Alex ☕️

Got My Mind Set on You, by Travelyan track by Travelyan

"Got My Mind Set on You" is available now on Bandcamp

travelyan.bandcamp.com/track/got-my...

For me, it’s ’cause I’ve got this like social anxiety thing about “intruding” on others’ feeds. ENTIRELY a me thing though as it barely or outright does not matter.

Donate to Help fund Maple’s emergency vet visit, organized by Reem Sayadi Hi, my name is Reem. My husband and I have had a stressful week as our silly orange … Reem Sayadi needs your support for Help fund Maple’s emergency vet visit

So my friend Reem's cat Maple has been going through it and has really racked up the vet bills. If you've got anything to spare, do drop it. If not, just repost this.

I went through losing Bailey alone and I regret it. So let's make sure Reem doesn't feel that at all.
gofundme.com/f/pay-for-maples…

Next week’s headlines: “Millennials are killing the soda industry”

Edmund McMillen on assembling Mewgenics' meow cameo list: "the inclusion of people with clashing ideologies felt appropriate" We spoke to Mewgenics co-developer Edmund McMillen about putting together the game's list of internet celebrity meow cameos.

i was on team "relic of Flash internet but whatever" until the guest-cast list for one-off meows was released and uhhhhh

anyways i guess i kinda forget what staying in that kinda era does to someone

www.rockpapershotgun.com/edmund-mcmil...

happy birthday! 💜🎂🎈 may 34 treat you with kindness!

CONDITION: UNCONSCIOUS
(BPM: 42)

it really is as good as people say it is, and i'm both thankful and mad that i waited until it was all out to watch it

The confusion and conflation of ‘generative ai that is built on stolen artwork’ and ‘machine learning, character behaviour modelling and proc gen’ is intentional on the part of the grifters peddling the former. They benefit from murkiness of classification, because the latter predates their bollocks

I could be forgetting an occasional one-time notification about a new banner too, and 1-2 new player exclusive things, but that’s about it.

Also lmao yea about the Yostar stuff. Even among the same dev studios (not just publishers) I’m sure you’ll see interesting variance in this kinda stuff.

Yea, I couldn’t get footage of the login experience during an event but I think at worst it’s been… 4 pop ups? Daily login, daily event “pick 2/3” tickets, some other daily event login thing, and the one-time free 10-pull. Interrupts getting to the game but I don’t think any of it is shop-pushing?

I’ve a morbid fascination with games that devour their play experiences for the sake of pushing pay systems. So yes I’ve been thinking about this damn Disney Solitaire game for like two days straight and how absolutely horrifying it is.

Free to play games usually need to make money somehow, so they usually have some element pushing the monetization - an ad, pushes towards the store, etc.; But it’s interesting to compare how different games interrupt the actual game experience for these elements.

For a comparison point, Slay The Spire has a very slim and quick login experience. The first game decision the player makes is pretty immediate, and no popups or alerts get in the way of that. However, Slay The Spire is both a paid game and originally a PC game. (Works great on mobile though!)

The Store notification is effectively a classic “free items in store daily” designed to have the player look briefly at the store.

Arknights is not free from dark patterns - it’s a gacha game - but it also at least tries to be a game in comparison to Disney solitaire.

Arknights by contrast has one visible timer (a stamina restoring item) and one pop up. In terms of notifications, it has 4: The aforementioned stamina timer, the “Breaking News” space, items at the Base being ready to collect (the Base is arguably gameplay, long story), and a red dot on the Store.

There’s 7 different red notifications. The Play button is there, but if that top bar is the stamina that allows/blocks progression then it requires you to scan past half the popups to check it. It’s so bad.

The original video has 8 pop ups, 4 of which seem to push towards the shop and 7 having timers for when they expire. After the pop ups, there are 13 or 14 menu options that indicate a time limit.

The main menu for the mobile tower defense gacha game Arknights. A prominent “Terminal” play button is adjacent to the game’s stamina count. Text is overlaid indicating that the game’s Missions are behind this option. Above, the game’s basic currency and two gacha currencies are displayed. Below both of these are two menu options to customize and upgrade the units and teams within the game. Below that is a section for the Store and the gacha system. Below that are the Base, Inventory, and Dailies/Weeklies/Challenges section. On the left are options, customizable visual elements, a banner showing off items in the Store, a Friends button, and an Archives button.

Arknights being a gacha game, it still has its share of dark patterns: Gacha currencies and stamina prominent, the store/gacha menu are central and sized like other items, there’s a spot showcasing items in the store. But also, that’s it: You can now outright play the game.

This got me thinking about the standard “opening experience” for the games I play on my phone - the kinds of pop ups you see when booting a game up, and how long it takes until you can make an actual game-related decision. Starting with Arknights and it’s already funny the differences.

Comfort, by Travelyan 12 track album

Here's my sixth (wow) album, this one's called Comfort. It's Bandcamp Friday so every dollar you spend goes directly to me. I could not continue doing this without your continued support. If you're grooving on it at all, share it!! 🤝 #newmusic #bandcamp

travelyan.bandcamp.com/album/comfort

Comfort, by Travelyan 12 track album

It's Bandcamp Friday! AND @travelyan.bsky.social has a new album out!! Please consider picking up "Comfort" today - 100% of the purchase money goes to the artists on Bandcamp Friday so it's a great time to buy some new music! #bandcampfriday #newmusic

travelyan.bandcamp.com/album/comfort

Rest well, our beloved queen 💜💜💜

dude this is damn good work and a damn good tribute. it's so spot-on to the original, too! hell yea to the artist, and for everything coming together! what an excellent tribute!

May you never have an internet issue ever again, Jesus fuck

BE FREE

Poggers!

Trains would be great economically except for the whole “interacting with The Plebians” thing that rich/upper class folk fear more than anything.

A year of tough competition gets even tougher, damn.