Letters from Afar | 10-05-25
What the idea DiCaprio plants in her head in Inception? "Your world is not real"? I've been really feeling that, lately: the world writ large and writ small both feel false, fictional, and hard to reckon with in a real way.
Here's what I've been saving up for a links post since the last time I did one.
nex3: hades II has a legibility problem
Whether it's a consequence of the game's wildly popular early access period or a result of the studio's anxiety about their first-ever sequel to their only massive hit, it pushes the player into a mode of play that's less fun and more frustrating. Legibility isn't just about being able to keep track of what's going on, it has far-reaching consequences for what types of play are safe in practice and thus which builds are viable.
nex with smart thoughts about hades 2 is different (and arguably weaker) than the original. I've been playing and liking hades 2 but have definitely noticed this distinction so far.
iro via obsidian moonshine: the end is night - thoughts on final dungeons
"The End is Nigh" is a collection of simple thoughts on last levels, final dungeons, and endgame zones.
a round-up post of its own about last levels. iro's really good at talking about what makes a thing genuinely fun.
peyton: neotokyo's ost is still the high mark of cyberpunk operatorcore
Very few, if any other works, succeed so well in evoking its specific tone of anime inspired military sci-fi. This was the music for the military nerds amongst us desperate for something with even a whiff of aesthetic in the ocean of drab gulf-war informed military sims.
a celebration of one of the best OSTs to ever do it.
nic: creative drudgery
The lessons learned in shipping a game help you try and avoid mistakes in the future. You'll make new mistakes, but hopefully dodge or mitigate the previous ones. The outcome of decisions can start to be a bit clearer before you make them. Understanding how to architect a videogame project, everything from code and assets and scenes takes a lot of practice to be able to do while making as few mistakes as possible.
A post about AI.
jennfrank: the artist's way: bluebeard, wetiko, and other mythologies
The instant Bluebeard leaves, his bride unlocks the closet, obviously. Inside, she finds the bodies of six to seven previously-missing wives. In her shock she drops the golden key; it lands in blood that is still pooling on the floor. She tries in vain to wipe the blood away, but the golden key is seemingly stained permanently. Bluebeard comes home early and demands his keys back. His wife surrenders them, and here the husband notices the bloodstains and understands that his wife has been 'unfaithful' by discovering his crimes. "Madam, you must now die," he tells her.
a good post on the monstrous.
arnold kemp via goblin punch: stargazer (a new system)
Is it fun? More fun that rolling a d20? (I fucking love rolling d20s.) After playing around with it: yes? Four dice doesn’t feel like a 52% chance to succeed. It feels lower. Which might have negative impacts on player confidence (“I don’t think we can do this, guys.”) but positive impacts on how lucky people feel (“I can’t believe we did that, guys!”). A trade-off, maybe.
a good post demonstrating what it's like to start writing a new ttrpg.
super bunnyhop: Kriegsspiel! How Napoleon Accidentally Invented Strategy Games
a good video.