Kevin Riach

Learned that I am being laid off from Heart Machine, and will be leaving the studio later this month.

Do you need a contractor? I've got a track record of leading scope-friendly script revisions late in dev. I have also done a lot of consulting on new IPs and pitches/demos. Feel free to DM me!

You'll never play fewer video games than when you are working on video games

anyone who got on social media after 2014 or so is under the mistaken impression that the primary goal of social media is for it to Accomplish Something while those of us who have been on since the start know the true purpose of social media is to give us a place to Post so we don't go (more) insane

As a life long Indiana Pacers and Anaheim Ducks fan, these last 24hrs of sports fandom have fucking suuuuuuuuuuuuuucked

Imo the team got slightly better, which is better than getting worse, but feels like they still need to get MUCH better to really become a "for sure" playoff calibre team.

Imo this is "acceptable" asset management, but not really moving the needle much.

Its hard saying "could have utilized the capspace better" without knowing what he's competing against (other teams w/ space) + what else was being offered.

I know it doesn't work this way with how long this all took, but if you combine this and the Fowler/Dumo deals I think you get:

Ducks out:
- Fowler
- Dumo
- Terrance
- 3rd rounder

Ducks in:
- Trouba
- Krieder
- 2nd rounder (x2)
- Traff
- Biakabutuka
- retained ~40% of Fowler's salary

I never preorder games anymore and I never buy collectors editions, and I just did both instantly without hesitation I can not wait for this game

Emma please take me with you if you get in

YouTube video by Owlcat Games The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Announcement Trailer

Listen @owlcatgames.bsky.social this is like dream game announcement for me.

If you need consulting or testing or a kidney or whatever the fuck you want I am here for you. I can’t remember the last time an announcement left me this hyped
m.youtube.com/watch?v=pIQi...

One more time for the people in the back

Every other developer with a Q3/Q4 release date just breathed a massive sigh of relief. Expect bunches of release date announcements over the coming weeks.

skin deep is at 96% positive with 107 reviews which is I think literally the best steam user rating ranking anything I've ever written for on has ever had at launch

Hand clap emoji

Haha I should have known! These are awesome btw, doing an amazing service distilling some really dense info into something anyone can digest! Ty so much for making these

4) this leads to a strategy of “low barrier of entry, for maximum number of sales”. This is basically F2P in a nutschell, but also explains Xbox approach.

Remove the cost of buying an Xbox/needing hardware, hopefully get more users playing and spending on software (or subs) where you get a %.

3) much larger competition across games due to lower barriers to dev + publishing. Pressure to “race to the bottom”, esp w/ F2P options, hence lower price points and constant sales.

Even with the increase from $60-$70 couple years ago, games are making less per copy than when they were $60.

2) very exciting seeing amazing single player titles coming out of Asia & Europe. One reason we don’t see that in the US is much higher employee salaries leading to higher cost, and post-COVID that gap got bigger.

So some investment has moved from the US to those markets, leading to US layoffs.

Couple things I slightly disagree with or would add:

1) the data does show that the vast majority of players actually want live service games (its just that they want the ones they’re already playing mostly or the occasional break out success). This is double true if you include Mobile.

Great high level run down on Matthew Ball’s report, a must watch for folks working in or interested in the games industry.

Hear me out: what if a game acknowledged the fact immersive sims are, at their core, slapstick comedies? And rather than hide it with tone & content, instead leaned into it?

SKIN DEEP is fun & hilarious; buy it immediately

M E O W

The splash screen for the videogame Skin Deep. A 70s typeface reads "Skin Deep" while silhouettes of square cats float in the background.

Two games out this week have firmly lodged themselves into my brain as the year's best. Maybe even all-timers.

One of them is SKIN DEEP. If you have not played a Blendo game before, I feel sorry for you.

Nine years since Quadrilateral Cowboy. This is a gift. store.steampowered.com/app/301280/S...

Headline: ICE came for their neighbor so these Tennesseans formed a human chain to protect him

I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing journalists can do right now is publish exactly this kind of article

Some Jinx fanart, just having fun with colors
.
#art #arcane #jinx

Building something for someone to play, and then watching people play it is simply the greatest feeling of all time.

That and working with talented artists and engineers is like watching a magic show everyday.

Hot(?) take: large part of the shows massive success and ability to break through the insanely crowded tv landscape is because they waited so long. And more shows should do the same.

So we’ve got two competing schools of what the Democratic Party should do next. One of them is hosting the largest political rallies in history in places like New Hampshire and Arizona, and the other one just got $120 million from Silicon Valley and is on a book tour.

Gotcha thanks Derek!

Derek love the reporting you do on the team!

I’m sure someone has asked this already, but has Cronin ever said what analytics he really values/looks at? I’ve seen it said a couple times that he’s “analytics focused” but never what numbers he thinks are important.

its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further