xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 6hOh are they only up to 8? My bad, must be an EVEN MORE prolific series 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 6hNot 100% sure, but highly likely to be Dungeon Crawler Carl given the popularity/ubiquity, right? 100
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 6hAw, man... I like the oppressively scary new "voice" of The Board in Resonant, but this made me realize is really miss the big TRIANGLE! 020
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 11hI think by "human" Goose meant Gangle and Zooble in the flesh, outside the circus, not just like... abstradegy art drawn by humans; obviously there's TONS of that. 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 14hIt's now SO ubiquitous that a single phase might be more surprising, (hard to sell lack as a feature though.) The opportunity to use pattern 1 to teach pattern 2+ under reduced pressure feels woefully misunderstood; designers love using it to surprise, shock, scare, or otherwise "bully" the player? 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 14hThassa very good, readable pattern! Boss designs of this (referenced) era tended to maintain the same attack pattern for the duration; curious what your thoughts are on the current "phased" trend FromSoft and others seem to have collectively pushed us into... 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 14hApologies for getting real instead of citing a comfort game, but while play can be therapeutic, video games are no substitute for actual therapy when it's needed. In recompense I'll share that I play much more LoL when I'm depressed, and it's a REALLY bad habit likely shared with that player base. 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 14hExtra eating or sleeping can be depression indicators; awesomely, gaming can be a "consequence light" activity in that sense; there are SO MANY more harmful cycles one could have than replaying a comfort game... But habits like EXERCIZING or MAKING ART are disgustingly hard to form, right? Blaugh! 100
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 14hNo, not inherently, but like any habit with an attachment to a negative condition, prolly worth asking "do I feel BETTER now, worse, or the same?" Are there attendant consequences, like was that gaming recovery time supposed to go toward another responsibility or your sleep schedule? 100
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026Now THAT is a rad turn of nomenclature that I randomly feel one @austinwalker.bsky.social should be made peripherally aware of! 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026"I have dedicated my LIFE to this corporation because they thoughtfully extended design affordances toward me as a child, but I feel VERY strongly that they should NOT do that for some stupid kids I haven't met and don't plan on having, instead catering specifically to my cohort as we age out!" 020
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026*glances at Zooble* *looks back at post* *squints* *opens mouth but nothing comes out* *strikes philosoraptor-esque pose* 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026Oh wow, this rules and now I'm kinda mad at my Steam algorithm for not showing me this despite my efforts to bend it toward weird/interesting indie efforts. (To be fair, I don't really play enough cozy fare, so the algo is technically correct but I reserve the right to be cross with it anyway!) 020
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026I feel like a surprisingly large percentage of the genre feels beholden to trying to execute on BOTH those paradigms, and might be poorer for it? I found Small Saga to be highly refreshing for its utter commitment to the storytelling vehicle identity and abandonment of resource management/challenge 020
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026I would HOPE that the whole point of the endeavor is that the balloon remains partially moored/tethered in such a way as the "pilot" can control its ascent/descent without, you know, hanging around and awkwardly pretending not to notice the lovemaking? 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026To be clear, not suggesting the above design is brilliant; stripping player-controlled difficulty selection through overlevelling introduces other problems! Just saying, kid Xeneth played Chrono Trigger and imagined future RPG evolutions that STILL haven't materialized. 001
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026Wild how many designs are fully moored in ~2 decades of "because that's how it's always been done?" I swear if you statted the party to challenge the next boss and treated all the encounters prior to it as tutorialization, then only levelled after each boss, you'd hear "that's no longer an RPG!" 100
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026It's hard enough to design a boss fight that's challenging but fun to learn and execute... so many #NineSols bosses manage the feat of delivering meaningful characterization and personality ON TOP of that! Currently begging my brain to forget more of the game so I can replay it with fresh eyes. 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 29/09/2026Go for it! (Very much a do as I say not as I do bit of encouragement there) Flawed as Prime 4 feels, (the troubled development can definitely be felt) there's a lot of impres 6sive visual design going on that folks would love to see your reaction to/take on. 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026@kylethompsondev.bsky.social's games always manage to scratch my metroidvania itch, but I think #WellDweller might be the first one to visually stop me in my tracks with visual spectacle and composition, wow. These creepy cute vibes and Grimm storybook themes are WORKING! 030
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026Quite likely, yeah. Given living within two miles of one of these data centers sounds like demons shrieking 24/7, one should expect hyperbolic and fatalistic static out here if you're talking about how to cool them more efficiently rather than how to get rid of them! 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026People's timelines are ABLAZE with this discourse, and if they sound weirdly upset it's because they very much are! "Acceptance" comparisons to the car technology that's likely damaged our world more than any other are SO unflattering that "it's on sight," and I cannot in good conscience blame them 100
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026The latter, and the various qualifiers and "hedging" tone is the source of the misunderstanding. "not necessarily bad" (unsaid: if you could cool using seawater instead of OUR supply) "potentially real" -read like fence-sitting "GenAI is the next automobile" equivocation from certain angles... 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026The inclusion of scrungo childbreast got a bit of an eyebrow raise outta me, but racehate janice is, ironically, a good person, (rubber hose woke virus cartoon... thing?) 030
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026Yeah, "you have to play the silences between the notes too" and all that jazz, I know you've heard this before, but it bears repeating; the player's experience is just as defined by what they CAN'T do, (or what they need other players to accomplish, even asynchronously in single player games!) 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026House House's subtractive design philosophy on this title is SO impressive, especially in this moment when we're wrestling with/against generative tools to learn FARTHER into void-filling, "more is more," kitchen-sink-and-a-bag-of-chips style creativity... 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026Still got #BigWalk on the brain in a Big Way, and we're probably only halfway through?! So much of game design as a craft is additive, for lots of reasons that get reinforced by the iterative nature of something so densely interwoven with the complex technologies that make the medium possible... 120
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026Nope, can't trick me into thinking about what the various Sonic homonculi's fingernails look like under the gloves, can't do it, won't keep attempting to visualize the cuticles, ain't happening! 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026The timeline certainly seems to be picking up what yer laying down... 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026Odds are decently high it will be, but there's subtlety to predicting along what axes I suppose... Like, about police and the carceral state? Definitely! Labor and unionization? Probably not! Queerness? Gosh I HOPE so Mysogyny? Dat coinflip... might pendulum wildly toward women every other mission. 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026It's deffo not made from her hair like the majority of the outfit; that's an "Umbran Watch," effectively a magical timepiece that serves like her heart and makes her effectively immortal. It's the visual bit of kit of that's doing the "witch time" mechanic slo-mo just dodge reward mechanic. 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026Which, in bullshit anime/game terms means they can't "Hear Their Own Ghost" or have never "Felt The Cosmos!" Maybe philosophy should move down to the high school level so it's mandatory... like GenAI chuds claim to believe we're ALL philosophical zombies, just so a brute force proxy feels viable? 040
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026They're telling on themselves a little bit there, (in cases where they ACTUALLY believe LLMs are a viable path to thinking, learning machine intelligence...) It implies so little introspection that they believe their own thoughts/feelings are just sufficiently complex i/o "trained" on society... 180
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026This has turned out to be what I really want from a metroidvania; all the Hollow Knight inspiration with none of the cribbing! Highly divergent art direction and design decisions, and so much personality beyond "We too are big fans of Team Cherry's work!" 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026This is wonderful, and via the magic of metroidvania symmetry immediately made me think of Hornet and The Bell Beast~ (art by mikidaillust via instagram) 0171
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026Stellar Blade appears to be very "free use" coded in that way; 10/10 smokeshows pretending sex doesn't exist in order to encode the desperate male gaze as perfectly neutral. It's even there in the article key art! Bayonetta is comparatively aware of and reflecting the gaze for her own empowerment! 150
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026Kind of surprised Stellar Blade devs have played the games or might cite them as a source of inspiration? Bayonetta is one of my go-to counter-examples leveraged directly against Eve, who appears to be completely unaware of what she looks like or is wearing... 160
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026Very much in the same boat. I'm constantly teetering on the edge of engaging in good faith design commentary before deleting unsent replies and reminding myself that the medium is the message and I'm likely falling for their actual goal of simply maximizing some dopamine-linked number. 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026This is true, but a measured take with constructive scaffolding is worth, like, 10% of the potential engagement? Hyperbolic wailing and absolutism is where the meta's at; you need fans of the game to feel compelled to DEFEND it, not nod along reasonably and scroll on by! 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026I am old enough to remember Plok, (how on earth did Rayman manage to steal that thunder and become "the floating limbs guy" anyway?) but unfortunately this is the first time I've encountered a reference to the game in the wild in over a decade. 120
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026Ah, social media; where "Spent hours re-experiencing a piece of media you like!" holds more value than "Spent hours creating a unique visual experience for you to enjoy!" Thinking about it, from the perspective of a non-artist I suppose the former is technically more relatable? Unfortunate if true. 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026Good lord, I'm knee deep in Control Resonant AND Silent Hill Townfall, such that I didn't even notice #WellDweller released?! The Thompson Bros. never fail to deliver on the kind of tightly scoped metroidvanias I crave, so apologies to all the AAA games for a bit here...store.steampowered.comSave 15% on Well Dweller on SteamWell Dweller is a dark fairy-tale metroidvania, full of charming characters living in a wretched kingdom. Play as Glimmer - a tiny bird armed with a matchstick - who must burn the wicked queen to save... 000
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026The best stories ever told all have something in common; endings! If events in the Halo universe beyond Master Chief aren't worth telling, then the worldbuilding was a scaffold for That Adventure and it can be laid to rest. Many great worlds are like film sets for their core stories, no shame/shade 140
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026On a somewhat related note, are you also getting tons of "charity/outreach image rehabilitation" ads for institutions like the local gas & power monopoly? Like, "you're already our customer because we're all there is out here, but we're ALSO spending money to seem less evil, please clap!" 020
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026The first movie's setup is rock solid IMO; between the jobber thing you mentioned and the whole doomed company setup of "we don't get paid unless we check this out," no one's behaving weirdly for plot reasons. I think the comic is more of a Prometheus send-up, which fares far worse! 010
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026TIL Poinpy ENDS, and isn't just some sort of vertical infinite Jumper? This implies that there's a bottom in Downwell too... damn, I need to get better at video games. 110
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026I think it's less about whether or not they can make a more appealing product than what remains of 343, and more about how Halo feels like/will be more of a Product™ than ever. Personally, it feels like a second or third death, (depending on how you feel like counting.) 120
xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/09/2026Ugh, get ready for all that emergent Combat sandbox stuff to be replaced by EPIC SET PIECES by Activision, Call of Duty style... 010
