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Joas

@joasb.bsky.social

Hobbyist game dev, art & media studies nerd, and lots else. Dutch person based in Glasgow, Scotland. My games -> https://joasb.itch.io/ My writing -> https://joas.bearblog.dev/ My Backloggd -> https://backloggd.com/u/Joas/ (he/him)

76 Posts41 Follower133 Folgt
Joas@joasb.bsky.social · last wk.

Finished Echoes of Wisdom and it's such a unique entry in the Zelda franchise. Unique in its mechanics, and uses those to explore themes of self-acceptance in such a beautiful and charming way. And then at the same time is just filled to the brim with an excess of checklist-based dopamine design

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · last mo.

I knew Steven L. Kent's game history book wasn't the most well respected, but I figured it'd be interesting as a potentially skewed and surface level overview. But man is it so much worse. It just completely ignores the non-American market, basically just focuses on Atari and Nintendo of America.

Liz Alfos@touloutoumou.bsky.social · 7mo ago

New article: I asked hobbyist game makers if they used to want to work in the game industry, and if they still do. They answered more or less how I expected, but it also revealed something else. medium.com/@touloutoumo...

Do you dream of working in games making anymore? The state of hobbyist game making

I have a hobby, and I have a job, and they’re completely separate. I engage with my hobby purely because it brings me joy. I didn’t start…

medium.com

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Been thinking how Greek myth in art and media feels so different to my experience of having just read The Odyssey. The mythology of it feels more like a set of default archetypes of Western art history than any attempt at adapting Homer's epic poetry

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Last night I had a far too vivid dream that I was making a... *shudders* Metroidvania 😬 That said it was way cooler and more interesting than other Metroidvanias

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Reading Walter Scott's Ivanhoe has been interesting because it's the template for every medieval adventure that has been written since, so I didn't expect it to be so slow and so focused on an exploration of division of ethnicity and class in medieval England

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · last yr.

I think this perception that games are "the interactive medium" is really reductive, and results in a weird sense of games having to prove their legitimacy both within and as a medium. Read my full thoughts here: joas.bearblog.dev/legitimacy-a...

Legitimacy and Interactivity in Games - "Only a game could do this"

You might've heard that phrase before when people sing a game's praises. Something like "it really utilises the medium to its fullest" or "this could only be...

joas.bearblog.dev

droqen and 24 others@droqen.bsky.social · last yr.

the greatest trick games ever pulled was convincing gamers and game devs that their medium has some kind of monopoly on interaction.

Joas@joasb.bsky.social · last yr.

Interesting to see the replies to this that seem to defend gambling and skinner box design uncritically because it doesn't involve betting money? You can enjoy Balatro and at the same time recognise that said enjoyment comes from addictive design that springs from the gambling industry

Bryce B@brycebucher.bsky.social · last yr.

been thinkin a lot lately about how gambling addiction seems to be effecting the types of indie games comin out and making it big. It is kind of making me feel insane

Bruno Dias@brunodias.dev · last yr.

if you post about how people should just make solo game projects or start small indie projects you are now on the hook to personally buy a copy of every single small-indie game you hear about on both steam and itch. if you don't do that you are a poser

jwest@follysoft.bsky.social · last yr.

That blog post I said that I was going to write was going to be about this. I was going to title it "Faces", because it was the metaphor that I kept coming back to when considering what is lost in the creative process with generative AI. Maybe my longest 🧵ahead...

Xalavier Nelson Jr.@writnelson.bsky.social · last yr.

Given the shitstorm that’s hit the teams behind The Alters, Magic: The Gathering, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 (among other titles), I’d be deeply intrigued to hear why someone would consider it a safe move to use generative AI on their project at this point - let alone go all-in on it.