasting the US economy on mastodon again

🌱

Failing to check the weather forecast ahead of their outdoor promotional event, then declaring themselves heroes for having to run out with an umbrella when it rains, seems symbolic of this government.

FriendsAtTheTable - Twitch ITS TIME TO BREAK STUFF. COME SUPPORT OUR FUNDRAISER.

Thanks to y'all, we've just crested $60K raised for the WFM's Rapid Immigrant Response Fund!

AND we've got one more segment for the night. Jack, Dre, Keith, Sylvi, Janine, and Austin are headed back in to play a little Repo.

Watch: twitch.tv/friendsatthetable

Donate: tiltify.com/@friendsatth...

Well those Scandinavians are pretty big on safety!

No problem! Always happy to help!

It's pretty small though.

Would not be able to devour a child.

GREJSIMOJS pouffe with storage, yellow GREJSIMOJS pouffe with storage, yellow A pouffe with storage that suits both children's rooms and living rooms. When not gobbling up toys, children can sit on it or adults can use it as a footstool. T...

IKEA sells mimics now:

www.ikea.com/nz/en/p/grej...

I wrote this long ago on UXR methods, including surveys, but I still stand by the advice in it:

www.gamedeveloper.com/business/fin...

All of us paying taxes for a government who thinks their role is to remind people to look after themselves.

Then review the questions live with the workshop. This can give partners new insight into the work you do to create unbiased and representative survey questions.

One exercise I have had success with here is to hold a survey creation workshop/talk where you as the expert talk through all the rules for good question design and then have development partners come up with their own questions (you can even say that they will be included in a future player survey)

Making a survey is easy, making a good survey is deceptively hard.

This means that many surveys people take will be badly designed and as such it can often be an uphill battle to convince development partners that surveys are worthwhile or that questions they want are biased.

#gamedev #ux

Yeah I just didn't play Gwent at all past the forced game because I didn't enjoy it. So I wasn't loading saves super often.

Personally I never had an issue with it showing that often, but different needs for different folks.

Making it skippable can help address that - or a play recap opt in.

The same motivation for our neolib walkers to ruin everything.
We could sell it cheap
#nzpol

A screenshot from Prince of Persia The Lost Crown It shows the "Memory Shards" feature where you can capture images of your surroundings to add to the map and be able to come back later.

In exploration games it can be useful to allow players to place their own marks and/or notes on an in-game map (in addition to any automatic markings)

To really level this system up in terms of UX consider also having a picture of the area attached to the mark for additional context

#gamedev #ux

That many people have been in an ongoing cost of living crisis for years now doesn't come up often when analysts are talking about issues impacting the games industry, BUT it is absolutely a significant factor and should be called out more often

Hey tabletop gamers, if you bought or were considering buying this bundle but got overwhelmed by the number of games to sort through, have I got the spreadsheet for you!!

All 1,074 games tagged as "physical" sorted by play style, with language, engine, and genre notated to the best of my ability:

Toshiba KT-225 Cassette Recorder
www.future-forms.com/portfolio-it...