Dianna 🇩🇴

patrick star from spongebob squarepants has a tear coming out of his mouth ALT: patrick star from spongebob squarepants has a tear coming out of his mouth

I just spent 4 hours working with someone to balance our books for the store..

My brain is fried.

It's by design.

It's international women's day if only there was a starter back of amazing Black & Femne Developers to support ✨✨✨
go.bsky.app/88aYGTF

That's how they get you.

I said it 8 months ago... They said there would be layoffs. They were saying it in our faces

Jfc...

www.ign.com/articles/ea-...

Omg swing by and say hi!

The Secret Lantern Books & Games Cedar Park's new indie book and game store where misfits make their magic.

If you’re in Austin area come say hi sometime.

We’re building something really special here.

And we’re just getting started. ❤️

www.thesecretlantern.com

Also worth saying: I didn’t leave my skills behind.

I’m still consulting and helping teams with partnerships, production, and strategy.

So if you’re building something cool, my DMs are open.

And the wild part?

The game dev community has already shown up in a huge way.

Folks reaching out about art camps, writing classes, game jams, design workshops, and collaborations.

Turns out when you build spaces for creators, creators show up.

The Secret Lantern Books & Games Cedar Park's new indie book and game store where misfits make their magic.

So I stepped away and started building The Secret Lantern in Cedar Park, Texas.

A bookstore + game space where people can read, play, create, run game jams, host workshops, put on shows, and find their community.

Basically the kind of place I wish existed more often.

www.thesecretlantern.com

At some point I had to ask myself a question:

What is the cost of staying in the machine?

For me the answer was simple.

I wanted to build something that actually brings people together.

Not just players online, but people in real life.

Build my own damn table.

After 20+ years in games I realized something.

I love games.

I don’t always love the industry that surrounds them.

The last few years have been rough for a lot of us.

Layoffs. Burnout. Studios closing.

Friends leaving the industry entirely.

The Secret Lantern Books & Games | Dianna L. Hey folks~! A while ago, I stepped away from Epic Games and I have been so busy building the next chapter that I completely forgot to actually tell people. 😅 Games have given me an incredible career,...

Hey folks~! A while ago, I stepped away from Epic Games and I have been so busy building the next chapter that I completely forgot to actually tell people. 😅

More info here:

www.linkedin.com/posts/dianna...

It's by design.

The way I cackled while screaming "CHAINSAW FIIIIIIIGHT!!!"

I wanna know what happened to this zombie. Did he decide he wanted to put the helmet on after death?

So metal.

Me randomly saying "stupid sexy Leon" as he reloads his rifle.

*exhales*. Yes. Accurate

Pauly Walnuts very seriously telling someone that “it’s called Broad daylight because women light up the world”

international women’s day

I love this song. My gawd. Yes 👏🏽

We have a great week for games and book clubs coming up at The Secret Lantern!

3/9 - The Secret Meetup
3/10 - Closed
3/11 - Spicy Romance Book Club (18+)
3/12 - Shadowdark RPG Group 2
3/13 - Blood on the Clocktower
3/14 - Costume Murder Mystery
3/15 - Leamos Latin Book Club

More info on our site!

Re9 comic Grace and Leon on opposites site of a gate Leon: Don't worry, you'll be fine Leon: You know how to suplex a guy, right? Grace: umm... no... Leon: oh... but you can parry a chainsaw, yeah? Grace: what?! no!!! Leon, walking away concerned: "oh... well, good luck anyway" Grace looks very sad and pathetic

smh what are they teaching kids these days? 😕 #re9

Love my little store. ❤️

Dianna L. - Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area | Professional Profile | LinkedIn Location: Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Dianna L.’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.

Since a few folks have asked: I won’t be at GDC this year.

That said, looking at selective advisory and contract work across partnerships, licensing, & production operations.

Want to connect, feel free to DM me.

Happy to talk before, during, or after the chaos.

www.linkedin.com/in/diannalora

Meet The Unconventional Publishers Trying To Unfuck The Games Industry Developers turned publishers like Innersloth and Pocketpair are leveraging their success to help other indie games thrive.

Anyway all of this is endemic of the mode through which we monetize video game development. It's shifted to offloading risk from the wealthy publisher that can afford it (tencent) to the poorer developer that cannot (wildlight)
we don't have to make games like that
aftermath.site/indie-game-p...

Like, to be clear. I've been in the Room-Where-It-Happens-™️ and have witnessed first hand the answer to all these questions.

At this point, I'm just yelling these questions out into the world in hopes that there's a different answer.... Knowing full well the answer.

A boom-or-bust game industry is partially to blame, but a company not preparing any runway to pay employees for at least six months outside of an infamously capricious Tencent has to take some of the blame here.

This is devastating.

I really liked Highguard, but it's a victim to an unsustainable infinite-growth model that is increasingly cancerous to games. These all-or-nothing launches all but guarantee an ejection of top-tier talent from the industry altogether.

Love and strength to the Wildlight team

Exactly. There are too many factors these days that contribute to too many failures

I agree with this as well. It was a perfect poison pill.

The biz + the public.