Bioware deserves so much better. I wish companies were simply forbidden from acquiring one another. I do realize that has its own issues. I'm just tired of seeing companies get acquired, forced to do things differently than how they succeeded, then fed into a wood chipper when it doesn't work out.

Aftermath@aftermath.site · 17h ago

Electronic Arts closing BioWare, laying off hundreds: aftermath.site/electronic-art...

I feel sorry for every PHP dev right now scrambling to do... Anything... Before their sites get compromised. For many their websites are full versions behind the current and bringing them up to the latest version, some are about going to be a massive undertaking to get up to date.

I really wish Steam would make AI disclosures filterable. Add check boxes for if Generative AI was used for graphics, placeholders, code, music, dialogue, translation, etc. Valve also needs to properly punish failure to disclose to prevent how often games add disclosures only after release sales.

For people getting frustrated about their not genAI work being called AI. As a heads up it's slang among young folk to use AI to mean bad. Which I think is fair but also potentially confusing. Doesn't help hearing your work is bad, but it's a hair better than being accused of forgery.

I attended a panel in ~2010 where mobile developers were discussing with pride "we employ more psychiatrists than software developers" and were so effective at extracting money from users "they probably cost more than a few people their homes and marriages" this sort of behavior should be illegal.

Morgan Johnson@poormojo.bsky.social · last wk.

No joke. I think this is the most important video I have ever seen about mobile games. This guy breaks down how this game psychologically profiles you, and makes the game harder or easier in order to show you ads

This actually explains a lot... Epic's marketing here is a perfect example of misleading with facts. Is it faster than Steam? Yes! ... But... That's because Epic actually has even less functionality and information than before. They didn't better code the product, they cut functionality.

Rock Paper Shotgun@rockpapershotgun.bsky.social · last wk.

"We vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher" because "programming is hard", announce company we're somehow supposed to see as a serious Steam competitor https://bit.ly/4hMHbi5

Give my Star Wars job sim style games, I don't even care what! Star Wars: Cantina where you run your a bar on an outer rim system. Star Wars: Transport where you run an intergalactic logistics company ship goods tycoon style. Star Wars: Automata where you setup factory automation to make droids.

Tom Murch@thomasjohnmurch.bsky.social · last wk.

So, that recent "Star Wars does XCOM" game was pretty good? And the new "Star Wars does Burnout" game is good, too? Huh. Well, if you happen to have a license to make Star Wars games and are looking for your next idea...

Rest in peace you absolute legend. So much of how we still code to this very day is thanks to Margaret Hamilton. I've taught courses around practices she created. Entire coding paradigms are built on foundations she created. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...

Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90

Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.

news.mit.edu

Consider, this is their carefully edited and curated marketing video to best represent a product. This means even at its best it perfectly demonstrates how GenAI winds up bland, generic, and uninteresting. With all arts you get out what you put in. In this case almost nothing.

Dan Marshall@danthat.bsky.social · 2w ago

Full video here, if you're looking for something to watch for Halloween www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkcK...

Been working on adjusting my diet to help with "I'm getting older" things like cholesterol. How's it going? Day 1: Got what was effectively a salad in a tortilla shell on the way home. Got home order was messed up and received four types of meat with biblical amounts of mayo instead :/

Genuinely, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is excellent. Been a very long time since a racing game has caught my attention let alone genuinely felt inspired. It also does so much that just feels Star Wars from flipping a bunch of switches and buttons to get a boost or having faulty parts act up mid race

It's excellent, making a racing game that's effectively a roguelite was such a good call. I love the faulty parts mechanic. Having a "gotta go fast, but if you hold it too long you explode" button is such an awesome / evil idea. I've found my inner Icurus and he's getting mighty toasty.

STAR WARS: Galactic Racer™@starwarsgracer.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Our newest racer has arrived. Welcome to the Galactic League!" STAR WARS: Galactic Racer™ has officially fired up its engines and is now available worldwide on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. https://starwarsgalacticracer.com/

This is how systemic problems are entrenched. There's a book "Weapons of Math Destruction" by Kathy O'Neil that's worth a read on even well intentioned systems and the harm they cause at scale. This will very likely directly harm LBGTQIA+ creators. You could also go back to IBM's classic quote.

Aftermath@aftermath.site · 3w ago

Twitch is using AI to decide which streamers can make money off ads aftermath.site/twitch-ads-ai-...

I love when I'm discussing gamedev and someone comments dislike of genAI is mostly a Western culture thing. Sure, they're not wrong, but also they tend to be the countries devs pursue the most as they're the largest markets for games. That's like saying only mechanics care about shoddy tools.

I love and hate that school age kids "That's AI" is slang for something of poor quality not actually AI I like it because it really locks in AI = garage quality which in turn will gradually destroy the marketing value of the term AI. I only dislike it'll make pointing out actual AI more confusing.

It's a reminder how we all live different experiences watching someone you know super excited about something they did and you're happy they're excited while also confused why they're excited about something fairly trivial / mundane to you. Then realize just as often your roles are reversed.

Yep, as much as I rail on GenAI. StackOverflow was imploding long before LLMs entered the scene. StackOverflow gamified moderating questions. That wound up creating a toxic culture that made it unwelcoming and discouraged asking questions. Asking and answering questions was its whole purpose.

Mr. Hover Hands 👻️@mrhands31.bsky.social · last mo.

It's a convenient narrative, but the truth is that a toxic culture that punished newbies for daring to ask questions, and then linking them answers years out of date, was strangling StackOverflow long before the rise of generative AI

Senior Dev advice to beginner game devs. "Don't repeat yourself" Are you going to do something more than twice? Abstract it. All sounds should be played via the same common function. All blur effects should be handled by the same common function. It's far more adaptable and maintainable.

And another game completed. The grand last achievements were gorging my character on copious amounts of soda, coffee, donuts, and croque monsieurs.

Crunch is an overt failure by leadership. Either they allocated too few resources, scope creeped, made deadlines too ambitious, etc. Most dev roles are salary meaning they are not even paid extra for overtime / crunch. Even if compensated, it's still exploitive and a way to kill a dev's passion.

Game Developer@gamedeveloper.bsky.social · last mo.

Wardogs lead says the studio won't hire people who decry crunch on social media

We are hard at work planning the 2026 #RimWorld Hot Potato Charity Event, raising funds for Doctors Without Borders/MSF, for this upcoming November! If you are a streamer interested in participating in the event, please complete this form: forms.gle/ErUTAK51exoG... -- The due date is Oct 2, 2026!

2026 Streamer Application - Halcyon Frequency RimWorld Hot Potato Charity Event supporting Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

If you are interested in being in the Halcyon Frequency RimWorld Hot Potato Charity Event 2026, you MUST fill out this form. Please join the Halcyon Frequency Community Server so that we can reach o...

forms.gle

It's a good time to be a gamer, an overwhelming time, but a good time. There are so many new titles you have your pick, and be as picky as you like as you have more options then you'll ever be able to play. It's easy to get caught up on the negatives the industry is going through and miss the good

I often turn away game offers due to generative AI. I had a dev state they didn't use genAI in their game, I pointed out their AI disclosure. They pushed back that it was their capsule art / marketing not the game itself. My dude. WHERE the genAI is isn't why I'm out, it's that you it was used.

Keep Driving is still such a gem of a game. Dog always gets the front passenger seat, that's not up for debate or negotiation.

Creators, one thing I think helps with content decisions is realizing not all videos and streams serve the same purpose. Sure most are viewers / growth focused, some are about broadening your audience, marketability, collaboration, sponsorship / revenue, rewarding your body community, etc.

Most of the time when I get a key offer I'm not interested in I simply respond with "thank you for consideration, however I'm going to pass on (game) because (reason)" which is typically poor fit, predatory micro transactions, etc. I've only had unprofessional renponses when my reason was genAI.

Using GenAI to provide translations is woefully inadequate bordering useless. Consider subtitles are considered inadequate to the point of unusable once accuracy dips below ~97%. GenAI based translation hits well below that standard. You need humans handling this to be effective.

Hi, it's the year 2026. If you're releasing a game this year it's not okay to not allow players to disable motion blur (if present), disable screen shake (if present), and reconfigure their controls. In this day and age that alone is justification to refund as those are major accessibility issues.

Honestly, I think all the games heaping their releases all in September to get ahead of GTA 6 have created a worse situation for themselves than releasing at the same time as GTA 6. Yes, GTA 6 is going to dominate the news impacting sales, but holy hell the amount of games dropping in Sept is wild.

My analogy is to treat a stream like a live performance on stage that invites audience participation, banter, and some heckling. So jeering and quips are all in good fun, but shouting about someone who just died or a recent tragedy is not generally appropriate.

Gobsy (ghastly ghoulish gay 🎃)@goblinhugger.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hey, big bro Gobs here. I understand the news over the last two days has been very sad & many of us are deeply affected by it. This doesn't EVER mean you can make your first message in somebody's chat news that someone has died. I've seen it happen multiple times in the last 36 hours now.