Things Roundup Feb 6 2025
Cass has put up a devlog/postmortem of her game break.up, made in two months using Moonworks. I am strongly considering using Moonworks for future projects, and while a few details went over my head here it's good to see a small game clearly described in the technical details.
Richard Garfield wrote a post on game balancing on Boardgamegeek. I think it's an alright post, the audience is more for players and the BGG forum specifically, but I heartily agree that balance for its own sake is pointless, and especially that it's probably the wrong word entirely to describe what it means.
Jack has written an account of exhaustively exploring the latest Call of Duty battlepass, an undertaking you would have to pay me a substantial sum of money to complete.
Aura Triolo's extremely good post, simply stating that pivoting to indie will not save the game industry. She's right and she's right to say it. I've seen a lot of people misconstrue what's written here as an attack on extant indie devs or practices of varying sizes, methods, or goals, and it's simply not that. Aura defines her argument very clearly and it's worth respecting that.
Megan Carnes' first devlog on her music & tarot game Divinuet is great and I'm looking forward to reading future entires on their journey in making a very unique game.
Phoenix Simms unpacks the somewhat ubiquitous concept of the status effect in RPGs, in the political context of public health and disability.
Cameron Kunzelman has a wide ranging interview with Gareth Damian Martin about Citizen Sleeper 2, it emerging from the first game and their systemic and narrative goals for the sequel.
Florence Smith Nicholls talks about what 'good' game writing is, not in defining what is good or bad but how a game's structure and presentation can radically change what is considered good. Also namedrops one of my favorite ever books on game design, Kristine Jørgensen's Gameworld Interfaces.