iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A few screenshots from the end (for now) of my runner career and my time on Tau Ceti IV.

Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Marathon is really cool. I love the gamefeel, the art and world design, the story and writing. I have issues with the core loop, but it's also immaculately designed to harmonize with the game's narrative, so I can't be too mad. I really hope the promised updates turn things around for the team.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I've never played Cryo proper (only a bit of VB), and certainly never made it anywhere near the Compiler. Going to let the game rest for a while, play some other things, read some books, go outside. Might have a peak at Symbiosis in December, but I'll probably just wait for March next year.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My experience, at 125 hours, has been mostly solo, mostly just working on story progression. Last few days I managed to drag a couple friends back in to help me finish Unsanctioned Hostilities 4/5 and Truth/Lies 6/6 on Sponsored Outpost. These were a real wall for a solo player.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Made it to SL 100 in Marathon at last (and 100% achievements). Hit VIP for all factions, maxed and evolved my cradle, and scraped out the final contracts for Sekiguchi, Traxus, and Mida so every S1 priority contract is now done. This will be "completion" for me.

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lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

15 years ago when Apocalypse World was new and people were beginning to understand and work with it, it was seductive to look at "acting under fire" and see, not one basic move of several, but the template underlying all the game's moves. Like @kierongillen.bsky.social 's classic gag:

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

Ranged Touch @rangedtouch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Manwë told me Melkor keeps harrying the Firstborn of Ilúvatar so I asked how many Elves he has and he said he just goes to Middle-Earth and invites more Elves on the Great Journey so I said it sounds like he’s just feeding the Quendi to Morgoth and then Nienna started crying.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I don't own a Switch 2 and I won't (probably) fork out just to play Duskbloods, but it sure looks cool! I was quite pleased to see the alliance mechanic, very savvy bit of design. youtu.be/rh2XRuhlHNY

youtu.be

I Played 12 Hours of The Duskbloods

YouTube video by VaatiVidya

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

Cactrot @cactrot.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

[Duskbloods lobby] Me: [chanting] zork, zork the other players: zork, ZORK Miyazaki: [thousands of miles away, pounding his desk, apropos of nothing] ZORK, ZORK, ZORK!

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"playing Marathon solo, to me the canonical way to play" yes, correct

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Oh cool, love to see open access games scholarship! I'm excited to poke through this; just looking at the contents there's a ton of interest here

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Cole Wehrle @colewehrle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

But they are big things too. Giant things. A game is so much more than its physical index. They stretch deep across time and space, across peoples and cultures. These are hard things to see and appreciate when we think about games. I suppose it doesn't help that we are taught to outgrow play.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

No better experience in Marathon than going into a free kit Perimeter run, getting the jump on a purple kitted guy entirely by accident, taking all his stuff, exfilling, and then immediately feeding all his stuff to the worm.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Watching runs like MrMickk's makes me wish for a time when I could've got there. But I can't muster the speed, or maybe rather I can't slow time enough to achieve what might've once been possible. No anomalies this side of the keyboard, just the clock, ticking away.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Playing Marathon slowly has been wonderful. Dropping into runs, one contract at a time, singular focus: search, survive, repeat. I can see how Cryo is the culmination of all of that, but I also see that it exceeds me. It's incredible design, but it's design for limits greater than my own.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I have over 500h in Hunt Showdown, and I think it took me 100-150h to really feel like I "got it." And compared to Marathon, Hunt Showdown is downright simple. The only way I could "get" Cryo is to be hard carried, many times, and that time of my life where I had time for that is over.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

One commenter on the video above remarked that removing the time limit on VB would allow a player to just go super slow and inevitably win, which would be boring... But would it really be boring? I love the PvPvE and wouldn't change it, but I wish this PvE experiment would just let me have a minute.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

56 hours in, Perimeter is super comfy at this point, and Dire Marsh (day and night) is becoming familiar. I've hardly touched Outpost, though, and never Cryo until VB. It's all learnable with time, but time is key, and that is something Marathon does not want to give me, which is a shame.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I've been playing a lot of S2 of Marathon and having a great time. Bit with friends, but mostly solo. Making good faction progress, completed Nucal, almost done Traxus, all quite doable solo if you're fast and quiet.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Only having two weeks to "get it" is a really unpleasant kind of pressure. Wasn't able to try VB until this weekend, and bounced off hard. Prior Cryo knowledge required, and I simply don't have the time to build that knowledge before VB is over.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I thought I just needed to watch some Vault Breaker guides so I could get a handle on it and make some progress, but then I watched this and was like, ya no, won't be me (good video though! Cryo sure is neat!) youtu.be/mqubyLJbNEQ

youtu.be

How To Reach COMPILER Solo In Vaultbreaker Mode...

YouTube video by MrMickk

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Ohhhh man, what a cool new surprise from Lost in Cult

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 20/07/2026

Months of work, a lifetime of learning, but the Levelling The Playing Field 101 Courses program launches right now. Eight €40 courses launching 10 days apart, I aim to make the critical less-spoken parts of indie gamedev accessible away from expensive visa-locked hotel bars. courses.ramiismail.com

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

If the ref called that a foul in FC we'd bug it.

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alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Someone check on Geoff Keighley the Muppets are performing at the World Cup final

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

jay Dragon 🔜 Metatopia @jdragsky.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

SEVEN-PART PACT, my fantastical ornate TTRPG about powerful wizards, asymmetrical board games, and the pressures of masculinity is now launching on kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjg...

kickstarter.com

Seven-Part Pact

A fantastical, ornate TTRPG from Possum Creek about the might and folly of powerful wizards bound by a venerable Pact.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Ooh, on this subject, GSSB brought my attention to Nicholas Taylor's book, The Grounds of Gaming, which has some interesting discussion of the hearth vs bunker vs cabinet distinction of home gaming spaces. Swords could be in any of these, but signify very differently! iupress.org/978025307123...

iupress.org

The Grounds of Gaming

How do we make space for video games in the places where we live, work, and play—and who is allowed to feel welcome there? Despite attempts to expand games...

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Major yn Englisshe: • Focused readinge & writinge prepare you for anythinge • Research, communicacioun, creativitye, and interpretacioun will be needed for careers not even inventid yet • Meaningful engagement wyth big ideas and textes that will staye wyth you forevir • It ys awesome • Bookes!

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I sadly can't watch the Canada v Morocco game, but know I am watching the score line and VERY STRESSED RN

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Went into the basement of AI Uplink to do the Nucal contract (very creepy! didn't like it down there!) in the dark; came back out, and the whole place was lit up, swarming with UESC. Cat and mouse under platforms, ducking behind cover, to sneak my way out. Very tense, very good!

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Wow I hate playing Night Marsh, but also wow Night Marsh, what a work of design. Terrifying, awful, incredible.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Ooooooh this looks amazing, cannot wait for this

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The sport has not been without its difficulties here, but at the end of the day, Vancouver is a football city. Cool to have contributed my small part to the beautiful game.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

And the Canadian Premier League, our startup men's top flight league, has Vancouver FC. When the CPL was founded in 2017, Canada had been without a league of its own since 1992. But there's been grassroots soccer here for a hundred years, believe it or not! www.cplsoccer.com/news/vancouv...

cplsoccer.com

Vancouver FC to Honour 100 Years of Langley Soccer with Commemorative Logo on Match Shorts

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

MLS isn't all: Christine Sinclair, the GOAT, who is from our city, was a driving force behind the creation of the Northern Super League, and is a co-owner of the Vancouver Rise, who were the inaugural NSL champions last year. www.nsl.ca/news/vancouv...

nsl.ca

Vancouver Rise FC Wins First-Ever NSL Final With 2–1 Comeback Victory Over AFC Toronto

Vancouver Rise FC has been crowned the inaugural champions of the Northern Super League lifting the Diana B. Matheson Cup after a dramatic 2–1 comeback win over AFC Toronto at BMO Field in TorontoTor...

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Our MLS team, the Vancouver Whitecaps, is under threat of being sold and moved. The Caps have been here since 1974, and have always been overshadowed by our other teams. But now, on a historically good run, with capital rushing into MLS, we stand to lose them. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

What's love got to do with keeping MLS soccer in Vancouver? Whitecaps fans hope a lot | CBC News

With rumours of relocation swirling, the Southsiders supporters group has launched Save The Caps, a campaign to let it be known that fans aren't OK with the club moving out of Vancouver.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

And if you're surprised about Canada at the World Cup—does Canada even play soccer?? Yes!—the primary development location for FC is right here (still!) in Vancouver. The story of international football is, strangely I admit, tied to beautiful BC.

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Didn't know about this historical detail (well before my time!) but I'm glad that this has always been our approach on The World's Game!

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

"There was thought to call the game 'FIFA International Soccer' in Europe and 'Team USA Soccer' in North America, but the development team pushed hard for it to be a truly international game. In the end, it featured the same title all around the world, a policy that continued throughout its run"

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

"Developed first at EA Canada and by EA’s offices in Great Britain, EA Sports FIFA International Soccer became one of the first games to feature such close trans-Atlantic development practices" Still an international team to this day!

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Eric Stein (he/him) @steinea.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Cool to see, and a nice write up on the history of the franchise I work on. FIFA 23 was my first shipped AAA title, the thirtieth FIFA, and the last FIFA, all in one.

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headfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 01/07/2026

Good Evening, “video games” was a 45 year sociological study conducted by hardware development industries. We are now complete with our study. Thank you for your time.

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dannyodwyer @dannyodwyer.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

A shootout with 4 goals, 5 misses and one own goal. This one might have been even more insane than the Paraguay one. This World Cup is haunted.

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Reposted by Eric Stein (he/him)

🪦 Ghoulian Grave 🪦 @julianday.ca · 30/06/2026

Canada advancing further than Germany and the Netherlands, just as everyone predicted.

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