#listen i will be playtesting these games

[strangechildproductions]

I went to work on some writing after work cuz I'm a tad behind but my nephew followed me to my office and I ended up playing House flipper sim instead ( sister is not for me introducing Fnaf to him at this age and my writing is not the way to do it. )

That being said. . . Does anyone have any video game recommendations for kids that are like 3 off steam so I have something he can play readily available next time?

[beesinspades]

i know astarion's attitude towards sex is all due to his trauma but. listen. there are some aspects of his romance and experiences that can be so relatable as a sex-neutral or sex-averse ace person. in fact him being ace or acespec on top of the trauma makes him even more compelling and tragic to me. it would've been amazing and interesting if he'd been canonically ace and these aspects plus how his asexuality affected his traumatic sexual experiences had been explored as well

[3584-tropical-fish]

In collaboration with @the-zenith-calls and @tecceran , I present The Magnus Archives themed Clue!! We spent several hours over the course of a couple weeks working on this, and play tested it properly for the first time last night. Check out both of their blogs for details of what they made (when theirs are posted I will link them here and here as well), and below the cut I will be putting details of my contributions :]

(image descriptions in alt text, though I haven't used alt text before so hopefully they do actually work)

Firstly, the weapons tokens. These were just cut out of cardboard in the style of the tokens that are included in my Star Wars Clue set

I was also responsible for room cards! Of these, Jon’s Office and the Archives are my favorites

We also have varying hallway cards, based on a mechanic in my Star Wars Clue, again.

The backs of the cards had to get covered somehow because markers bleed, so the hallway cards are plain black and the other cards have eye designs on them

I also formatted and printed out detective note sheets and an Instructions booklet! Details on the instruction booklet will end up in a reblog because I'm running out of images oops. Most of the instructions are just copied word for word from my Clue set instructions, with some alterations made, except for completely made up mechanics, which the-zenith-calls wrote and I reworded if necessary and formatted nicely.

[pikachu-deluxe]

got like 1200 ish lines of code for a thing in like 2 hours yippeee

it's a thing to make it easier to modify stuff for mario kart 64 it'll make my life 1000x easier i just have to enter a few numbers in and out comes a file i can apply to the game with some other program instead of having to copy and paste stuff for like half an hour to an hour every time i want to make changes

a game changer you could say *gets dragged away by the neck like a cat*

[antirepurp]

i hate the wyvern all my homies hate the wyvern

[chytilovian-daisy]

funniest part 4 me playtesting is. i hate hearing music most times in games. like i know that is not a popular thing bc friends are like "you play [x] on mute?". but i dont wanna be bothered.

[kuyatecallate]

...taking this as an excuse to throw up in the tags because I'm a coward.

I went down a Youtube rabbit hole today of watching horror games framed as computer viruses, to videos on the history of actual computer viruses and trojan horses, to then just thinking about video game creepypastas, so I've just been kinda in that clashing thoughts stage of "there is an incomprehensible DCA AU just outside of my grasp rn." Yeah, it sure is a vibe. Don't know what it is though

[bobacupcake]

hi everyone. i learned some cool new things. check it out:

if you make a first draft of something, you can iterate on it, and make it better

if youre making a game and you give it to people to playtest, you can watch and listen to their feedback, and make changes based on what you noticed, and then the next timme you give it to someone to playtest, it will be a noticeably better experience

[txttletale]

🔥 live play ttrpg shows?

i think the higher production values of stuff like CR and D20 kneecap their creative and storytelling potential as actual-plays because onve you've made the lovingly detailed map and minis for a fight you basically have no choice but to have it no matter what happens innit.

also a lot of stuff that's good practice at a personal table makes bad radio and should be edited out and vice versa a lot of stuff that makes good radio is bad practice for home games but i don't think that's 'unpopular' in that people actively agree with it just underrecognized.

also eidolon playtest is the best actual play of all time. listen to eidolon playtest. it's like if homestuck was good.

[thydungeongal]

Do you think there's a game that would be better for actual play shows to play than 5e that would better match the style of play they're creating? Or are they too curated/divorced from actual gameplay for it to matter?

It ultimately depends on the show in question and what the arc of the given season is. There are games I think are better for producing conventional narratives without a lot of GM expertise and having to effectively fight against the system, and I think showcasing those systems would be doing people a lot of favors in terms of actually showcasing how different games can support collaborative narrative differently. Ultimately a lot of actual plays end up using D&D because it's popular, without actually leveraging the strengths of the game or leaning into the type of play it textually supports.

Incidentally, since I've been hearing about the Critical Role produced fantasy RPG Daggerheart recently I mused about it out loud, like whether the game could actually better support the type of heroic, conventional narrative that Critical Role is very much about, and one reply I got was basically "Yeah it actually does, as a game, better support narratives in the house style of Critical Role, but watching their playtest streams I noticed that they keep on falling back on the habits they've learned from their D&D campaigns even when the game itself explicitly advises against that style of play (like unnecessary rolling)."

Anyway, ultimately the choice to use D&D or whatever for actual plays has very little to do with playing to the strengths of the game, it has everything to do with D&D bringing the views. So even if something like Fate or QuestWorlds or the upcoming MCDM game or Daggerheart would better support that style of play, I do feel it's ultimately a moot point. I don't think the medium of actual play is entirely resistant to the idea of playing games in a way that plays to the strengths of the medium, like there are lots of smaller scale actual plays that actually showcase what the medium has to offer in terms of storytelling potential without it relying entirely on a GM-authored curated narrative, but ultimately it's not a good fit for the larger scale actual play productions.

I don't know if that makes sense. But like, let's be fair, a D&D actual play that actually plays to the strengths of D&D might not actually be all that entertaining to listen to, because as cool as dungeon-crawling and overcoming obstacles with carefully selected abilities might be to play, it can lack a lot of the personal stakes and narrative framing that people look for in conventional narratives.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Yet another A.N.I.M. interview! This time with the podcast Not DnD!

In a way, this is the biggest A.N.I.M. interview yet, because it features the largest number of members of our team in a single interview to date! @ashweather and I go over some more of the design philosophy of Eureka, while @chaospyromancy, never before seen on a TTRPG interview, explains her approach to the art direction of much of the rulebook, and where she takes inspiration from for it!

This was a very fun interview and the hostess was very fun to talk to, check it out!

Don’t forget also that we are driving towards a patreon goal for June! If we can get (and, importantly, keep) 50+ paid patreon subscribers, we will be adding one of the unmet stretch goals from the Kickstarter to Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy! That stretch goal is a new type of playable monster, the gorgon! Signing up to our patreon(link) will not only help us (and everyone else who wants to play as a gorgon), it will get you access to so much more! Regularly released beta versions of the rulebook full of new content, adventure modules, short stories, etc.!

If this interview made you want to give Eureka a shot, but you can’t afford the $5/month patreon subscription, then you’re in luck! You can get a free beta copy of the rulebook right now by joining the A.N.I.M. TTRPG book club! Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game we are playing in there for the next few sessions! Join now, and there will probably still be slots for you join in and play! If not, you can pick up a free PDF anyway to read along and listen in to play sessions! Here's the invite link! https://discord.gg/gGdbGfr8F5

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[14dayswithyou]

Say hi to renren for me

So I was having computer problems and had to restart my laptop, but when I tried to redownload the game it said locked with a password. I was wondering how I can obtain the password I love your game so much! P.s I read what happened and I apologize you went through that

✦゜ANSWERED: aaaa thank you for your concern ;v; I appreciate you!!

As for the password; you can get it in the 14DWY Discord — or wait for it to be publicly released on Itch!! Day 3.5 is still in early beta/access, so only the Discord community can playtest it right now ^^ The community is waaaay smaller (and no minors!!), which makes it easier for me to handle any bugs/issues/feedback.

But Day 3.5 will be made public very soon, so please don't feel pressured into joining if you don't want to!! ^^ Thank you very much for your endless patience! And a big thank you to everyone in da server for listening to my wishes about not leaking/spoiling anything!

[steamberrystudio]

15/09/2024

Hallo everyone!  Tumblr devlog time. 

Summary:

Finished Daaz's play test

Finished Kav's play test

Started Asher play test

Finished the flowchart for Chapter 2

Set up all the unlock statements for the flowchart

Finished coding expressions through Chapter 2

Coded the expressions through the bonus scenes

Some QoL fixes to various screens

Finished Noel's CG

Coded Noel, Daaz, and Yren's CGs

Started Asher's CG

Writing/Playtesting:

Okay so I have still been working on my playtest and am currently finishing up the playtest of Asher's route - about half done with it.

For those wondering why the play test is taking forever, I always do a play test with the auto-voicing on. It forces me to slow down and listen, which helps me hear issues like word repetition as well as typos and things like that. I catch a lot more issues this way than if I try to read it.

A lot of times I'll reach a later part of the game and realise I need a conditional statement based on much earlier content. I find it easier to try to manage that as well as I can now versus later on. Especially with something like an episodic release, I think it's useful to try to catch as much of that stuff as I can at this stage.

So yeah!

I also finished writing and coding all the bonus scenes I mentioned last time.

Art:

Art wise I have...

Finished Cim's sprite. She is a minor character who appears briefly in Chapter two. Her sprite is created and coded now.

Finished Noel's Ch 2 CG...

Coded Yren, Raif, and Noel's CGs

Started Asher's CG (currently rendering the shading)

Received a new BG.

Other Stuff:

So I got the flowcharts finished and set up and the page functional. I also have set up the unlock statements (Just up to Ch2 of course).

I have coded expressions.

Coded in a ton of button fixes and QoL fixes and stuff like that. Most of that stuff is done. There are only a few small things I want to tweak.

I also made a ton of corrections offered up by an alpha tester who has been going through the game to help me out. So yay for that. 

Upcoming Weeks:

Finish Asher and Daaz's CGs

Finish Asher's play test

Once I am done with the CGs I will probably release the first episode to beta testers on Patreon. So.

We are getting really close to that stage.

Finally.

[reddblight]

I feel like I see so many contrasting opinions on jobs for Bart when he’s older, ranging from scientist, super suit designer, cop (ew), unemployed and bouncing between part time things, etc. Honestly of those I know my personal favorites are fashion design and kinda bouncing between part time courier jobs (he’s never seemed like a full time kinda person to me tbh).

But I got to thinkin about it, what is one thing that we know Bart loves more than most other things? Video Games.

I propose this, indie video game designer/freelance artist Bart.

It makes sense in my head, Bart’d be bitching to Preston or Kon about how he’s beat like an ungodly amount of games and is getting bored/needs something new to play. They would make an offhand comment, joking about making one himself and I think he would find the idea intriguing. (Or honestly Helen could have suggested it after listening to Max get on Bart about needing to do something responsible to make a living & Bart shutting down).

I think that between hero work it would give him a creative outlet for his hyperfixations. Plus he’d probably have a blast figuring it all out. The first couple of games would be simple, figuring out the basics, but after those I can see him getting like really focused on a passion project game that he fully codes and illustrates. (He probably makes a young justice game, or skins in the games of his friends)

He’d definitely become a hit in the indie gaming community for the unique controls and mechanics in his games. People would reach out and ask him to help make their games, and eventually people would just start becoming really excited for whatever project he was working on.

Meanwhile he’s still just chilling with his friends in his free time, letting them playtest his games and taking suggestions on what the funniest easter egg could be. I think he’d mostly be couch surfing, hopping between staying with friends and “family” members on a whim. Usually chilling wherever the YJ was or hanging out at Carol, Preston, or Rolly’s.

Just feels more fun than him being a DC brand of “scientist” (no specific generalization or study) or cop (again ew). Plus he could still design hero suits while doing this (i like that headcanon, its fun)

[markrosewater]

howdy Mark! I'm listeing to your podcast about your dad and I am bawling my eyes out! I play magic with my dad, so a lot of this hits very close to home! My dad started playing in 94, then I think stopped in 96 or 97. Then I got into magic in 2015 which brought him back to it as well. And we still both play. Listening to this is really reminding me to cherish my dad while I still have him.

Getting to share something as special as Magic with your dad is a blessing I wish more people got to know. We owe Gene a huge debt of gratitude for being the one who ignited your planeswalker spark! And of course we owe you for showing us the Multiverse! Thank you so much to the whole Rosewater family! I hope we can get some kind of commemorative card for your dad the way we got one for Sheldon. The legends who helped shape this game deserve that! I'm gonna go finish up the podcast and cry some more now. Thank you Mark.

Cheers

DAVE

I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

My dad did design one Magic card:

The playtest name was Radio Controlled Flyer.

[sycamorality]

thinking abt that 1 time where i was semi-active on a discord server for a yter i watch cause his content actually interested me.

at some point in the announcements channel he posts a link to a game, asking everyone in the server to playtest the game. i'm sideyeing this game because…. this guy is a minecraft youtuber. this guy made a world with only one block where structures generate in the world. so i talk in general chat like, "hey are we sure we can trust this..?" and i try to warn people that this could be a scam and call it out that he could've been hacked because he's not the type to do this.

some other people are suspicious too but i'm the only one being 'loud' about my suspicion and pointing it out. one of the mods, who to my knowledge was the guy's friend, is like "no he's not hacked he's made games before". so i download the game and run it through a malware tester. guess what it turns out to be. i post a screenshot of this in general chat. i think it gets deleted pretty quickly but some people do see it. i keep trying to point out hey this is malware dont downlaod it and play it..? but the mod who is the guy's friend keeps saying "he's made games before" etc etc and someone plays it in vc. yes, it's a simple 2d shooter, But its still got malware.

and i'm just sitting there in vc like. guys. guys this is fucking malware. guys. oh my god guys. i also point out that the youtuber doesnt type like he usually does. he usually types all lowercase with a few specific typos and he's not doing that right now which is you know, weird as fuck. i'm still weirded out because he's not the type to make a game like this?? and then after a few minutes they like. start kicking people from the main server, specifically people that are voicing their suspicion, and thats finally when people started realising. oh shit. something's fishy about this.

and someone makes a temporary server for everyone thats active to gather while shit continues to go down and the main server is locked down because the hacker's realised theyve finally gotten got. so the hacker's doing damage control and people are talking in the second server someone made and then the youtuber joins with an alt on the second server after two hours or so and confirms he got hacked and that the game that "he" sent was malware. and i'm just sitting here trying my best not to go "I TOLD YOU!!! I FUCKING TOILD YOU!!!! I SAID IT FIRST!!! I SAID IT IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT WAS POSTED AND YOU DIDNT LISTEN"

anyway i ended up leaving that server later because there were a lot of nsfw/18+ jokes that were thrown around even though there were minors on the server. actually 1 of those were directed at me and it was someone "joking" about commissioning me to draw nsfw and me responding "im a minor" and him replying "i see... so ur playing hard to get" and i brought that up to the youtuber and he just brushed it off like "no he just makes jokes like that. hes just like that"