Barrett Womack
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thederrit.bsky.social
Barrett Womack
@thederrit.bsky.social
I like games! Writing about games, writing *for* games, production, development, all that stuff.

Current: SUMMONER
Prev: Heathstone, Diablo, Teamfight Tactics, fortyseven, Red Bull Esports
I feel like this is the internet equivalent of "we eradicated polio decades ago but it's been coming back lately"

Pop-ups migrated to on-page in a way that's so much worse than the original issue. Most mobile websites are flatly unusable
December 7, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Concerns around IP usages in fandom promotions feel made up when the US government is promoting joining Ice with generative AI Halo assets.
October 28, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
I am genuinely terrified everyone will forget, or has already forgotten, how different people were 15-20 years ago. Since then, all technological innovation has worked toward the goal of sapping human attention as a commodity and society is far worse for it.
i believe that short form video is maybe one of the worst things people have ever come up with and it should be regulated at least as much as cigarettes
August 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Given the shitstorm that’s hit the teams behind The Alters, Magic: The Gathering, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 (among other titles), I’d be deeply intrigued to hear why someone would consider it a safe move to use generative AI on their project at this point - let alone go all-in on it.
June 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
cringe, as an idea, is a dead end. it’s a means of writing off sincerity and earnestness in pursuit of some ill-defined concept of above-it-all cool. letting it help define online culture was a mistake. if you view everything as cringe, you are living an empty life
Honestly I think people are too quick to use the word cringe. To me, cringe is when I’m a little secondhand embarrassed but it’s ultimately harmless. Nothing cringe about millions of people wanting to speak out
April 6, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
video games aren't political! *your switch 2 costs a suspicious amount of money due to recent bizarre developments in international politics*
April 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM
This looks like an incredibly goofy Elden Ring mod
April 2, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I got sent this earlier today - the link is unsurprisingly dead but good god. I've been working in and around games for a decade now.

How time flies!
March 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The only circumstance I'd ever start a podcast is if I got to talk with fun game design people like @joemag.games, @jeffhamilton.bsky.social or @keits.bsky.social about broad concepts like "The Anthropology of Controller Layouts", or "Why Balancing By Numbers Isn't Enough"
March 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I hope Final Fight gets its Streets of Rage 4 moment one day
March 1, 2025 at 6:59 AM
@danfloydplus.bsky.social in case it slipped by you during your Best Of 2024 hunt, wanted to put BlazBlue Entropy Effect in front of you: store.steampowered.com/app/2273430/...

It took the sprite art from BlazBlue and molded/repurposed it to do some really interesting things in a roguelite format.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect on Steam
Enjoy action-packed flashy combat with incredibly satisfying combos and responsive controls! Numerous characters, each with completely unique playstyles and loads of unlockable moves & upgrades! T...
store.steampowered.com
February 13, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
the relevant time measure for game quality is how long after playing it you're still thinking about it. there are games we finish within a few hours or less we think or talk about for the rest of our lives, and other games people spend hundreds of hours doing they regret and wish they could get back
I swear, I'm never going to understand people who complain about certain games being short, as if that would make the games lose value/quality. Especially games that were made in under a month or less.

Games don't always have to be long to be good, man.
February 2, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Do you ever think about how The Order 1886, a PS4 launch title, is still one of the prettiest games ever made?
January 24, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Hateful ideologies bleed out the potential of the world. May they find no refuge in the people and places important to you.
December 23, 2024 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite & Beyond launches 12-20-24! Keep updated on mvcib.com for the download link & instructions on release date.

This was a labor of love from nearly 40 people over 8 months of work. All available, for FREE!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXor...
LAUNCH TRAILER - Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite & Beyond
YouTube video by Maximilian Dood
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2024 at 2:47 AM
One of the funny things about legacy game series is that some of them were *never* particularly well-reviewed. Like Ape Escape is charming, but every game in that series is 6s and 7s looking back at review sites.

And ofc reviews aren't everything, but that would *never* fly today
December 16, 2024 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Which video game has the best dodge animation?

Yes it's a silly question, just roll with it.
youtu.be/cdu5yLO9lkc
Which Game Has the Best Dodge Animation?
YouTube video by New Frame Plus
youtu.be
December 15, 2024 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
Write generously for an audience who loves your work, not defensively for an audience who hates it
December 2, 2024 at 11:31 PM
This screenshot is good. Like - *so* good. "I want to go back and play this game again" amounts of good.
STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order is $3.99 on Steam buff.ly/2WrtZnb

$5.99 US PSN buff.ly/3ZyUdXn
XBL buff.ly/3ODec0s

Deck playable
December 1, 2024 at 7:47 PM
How do you organize your Steam Library? Thinking about switching up my system and looking for inspiration.
November 15, 2024 at 6:46 PM
Coming across something I've never encountered before: both Metal Slug Tactics and TMNT: Splintered Fate are fun games with in-game UI so unappealing that I don't want to play them.

I can't remember this level of "this UI is gross" showing up in games of this quality before - even smaller indies!
November 14, 2024 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
In honor of the implosion of Phoenix Labs, today's substack is dedicated to the first place I ever heard a cursed phrase I'd later come to know as a red flag: "We only hire seniors"

Read now, and subscribe to become a better game developer.

chhopsky.substack.com/p/we-only-hi...
"We Only Hire Seniors", And Other Mistakes
How structure creates sustainable velocity.
chhopsky.substack.com
May 16, 2024 at 10:58 PM
After playing FF16 and the FF7R games, the adolescent years of FF12-15 make a whole lot more sense, in retrospect.
April 17, 2024 at 12:21 AM
A thought to toss into the void:

It's amazing how well the 1080 and Wave Race games hold up, on N64 and GCN. I genuinely would love to see those make a comeback, along with a refresh of the Mario Sports series which has been sadly inconsistent lately.
April 1, 2024 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Barrett Womack
people underestimate the extent to which the ownership class is ideologically invested, and not just monetarily invested, in subordinating workers
February 15, 2024 at 2:20 AM