Massive thanks to P2 for letting me give a little online music lesson about cadences. (Also, cool game.)

Player2.net.au@player2au.bsky.social · last wk.

Cadence is a puzzle title built around music, so why not get @firkraags.bsky.social, a lecturer in game music composition, to give it the once-over? www.player2.net.au/2026/07/cade...

@fovlet.bsky.social Hello, Emily! I came here specifically to find you and ask if you’ve seen ‘Scarlett Deer Inn’. :)

I was playing Castle Panic with husband and son. We won, just. I got 9 trophies or something and they each got 17, so now they’re adding monsters to decide who gets the most trophies. Meanwhile they are going to lose the castle. I feel like there’s a life lesson in here somewhere.

I’ve started playing the Dwarf Fortress remake (again, I tried once before) and I’m basically sitting on pause trying visualise 126 (?) vertical layers, with little subterranean gardens and rivers. Also what is all of the sky for? Towers?

I just sent an email to @dangolding.com and @brkeogh.bsky.social to ask for general advice, and linked them to my article, now attributed to Peter Morgan on GamesHub. @jacksonwryan.com This one is particularly, enduringly egregious because I told a story about my mum giving me toys. *my mum, in fact

A story @zander.supertonic.au may enjoy. My husband took a sick day last week and year 8 removed the inside of his egg shaker. He’s spent the morning trying to fill it with sand, rice, etc and draw a bruised sad face on it for return to work after the holidays.

This is a really great article for the sound people. (Also, OMG the SimCity reference.) Totally putting into resources for my game music class. Amazing work. (The game sounds great too.)

@dhnow.bsky.social · last mo.

Review: The Sounds of Emergency in Amberspire

Every now and then I come across these. Ken and I spent a week eating them in Bangkok circa 2005. I assume these are just basic chips in SE Asia (?) but they are my favourite chips in the world. Today I found them in Homebush after an 8km walk through the mangroves. Best chips.

I’m watching Shining Girls and it’s a great thriller. On the last episode, and I had NO idea how the sci-fi/speculative elements worked for most of the series. There’s still one thing that I don’t understand but maybe it’ll be resolved this episode and that’d be soooo great.

For @threeohfour.bsky.social Also. I stopped at the same point in SKALD. Will get back to it.

Disclosure Day was good.

I’m planning a talk (at an academic conference, ha) and I just put this on a slide …

I stopped watching Silo during S2 because it was just all brown and depressing, I think. But yay I just watched the end of S2 and yay. Bring on S3.

Resistance is futile.

Arg. Someone tell me what this is. The dog keeps sniffing them out in the garden and we have to rescue them from his jaws. Credit to my 16yo for the excellent nature photography … It’s like a hollow stickish cocoon with a large caterpillar in it.

I love how fruit and veg ‘seconds’ have names that make them more attractive to rebellious shoppers. Today I have some ‘unruly zucchinis’.

@zander.supertonic.au Last night I was dreaming I was at a BBQ and stuck in a time loop and you were the not person who took me remotely seriously. Over and over. Thanks for that. 😅

@threeohfour.bsky.social Idk how to use Driina. Best tips?

So into SKALD. @threeohfour.bsky.social @elprezau.bsky.social I definitely made a good decision to play on easy. The combat is still hard enough without me having to replay battles all of the time.

This game was a very neat movie length Sunday arvo experience. A bit of a rare (if ‘too real’) treat for the Middle Aged Mum. Although I imagine lots of people/audiences would enjoy a story that’s honest and told in this way.

SIFTER@sifterhq.bsky.social · 2mo ago

BLUEBERRY by @gamesmellow.bsky.social stung me immediately with one of my deepest fears, this simple game about a life unfolding portrays some parts of life not seen in many other titles. REVIEW by @firkraags.bsky.social www.sifter.com.au/post/blueber... #review

@threeohfour.bsky.social @elprezau.bsky.social I have terrible news. SKALD is a black screen and I spent my tiny gaming hour wrangling with it. 😢

I think I’m going to start SKALD again from the beginning. store.steampowered.com/app/1069160/... cc @threeohfour.bsky.social

SKALD: Against the Black Priory on Steam

SKALD:Against the Black Priory is a retro-style party-based RPG set in a grim-dark fantasy world of tragic heroes, violent deaths and Lovecraftian horror. Take a chance and roll the dice as you embark...

store.steampowered.com

My 18yo is flying off to do sports in Singapore today and good luck feeding him, Singapore. Also. I was recently complaining to a community centre worker at a volunteer Oz Harvest shift about how much my son eats, and it turned out she was Mitchell Starc’s mum so she wins.

I was aware of the TV series Homeland but I never watched it. I’m now at the end of S2. There’s a lot to say about it. But. I’ll just say, this is a context that lends itself extremely well to Game of Thrones level twists.

If anyone is interested in a tiny mystery with Detective Dog in the background, for the past few weeks I’ve been getting pen squiggles on my arm, and jumper, despite generally not using pens … Today I figured out why. Any guesses? Stumped me for weeks.

This is a great game. Have played the demo a little. Need to get back to it.

Elissa@elissablack.com · 3mo ago

Dungeons of Freeport's Steam page is up! Any love & wishlists would be appreciated - a few weeks until its Steam debut.

Good morning. Who remembers HOMM/HoMM? Me. Also, maybe you. Definitely @zander.supertonic.au for whom I wrote the little music section at the end. I've been playing pre-release EA. It's good, with some caveats about the campaign. www.sifter.com.au/post/heroes-...

HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC: OLDEN ERA knows its audience and it's me | SIFTER

Now in early access, the Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era single player campaign falls flat, despite an otherwise promising combination of the classic HoMM III formula and new gameplay goodies.

sifter.com.au

i had the best time making these silly little pelicans this weekend 🤩 i present: ✨The Pelifont✨

Hello, Happy Friday. Last Friday I was in Tassie, seeing the excellent games being made there. Large thanks to Sifter for letting me write about it. Also. It was snowing. True story …

SIFTER@sifterhq.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Level Up Tasmania was an opportunity to see more of the detail; where the interesting, individual threads of art and games, people and cultures, are woven into our nation’s larger rug @screentasmania.bsky.social @firkraags.bsky.social #LevelUpTasmania REVIEW www.sifter.com.au/post/level-u...

Ken (a music teacher) was just watching an ad for Farmer Wants A Wife and he said, ‘No-one wants to watch Music Teacher Wants A Wife’ and I can tell you that there is nothing that I (a music teacher) wants to watch less.