The deep deep sigh of oh hey this new revenge/justice anime series is really interesting but oh wait there will never be any revenge or justice in one season and there will also never ever be more than one season because all anime these days is just a really long advertisement for the light novels
January 3, 2026 at 11:03 PM
The deep deep sigh of oh hey this new revenge/justice anime series is really interesting but oh wait there will never be any revenge or justice in one season and there will also never ever be more than one season because all anime these days is just a really long advertisement for the light novels
Reposted by Mark Major
This might be nitpicking, but I think an oft-overlooked point about violence in games is that guns are ranged. We have vanishingly few verbs that we use to interact with things outside of arm's reach, it's basically either A) yell at it or B) projectile. Nonviolence happens at melee range.
January 2, 2026 at 12:18 AM
This might be nitpicking, but I think an oft-overlooked point about violence in games is that guns are ranged. We have vanishingly few verbs that we use to interact with things outside of arm's reach, it's basically either A) yell at it or B) projectile. Nonviolence happens at melee range.
Reposted by Mark Major
One of the most underrated design skills in games is graphic design for things like decals and fake branding for posters/stickers/flyers/books/props/signs/displays.
We take this stuff for granted and yet they are very much a world building detail that adds so much more life to environments.
We take this stuff for granted and yet they are very much a world building detail that adds so much more life to environments.
December 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
One of the most underrated design skills in games is graphic design for things like decals and fake branding for posters/stickers/flyers/books/props/signs/displays.
We take this stuff for granted and yet they are very much a world building detail that adds so much more life to environments.
We take this stuff for granted and yet they are very much a world building detail that adds so much more life to environments.
Good thread. I get *why* a dev might look at the "Welcome to Corneria" joke and say "How can we improve immersion?", but LLMs are not the answer.
(Also for reference tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik... )
(Also for reference tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik... )
I love the ~idea~ of being able to interact with a character and get something truly novel and unexpected out of the experience. Like, it ~would~ be neat to go to Westworld and get lost in the 'realness' of the characters, try to push the systems to build an adventure.
But LLMs can't do that
But LLMs can't do that
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
December 26, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Good thread. I get *why* a dev might look at the "Welcome to Corneria" joke and say "How can we improve immersion?", but LLMs are not the answer.
(Also for reference tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik... )
(Also for reference tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik... )
Reposted by Mark Major
Video game makers, please, if I’m not responding to an in-game conversation, there’s probably a reason. Maybe I’ve been interrupted by an actual person. Maybe the dog has a knife. You don’t know.
In short, the NPCs should keep their traps shut. I don’t need cutesy interjections about my silence.
In short, the NPCs should keep their traps shut. I don’t need cutesy interjections about my silence.
December 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Video game makers, please, if I’m not responding to an in-game conversation, there’s probably a reason. Maybe I’ve been interrupted by an actual person. Maybe the dog has a knife. You don’t know.
In short, the NPCs should keep their traps shut. I don’t need cutesy interjections about my silence.
In short, the NPCs should keep their traps shut. I don’t need cutesy interjections about my silence.
Reposted by Mark Major
I feel slightly less bad about getting rejected after an extremely stressful design test.
'Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet' is reportedly slated to release mid-2027
• Naughty Dog has enacted mandatory overtime for staff to get back on track after missing internal deadlines
• Some employees are worried demands could worsen next year if crunch is already happening now
(via Business)
• Naughty Dog has enacted mandatory overtime for staff to get back on track after missing internal deadlines
• Some employees are worried demands could worsen next year if crunch is already happening now
(via Business)
December 18, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I feel slightly less bad about getting rejected after an extremely stressful design test.
Reposted by Mark Major
Reposted by Mark Major
“try water fox or ice weasel” try chill penguin. install flame mammoth. you just download bubble crab. literally just use boomer kuwanger. sting chameleon has a search bar, use it to find toxic seahorse.
I asked what I should use instead of firefox and someone said “floorp” and I legitimately thought it was a bit for like five minutes. tech has gone beyond making the torment nexus real to making poob real.
December 17, 2025 at 3:37 AM
“try water fox or ice weasel” try chill penguin. install flame mammoth. you just download bubble crab. literally just use boomer kuwanger. sting chameleon has a search bar, use it to find toxic seahorse.
I started playing Expedition 33 and this has been my experience with the dodge/parry system so far. An intentionally poor UI/UX is not the right way to make something feel challenging. 😒
December 8, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I started playing Expedition 33 and this has been my experience with the dodge/parry system so far. An intentionally poor UI/UX is not the right way to make something feel challenging. 😒
There are so many ways I want to answer this one, but in terms of personal investment it has to be Cave Story.
December 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
There are so many ways I want to answer this one, but in terms of personal investment it has to be Cave Story.
Me: "I love this thing. This thing is amazing. I want to spend money on this thing for the rest of my life."
Reality: "Oh, ok, we'll make sure it gets discontinued then."
Reality: "Oh, ok, we'll make sure it gets discontinued then."
December 6, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Me: "I love this thing. This thing is amazing. I want to spend money on this thing for the rest of my life."
Reality: "Oh, ok, we'll make sure it gets discontinued then."
Reality: "Oh, ok, we'll make sure it gets discontinued then."
Is it weird that I have never been able to muster much interest in non-2D Metroid? Even FOMO doesn't seem to be giving me much beyond mild curiosity.
December 4, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Is it weird that I have never been able to muster much interest in non-2D Metroid? Even FOMO doesn't seem to be giving me much beyond mild curiosity.
I just want to give props to whoever it was in the anime industry that greenlit a series where "incest is bad, actually" is a significant plot point. 👍
December 1, 2025 at 11:14 PM
I just want to give props to whoever it was in the anime industry that greenlit a series where "incest is bad, actually" is a significant plot point. 👍
Prey is the one game I wish I could forget entirely just so I could play it over and over and feel the excitement and surprise of discovery again and again.
Prey is a game that should be one of the biggest games of the last decade, yet it went mostly unseen by so many and that is fucked imo.
Tremendous game. A spiritual successor to System Shock more than Bioshock was to me.
Tremendous game. A spiritual successor to System Shock more than Bioshock was to me.
I initially thought this was related to the OG Prey game with the Native American dude blasting aliens in space and wrote it off. Then I booted it up and, almost immediately, was cleansed in the light of Arkane’s Talos I. Unbelievably superb and underrated gem. store.steampowered.com/app/480490/P...
December 1, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Prey is the one game I wish I could forget entirely just so I could play it over and over and feel the excitement and surprise of discovery again and again.
Grizzled white male protagonists.
November 30, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Grizzled white male protagonists.
Reposted by Mark Major
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by Mark Major
As the year comes to an end, I'm reposting some of the comics I made this year, including this ridiculous thing.
November 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
As the year comes to an end, I'm reposting some of the comics I made this year, including this ridiculous thing.
Seriously considering switching to a different pharmacy after CVS replaced its phone system with something clearly AI based that kept glitching the audio, couldn't recognize number keypad inputs, and ultimately couldn't find my prescription to refill it.
November 23, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Seriously considering switching to a different pharmacy after CVS replaced its phone system with something clearly AI based that kept glitching the audio, couldn't recognize number keypad inputs, and ultimately couldn't find my prescription to refill it.
Artists sure are obsessed with Orange County for some reason.
November 23, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Artists sure are obsessed with Orange County for some reason.
Being a pokemon noob, I don't know how typical this is of trainers, but I swear every single trainer in Lumiose is like "Hey in this rock-paper-scissors contest I'm ONLY going to throw scissors and I'm telling you this BEFORE we fight so you will understand how awesome a scissors-only strat is."
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Being a pokemon noob, I don't know how typical this is of trainers, but I swear every single trainer in Lumiose is like "Hey in this rock-paper-scissors contest I'm ONLY going to throw scissors and I'm telling you this BEFORE we fight so you will understand how awesome a scissors-only strat is."
I wish boycotts were still something people organized. This modern "I won't shop there and will judge anyone who does" method not only retracts business so slowly the business easily adapts, but it also means if a real boycott gets organized nobody will be left to actually hurt the company's profits
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I wish boycotts were still something people organized. This modern "I won't shop there and will judge anyone who does" method not only retracts business so slowly the business easily adapts, but it also means if a real boycott gets organized nobody will be left to actually hurt the company's profits
Dear Person Who Animated Heliolisk in Pokemon Z-A: You have brought me more joy than anything else in the game.
November 17, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Dear Person Who Animated Heliolisk in Pokemon Z-A: You have brought me more joy than anything else in the game.
Arceus was the first pokemon game I played, and I did not know how good I had it being able to evolve all of my pokemon without having to trade any of them.
November 10, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Arceus was the first pokemon game I played, and I did not know how good I had it being able to evolve all of my pokemon without having to trade any of them.
I haven't played enough previous titles to know if there's any existing lore about cell phones in the Pokeverse, but I want to know how Lumiose city is 'finding' enough Rotom to make every phone a Rotom phone.
November 7, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I haven't played enough previous titles to know if there's any existing lore about cell phones in the Pokeverse, but I want to know how Lumiose city is 'finding' enough Rotom to make every phone a Rotom phone.