Tom
@wilson999.bsky.social
Reading, writing, HL1 mapping, video games, board games, messing around with GameMaker.
Reposted by Tom
i truly believe that RPGs with blank-slate protagonists should use the Morrowind conversation system
YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! I HAVE WRITTEN A NEW ARTICLE!
this one's a bit weird; rather than doing my usual "trying to organize my thoughts and building a winding case that builds on itself," I decided to show you what my EARLY article creation process looks like:
docseuss.medium.com/some-loosely...
this one's a bit weird; rather than doing my usual "trying to organize my thoughts and building a winding case that builds on itself," I decided to show you what my EARLY article creation process looks like:
docseuss.medium.com/some-loosely...
some loosely organized thoughts about dialogue sysin games
think of this as me trying to find out what parts of dialogue choices are load bearing game design and what else can be done with dialogue.
docseuss.medium.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
i truly believe that RPGs with blank-slate protagonists should use the Morrowind conversation system
Reposted by Tom
spoilers but here's everything I made for QBJ3 (so far)
October 22, 2025 at 12:23 AM
spoilers but here's everything I made for QBJ3 (so far)
Poignant thread about what it actually meant to bury the dead during WW2, and an appalling injustice to try and erase the labour of some of those who did it.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Poignant thread about what it actually meant to bury the dead during WW2, and an appalling injustice to try and erase the labour of some of those who did it.
Reposted by Tom
On Saints Row we had a debug npc named Skinballs (lol) that was literally just four spheres wrapped in different shades of skin texture so we could test lighting for different skin tones during development. But teams need to plan for that kind of testing with intentionality, and not enough do.
October 31, 2025 at 3:23 PM
On Saints Row we had a debug npc named Skinballs (lol) that was literally just four spheres wrapped in different shades of skin texture so we could test lighting for different skin tones during development. But teams need to plan for that kind of testing with intentionality, and not enough do.
Very good review! Thought provoking.
The Great Commission strives to tell the story of early Christian evangelists. I have complicated feelings on it. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/10/29/t...
Neither Board Nor Counters
I remember the first time I felt doubt. It was the night my little sister was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. Mom figured it out at the grocery store — we’d been through this once before — an…
spacebiff.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Very good review! Thought provoking.
Reading this about how Amazon tried to compete with Steam is kinda mind-blowing for how utterly wrongheaded every approach they took was. We bought Twitch and assumed people using it would then buy from us. What?
I legitimately didn't know they were competing with Steam and it's crazy to me that they burnt so much money on what sounds like something with very little (or wildly misguided) market research.
October 29, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reading this about how Amazon tried to compete with Steam is kinda mind-blowing for how utterly wrongheaded every approach they took was. We bought Twitch and assumed people using it would then buy from us. What?
Reposted by Tom
still thinking about this article today. so many societal ills are caused by people white-washing what actually happens. it's awful to see games do it too.
can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator
can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator
a wholesome plane has hit the second cozy tower
more like no thoughts to declare
blog.giovanh.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM
still thinking about this article today. so many societal ills are caused by people white-washing what actually happens. it's awful to see games do it too.
can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator
can't wait for cozy domestic violence simulator or cozy kkk simulator
Reposted by Tom
I was asked recently what the “big debates” are in ancient naval studies, the maritime equivalent of the hoplite debate. Three stand out clearly. Here is a short summary of some!
October 15, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I was asked recently what the “big debates” are in ancient naval studies, the maritime equivalent of the hoplite debate. Three stand out clearly. Here is a short summary of some!
Reposted by Tom
I now wonder if they also did their textures from sculpted tablets just like in GC?
October 14, 2025 at 5:11 AM
I now wonder if they also did their textures from sculpted tablets just like in GC?
Interesting thread on some of the new history knowledge being created.
Maybe this is simply a difference in the expected 'rate' of knew knowledge, but this take puzzles me, because there's quite a bit of new data and studies needing to be done that I can see pretty easily in Roman history.
Knowledge creation steady and clearly visible.
Knowledge creation steady and clearly visible.
October 13, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Interesting thread on some of the new history knowledge being created.
This is an interesting series on FPS, and I think this is my favourite entry. Enemy design and AI is always fascinating to discuss.
GUESS WHO'S BACK
BACK AGAIN
DOC'S BACK
TELL A FRIEND
That's right. It's time for part 3 of the FPS series; this time, a lot of assorted thoughts on what makes for good enemy design. This one was fun as hell to write.
docseuss.medium.com/building-a-b...
BACK AGAIN
DOC'S BACK
TELL A FRIEND
That's right. It's time for part 3 of the FPS series; this time, a lot of assorted thoughts on what makes for good enemy design. This one was fun as hell to write.
docseuss.medium.com/building-a-b...
building a better first person shooter part 3: enemy mine
So! First, we talked about a specific subgenre of first person shooter, loosely starting with Unreal and Half-Life and dying off around…
docseuss.medium.com
October 13, 2025 at 8:26 AM
This is an interesting series on FPS, and I think this is my favourite entry. Enemy design and AI is always fascinating to discuss.
Reposted by Tom
Did you know the developers of Blasphemous had a new release earlier this year called The Stone of Madness? It's an isometric stealth-focused game where you play as prisoners in a monastery/sanitarium, and shockingly it seemed to completely slip under everyone's radar. Must revisit this myself.
The Stone of Madness on Steam
The Stone of Madness is a real-time tactical stealth game set in an 18th-century Spanish Monastery. Five prisoners pool their skills and resources to face their phobias, stave off insanity, uncover th...
store.steampowered.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Did you know the developers of Blasphemous had a new release earlier this year called The Stone of Madness? It's an isometric stealth-focused game where you play as prisoners in a monastery/sanitarium, and shockingly it seemed to completely slip under everyone's radar. Must revisit this myself.
A cool concept for a game!
Do you want to test our next game on tabletop simulator? We are looking for play testers for our upcoming solo game Crown & Courage.
Reach out to us and we will get you started!
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43...
Reach out to us and we will get you started!
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43...
Crown & Courage
Escape the Germans and inspire hope for your country as the King of Norway.
boardgamegeek.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
A cool concept for a game!
Reposted by Tom
big gothic castle in quake from last year. didn't make it for any other reason than I was using it to make new textures and enjoying myself.
October 3, 2025 at 8:19 PM
big gothic castle in quake from last year. didn't make it for any other reason than I was using it to make new textures and enjoying myself.
This is a great read!
For today's article, I'm just griping about why "fun" is a bad word for critics. spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/a...
Anti-Fun
There’s one word I try to never use when writing about board games. The F-word. No, not that one. “Fun.” There it is. My critical curse word. Today I want to talk about why “fun” isn’t an especiall…
spacebiff.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
This is a great read!
Reposted by Tom
just play the original Deus Ex dude it's not that hard
September 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
just play the original Deus Ex dude it's not that hard
Reposted by Tom
Please just develop the literacies and dispositions to play old games just like you can watch old movies.
September 25, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Please just develop the literacies and dispositions to play old games just like you can watch old movies.
Reposted by Tom
have never clicked a headline so fast www.nature.com/articles/d41...
August 20, 2025 at 6:01 PM
have never clicked a headline so fast www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Tom
this is about how some ttrpg designers see board game designers but is also, depressingly, about how many board game designers see board game designers
it's changing, albeit slowly, and gosh I'm glad for that
it's changing, albeit slowly, and gosh I'm glad for that
i have a lot of empathy for my sisters in board games who struggle to have their artistic vision appreciated in a substantially more publisher-strangled world while simultaneously being dismissed by other designers who dont engage w the scope of their creative practixe
August 28, 2025 at 10:01 AM
this is about how some ttrpg designers see board game designers but is also, depressingly, about how many board game designers see board game designers
it's changing, albeit slowly, and gosh I'm glad for that
it's changing, albeit slowly, and gosh I'm glad for that
Reposted by Tom
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
August 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
Reposted by Tom
Last night was a defeat for sure, but this wonderful board was brought along to the club.
August 14, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Last night was a defeat for sure, but this wonderful board was brought along to the club.
Reposted by Tom
Photos taken moments before disaster. Turkey Man by us, Moo Deng by Lucky Fox Studio
July 9, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Photos taken moments before disaster. Turkey Man by us, Moo Deng by Lucky Fox Studio
Reposted by Tom
Fascinating article about fraud. It troubles me that most casual readers don't understand how little serious fact-checking nonfiction books undergo, whether they're pop science or memoir. Unless a claim is potentially libelous, scrutiny is mostly perfunctory.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...
Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal that the truth behind it is ve...
observer.co.uk
July 6, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Fascinating article about fraud. It troubles me that most casual readers don't understand how little serious fact-checking nonfiction books undergo, whether they're pop science or memoir. Unless a claim is potentially libelous, scrutiny is mostly perfunctory.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Reposted by Tom
If you want to better your understanding of the history of RPGs, of tabletop game design, of how the fundamental lack of institutional memory in this scene’s cursed us to repeat endless cycles of pointless discourse then you really couldn’t do worse right now than getting (& READING) these 4 issues
Interactive Fantasy, the journal of interactive storytelling that I published in the mid-1990s, is no longer available from DriveThruRPG. However it is now available from itch.io instead: jameswallis.itch.io/interactive-... for the same low price of pay-what-you-want.
Interactive Fantasy by James Wallis
A journal of game design and narrative systems
jameswallis.itch.io
July 5, 2025 at 6:11 PM
If you want to better your understanding of the history of RPGs, of tabletop game design, of how the fundamental lack of institutional memory in this scene’s cursed us to repeat endless cycles of pointless discourse then you really couldn’t do worse right now than getting (& READING) these 4 issues
Reposted by Tom
Sykes-Picot is a trick-taker and area control game from @rollplusfun.bsky.social and @amabel.bsky.social. As a trick-taker, it has some stark limitations — but those limitations are also what makes it sing as a historical corrective. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/06/16/s...
Syke!
In 1916, at the height of WWI, two diplomats met in secret to outline the future partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Those diplomats, the United Kingdom’s Mark Sykes and France’s Franço…
spacebiff.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Sykes-Picot is a trick-taker and area control game from @rollplusfun.bsky.social and @amabel.bsky.social. As a trick-taker, it has some stark limitations — but those limitations are also what makes it sing as a historical corrective. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/06/16/s...