#love playing this game its such a fun puzzle to learn about

[nyxtickled]

i’ve seen a few people do musician monday and figured what better time to contribute, now that i finally have a keyboard to play on? (honorable mention: lil belly pouch hehe)

warning: i am not a proper musician so don’t come for my finger positions!!!! i know they’re wrong. i knowwww my pinky just kinda floats there bc i never learned the right hand positions. if u wanna learn more about my piano history, read below the cut<3

i’ve always had a fixation with the piano, since elementary school. the first time i played around with one, i was probably about 6-7 when i had a basic little electric keyboard. didn’t do anything fancy, but i was an only child so i used to just listen to my favorite CDs and then try to play the songs. the first song i taught myself was 1000 years by vanessa carlton lmao.

i never really got into lessons and idk why. i don’t know how to read sheet music, i don’t remember what the notes are called, i don’t know what any of the chords or keys are called. playing a piano is more of a puzzle-solving game for me, where i listen to songs that i find beautiful (usually they don’t even have piano in them, just pretty melodies/harmonies) and then i try to find the matching sounds on the piano.

it takes me anywhere from days to weeks to months, depending on how ambitious of a song i’m trying to cover (the wildest one i ever did was Its Not A Fashion Statement It’s A Fucking Deathwish by MCR lmaooo i swear it actually sounds so pretty on the piano tho) and it’s something that i’ll basically just sit there and hyperfixate on until ive worked the whole thing out. ofc that comes with memorizing it too, so usually i can kinda sorta play the song, but i have to practice it a million times until i can play it all the way thru.

i would love to learn how to play the piano like a Real Musician and like, read music and know what everything is called etc. it’s on my bucket list. but there’s just something so fun and peaceful and meditative about just sitting there and sorting it out by ear, it kinda feels like solving a rubik’s cube in a way.

anyway this is just me trying to remember how to play part of a song called severus and stone by radical face. it’s prolly my favorite song of all time bc of the story it tells and the artist himself but i ain’t getting into all that rn. the section of the song i pulled this part from goes like this:

brother woke just after midnight, and he didn’t make a sound. but as he climbed from out of bed with severed rings around his head, his feet didn’t touch the ground- i could feel it then, a tiny miracle, so i followed him into the woods. crossed beneath the trees, but only i left my prints in tow; he was afloat. found a lonely tree, tied himself within its limbs, and he said to me these words: “don’t you fear for me, for i am where i’m supposed to be.”

[crystal-wingeddragon-spikes]

"Love, love, love, la la love. La La Love, makes the world goes 'round."

"You can't hurt me with things that you do, I'll pick up dandelions and give them to you."

"Puppy dogs, kitty cats swimming in love."

It is all fun and games for Bubbles and Buttercup, but Blossom's perfectionism is shredding on that guitar as hard as I shredded on my Wacom.

I literally just learned what Blossom was singing a few days ago. When I was little, I asked me elder siblings, I asked my parents, I even sent a letter to UBC (Now TrueVision), the company responsible for broadcasting Cartoon Network in Thailand, they played the song on-air a few times before the host said she has no idea.

You kids and your Internet today.

It's normal for old Thai cartoon to leave the song in its original language. I might be biased because of my familiarity, but I prefer it that way.

...

You are telling me The Malaysians has their own dub, but Thais doesn't?

At first, it was meant to be a set of 3 puzzle-pieces keychain design, 3-part heart join together. However, I realized that Bubbles's drum kit is huge. So, I moved her to the top of the heart, and space her sisters far away, but that just looks wrong. I think it can be done for everything except the band.

It is also inspired by the 2016 intro sequence texture, yes, I don't hate it. The original concept leans on more heavily on gray scales to make the girls' colour pops out, but that just seems wrong, considering what this episode was about.

[somegirlontheinternet135]

Ok but, how cool would it be if there was a click & point adventure game and dating sim based around The Beasts

Like, imagine you, the player, woke up in a dark, unknown forest. You don't know how, or why, you got there, but one thing's for sure, you don't want to stay for long, who knows what kind of horrors could be lurking in the darkness. . ? Quickly you make use of the environment, gathering wood & making a fire (via a minigame) in hopes it'll alert some cookies to your location, and while it doesn't work at first, it does give a certain someone, or something, a beacon to your location. . .

As you sit before the fire you just built, you begin to notice something was off. . . the forest you were in, it was quiet, eerily quiet, normally at night, many forest would be bustling with some sort of life: the sounds of night beasts, owls in the night, maybe the occasional cricket, but there was nothing. What only adds to this uncanny wood were its lack of creatures, not once did you encounter any sort of beasts on your journey. . . both these factors alone made you question what was really happening, is this all a dream? were you going crazy? questions were racing through your head, till finally, something snaps you out of it. . .

"Ooooooh!~ What do we have here?~"

"Has a little cookie come by to give me a visit?~"

A voice from the darkness pulls you out of your thoughts, jolting you onto your feet. Hearing that so suddenly within such a vacant space, you could've sworn you were alone. . ! You frantically look around, desperately trying to find the source of the voice, but the thing only laughs at you. . .

"W-Who's there?! show yourself!!"

"*Ehehe he he he HE HE HE HE!*"

"Try looking up here, darling~"

Your attention was slowly drawn to a tree behind you. On one of the branches, two heterochrome eyes staired at your from below, taking you off-guard, was that. . . a cookie? The creature made zero attempts to hide themselves as he jumps off the tree branch, over your fire. Light from the flames revealed their figure, they appeared to be some sort of jester, its figure & face making them resemble that of a cat. They do a bow before finally introducing themselves

"Shadow Milk Cookie, the world's favorite trickster~"

"Pleasure to meet you!"

In this scenario, the player is given two options, each of course having a different outcome:

Run Away

Sprinting away in fear will, of course, cause Shadow Milk to chase, eventually getting caught, though this does increase his interest in you

"*heh he he HE HE HE!* where are you going you silly little thing?!~"

"That was so much fun!~ I think I'm starting to like you already!~"

Standing Your Ground & Ask Questions

Respectably, you don't anything regarding the fallen heroes, but asking more questions does leave Shadow Milk upset

"H-How could you not know who I am?!"

"Shadow Milk Cookie, actor, playwright, dictator, does that not right a bell?!"

This's basically how the story starts. The player is isekaied into this strange world and are quickly met with the Fallen Heroes, who all woo the player with their charm & status in an attempt to find out how they got in, so they can do the same to get out. . . whatever that means. But one thing leads to another, and they all fall in love with the player, fighting over them. As for the player, they transverse through the strange world, learning of it and its secrets via minigames, hidden secrets, and puzzles, all while learning about the fallen heroes and their backstories. . .

I picture the game itself being a mix between one of those disturbing click & point adventure games (i.e. Sally Face, Fran Bow, and Little Misfortune) and a dating sim (i.e. Obey Me) which by itself, would cause major emotional whiplash, cause imagine going from seeing the most messed up sh*t to smooching your jester bf. For reference, think of the game as "Little Goody Two Shoes" something you should play btw!

[carlyraejepsans]

Aside from the obvious of Grick and UTDR, what games would you recommend?

999 was super fun for a mystery visual novel, for all i have my gripes with the execution of the villain in the finale

the beginner's guide is an absolute emotional gut punch that will make you think about games as art and the rapport between artist and medium and viewer

slay the princess. the stanley parable ran so slay the princess could reach hyperspeed and leap into tomorrow. gorgeous art style, gorgeous voice acting, gorgeous writing, delightful use of visual novels as a narrative medium, one of the best games to come out of 2024

mouthwashing. one of the most well executed pieces of psychological horror i got to play in a while. the art direction is incredibly solid, surprisingly gripping character writing (not the kind of media you'd expect to have blorbos all the way down, but here we are), really really fun narrative style and back and forth storytelling format, and a solid allegorical language that builds with every scene.

clinical trial. this is not an rpg maker horror game. this is not a normal 3 arc structure. this is an experimental indie work with a script so solid it lets it do away with almost every writing convention for pacing and plot structure. one of the most hauntingly human little games I've ever played. it made me sick to my stomach

moon: remix rpg. one of the earlier and most visually/conceptually interesting works toying with the pillars of videogame rpgs as a genre.

earthbound. come and see the cataclysm that spawned the modern rpg game scene

off. come and see the cataclysm that spawned the modern rpg game scene (french edition)

mother 3. this game is worth it for the soundtrack and art alone but man it is FUN to play. like its predecessor, it's a doubly interesting experience for a UTDR fan. it really gives context for Toby's underlying love for the genre in making his own games

night in the woods. before clinical trial, this was the game that made me physically ill with its character writing. absolutely gorgeous as an art piece. young adulthood, looking back on the past, and heart-rending working class appalachian americana. i could see my future rolled out before me like a carpet in the form of mae borowski, all the way back from age 14. also gay people here

tearaway. i never got to play this game myself, but after learning about it god i wish i did. you have that chance now. very fun bit of 4th wall breaking narrative and one of the most tender, earnest, loving exercises on suspension of disbelief. a love letter to creativity, to video games as a medium, and paper crafts as an art form specifically

the professor layton games! extremely fun puzzle series with some truly batshit and endearing characters. one of the best videogame OSTs of all time

[catmask]

genuine question – and i hope it doesn't come as weird – but how do get into...pokemon? </3

pokemon universe feels so big and there are so many games and i really like their designs – both for pokemons and trainers – making ocs in this setting would be so cool but i have no idea how to. begin!

could you give some advice?

ps leaving compliments for your comic and art in general!! i really like how your pieces are so colorful! gives the vibes of some small but cozy and fun town in a videogame..

no worries!! it seriously depends on what you are interested in - gamewise, region wise, and story wise.

heres what i can say. if you like typical top-down style pixel art rpg games where you solve tile puzzles and build a little team of monsters, any of the games before x and y is a good choice. platinum is a great introduction to the series because it doesn't baby you but is still decently difficult, heartgold/soulsilver are the 'coziest' games imo but may spoil you because of how much content there is, black/white and black/white 2 are the most story-driven of the games and bw2 is probably the longest play of all the games. emerald is also great, but its genuinely a hard game even as someone whos been a fan of the series for years. i would say to start with hgss because they're my favorites, but they're so good it might raise the bar too high for all the other games pixel-art games.

if you prefer 3D graphics, but still like the 'run around catching guys and solving tile puzzles', i think sun and moon are the best of the 3D games! the story is engaging and a little more modernized so that there are actual cut scenes, i think the pokemon available are cute and the region is really pretty. i thikn after that, x and y is pretty cute! the story is less strong in comparison to sun/moon. importantly; every game in the 3D era has a new type that was not present in the pixel art era - the fairy type, so if you want to learn the MODERN type chart and balances, the 3D games are where you'd need to start.

finally, if you're not a fan of the 'catch pokemon run around region' type games, pokemon has a LOT of really awesome spin off games. my favorites are as follows...

pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky. its the strongest story the pokemon company has ever written, and im a big fan of the mystery dungeon style gameplay.

pokemon ranger (any ranger game!) the story and graphics are cute, and it focuses on rescuing/rehabilitating pokemon more than capturing them. really lovely expansion of the pokemon universe.

pokemon go, because its free! so if you dont want to download a rom, or sink money into a new franchise, its an easy way to get into it.

pokemon snap - this was actually my very first pokemon game i ever played! (never owned it though heha) but there was just a remake for the switch, if you've got a switch that is. the game focuses on photographing pokemon in their natural habitat, and its really quite cute. slow paced and fun if you're not sure about battling yet.

finally... if you weren't looking to get into games at all, pokemon art + fan creations are personally my favorite things in the entire fandom! artists and writers and fangame devs are the people who hold this fandom up, engaging with their creations is a great and typically free way to involve yourself... im sorry this is so long, i hope this helps!! and ppl are free to add on to this hehe

[writers-wrongs]

Have you seen Arkham Knight VR? Riddler's self-aware in it! Could have some existential horror potential if you wrote headcanons or something for that version of him as a yandere >:-D (or just about self-aware Eddie from the mainline games...?)

as a ddlc fan, i love self aware game characters. and if anyone in arkham knight was gonna be sentient, itd be him. unfortunately, i havent seen AKVR, so this is just regular arkham knight

yandere!self aware!arkham!riddler x gn!reader

-edwards the most intelligent man in gotham, of course he noticed that his life was a game. and over time, he learned how to manipulate the game around him and "see" into the outside world

-the disc hes on was sold by the original owner, and now gets passed from person to person from secondhand game shops. the disc is always returned because somethings wrong with it. nobody puts two and two together and realizes they only start having game issues when they look up answers to the riddles

-then you buy the disc. edward is mildly interested in you, as he is with everyone who buys his game, but he assumes it wont last when you struggle with his riddles. whatever, at least he can enjoy messing around with your game

-but then you dont look anything up. he watches you intently, he even hacks onto your phone to check if youve been searching answers, and youre all clear. sure, you struggle at some of his puzzles (who doesnt?), but you never cave and look up how to solve it, no matter how long it takes you

-now that hes poking around on your phone, he sees that youre kind of a shut in. you dont have many contacts, and the one social media you have is tumblr. but it looks like you fixate on him a lot, almost to an unhealthy degree. its flattering- of course someone as excellent as him deserves sycophants! and he especially deserves one as devoted as you! youre smart, and determined, and oh lord, hes in love

-you have things to do during the day, you cant spend all your time with him on the disc, so he listens in on you from your phone. theres not much to do when youre not playing the game, so its his favorite way to pass the time. when you get home and start playing, he tries to interest you in his sidequest over everything else. he even keeps an eye on you as you sleep! he has to make sure youre safe, after all

-when youre not playing, he focuses on finding a way out to you (or bringing you in to him). he needs to be able to hold you, to keep you safe himself, and if he has to drag you kicking and screaming into the game with him, he will. not that he really knows how to do that, but he'll figure out something

-on your end, you dont notice anything at first. maybe his lines when you play are a little... flirtier? but other than that, the game is fun. you feel particularly drawn to the riddler sidequest, hes your favorite character after all. then, you notice that his lines are strangely specified to you, making references to your interests and personal life. maybe its just reading your console? yeah, a fun little meta thing!

-but then it gets concerning. he calls you by name. not the name on your console, your real name. hes talking like he knows you as a person. hes saying how much he needs you, how much he adores your dedication to his riddles, your dedication to him. you decide this is too weird, you have to return the game. so you go to take it out, and-

-you wake up in what looks like the abandoned orphanage from arkham knight. you try to move, but you feel arms squeeze you tight

-"there you are, my dear player. we're going to have so much fun together"

[shadowfan567]

Here’s all of my sonadow kids together! since I felt like doing 7 reference sheets will take a long time to do, I made something like this! It has all of their height differences, Lilac being the tallest and the twins being the smallest! Maybe at some point I will do their sheets but for now this will do. The other slides just show some dynamics between some of the sonadow kids, that are the most closest together or just stuck together, and I felt like showing them :) but in the end they all love eachother! This also took a long time to post because I’m no longer in my Sonic phase so I don’t know when I’ll be back to drawing again 🥲

Stuff about them, listed to oldest to youngest:

They were all created just like Shadow was created when he was in space colony ark. Shadow and Sonic's quill dna were used to create them all and Tails helped with their creation by creating the chamber/capsule just like shadow was in and were born/created as babies but Ruby was the only one adopted so she isn't biologically related.

Lilac is confident and bubbly, she has plant manipulation as her main power and she likes admiring nature and its animals and enjoys doing stuff outdoors like hiking, gardening or yoga.

Storm is quiet and arrogant, he has lightning as his main power and he likes using his electric guitar, thinks about forming a band with his friends and volunteers at G.U.N with his father, Shadow.

Ruby is calm and gentle, she has no powers of her own and she enjoys being in chao garden with the chaos and learning about their history, she would accompany her sister Diana or Cream the rabbit there sometimes! She also has a pet chao named Fluffy (she’s shown in the sketch drawing!)

Diana is anxious and reserved, she has out of control chaos power since birth from an accident and learning her newly formed psychic powers, but mostly uses hand to hand combat instead to defend herself from battles and from her nervousness of using power, she likes spending time with Ruby in the chao garden or do peaceful hobbies to make her feel less anxious.

Soarin is high spirited and kind, he has flight as his power and he likes to listen to tunes with his earbuds, likes helping anyone that needs it, is a bit heroic like his father Sonic, without being cocky, and he would sometimes happily join Lilac on her outdoor hobbies too.

Dash is cocky and energetic, he has speed as his main power and he likes annoying Storm whenever he can, be side by side with his twin sister, adventure like his father Sonic and having fun, getting into trouble, sometimes sarcastic and likes loud music blasting in speakers.

Molly is spunky and smart, she has super strength as her main power and she likes playing puzzle or strategy games, reading, being around tails and asking too many smart questions, battling and boasting when not thinking rationally, being side by side with her twin brother, also likes adventure and having fun, and loud music privately. (She’s basically has the mix of personality and some traits of Toph from the last airbender and Anais from tawog into one!)

Any questions anyone has I’ll try to answer them, maybe including my sonadow kids too if this gets noticed more! But for now I’ll have a hiatus from this account, I’ll be back if I ever want to draw Sonic again!

[mechabot-ultror]

Ranking Octopath Traveler II Characters on How Sick They'd Be as Tony Hawk Pro Skater Secret Skaters

With the advent of THSP3+4 right around the corner - and having just played through one of the best RPGs ever - I thought it might be best to sort out just which of Octopath's namesake Travelers would make sick af cameos in THPS, with notes. Enjoy, feel free to agree or disagree with this assessment.

8. Osvald

This man objectively despises fun, in all of its form, including skateboarding. He's way, way too busy puzzling out the mysteries of monster blood to spill his own by eating shit on a halfpipe. He doesn't care about what's going on in the haunted house in Suburbia, or where exactly the Evil Tiki portal leads to, because neither have answers to the One True Magic. If only he knew the true heart of magic is found by getting a 99.9 during the Rio skate competition, by grinding the outer edge of the skatepark (seriously, try it - there is nothing better in this life than hitting that full loop).

7. Temenos

I love Temenos. He might be my favorite character in all of Octopath Traveler. That said, he is 100% too busy working on his Fire Emblem 7 LTC on an original GBA cartridge to worry about learning the optimal route around Skater Island. He's overly concerned in sorting out an optimal army in Final Fantasy Tactics, without using Ramza as a monk (but he still uses Cid). He's a great character, but he would be such a chore to deal with at the X Games. He was the first to call out Otto Rocket for not actually nailing that Super McTwisty 9000. Doubt is what he does, after all.

6. Castti

While Castti doesn't choose to shred, I believe she still can (it's just really easy for me to picture her doing a cannonball grab through the greenhouse glass on the Cruise Ship level). Still, I think she'd prefer to sit it out, too. Love her character. She might even have one of the best stories in the series. Doesn't mean she likes skateboarding, though... but I don't think she'd hate it. It likely keeps her in business.

5. Throné 

This is the purest "sure, I guess" choice on this list. She was my starting character and I loved every chapter of her tale, even with how dark it got. She's way nicer than your typical femme fatale - but can she land a Christ Air off the Skyway Gap on Downtown? Actually, yeah, I think so. She'd nail it with style. Throné proves herself to be chill af time and time again, I think she'd respect skateboarding for what it is.

4. Hikari

Hikari shreds for his friends. Also, can you imagine a THPS level based off of Ku Castle/Castle Town? Because I can, easily. That entire palace might as well be the Burnside of Solistia. Not to mention, if you punch in the Konami Code then you also unlock Shadow Hikari. he would 100% have the sickest board designs, too.

3. Agnea

This is kind of easy pickings, she's not only a dancer but an incredible entertainer. You know her Special moves would be absolutely beyond extra, though maybe a little hard to pull off. Her rail and manual stats would just come blasted to max out the gate. Agnea Bristarni is the closest thing JRPGs will ever have to Rodney Mullen (sentences you will never read anywhere else, follow me for more).

2. Partitio

This is 100% vibes. But I know, I just know that I am not the only one who can easily picture this guy pulling off a 1080 Madonna off the final ramp of Downhill Jam. He just has the right energy. It's not even a skill or character thing when it comes to Partitio, even though I think he is the heart of Octopath Traveler II's team. I just know in my heart that he's friends with Tony Hawk. Partitio is currently retrofitting Roque Isle into a free-for-all secret level.

1. Ochette

Consider the following: using an owl to help you bridge sick gaps. Boards designed after Tera, Glacis, and Acta. Busting out even more monsters for Special moves - plus, unlike the guys at last place here, she'd absolutely love skateboarding, and that's what's most important here. Every skateboarder I knew in real life was basically fueled by Slim Jims and Monster, so if ever there's been a perfect fit, it's our favorite beastling.

And that's it for our list of Octopath Traveler II characters that would make for awesome Secret Skaters in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. If you have any other popular JRPG filled with characters you believe could shred, let me know and I'll rank them. I'm playing through Final Fantasy 6 again right now, so those guys might be next.

Safe/sick travels to you all.

[bowlofmie]

some of my favorite DS games I never see people talk about (as a DS owner of 15 years) :

Petz Rescue Endangered Paradise

this is a random one, but it's genuinely really good. the characters have a lot of depth and are interesting. the characters design is really nice and I love the colors. teaches a lot about environmentalism and has an interesting story that plays with modern science and indigenous land. worth a play!

Tetris ds

such a cool version of tetris! i love all the extra modes and the classic NES Nintendo theme! lots of fun, and up there as one of my favorite versions of Tetris, and that's saying something.

Peggle ds

oh yeah. I had a peggle moment. that lasted a hot minute. thanks Doug Doug. I literally couldn't sleep because I was thinking about this game. and I really like this version of it! there's an extra kind of peg that isn't in the regular version and I think it's a nice addition, and it's every bit as satisfying but completely portable! not to mention it comes with both peggle and peggle nights!

Diddy Kong Racing ds

I have extremely vivid memories of playing this until my ds lite died, charging it, and then playing it again. i love that you can explore an open world in this game. it's the main thing that kept me coming back, but the racing is also lots of fun and the graphics feel so nostalgic and fun. I may have even played this solo more than Mario kart DS.

Mario Party ds

when I think of Mario party, this is what I think of. being able to play with one cartridge and 4 people anywhere is absolutely unmatched. and if you're alone, the solo play and puzzle games are really fun on their own! i still play this game with my little sisters regularly, and it was a classic in my childhood friend group. probably the most popular game on this list, but I wanted to mention it.

NYT Crosswords

such a cool game! the graphics are really well done and so are the sound effects. I love that there's a multiplayer option so you can solve a puzzle with a friend. I used to play it with my partner and it was lots of fun. the puzzles are a lot more difficult than modern day nyt crosswords, but they have a hint option if needed.

Bejeweled Twist

I got this game at a GameStop for like 5 bucks when I was a kid and I was genuinely hooked. I played it constantly. there's more to it than regular bejeweled so it kept my attention, but there's also lots of levels and puzzles

Art Academy

as an art student, I have to say that this game and it's sequels on the 3ds can function as essentially a semester or so of art school. they teach a lot of the basics in a really approachable way, and I learned a lot from them. also a big fan of how they replicated traditional media digitally. super charming and cute recurring characters, like Bacon the dog, make it feel more grounded. the lessons are really good, but it also just feels nice to doodle.

Gardening Mama

this was my favorite of the ___ing mama games when I was younger. I actually learned a lot about real gardening that ended up being helpful irl. it's a simple game, but being able to make your own garden and harvest from it is such a fun extra feature.

Retro Game Challenge

you get sent back in time and have to beat classic video games to get back. so much personality. it had me actually laughing at some points. the graphics are so classically DS and I love them. lots of fun!

G. G Series Wonderland

an Alice in wonderland themed top down shooter? uh yeah?? really fun and fast paced! i like to play this one mindlessly.

G. G Series Hero Puzzle

really cool! almost a tetris rogue-lite? there's combat and upgrades and weapons and its really fun!

GO Series Bass Fishing and Fishing Resort

my favorite fishing game!! so much personality! so many cute little mechanics and the characters are so cute! begging on my hands and knees for more people to play this game!!

Picross 3D

thank you to Best Buy for having this game on a tester DS back in the day. i love love love this one. the graphics are classic DS, and look so clean and fun. the puzzles themselves are so well designed, and I love the sound track. i have so many hours in this game it's maybe embarrassing. gotta say I was a little let down by the sequel because there was so much less personality, but it was still fun.

Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts

got this game with my original ds lite when I was around 8. I was so obsessed with it lol. there's a lot to do, and I always felt like I was exploring a big world. (not to be confused with the game of the same name on the GBA. for some reason that one is a golf game?)

DK Jungle Climber

genuinely very confused that I've never seen anyone talk about this one. it's a lot of fun and it was one of my favorites as a kid (my L button was broken though so it was a bit rough to play at the time lol) lots of personality, satisfying gameplay, and lots of fun levels to play!

Alice in Wonderland

reminds me a bit of a Metroidvania. cute characters and interesting dialogue. lots of interesting mechanics and fun to explore.

Wario Master of Disguise

i love the wario land games and this one is a fun one I never see lumped with the rest of them. there are some touch based micro games but I think they're fun and as is the case with every wario game, great level design and so much personality.

Sims 2 Castaway

try to pry this game out of my dead hands. try. i love this game. i have so many hours in it. lots of depth and fun things to do! the PSP version is also lots of fun!

Sudoku Ball

this is a funky one. solve sudoku puzzles that are in a big ball and also solve mysteries at the same time. a little bit layton-esque? also reminds me of detective Conan for some reason.

Tinker Bell

almost reminds me of animal crossing or stardew with lots of little mini games. one of my childhood faves.

Pac Pix

another childhood fave. you draw pacmen (? pacmans?) and catch ghosts. cool graphics and fun gameplay.

SEGA Super Stars Tennis

my favorite tennis game! so fun! the graphics are really cool, love all the character options, and the gameplay is so fun.

Tamagotchi Connection Corner Shop 3

build up little shops in a tamagotchi town! my mom used to get so mad because I used to play this game at full volume because I loved the sound effects lol. i particularly love the archeology game and the piano game, but they're all lots of fun.

[expanding-hyrule]

Mark of a Hero by @amelias-calamity-quintet

Epic Fantasy | Teen | AO3 | Ongoing

Synopsis: Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

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This story feels so much like a Zelda game it’s hard to believe it’s not part of the franchise! Between unique dungeons, fun and exciting NPCs, and a party of heroes that are absolutely lovable, this story is definitely one to check out. Link is an animal-loving, capable, hilarious hero who is always trying to do his best for the people he loves, and Zelda is a powerful princess with something to prove. Definitely a worthy story to put on your TBR! - abbyz-elda

Mark of a Hero is an epic scale Zelda adventure that expands upon the lands, lore, and people of Hyrule and beyond. These lands outside of Hyrule have the definitive Zelda vibe to them, and they each have their own uniqueness to them as well. Exploring Hyrule and its neighbors gives many opportunities for the Zelda lore to be explored and expanded upon in ways that have been very fun and fascinating to learn and read about. The world of these books are also full of colorful and endearing characters that you can't help but fall in love with -- as well as a terrifying legion of villains you'll love to hate. I've had the amazing opportunity to be an early reader for the series, and I've immensely enjoyed every moment of it! I'm currently on book 4, and I can say that I've been excited to read each and every chapter and to see how the story twists and turns. Through the distinctive settings, the many charming characters, and the compelling plotlines, you can tell that Amelia has put much care into their research and their craft to write this story! - doubtfulloser

A very quintessential and uniquely engaging Legend of Zelda story, Mark of a Hero feels like it is in fact part of the franchise: - it is set in a very vast and detailed world, absolutely full of interesting and unique background and tertiary characters; - it has a really, really cool Link in Link Sayre, mercenary and unwitting pretend hero who we all expect really is not pretend at all; - it has an amazing take on the Princess Zelda, the role, the royal dynamics, and how the one we're following in this story is responding to the challenges it all creates; - it has boss fights and puzzles, and will make you think that this could 100% be a really cool game to play; - it has amazing secondary characters, from a gossipy Zora to a completely ordinary old man, the supporting cast is just an absolute delight. This story is in progress, and it is already epic even though there is a lot left to come. A long read for sure, but it could easily become your comfort fic for a nice long while. - Karama9

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You can find @amelias-hart at AO3, Bluesky, and Wattpad.

[phoenotopia]

Star Iliad DevLog # 02: The Importance of Pacing

When it comes to making commercial video games, let's just say it's not our first rodeo 😎

(It's our second)

Steam automatically compiles various play data from gamers. From Phoenotopia, I know that we have a roughly even split of keyboard users and gamepad users. From achievements, I can tell which bosses were defeated and how far the player got (although our implementation of achievements requires the user manually unlock it, so it's less useful data). Today, I want to focus on one specific data point—the median playtime for Phoenotopia.

Unfortunately, the median playtime clocks in at 4 hours.

I think that's right when the player reaches Atai.

(Atai - the death place of so many playthroughs)

A working theory has been forming:

Atai is the first real "slog" where players are stuck in one place for a long time. It’s a big town with 70+ NPCs to chat with. It’s easy to get lost, feel like you're not making progress, and then tap out.

Two major quest lines must be completed before reaching the second dungeon: getting the bombs and getting the flute.

Get BOMBS

Meet Lisa and learn of her plight

Find the bomb maker’s house—it's locked.

Tell Lisa you need to unlock a door.

Lisa refers you to Garnet, who gives you a “watch the kids” quest.

Play hide-and-seek with the kids.

Comb through the entire town looking for the kids

Go to the bomb maker's house and claim bombs

Get FLUTE

Meet Lisa and learn of her plight

Find the jailed Ouroboros man—he wants wine.

Go to the tavern—no ID, no wine.

Talk with Lisa and get her ID

Dye your hair to look like Lisa

Buy wine with fake ID

Go to the Ouroboros bandit and exchange it for the flute

Phew. Looking back, that is a LOT. And we don't even have a quest tracker >_>

I love romping through towns and chatting with NPCs—it’s my favorite part of JRPGs (the genre I’d be making if I weren’t making this). But maybe I let that influence the design a bit too much 🤔

During these quests, there’s very little action—unless players explore optional caves (which don’t quite scratch the itch). So after 1-2 hours of town questing, many players drop off. That’s why so many runs end at 4 hours. That's my theory anyway.

That brings us to today’s blog topic: PACING

Long story sequences should generally be avoided—it's a sign of poor pacing. If a long sequence can’t be trimmed down, it should at least be broken up with action. Think of it like making a burger—it needs balance.

(Atai is like the burger on the left—only meaty "story" sequences. A well-paced game is like the burger on the right — it utilizes crucial tomato and lettuce "action" set pieces to mix things up)

Now, one of our new core design goals for Star Iliad is that if you take any 90 minute slice of gameplay from anywhere in the game's campaign, you’ll experience all of the following:

Exploration

Combat

Puzzles

Boss Fight

New Upgrade

Story Progression

That's the core "game loop". Of course, to stay balanced presents its own challenges because we can only control so much. Players set their own pace, and some will inevitably get lost. As designers, we can mitigate this by packing the game with so much content that there's always something new around the corner - make getting lost fun!

(It's going to be a lot of work though...)

It does raise some challenging design questions. For example, how can you deliver "story" sequences when you're deep in the whale's intestines, far away from town?

Our answer is to employ something akin to Metal Gear Solid's codec calls. It's the future and people have "cell phones" (or holographic communicators in our case). You can call NPCs and they can call you (Players can also ignore calls if they'd prefer less story)

To conclude —pacing is important! No more hour+ long story sequences! Excepting a couple scenarios - say at a crucial turning point in the game. Long exposition dumps need to be earned. Pacing is something we’re going to be vigilant about through all of development.

(Steve Ballmer understands how important Pacing is)

Thanks for reading!

(Next update will be in two months, at May’s end)

[strangescaffold]

The Strange Scaffold Newsletter #4

Come on in! Sit where you like, I'll get you a cup of coffee. 

Well, look who it is! It’s me, Chris Slight, the Head of Social Content here at Strange Scaffold. 

It has been a MONTH here at the Scaffold, one in which it turns out we really enjoy the number 22! We’ve got the release dates of two upcoming titles (one is only two weeks from launching), an upcoming title gets its name and some stunning artwork, and Xalavier took a bunch of tiny glow in the dark turtles to GDC. I should probably stress that they were made of plastic and had no sentience that we could verify, and trust us, we checked THOROUGHLY. 

Within this newsletter, you'll also find all the usual soundtrack and game recommendations and the latest episode of The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club. But I like to think this is a dialogue between you and me, dear reader. So, you alright? Nice, nice. Been up to much? Nah, me either. Well, that was great, wasn't it? Onwards!­* *I will pause briefly, however, to recognise that we are now on Tumblr! Hello! These newsletters normally go out in e-mail form but we wanted to put them somewhere people could read them later. So, here we are! We will be sure to add more back issues as time goes on!

Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 launches April 22nd

Our match-3 survival horror comedy RPG matchroidvania, launches on April 22nd!­ You can Wishlist on Steam right now as well! Fun!

Now, you can't play the demo anymore, but there is a whole procedure to access it. You can find out all about that right here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Launches May 22nd

See, I told you up top, we are really into the number 22 this month!  You’ll be able to jump back into New York to fight the Foot Clan in our take on the TMNT world the following month! You can ­wishlist it on Steam­ as well!

You've Seen It On The Internet, Now Learn The True Name.

Introducing Co-Op Kaiju Horror Cooking! Here’s a first look at the main artwork for the game by Emo Sludge. We will have a lot more news about this one soon. 

I can't tell you too much, but you may be able to infer what happens in this game based on its title. I did, however, ask the game's producer, Candace, to explain the game without spoiling anything...

The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club

The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club is our podcast, and every month, we talk about Cool Things we like. Each month, Xalavier, Candace, and I are joined by another wonderful person from the Scaffold who brings their own cool thing with them. This month, Manda, the Executive Producer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown joins us. 

This month's Cool Things are Dragons Dogma 2, Slow Crafts, the films of Jaques Tati, and The Department of Truth.

We also get a question from Discord, which has us discussing what IP we would wanna make a game about.

A Word From The Desk Of Xalavier

"Right now I'm obsessed with Proverbs, a giant, "open-world" fusion of Picross and Minesweeper where you restore a gorgeous pixelized rendition of a classic painting by seamlessly weaving across hundreds of smaller localized puzzles. It's become a nightly ritual and I can't stop thinking about it.” -Xalavier

A Game You Might Like That We Didn’t Make

I like to ask folks from the Strange Scaffold Team to recommend games they love because these folks have impeccable taste. I am currently looking down at a Jar Jar Binks figurine that lives in front of my keyboard, so you see why I might need guidance. This month, Aubrey, a Level Designer here at the Scaffold, is in the curation station.  Dungeons of Hinterberg

“What if a hiking trip to a tourist town in the mountains also had zelda-like dungeons to explore and a persona-like calendar system to enjoy? Dungeons of Hinterberg makes every day feel like a new adventure, and uses every part of the buffalo when it comes to blending puzzle, combat and social gameplay.” - Aubrey

The Single Track Mixtape

­This is one of my personal favourites by rj lake, from the OST for Witch Strandings. Put it on and relax. 

Sweet Dreams

And here we are, at the end. Joined together as friends and reflecting on the whole butt plug thing. That might not make sense if you didn’t click the link in the Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 section. Well, I don’t know if I just convinced you not to or SUPER convinced you to check. It’s important to have that distance between us, but if I know our audience like I think I do, you are now scrolling back up. 

While I’m reflecting, I also wanted to say thank you. The support, love and game purchases of all of you keep this precious place running. I don’t know many studios that get to have an official TMNT game and a match-3 called Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 both coming out within a month of each other. THANK YOU. You make this work, and we love you for it.

Let’s all meet up in the loading screens of our favourite video games and make coffee.

See you on the internet, 

- Chris @ Strange Scaffold

[some-triangles]

Warning: Deltarune

On the one hand I'm sad that the dark fountain in the church didn't bring us Religion! in the same way we got TV! and The Internet! and um Board Games! in the previous chapters. I thought a steadily more aggro take on various opiates of the masses would be the natural progression, but no, church is where we get to think about predestination instead. There's a pretty strong narrative excuse for this, though.

GAME THEORY:

In chapter 4 we learn that anyone with a knife can make a dark world, and that the worlds made reflect the people who make them. Kris is definitely the author of chapter 3, and I think for thematic reasons (kings and queens who don't get along being a big one) they're the author of chapters 1 and 2 as well. This is why those adventures are all silly and teenage-cynical and full of pranks. We get two takes on Chapter 4, one of which is by Susie, who spends a lot of her time in charge making fun of nerds who think they're smart. The other author has a much more serious take on religion, as befits someone whose entire life is themed around said religion's one and only holiday. (She also includes a lot of theming around music and sound, as befits a musician.) She's the roaring knight, an impossibly cool girl named December, so cool she froze to death a while ago. It was probably Kris' fault in some way. December's mom has made a deal with Kris to try to bring her back from the dead using the dark fountains, but in the meantime she's flying around down there in the magic world being a witch.

Unfortunately there's this whole prophecy which says she can't come back from the dead. The prophecy is the basis of both the adventure and the light world's actual bible, which is completely bonkers as a narrative choice - if we're going to break the prophecy we're going to have to attack and dethrone god, essentially. The good ending is going to have to involve some crazy nonsense which allows magic to exist without destroying the ability of the reader to give a shit about what is happening. Have I mentioned that Chapter 4 is full of Homestuck references? Homestuck hangs over this thing, and so does Umineko. Ralsei is Sakutarou, it turns out. Susie is going to be Maria and will break the world if he can't be real.

BUT IS IT GOOD:

There are many things that I liked about Chapters 3 and Four of Deltarune, a Game by Toby Fox. As usual, the light world segments were outstanding. The sequence where you have to fly your soul through the HVAC system at the Holiday mansion while Kris swats at you with a hockey stick, all while Girl Date is occurring, is gaming at its finest. Crawling back home after killing a chaos god to find that Sans Undertale has gotten your mom wine drunk and they will not stop playing The Jazz on the victrola nearly destroyed me.

Also it turns out that Susie is the hero of the story. (Kris, of course, is the audience surrogate.) I should have known this when she refused the call way back in Chapter 1. If you want to beat the Chapter 3 secret boss (which I have not done yet and may not ever - more on that below) you better be outfitting her in all the best gear, because she's the one carrying both the fight and the narrative. In chapter 4 she even gains a mentor figure and then has to physically and symbolically best him. She's learning from her friends and growing and she's the one with the primary love interest and it is going to destroy her when she figures out that Kris is as fictional as Ralsei. Tragedy awaits! I'm putting this here because doing Hero's Journey in a way that's fun and surprising and doesn't overpower the narrative is really rare and deserves praise.

NONETHELESS:

Most of the actual video game here still involves running down long empty corridors dodging things and occasionally solving easy puzzles. You get one gimmick per chapter. The gimmick of Ch. 3 is fine, if you like Zelda 1 and/or edgy flash games heavily indebted to Zelda 1. The gimmick of Ch. 4 is climbing. There's so much fucking climbing.

Chapter 2 is still the most successful part of Deltarune because Queen is in it and that means jokes jokes jokes to distract you from the sameness of it all. The story is getting more serious now, so we can't do that anymore. The villain of Chapter 3 is a less-compelling retread of Spamton who wears out his sweaty welcome far before you're through with him, and this is intentional, and thematically consistent, but it sucks. We are successfully capturing the feeling of too much screen time, vapid serotonin sickness. This is unfortunately not a fun thing to experience.

SPEAKING OF FUN

Whether game should be "fun" or not is of course a long-standing thematic debate in Dental Rue as a whole. I have said before that if the point of the genocide route in Undertale was to punish players who chose it, Toby shouldn't have put such a fun boss fight at the end, where you get to listen to Classic of Video Game Music while you work away at the bones; as a result of this I believe that Undertale taken as a whole is not as morally didactic as people make it out to be. Whether this was on purpose or not is another question, but Deltarune may have some answers.

The chapter 4 secret boss is easy to find, fun to fight and has a remix of an old favorite tune to listen to while you learn. It encourages Susie (firmly the main character by this point) to use her healing magic, and lets you notice that it gets stronger every time she uses it. All the while, Gerson is talking to you about the philosophy of storytelling, and invites you to think about what it all means. Deltarune asks: is there a good kind of leveling up? (Deltarune also asks: what if there was a guy who was devoured by his own story but a young, bright-eyed disciple came along to finish the work the old master couldn't? Let's call this old author Andrew H.)

Chapter 3 is a different story. The roaring knight fight is not fun. The music is ugly, the space is cramped, the hitboxes unfair. You can't save and come back to it without going through the entire tedious TV minigame battle again. You have to do things that feel squirmy and morally questionable to get there at all, and it's a sequence break, which may or may not be a sin in this universe. Is this part of the Snowgrave route? Are you only supposed to get some of the dark shards? Are there good and bad ways of playing video game???

Only time will tell. Chapter five is supposed to come out next year, which suggests we may get all the answers before I hit retirement age, unless Toby's hubris in re: finishing the story gets the better of him. Deltarune remains an infuriatingly uneven yet completely unique and constantly surprising experience. I renew my pledge to live long enough to play the rest of it.

[descendant-of-truth]

I realize tumblr is not the best place to advertise this sort of thing (which is why I'm also gonna post on reddit), but since I actually have followers on here, I figured I'd gauge some interest:

Do you like randomizers? Specifically, multiworld randomizers where you play two or more games at once? Would you like to see what a game based off of the multiworld randomizer experience would be like?

Would you perhaps even want to work on such a project as a volunteer?

Introducing: Project Rando!

Here's my official pitch:

In Project Rando (temporary project title), you play as Stella Puerta and The Traveler, separated by worlds but connected by the spacetime distortions plaguing them both. The game is designed from the ground up to feel like a randomizer; loading zones send you to unexpected, disconnected areas, and items needed for progression are clearly not placed in what one would assume to be their "original" location. Without the preexisting knowledge of how their worlds are set up (like you would with a randomizer of a pre-existing game), exploration becomes a puzzle unto itself.

(Don't worry, there will be plenty of maps)

As the only two people who seem aware of what's going on, it falls on Stella and the Traveler to do something about it! By working together, they'll progress by getting each other items to help solve puzzles, power up in combat, and ultimately solve the mystery of what happened to their worlds - and how to fix them.

Joining Stella on her adventure and acting as her primary connection to the Traveler is Palette, a mysterious, magical creature known as a Riftling. A terrible tragedy befell its kind in its homeland, and to protect themselves, the rest of the Riftlings reverted back into eggs. If you hatch them, and raise them back up with different elemental energies, they may just become invaluable assets to your adventure!

--

The Traveler explores a fantastical kingdom, using a magic rod and learning spells to complete dungeons as an homage to classic 3D Zelda games. He can bring any three Riftlings with him on his travels, each one bestowing different skills depending on their associated element.

Meanwhile, Stella bats her way through retro cityscapes and their surrounding areas, with a much heavier focus on movement and combat similar to something like Kingdom Hearts. While she can't bring other Riftlings with her, she always has Palette by her side, who can obtain all sorts of abilities of any element!

The game is meant to have a low-poly 3D art style, primarily invoking games from the early 2000s. I, however, don't currently have the skillset for 3D modeling or animation - my specialty lies in writing and character design.

Which is why I'm looking for volunteers! Unfortunately, I don't currently have the income to pay anyone with, though I do plan to get this game on Kickstarter eventually. I assume this'll be most appealing to people who just want to get some experience or think it'll be a fun side project, and I'm okay with that.

But if any of that does sound appealing (and you like the idea of working on a game with a lot of queer, non-white, and disabled representation at its core), then let me know! Currently, I'm looking for:

3D modelers and/or animators

Programmers familiar with Godot

Environmental artists

SFX/audio designers

Of course, feel free to let me know if this game idea sounds interesting to you in general rather than as a potential developer - I'd love to be able to grow an audience for it!

[beneathsilverstars]

@seifrin replied:

the party's board game preferences?

really funny of you to ask this bc that's actually one of the very first things i posted about when i was just getting into isat fandom!! but it was kind of all over the place and i know the characters better now, so here's a tidy list :3

Siffrin

Siffrin likes games that are casual and easy to pick up, and don't require a ton of strategizing. Their favorite game is Set, which is a card game where you race to be the first to find sets of matching or unmatching cards in a spread.

It's about speed and (flat) observational skills, so he's pretty good at it! He also likes silly party games that are less about winning and more about being funny or working together, like Quiplash or Charades.

Mirabelle

Mirabelle thinks it's fun to get dramatically competitive, and doesn't mind playing for a couple hours straight. Her favorite game is Bunny Kingdom, which is a territory-claiming game, but with cards that provide a lot of different ways to get points.

The artwork is cute, and it's surprisingly easy to learn despite its complexity because many of the cards say what they do. She would have fun foiling other players' plans and seeing the dramatic twists in the final points reveal! She also loves games that are about interpersonal drama, like Shadow Hunters or Mafia, and she's down to try most games because she cares less about the game and more about having a nice time with her friends.

Isabeau

Isabeau likes games that are complicated and highly variable. His favorite game is Dominion, which is a deck-building game with tons of expansions that introduce unique mechanics, so you can mix and match cards to get a different experience each time you play.

Even after he's decided to stop hiding his nerdiness, he's reluctant to actually put his all into winning lest his friends get frustrated, so he's more likely to decide on strategies that seem the most fun rather than the most effective. He also likes games where you have to read/predict your opponent, like Poker or Shadow Hunters, and games that take hours to learn and more hours to play, like Terraforming Mars. (Don't ask me about that game I refuse to learn how to play it.)

Odile

Odile can do complex strategy, but rather than memorizing a bunch of rules she prefers games that are easy to play, hard to master. Her favorite game is Azul, which involves collecting the right amount of the right color tiles to fill up your board in the right order.

It's fairly short and straightforward, but still with plenty of decisions to make as you adapt your strategy depending on what tiles are available. She also likes classic puzzle-y games like Scrabble or Jenga or Mancala. And she complains about Isabeau's long complex games, but when she gets into them she gets really into them, and can give Isabeau a run for his money.

Bonnie

Bonnie likes epic excitement! Their favorite game is Shadow Hunters, where players are secretly assigned the role of Shadow, Hunter, or Neutral, and have to figure out who to attack or defend as they work towards their unique win conditions.

Bonnie's not actually particularly good at it, but the random teams and random dice/cards level the playing field a bit, and even when they lose track of who's on whose team, it's fun to attack random people and it's fun to lose dramatically! They also enjoy card games, like Egyptian War / Slap or Mao, and rambunctious games, like... Egyptian War / Slap or Mao.

Everyone Together!

The whole group loves a good bit, so of course they're on that party game shit: all sorts of Jackbox, Cards Against Humanity with curated/custom cards, that game where one person writes a sentence then the next person draws it and then the next person looks at just the drawing and describes that, etc.

Everyone will play Dominion with Isabeau, but Bonnie and Siffrin will only play if there's not any expansion packs in use (or at least not any weird expansion mechanics). Bonnie likes using attack cards, Siffrin likes building huge eclectic decks, Odile likes building small streamlined decks, Mirabelle likes playing several games in a row with the same set of cards so she can try different strategies, and Isabeau likes using strange cards and unique strategies.

Everyone enjoys Mao (though Odile claims she doesn't). I'm breaking the rules by explaining this to you, but it's a card game played with multiple decks, with a similar structure to Uno except with some bonus rules, plus whenever someone wins a round they get to make up a new rule, and if you break a rule you draw a card. Rules like no asking questions, no playing even cards on even cards, meow every time you play a diamond, etc. Generally Bonnie and Mirabelle make rules that affect behavior rather than gameplay, Odile makes complicated rules that make it harder to play, Siffrin makes simple rules that make it easier to play, and Isabeau makes rules that balance out the mechanics currently in use. Everyone loves making Odile say weird things, and sometimes she pulls out a super ridiculous rule herself. Siffrin is the worst at remembering all the rules, but he doesn't care that much because struggling to remember the rules isn't an obstacle, it's the whole point of the game.

Shadow Hunters has something for everyone, and it's convenient that 5 players is a neat 2 Shadow 2 Hunter 1 Neutral split. Bonnie is more likely to attack at random if they don't know who anyone is, to keep things exciting, and Siffrin is more likely to not attack at all, because they don't want to accidentally hurt an ally. He gets a little stressed out by the drama sometimes, but it helps that he's playing a specific character. Isabeau's the best at the game, except he and Mirabelle both get really into dramatically holding grudges and such, so Odile's practicality and perception make her actually the best at it.

Siffrin likes playing Azul with Odile because it's very visual and straightforward, the two of them could sit there quietly playing five rounds in a row. Odile and Bonnie play Mancala together, and Bonnie Isabeau and Siffrin play Egyptian War. Everyone's willing to play Set with Siffrin; Mirabelle is the next best at it. Isabeau enjoys Bunny Kingdom the most after Mirabelle, but everyone will play it — but Bonnie gets bored halfway through and it's four player anyway, so they'll often team up with Siffrin. Isabeau never gets to play Terraforming Mars because it's one of the only games Mirabelle won't give a second try, and while Odile doesn't hate it she'd rather play a weird Dominion expansion.

[ob-werm]

The Simple Reason I Prefer PF2E

Alright, quick conditionals: I have not been a player character in a Pathfinder Second Edition game (yet), I have only ran the game and have only ran up to level 6. I have been GMing it for close to two years now, and my latest foray into a long-term campaign has been running consistently for the last ten months.

My current stance is that I have no interest in going back to running D&D Fifth Edition. If one of my friends wants to run it, I'll play, but my go to Fantasy Bullshit game is going to be PF2E for the foreseeable future. And the reason is simple: PF2E and Paizo respects the GMs time. D&D 5e and WOTC do not.

I ran 5e for close to a decade, and I remember how, anytime I prepped a session, over half of that prep was spent on homebrew. Homebrewing subsystems to make things like travel interesting. Homebrewing magic item prices because players like buying magic items. HOMEBREWING A MONSTER THAT IS INTERESTING TO FIGHT IN THE GAME ABOUT FIGHTING INTERESTING MONSTERS.

This ambivalence towards the needs of the GM grew more apparent as new releases came out, with WOTC focusing more on player facing options and less on creating rulesets the game obviously needed (see the release of Spelljammer lacking any ship-to-ship combat rules).

For a younger man, this was fine, and I learned some good game design lessons from this arrangement. But as I get older, and my free time diminishes, I have come to a realization on my relationship with Prepping the Game and Running the Game.

Good prep is needed to run a good game, but Prepping the Game will always be less fun than Running the Game.

I want to minimize my prep time as much as possible, and I want to use that time to not only prep cool encounters, but also prep the NPCs, the locations, the plot beats, and the world history.

Pathfinder handles all of that system work so that I can focus on the story. Almost every monster has an ability other than a punch. I can pull out a couple monsters, build a severe encounter, and know that it will not only be challenging, but will present a puzzle that my players have to solve. And if I want to change things up, add in a subsystem like Hex Crawling, I'm confident that, two thirds of the time, Paizo has already crafted a ruleset that will satisfy me. And if the rules they have made are not to my liking, I can use them as a baseline for my own homebrew, rather than designing something from the ground up.

Also, it's important to mention that, while WOTC figures out new methods to nickel and dime its user base, Paizo puts all of their rules, including classes, monsters, magic items, and subsystems, online for free. The only thing that is not freely available is their adventures.

There's a lot of other things to love, but that's the big picture. I'll leave you with one of my favorite pieces of art from the game. A piece by Halil Ural, depicting the magus Seltyiel mulling over an agreement presented by a Contract Devil.