Ludus Novus
type: channel
description: The Art of Interaction
date: 2026-02-09T20:21:43Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: “The Ur Game” Released In Game Poems #1: First Moves
items: I’m presenting at the Charlotte Writing Project Fall 2024 Conference on Sep. 19!
items: IF Retrospective: The 2006 XYZZY Awards
items: Theatre: An RPG (Quickplay Rules)
items: Fusion Time Released!
items: Tabletop Garden: The Great Molasses Flood
items: Warframe Has the Best Worldbuilding In Video Games
items: Tabletop Garden: Ego Driver
items: All My Flash Games Now Downloadable With Source
items: Toward a Sustainable Resource Escalation Game
items: Your Only True Choice – Complicity in Unavoidable Tragedy
items: Actual Play Podcasts Do Not Portray Actual Play, Actually
items: Ludus Novus 030 – Transcendentalism, Gentrification, and the Procedural Rhetoric of Stardew Valley
items: Tabletop Garden: New RPG Podcast
items: Ludus Novus 029 – The Goalless Path of Bernband
items: Ludus Novus 028: Candyland: Game as Critical Lens
items: Tracery Live Released
items: Rosette Diceless Released
items: “The Majesty of Colors” Remastered and Released
items: Ludus Novus 027: Imposition of Order Results in Escalation of Disorder
items: Punching Nazis Is a Sacred Act
items: Headless Swarm Released
items: Exploit: Zero Day – Headless Swarm Landing December 1
items: Ludus Novus 026: Reflection
items: Breaking Down at Sex Down South
items: Invisible Design in Picross 3D: Round 2
items: “The Majesty of Colors” Remastered
items: Strange Symmetra: Accretive Design in Overwatch
items: Audacious Compassion Podcast
items: Challenge is a Calibration
items: The Transformative Power of Good Writing – Wolfenstein: The New Order
items: Ossuary in Steam Summer Sale 2016
items: A Stillness of Mind, Skill Honed Sharp – Hyper Light Drifter
items: Family and Communication – Atlanta Poly Weekend 2016
items: Ludus Novus 025: Idle, Incremental
items: Hopping Numbers in Pocket Frogs
items: Future Proof in 2016
items: A Whirlwind Heist
items: Degeneracy and Competing Goals in XCOM
items: It’s So Easy When You’re: Evil Genius
items: Overcomplexity in Nom Nom Galaxy
items: Helping RPGs Play Themselves
items: Beauty of Frozen Waves – Mind: Path to Thalamus
items: Unsettling Uncertainty in the Stanley Parable
items: Theft, Murder, and Morals in Skyrim
items: Character Select: Marvel vs. Capcom 3
items: The Evil of Farm Story 2
items: Odin Sphere: Muggle Escabeche Ã la Erion
items: You Can’t Control Clash of Clans
items: The Feline Grace of Neko Atsume

“The Ur Game” Released In Game Poems #1: First Moves
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2026-02-09T20:21:38Z
subject: Games Releases
subject: game releases
subject: my games
subject: pacifism
subject: the ur game
description: I’m honored to be part of the editorial collective for the first issue of Game Poems, an interactive magazine founded by Jordan Magnuson, who literally wrote the book on game poetry. The first issue collects 13 short, poetic video games that can all be played in your browser. My contribution1 is “The Ur Game,” a … Continue reading “The Ur Game” Released In Game Poems #1: First Moves →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2026%2F02%2F09%2Fthe-ur-game-released-in-game-poems-1-first-moves%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dthe-ur-game-released-in-game-poems-1-first-moves&action_name=%26%238220%3BThe+Ur+Game%26%238221%3B+Released+In+Game+Poems+%231%3A+First+Moves&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: I’m honored to be part of the editorial collective for the first issue of Game Poems, an interactive magazine founded by Jordan Magnuson, who literally wrote the book on game poetry. The first issue collects 13 short, poetic video games that can all be played in your browser. My contribution1 is “The Ur Game,” a puzzle about games, war, and the rules we choose to follow. The theme for this issue was “First Moves,” and I explore both the experience of interacting with an unfamiliar game for the first time and the question of what we need to do in order to start to escape this broken system we live in. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="450" height="450" src="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Ur-Game-512x512-cover-450x450.png" alt="" class="wp-image-3425" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Ur-Game-512x512-cover-450x450.png 450w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Ur-Game-512x512-cover-300x300.png 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Ur-Game-512x512-cover.png 512w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /> You can play “The Ur Game” on Itch.io. (We’re still working on some loading issues with the version of the game that’s included in the magazine. For now, the version on Itch will load much more reliably with less chance of making your browser unresponsive. I’ll try and remember to update this post once that issue is resolved!) I initially designed “The Ur Game” last year at a time when the primary bit of world news on my mind was the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by the state of Israel. Now, my own country, the United States, has dramatically increased the pace of its genocidal campaigns against Latine people and is terrorizing its own residents with secret police. I hope the is less relevant to world events in another year. Please check out the rest of the games in Game Poems #1! I think we selected a diverse and excellent selection of artsy games, and I hope …

I’m presenting at the Charlotte Writing Project Fall 2024 Conference on Sep. 19!
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2024-09-12T15:34:11Z
subject: News
subject: ai
subject: animal crossing
subject: chatgpt
subject: conference
subject: dada
subject: generative ai
subject: presentation
subject: talk
description: My talk is titled, “Dada, Animal Crossing, and ChatGPT: Can We Ever Write Our Own Stories With the Master’s Tools?” If all goes well, I’ll be teaching an audience of mostly educators how ChatGPT works at a high level (it’s a fancy Markov generator) and why they shouldn’t use it (it serves hegemony). If you … Continue reading I’m presenting at the Charlotte Writing Project Fall 2024 Conference on Sep. 19! →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2024%2F09%2F12%2Fim-presenting-at-the-charlotte-writing-project-fall-2024-conference-on-sep-19%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dim-presenting-at-the-charlotte-writing-project-fall-2024-conference-on-sep-19&action_name=I%26%238217%3Bm+presenting+at+the+Charlotte+Writing+Project+Fall+2024+Conference+on+Sep.+19%21&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: <img decoding="async" width="1080" height="1080" src="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-Presenters.png" alt="I'm presenting on (the evils of) generative AI at the Charlotte Writing Project Fall 2024 Conference on Sep. 19!" class="wp-image-3408" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-Presenters.png 1080w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-Presenters-300x300.png 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-Presenters-450x450.png 450w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-Presenters-768x768.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" /> My talk is titled, “Dada, Animal Crossing, and ChatGPT: Can We Ever Write Our Own Stories With the Master’s Tools?” If all goes well, I’ll be teaching an audience of mostly educators how ChatGPT works at a high level (it’s a fancy Markov generator) and why they shouldn’t use it (it serves hegemony). If you can’t make it to the conference, I’ll be sharing my slides afterward and am open to doing similar talks elsewhere! You can get more info on the conference here. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2024%2F09%2F12%2Fim-presenting-at-the-charlotte-writing-project-fall-2024-conference-on-sep-19%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dim-presenting-at-the-charlotte-writing-project-fall-2024-conference-on-sep-19&action_name=I%26%238217%3Bm+presenting+at+the+Charlotte+Writing+Project+Fall+2024+Conference+on+Sep.+19%21&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

IF Retrospective: The 2006 XYZZY Awards
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2022-08-02T17:38:31Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Interactive Fiction
subject: eve
subject: gijsbers
subject: parser
subject: plotkin
subject: short
subject: snyder
subject: text games
subject: xyzzy
description: Content Warning: Colonialism, Misogyny, Racism, Childhood sexual assault I used to diligently keep up with “interactive fiction”, a game category that used to mean the same thing as “text adventure” but has broadened over time. At one point, it mostly included parser games (where you type things like TAKE DEVICE and EXAMINE VISTA) but is … Continue reading IF Retrospective: The 2006 XYZZY Awards →
encoded: Content Warning: Colonialism, Misogyny, Racism, Childhood sexual assault I used to diligently keep up with “interactive fiction”, a game category that used to mean the same thing as “text adventure” but has broadened over time. At one point, it mostly included parser games (where you type things like TAKE DEVICE and EXAMINE VISTA) but is now also commonly used for hypertext games (Twine games and choose-your-own-adventures) and similar works. These days I see this sort of game often described as “text games”, which seems a fine enough label. I’ve fallen out of the habit of keeping up with the genre, and I’d like to get caught up. The most well-known IF awards competition is, appropriately, the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition, or IFComp, an event initiated in 1995 with the express intention to encourage new works of IF. The IFComp, however, is focused on works which can be played in two hours, there’s a tradition of well-known authors using pseudonyms, and it only collects games submitted newly to the Comp. That means it’s not quite comprehensive in the way I’m looking for. The actual premiere in-group awards competition for IF is the XYZZY Awards, a relatively obscure ritual mostly open to dedicated practitioners of the medium. It tends to have nominators, nominees, and voters that are super-dedicated to text-heavy works that are in conversation with the canon of parser and hypertext works that were historically discussed on the Usenet group rec.games.int-fiction. Yes, this is a community so old that it’s defined by a technology that was obsolete by 2005 or so.1 When I look at the XYZZY Awards, the last year that I remember playing most of the winners was 2005, although that was helped by how that year’s awards were swept by Jason Devlin’s “Vespers”, which won four of the ten categories. I also remember playing “Mystery House Possessed” by one of my personal favorite authors, Emily Short, which won Best Use of Medium in that year. That means that, in my quest…

Theatre: An RPG (Quickplay Rules)
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2022-07-25T21:19:59Z
subject: False Narrativism
subject: Roleplaying
subject: drama
subject: false narrativism
subject: game releases
subject: my games
subject: tabletop rpgs
description: Theatre is a live-action roleplaying game for any number of players, limited only by your available space and resources. Together, like in most roleplaying games, you'll enact a story. One difference in this game is that you aren't all in control of the events in the story: they proceed in the sequence established by the adventure you're playing. What you can control is how those events are explored: what mood do they establish? What events are especially significant, and how do the characters actually feel as they go through the sequence?
encoded: This game is intended for players experienced with roleplaying. For beginners, we recommend Countdown: A Game for Two Players, by the same developers. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="672" height="450" src="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/800px-Abandoned_Outdoor_Theater_5217048634-672x450.jpg" alt="An abandoned theatre in the woods, rotting and overgrown with plants" class="wp-image-3337" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/800px-Abandoned_Outdoor_Theater_5217048634-672x450.jpg 672w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/800px-Abandoned_Outdoor_Theater_5217048634-300x201.jpg 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/800px-Abandoned_Outdoor_Theater_5217048634-768x515.jpg 768w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/800px-Abandoned_Outdoor_Theater_5217048634.jpg 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" /> Image by Daniel Ramirez (CCBY 2.0) Theatre is a live-action roleplaying game for any number of players, limited only by your available space and resources. Together, as in most roleplaying games, you’ll enact a story. One difference in this game is that you aren’t in control of all the events in the story: they proceed in the sequence established by the adventure you’re playing. What you can control is how those events are explored: what mood do they establish? What events are especially significant, and how do the characters actually feel as they go through the sequence? You’ll typically play this game with a pregenerated adventure, which establishes the nature of the characters and the moves they’ll make during a play session. Advanced players can play the game improvisationally, with certain players essentially making up the characters and moves as they go; guidelines for this mode of play are available in additional supplements. A sample pregenerated adventure is included at the end of this document, but a wide array of free and paid adventures are available from th…

Fusion Time Released!
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2021-08-24T17:32:25Z
subject: Games Releases
subject: News
subject: Roleplaying
subject: fusion
subject: fusion time
subject: game releases
subject: my games
subject: tabletop rpgs
description: I’ve put out a new game! It’s a GM-less tabletop roleplaying game where the players are a team of people with special powers defending their home. When their interpersonal clashes grow strong enough, an opponent attacks, and the players will have to Fuse in order to fight back and protect their home. Fusion Time by … Continue reading Fusion Time Released! →
encoded: I’ve put out a new game! It’s a GM-less tabletop roleplaying game where the players are a team of people with special powers defending their home. When their interpersonal clashes grow strong enough, an opponent attacks, and the players will have to Fuse in order to fight back and protect their home. Fusion Time by Gregory Avery-Weir I’m calling this a “playtest” version, a sort of early-access thing. It’s fully playable but I haven’t done pretty formatting or figured out illustrations or anything. I’d like to see if I’ve missed any issues and if anyone’s even interested in the game at all before I do work to lay out the book in detail. There’s more on mechanics and acknowledgments on the game’s store page, so check it out! There are even free community copies there for queer folks and/or people of color who don’t feel able to afford the game. Additionally, if you’re in media (including being a streamer) and want a review copy, or would like me to facilitate a game session for you, let me know! Check out Fusion Time! You may have noticed that I’ve released several tabletop things lately and relatively few video games. One of the main reasons for this is that it’s simply less work: both media need design and testing, but I find it quicker and easier to write up and format a rules document than to code up and create material for a video game. That said, I’m still working on stuff over at Future Proof Games, and you can keep an eye on this space for more. Oh! And for more on my thoughts around the concept of fusion in media, check out my post on one of the game’s major influences, Steven Universe: “Everyone Should Watch ‘Alone Together’“.

Tabletop Garden: The Great Molasses Flood
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2021-03-20T22:44:44Z
subject: News
subject: ego driver
subject: molasses
subject: patreon
subject: tabletop garden
description: Over at Tabletop Garden, we’ve just started airing a new campaign! It’s called “The Great Molasses Flood”, it uses the Rosette Diceless system I helped design at Future Proof Games, and it’s a great place to start listening if you haven’t yet checked out my actual-play podcast of short campaigns about interesting characters with a … Continue reading Tabletop Garden: The Great Molasses Flood →
encoded: Over at Tabletop Garden, we’ve just started airing a new campaign! It’s called “The Great Molasses Flood”, it uses the Rosette Diceless system I helped design at Future Proof Games, and it’s a great place to start listening if you haven’t yet checked out my actual-play podcast of short campaigns about interesting characters with a critical agenda. 03.00: The Great Molasses Flood Teaser “The Great Molasses Flood” is a weird-fiction story where we take a real historical disaster that was entangled with issues of class and ethnicity and examine it through the lens of strange sci-fi. I really like how it turned out! “Ego Driver”, the previous campaign, was a lot of fun and explored some cool stuff, but I really like “Flood”‘s more personal feel and the way that things go off the rails in the second half. Check it out! If you like it, I would very much appreciate support on my Patreon account. You’ll get new episodes a week in advance and also get access to behind-the-scenes material; I did an hour-long postmortem on “Ego Driver” that went deep on my intentions and reflections on the campaign, and I plan to do the same for this one. I hope you enjoy “The Great Molasses Flood”! <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2021%2F03%2F20%2Ftabletop-garden-the-great-molasses-flood%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dtabletop-garden-the-great-molasses-flood&action_name=Tabletop+Garden%3A+The+Great+Molasses+Flood&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Warframe Has the Best Worldbuilding In Video Games
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2021-01-29T22:31:19Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Writing
subject: colonialism
subject: digital extremes
subject: fanfic
subject: history
subject: ontology
subject: story
subject: visual language
subject: warframe
subject: worldbuilding
description: (This article contains a discussion of the storyline of Warframe. It contains many things that some people may consider spoilers. Trust me. Read it.) Warframe is a free-to-play online third-person sci-fi shooter by Ontario developer Digital Extremes where you control a cool, acrobatic robo-warrior in a grindy co-op game where the PR tagline is “ninjas … Continue reading Warframe Has the Best Worldbuilding In Video Games →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2021%2F01%2F29%2Fwarframe-has-the-best-worldbuilding-in-video-games%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dwarframe-has-the-best-worldbuilding-in-video-games&action_name=Warframe+Has+the+Best+Worldbuilding+In+Video+Games&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: (This article contains a discussion of the storyline of Warframe. It contains many things that some people may consider spoilers. Trust me. Read it.) Warframe is a free-to-play online third-person sci-fi shooter by Ontario developer Digital Extremes where you control a cool, acrobatic robo-warrior in a grindy co-op game where the PR tagline is “ninjas play free”. You fight space nazis, mechanized capitalists, and a bioplague in a handful of standard mission types to get loot and level up your gear. Warframe, written and designed by Creative Director Steve Sinclair, Lead Writer Cam Rogers, and a team of other designers and writers, is the story of a dark future set in a fallen posthuman solar empire, where the generational victims of the cruel, long-lost Orokin are in constant conflict and where solidarity and empathy are the strongest forces against an apparently-inevitable cosmic struggle borne out of the resonating echoes of exploitation and familial loss. The Moon came back. No one told stories about its destruction, in the same way that no one told stories about the fall of Rome, or Dubai, or Io Prime. It was a fact, not a myth. But the throne of the Golden Lords reappeared above the world. They say the Tenno did it. They say the Tenno are reviving the Empire, and we will be their slaves. They say the Tenno are finally going to kill the Last Executor and finish the bloody slaughter they began generations ago. They say the Tenno are sorry, so sorry, and they have recreated Lua as a monument. The next night, a Grineer patrol killed my cousin. He had snuck out to find food. When you start Warframe in its current version (29.x.x), you awaken after a dreamlike introductory vision of an ancient war. You embody a biomechanical warrior called a warframe, sought by the militant Grineer. Guided by transmissions from the mysterious Lotus, you escape using a derelict landing craft to an orbiter managed by Ordis, an AI-like Cephalon who recognizes you as his beloved Operator…

Tabletop Garden: Ego Driver
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2021-01-27T19:30:13Z
subject: News
subject: Roleplaying
subject: ego driver
subject: podcast
subject: postmortem
subject: postmortems
subject: tabletop garden
subject: tabletop rpgs
description: We’ve finally completed the most recent campaign of my actual play podcast, Tabletop Garden. In “Ego Driver“, a group of misfit killers participate in a postcolonial road war in a postapocalyptic world. It draws from Mad Max: Fury Road, Trigun, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and Wacky Races. I’m super proud … Continue reading Tabletop Garden: Ego Driver →
encoded: We’ve finally completed the most recent campaign of my actual play podcast, Tabletop Garden. In “Ego Driver“, a group of misfit killers participate in a postcolonial road war in a postapocalyptic world. It draws from Mad Max: Fury Road, Trigun, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and Wacky Races. I’m super proud of how the campaign turned out, despite an embarrassingly long hiatus in the middle while I struggled with my own mental health issues. I’d really love it if you checked it out, and if you like it, shared it with your circles. You can start with the first episode: 02.01: Ego Driver – Beat It If you’d like more insight into how I planned the campaign, or how I feel about it looking back, you can sign up to support my Patreon, where I’ve just published over an hour of postmortem retrospective discussing things like how the players shaped the narrative and how I now feel about the extensive Michael Jackson references: Become a Patron! I’m real pleased with the story my players and I put together, and I’m looking forward to sharing the next campaign with you soon. It’s currently in recording and editing, and if you want a sneak preview, check out the end of the postmortem above!

All My Flash Games Now Downloadable With Source
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2020-10-28T18:36:42Z
subject: News
subject: flash
subject: my games
description: I’ve released all my Flash games as locally-playable SWFs and Windows projectors on itch.io! That means that they should remain playable even after browsers and Adobe stop supporting Flash. These represent three years of my career, and they were pretty prolific ones! Get all my Flash games on itch.io here! If you’re interested in seeing … Continue reading All My Flash Games Now Downloadable With Source →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2020%2F10%2F28%2Fall-my-flash-games-now-downloadable-with-source%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dall-my-flash-games-now-downloadable-with-source&action_name=All+My+Flash+Games+Now+Downloadable+With+Source&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: I’ve released all my Flash games as locally-playable SWFs and Windows projectors on itch.io! That means that they should remain playable even after browsers and Adobe stop supporting Flash. These represent three years of my career, and they were pretty prolific ones! Get all my Flash games on itch.io here! If you’re interested in seeing the source code or resources for the games, you can get it for most of them1 by paying $5. If you want the source for more than one, it’ll be a better deal to get my whole Flash Source Code Collection for a flat $10. Sometime soon I’ll get around to updating the game pages on this site to feature Itch widgets, like so: I’m very happy to have these games available again without requiring players to enable a deprecated plugin. If you’ve wanted to support certain Flash games of mine directly, this is also a good way to do that! You’re welcome to donate a bit when you download one, although I don’t expect that of anyone. If you’re wondering what’s been going on with me, I’ve gone into some detail on my Patreon, which I hope to revive in coming months: Become a Patron! Let me know if you have any thoughts on this release, or if you run into any problems. Thanks! Show 1 footnote I haven’t released the source for the games repackaged by Future Proof Games. ↩ <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2020%2F10%2F28%2Fall-my-flash-games-now-downloadable-with-source%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dall-my-flash-games-now-downloadable-with-source&action_name=All+My+Flash+Games+Now+Downloadable+With+Source&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Toward a Sustainable Resource Escalation Game
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2019-03-20T02:17:07Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: automation
subject: autonauts
subject: capitalism
subject: colonialism
subject: crafting
subject: dwarf fortress
subject: environmentalism
subject: escalation
subject: factorio
subject: fortresscraft evolved
subject: game design
subject: goodwin
subject: incremental games
subject: infinifactory
subject: minecraft
subject: nom nom galaxy
subject: populus
subject: resource escalation games
subject: rimworld
subject: satisfactory
subject: stardew valley
subject: subnautica
subject: sustainablility
subject: terraria
subject: violence
description: An emerging form of games, born out of Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress, has occupied my thoughts lately. It doesn’t seem to have a name yet; it grew out of some Minecraft mods and had its seminal work in Factorio. It’s a cousin, or even sibling, to the idle/incremental game, but usually looks more like a … Continue reading Toward a Sustainable Resource Escalation Game →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2019%2F03%2F19%2Ftoward-a-sustainable-resource-escalation-game%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dtoward-a-sustainable-resource-escalation-game&action_name=Toward+a+Sustainable+Resource+Escalation+Game&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: An emerging form of games, born out of Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress, has occupied my thoughts lately. It doesn’t seem to have a name yet; it grew out of some Minecraft mods and had its seminal work in Factorio. It’s a cousin, or even sibling, to the idle/incremental game, but usually looks more like a management or survival sandbox game. You could call it a resource management and automation game, or a factory simulator, but I’ll use the term “resource escalation game,” because its primary features are: resources to collect, usually from a world you must explore crafting of resources into more complex or rich forms structures for automation of the crafting, allowing you to take a higher-level conceptual view where you are concerned with the logistics of automation rather than foraging and an escalation created by those resources, where your initial low-level needs become inconsequential and the pace of progression is governed primarily by what complexity of resources you have instead of a more abstract research system1 A brief list of well-received games (not all of which I’ve played!) that fall into this very loose and fuzzy category, or are adjacent to it: Minecraft with appropriate mods Factorio Subnautica (limited automation) Autonauts FortressCraft Evolved! RimWorld (research-driven)2 Nom Nom Galaxy (crueler, as I’ve written about) I’m sure there are many more, and I’d love to hear about them in the comments. These games borrow gameplay loops from sandbox games like Terraria, where you collect resources that are rare or located in dangerous areas in order to craft equipment that lets you gain access to even more exotic resources. Resource escalation games also often include logistic challenges that bring to mind puzzle games like Infinifactory, although the goals are much less clearly-defined. They even evoke the space-claiming and hygge of farming or town-building games like Stardew Valley or Populus. However, there’s a problem with the conventions of this new…

Your Only True Choice – Complicity in Unavoidable Tragedy
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2019-02-19T22:01:03Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: accessibility
subject: brathwaite
subject: choice
subject: complicity
subject: consequence
subject: edith finch
subject: evans
subject: giant sparrow
subject: kennedy
subject: romero
subject: shaw
subject: sicart
subject: stanley
subject: tragedy
subject: trauma
description: Complicity is the most important distinguishing feature of games. Other media still requires your interaction. You choose the order in which to experience a series (broadcast or DVD order of Firefly? publication or chronological order of Narnia?), the way in which you experience a painting or sculpture (from a distance? different angles? different lighting?), or … Continue reading Your Only True Choice – Complicity in Unavoidable Tragedy →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2019%2F02%2F19%2Fyour-only-true-choice-complicity-in-unavoidable-tragedy%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dyour-only-true-choice-complicity-in-unavoidable-tragedy&action_name=Your+Only+True+Choice+%26%238211%3B+Complicity+in+Unavoidable+Tragedy&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: Complicity is the most important distinguishing feature of games. Other media still requires your interaction. You choose the order in which to experience a series (broadcast or DVD order of Firefly? publication or chronological order of Narnia?), the way in which you experience a painting or sculpture (from a distance? different angles? different lighting?), or how you experience a play (what cast? what seat? do you read it first? do you watch it staged at all?). Other Perspectives In “Choice, Consequence, and Complicity,” a talk I attended at GDC 2016, designer Alexis Kennedy of Failbetter Games (and now of Weather Factory) defines complicity in games as “the emotional experience you have as you are making a choice.” This is, from my perspective, a side effect of complicity but is not actually complicity itself. In “‘Who Did I Jettison into Space?’ Complicity as a Tool for Narrative Expression in INSIDE and The Swapper,” Monica Evans of the University of Texas at Dallas defines complicity as “the moment in which the player is required to do something they find morally or ethically repugnant in order to continue playing the game.” My usage banishes the repugnance into connotation, but the fact that complicity is required for continued play remains important. Brenda Brathwaite Romero’s 2009 board game “Train” explores real-life complicity within systems by using games as a rhetorical tool, but may also be one of the sparks for discussion of the concept of ludic complicity in games. Building on her work and others’, Miguel Sicart writes in Beyond Choices: The Design of Ethical Gameplay that “player complicity means surrendering to the fact that actions in a game have a moral dimension.” I agree, but consider this a consequence rather than a definition of complicity. Destructoid community member Jinx01 discussed complicity in a very similar way to how I’m using it in a 2013 blog post. However, only in games do your actions involve a complicity with the diegetic1 event…

Actual Play Podcasts Do Not Portray Actual Play, Actually
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2019-01-26T17:00:06Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Roleplaying
subject: actual play
subject: friends at the table
subject: hyperreal
subject: intention
subject: narrative
subject: patreon
subject: podcast
subject: potential narrative
subject: tabletop
subject: tabletop garden
subject: tabletop rpgs
subject: the adventure zone
description: Actual play podcasts are not what the name suggests. They're a form of podcast that purportedly serializes a recording of a group playing a tabletop roleplaying game. The listener hears the dice rolls, the out-of-character discussions, and the social interaction that surrounds the in-character story being told at the table. The apparent appeal is the fun of hearing the "actual play" occurring when creating an interesting story. But actual play podcasts are a lie.<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2019%2F01%2F26%2Factual-play-podcasts-do-not-portray-actual-play-actually%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dactual-play-podcasts-do-not-portray-actual-play-actually&action_name=Actual+Play+Podcasts+Do+Not+Portray+Actual+Play%2C+Actually&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: Actual play podcasts are not what the name suggests. They’re a form of podcast that purportedly serializes a recording of a group playing a tabletop roleplaying game. The listener hears the dice rolls, the out-of-character discussions, and the social interaction that surrounds the in-character story being told at the table. The apparent appeal is the fun of hearing the “actual play” occurring when creating an interesting story. But actual play podcasts are a lie. Actual Play This topic was proposed and selected by my Muse patrons on Patreon. If you have a topic you want me to write about, consider supporting me there. Roleplaying game systems (tabletop or otherwise) are more complex to examine than other games. I’ve written about their oddnesses over the course of years, but here is a summary1: Unlike most games, what you purchase when you buy a traditional RPG is a ruleset, not a potential narrative. When you buy Arkham Horror or DUSK, you can immediately begin playing without doing much creative work of your own. With RPG systems, on the other hand, one or more players must create characters, settings, and/or conflicts, depending on the game2. Once this “campaign material” has been created (or purchased as a separate supplement), then you have a potential narrative: a set of rules for simulation plus an initial world state (and potential future events). Playing through the campaign concretizes this potential narrative into an actual one. The campaign material is transformed by the rules and the player choices into the actual events that occur in the narrative and can later be breathlessly related to a gracious and patient third party. Actual play podcasts add an additional layer to this matryoshka of potentiality: The actual recorded play session is edited (or deliberately not edited!) to present a specific version of the narrative. This can include everything from removing rules discussions that were vital to the play experience of the players but not deemed nece…

Ludus Novus 030 – Transcendentalism, Gentrification, and the Procedural Rhetoric of Stardew Valley
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2019-01-13T00:56:57Z
subject: Podcasts
subject: barone
subject: bogost
subject: brice
subject: capitalism
subject: gentrification
subject: keegan
subject: la fleche
subject: ludus novus
subject: olson
subject: podcast
subject: procedural rhetoric
subject: schultz
subject: stardew valley
subject: thoreau
subject: walden
description: What does Stardew Valley say about the world with the rules of its simulation, and how does it compare to another Transcendentalist game, Walden, a game? Transcript: Transcript for this episode If you like this episode, check out the other podcasts I’m involved in: Audacious Compassion, The Future Proof Podcast, and Tabletop Garden. The Ludus Novus … Continue reading Ludus Novus 030 – Transcendentalism, Gentrification, and the Procedural Rhetoric of Stardew Valley →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2019%2F01%2F12%2Fludus-novus-030-transcendentalism-gentrification-and-the-procedural-rhetoric-of-stardew-valley%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-030-transcendentalism-gentrification-and-the-procedural-rhetoric-of-stardew-valley&action_name=Ludus+Novus+030+%26%238211%3B+Transcendentalism%2C+Gentrification%2C+and+the+Procedural+Rhetoric+of+Stardew+Valley&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: What does Stardew Valley say about the world with the rules of its simulation, and how does it compare to another Transcendentalist game, Walden, a game? Transcript: Transcript for this episode If you like this episode, check out the other podcasts I’m involved in: Audacious Compassion, The Future Proof Podcast, and Tabletop Garden. The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter under a ccby3.0 license. REFERENCES Barone, Eric. Stardew Valley. Chucklefish, 22 February 2016. https://stardewvalley.net/ Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. MIT Press, 2010. Brice, Mattie. “My First Year in Stardew Valley.” Alternate Ending, 29 April 2016. http://www.mattiebrice.com/my-first-year-in-stardew-valley/ Fullerton, Tracy et al. Walden: a game. USC Game Innovation Lab, 4 July 2017. https://www.waldengame.com/ La Flèche, Gersande. “The gentleman farmer, labour and land: ecocritical possibilities in Stardew Valley.” Gersande’s Blog, 3 May 2016. https://gersande.com/blog/the-gentleman-farmer-labour-and-land-ecocriticial-possibilities-in-stardew-valley/ Keegan, Brett. “Stardew Valley, Sorge, and Martin Heidegger.” Backyard Philosophy, 27 March 2018. https://backyardphilosophy.com/2018/03/27/stardew-valley-sorge-and-martin-heidegger/ Olson, Dan. “The Stanley Parable, Dark Souls, and Intended Play.” Folding Ideas, 26 July 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHmivGmkjJw Piel, Michael. “The Video Game Based on Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ Will Bring You Closer to Nature.” Motherboard, 25 October 2017. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/7x4vmz/video-game-based-on-thoreau-walden-will-bring-you-closer-to-nature Schultz, Kathryn. “Pond scum: Henry David Thoreau’s moral myopia.” The New Yorker, 19 October 2015. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum Thoreau, Henry D. Walden; or, Life in th…

Tabletop Garden: New RPG Podcast
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-12-19T19:04:44Z
subject: Blogs
subject: News
subject: Roleplaying
subject: howitt
subject: mechanical oryx
subject: podcast
subject: tabletop
subject: tabletop rpgs
description: I’ve started a new podcast! It’s called Tabletop Garden, and it’s an “actual play” show where a rotating cast plays tabletop roleplaying games and talks about them. Tabletop Garden is an actual-play podcast where we collaborate on short, self-contained stories about interesting characters, and we do it with an agenda. Throughout each campaign we discuss … Continue reading Tabletop Garden: New RPG Podcast →
encoded: I’ve started a new podcast! It’s called Tabletop Garden, and it’s an “actual play” show where a rotating cast plays tabletop roleplaying games and talks about them. Tabletop Garden is an actual-play podcast where we collaborate on short, self-contained stories about interesting characters, and we do it with an agenda. Throughout each campaign we discuss values, techniques, and how to play with intention. Our first pilot campaign uses Mechanical Oryx by Grant Howitt to tell a tale of looming violence in the solarpunk postapocalypse. During each campaign, episodes will release weekly. Check out the show at tabletop.garden.

Ludus Novus 029 – The Goalless Path of Bernband
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-09-11T18:00:07Z
subject: Podcasts
subject: aesthetics
subject: ashe
subject: barlow
subject: bernband
subject: exploration
subject: fullbright
subject: goals
subject: gone home
subject: goodwin
subject: her story
subject: interaction
subject: juul
subject: kanaga
subject: key
subject: knytt
subject: ludus novus
subject: narrative
subject: nifflas
subject: nygren
subject: podcast
subject: proteus
subject: schell
subject: story
subject: van den boogaart
subject: walking simulators
description: What do people actually mean when they say “walking simulator?” Bernband by Tom van den Boogaart doesn’t even seem to have a goal. But then why do you keep playing it? Bernband: https://gamejolt.com/games/bernband/34864 Bernband Remake Twitter: https://twitter.com/bernband Youtube (MP3 below): Transcript: Transcript for this episode If you like this episode, check out the other podcasts … Continue reading Ludus Novus 029 – The Goalless Path of Bernband →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2018%2F09%2F11%2Fludus-novus-029-the-goalless-path-of-bernband%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-029-the-goalless-path-of-bernband&action_name=Ludus+Novus+029+%26%238211%3B+The+Goalless+Path+of+Bernband&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Thumbnail-300x169.png" alt="" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2444" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Thumbnail-300x169.png 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Thumbnail-768x432.png 768w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Thumbnail-800x450.png 800w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Thumbnail.png 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />What do people actually mean when they say “walking simulator?” Bernband by Tom van den Boogaart doesn’t even seem to have a goal. But then why do you keep playing it? Bernband: https://gamejolt.com/games/bernband/34864 Bernband Remake Twitter: https://twitter.com/bernband Youtube (MP3 below): Transcript: Transcript for this episode If you like this episode, check out the other podcasts I’m involved in: Audacious Compassion and The Future Proof Podcast The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter under a ccby3.0 license. REFERENCES Ashe, Pat. “Walking Simulator Simulator.” Feral Vector, 2014. https://soundcloud.com/thepatashe/walking-simulator-simulator (Transcript on The Pat Ashe, 6 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141007075156/http://thepatashe.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/walking-simulator-simulator/ ) Barlow, Sam. Her Story. 2015. http://www.herstorygame.com/ The Fullbright Company. Gone Home. 2013. https://gonehome.game/ Goodwin, Joel. “Screw Your Walking Simulators.” Electron Dance, 16 July 2014. http://www.electrondance.com/screw-your-walking-simulators/ Juul, Jesper. “Without a goal”. In Tanya Krzywinska and Barry Atkins (eds):Videogame/Player/Text. Manchester University Press, 2007. http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/withoutagoal/ Key, Ed and David Kanaga. Pro…

Ludus Novus 028: Candyland: Game as Critical Lens
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-09-04T18:19:14Z
subject: Podcasts
subject: agency
subject: analysis
subject: candy land
subject: choice
subject: complicity
subject: critical lens
subject: dancing
subject: definitions
subject: doom
subject: game
subject: gone home
subject: interaction
subject: podcast
subject: sim city
subject: soccer
subject: square dancing
subject: taxonomy
subject: video
description: What is a “game?” It only matters in context. When we examine things as games to learn from them, what does that mean? Any useful definition of game used as a critical lens must encompass Soccer, Candy Land, Sim City, Doom, and Gone Home. But Candy Land doesn’t have any player choice. Is it just … Continue reading Ludus Novus 028: Candyland: Game as Critical Lens →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2018%2F09%2F04%2Fludus-novus-028-candyland-game-as-critical-lens%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-028-candyland-game-as-critical-lens&action_name=Ludus+Novus+028%3A+Candyland%3A+Game+as+Critical+Lens&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: What is a “game?” It only matters in context. When we examine things as games to learn from them, what does that mean? Any useful definition of game used as a critical lens must encompass Soccer, Candy Land, Sim City, Doom, and Gone Home. But Candy Land doesn’t have any player choice. Is it just dancing? I’ve tried something new with this episode. I’ve put together a video version, currently hosted on YouTube, with some nonessential visual aids. For now I intend to keep the show audio-first, but having it available via YouTube may make it more accessible and attract new listeners/viewers. If you’re seeing this on my website, the normal audio player is still below. I’ve also put together a text transcript for the episode: Transcript for this episode If you like this episode, check out the other podcasts I’m involved in: Audacious Compassion and The Future Proof Podcast The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter under a ccby3.0 license.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2018%2F09%2F04%2Fludus-novus-028-candyland-game-as-critical-lens%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-028-candyland-game-as-critical-lens&action_name=Ludus+Novus+028%3A+Candyland%3A+Game+as+Critical+Lens&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Tracery Live Released
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-09-02T20:23:18Z
subject: News
subject: compton
subject: generative art
subject: github
subject: open source
subject: procedural generation
subject: tools
subject: toys
subject: tracery
description: I love the work that Kate Compton and others have done with generative/procedural art. One thing I’ve missed, though, is the ability to just link to a quickly-made thing. Specifically, I’ve done things like specify the naming structure of alien species for a roleplaying game using Kate’s tool Tracery, but there’s no easy way I’ve … Continue reading Tracery Live Released →
encoded: I love the work that Kate Compton and others have done with generative/procedural art. One thing I’ve missed, though, is the ability to just link to a quickly-made thing. Specifically, I’ve done things like specify the naming structure of alien species for a roleplaying game using Kate’s tool Tracery, but there’s no easy way I’ve found to just link to an arbitrary Tracery grammar without spinning up a server or making a Twitter bot or something similar. So I made one. Tracery Live is an open-source Tracery front-end that stores your JSON source code in a query string, so that you can load grammars without any back-end storage needed. It supports HTML and various other supportive techs. You can paste in an arbitrary Tracery grammar or edit it directly on the page. Here’s Tracery’s Night Vale example for a sample of a lengthier end result. This really is, like many software projects, a bunch of techs slapped together: George Buckingham’s Node version of Compton’s Tracery library, Nicholas Jitkoff’s itty.bitty.site approach using Nathan Rugg’s JS implementation of the LZMA compression algorithm, and the is.gd URL shortener, glued together with the unnecessarily-bulky-for-this-purpose Ember.js framework and hosted on GitHub Pages. My thanks to everyone involved. Check out Tracery Live on GitHub Pages. If you have any feature requests or bug reports, let me know in the GitHub issues or in the comments.

Rosette Diceless Released
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-07-29T22:04:42Z
subject: Roleplaying
subject: future proof games
subject: my games
subject: rosette
subject: rosette diceless
description: At Future Proof Games, we just released a tabletop/live-action roleplaying game called Rosette Diceless. For those who have followed me for a while, this is a distant descendant of my 2009 beta release, LORE. We’ve been playtesting it for a year or two, and we’re looking forward to hearing what other folks use it for. … Continue reading Rosette Diceless Released →
encoded: At Future Proof Games, we just released a tabletop/live-action roleplaying game called Rosette Diceless. For those who have followed me for a while, this is a distant descendant of my 2009 beta release, LORE. We’ve been playtesting it for a year or two, and we’re looking forward to hearing what other folks use it for. As with the rest of Rosette, Rosette Diceless has an agenda: it is dedicated to a consensus-based, story-first, and improvisational approach. We believe that this creates the best social environment for creating and expressing stories that incorporate everyone’s creativity. You can pick up a digital copy of Rosette Diceless on itch.io, Kindle, or DriveThruRPG. We’ll have a paperback print-on-demand version on DTRPG soon; if you get the digital version before then, send us a proof of purchase to info@futureproofgames.com and you can pick up the print-on-demand at the bundle price. Check out Rosette Diceless on its website!

“The Majesty of Colors” Remastered and Released
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2018-02-28T21:06:23Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Games Releases
subject: News
subject: balloons
subject: future proof games
subject: majesty
subject: mobile
subject: my games
subject: steam
subject: tentacles
description: In 2008, I made a game called “(I Fell in Love With) The Majesty of Colors.” It got played millions of times, won awards, and is still recognized by many people I run across randomly. In 2016, in part as a response to the impending death of Adobe Flash, we at Future Proof Games announced … Continue reading “The Majesty of Colors” Remastered and Released →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2018%2F02%2F28%2Fthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered-and-released%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered-and-released&action_name=%26%238220%3BThe+Majesty+of+Colors%26%238221%3B+Remastered+and+Released&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: In 2008, I made a game called “(I Fell in Love With) The Majesty of Colors.” It got played millions of times, won awards, and is still recognized by many people I run across randomly. In 2016, in part as a response to the impending death of Adobe Flash, we at Future Proof Games announced “The Majesty of Colors Remastered”, a rebuild of the original game in Unity with enhancements. We estimated that it would take a few months. Today, two years later, the game is finally released on five platforms: iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Every game release is scary for a different reason. One of the reasons I’m nervous about this one is that “The Majesty of Colors” is real short, and we’re asking money for it. Even on mobile. In the end, our estimate wasn’t far off; it took the two of us a few person-months of actual work, but that was spread over two years of working at day jobs. Even with the low price we’re asking, it will still take tens of thousands of sales to “break even,” making the game pay for itself. It’ll take even more to make a profit, supporting more steady work on future games and maybe even justifying further enhancements like extra interactions or (no promises!) more story. We’re tentatively buoyed by the response to the game we’ve gotten so far today. Folks are excited, and we’ve gotten some press interest and are hopeful for more. But “The Majesty of Colors” is a work very close to my heart, and I’m still afraid that its time has entirely passed. We’ll see. I’ve written this in various places over the last few days: thank you for dreaming with us.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2018%2F02%2F28%2Fthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered-and-released%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered-and-released&action_name=%26%238220%3BThe+Majesty+of+Colors%26%238221%3B+Remastered+and+Released&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F"…

Ludus Novus 027: Imposition of Order Results in Escalation of Disorder
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2017-06-07T16:37:27Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Podcasts
subject: agency
subject: arkane
subject: bethesda
subject: consequences
subject: podcast
subject: power
subject: prey 2017
subject: risk
description: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast: Prey 2017. The lie of a power fantasy is that power over others is something you deserve. Prey is a consequence fantasy: to take agency, you must incur risk. To escape a cage of lies, you have to open the door onto a world of new danger. … Continue reading Ludus Novus 027: Imposition of Order Results in Escalation of Disorder →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2017%2F06%2F07%2Fludus-novus-027-imposition-of-order-results-in-escalation-of-disorder%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-027-imposition-of-order-results-in-escalation-of-disorder&action_name=Ludus+Novus+027%3A+Imposition+of+Order+Results+in+Escalation+of+Disorder&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast: Prey 2017. The lie of a power fantasy is that power over others is something you deserve. Prey is a consequence fantasy: to take agency, you must incur risk. To escape a cage of lies, you have to open the door onto a world of new danger. The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter under a ccby3.0 license.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2017%2F06%2F07%2Fludus-novus-027-imposition-of-order-results-in-escalation-of-disorder%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-027-imposition-of-order-results-in-escalation-of-disorder&action_name=Ludus+Novus+027%3A+Imposition+of+Order+Results+in+Escalation+of+Disorder&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Punching Nazis Is a Sacred Act
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2017-02-17T21:16:44Z
subject: Blogs
subject: compassion
subject: nazis
subject: pacifism
subject: politics
subject: spencer
subject: violence
description: Richard Spencer — a known racist and genocide advocate — got punched on video and publicly humiliated and it was funny and satisfying to watch. It was an effective way to weaken his public platform, both in an immediate sense (it silenced him mid-sentence) and in a long-term sense (he will always be the person … Continue reading Punching Nazis Is a Sacred Act →
encoded: Richard Spencer — a known racist and genocide advocate — got punched on video and publicly humiliated and it was funny and satisfying to watch. It was an effective way to weaken his public platform, both in an immediate sense (it silenced him mid-sentence) and in a long-term sense (he will always be the person with silly music behind videos of him being hurt). This has started a wave of public speech alternately condemning the specific act or advocating for eagerly and proactively punching more Nazis. While there’s certainly been a range of viewpoints in this discussion, two common ways these ethics are being framed are1: “violence as political action is never acceptable” and “punching Nazis is always great so let’s do more of it.” I disagree with both of these ideas. Violence is sometimes justified and even necessary. But it is a serious, severe, and indeed sacred act. When you commit violence in the defense of virtue, you are causing a feeling person pain, potentially permanently injuring or killing them, and you are taking the poison of that violence into yourself. It’s a transformative act, a sacrifice, and to take it lightly is not only reckless: it is sacrilege that minimizes that sacrifice. Violence is Justifiable If anyone deserves to be hit, Spencer and his ilk do: he is a vocal advocate for perspectives and policies that will hurt and kill people and is very good at framing his views in a way that is innocuous to the most ignorant and gives others plausible deniability to look the other way. Worse, this seems to be working. White supremacy seems to be openly growing. From a utilitarian perspective, causing Spencer some pain in exchange for ending his advocacy is a good trade-off. I’ve long been a pacifist. I despise violence as a tactic. Still, I recognize that violence is often an effective way to directly prevent worse violence in an actively violent situation. An fact that is more uncomfortable to me is that, in a situation where there is no clear ethic…

Headless Swarm Released
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-12-02T20:13:34Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Games Releases
subject: News
subject: exploit zero day
subject: future proof games
subject: game releases
subject: games releases
subject: headless swarm
subject: my games
subject: story
description: “Headless Swarm” has landed. It’s the first season of paid story for Exploit: Zero Day, our cyberthriller puzzle game about social justice hacktivism. The game’s still in alpha1 but buying “Headless Swarm” will get you immediate access to the game, the free season of story “Black Echoes,” and the first couple of jobs in the … Continue reading Headless Swarm Released →
encoded: “Headless Swarm” has landed. It’s the first season of paid story for Exploit: Zero Day, our cyberthriller puzzle game about social justice hacktivism. The game’s still in alpha1 but buying “Headless Swarm” will get you immediate access to the game, the free season of story “Black Echoes,” and the first couple of jobs in the new season. Our living story approach to plot in Exploit: Zero Day means that we release story gradually over time during the first run of a season. It means that you get to play story sooner and lets us adapt our approach as we see how story is received. “Headless Swarm” will be nine jobs in total, released over the coming months and all included in the single purchase. This storyline is pretty cool, I think! It focuses around a real, scary hacking technique and explores the growing ubiquity of drones, the effect cyberintrusion and hacktivism can have on society, and how corporations use the fear of cyberattack to collect power. I’m also proud of the new characters and organizations we’ve written: Kilroy-sama is weird and silly, OnyxHorde feels like a good balance between sinister and contemptible, and Shay Oakes legit creeps me out. I hope players enjoy it, too. Check out “Headless Swarm” here! Show 1 footnote With free access given periodically through our newsletter. ↩

Exploit: Zero Day – Headless Swarm Landing December 1
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-11-22T13:59:31Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: News
subject: exploit zero day
subject: future proof games
subject: headless swarm
subject: kilroy was here
subject: my games
subject: preview
subject: trailer
description: For years I’ve been working at Future Proof Games with my partner Melissa on Exploit: Zero Day, a cyberthriller with living story where you roleplay as a hacktivist by making and solving puzzles that represent computer systems. It’s been in closed alpha testing for a while, but on December 1, 2016 we’ll be releasing our … Continue reading Exploit: Zero Day – Headless Swarm Landing December 1 →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F11%2F22%2Fexploit-zero-day-headless-swarm-landing-december-1%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dexploit-zero-day-headless-swarm-landing-december-1&action_name=Exploit%3A+Zero+Day+%26%238211%3B+Headless+Swarm+Landing+December+1&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: For years I’ve been working at Future Proof Games with my partner Melissa on Exploit: Zero Day, a cyberthriller with living story where you roleplay as a hacktivist by making and solving puzzles that represent computer systems. It’s been in closed alpha testing for a while, but on December 1, 2016 we’ll be releasing our first season of paid story: “Headless Swarm.” You can read more about the release and the game on our announcement blog post, but here I’ll just say that I really hope people check the game out and spread the word about the release. Even if you don’t want to buy the season right now, please sign up for the newsletter and you can get free alpha access when the season comes out. Make some puzzles, play the free story, and let us know what you think. And if you like it, consider picking up “Headless Swarm!” With everything going on in the world right now, both Melissa and I want to feel like we’re making a difference. We’re trying to do that in a bunch of different ways but one of them is with Exploit: Zero Day. We want this game to be a way to explore difficult moral topics and modern technological ethics and encourage players to think hard about them, especially if they’ve never done so before. The more people hear about the game, the more successful we can be at that. Please let your friends know about the game! If you’re press or a streamer, please reach out to us for free media keys on distribute().<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F11%2F22%2Fexploit-zero-day-headless-swarm-landing-december-1%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dexploit-zero-day-headless-swarm-landing-december-1&action_name=Exploit%3A+Zero+Day+%26%238211%3B+Headless+Swarm+Landing+December+1&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Ludus Novus 026: Reflection
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-11-11T15:00:58Z
subject: Life
subject: Podcasts
subject: bigotry
subject: compassion
subject: empathy
subject: gamergate
subject: gone home
subject: patreon
subject: podcast
subject: politics
subject: race
subject: san andreas
subject: trump
subject: violence
description: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the election and GamerGate and how we can make a difference with games. I start with an excerpt from Austin Walker’s recent, amazing piece “A Note on Trump, Waypoint, and Why We Play.” I move on to discuss mirror neurons, Gone Home, my presumptuous racial … Continue reading Ludus Novus 026: Reflection →
encoded: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the election and GamerGate and how we can make a difference with games. I start with an excerpt from Austin Walker’s recent, amazing piece “A Note on Trump, Waypoint, and Why We Play.” I move on to discuss mirror neurons, Gone Home, my presumptuous racial awareness thanks to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, my plans to survive violent abuse, and the power of games to promote compassion. The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter under a ccby3.0 license.

Breaking Down at Sex Down South
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-10-28T17:15:29Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Life
subject: compassion
subject: conference
subject: impostor syndrome
subject: privilege
subject: queer
subject: sds
subject: trans
description: It’s the sign of a good conference if you’re affected emotionally, but I generally prefer not to end up in tears. I recently attended Sex Down South, a sex and sexuality conference in Atlanta. It’s a great event featuring sex educators and layfolk discussing sex, advocacy, and relationships in an array of lectures, panels, and … Continue reading Breaking Down at Sex Down South →
encoded: It’s the sign of a good conference if you’re affected emotionally, but I generally prefer not to end up in tears. I recently attended Sex Down South, a sex and sexuality conference in Atlanta. It’s a great event featuring sex educators and layfolk discussing sex, advocacy, and relationships in an array of lectures, panels, and workshops. One of the things I love about it is that it explicitly prioritizes the experiences of people of color and queer folk: perspectives that are often overlooked in discussions about sex. This year’s theme was “The Politics of Pleasure,” and most talks explored that in some way: the idea that how we choose our partners is political, the difficulty of approaching consent around trauma survivors or when exploring complicated kinks, or the process of effective advocacy for healthier sexuality. It was heavy stuff, and by early in the third and final day I was socially exhausted. Stretched Thin I’m pretty introverted, so conferences inherently take a toll beyond the normal long days and lack of sleep involved. Additionally, I try to adhere to the concept of “take space/make space,”1 where people who are naturally quiet should try to make themselves heard and people who tend to talk a lot should pull back a bit and give room for others to speak. I was always the kid with the hand up in class and if I follow my instincts I can easily dominate a discussion without meaning to. Because of that I was working very hard to pay attention to how much social space I was taking up… to the degree that it was exacerbating my natural social anxiety. On top of that exhaustion, I began experiencing a sort of impostor syndrome. I’m a genderqueer, transgender, non-binary person, and at the conference I was quite visibly so, wearing facial hair and mostly feminine clothes. Still, though, I had a disturbing and unsettling feeling of being “not queer enough.” Several years ago I identified as genderqueer but didn’t claim the label “transgender.” I didn’t really e…

Invisible Design in Picross 3D: Round 2
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-10-22T15:00:02Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: craft
subject: design
subject: HAL
subject: nintendo
subject: patreon
subject: picross
subject: picross 3d
subject: puzzle design
description: Why is no one talking about Picross 3D: Round 2? To put it another way, what can I say about Picross 3D: Round 2? It is an ideal game. It’s not perfect; I could list flaws like the error-prone controls if I were ever inclined to write a review. But as someone who likes to … Continue reading Invisible Design in Picross 3D: Round 2 →
encoded: Why is no one talking about Picross 3D: Round 2? To put it another way, what can I say about Picross 3D: Round 2? It is an ideal game. It’s not perfect; I could list flaws like the error-prone controls if I were ever inclined to write a review. But as someone who likes to write about games as works of art and craft, it’s almost too ideal to grasp. Like the smooth carved-wood toys you produce when solving puzzles in the game, there are no hard corners or rough spots to get a rhetorical grip on. The game just follows. It follows from its ruleset and its heritage and the decisions made in its design are all either necessary or arbitrary. The decisions are hard to even notice and games like these receive less attention in the critical space due to this invisible design. Necessary Decisions P3DR2 is the latest in over 10 Picross games for Nintendo systems: an implementation of the well-established nonogram puzzle type mostly for portable devices. It uses a modification of the standard nonogram rules: it’s on a 3D instead of 2D grid, it uses two colors, and instead of listing the exact groupings and order of color in each row it just lists the total number of blocks of each color and whether they are in one, two, or many groups. These are all incremental changes, made to enable the experience required for the game. Consider the groupings. While 10×10 or larger grids are common in 2D Picross games, the foreshortening required for 3D makes a 10-block cube the near maximum size that still allows accurate selection of blocks with a stylus. However, a 10×10 puzzle feels easy in standard Picross; 20×20 puzzles or larger are the norm for advanced levels of 2D games. To make the smaller puzzle size challenging, information needed to be removed. The simpler row labeling is necessary for the smaller puzzle size, which is necessary due to the realities of 3D projection. There’s a division in nonogram games: what do you do when the player makes a mistake? Some games, such as Pokémon…

“The Majesty of Colors” Remastered
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-08-25T21:42:54Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: News
subject: balloons
subject: color
subject: future proof games
subject: greenlight
subject: majesty
subject: my games
subject: steam
description: Big news! As part of Future Proof Games, I’m remastering my classic Flash art game “The Majesty of Colors” for modern technologies. Instead of Flash, the game will be available natively for Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, and Android. We’re polishing some rough edges but otherwise staying true to the original. This feels very odd! “(I … Continue reading “The Majesty of Colors” Remastered →
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Majesty-Greenlight-Promo-300x300.png" alt="Majesty Greenlight Promo" width="300" height="300" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2238" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Majesty-Greenlight-Promo-300x300.png 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Majesty-Greenlight-Promo-450x450.png 450w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Majesty-Greenlight-Promo.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Big news! As part of Future Proof Games, I’m remastering my classic Flash art game “The Majesty of Colors” for modern technologies. Instead of Flash, the game will be available natively for Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, and Android. We’re polishing some rough edges but otherwise staying true to the original. This feels very odd! “(I Fell in Love With) The Majesty of Colors” is one of the first games I made that got any attention and remains one of my most-recognized games. It can be a bit frustrating sometimes that a game I made almost eight years ago is more familiar to folks than my recent work, but the truth is that “Majesty” is one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on, along with Looming, Ossuary, and Exploit: Zero Day. Out of all my games that are becoming inaccessible due to the fading of Adobe Flash, “Majesty” is the one I most want to preserve. I’m hoping that there’s an audience for weird little art games in the modern gaming world, especially on Steam. If you think there is, please vote for us on Steam Greenlight. Otherwise, you can see the trailer and get more information on the official website of “The Majesty of Colors”. Let me know if you have any questions!<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F08%2F25%2Fthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dthe-majesty-of-colors-remastered&action…

Strange Symmetra: Accretive Design in Overwatch
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-08-05T03:58:54Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: accretive design
subject: blizzard
subject: design
subject: game design
subject: overwatch
subject: patreon
subject: symmetra
description: Symmetra is the most strangely-designed character in Blizzard’s Overwatch. In a game where most heroes’ roles can be summed up in a few words (“fast flanker,” “mobile area-denial tank,” “AOE healer,” “slowing defender”) and their story concepts naturally arise from their roles (“time-traveling jet pilot,” “leaping electric gorilla,” “portable DJ,” “cute ice Satan”1), Symmetra makes … Continue reading Strange Symmetra: Accretive Design in Overwatch →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F08%2F04%2Fstrange-symmetra-accretive-design-in-overwatch%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dstrange-symmetra-accretive-design-in-overwatch&action_name=Strange+Symmetra%3A+Accretive+Design+in+Overwatch&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: Symmetra is the most strangely-designed character in Blizzard’s Overwatch. In a game where most heroes’ roles can be summed up in a few words (“fast flanker,” “mobile area-denial tank,” “AOE healer,” “slowing defender”) and their story concepts naturally arise from their roles (“time-traveling jet pilot,” “leaping electric gorilla,” “portable DJ,” “cute ice Satan”1), Symmetra makes little sense. She builds many tiny sentries, gives minor shields to allies, builds teleporters, and can attack with either a short-range cumulative auto-aim beam or a slow-moving death orb. This is explained by her being a combination architect and sci-fi construction worker, shaping solid forms out of light. She is the only character with “photonic” technology, and it is not explained how being able to project physical holograms also lets you bend space and time to craft a teleportation portal. I have no special insight into the Overwatch design process, but I can speculate with some confidence about how it proceeded. Symmetra (and indeed all the heroes) were not designed from the ground up. They were assembled using an accretive process, where abilities were assembled piecemeal and then unified with a story-based concept. How to Build a Roster Overwatch‘s design pedigree is two parts Team Fortress and one part DOTA. The concept of a first-person shooter where classes perform specific roles comes from TF, but its classes lack character and are a bit too mechanically similar2. Team Fortress 2 makes the characters distinct in appearance and personality, but they all play similarly enough with the exception of the specialist classes (Engineer, Medic, and Spy). As TF2 developed, new weapons were released that allow a wide range of customization of classes and, in some cases, complete overhauls of class roles3. This customization increased play diversity while further blurring the roles of the characters. Other games that Overwatch borrows concepts and abilities from include the Borderlands a…

Audacious Compassion Podcast
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-08-02T14:47:01Z
subject: Blogs
subject: News
subject: audacious compassion
subject: compassion
subject: empathy
subject: ethics
subject: melissa
subject: podcast
description: My partner Melissa and I have started a new project: a monthly podcast called Audacious Compassion about how to demonstrate empathy in difficult everyday situations. The first episode, “Go Buy a Caddy,” is up and you can subscribe via RSS or iTunes. You can even rate us five stars on iTunes if you like! “Audacious … Continue reading Audacious Compassion Podcast →
encoded: My partner Melissa and I have started a new project: a monthly podcast called Audacious Compassion about how to demonstrate empathy in difficult everyday situations. The first episode, “Go Buy a Caddy,” is up and you can subscribe via RSS or iTunes. You can even rate us five stars on iTunes if you like! “Audacious compassion” is a concept we’ve made a primary value of our company Future Proof Games. We’re huge believers in the ethical power of understanding others’ viewpoints and motivations, especially in situations where the other person is very different or is doing something that seems (or is!) malicious. We’re focusing on everyday struggles with the podcast—the first episode is on longstanding minor annoyances, domestic and otherwise—but just because they’re mundane doesn’t mean the feelings and problems surrounding them aren’t difficult or powerful. If you’ve got an issue you want us to discuss on the show, write us@avery-weir.net. For those of you eager for more episodes of Ludus Novus, I have some I would like to do, but they take more planning and investment of energy and emotion than Audacious Compassion. I don’t feel able to commit to a schedule on them, but I hope to release more soon.

Challenge is a Calibration
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-07-06T20:31:10Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: challenge
subject: dark souls
subject: difficulty
subject: easy mode
subject: fearon
subject: rants
description: I’ve read one too many “git gud” posts arguing that challenge is essential to games and that including an easy mode on, say, Dark Souls would ruin it; if you don’t want a hard game, don’t play Dark Souls. They’re wrong. Firstly, challenge isn’t an inherent aspect of games: it’s just one way of evoking … Continue reading Challenge is a Calibration →
encoded: I’ve read one too many “git gud” posts arguing that challenge is essential to games and that including an easy mode on, say, Dark Souls would ruin it; if you don’t want a hard game, don’t play Dark Souls. They’re wrong. Firstly, challenge isn’t an inherent aspect of games: it’s just one way of evoking certain player responses. Challenge is partly a personal preference thing: some people want a smooth experience and I do think that Dark Souls is a poor choice for that, and that experiencing Dark Souls as a cake walk won’t let you understand Dark Souls. But that’s not the point. My perspective was summarized pretty eloquently by Rob Fearon but I feel like it can be distilled even further. The argument: what is hard for you might not be hard for me. Look at it this way. I have a certain level of expertise with games, based on my experience, reflexes, and ability (e.g. having thumbs). Call this number X. A game has a certain set of obstacles it puts in your way, which must be overcome by acting within certain tolerances: fast enough, accurately enough, with a certain amount of strategy. Call this minimum level of performance Y. The level of challenge, then, can be seen as the difference between X and Y. Y – X = C. Let’s assume that an ideal challenge for a game like Dark Souls occurs when my skill is barely enough to meet the obstacles, making Y and X the same and making C equal zero. If the game’s obstacles are easy to bypass—at level 5, say—and my skill is a high number at an 8, then C is -3 and the game is easier than intended. However, with the same level 5 obstacles, if my skill is lower (a 2, say) then C becomes +3: a real frustrating slog that I may not be able to overcome. Consider especially that I may not be able to increase my skill. I may lack sufficient talent. I may have a disability. I may have a low frame rate and no money to upgrade my computer. If a game doesn’t adapt to me, I cannot get the proper experience of the game. Consider instead a game where …

The Transformative Power of Good Writing – Wolfenstein: The New Order
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-07-05T19:07:07Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: characters
subject: MachineGames
subject: Matthies
subject: nuance
subject: patreon
subject: story
subject: wolfenstein
subject: writing
description: Wolfenstein: The New Order, developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda, should have been awful. If you’d asked me before release, I’d have predicted that the ninth game in a franchise, an alternate-history game set in the 1960s where the Nazis won World War II, featuring B.J. Blazkowicz as a recovered locked-in veteran, would only … Continue reading The Transformative Power of Good Writing – Wolfenstein: The New Order →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F07%2F05%2Fthe-transformative-power-of-good-writing-wolfenstein-the-new-order%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dthe-transformative-power-of-good-writing-wolfenstein-the-new-order&action_name=The+Transformative+Power+of+Good+Writing+%26%238211%3B+Wolfenstein%3A+The+New+Order&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: Wolfenstein: The New Order, developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda, should have been awful. If you’d asked me before release, I’d have predicted that the ninth game in a franchise, an alternate-history game set in the 1960s where the Nazis won World War II, featuring B.J. Blazkowicz as a recovered locked-in veteran, would only be good for a few hot takes and maybe some mediocre shooting with nose firmly held. Instead, this game is one of the best I’ve played. It’s not just great, it’s well-crafted. That is to say that, beyond the things that appeal to my personal preferences (alternate history, cool sci-fi, a diverse cast, a dark tone, a considered pace) it shows great skill in how it executes what it sets out to do. The credit for this success belongs to various factors—the expressive visual art, the excellent voice acting, and the well-polished rule systems—but more than anything, it’s thanks to the excellent writing. The Main Timeline When we talk about good writing in video games, we usually mean something different than when we talk about it in prose. “Good writing” in games typically means that the sequence of events in the game are interesting when summarized. Well-written prose, however, might have totally mundane events; it is the way in which they are communicated that distinguishes the quality of the writing. Video games are obsessed with high concept. A clear and literal threat exists, usually threatening all of society. A hero is uniquely equipped to defeat that threat. In the end the threat is defeated. Stories are usually distinguished by an interesting setting and by the “twists” that happen along the way. Let’s look at Bioshock Infinite, a game which received numerous “Best Story” awards in 20131. Infinite is lauded for its interesting setting: a city above the clouds tainted by American nationalism and racism. It’s got a charming naif in the form of Elizabeth. And it has a complex twisty storyline involving parallel worlds and surprise…

Ossuary in Steam Summer Sale 2016
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-06-26T16:12:43Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: News
subject: future proof games
subject: my games
subject: ossuary
subject: sale
subject: steam
description: Our 2013 game Ossuary is currently on sale for $7.49 on Steam! I wrote all of Ossuary and released it with my partner as the first project of Future Proof Games. It’s a little game that’s pixelly and funny and strange. You’re a newcomer to a macabre philosophical underworld, and to escape you have to … Continue reading Ossuary in Steam Summer Sale 2016 →
encoded: Our 2013 game Ossuary is currently on sale for $7.49 on Steam! <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Blog-Summer-Sale-2016-Offer.png" alt="Blog Summer Sale 2016 Offer" width="500" height="262" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2200" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Blog-Summer-Sale-2016-Offer.png 500w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Blog-Summer-Sale-2016-Offer-300x157.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /> I wrote all of Ossuary and released it with my partner as the first project of Future Proof Games. It’s a little game that’s pixelly and funny and strange. You’re a newcomer to a macabre philosophical underworld, and to escape you have to solve conversation-based puzzles and use sins as inventory items. I used it to explore a lot of Discordian concepts and perspectives, so in a sense it’s a religious work for me. It’s weird looking back on Ossuary. I’m really proud of how it turned out, although it’s never had real financial success. We’ve sold maybe a couple thousand copies. For now it’s paying Future Proof’s monthly expenses for servers and such, but it’s certainly not making enough to provide us with paychecks. Each sale on Steam helps a bit, though, so if you haven’t picked up the game, check it out! It’s cheap! (And hey, if you know someone you think will like Ossuary, you can always get it for them as a gift!) And a final request: if you have played Ossuary, please do leave a Steam review. Our 17 reviews are 94% positive, but Steam won’t list them as “Very Positive” or “Overwhelmingly Positive” until we have enough of them. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that these categories make folks more likely to check out an otherwise-unknown game. Thank you for reading!

A Stillness of Mind, Skill Honed Sharp – Hyper Light Drifter
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-06-10T20:26:43Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: challenge
subject: dark souls
subject: exploration
subject: fez
subject: heart machine
subject: hyper light drifter
subject: mood
subject: sworcery
subject: zelda
description: Hyper Light Drifter, from Heart Machine1, is an inscrutable game: one which presents you with various mysteries and challenges, inviting you to overcome them, but doesn’t bother guiding you along that path. It’s part of a new trend in so-called “retro-inspired” games that recontextualizes the challenge and low fidelity of console game from the 1980s … Continue reading A Stillness of Mind, Skill Honed Sharp – Hyper Light Drifter →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F06%2F10%2Fa-stillness-of-mind-skill-honed-sharp-hyper-light-drifter%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Da-stillness-of-mind-skill-honed-sharp-hyper-light-drifter&action_name=A+Stillness+of+Mind%2C+Skill+Honed+Sharp+%26%238211%3B+Hyper+Light+Drifter&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: Screenshot of Hyper Light Drifter from Steam user 芊一. Hyper Light Drifter, from Heart Machine1, is an inscrutable game: one which presents you with various mysteries and challenges, inviting you to overcome them, but doesn’t bother guiding you along that path. It’s part of a new trend in so-called “retro-inspired” games that recontextualizes the challenge and low fidelity of console game from the 1980s as intentional, stylistic choices. Because of these choices, it has limited accessibility but provides a specific mood and emotional journey that would be difficult to evoke in a more populist game. Hats and Capes I don’t think I can discuss Drifter without talking about Fez. Like that game, Drifter is a pixelly, atmospheric exploration game with a soundtrack by Disasterpeace. Like that game, Drifter has a set of civilizations on floating islands that you understand in part through a set of hidden carvings and a secret alphabet. Like that game, Drifter uses glitches that break the normal visual style of the game to symbolize fragile reality. Like that game, Drifter contains secondary objectives that are harder to find and understand than the main challenges of the game. These two games are part of a larger canon that is exploring the same concepts. Look also at Secrets of Rætikon or Sword and Sworcery or Titan Souls. Game creators are looking back at a collection of ingredients from the past and using them intentionally instead of out of necessity, like how high French cuisine arose out of lower-middle-class dishes. The inscrutability of many Nintendo games wasn’t a fully intentional choice; it was the result of the system’s restricted memory and poor text support. Indeed, the manuals tend to contain detailed backstories that disrupt the feeling of mystery. Drifter is often described as similar to the Zelda series, but that comparison falls apart upon close examination. Yes, it is a top-down game where you explore distinct regions, fight bosses with a sword, and …

Family and Communication – Atlanta Poly Weekend 2016
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-06-07T19:37:23Z
subject: Blogs
subject: advocacy
subject: apw
subject: apw2016
subject: nvc
subject: personal
subject: polyamory
subject: relationship anarchy
subject: relationships
subject: social justice
description: I’m polyamorous, and for the past four years I’ve attended Atlanta Poly Weekend, a great education and activism conference all about ethical nonmonogamy. I’ve seen an interesting transition in my relationship to the conference over the years, one that I think is completely natural. In earlier years, I found the most value in the things … Continue reading Family and Communication – Atlanta Poly Weekend 2016 →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F06%2F07%2Ffamily-and-communication-atlanta-poly-weekend-2016%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dfamily-and-communication-atlanta-poly-weekend-2016&action_name=Family+and+Communication+%26%238211%3B+Atlanta+Poly+Weekend+2016&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: I’m polyamorous, and for the past four years I’ve attended Atlanta Poly Weekend, a great education and activism conference all about ethical nonmonogamy. I’ve seen an interesting transition in my relationship to the conference over the years, one that I think is completely natural. In earlier years, I found the most value in the things I learned; in later years, I’ve found more and more value in the things I’ve taught. Previous years have not just improved my understanding of polyamorous relationships; they’ve also helped me understand how to manage my own feelings, understand my identity, and improve all the communities I’m in. Some important takeaways have been: Treat your past, present, and future selves as loved ones. Note down relationship red flags when you’re thinking straight so you can refer to them later when your judgment might be skewed. Do things for yourself just like you would for a loved one. Recognize how privilege interacts with responsibility. As a member of a few marginalized groups who has the privilege to be able to be out and public, I feel that I have a responsibility to be an advocate for those groups. Likewise, when forming a community (for example, a poly group), it’s not enough to protect the safety of those in the group; we need to work to make sure newcomers stay safe until they can learn about potential dangers. One’s life and relationships don’t need to fit into templates of expectations and assumptions. Frameworks like relationship anarchy can allow for a beautiful diversity of experiences, and understanding concepts like codependence and abuse can help make your interactions more open and nurturing. This year, however, I found that I had fewer big takeaways. This is partly due to circumstances: I chose to attend some talks on topics I’d seen before, more of my partners and <def title="your partners' partners">metamours</def> were there than previous years, and I was in the midst of a nasty cough/sore throat/head cold. However, I thi…

Ludus Novus 025: Idle, Incremental
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-02-10T03:22:44Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: Podcasts
subject: aniwey
subject: bogost
subject: doublespeak
subject: idle games
subject: incremental games
subject: orteil
subject: podcast
subject: rajan
subject: townsend
description: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss incremental games, also known as idle games or clickers. How did a formula that started as satirical jokes from people like Ian Bogost yield things like A Dark Room? Games discussed: Cow Clicker, Progress Quest, Candy Box, Cookie Clicker, A Dark Room. The Ludus Novus … Continue reading Ludus Novus 025: Idle, Incremental →
encoded: In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss incremental games, also known as idle games or clickers. How did a formula that started as satirical jokes from people like Ian Bogost yield things like A Dark Room? Games discussed: Cow Clicker, Progress Quest, Candy Box, Cookie Clicker, A Dark Room. The Ludus Novus podcast is supported by my patrons. To help, please visit my Patreon. The theme music is “A Foolish Game (Vox Harmony Adds)” by Snowflake, Admiral Bob, and Sackjo22, available on ccMixter.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2016%2F02%2F09%2Fludus-novus-025-idle-incremental%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dludus-novus-025-idle-incremental&action_name=Ludus+Novus+025%3A+Idle%2C+Incremental&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />

Hopping Numbers in Pocket Frogs
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-01-29T19:58:52Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: False Narrativism
subject: aesthetics
subject: false narrativism
subject: ludology
subject: math
subject: narrativism
subject: nimblebit
subject: patreon
subject: pocket frogs
subject: rules
description: I love it when games wear their math on their sleeves. I also like when games are based on real-life systems, even when those systems are twisted or simplified for the purposes of smoother design. Pandemic is a good example of the former: the way the Infection deck is constructed and manipulated makes it clear … Continue reading Hopping Numbers in Pocket Frogs →
encoded: I love it when games wear their math on their sleeves. I also like when games are based on real-life systems, even when those systems are twisted or simplified for the purposes of smoother design. Pandemic is a good example of the former: the way the Infection deck is constructed and manipulated makes it clear how the game’s randomness works and why the same cities keep breaking out in more and more disease. Spacechem is a good example of the latter: it takes the concept of chemical bonds and process engineering and turns it into a brain-twisting puzzler. Pocket Frogs, by Nimblebit, does both of these things. It takes the concept of genetic inheritance and uses it to make a sort of gambling game where the math is always visible and calculable. It’s a game where you breed frogs, trying to produce certain special collections. But let’s pretend it’s not. Pocket Tuples Pocket Tuples, by Nimblebit, is a game where you are trying to collect a large amount of experience points. You do this by generating 3-tuples of numbers from the tuples you already have. A tuple looks like this: (X, Y, Z). Each member of a tuple is an integer. At the moment, X may range from 0 to 22, Y may range from 0 to 15, and Z may range from 0 to 103 (although Z is also bounded by a function of your XP total). Game updates have increased these ranges. You begin the game with two tuples in your collection. You can construct a new tuple from two input tuples: each element of the output tuple is copied from one of the two corresponding elements in the input tuples, selected at random. Thus, the tuples (1, 1, 3) and (2, 2, 3) can generate four equally-likely results: (1, 1, 3), (1, 2, 3), (2, 1, 3), and (2, 2, 3). The new tuple is placed in your collection, but you don’t know its elements for a certain period of time; this time monotonically increases as a function of Z. You can always combine two tuples in your collection once you know their elements. At times, you are offered the opportunity to buy ne…

Future Proof in 2016
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-01-29T17:29:35Z
subject: Digital Games
subject: News
subject: exploit zero day
subject: future proof games
subject: my games
subject: ossuary
subject: year in review
description: Over at the Future Proof Games dev blog, my partner Melissa has done a summary of how we spent 2015. Our game Ossuary hit Steam, our new game Exploit: Zero Day is in open alpha, and we’ve learned a bit more about how to run a tiny indie game company. Check out the post on … Continue reading Future Proof in 2016 →
encoded: Over at the Future Proof Games dev blog, my partner Melissa has done a summary of how we spent 2015. Our game Ossuary hit Steam, our new game Exploit: Zero Day is in open alpha, and we’ve learned a bit more about how to run a tiny indie game company. Check out the post on the FPG blog.

A Whirlwind Heist
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-01-23T22:55:54Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: 8
subject: choice
subject: crowscrowscrows
subject: humor
subject: pugh
subject: spoilers
subject: stanley
subject: whirlwind heist
subject: wreden
description: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist is a weird little free game that’s a whole lot like the demo to The Stanley Parable, which was designed by the same person. No, not Davey Wreden, the creator of the original mod; his followup game is The Beginner’s Guide, a first-person … Continue reading A Whirlwind Heist →
encoded: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist is a weird little free game that’s a whole lot like the demo to The Stanley Parable, which was designed by the same person. No, not Davey Wreden, the creator of the original mod; his followup game is The Beginner’s Guide, a first-person experiment in form that explores the creative process as relates to video games, inspired in part by the impostor syndrome triggered by unexpected popularity. Heist is designed by William Pugh, who worked with Wreden on the standalone remastering of Stanley, and this followup is a first-person experiment in form that explores the creative process as relates to video games, inspired in part by the impostor syndrome triggered by unexpected popularity. On Spoilers I’m increasingly dismissive of the idea of spoiler warnings. The occasional work actually has a twist or reveal that is weakened by knowing it’s coming: Saw, The Prestige or Twelve Monkeys. Most twisty works, you only weaken a scene or so; see Se7en or The Dark Knight. And plenty of works — The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, Citizen Kane — are actually better once you know the secret, because it informs the rest of the movie. Most things people lament as spoilers, however, are just… facts about the work? Knowing that the hero wins or a character dies doesn’t cause any problem. I can summarize the whole plot of a story and it doesn’t matter, because the important thing is how the story is told. Even humor is about delivery, not the actual punchline. So I don’t like spoiler warnings. That’s a long way of getting to the point that a lot of reviews or discussion I’m seeing about A Whirlwind Heist avoid discussing its main conceit. I don’t avoid doing so here because at worst I’m making you slightly less surprised about the first fifteen seconds of the game. I need to write more about The Beginner’s Guide. Pugh, who is probably responsible for Stanley‘s visual polish and environmental cleverness, uses the same…

Degeneracy and Competing Goals in XCOM
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2016-01-21T04:16:53Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: firaxis
subject: patreon
subject: strategy
subject: xcom
description: One of my patrons posed this question: If “be cautious!” is the dominant strategy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, why is the game still interesting? This is a complicated question, in part because it makes several assumptions I disagree with. The short answer is “because being cautious in XCOM is hard.” But let’s tease apart the … Continue reading Degeneracy and Competing Goals in XCOM →
encoded: One of my patrons posed this question: If “be cautious!” is the dominant strategy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, why is the game still interesting? This is a complicated question, in part because it makes several assumptions I disagree with. The short answer is “because being cautious in XCOM is hard.” But let’s tease apart the details. What is a “dominant strategy?” I increasingly favor the alternate term “degenerate strategy.” In game theory (which has nothing specifically to do with games and more to do with obscure strategic matrices that bear faint relevance to real-world economics) a dominant strategy is a way of approaching a competition which is universally better than other available approaches. Imagine a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Bomb, like the traditional game except that Bomb always wins. The dominant strategy here is to always play Bomb, because then you’ll tie at worst. In the book Rules of Play, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman use the term “degenerate strategy” to refer to a dominant strategy which results in the player focusing on one narrow approach to play, making miss out on the full complexity of the game. If one unit type in a strategy game is universally the best choice to use, with no need for another type of unit, that presents a degenerate strategy. The most effective way to play the game is to use that unit at the exclusion of others. And that’s a boring way to play. Is “be cautious” a strategy? Only sort of. To be deliberately superficial: suggesting someone “be cautious” is barely more useful than suggesting they “not die.” The fact that XCOM requires you to be cautious is a simple result of it being a game in which resources (i.e. soldiers) can be permanently lost, errors cannot easily be recovered from, and fortunes can change quickly. The alternative to “be cautious” is to take foolish risks, which is something the game takes pains to teach you to avoid. It’s not quite that simple, of course; there is no “be cautious” button in the game. …

It’s So Easy When You’re: Evil Genius
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-12-04T20:33:45Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: audacious compassion
subject: character
subject: elixir
subject: empathy
subject: evil genius
subject: patreon
description: There’s a rich tradition in video games of villainous protagonists. One of the most interesting things about this trend is how it encourages you to understand and assign personhood to characters that you might otherwise demonize. At Future Proof Games we’re motivated by a concept we call “audacious compassion:” exercising players’ everyday empathy skills by … Continue reading It’s So Easy When You’re: Evil Genius →
encoded: There’s a rich tradition in video games of villainous protagonists. One of the most interesting things about this trend is how it encourages you to understand and assign personhood to characters that you might otherwise demonize. At Future Proof Games we’re motivated by a concept we call “audacious compassion:” exercising players’ everyday empathy skills by encouraging them to have compassion for characters that seem alien, evil, or irrational. Villainous games align with this concept. Tie Fighter shows you how the underlings in a dictatorial government justify their actions as preserving order. Overlord depicts a character who does the right things for the wrong reasons. And Evil Genius depicts a supervillain who’s inordinately concerned with keeping people happy and entertained. Lair Keeper If this post encourages you to play Evil Genius, note that the game has some relatively major issues that were never quite patched. The big one is certain henchman types hurting, rather than helping, your efforts. I’d recommend installing the unofficial patch: the Steam version is here. Evil Genius is a 2004 game1 heavily inspired by fellow villain game series Dungeon Keeper. You play a spy-movie scheming villain with an island base, carrying out evil plots in an eventual attempt to rule the world. You design the layout of your base, staff it with minions, and deal with secret agents trying to uncover your plans. You have a number of secondary concerns in addition to carrying out your evil plots. You have to look after your minions’ needs, which you do with an assortment of whimsical base items. You have to prevent secret agents from learning too much or interfering with your plots, so you can build gauntlets of traps along with infrastructure for imprisoning, interrogating, and converting agents. And you also have to deal with tourists to your exotic item, whom you distract with exotic hotels and diversions. Endless Distraction Much of your task as an evil genius is occupied w…

Overcomplexity in Nom Nom Galaxy
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-11-27T20:31:02Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: automation
subject: game design
subject: mastery
subject: patreon
subject: pixeljunk
subject: resources
subject: strategy
description: PixelJunk‘s Nom Nom Galaxy is a hard game. It’s a well-crafted resource-gathering and automation game in the vein of Terraria or Minecraft, but with a focus on factory production and automation. It’s hard because it’s far too complicated. One of the classic problems of game design is the dominant strategy. A dominant strategy occurs when … Continue reading Overcomplexity in Nom Nom Galaxy →
encoded: PixelJunk‘s Nom Nom Galaxy is a hard game. It’s a well-crafted resource-gathering and automation game in the vein of Terraria or Minecraft, but with a focus on factory production and automation. It’s hard because it’s far too complicated. One of the classic problems of game design is the dominant strategy. A dominant strategy occurs when one way to play the game is so much better that it becomes the only option a player should pursue. The simple solution to a dominant strategy is to add a complicating factor that acts as a tradeoff, weakening the strategy and leading to interesting player decisions. Nom Nom Galaxy, however, goes through this cycle a few too many times. Dominant strategies are complicated by challenges that can be overcome with strategies that are further complicated by new challenges. The end result is a frantic, frustrating time that keeps me from experiencing the joy of mastery. Stock Gameplay The central play loop of Galaxy is simple. Find or grow plants that serve as soup ingredients. Bring those ingredients to soup machines to make soup, then launch that soup off on rockets to be sold. Make enough soup and you beat a level. Robots make this easier. You can buy a number of robots, each of which performs a specific task: carrying things horizontally, throwing ingredients or soup vertically, harvesting ingredients, replanting ingredients, and so on. With enough understanding of the systems, you can set up a garden and produce soup automatically, your factory operating as an efficient machine. The problem with that is that this could result in a very shallow game. Once you understood how to make a smoothly-running factory, there’d be no more game left for you. To provide ongoing challenge and depth, the developers added complications. Reaching a Boil First, you have competitors. Instead of having a goal like “make 100 cans of soup,” your goal is “reach 100% market share.” Your competitors don’t share the planet with you; they simply produce soup. I…

Helping RPGs Play Themselves
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-11-20T20:16:48Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Roleplaying
subject: constraints
subject: creativity
subject: game design
subject: narrative
subject: patreon
subject: rosette
subject: rules
subject: tabletop rpgs
description: A big secret of tabletop RPG design is that roleplaying games play themselves. Get the right group of people together and they’ll have fun telling a good story, regardless of which edition of which game they’re playing. The hard parts of RPGs are things the designer can’t control: social dynamics. What good are rules at … Continue reading Helping RPGs Play Themselves →
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Rosette-Logo-With-Handwriting-Draft.png" alt="Rosette Logo" width="300" height="305" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2096" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Rosette-Logo-With-Handwriting-Draft.png 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Rosette-Logo-With-Handwriting-Draft-295x300.png 295w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A big secret of tabletop RPG design is that roleplaying games play themselves. Get the right group of people together and they’ll have fun telling a good story, regardless of which edition of which game they’re playing. The hard parts of RPGs are things the designer can’t control: social dynamics. What good are rules at all, then? Rules serve two purposes: to enable and constrain the play. The rules of an RPG serve to make the creative process easier by enabling story, and they constrain the scope of the story to keep the group within a manageable narrative space. In my role as lead designer on Future Proof Games‘s upcoming tabletop RPG Rosette1, I’ve made tons of decisions regarding how the rules work. By the request of one of my patrons, I’ll go over that process from a high level. Where the Rules Live There are several rough categories you could fit rules into. There are character creation rules, which help to inspire and shape a character and provide mechanical2 hooks for the character’s story traits. There are conflict resolution rules, which answer the basic question, “How do you tell if a character succeeds at an interesting task3?” There are special encounter rules, such as combat, which typically form a little sub-game that can be more strategic than the general ruleset. Finally, there are narrative rules, which govern how players and the GM can introduce story elements in a rule-based way. Not all games have each type of rules, and different games focus on different things. The newer style …

Beauty of Frozen Waves – Mind: Path to Thalamus
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-11-01T00:48:02Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: audio
subject: close reading
subject: coronado
subject: imagery
subject: memory
subject: mind
subject: narrative
subject: waves
description: Mind: Path to Thalamus is a staggeringly beautiful game. Let’s set aside its silly name and its wince-inducing narration. We’ll pretend the game was made as it should have been, as a series of evocative vignettes that trust the player to put together the pieces without forced explanation. The waves scene is a great example … Continue reading Beauty of Frozen Waves – Mind: Path to Thalamus →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2015%2F10%2F31%2Fbeauty-of-frozen-waves-mind-path-to-thalamus%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dbeauty-of-frozen-waves-mind-path-to-thalamus&action_name=Beauty+of+Frozen+Waves+%26%238211%3B+Mind%3A+Path+to+Thalamus&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: “Just keep swinging â «” by Steam user Zephyr from Mind: Path to Thalamus Mind: Path to Thalamus is a staggeringly beautiful game. Let’s set aside its silly name and its wince-inducing narration. We’ll pretend the game was made as it should have been, as a series of evocative vignettes that trust the player to put together the pieces without forced explanation. The waves scene is a great example of how the beautiful imagery of the game, created by Carlos Coronado, serves its narrative purpose. Take a moment to click on the picture above and view it at full size. As a screenshot, it’s pretty, but you must understand that the wave in that screenshot is still, frozen, even in the game. Take a look at it in motion (or lack thereof) in the below video, accompanied by some awed profanity in a rich, lovely accent: The evocative imagery in this game is simply sublime. It’s one of the best examples I’ve seen of true multimedia sculpture. Let’s look at this level in depth. Time and Memory The frozen waves are related to a little girl who died in a storm. At this point in the game, the protagonist is considering whether the strange world he’s exploring will let him change the past and save her. This level depicts a desert or beach, with the curling storm waves frozen above it in a moment of terror-induced paralysis, or perhaps examining a single instant divorced from the flow of time and its unbearable consequences. Waves are motion concretized. They represent inevitable, unceasing movement, often inescapable, certainly unstoppable. In Sonnet 60, Shakespeare writes: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. In addition to symbols of inevitability, waves are also agents of erasure, washing away footprints on the beach and reducing sandcastles to indistinct mounds. These frozen waves, then, represent a resistance both to the passage of time and…

Unsettling Uncertainty in the Stanley Parable
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-10-30T20:26:45Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: 8
subject: agency
subject: constraints
subject: galactic cafe
subject: patreon
subject: randomness
subject: rules
subject: stanley
subject: wreden
description: Years ago I wrote a piece on the original mod version of The Stanley Parable.1 It’s since been remade and released as a for-sale title with very high production values, which I got just after release. I’ve played a few remakes of old games or overhauls of mods, and it’s always an uncomfortable experience. Everything … Continue reading Unsettling Uncertainty in the Stanley Parable →<img src="https://stats.irrsinn.net/piwik.php?idsite=7&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2F2015%2F10%2F30%2Funsettling-uncertainty-in-the-stanley-parable%2F%3Fpk_campaign%3Dfeed%26pk_kwd%3Dunsettling-uncertainty-in-the-stanley-parable&action_name=Unsettling+Uncertainty+in+the+Stanley+Parable&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fludusnovus.net%2Ffeed%2F" style="border:0;width:0;height:0" width="0" height="0" alt="" />
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/the-stanley-parable-most-entertaining-thought-provoking-game-ever-0QFT2-300x300-14462364622.jpg" alt="A screenshot from The Stanley Parable with papers scattered on the floor of an office" title="A screenshot from The Stanley Parable with papers scattered on the floor of an office" width="300" height="300" class="alignright size-300square wp-image-2062" />Years ago I wrote a piece on the original mod version of The Stanley Parable.1 It’s since been remade and released as a for-sale title with very high production values, which I got just after release. I’ve played a few remakes of old games or overhauls of mods, and it’s always an uncomfortable experience. Everything in the game is familiar but different, and I constantly find myself wondering, “Did this happen in the original and I’m just forgetting? Is it totally new? Is it similar to an old bit but different enough that I don’t recognize it? Did I just miss it the first time?” Stanley weaponizes this feeling, even for new players who didn’t experience the original. With The Stanley Parable, you never know what to expect. Comforting Prison Bars Games have edges. There’s a limit to what they simulate. Even tabletop games, the most unrestrictive sort of game, have boundaries beyond which you hand-wave or make things up on the fly without using the rules. And this is a good thing: it provides a comforting sense of understanding. When you understand the constraints of a game, you can plan and anticipate what’s coming next. In Half-Life, you expect to solve problems by hitting switches and shooting people. If a segment of the game required you to play hide-and-seek with someone, it would be bewildering. Chances are you’d have trouble even understanding how to take the necessary actions. Games establish your expectations as a sort of contract with the player so that you understand what they expect you to do. This can be taken too …

Theft, Murder, and Morals in Skyrim
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-10-29T18:02:48Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: agency
subject: bethesda
subject: class
subject: crime
subject: ethics
subject: morals
subject: patreon
subject: skyrim
subject: thief
description: Skyrim made me want to murder. I’m usually a kind video game player. I choose non-lethal options when available, act morally, and generally roleplay as a responsible (if sometimes abrupt) character when given the option. The character I played in Skyrim was an ambitious but magnanimous barbarian-mage, seeking the power to rule and protect. I … Continue reading Theft, Murder, and Morals in Skyrim →
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SR-npc-Maven_Black-Briar-300x300-14461414251.jpg" alt="Maven Black-Briar" width="300" height="300" class="alignright size-300square wp-image-2055" srcset="https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SR-npc-Maven_Black-Briar-300x300-14461414251.jpg 300w, https://ludusnovus.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SR-npc-Maven_Black-Briar.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Skyrim made me want to murder. I’m usually a kind video game player. I choose non-lethal options when available, act morally, and generally roleplay as a responsible (if sometimes abrupt) character when given the option. The character I played in Skyrim was an ambitious but magnanimous barbarian-mage, seeking the power to rule and protect. I didn’t seek to kill anyone unprovoked… until I met Maven Black-Briar. Maven1 is the rich de-facto ruler of the city of Riften. She is rude, cruel, and entitled. In a world of racist Vikings and execution-happy Imperials, she stands out to me as the most loathsome humanoid character. Sure, there are strange avian hags that eat people and vampiric assassins, but she is just a brewery owner who’s happy to kill and torture and extort for personal wealth and power. She mirrors her city, a place that represents corruption and villainy, and in doing so says a lot about Skyrim‘s attitude toward morality. She’s also immortal. Beneath the Hood I could talk specifically about the Thieves Guild questline, but it’s already been done quite well in a series of posts by Shamus Young: This is a major part of Skyrim and a lot of environments, characters, and cutscenes are dedicated to it. This is a shame, because the Thieves Guild questline is a mess. Itâ€ s unnecessarily terrible, failing at multiple levels and attempting things that arenâ€ t even needed. Check out his analysis at Twenty Sided. In Skyrim, certain NPCs are marked in the game’s code as “Essential.” While …

Character Select: Marvel vs. Capcom 3
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-10-13T18:22:54Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: capcom
subject: characters
subject: crossover
subject: fighting
subject: history
subject: identity
subject: marvel
subject: patreon
description: Sparky’s Den, in the Memorial Union at Arizona State University, is a bowling alley and arcade where I spent many of my summer late afternoons as a young teenager. I can’t find any photos of their arcade online, so I don’t know if they still have the old Dungeons and Dragons or Alien vs. Predator … Continue reading Character Select: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 →
encoded: Sparky’s Den, in the Memorial Union at Arizona State University, is a bowling alley and arcade where I spent many of my summer late afternoons as a young teenager. I can’t find any photos of their arcade online, so I don’t know if they still have the old Dungeons and Dragons or Alien vs. Predator beat-em-ups, the Gauntlet Legends machine, the copy of Silent Scope. The Marvel vs. Capcom machine. I don’t have the same love of fighting games and arcades that a lot of video game folks seem to. I was never good at split-second reflexes, and my arcade time was limited to short spans after a summer program for gifted kids that was held at the university. Fighting games were weird curiosities: colorful characters equipped with secret moves in fanciful stages. The fighting games I remember are odd ones: Battle Beast, from a PC Gamer demo disk, or the inexplicable Golden Axe: The Duel. And I definitely remember Marvel vs. Capcom. Crossover Marvel vs. Capcom is a crossover between characters taken from each company’s stable of games and comics. These were characters I recognized from elsewhere: characters from the cheaply-animated X-Men cartoon (Gambit! so cool!) and the main character of Mega Man 3 (which I played at an elementary school after-school program). It also had glimpses into unknown works: what on earth is a Captain Commando, and who is this mysterious Morrigan (from something called Darkstalkers, I was told)? The animation was beautiful and the game was fun even though I was terrible at it. A few years ago, I gained access to a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Ostensibly, it uses the same premise, but the years had not been kind to my perception of the series’s development. It draws an inexplicable three fighters from Resident Evil, the game with the most boring characters ever conceived. It includes characters from Okami and Viewtiful Joe, which is ridiculous albeit creative. It includes Zero instead of Mega Man. It has Nolan North cosplaying as Deadpool. Tag Team My…

The Evil of Farm Story 2
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-09-29T04:25:22Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: evil
subject: f2p
subject: farm story 2
subject: game design
subject: money
subject: morality
subject: patreon
subject: psychology
subject: reinforcement
subject: storm8
description: There is evil in this world. Some is systemic, titanic, nigh-insurmountable. And some is petty, banal, all the more troubling for its triviality. Farm Story 2 is the lesser evil. It’s the whispering, cloying, harrying serpent at the heel of gamers. Farm Story 2 is evil in a way that inspires not rebellion, but pity. … Continue reading The Evil of Farm Story 2 →
encoded: There is evil in this world. Some is systemic, titanic, nigh-insurmountable. And some is petty, banal, all the more troubling for its triviality. Farm Story 2 is the lesser evil. It’s the whispering, cloying, harrying serpent at the heel of gamers. Farm Story 2 is evil in a way that inspires not rebellion, but pity. This is a well-crafted game. There are barely any bugs and the art is attractive if generic. The bug-eyed chickens are charming, and it has a scamp of a kid who is adorable until the third or fourth time they implore you to install another of Storm8’s insipid games. I don’t have a quarrel with any of the (mercifully uncredited) people who worked on the game. My issue is with the environment who produced such a work. Let’s explore the darkness at its depths. Farm Story 2‘s evil is based in its exploitation of humans’ psychological and neurological weaknesses in the pursuit of profit without providing anything of worth in return. Most games take advantage of our mental foibles in order to provide brain-stem-level rewards, but in exchange they provide fun, or escapism, or enriching story and worlds. FS2 provides only the opportunity to reward its creators with your money in order to get temporary respite from discomfort. “Give me money,” FS2 says, “and you can make this stop.” The Weaknesses of Humanity and the Exploitation Thereof It’s pretty well-known among game design circles that our brains have certain fundamental bugs. Taking advantage of our logical fallacies and psychological quirks can let us do pretty cool things, but we game designers have a responsibility to do things that are mutually beneficial to our customers and our wallets. The patron who requested this article asked about Farm Story 2, “Please help me: why can’t I stop?” Here’s why. Farm Story 2 is a fairly standard business management game, sans the business management. You plant crops and buy animals, and then you return periodically to collect the product (in the pigs’ case, you colle…

Odin Sphere: Muggle Escabeche Ã la Erion
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-09-04T01:57:47Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: atlus
subject: cooking
subject: food
subject: leveling
subject: odin sphere
subject: patreon
subject: resources
subject: rpgs
description: When Odin Sphere was released, it was a game from a parallel dimension where 3D technology never caught on. Now, though, it sits among Rayman Origins, Dust: an Elysian Tale, Ori And The Blind Forest, and many others in presenting gorgeous living, breathing, hand-crafted art and a strong visual aesthetic. Looking back, then, there’s one … Continue reading Odin Sphere: Muggle Escabeche Ã la Erion →
encoded: When Odin Sphere was released, it was a game from a parallel dimension where 3D technology never caught on. Now, though, it sits among Rayman Origins, Dust: an Elysian Tale, Ori And The Blind Forest, and many others in presenting gorgeous living, breathing, hand-crafted art and a strong visual aesthetic. Looking back, then, there’s one thing I remember about Odin Sphere. Food. More generally: cooking, gardening, and deliberate growth. Odin Sphere is a roleplaying game, but it doesn’t work like most RPGs. You don’t earn experience points by killing things or practicing your skills. Instead, you have two character growth gauges: Psypher Level and HP Level, which govern attack and defense ability respectively. Psypher Level increases when you absorb sparkling Phozons, which drop from enemies and certain plants; HP Level increases when you eat food, which you get from growing plants with Phozons and potentially combining them in recipes. This interaction of resources means that you’re constantly balancing Psypher and HP leveling: they both use Phozons, and you must be conscious of both in order to maintain your ability to overcome the game’s challenges. My memories of Odin Sphere are filled not with fighting dragons or maudlin romance, but with nurturing Baromett plants to grow sheep or hunting for Mandragora to dig up and collect. Preparing comestibles is essential to survival. Besides gaining experience to increase your maximum health, you’ll need healing from food and protection from various potions. In some areas, you need a protective potion to avoid taking constant heat or cold damage (unless you’re willing to give up a precious accessory slot for a protective item). Potions require their own preparation process: they need a Material of a certain value. You can increment the value of a Material by combining it with another item, or you can dramatically increase their value by combining two Materials. Their value is multiplied, with the units digit of the product b…

You Can’t Control Clash of Clans
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-08-29T20:14:01Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: affordance
subject: clash of clans
subject: constraint
subject: f2p
subject: mobile
subject: patreon
subject: strategy
subject: supercell
subject: tactics
description: Games are as much about what they don’t let you do as what they do. Figure and ground. The tools they withhold from you are often more important than the tools they provide. Constraint guides cleverness and creativity. Supercell’s Clash of Clans is a fairly typical free-to-play mobile game on its surface. You build a … Continue reading You Can’t Control Clash of Clans →
encoded: Games are as much about what they don’t let you do as what they do. Figure and ground. The tools they withhold from you are often more important than the tools they provide. Constraint guides cleverness and creativity. Supercell’s Clash of Clans is a fairly typical free-to-play mobile game on its surface. You build a town. It takes a while. You can pay money to make it take less of a while. You build troops, and they follow the same pattern. What’s a bit unusual is that you can rearrange your town, and the layout you choose matters. When a town is raided, the placement of its defenses means the difference between winning and losing. Especially because you can’t control your troops. When you raid a town in Clash, you see the town’s layout and can choose where to release your troops. Once you release them, however, they choose where to move and attack… and your troops aren’t very clever. They always attack the closest target that fits their targeting criteria. Normal ground troops will attack anything, while specialty troops only attack certain structures like defenses. You can’t focus on a target the same way you can in most strategy games. Even if you send all your barbarians after one cannon emplacement, once that one is destroyed they scatter to two or three others, getting cut down before they can accomplish anything. If a dangerous defensive weapon is surrounded by walls and lesser defenses, your troops will never get to it in time. My first reaction to the game was frustration. Why can’t I give commands after sending in my troops? Why is it so hard to take out one simple mortar? Why are my troops so stupid? Constraints. By removing the assumed affordance of directing your troops, Clash forces you to see a battlefield differently. Because your troops follow only their own AI, you have to plan ahead and predict what they will do. Sometimes you’ll send a sacrificial troop ahead to trigger hidden traps. Sometimes you’ll distract defenses while you drill deep into t…

The Feline Grace of Neko Atsume
type: item
creator: Gregory Avery-Weir
date: 2015-07-30T18:19:46Z
subject: Blogs
subject: Digital Games
subject: cats
subject: engagement
subject: hit-point
subject: juice
subject: neko atsume
subject: patreon
subject: retention
subject: ux
description: Neko Atsume is a game with feline sensibilities. It doesn’t beg for your attention. It’s often inscrutable. Sometimes you’re not sure why you keep it around. More games should be like this. Neko Atsume is a gently brilliant deconstruction of mobile games and how we approach Pokemon-style collecting. Through its passive and cryptic approach, it … Continue reading The Feline Grace of Neko Atsume →
encoded: Neko Atsume is a game with feline sensibilities. It doesn’t beg for your attention. It’s often inscrutable. Sometimes you’re not sure why you keep it around. More games should be like this. Neko Atsume is a gently brilliant deconstruction of mobile games and how we approach Pokemon-style collecting. Through its passive and cryptic approach, it encourages the player to approach it with intention as opposed to most games’ eager-to-please style. It might be the Dark Souls of pet simulators. Undercoat Neko Atsume has been downloaded millions of times, a number that even surprises its creator. It certainly doesn’t seem designed for mainstream success. Most free-to-play games are like a dog: overeager for your attention, always reminding you that it’s ready to play, and asking you to take on the unpleasant task of paying money whenever it feels a certain urge. Maybe it’s because I’m a cat person, but I prefer Neko Atsume‘s approach. You stock a patio and eventually an entire apartment with cat food and toys. However, nothing happens when you’re paying attention to it. There’s no juicy reward, no timers counting down. You have to close the app and return in order to see if cats have shown up. It doesn’t even issue push notifications to let you know when something happens. You must remember the game and choose to check on it to see any progress and, if you’re lucky, take pictures of any cats that haven’t already left. More often than not, the progress you find is that a fat cat has eaten all the food. The game is especially inscrutable to me because it’s in Japanese. Since I only speak English, playing the game is a process of interpreting icons and remembering which side of a dialogue box means “OK” and which half means “Cancel.” But even when translated the game remains mysterious. Special cats have certain toys that trigger their appearance and, when they visit often enough, they give strange treasures. Cats have names and personalities that don’t seem to have any direct…