Clara Fernandez-Vara

YouTubers: PLEASE stop using AI voiceovers. The most awkward, unprofessional, nasal, echoey human VO in the world is still going to be less grating and distracting than a robot that says every sentence exactly the same way and doesn't know how to pronounce a bunch of words or where to put emphasis.

Never what Miyazaki said to the tech bros trying to sell him on AI animation.

We’re in a world where using electronic payments for sex-related games is a problem, but murder simulators are okay.
😩

Just when I thought you couldn't be cooler, and you just keep topping yourself. 🤩 Congrats!

Remember when the prophets of digital distribution were like "everything can be sold forever because there are no shelves" 🥴

The fact that many of my colleagues including myself have developed PTSD and anxiety disorders from this industry should tell you this.
Until the CEOs/stockholders lose $$$ by factoring human capital loss nothing will change. The stock market was built to fund slavery so don’t hold your breath.

I have to say, it's Wednesday and I miss @grundislav.games Wild West Wednesdays on Twitch, because they were a nice hangout while I was working. But he deserves a break after all the hard work he put on Rosewater.

the crash of ‘84 was a big part of my book (you should read it!) and yeah - it was wild projections based on no previous sales metrics (or, sometimes worse, based on movie sales). The people who paid for it were developers, while the ones who made bad decisions slinked off to other businesses

Las few days, I was packing for a long trip, flying over the Atlantic and getting over jet lag, and when I catch up with the news, the world is even *more* on fire than before. Even literally in some places.
Also, fuck the games industry and how it chews up and spits wonderfully talented people.

New issue of ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories is live, & this is a special one.

First: its mostly non-US focused content & contributors. There's a French and English interview w/ a Swiss game dev. A long read about Brazilian game history. Our first ever translation of doujinshi!

The entire Blackwell series is 70% off during the Steam Summer sale!

Eight years in the making, the Blackwell series tell the story of medium Rosa Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey Mallone as they help lost and lonely ghosts pass on.

Find them here: t.co/uoi1Mtx3aN

Hot Summers in NYC Summers in NYC can be grueling - it’s hot and humid and there’s no breeze. It can drive you insane. So of course people have made movies about it. Here are some of the best, to watch in a well air-con...

The last couple of days have been awfully hot in NYC, which reminded me I created a list of movies that take place in NYC during a heatwave that drives people busts because it’s definitely a thing. boxd.it/nrBpa

This New Yorker got up feeling relief and hope, which means a lot these days.

Submissions for talks are open! Thoroughly recommend - adv x is a lovely, smart crowd and their talks are prob the best in the UK.

title screen

gameplay screen

game over screen

spent my afternoon making a short little web game for New Yorkers called "Don't Rank Cuomo"... it has 10 levels. it's very realistic and challenging. can YOU don't rank Cuomo? play in browser (free): radiatoryang.itch.io/cuomo

Second day of @narrascope.org . So happy to be with my people, but more importantly, I’m so proud to see former and current students rise and shine making and talking about narrative games.

Against stupidity, the gods themselves fight in vain.

💙🩷🤍🩷💙🫂

Really saddened over what Adventure Gamers has become. It was THE resource for adventure game news for almost 25 years. Seeing my first games reviewed there in the early 00s was the biggest thrill in the world. To see it turn into THIS is heartbreaking. Enshittification destroys everything.

Today’s @puzzmo.com crossword is an example of how puzzles express the identity of the constructor. I was so happy to see it’s the work of @loa-gunnars.bsky.social and Auđur Ákadóttir. Clues like “advanced degree of a game designer” and “surface of many games” show the personal imprint. Congrats!❤️❤️❤️

Tricky - making a
specific story into a game means that the player can know the ending and spoil the mystery. That means that one needs to change the original or come up with a new story-the Nancy Drew games have done this for years. It’s the character and the world that are interesting.

“Just writing” often requires a bit of pottering.

There seem to be no games based on Miss Marple, and that's a damned shame. Somebody tell the Agatha Christie estate the world needs a Miss Marple game - and call me if they're willing to finance it.

has any other game achieved this energy

The break from the world that I need right now is to hop on a plane and go to Japan to see the Castlevania show from the Takarazuka Revue this summer.

This immigrant sends a heartfelt thank you to all the US citizens who came out on the streets today.🙏❤️

University is not a business, education is not a product.

Freelancer Fund We are now accepting freelance pitches on a rolling basis for our Interviews , Materials , and Translations sections. This initiative is designed to support original work by independent researchers,.....

really happy to finally get this out in the world: @romchip.bsky.social is finally launching it's FREELANCER FUND. This initiative is designed to PAY FOR original work by journalists, public historians, & others who work on a contract/freelance basis.

Read more: donate.romchip.org/freelancer-f...

A friend of mine reminded me of this Gandalf quote as a life philosophy: "A wizard is never late, nor early. He arrives precisely when he means to." We get to things when it's the time, and we don't need to apologize. I'm still trying to get better at this, my first impulse is also saying sorry.

Forgot to call my own BS: lower/higher level of abstraction remains confusing, so now I use more / less nuanced. you’re right, can’t think of a name to call that ,other than feature creep, but that’s for production. Maybe it should be “the Bennett Foddy school of non-abstraction”?