iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 3h

or a game that wants you to constantly switch weapons because each one is a hard counter for and gets hard countered by different enemy types, but doing so is a pain in the ass and leaves you vulnerable, and the game rarely gives you openings to do so

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 3h

e.g. a game where you have to constantly re-prioritize which enemy you're focusing on because they don't just wait their turn, but the game also actively prevents you from doing this because it has auto lock-on and doesn't give you any control over which enemy is currently targeted

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 3h

ngl now I'm thinking about how many times I've watched friends play through modern AAA games and seen cases where a significant chunk of the difficulty came from mechanics that were at odds with each other in a way that makes it apparent they were designed in isolation

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 9h

"I know I've made my opponent waste all their sucker punch PP. It's go time" vs "I know my opponent is running four copies of counterspell, and has cast three so far this game. I have two copies of my last combo piece in hand and a counterspell of my own. It's go time."

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 9h

at least for me, PP stalling scratches the same itch as making your opponent waste removal spells in Magic

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 17/10/2026

(that's a big part of why I both hated and performed terribly at the sales jobs I've had. that kind of blind fire approach where most interactions go nowhere absolutely drives me insane. I feel like I'm most at home when I have people coming to me with a specific problem they need a solution for)

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 17/10/2026

the overall mindset behind generating a ton of slop kinda reminds me of, like the very hustle culture-tinged sales approach of treating it as a pure numbers game. of trying to cast a wide net and get as many people's attention as possible because statistically, someone will bite eventually

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Microplastics Sommelier @eephus.biz · 17/10/2026

you can set your watch to either

Simpsons 3-panel
Lisa: MOM, DAD, BLUESKY'S DEAD!
Shocked parents
Bart: THAT'S RIGHT-DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT NEEDING YOUR JOKE EXPLAINED TO THEM!

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Big Yellow @bigyellowsilly.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

Really interesting that they're openly saying 'vibe-coding' cause it's almost like they saw Epic do the same, thought "yoooo finally it's cool to say now lets get in on that" and just casually missed the public reaction to what Epic pulled

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But Thou Mustelid @rewhan.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

News so shocking it blew his eyebrows smoove off

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 15/10/2026

meanwhile based on a string of carriage disputes Disney had a few years back (and I think WB had at least one as well), I get the impression at least some of those primary service streaming platforms also see cable as another middleman to either cut out or price gouge

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

(ironically I think 5e is actually at its best if you do run it as a more logistics driven game, though even then I'd probably houserule encumbrance to use an inventory slot system instead of tracking item weight)

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

but also trying to get rid of it entirely in favor of fully building an edition around the focus on tactical combat like 4e did tends to piss off a certain breed of grognard, so instead 5e, like... has rules for stuff like encumbrance, but is also designed so you can easily ignore them

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

Actually getting to the dungeon, navigating it, and getting the loot out of the dungeon safely was the main focus, and combat was a major drain on resources to be avoided when possible. 2e onward increasingly de-emphasized the logistical aspect and emphasized combat

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

early D&D (i.e. OD&D, AD&D1e, and the various basic D&D box sets) was primarily a game about the logistics of the dungeon crawl. Trudge through the wilderness to the dungeon, get in, grab as much loot as you can carry, get out, then get back to town to cash in, resupply, and upgrade your gear

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

there's an odd parallel with the discourse about random encounters in later editions of D&D (and clones thereof), and I feel like that is kinda rooted in later editions of D&D increasingly de-emphasizing resource management

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Pilchard Princess @dadrockenjoyer.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I hate ai because even if I never use it, never fucking touch it for the rest of my life, I still have to live in its secondhand smoke and it pisses me off so fucking bad

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 14/10/2026

This feels like the leftist version of libs whose political praxis starts and ends at electoralism. Valorizing a means to an end as The One True Way to the point it becomes an end in and of itself

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 13/10/2026

in my experience, they'll even let you white knuckle diagnosed autism until your entire life falls apart (probably some undiagnosed ADHD going on as well. I got my autism diagnosis back when autism and adhd were still thought to be mutually-exclusive)

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 11/10/2026

I haven't seen this exact phrasing on tumblr but there is a similar post going around. I've also seen a youtube short about it

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 11/10/2026

meanwhile when my dad says "when you get a chance" he means "drop everything and do it right now"

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 09/10/2026

ngl I know of at least one dev who did that kind of glorified asset flip, then actually went on to become an AI bro (he also tried to turn the game built off those flipped assets into an NFT game at one point. he walked it back, but you can't just un-fuck the thanksgiving turkey like that)

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 09/10/2026

and some of the games in the latter category are pretty well-regarded Super Smash Bros. Melee was one of my favorite games as a kid, and it was a formative experience that probably defined the trajectory of my life, and looking back, I legit can't stand how it feels to play

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 09/10/2026

the "people liking old games is just nostalgia" thing is kinda wild to me because a lot of my favorite older games are ones I first played as an adult, meanwhile the games I played as a kid often range from "it's good at what it's doing, but not for me" to "damn this kinda sucks"

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Pan @endless-summer.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

blocking oki vs several characters

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 08/10/2026

now I'm just imagining a situation where metroidvanias take the same trajectory horror games took in the 2010s where you get, like, a couple of low-budget breakout hits that drop combat entirely, which leads to a period of overcorrection and thinkpieces about how metroidvanias shouldn't have combat

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doctober @docseuss.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

what the fuck what the FUCK

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Ryan Markel @ryanmarkel.com · 07/10/2026

Here’s a thing about LLM code generation that people haven’t mentioned much, even in theory: The thought that open source projects might either close their source or make the bar for contribution significantly higher due to the onslaught of vibe-coded submissions.

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 06/10/2026

and between the dipshits demanding leniency for their faves, how apparent it was that even the actually decent folks in the scene saw Smash as a temporarily-embarrassed tier 1 esport rather than an overgrown poverty game, and just being too busy with my day job at the time, I kinda... drifted away

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 06/10/2026

yeah I was a Smashboards admin through the wave of people getting exposed as sex pests back in 2020 - I actually coordinated the news section's coverage of it

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 05/10/2026

now I'm thinking about the one restaurant that my dad worked at that used QR code menus despite being at the edge of a dead zone and not letting customers use their wifi

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 05/10/2026

just like with the Smash scene, there's a clear contrast between people who understand the pressing need to clean up their spaces, vs. the people who act like their dirty laundry isn't dirty if they fold it right

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 05/10/2026

not to ignore the people who worked with Geller and are cutting ties with him - though it's telling that a lot of them are folks who feel like they lent him legitimacy, while his defenders are folks who evidently feel that he lent them legitimacy

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 05/10/2026

At least people with material influence in the Smash scene were rightfully horrified by the calls for leniency and recognized them as the gibbering of treatlerite stream monsters.

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 05/10/2026

lowkey the people going to bat for Jacob Geller because he "did important work" have the same energy as the people in the Smash Bros. tournament scene who went to bat for sex pests because "their matches/commentary are hype tho"

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doctober @docseuss.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm really stressed about insurance this month. I write articles as a way to earn enough to cover the bills, but last months article didn't make as much as I needed it to cause I published it mid month. docseuss.medium.com/i-completed-... If you like it, please share and tip, I need about $1200

docseuss.medium.com

i completed 52 games and 8 pieces of downloadable content in 2017.

In March 2018, I ended up in the ER. I had been working far, far too much and too hard and it turns out I had a congenital heart defect…

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 04/10/2026

I know Pathfinder 2e also dropped alignment entirely in a mid-edition rules update

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 30/09/2026

I wonder how much is also downstream of the fact that afaik early editions used a different approach entirely, where you only roll charisma for first impressions, and other social interactions don't get a roll at all

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 26/09/2026

You should at least give OG Metroid 2 a shot Or at least AM2R, but ideally the OG

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bel @steelybel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

bro i am never going on reverb again

listing for "1966 FENDER MUSTANG USA - ROASTED UBER RELIC"
current price sitting at $2,909.34 USD
the picture shows a fender mustang guitar that evidently was either in a house fire or an actual oven. it looks like charcoal. it looks like that gulf war game boy.

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 24/09/2026

(I only say "supposed" because of how much Nintendo rewrites its own history to self-mythologize and push new products. See also: Hyrule Historia's Zelda timeline)

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 24/09/2026

I can't think of a bigger example than Metroid of "oh, so much of what people love about this series is a product of things that the designers considered mistakes or limitations that got in the way of their supposed true vision"

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 24/09/2026

yeah that's the kind of take that I look at and it's like oh this is someone recognizing a real phenomenon (in this case, how much fascist propaganda preys on nostalgia), and, like... hard overcorrecting and insisting that the baby *has* to be thrown out with the bathwater

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 23/09/2026

oh yeah I remember that tumblr post iirc someone else in the same thread thought that bees were crushed up to make honey

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 21/09/2026

Honestly milestone leveling has been the de facto default in D&D long enough (coming up on 12 years at this point) that I was wondering when we'd start seeing video games do it

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 20/09/2026

I have some fond memories of the OG DS, but that's only because mine managed to outlast four DS Lites.

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Scribe, Backwoods Artificer @backwoods-artificer.xyz · 19/09/2026

it's interesting how iterations on that style kinda became the default for handheld Zelda for a while. the GBA games were clearly an attempt at translating that visual style to 2D, the DS games were direct sequels, and even Tri-Force Heroes used it as the foundation of its art style

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