I tried the original Rhythm Tengoku "rhythm sense tester" for the first time in 5+ years, and the resulting line looked like a Richter 7 seismograph… u_u''''''''''''''''''''
Scientifically accurate truecolour space-telescope footage of me logging out every night
God I hope this one in particular sticks the landing
Well, this ruled. That's really all there is to say on the matter.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2741670/MINDWAVE_Demo/ - Now playing MINDWAVE (demo)
Playing Betterified VI and ENA essentially back-to-back has ruined my taste in games. Just now I started another game, and IMMEDIATELY something expected and logical happened : (
After crawling all over this game like a sack of termites… I'm actually getting worried about whether they can maintain this quantity of sheer work for another 3-to-5 chapters >_>'
…Which is kind of nutty to think for a 2-hour game, but, they WILL only get bigger from here…
🌚"AAA could never make ENA because they lack the courage to present the player with this much surrealism."
🌝"AAA could never make ENA because they lack the courage to have most of its secret areas contain nothing but a view to another area you literally cannot enter."
The 3D styles and environments are also pretty consistent, with most of the variation being in textures (low-res low-color-depth PS1-style, cel-shading, and modern styles).
All in all, the game's art direction has a lot more focus than may seem from its initial eccentricity.
Despite being a "clash of artstyles" indie game, I think what makes ENA work for me is how selective the art styles are - the 2D anim styles are pretty similar to each other despite being from different decades, and there's no photocollage or claymation or pixel art mixed in.
Reaction image that will be on every social media site for months once more people play this
This quest HUD animation is really good
Despite this game's ostensible point-and-click-adventure basis, the fact that it has multiple routes to the end and quite a good number of missable NPCs and dialogue in general feels like a pleasant departure from the usual linear expectations of the genre.
Favourite room in the game
I saw this and immedately thought of the NeXT logo
I wonder if it will be easier to get a bead on what this is "about" and where its heart is at, as the series progresses (this being only "chapter 1"), but as of now, there isn't quite that much to go on. (Contrast with, say, Anodyne 2's more focused imagery during its earlygame.)
One issue, though, is that so far it feels narratively/characteristically weaker than that, mainly due to most of the NPCs, and especially ENA herself, being duplicitous and enigmatic… her more grounded and relatable foil, Froggy, doesn't get that much screen time, either.
So far it and the predecessor toons I checked afterward have the tone of… the same kind of playful surrealism seen in stuff like the Adventure Time pilot (not just in world design but also toying with language), but taken to a further, stylistically denser level.
I like this guy a lot.
Been playing "ENA: Dream BBQ", an adaptation/"reboot" of a cartoon series "ENA" from Newgrounds.
It's funny that I looked at these for like 1 second and my mind immediately detected which game had influenced this, perfectly preparing myself for what would come next.
The gen-AI "Ghibli style" thing annoys me on a personal level because in my 20s I would occasionally fantasise about having "Ghibli-stylising glasses" as a kind of magical item, and now it feels like the world is throwing my past childish ideas back in my face.
Was I a nincompoop? In retrospect, the fixation on *specifically* that one studio's style stands out as the fundamental flaw, as that same narrow focus on its brand cachet is now being exploited to debase and commodify it from under itself.
OK. Look. I know it's effective, but we really need more analogies than just "the Library of Alexandria" whenever an internet service deletes everyone's content. It's happening so much now, and they can't all be ancient scroll repositories. We're getting burnt library fatigue.
I love how Betterified VI and Void Stranger both have codes hidden in plain sight in their respective trailers that take you to funny rooms when you figure out how to input them in the actual game
Always wanted to win by doing this
Watching Mario Maker troll levels (source: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2415237876)
Watching Mario Maker troll levels (source: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2415237876)
I should be less hard on myself. I'm an interesting person with a wealth of knowledge. For example, I know that the room "Edge Games" in VVVVVV is a reference to the late-00's trademark trolling of the company Edge Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Games#Trademark_disputes That's a valuable fact, right
Testing Bluesky >1min video upload with my cross-poster script
Surprisingly funny Wikipedia image aspect ratio
I think it's underrated how the tortoise section in Carnival Of The Animals is just Very Slow Can Can. An extremely specific mental image is being invoked here.
It's cracking me up that ffmpeg can just play NSFs and SPCs and other console game rips now. They became real file formats.
https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_player&query=143951 – Rolled a random MODArchive track and hit paydirt first try LET'S GO
EMBARRASSING NEWS FOR ME: I just discovered that one of my favourite mod tracks that I've listened to for the past 12 years is actually a cover of a British instrumental pop hit from the 80s >_>'
GOOD NEWS FOR ME: The original track in question is a succulent 10 minutes long……
Every so often my interest in the card game "Arkham Horror" spikes up when I am reminded that it's not Batman themed, only for it to putter out again when I'm also reminded it's Cthulhu-themed
*comes across this line of code in my codebase again* It's efficient Javascript
• Finally… I actually do like that this has Runeterra's "interleaved turns" aspect, where each "click" is followed by an opponent's "click". That was always the most innovative aspect of Runeterra.
• Also… this being "symmetrical Netrunner" feels like an admission that most of Netrunner's fun comes from being the runner. Thing is, I like Netrunner's asymmetry and two deck types a LOT, just for what it does for flavour, and how focused both decks can be at conveying it.
This compression is obviously designed to give a lot more autonomy from a low amount of cards (deck size is only 35) and having "agendas" be implicitly self-protecting is definitely desirable… but, it means a lot of the meaning of each card type is pretty blunted and muddied.
• The flavour does not feel as smooth or resonant as in Netrunner. While the concept of characters gathering political power in a faction-fractured city is OK, it doesn't really explain how the "runner" also manages their districts like a "corp", or sell the stakes of a game.
https://earthbornegames.com/wp-content/uploads/HWA000-Preview-Quick-Start-1-2048x1583.webp – Been reading about an in-progress card game with Netrunner inspiration called Aidalon… my first-look reactions are…
• There's a LOT of role compression for cards… each zone is a "central server" but can ALSO have multiple asset-like cards… most installables have effects, but can ALSO be tapped for resources… "agendas" must be trashed to be stolen and serve as both "ice" and "asset"…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWRvWxnp1Do - Betterified VI used this music track in one of the levels, which is NOT from a videogame but an actual indie CD, and now I'm listening to the whole CD and its predecessors just off this basis.
Infracted at the Netrunner tournament for waiting for my opponents to say "I run HQ" and immediately replying with "Gesundheit"
Some Guy In Australia In The Late 1930s: "Listen. Things might look bad now, but I have an idea. Hear me out. What if we simply ask the cane toads to eat the rabbits"
Making continues super hard to get is one thing but "What if the two least interesting bosses in the game took twice as long" is a 90s localisation decision that will never cease to amaze
No joke, for years this game's reputation has been poisoned for me because of the last boss
I actually decided to look at this table (for Dynamite Headdy) for the first time ever and these rows are SCREAM-INDUCING
Lighting up all my neurons from hearing the orchestra hit sample in this track
• The large number of SMBX powerups/characters that are used once but can be taken between levels, plus a handful of codes that do things like transform enemies or spawn barrel cannons, gives it a delightful hint of open-world freedom to solve its levels with different tools.
• A great number of the "betterfications" encourage the player to take the level at speed to escape some mischievous effect, and whose humour is accentuated by doing so… leaning very satisfyingly into traditional Mario platforming strengths.
Betterified VI impressions:
• Good difficulty curve – bosses are pretty long but ultimately fair (with powerups)
• Humour mostly hits well even if you haven't played even 1 of the… *checks list* …16 other SMBX worlds whose levels are being parodied in this game
However, I have caught wind that this game has "multiple routes", and I'm actually on the precipice of trying another one out………
My mind: "The JP version is better because this thing gatekeeps, gaslights, AND is a girlb–"
Me: "OK buddy, I think it's time for a nap."
Also I just loaded up the intro for the first time in a decade and only noticed all the bosses are right here… there's Baby Face, the dog, Spinny, the puppet boss, the one you never meet…
One on the right is a bit tricky, but consulting the Japanese version might give a lead…
Was trying to remember which Dynamite Headdy boss a certain music track was from, and my brain helpfully came up with "the puppet boss". Buddy ol' pal that's all of them
It's funny every time
Betterified VI continues
Today's Betterified VI screenshot haul
Playing some more Betterified
I *really* like the gimmick and overall design of this level. Legitimately very compelling modern platformer level.
Today's Betterified VI screenshot haul
All the levels in this one have some little gimmick that never appears elsewhere and ranges from silly to incredible
Unfortunately this game is mostly just a combat TCG, and moreover heavily involves die rolls. I have no interest in dice-based card games. Anyway, now I shall randomly access a card from the Corp's hand
*Netrunner player voice* Mood
Decided to look up the Star Wars TCG to see what its rules are like. *Netrunner player voice* Paws are called pops