Tessera

Mawxiwtz

@mawxiwtz.bsky.social

My love language is being totally lost in a dungeon with half my party dead and a chance of taking a random encounter on my next step.

745 Posts96 Follower 68 Folgt

Andes Chucky @wendeego.bsky.social · yesterday

Today on scrmbl: I wrote about Dragon Quest V, one of my all-time favorite games, and where it fell short for me

How Dragon Quest V both succeeds and fails as a family story | scrmbl

Standing on your own two feet.

scrmbl.com

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · 2d ago

So I can't give Tenebris: Terra Incognita a full rec. It's more treadmill than game and it's Starship Troopers coded which is not my jam BUT I think it does some cool things with its combat system that might have some good takeaways. Let's get into it :)

Joachim ✊️ UVW-CWA @jdespland.bsky.social · 4d ago

This is union-busting. Tim Schafer is a boss and him and his management team did what bosses do.

This included managers. Legally, the only union-related prohibition for managers was that they could not give employees their opinions on unions or encourage them one way or another. But several union supporters said they directly heard managers express concerns that they were no longer allowed to speak to their employees about anything, and a few people told me their own managers or senior members of their teams stopped speaking to them entirely, even about the games they were working on. “They helped enforce this narrative where you couldn’t talk to people when nothing about neutrality required that to happen,” said one union supporter. “Supporters who were confused saw that, and bought into it.”

Other union-supportive employees told me they received the cold shoulder from people they didn’t work closely with, but had previously been friendly with. There were accusations of strongly anti-union employees trying to scare off prospective members, sharing hypothetical or even at times outright false information about the impacts a union would have at Double Fine, or making what sources asserted were false accusations about the organizers themselves and their tactics.

The spin-off from Microsoft precipitated new fears. Would there be layoffs? Would Double Fine get to keep ownership of its games? Would the studio even have enough runway to survive for long without Microsoft’s backing? The answer to these questions came rather quickly. On July 28, 23 people were laid off from Double Fine amid the split. These layoffs took place after Double Fine’s departure from Xbox, and Schafer was the final deciding voice as to who stayed and who went. Among those 23 were all eight organizing committee members who had signed the letter to the studio announcing the petition withdrawal. The majority of the rest, though not all, had been vocally or, in a few cases, privately supportive of the union, even if they’d been ineligible to join it. In total, the layoffs comprised roughly one-fourth of Double Fine.

“Management absolutely mishandled the situation…The manager training was weeks late and landed after the brunt of the drama. The lack of direct communication made an already clique-y culture even worse. And studio leadership overall was not only extremely influenced by their proximity to Tim, but there was a large amount of ignorance towards the role of a union or how they work.”

In the weeks and months since the petition withdrawal, those at Double Fine who had openly or even privately supported the union tell me they have laid low, afraid of further retribution or ostracization. “It feels like they want you to leave,” one person said. “And it’s working. I’m looking for other jobs.” Unfortunately, as they and others pointed out to me, the games industry job market is so bad that jobs are in short supply.

Kotaku@kotaku.com · 4d ago

Back in May, Double Fine employees petitioned for a union. Two weeks later, that petition was withdrawn. What happened? https://kotaku.com/inside-the-failed-fight-to-unionize-one-of-gamings-most-idealized-studios-2000742755

MinaSheep - Sealed Fortress out NOW @minasheep.bsky.social · 4d ago

MAGIC IS MADE MANIFEST Sealed Fortress, my dungeon-crawling rpg is out now! This has been my biggest project ever, check it out! Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/5210640/... itchio: minasheep.itch.io/sealed-fortr...

Andes Chucky @wendeego.bsky.social · last wk.

In between payments, applying for jobs, and running low on funds for health insurance...if folks are able to support, feel free to do so here

Support Adam Wescott

ko-fi.com

craze @ratfishing.bsky.social · last wk.

if you want some early halloween vibes, WINE & ROSES is the (free!) mid-divorce occult combat rpg people know me for. and you may even like it contains beautiful women, turn-based boss combat, and overpowered crowd control crazetex.itch.io/wine-and-roses

Wine & Roses by craze

Mid-Divorce Occult Combat RPG

crazetex.itch.io

Kevin Maxon @sonofbadru.bsky.social · 2w ago

Here's 90 seconds of REVOLUTION FANTASY, which I've been working on discreetly for the last few years. It's built on the bones of Tenderfoot Tactics, in Godot. This is a sandbox combat that I'm using to design skills and progression. Expect me to post a lot more about RF from here on out!

MinaSheep - Sealed Fortress out NOW @minasheep.bsky.social · 2w ago

WILD MAGIC BECKONS DEVOUT BLOOD The latest Sealed Fortress trailer is here! Along with its release date! 🏰 Wishlist on Steam! : store.steampowered.com/app/5210640/...

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · 2w ago

Did the playtest for Critical Shift! Pretty neat mix of XCOM and Biohazard/Parasite Eve with a dash of SCP/Control. Also reminded a bit of the eurojank oddity Gorky 17 if anyone's played that. Horror + Tactics have a long history and it's good to see it carried forward here. Please give it a try :D

Sgt M @sgtm.bsky.social · 2w ago

Game design meme for me and maybe three other people on this site.

Guy looking at random encounters: "Wow! RPGs are grindy!"
Text overhead: "Random encounters help ensure that the the play experiences combat at regular intervals instead of avoiding fights and ending up underpowered, increasing the risk of quitting entirely."

Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️@sharkabytes.bsky.social · 2w ago

Heads-up for fellow CRPG dungeon crawler fans as one to avoid: this one is made by ban-evading neo-nazis.

𝔇𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔇𝔢𝔩𝔳𝔢𝔯 ☽⛤☾ ℌ𝔬𝔴𝔩 𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔢@therunepony.bsky.social · 3w ago

So this game called "Dverghold" came across my Steam homepage. Interesting retro vibes, apparently collabing with a dungeon synth artist for the OST. The art was kinda tickling my AI-dar though, so I scrolled down to look for any disclaimers.

Ogre Run @ogre-run.bsky.social · 3w ago

Seems like Springer Nature's Japanese Game Studies book finally released. The collection gathers writing from academic researchers in Japan on the history of Japanese Game Studies: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Japanese Game Studies

This book introduces the study of games in Japan. It provides a guide for those who want to study Japanese games and do so in Japan.

link.springer.com

The Price of Reason @priceofreason.bsky.social · 3w ago

OKAY FINE YOU CAN HAVE A CHURU

Andrea Demetrio @andreadprojects.bsky.social · 4w ago

For the Steam RPG Fest, 8-Colors Star Guardians+ is on the highest discount I can actually set (really, I can't make it cheaper even if I wanted)! store.steampowered.com/app/2483150/... So, it's the right time to convince some friend to try it out (and maybe leave a Steam review) 😛

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · 4w ago

Digging how Destiny Spire uses its ATB gauges for Criticals and Misses. You time your Attack to when an Enemy's ATB gauge is full it will be Critical. But if your Attack lands during their Skill execution right after it will Miss. Small but meaningful mechanic among many in this delightful game :)

Skyboy Games @skyboygames.com · last mo.

One of the more technical nods to Dragon Quest that our NES JRPG, Even Goblins Fall In Love, makes is storing game data in CHR (graphic) data. See all that noise in the tiles? That's monster and dungeon data! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Even Goblins Fall In Love, an indie NES JRPG, running in an emulator. Next to it, you can see graphical tiles used in the game. Some of the titles look like white noise static. They are actually compressed game data making room for more code logic in the game itself.

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

Played this one a couple years back at Tokyo Game Dungeon, was really impressed with it at the time and it looks like it has really hit its stride (and found a pub to take it worldwide). Sickos please keep an eye on this one :) store.steampowered.com/app/2731030/...

Dungeon Automata on Steam

Dungeon Automata「Algolemeth」is an "autologic": a JRPG dungeon crawler meets auto battler where you control your party with visual node-based programming. Program your party and conquer dunge...

store.steampowered.com

r1kGAMES @r1kgames.bsky.social · last mo.

We just released our retro rpg Destiny Spire on Steam! Go check it out! #rpg #jrpg #indiegame #retrogaming #gaming store.steampowered.com/app/3369150/...

the homophobic boy detective @gaorush.bsky.social · last mo.

KENJI ITO I KNEEL

Andes Chucky @wendeego.bsky.social · last mo.

if capcom made a solid turn-based breath of fire game that looked like pragmata or something, it would sell a billion copies and win game of the year at the game awards

GSK | ALL CITY SLOP SHOP (ETA SOON)@allcityslopshop.com · last mo.

coming to PC & consoles in early 2027: METRO QUESTER ZERO, a third game in Thousand Games' ultra-compact retro dungeon crawler Quester series, featuring chara/world design by Bastard mangaka Kazushi Hagiwara https://store.steampowered.com/app/4961120/METRO_QUESTER_ZERO/

METRO QUESTER ZERO on Steam

METRO QUESTER ZERO is a dungeon exploration RPG based in a post-apocalyptic futuristic world created by the manga artist Kazushi Hagiwara, with a deep game system designed by Hironori Kato that offers the excitement and surprises reminiscent of 1980s computer games through hack and slash.

store.steampowered.com

MinaSheep - Sealed Fortress out NOW @minasheep.bsky.social · last mo.

MY DRPG SEALED FORTRESS IS COMING TO STEAM (and Itchio) SOON! If you could wishlist the game it would make my day 🥰 store.steampowered.com/app/5210640/...

Sealed Fortress on Steam

A dungeon-crawling, turn-based RPG in which you take a party of 3 through the treacherous halls of a castle corrupted by wild magic.

store.steampowered.com

mcc @dryad.technology · last mo.

Also I know I yell people should read Diana Wynne Jones a lot but I don't talk enough about how people should read Patricia A. McKillip? Not sure if it scratches the Harry Potter itch but if you ever had a period you liked Neil Gaiman, you'd like these books

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

For the dawn.

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

Listen to Joji Nakata completely destroy his vocal cords for a pitch perfect Dio impression in OT2 (god I love this game)

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

Reminded of Sgt. Joe

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

RPG Free Ball Idea: Steal "Blessing in Disguise" from OT2 for your games. It inverts negative bonuses of equipment (like -Speed for Heavy equips) into positives. Lowkey brilliant how it activates so many cool viable equipment choices midway through the game.

Lie of Caelum: Spirit @lieofcaelum.bsky.social · last mo.

Our Kickstarter is now LIVE! 🎉🎉🎉 Lie of Caelum: Spirit is a traditional turn-based Sci-fi Mecha JRPG inspired by Xenogears and Phantasy Star Make sure to follow us and repost this post to work towards the community goals too! Campaign details below. Let's fly towards the goal!! ⬇️

Mawxiwtz @mawxiwtz.bsky.social · last mo.

lrt: core memory from Terranigma where I made a choice to elect a town mayor, stepped outside on the World Map, went back to grab something and suddenly a 100 years passed and it was now a city. In a single moment I understood Ark's loneliness as a singular existence as the world changes around him.

Luci 𓆩♡𓆪🐊@mewtsukki.bsky.social · last mo.

i'm gonna ramble about game design again sorry and it's gonna be a very unpopular opinion but i do think that it's extra funny how a huge chunk of people that play videogames are allergic to backtracking, one of the top 3 things that actually make videogames unique as a medium