TheDevinTeam

My psychiatrist told me that it "sounds like you're functioning pretty well."

So basically I'm killing it.

Guan noooo

It’s so important to remember that different genres have different conventions.

Like remember how fun it was to find the Riddler’s question marks in the environment in Batman: Arkham Asylum?

Remember when Rise of Skywalker did the same thing with a knife and it was dumb as hell?

Board games are a treasure trove of interesting mechanics, but I also would implore RPG designers to do a deep dive into poetry too.

Understanding how words evoke emotion will give you the tools to understand how game mechanics do too. After all, it’s all metaphor and symbolism.

The message read like, “We’re still friends and this is all a joke,” which, IDK, maybe that was the right message to send because it certainly explains a lot of the Democrats’ actions.

Card: Shadow Shield Energy cost: 2 Skill Gain 11 block. Channel 1 Dark. Art is a cut chibi baby Defect holding onto a dark orb being surrounded by a magical shield

New favorite card art in Slay the Spire 2.

Deconstruction as a term for leaving a faith feels very Evangelical to me. Like, from what I know about Judaism, it’s basically all deconstruction.

Yeah it is a neat idea, but absolutely terrible in practice.

Do you want an RPG filled with characters who have their own backstories and lives that you can glimpse into?

We already have that. It’s called Pillars of Eternity, and those backstories were Kickstarter rewards, so there’s a ton of them.

And they’re easily the worst part of the entire game.

When I read through the entirety of a text box, it’s because I trust that doing so will give me something valuable, such as something that will help on a quest, build the world, or even just give me a laugh.

If I lose that trust, then I’m not going to read anything in that ever again.

This is a brilliant feature if you don’t want anyone to read any of the dialogue in your game.

It also makes the Envoy’s influence make a lot more sense. You’re able to push her toward one choice or the other, but only because they’re decisions Yatzli would have made on her own too. You don’t turn her life around; you just give it a nudge.

(Pallegina was a similar case in PoE1)

Solasta does this too! And because all the characters are custom made, it assigns responses based on the personality traits you assign to them.

Probably would’ve made more of an impact if the writing wasn’t completely hack (complimentary… sort of).

Also, it’s not Broadway, but seeing Suffs in Nashville, TN (where the vote for women’s voting rights was cast) on International Women’s Day felt right.

I love how it made clear that women gaining the right of women to vote was a victory for women, but not all women. And that there was still much to be done (and is still much work to be done) for black women and LGBT rights.

With the caveat that I’m not a historian and can’t speak to how authentic it is, I adored Suffs.

It’s a historical musical that embraces messiness and nuance and doesn’t try to fit things into a simple narrative.

I’m at the intermission of Suffs and I did not expect a musical about the 1913 suffrage movement released in 2022 to feel so critical of Kamala Harris’s 2024 Presidential campaign.

Screenshot from the Planet of the Bass Tiktok where lyrics on screen say "Women are my favorite guy"

Screenshot from the Planet of the Bass Tiktok where lyrics on screen say "Tell the world 'stop the war'"

This song feels incredibly relevant today.

I know relationship mapping in RPGs is old news, but it really does feel like a cheat code.

All those years of RPG of trying to figure out how to make quests that PCs would want to go on instead of just being told to go on… I could’ve just asked.

Now I have a big cast of enemies and NPCs to use.

How Pixar’s Open Sexism Ruined My Dream Job (Guest Column) A former Pixar employee writes that after John Lasseter's departure, the company still has a lot of work to do to fix its sexist culture.

If you're wondering how bad things were at Pixar for women, the answer is pretty horrifyingly bad.

I love that you can find them on a date after.

One thing I really love about the gods from Pillars of Eternity that I’ve tried to highlight here is that people can do great works and great atrocities to the same god.

“The dose is the poison” applies to philosophy and ideologies too. No idea is too pure that it can’t be used for evil.

The Maelstrom Deity of rebellion, righteous violence, and storms Principles Undermine authority, break down order, punish the sins of the powerful Anathema Allow others to control you, rely on authority, forgive the unforgivable The Mystery Deity of secrets, knowledge, enlightenment, and shadow Principles Learn for learning’s sake, create secrets worth keeping, enjoy confusion Anathema Judge based on utility, avoid curiosity, neglect whimsy

The Hearth Deity of community, absolution, cooking, and fire Principles Share joy, offer forgiveness to those who seek it, support family Anathema Put selfish needs above communal needs, cast out others needlessly, abandon the family The End Deity of entropy, decay, and cold Principles Anticipate expiration, find contentment in the void, embrace oblivion Anathema Preserve the unpreservable, demand meaning when there is none, fight the inevitable

The Birth Deity of pregnancy, creativity, vitality, and light Principles Bring forth something new, create a work of art, rely on tried and true Anathema Dwell on death, prevent a new expression, embrace the safe instead of the novel The Cycle Deity of transitions, rebirth, and water Principles Accept endings, embrace change, release burdens Anathema Cling to the past, carry burdens needlessly, hoard keepsakes

Working on some gods.

(For a fun challenge, I even wrote on that’s not based on some god(s) from Eora)

In StS2, you’re all acting at the same time, so it’s easy to just focus on your own shit.

Plus, you can only see cards your allies are actively focusing on. You can’t see the rest of their hand.

This means it’s easy to ask for help but impossible for someone else to play your hand.

I know people like to act like quarterbacking is just a social problem, but some games just make you watch your friends slowly do their turns.

And if you’re more experienced, that means either feeling like you’re keeping important info from them or forcing them to do what you want. Both suck.

Slay the Spire 2 absolutely has the sauce, and multiplayer is a ton of fun.

I love that you get enough information to be helpful to other players without enabling quarterbacking. It’s a great balance to pull.

Dagger Throw is also just a really good card in general, so it’s really low risk to grab those. If you get Sly cards it’ll synergize with, great! But it’s still good if not.

You can get the bird as everyone actually! It also has a different hairstyle each time, so if you’re in a multiplayer run, you’ll be able to tell your birds apart.

this is, all else being equal, easily the funniest thing the director of inside out could have said

Parrying is really fun. Also, double daggers can shred enemies.