#could be a good way to learn how to make a combat system in Twine...

[manonamora-if]

Having recently watched Tekken (2009)... I'm sliiiightly tempted to make an IF that is as bonkers as the movie.

[vitaliadev]

gd.tv 2025 postmortem

https://itch.io/jam/gamedevtv-jam-2025

So, I already participated in this jam last year. In both times, it was because I wanted a course, tohugh today I see it probably won't be my goal next year because I have enough courses that cover every other course I do not have. It is likely I won't participate in next jam, or at least not for the course (but for flex....lol)

My game:

https://vitaliadev.itch.io/so-about-chrystal

The bad:

Due to perfectly foreseen circumstances, I messed up my project I of course broke my project and didn't have the recent working copy because I wanted to play around with plugins I didn't play before.

I have been in quite bad health recently, so I spent 2 days sleeping and resting, after what I half-forgot what I was doing, so I lost my concentration and didn't follow the plan (which led to issue above ^)

Because I had a broken file, I ended up doing a text version of my game in last 2 days, but I forgot music (in 3d project i had it hanks to using template that allowed me to quickly replace stuff).

I may have wasted a lot of time interacting with the jam community, as well as other jams I planned to be a part of later. It can be fun and all, but it also got an anon hater & wasted time by random chit-chat as a procrastination form voting on games and dealing with my personal stuff irl. So, this point is kinda about me procrastinating in general and using seemingly productive means for it like chatting with the community.

The good:

had HTML5 version compared to last year (if i had a truly good game it would be irrelevant tho)

kinda unrelated, but this game helped me to understand what i want on my itch.io and why i need custom css that now i got granted

Used my original project, so I didn't make a fully new idea that would grow like new type of mold as it always happens

I wrote a good script very quickly because I planned well, and i got massive update on my main idea for the project's universe.

The game is relatively simple by design, so I can actually finish it right now, If i commit to this project.

Doing a jam again made me spend recent few weeks very productively and I helped me to get back into creative flow, and gamedev in general.

I got a course as a prize that fits to my cat game idea.

revamped my youtube and added some videos on the game

got my game advertisement tagline (God, I'm funny):

Results of the jam :

page 23/52; place 457/1023

versus old entry 51/54; 1030/1082 This jam was a year apart, 573places & 2scores up.

Comparison to the previous year:

And for further progress analysis, here's results form another jam i did twice (48hours, not 10 days):

There the time was roughly half a year in between, raised myself 1 point and 4 places position 49/53 in 2024, 45/55 in 2025.

To sum up: half a year I upgrade my rating in 1 point and climb up the ladder. Though, i recalled it wrong, i only participated irl in 1 jam, first one with Out of Control game. So perhaps I could finish because I wasn't on location and had more smooth process this way (again, time was wasted on chit chat irl).

---

Things to do in jams:

Always check if I have music and sounds

consider how to deal with HTML5 (either i don't work in UE5 at all or I work in UE4.23, which needs new templates and learning)

prep meals etc beforehand

Things to do in general:

do postmortem for year of jams (8 total) + video

play some jam games i had no time for

test UE 5.6

clean up the file mess after broken projects

organize my desktop, i have a lot of jams' related stuff dumped all over folders

update all my Twine games with pics and music

check out UE templates

UE new course - for cat game

get screen etc for home

ue template - combat for Jack's game likely

sort my tag system tumlbr posts

Some other thing to do in general:

deal asap with my docs

figure out wth is my health situation now because it hasn't been normal

There were many things more in my head but whatevers

[lovelyirony]

162. “They told me you died. And I screamed. I screamed until my lungs hurt too much to continue.” Pepperony? ty!!

When Pepper was twelve, her aunt introduced her into the world of romance books, movies, and television shows. Pepper generally liked them, although some of the historical-fiction-romance books were a bit too corny for her taste. 

Throughout all of these, there is one message that has been repeated: You Will Do Anything for Love. 

She thinks it’s...well. It’s not something that necessarily makes sense to her. Like sure, she would go to the grocery store at eleven at night to get ice cream for her partner, or she would help them with a project. 

But dying, sacrificing yourself? She can’t imagine that. She can’t imagine doing whatever you have to for love. 

Until Tony. 

A lot of people are under the impression that Pepper is “dealing” with Tony. That she has these long-suffering sighs, that Tony is a man-child who can only handle so much and she handles the majority. 

That is far from the truth, although he still doesn’t know his own social security number and forgets dates of things. 

But Tony is fun and he surprises her, and he’s so soft when he wants to be. He knows when she needs to have some sort of snappy commentary, when she just needs him to sign things and pour some nice wine for a night in. 

Iron Man is something that she’s afraid about. Because maybe she’s being selfish, but she hates how much Tony goes out and fights the good fights. She wants him to come home and not wince when she kisses the bridge of his nose, not grimace as he puts weight on a leg that got hit pretty badly. 

And being inside of a suit of armor doesn’t mean he’s safe. He doesn’t have super healing, he doesn’t have any of the advantage of the others. He’s human, and that’s all he is sometimes. It terrifies the shit out of her. 

-

It was supposed to be a routine mission. One he’s flown a thousand times, one that he always complains about as a “waste of time, honey, honestly. I would much rather be sleeping in with you-” 

- 

He’s lost, they say. Pepper wants to deny it, because how could you lose someone like him? 

But people have been asking that question for centuries about those they love. And she knows that you can lose anyone to anything, and you have to deal with it. 

It’s not quiet, at least not in the house. 

She screams and cries and barely eats anything until Jarvis has to remind her to eat anything, just something that will her up even halfway. 

Her voice is hoarse. She can barely use it and she hates the world for still turning, but it does. 

That’s a comfort to some people. That life still continues on, that people have continued on. But it is not a comfort to her, it is bitter. To see people find new love all the time, to have friends over, to still be living. 

It’s a curse, she thinks. 

She doesn’t come into the office for two months. She doesn’t have to, and most everyone is too scared of her to tell her to do anything. 

No one’s sure exactly how Stark Industries will do without Tony. God knows they’ve planned for it. Pepper had, ever since she discovered the suit of armor and Tony’s been planning since before that. 

He had told her once when they were both getting drunk on a patio on a late summer evening, and he told her that he wasn’t sure that he should have kids. 

“I’m the world’s biggest fuck-up,” he had said, laughing at himself. “Why would I subject anyone to another generation of that?” 

That was before they were together, and it was when Pepper was dating someone else who was very...safe. 

Pepper’s learned since then that she’ll never like safe. She tried to convince herself of that, but she can’t. Not since she loves Tony as much as she does, not since she can’t look away from the news. 

- 

Three months in. 

Three months in, and Pepper gets an ad. 

This isn’t necessarily suspicious. 

But the thing is, it’s one of Tony’s funny little things that he does; he makes little ads for her throughout the day so that her day doesn’t suck as bad. Usually it’s for outlandish tourist traps that they’ve never visited. 

This time, it’s for the largest ball of twine, somewhere in Kansas. 

Come unravel the truth for yourself! the ad blinks, flashing furiously fast for something that was made so recent. 

She would expect that ad in the early days of the internet, when everything was flashy and people thought that was the only way to grab your attention. 

The phrasing is...odd. Why would you go there to “verify” it for yourself if it was already something they thought? 

And why for somewhere so far away? 

She doesn’t want to be one of those desperate, sobbing partners who refuse to admit the truth, search frantically for something that might not be there, is literally almost guaranteed to not be there. 

But fuck it. What else does she have to lose? Her sanity? That’s not exactly something she’d miss. 

- 

She starts by having Jarvis look through her entire computer. 

He finds one anomaly. An anomaly that shouldn’t be there, because Tony is the one who everything-proofed her computer, and he’s the only one who should be able to send the questionably-sourced advertisements. 

Jarvis picks up a very faint signal. 

- 

Pepper finds out that she gets her own suit. 

She scolds herself inside her own head as she feels a thrill race up her spine. 

She’s bringing him back, her heart sings. 

The problem is that she hasn’t told anyone. She doesn’t want anyone to know, doesn’t want anyone to see him if he’s...gone. 

So she touches down at an abandoned warehouse and her heart thrums, and then she’s surrounded. 

“You know, I was told that he had new tech,” the man says, sneering. “I just wasn’t aware it came with such a pretty woman attached.” 

“It also comes with three different bullet varieties to test out,” Pepper says sweetly, the darts coming out of the shoulders. “Would you like to test out how well they cut through you?” 

“Oh, we’re about to have fun.” 

It’s not as much fun as this guy predicts. He’s an old colleague of SI, as it turns out. Got fired about five years before Pepper got hired for some “misconduct” that was quickly swept under about a million other press releases. 

He’s very good at underestimation. 

Pepper is blasting through any attack he might have had, and the system in place for the armor--Friday--is adapting quite well, considering the circumstances. 

Fighting still takes a considerably long time, however. She’s starting to get frustrating, and then she gets asked a question: 

“You currently have lasers at your disposal, Miss Potts. It would help the situation, although it can be a mess. Would you like to use it?” 

“...how bad of a mess?” 

“I can aim for nonlethal areas.” 

“Shoot for the stars, Fry.” 

“As you wish, Madam.” 

There is lots of screaming. She wishes there wasn’t. She wishes she could be a better person, but she can’t. Not when Tony is so, so close and not when she loves him as hard as she does. 

- 

He’s tied up, thin, and more bruised than he’s been since...since he came back from the desert. 

But he looks at her, and she knows that they’ll make it out. 

“Did you...you got the ad, right?” 

“I got the ad.” 

“Good. I wasn’t sure...” 

“Sh,” she says, putting her hand to his face. “We got it. We got it. Did they take your armor?” 

He thinks for a moment, and she feels terrible. But she knows how much it would help him, how much he cares for his creations. 

“In the briefcase. It needs a secondary DNA signature if I hit distress.” 

“Is Rhodey the secondary?” Pepper asks, panic rising in her voice, because she wants to get out of here, get to a safe place, fall together again. 

“No. You.” 

She visibly sighs in relief, and smiles. 

“I love you.” 

“The only piece of knowledge that got me through,” Tony says. “That, and the promise of pizza when we get back.” 

Pepper rolls her eyes affectionately. 

“We’ll debate when we reach home. Where’s the briefcase?” 

“Two rooms over, on the left. I think.” 

- 

The other people who are left in the building don’t put up a fight. They’re all untrained in combat, and one comment from Tony leaves them well-aware: 

“This is my partner. She’s pissed. Do with that information what you will.” 

-

His suit goes on, and Pepper can see stress bleed away from his body. 

“Go home,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his helmet. “I’ll meet you there.” 

“I’m sorry if you didn’t want the suit,” Tony says. “I’m really, really sorry. But I figured it could make you safe, I didn’t want...I didn’t want you to ever have to use it.” 

“You know me better than that,” Pepper says. “And I...I don’t mind this, honestly.” 

“You don’t?” Tony asks, confused. “But the whole getting-rid-of-the-suits-on-Christmas?” 

“...I’ll make it up to you.” 

Tony smiles, and she’s missed that. 

- 

The flight home is much better. She can enjoy some of it, and Friday even puts on a bit of music for the trip home. 

Tony is already lying down, and people know the news. She lets the team run through, getting confirmation. So long as Tony allows it, so does she, although she does take a bit of liberty and cut off public visiting hours at nine p.m. 

He’s exhausted, already asleep. 

Pepper still sits, still looks at him with all the stars and promises that can be held by one earth in her eyes. 

"I’m happy you’re here,” she says. “Because I would’ve ended the earth to get you back again.” 

[xavidotron]

On Torment

So, I finished Torment: Tides of Numenera. It was good! It was very Planescape: Torment-y, which is exactly what it said on the tin. In the manner of one who spent the whole game comparing, I have some various and sundry thoughts. These… probably end up sounding overly harsh, but it’s really just that it’s easy to nitpick and overthink stuff like this. I’m going to try to avoid major spoilers, but perhaps talk about some late-game stuff obliquely.

The turn-based Crisis system was good, on the whole. I don’t remember exactly how Planescape: Torment’s combat worked but I remember feeling like it was basically the weakest part of the game. Here, combat was interesting and tactical, and having objects to interact with in the terrain and sometimes options to talk during combat definitely added. The interface was ok but had some rough edges: it was fiddly to make sure you were making your maximal movement, and it was hard to keep track of what was a move action vs main action and mumble mumble focus. Some combats definitely used the mechanic more interestingly than others, but on the whole having every combat be meaningful instead of having random irrelevant encounters all the time was pretty classy.

The Crisis system seemed like it had cool potential for non-combat encounters, but this was really only used interesting once, in the bit with the guided tour. Otherwise, there were some encounters you could resolve by talking to people in an obvious way, and some you could skip entirely, but nothing terribly creative for non-combat.

Other than Crises, it felt very Planescape: Torment-like. You talk to people and interact with stuff by picking options from a menu, sometimes with chances based on skills. If I recall correctly, it was much more explicit about chances of success than Planescape was, and having point pools you could spend to boost your chances was cool. But on the whole, challenges were rather easy. I spent all game carrying around numenera that boosted my chances on challenges and stuff to heal my stat pools, and never ended up needing to use it. There weren’t interesting choices of “do I spend my points to succeed here at the cost of failing at something else”, because it wasn’t hard to succeed at pretty much everything.

Menu options-wise, I felt like it had less cool things like having the same dialogue line presented as a lie or a truth, but I might be over-estimating how much Planescape: Torment did that sort of thing. A lot of it boiled down to “pursue every branch of the dialogue tree until it’s exhausted”, but there were also plenty of interesting choices.

The game ended up feeling very linear. You go to an area, do as many side quests as you can, then go on to the next with no way back. I think honestly Planescape: Torment probably is more linear than I think of it as, but here it felt pretty artificial especially given no in-universe reason why you couldn’t travel more freely. This also made the artificial headcount limit on companions feel pretty weird: there was a mystical artifact you could use to summon companions, but the mechanic was telling a companion to leave, which had them walking back home despite the fact that you knew there was no route home, and then summoning another companion. The companions themselves were pretty cool, though, and I liked how they reacted to stuff that happens and each other.

The sidequests themselves were pretty good, normally including interesting decisions to make. I liked, for quests that were obviously questionable, generally having the choice to go along with it or discover a good reason to decline and geting full XP either way. (Though there was one notable one, in the Third Eye, that I didn’t find a way to do this with even though it felt like I should.)

The merecaster mechanic was very interesting, but I felt like it wasn’t capitalized on thoroughly at all. It’s made a big deal how being able to change things and not just learn things with merecasters is my unique powerful ability, and yet every change is either plot-mandated or very minor and insignificant. Having the ability to make dramatic changes in the endgame seems entirely reasonable given the build-up, so I was disappointed that that didn’t end up being a thing. (Also, the end was completely inconsistent about open- vs closed-loop time travel, which was disappointing in terms of things being solvable mysteries instead of coming out of left field.)

Plot-wise, I felt like it lacked the mystery and world-exploration of Planescape: Torment to some extent, in part because everything was so on the nose. In Planescape: Torment you’re exploring this world that has plenty of stuff that doesn’t have to do with you, and it’s a while before you find people that know anything about your deal and are honest about it, so there’s a lot of discovery about your past and situation. Here, the first people you meet are all about you being a castoff and talking about the Changing God, and also so much of the game is people talking about these things or the Endless Battle. Pretty much everything that doesn’t end up tying to the Changing God ends up feeling like random one-off numenera randomness with no impact, which I don’t find all that inspiring. I feel like the game was too direct and explicit and had insufficient twists to feel like I was discovering a whole lot about my past and the world that really mattered. (There was a  twist at the end that I thought was pretty great, but I wasn’t given a chance to explore it in the context of the game, so it felt like it had weak truth and impact.)

The endgame definitely felt too linear and unpolished. For a place called the Labyrinth, it was remarkably easy to find your way around and remarkably uninteresting to. It was unclear why some people ended up there and some didn’t (did it relate to a hidden loyalty value?), and the stuff you could interact with in the side labyrinths felt very arbitrary and pointless.

For something so central to the game’s plot, I felt like the colors of tides had very minimal truth, mechanical support, or valence. Like, they seemed sorta like an alignment meter? But an unclear one that didn’t seem to affect very much? I kept expecting them to be a big deal in the endgame, especially given that bit about aligning the tides from gamestart, but it never seemed to go anywhere.

In related things, the level cap was pretty low; so much useless experience in the end-game! Maybe I was expected to swap my companions around more? And there was definitely some lack of polish, particularly some self-contradictory stuff at the end (Errtis’s dialogue after the last choice, epilogue stuff about the Bloom).

One question I kept thinking was, what distinguishes this from a Twine game purely based on text and choices, given how much of the game hinged on text boxes and multiple choice? But I do think the exploration really added, even if it could’ve been more expansive, and the threat of combat did give meaningful weight to stuff that it wouldn’t have had otherwise. It does make me think of the possibilities of exploration-plus-Twineishness as a form of interactive fiction more generally.

All in all, I’m glad I backed it and played it. It does feel like an echo of a great thing rather than something groundbreaking in and of itself, but that’s really what it was advertised as, and I do feel like it really adds to the canon of whatever sort of thing you think it’s an example of. And it was a lot of fun.