Tom

This is incredible! You really captured the vibe, stunning.

Well done Tim. Wishing you the best!

Hyped to get an essay on this! You hear a lot about how to do good / bad choice-based dialogue, but the idea that you might be better off not doing it at all is something I want to read about in more detail.

Great review, fascinating read and some very interesting links too.

Screenshot from SRIV, four spheres in different skin shades

On Saints Row we had a debug npc named Skinballs (lol) that was literally just four spheres wrapped in different shades of skin texture so we could test lighting for different skin tones during development. But teams need to plan for that kind of testing with intentionality, and not enough do.

I was going to say, I really like dialogue choices with little/no mechanical impact that are chances for you to express yourself, or serving as cues for you to think about who your character is or who they could be.

Easily clicked through if you're not into it, but gets you immersed if you are.

Very good review! Thought provoking.

Reading this about how Amazon tried to compete with Steam is kinda mind-blowing for how utterly wrongheaded every approach they took was. We bought Twitch and assumed people using it would then buy from us. What?

Looks fantastic!

a wholesome plane has hit the second cozy tower more like no thoughts to declare

still thinking about this article today. so many societal ills are caused by people white-washing what actually happens. it's awful to see games do it too.

can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator

A little daft maybe, but I finally had a moment to shave after a few days of wanting to, and it always makes me feel so much more fresh :)

I might have missed those, will check! And thanks for the reply, sincerely. Means a lot.

I don't like that my first response to someone with a powerful writing style and clear opinions was 'mmhmm a bit arrogant' rather than just 'cool, I wonder what I can learn from this'

I know you likely have too much going on already but if you ever did find time to share some tips on self-belief, I for one would love to hear them.

When I first read some of your essays I thought you were arrogant - and after reading some more figured that was just my own insecurity talking.

I was asked recently what the “big debates” are in ancient naval studies, the maritime equivalent of the hoplite debate. Three stand out clearly. Here is a short summary of some!

I now wonder if they also did their textures from sculpted tablets just like in GC?

Interesting thread on some of the new history knowledge being created.

One of my biggest gaming laughs was killing a bear and then seeing it roll head over heels all the way down a long hill...

This is an interesting series on FPS, and I think this is my favourite entry. Enemy design and AI is always fascinating to discuss.

Oh that's also very cool!

These are all great but I really love that truck!

That's really cool, thanks for sharing! Gonna try this :)

The Stone of Madness on Steam The Stone of Madness is a real-time tactical stealth game set in an 18th-century Spanish Monastery. Five prisoners pool their skills and resources to face their phobias, stave off insanity, uncover th...

Did you know the developers of Blasphemous had a new release earlier this year called The Stone of Madness? It's an isometric stealth-focused game where you play as prisoners in a monastery/sanitarium, and shockingly it seemed to completely slip under everyone's radar. Must revisit this myself.

A cool concept for a game!

I wonder if some people being interviewed decide to give a 'safe' or simple answer out of tiredness or just because of how some gamers can be about anything unfamiliar or with nuance.

Awesome!

I've never had especially high standards for what's good visuals or not, but for me these games were amazing for the detail in the levels and how much of it was destructible, either for gameplay effects or just for spectacle.

screenshot of a long stone bridge overshadowing a medieval town. the bridge has a gatehouse in the middle, which leads to the entrance of a castle

the entrance to the castle. tall towers and turrets are scattered everywhere, it's an insane and dysfunctional layout mostly for showing off

the implausibly large keep in the center of the castle. octogonal tower with turret towers in the corners that go up the whole length.

a higher up view of the towers at the gate, with the massive keep visible in the back

big gothic castle in quake from last year. didn't make it for any other reason than I was using it to make new textures and enjoying myself.

This is a great read!

just play the original Deus Ex dude it's not that hard