Pella
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pellamore.bsky.social
Pella
@pellamore.bsky.social
I do narrative design. You might have heard of the game; you haven't heard of me. | She/her. 日本語 OK
Pinned
I'm Pella! 🌸 You've probably seen me other places. I stream VERY sporadically on twitch.tv/pellamore. Shame about that other site.
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🎤If you're musically inclined & want to learn to play one of the sensational Scylla and the Sirens tracks from The Game Awards-nominated Hades II soundtrack, composer @darrenkorb.bsky.social has you covered in our new video: How to Play 'Bewitching Eyes'! 👀

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpe3...
Hades II - How to Play "Bewitching Eyes"
YouTube video by Supergiant Games
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
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A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
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"I code so others can dream."

Gayming Icon and LGBTQ+ video game pioneer, Rebecca Heineman, has sadly passed away after a short, tough fight with aggressive cancer.

Read our obituary to this true industry trailblazer: gaymingmag.com/2025/11/gaym...
Gayming Icon and LGBTQ+ games pioneer, Rebecca Heineman, has died - Gayming Magazine
Rebecca Heineman, a trailblazing figure in the video game industry and a celebrated icon within the LGBTQ+ gaming community, has died.
gaymingmag.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:02 AM
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I am begging SFF folk to simply look into whether they themselves might be on the aroace spectrum and to write / shop / market accordingly, instead of expressing extreme disgust for books which feature sex, romance, or both.
Absolutely. I still get stares when i talk about scifi romance like, what? Or worse, how dare?

But once I realised there were people like me out there, reading and writing what I loved, I chose to be happy.

Someone can look down their nose at something I like. I'm having fun. That's what matters.
November 18, 2025 at 9:20 AM
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mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one
November 18, 2025 at 1:10 PM
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A little late to the party* here, but I just finished Cabernet and it was wonderful!
If you're a fan of narrative games, this is one to check out. I love choice-based games where I can make informed decisions but still be pleasantly surprised =)

*Introverts make the best parties
Psst!.. If you want to play a narrative vampire RPG this spooky season, and nothing else will do, we've got something for you! 🧛‍♀️ In Cabernet you can:

🩸 Drink copious amounts of blood (naturally)
🦇 Shift into a bat
😵‍💫 Enchant people
😼 Turn a cat into a vampire

Ready to go?🍷
November 18, 2025 at 5:42 PM
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Image generators now enable businesses to create complex images without the visual awareness that normally comes with that ability. Which is how you can end up with this monstrosity.

There must have been several people involved in this, and NOBODY took a proper look at the picture. Happy Crisis!
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 4:55 PM
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AI is like this giant fucking boat we all were forced to get on, and it's a boat they stole, and also it barely floats, and also it's not going anywhere good. So it either takes us somewhere we hate, or it fucking sinks, so either way, fuck AI.
So if AI succeeds loads of people lose their jobs as they're replaced by AI, and if AI fails, loads of people lose their jobs as the economy crashes?
It’s amazing how this story has gone from 0 to 60 in UK press. There’s been no mainstream coverage to date but this morning the story is leading BBC News site & bulletins.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 18, 2025 at 1:07 PM
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there is the you that remains that remains and remains #1000xresist
November 17, 2025 at 6:33 AM
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freelance
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
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i see this shit, the game goes in the bin, doesn't matter how much I'd enjoyed it or what my plans to write about it had been
[This is where Luke's Anno 117 impressions were going to go]

aftermath.site/this-is-where-...
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
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It really needs to be pointed out how every one of these embarrassing statements is made by a c-suite executive and not an artist or even art department lead
"Surely there's a middle ground here?" The CEO of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead says people "jump to extreme takes" when debating generative AI, and that there needs to be more nuance in the discussion.

www.videogameschronicle.com/news/surely-...
‘Surely there’s a middle ground here?’ Helldivers studio CEO says people ‘jump to extreme takes’ when debating GenAI | VGC
“This is such a trigger point for big parts of the games industry today”…
www.videogameschronicle.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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FRIENDS! 💛

My team at @bluebackpack.bsky.social and I just released The Berlin Apartment, the game we’ve worked on for the past 4 years! 😭💛

Give us so much love, wishlist and buy! ✨

store.steampowered.com/app/2280430/...
November 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
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Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
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“Our talented team with its own human hands and brains and souls decided that all this shitty art made by a computer was good enough to go in our game” is not a good defense of using AI tools to generate assets.
November 17, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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This is bullshit.

"absolutely no genAI in games" is the middle ground.

"how many years in jail should Sam Altman get for knowingly stealing all data ever" is the somewhat more extreme stance I personally adopt.
"Surely there's a middle ground here?" The CEO of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead says people "jump to extreme takes" when debating generative AI, and that there needs to be more nuance in the discussion.

www.videogameschronicle.com/news/surely-...
‘Surely there’s a middle ground here?’ Helldivers studio CEO says people ‘jump to extreme takes’ when debating GenAI | VGC
“This is such a trigger point for big parts of the games industry today”…
www.videogameschronicle.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I feel so bad for everyone who was nominated because they DESERVE THIS SO HARD... From literally any and every other source
Two things can be true: 1.) The Game Awards are meaningless and we shouldn't take them all that seriously. 2.) Award shows of its scale DO rewrite the mainstream history of the art form, whether they deserve to or not, and its okay to care that it's so thoughtless despite having that responsibility.
November 18, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Removing placeholder is SUCH a pain especially as we're laying tracks before the train but we will NEVER omit them because if we don't know it's there it WILL ship there's simply too much to do
The annoying thing about the "oh we left a placeholder" generative AI slop excuse is that that is EXACTLY NOT how you should be using placeholders. Anything "not obviously terrible with a panicked hurried half-awake glance" is getting shipped.
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
November 18, 2025 at 5:05 AM
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Why am I so against generative AI in games?

Because I simply do not want my initial reaction to art to be one of suspicion and scrutiny, AI slop is fundamentally damaging my relationship to art and artistry, and I am deeply resentful that it is forcing me to be guarded when I should be wowed.
November 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Email from a student who turned in a ChatGPT essay. Not even looking at the ChatGPT output in the apology 🥴
November 17, 2025 at 9:28 PM
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I'm going to be clear about this because some people are unbelievably stupid about it, but pointing out that the game awards are 1. bad, 2. bad for the industry, 3. not something you should give time or attention to

does NOT equate to saying that nominees don't deserve attention or recognition, etc
November 17, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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I *do* think however that it's grotesque to be giving awards to companies that have laid off huge chunks of the workforce that worked on these games that are now getting awards
November 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
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Even less interested in the dog & pony show that is The Game Awards this year. Ceaseless layoffs and mismanagement that will, at a stretch, get a half a second of 'gee whiz real sads about all those gamedevs outta work!' mention. Followed by pandering & 'I had lunch with _insert famous dev here'
November 17, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Idk why I even bothered writing my own post lol
You mean the company that's currently being struck by its workers and the company that's currently being boycotted because of its terrible DEI policy rollbacks? Why not just call this the Chocolate Mint Racist Scab Frostie?
Beginning Monday, a Frozen Peppermint Hot Chocolate drink will be available exclusively at Starbucks cafés inside Target stores.

The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.

🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
November 18, 2025 at 4:50 AM
The double boycott!
Beginning Monday, a Frozen Peppermint Hot Chocolate drink will be available exclusively at Starbucks cafés inside Target stores.

The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.

🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
November 18, 2025 at 4:48 AM