Obsessed with this Norwegian game Northern Journey. Very strange Half-Life style 1st person adventure. Someone in the Steam reviews said “it’s like a Viking took shrooms and suddenly understood how to make an N64 game.”

Idk if Nintendo's discovery features are bad on purpose but... the incentives are misaligned.

Over half of games sold on Switch are 1st party... where Nintendo gets 100% revenue vs. the usual 30% take.

Their POV: If they promote other games, they risk selling fewer copies of their own titles.

I have no idea why the Kepler Interactive people are playing so coy about the budget for Expedition 33, but this quote makes me more likely to believe the rumor I heard, which was that it was between $5m–$10m.

If true, that'd be incredible, and Kepler/Sandfall ought to share more on their process.

my story's in the tier 1 slot on @polygon.com !!!

My latest is in the lead story slot on Polygon. I asked four successful indie devs how and where they found their first 1,000 players.

Lot of useful marketing tips in this one (link in comments)

got endorsed by my favorite gaming podcast (am screaming, crying, etc)

It's hard to articulate a clear vision for a new video game, but one helpful exercise is to make a publisher pitch deck.

In my newsletter this week is the pitch deck for Mars First Logistics, one of the first games to get funded by @outersloth.com. Thanks @ianmaclarty.com for sharing!

Today's my birthday + I started a new job that I'm in love with.

Also: @polygon.com republished my essay/interview with @laitue.bsky.social, @ghostcrawler.bsky.social, and Chad Grenier (former game director on Apex Legends).

LET'S GOOOOOO