Problem Machine
@problemmachine.bsky.social
Artist, game developer, writer, overthinker, etc. Current project is Bound City, a game about a strange dying place that might be a metaphor for something. (He/They)
Sounds pretty good so far!
(Also: Pleased to see a fellow Reason Appreciator)
(Also: Pleased to see a fellow Reason Appreciator)
January 9, 2026 at 5:18 AM
Sounds pretty good so far!
(Also: Pleased to see a fellow Reason Appreciator)
(Also: Pleased to see a fellow Reason Appreciator)
Reposted by Problem Machine
My whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.
January 4, 2026 at 2:02 AM
My whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.
Reposted by Problem Machine
I don’t know how else to say it: we must be stopped.
January 3, 2026 at 6:57 AM
I don’t know how else to say it: we must be stopped.
I was honestly not able to get the tilt function working, but I didn't try very hard. Sensitivity seems very solid to me, and comparable to my extremely sparse Wacom experience (a very old Intuos tablet)
January 3, 2026 at 9:33 AM
I was honestly not able to get the tilt function working, but I didn't try very hard. Sensitivity seems very solid to me, and comparable to my extremely sparse Wacom experience (a very old Intuos tablet)
Been using a Huion Kamvas Pro 22 a few years now. Mostly works great - the first pen broke after I dropped it off my desk, but the replacement I got has lasted years (through similar drops). Solid.
January 2, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Been using a Huion Kamvas Pro 22 a few years now. Mostly works great - the first pen broke after I dropped it off my desk, but the replacement I got has lasted years (through similar drops). Solid.
I always heard Dudley's "Corkscrew Blow!" as "Cock Scroobler!"
I don't know what it means to scrooble someone's cock but it can't be good.
I don't know what it means to scrooble someone's cock but it can't be good.
December 17, 2025 at 5:43 AM
I always heard Dudley's "Corkscrew Blow!" as "Cock Scroobler!"
I don't know what it means to scrooble someone's cock but it can't be good.
I don't know what it means to scrooble someone's cock but it can't be good.
I enjoy In-N-Out and I will never go to bat for their fries, their fries suck. It's so weird, you can see them making them and it seems like what they're doing should make okay fries, and yet.
December 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I enjoy In-N-Out and I will never go to bat for their fries, their fries suck. It's so weird, you can see them making them and it seems like what they're doing should make okay fries, and yet.
Some people talk about this as it's missing "soul" or whatever, but I don't like that sort of mysticism. What it's missing is the unexpected texture generated in the process of creation, the fingerprint, the happy accident. It can only ever be exactly as expected and never more.
December 16, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Some people talk about this as it's missing "soul" or whatever, but I don't like that sort of mysticism. What it's missing is the unexpected texture generated in the process of creation, the fingerprint, the happy accident. It can only ever be exactly as expected and never more.
This is incidentally why AI generations are not a useful medium. Skipping over this process means you will never develop the eye, the ear, the skill of knowing what is or isn't working and why. Even if you already have these skills, bypassing the process leads to a sterile output.
December 16, 2025 at 7:17 AM
This is incidentally why AI generations are not a useful medium. Skipping over this process means you will never develop the eye, the ear, the skill of knowing what is or isn't working and why. Even if you already have these skills, bypassing the process leads to a sterile output.
Also. Fucking up the thing you imagined is often the first step in discovering something much cooler than you imagined. Creating exactly the thing you wanted might not actually lead to the best outcome. I think far more talent comes from learning how to harness these moments than how to avoid them.
December 16, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Also. Fucking up the thing you imagined is often the first step in discovering something much cooler than you imagined. Creating exactly the thing you wanted might not actually lead to the best outcome. I think far more talent comes from learning how to harness these moments than how to avoid them.
Not thinking you're good enough... that's part of the process, that's how you get better. Because thinking that you're not good enough means you know a way that you could be better! That's good!
December 16, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Not thinking you're good enough... that's part of the process, that's how you get better. Because thinking that you're not good enough means you know a way that you could be better! That's good!
Occasionally I see an artist frustrated and saying that they'll never be as good as they want to be, so why bother, and, like... No one is ever as good as they want to be? The more one improves as an artist, or as much of anything, the more the scope of what they know is possible expands.
December 16, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Occasionally I see an artist frustrated and saying that they'll never be as good as they want to be, so why bother, and, like... No one is ever as good as they want to be? The more one improves as an artist, or as much of anything, the more the scope of what they know is possible expands.
Reposted by Problem Machine
i am begging game developers and musicians who are not putting your soundtracks on bandcamp/ampwall to just... do that... please... i will not be streaming your music off A Music Service. let me actually give you money.
December 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
i am begging game developers and musicians who are not putting your soundtracks on bandcamp/ampwall to just... do that... please... i will not be streaming your music off A Music Service. let me actually give you money.
It's time to face that books simply aren't a good medium for storytelling. Such a dry and linear medium has no way to convey systems or relationships outside of tiny snapshots to the player, or so-called "reader." This will be true until they innovate by adding LED screens and buttons to the books.
December 5, 2025 at 8:06 PM
It's time to face that books simply aren't a good medium for storytelling. Such a dry and linear medium has no way to convey systems or relationships outside of tiny snapshots to the player, or so-called "reader." This will be true until they innovate by adding LED screens and buttons to the books.
A fake it 'til you make it approach to teaching reading. It might work, if we never needed to read anything besides picture books. But at that point you're not really using the text at all, are you? It's the opposite of learning to read.
November 11, 2025 at 11:16 PM
A fake it 'til you make it approach to teaching reading. It might work, if we never needed to read anything besides picture books. But at that point you're not really using the text at all, are you? It's the opposite of learning to read.
An obsession with form over function -- except that's not right, is it? A belief that form IS function, and once you learn to mimic the form well enough that's the same thing as creating a functional replica. Which maybe works fine until there's literally any change of context.
November 11, 2025 at 11:15 PM
An obsession with form over function -- except that's not right, is it? A belief that form IS function, and once you learn to mimic the form well enough that's the same thing as creating a functional replica. Which maybe works fine until there's literally any change of context.
www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
This article's been going around and it's very worth reading. I can't help but see parallels with the infection of AI boosting, where solving the immediate task of saying words is superseding the actual purpose of the task -- learning to read.
This article's been going around and it's very worth reading. I can't help but see parallels with the infection of AI boosting, where solving the immediate task of saying words is superseding the actual purpose of the task -- learning to read.
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 11, 2025 at 11:13 PM
www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
This article's been going around and it's very worth reading. I can't help but see parallels with the infection of AI boosting, where solving the immediate task of saying words is superseding the actual purpose of the task -- learning to read.
This article's been going around and it's very worth reading. I can't help but see parallels with the infection of AI boosting, where solving the immediate task of saying words is superseding the actual purpose of the task -- learning to read.
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
A metroidvania with a strong narrative emphasis. The night never ends, the sea rises, the tower grows. Investigate by fighting your way to the heart of the city and meeting people along the way.
A couple years from completion, but a demo is available store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
A couple years from completion, but a demo is available store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
November 4, 2025 at 7:27 AM
A metroidvania with a strong narrative emphasis. The night never ends, the sea rises, the tower grows. Investigate by fighting your way to the heart of the city and meeting people along the way.
A couple years from completion, but a demo is available store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
A couple years from completion, but a demo is available store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
Not specifically game design, but I think my primary principle for art in general: Find the tension, then emphasize it.
Some people like to resolve it too. That part is optional though.
Some people like to resolve it too. That part is optional though.
What's your number one personal game design principle? And even better - does it have a cool name?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Not specifically game design, but I think my primary principle for art in general: Find the tension, then emphasize it.
Some people like to resolve it too. That part is optional though.
Some people like to resolve it too. That part is optional though.
I have made a public demo for my game Bound City available! About an hour long, containing one zone and bits of others. Please check it out, wishlist, tell everyone you've ever met, fraudulently inflate my numbers, etc. Every little bit helps. store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
Bound City on Steam
An action-packed and bittersweet adventure in a city of endless night. Explore the dying city and try to find your way to the tower that seems to be at the heart of it all. Nothing is quite as it appe...
store.steampowered.com
October 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I have made a public demo for my game Bound City available! About an hour long, containing one zone and bits of others. Please check it out, wishlist, tell everyone you've ever met, fraudulently inflate my numbers, etc. Every little bit helps. store.steampowered.com/app/3871260/...
With hunter crest dash attack bounces you up and you can get another hit immediately if you're still in range, so might have been that. I used that combo a lot.
October 18, 2025 at 7:19 AM
With hunter crest dash attack bounces you up and you can get another hit immediately if you're still in range, so might have been that. I used that combo a lot.