iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

To be fair, this particular experience of the film is likely quite subjective, and I know many will be (and have been) baffled by what I see in it.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I think what resonates with me is that it's both a sober and accurate depiction of what it's like to be afflicted with anxiety and depression and, through its emotionally heightened and magical elements, a depiction of the absurd(ly wonderful) imaginative mind of one who has fallen in love.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I'm not much of a Sandler fan either, but PDL is magical, both in its impact and in a sort of literal sense in that it's a magical realist love story. (As is Magnolia, of course)

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Nice ranking, though I can't agree with such a low placement for Punch-Drunk Love. Here's mine: 1. Magnolia 2. Punch-Drunk Love 3. Boogie Nights 4. There Will Be Blood 5. Inherent Vice 6. The Master 7. Phantom Thread 8. Licorice Pizza I haven't seen the other two yet.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

All I know is that if your punch feels like a broken rib, you'd better work on your punching form.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Agreed. Going backwards, the last series that truly rivals it was 14 (though I liked 16 quite a bit).

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

How is that even a defense? Every one of the (billions? trillions?) of chatGPT queries have used as much water as an entire cheeseburger? That sounds like an immense amount of water to me.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I have it and played it once years ago. I'll have to try it again as I remember nothing about it.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

But if the game can encourage more psychological elements, allowing the players to wade into the fog of bluffing and deception (which Mind MGMT might be trying to do), that can overcome the "knowing the odds" problem. The design idea I had tries to solve this end game issue in a more mechanical way.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

When you've deduced that the target is at one of two locations, reducing the outcome to essentially a coin flip, that can be thrilling, but it can also be frustrating. Which it is is probably determined by how fun the rest of the game had been.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I do both love and hate hidden movement games. The best ones have a delicious nugget of uncertainty and tension in the mid-game. However, the blind guessing of the early game and the certainty of the end game seem impossible to fully avoid. The latter can be particularly anticlimactic.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Played Mind MGMT for the first time the other day and it inspired a game design idea that might be worth pursuing. I wish I had time right now to do that, though. Instead it goes into the ideas document. Someday...

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

It would take a lot to convince me it's not Miller

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Hadn't thought of that, though it seems like a clear market opportunity. What I actually think is that they've over-optimized for regular, easy, everyday searches and there isn't enough of a market for people like me for it to matter.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

And AI is getting decent at very basic inquiry, I admit. Deep research is an absolute nightmare, though. Anyone have any alternative search engines they recommend that actually work? I've found duckduckgo to be okay and I've tried some niche ones that produce niche results (which can be helpful)

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Conspiracy theory I have absolutely no evidence for: search engines have become absolute garbage because of a conspiratorial effort to get everyone to use AI instead.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

It's always baffled me. She's an awful writer. A truly abysmal writer, even ignoring the content. I'm still mad I wasted part of my life forcing myself through The Fountainhead in high school.

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Reposted by Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer

Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I know this is not important at all, but I really really really really really hate when people use the word "broken" to describe what is just a good play in a game. Alas, I fear I can't stem the tide and "a good play" is what "broken" now means in gaming contexts.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

That said, if I heard there was a board game (not an RPG) with truly outstanding writing, I'd probably go out and buy it right away, if only for the novelty, as it's a tough challenge.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Nearly all of my favorite games create stories, rather than write them out: Twilight Imperium, Netrunner, Dominant Species, Twilight Struggle, Space Alert, Mage Knight, Suburbia, Spirit Island, War of the Ring, The Resistance, and so many others.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

...Or when the first character retired, or when I realized I had fatigued myself out of being able to complete a mission because I couldn't quite walk far enough, or when someone managed to manipulate the enemies in such a way that they landed a massive AoE attack, turning the tide, etc etc.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

4. Or just do what board games do best and communicate story through design, which is something Gloomhaven actually does well. I've played through the campaign and I can hardly remember anything about it, but I sure remember that time when a friend caused us to fail a mission by being greedy...

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

3. Complementing written text with audio/video breaks up the monotony of listening to someone read and allows the designer to emphasize key story elements. I haven't played much with this but even the audio elements in Space Alert give it a boost over other real-time games that don't have that.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

2. Perhaps assign dialog, so players can all have a part as they read it like a table read? I've not seen a game do this, and it would be difficult without printing out multiple copies of the "script", but it could be cool as it would push players to be more "in character".

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

1. Make sure the writing is succinct and to the point, while still being evocative. Ryan Laukat's games are decent at this. No other games I've played come to mind, but I also haven't played many campaign games. Flavor text on cards can do a lot (MtG and Netrunner can be great at this at times).

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Also, reading aloud is way slower than reading to yourself, and even in video games, unless the story and acting are truly superb, I tend to read the subtitles to skip through more quickly. So what are potential solutions? Off the top of my head:

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

It's a unique challenge as, unless it's a solo game, you have to assume someone's going to be reading it aloud for others. Unlike with video games (where you can have voice actors), you can't guarantee that person will read it in a manner consistent with your intent.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Just called a company that played, instead of hold music, fake keyboard noises. I now have a higher opinion of hold music.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

@yelmelnobrainer.bsky.social I've always wanted to ask you if you've seen Playtime and had similar thoughts.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

I can never hear that quotation "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" without thinking of Tati's Playtime, which is both a brilliant, hilarious film and obviously dancing about architecture.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

It should be basic journalistic practice to, when referring to a primary source, hyperlink, if possible, that primary source. I'm sick of reading "Bob said on <u>today's show</u>..." only to click on the link to get a random, semi-related article instead of the show itself!

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Instinctively, I try to mention names if they're relevant, particularly if I'm praising their work (it feels unkind to say "X's illustrations are dull and washed out"). Film critics seem to follow certain standards on this topic in their work--I suspect there's a style guide for that somewhere.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Salsa is the healthiest food that doesn't feel healthy.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I love this game so much. It's a fixture in the 2p game rotation my wife and I regularly play, alongside Lost Cities, Battle Line, and Codenames Duet.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I forgot about that one! That might be perfect.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I've got more followers now, so I'm throwing this request out again. Any games that fit the bill?

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

I've concluded that Moneyball is my perfect comfort movie. The Princess Bride is probably 2nd place.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I write game reviews, though I am on hiatus for the time being. Once I discover more time I will return!

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

I haven't paid much attention to the board game space for a year or so. Is there anything good I missed? Any all-timers get released?

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

Is Kathryn Bigelow the most underrated director who has won the best director oscar?

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 27/09/2024

Arithmetic; like mentally adding and subtracting 1-3 digit numbers and maybe simple multiplication.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 25/09/2024

What's a good board game that's also good for kids to practice mental math? Something relatively simple and short, preferably.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 24/09/2024

Depends on what you mean by center. Ignoring the triangle part (which has to be the same side length as the square), you could define "center" as a square with a side length of 1.5 since that's halfway between 1 and 2. But if you're trying to find the center by volume it would be a side of sqrt2.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

Examples: Imperial Assault has been a hit, but keeping track of all the components through a campaign is a headache and a half. Gloomhaven was too esoteric. SW Rebellion was ok, but he didn't quite grasp strategy and needed someone to read stuff to him. Memoir '44 was ok (maybe too dry/grounded?)

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

What good ameritrash is out there? Looking for games that: 1. Are combat/action focused 2. Aren't 2+ hours long with tons of setup 3. Have very little or no english language skills required 4. Aren't crazy heavy or punitive Bonus: Not dry. I've got an 11 year old who wants to blow things up here.

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Marc - The Thoughtful Gamer @marcttg.bsky.social · 05/08/2024

Things I have learned this week: Never use Squarespace for anything.

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