Joseph Arthur Ellis's Avatar

Joseph Arthur Ellis

@jarthurellis.bsky.social

Tech and game design at Plaid Hat Games. Anti-hate, anti-bigotry. He/him. I work on Forgotten Waters, Freelancers, Summoner Wars, Summoner Wars Online, and more.

163 Followers  |  197 Following  |  240 Posts  |  Joined: 17.08.2023
Posts Following

Posts by Joseph Arthur Ellis (@jarthurellis.bsky.social)

wow, sorry you had to deal with this tough situation. always admire how you deal with others!

09.02.2026 15:29 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
joepinion - Twitch game design and tech at Plaid Hat Games

Streaming a coding afternoon at twitch.tv/joepinion . Starting soon!

29.01.2026 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Coding stream, come say hi: twitch.tv/joepinion

30.12.2025 18:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
joepinion - Twitch joepinion streams live on Twitch! Check out their videos, sign up to chat, and join their community.

If you're into deep dives of game balance, check out the stream starting in a sec: twitch.tv/joepinion πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ

18.12.2025 18:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The thing that we all ACTUALLY want from AI is a sci-fi phone/computer assistant that we can just talk to casually and it opens files and moves folders around and does all that boring shit for us. So far the attempts, like Gemini on my phone, are beyond pathetic far WORSE than old google assistant.

20.11.2025 14:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Josh Hutcherson Calls The Hunger Games His College Days; Says Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Is Scarier
YouTube video by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Josh Hutcherson Calls The Hunger Games His College Days; Says Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Is Scarier

I hope Josh Hutcherson doesn't regret going for it with this faceplant of a segment, because us fans of TI4 still really loved it. XD
youtu.be/XtcPqkNW8vY?...

20.11.2025 14:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Whoops, our power went out. Hopefully it returns soon

18.11.2025 18:15 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Playing some Summoner Wars Online live in 15 minutes... with dragons! Will give away some digital decks during the stream.

18.11.2025 17:47 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Besides the super smart designer on the box, Niki Shults did an amazing job on art direction and game dev.

21.10.2025 02:39 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Ok so, we all love the game on plaid staff. There is no question it rubs some people the wrong way. Divisive reactions. I think because it's euro on mechanics and theme but is a bit tough and mean.

21.10.2025 02:38 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

They have their use but I hate how comments about them (and pitching in general) become part of "game design" pontification when they have nothing to do with game design.

07.10.2025 14:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Testing a @mistergross.bsky.social game at our local design meetup...

30.09.2025 23:14 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

There's just nothing like fresh eyes on a πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ prototype. For ourselves (and the people playing with us regularly), we all have too much of what the game wants to be or has been in our heads. There just is no way to think your way out of it, you have to see what a new player sees.

26.09.2025 13:18 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

I'm already on my way, and also starting with something kinda defeats the purpose cuz this game's gonna be normal as hell.

25.09.2025 16:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

My newest πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ experiment: trying to design a regular-ass worker placement game. My games tend to have weird innovations in them, which involve a ridiculous amount of work and a lot of games that are dead ends. What will happen if I try something more contained?

25.09.2025 15:48 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Purchased! Thanks for spreading the news, didn't know this was coming back

17.09.2025 10:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

No clue what the person's intentions were, but reads to me like an accidental compliment.

09.09.2025 11:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Journalists/editors, please, I am begging you to stop making articles out of bs quotes by AI company CEOs, unless it's to make fun of them. They will literally say anything to make their valuation go up by .1%.

03.09.2025 13:50 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

good news.

30.08.2025 20:49 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Oof, Dice Tower misunderstood the basic rules of Propolis, which is a lovely game, AND said several times that the rule they're playing wrong is the biggest problem with the game. Publisher and fans in the comments clarifying. Embarrassing, they should really take it down.

29.08.2025 18:32 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
cherezsw - Twitch cherezsw streams live on Twitch! Check out their videos, sign up to chat, and join their community.

Commentating on a live SW game right now!
www.twitch.tv/cherezsw

28.08.2025 23:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

why is it so fun to brainstorm with others about iterating on a game design? πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ it's one of the most energy-rich interactions you can have and i don't know why exactly.

28.08.2025 14:01 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

often either:
* too confusing, one too many layers.
or
* too mild. "flowers cost -1 pollen this turn??? oh em gee!"
or
* too random and discriminitory.

28.08.2025 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Quick self-brag... Managed to finish couch to 5k (for the 3rd time in my life) this morning. Running 3mi (5k) 3 days per week in 30 minutes. Hoping to pick up the pace slightly then ramp up toward 5 miles. Haven't lost weight but I truly don't give an eff about that. Good to be somewhat in shape.

27.08.2025 18:24 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

yeah i clicked immediately. much more biblical scholarship content in there than i expected haha. won't spoil what the topic ULTIMATELY is but suffice to say it's worth watching by anyone who can take the time.

27.08.2025 14:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Game Design Meetup. Tuesdays 6pm-8pm. The Eldritch Bastion. Ashland Ohio. Bring your game prototype to play, or just come play ours! Plaid Hat Games.

Game Design Meetup. Tuesdays 6pm-8pm. The Eldritch Bastion. Ashland Ohio. Bring your game prototype to play, or just come play ours! Plaid Hat Games.

Starting a new πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ meetup in Ashland, Ohio this Tuesday! Hoping to build more of a design community around here to engage with.

22.08.2025 14:02 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

yes, definitely have seen reviews of games I worked on where I can tell for a fact, they only played 1 time.

08.08.2025 17:28 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Found a reddit thread from a few days ago with gamers saying "I love the art and theming!" So gamers have no taste, on top of everything else.

08.08.2025 17:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I can't stop thinking about how many content creators just didn't say anything about the Ace of Spades art. That art was so over the top it belonged in a Key and Peele sketch about a racist card game. I am dumbfounded. Did people just think, "Trump's back, we don't have to worry about that anymore"?

08.08.2025 17:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Apologies aside, a direct homage to a movie character is a lazy ass way to do art direction and world building in your game. Use some imagination.

08.08.2025 15:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0