#Gathering of Developers Games

[mvfm-25]

" A dark future... An uncertain past... No one left to trust! "

PlayStation Magazine (PSM) n046 - June, 2001.

[found-in-retro-game-mags]

Blair Witch Vol 1-3 ad (Computer Games #120, Nov. 2000)

[akkivee]

god kuukou is so tiny next to the yamadas lmaooo

[menstits]

I feel like genshin's bad writing issues aren't really the same as other gachas just because the structure of the game itself is very different compared to card collection-based ones. It's not really a matter of retconning character development for the sake of sales, there IS absolutely dogshit writing in this game but imo it's not really tied to the gacha itself in the same way because the entire storyline including the characters' individual ones aren't really gated by owning them and the developers are fully aware that the characters will sell themselves regardless of what their story is as long as they're cute anime characters because a significant chunk of the fanbase doesn't even know how to read

[lord-of-the-nemaverses]

How Magic is Burning Out Its Community

Once upon a time, there was a pretty little thing called three set blocks. Unfortunately, after the Mending, three set blocks had a lot of weaknesses during a time when Magic focused less on main characters and big, sweeping conflicts. The WAR block is a decent (if maybe not the best?) example of why a three set block works; they used the first two sets to transition from Bolas's plan threatening just the main characters, into the plan threatening the multiverse. Then, they used the third set to actually cover the climax and resolution.

This structure doesn't work well for introducing new worlds, or revisiting old ones (with some exceptions, like the WAR block).

As much as three set blocks worked a lot better in general, general is not what Wizards made money off of. Unfortunately, companies listen to the money, so it doesn't matter what the community actually says for the most part; if the community says they don't like a set, but it broke record sales, the community spoke with their wallets to say they loved the set. Unfortunately, this isn't exclusive to the community, however; if a bunch of new players join around the time a radical decision is made, they may misconstrue that change as a successful one even if it isn't. There's so much nuance that spreadsheets can't convey, that shareholders don't see, but Wizards saw the writing on the wall. Even if three block sets worked for major conflicts, the fact that they didn't work for sets like OG Theros meant that Wizards took the easy way and converted to two set blocks. Additionally, despite foundational sets being mandatory for the health of a game with a rotating format, Wizards axed Core Sets to make this two set block rotation work.

But even that wasn't enough.

People still complained, both vocally and with their wallets. Whenever there was a plane with nothing exciting going on, people tuned out after the first set and the second set didn't do as well. Two set blocks still weren't working to roll in the steady stream of satisfied players spending hundreds. So, they cut the cord and went for the extreme of one-set blocks, only making Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow two sets because they absolutely couldn't make it work with on.

They didn't learn their lesson because we didn't speak with our wallets.

Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow wasn't that successful in their eyes. The set being split-up meant it didn't feel coherent, so people didn't buy it. Double Feature's black and white gimmick and this lack of cohesion killed interest in what should have been the best way to play the set. This block being a design failure, and players not buying it, caused Wizards to read this as two set blocks being wildly disliked by the community.

In the background, a different problem was emerging; between quite a few planes being revisited and new planes getting only one set, players are going to be less likely to give a set a try. With two set blocks, a new plane or revisit may hurt its second set with a poor first set, but on the flip side, players have more time to warm up to the block, to the plane. Players are going to be more likely to take a risk, and may end up liking the plane more than they thought they would. If planes only get one set, you have to cram everything in that single set, which can cause rich details to be overlooked. Players will then have to make their judgment on if they want to invest in that plane or not based on a single set and a cursory glance at the major details of the plane. And, when faced with risk and less of a reason to take it, less people will take it. After all, they can just wait for their favorite plane/character to show up later; their plan to get more engagement wasn't working, so they started throwing everything at the wall. Event sets were wildly popular! Let's make more of them! Certain characters sell well! Let's feature them more and create Omenpaths so any major character can appear in any major set!

But our overexposure to legendary creatures and major events, happening in rapid fire, was causing us to get burnt out. Conflicts stopped feeling meaningful. Major character appearances stopped feeling meaningful. And that leads us to today, where now, half of the future sets will be Universes Beyond; that made them money, but that's because it felt new, and people bought it. That's because new players, who weren't with Magic for the journey, are coming in droves. The reason you don't like Magic anymore is because you're still playing Magic, but you aren't part of the same storytelling experience anymore. The newest Phyrexian invasion could have been exciting, with high stakes. Many Compleated characters came back and the multiversal invasion was summarized in ONE SET. Outlaws of Thunder Junction could have been exciting, with characters from across the multiverse trying to find and uncover the secrets of the Fomori Vault. Big story beat potential, but it was summarized in ONE SET. Aetherdrift featured a massive race, representing three planes and inhabitants from across the entire multiverse. Huge chance to represent two fan-favorite planes and a brand new one, but it was summarized in ONE SET. And now, with Tarkir: Dragonstorm coming up, we have a massive plot spanning the same sort of conflict the original Tarkir block covered, with Khans versus Dragons and two major events.

That are being glossed over.

Because it's being summarized

in ONE SET.

How are we supposed to get attached to these characters and their struggles when they all fly by so fast? Magic may be a card game but it's also a storytelling game, and what made Magic itself was that it felt like a storybook playing out on the cards. You saw a story slowly evolve, plots could be better structured, but now it's story after story after story summarized in bullet points, the details and struggles only getting brief mentions. And, with that gone, what makes Magic Magic is gone, so you only get to see it as the card game it is. And, if I want to come to a table to see a story told out in bullet points, Yu-Gi-Oh's been catching up on their storytelling; it's been there, but now they're bringing it to the forefront, because they realize Magic has stopped doing what it's done best, leaving an opening for someone else to do it instead.

[ruushes]

the real dark urge is the desire to replay this expansive endlessly variable rp-rich experience with the exact same character and LI and decisions except they’re a durge now. the other real dark urge is to make my durge a gnome

[would-they-be-good-at-asmr]

[skip4d]

now you have :)

[mvfm-25]

" Bungie's Anime-style, genre redefining epic is headed for the PS2! " Gamer's Republic Magazine n25 - June, 2000

[crosaidi]

i honestly don't know why i read the bg3 subreddit because reddit's takes on all the companions are universally awful but the way they so often talk about the more good aligned characters like gale and wyll and even karlach to an extent make me exhausted

[glassrockgathering]

Welcome Pilot! Strap yourself in and prepare to punch robots, build decks and listen to smooth tunes! Star Steel Smackdown will throw you into a prestigious mecha fighting league where skill, speed and jazzercising determine victory! On your journey to the top, you will get to know (and get to defeat) a range of colourful characters, use an array of powerful cards and experience the thrills and spills of mecha combat! And if you make it all the way to claiming the coveted Star Steel Belt then the next time you play, the final boss might just be… you.

Hey, people of the internet!

We will start shouting into the void of the interwebs about this cool game that we are making, and we hope that our shouts will find people who will love this game!

We will post updates on the development, introduce our team of eccentric nerds, and do some general goofing around. We are still figuring all this social media stuff out, so be kind with us!

If you want you can join our (very empty) Discord and chat to us, we promise we won't bite...

Your Glass Rock dwellers :)

[mantisgodsdomain]

Occasionally we debate on illustrating random bits from our Discord PMs that we find really funny but then we remember that we're, like, the physical embodiment of the "ace that makes sex jokes" stereotype and phrases like "iterator dick discourse" would both be remarkably difficult to illustrate and probably require us drawing something at least somewhat NSFW (we do not particularly care to learn how to draw this)

[lord-of-the-nemaverses]

From Field to Hand [16] — Bark of Dark Ruler

In your near future, board and card games could cost up to, or over, 50% more to buy.

I didn't think politics would get involved in my personal life, risk destroying my personal interests, but here we are. A game design blog forced to open a rotten can of worms, to bite the bullet in the face of the biggest threat to the future of tabletop gaming since COVID. I uninstalled Tumblr with the full intention to try and grit and bear it through this entire presidency, at least until I could physically drive myself to protests and support nonprofits trying to undo the damage being done to our country. I try to keep things neutral, but my way of life is being attacked here. I can't be expected to stay silent.

Ever since I was 16, I've been slowly working on a card game all my own. At 24, I finally decided to launch myself back into it, and now at 25 I've finally started putting substantial effort in. Financial investments, days of my free time spent researching and planning, slaving away with not a cent of money being made just to try and bring my ideas to life. Yet, just as I'm about to start investing hundreds into it to buy new specialty equipment, from an art tablet to a better printer for test cards, from a license for better graphic design software to a personal office setup to make things official, I'm suddenly slapped in the face with the fact that my chance of recouping my losses, let alone breaking a profit, are now even more slim than ever before. There's normally some kind of way to work around this, but this isn't some philosophical lesson, unless you didn't already know that life isn't fair and not everything is under your control. This is a rallying cry for those of you with the resources to do what you can to help creators who are already in too deep get their projects off the ground, and for you to do whatever you can to protest Trump's actions.

Stay strong everyone. In the end, this blog is meant to be helpful to creators, so it pains me to have to be the bearer of bad news. Just remember that you aren't alone, and if we work together, we can fight back against this sabotage.

[mystybelle]

Totally not running my sleep schedule by staying up on this section longer than I need to instead of letting the void claim me BUT-

MTG fans, do they keywords make things more or less annoying to understand when you play?

(I have my own opinion, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads in design atm, so if anybody has some opinions to share I'd love to hear so I can decide what to do

[welcometoteyvat]

why did they shove ai research into fontaine

[janeaudron]

Don’t know why I never thought about doing a series of short stories I could group into an anthology for my main headworld(and others).

That would actually help me put my work out and somewhat worry less. Help me get some ideas(game/novel/comic) down that can be built upon later. Also will help me finally put my Patreon and Ko-Fi to use more.

And help me sort out some worldbuilding and do new things. And get back at that one comic idea that my drive got killed for because of college. Ugh.