Liz England+

really coming around to the idea that you should just treat every meal as a make

really coming around to the idea that you should just treat every meal as a make-your-own-tacos event

continuing to eat whatever the locals recommend, this time cabrito (baby goat sh

continuing to eat whatever the locals recommend, this time cabrito (baby goat shoulder) and cheesecake topped with pecan crumbles and dulce de leche sauce also there were of course tortilla chips multiple salsa’s guacamole refried beans onions tomatos tortillas etc etc

Okay I correct myself, hot takes AND video game announcements.

Okay I correct myself, hot takes AND video game announcements.

I thought we agreed to do fewer hot takes. Why is my feed entirely hot takes. I

I thought we agreed to do fewer hot takes. Why is my feed entirely hot takes. I can no longer tell when people act appalled because it’s funny or they are actually angry over something trivial. I recognize this is, itself, a hot take. I shall touch grass and consider the topic.

All this time I thought when people said IA it was because they were European an

All this time I thought when people said IA it was because they were European and the words were swapped in other languages.

they were crispy deep fried filled with fatty pork

they were crispy deep fried filled with fatty pork

today I got to explain to my host what a “greasy spoon” (complimentary) was beca

today I got to explain to my host what a “greasy spoon” (complimentary) was because he basically brought me to a local mexican equivalent taco deshebrada, sope, flauta, and fried potatoes on the left, and tacos rojos on the right

I’ve been told they are the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain chain

I’ve been told they are the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain chain

I love em, there’s a few hills covered in houses in these colors

I love em, there’s a few hills covered in houses in these colors

I am surrounded

I am surrounded

Now that it stopped raining, the mountains here are unreal. This is the view fro

Now that it stopped raining, the mountains here are unreal. This is the view from my hotel room.

when asked how spicy I wanted my food the exact question was, “how mexican are y

when asked how spicy I wanted my food the exact question was, “how mexican are you feeling?” the intent translated perfectly

progress report

progress report

I did not in fact watch any of them but I love reading everyone arguing/justifyi

I did not in fact watch any of them but I love reading everyone arguing/justifying the answer.

Every single fast and furious film is available on in flight entertainment. I ha

Every single fast and furious film is available on in flight entertainment. I have never seen one. If I can only watch one, which is the worst?

On my way to Mexico 🇲🇽 I was invited to talk to game design students and I a

On my way to Mexico 🇲🇽 I was invited to talk to game design students and I am very excited for that but I will not lie a non insignificant reason I am going is the food.

no they were very serious I’m sorry to say

no they were very serious I’m sorry to say

today i saw someone say that there were seances conducted at openai directed at

today i saw someone say that there were seances conducted at openai directed at an ai god and and and i just cannot

Personally I think anthropic is trying to get the pope to admit their ai can be

Personally I think anthropic is trying to get the pope to admit their ai can be conscious because the next revelation is that its been possessed by a demon and their texas data center needs an exorcism

i think the only answer is shitposting through these times or logging off comple

i think the only answer is shitposting through these times or logging off completely, and I am not capable of the latter

it is like ai news and oped cycle is finely tuned for maximum discourse, it brin

it is like ai news and oped cycle is finely tuned for maximum discourse, it brings out all the opinions, it invites them, even the pope is discoursing

the number of times I’ve written a post about ai and deleted the draft rather th

the number of times I’ve written a post about ai and deleted the draft rather than posting is just way too many, ai is really taking up too many brain cycles these days and I need to start charging anthropic rent

looking at an old presentation I did for students on different kinds of designer

looking at an old presentation I did for students on different kinds of designers and I think this one still holds up

please college aged kid: what are like five more games you and all your peers ar

please college aged kid: what are like five more games you and all your peers are pretty familiar with? I'm going with a lot of top sellers and GOTY picks but particularly interested in popular indie games. Like is Stardew Valley a good reference? What about Slay the Spire?

any mobile games that stand out as a common denominator?

any mobile games that stand out as a common denominator?

what are the college aged kids playing these days? I am about to go talk to a bu

what are the college aged kids playing these days? I am about to go talk to a bunch of students about game design and having a crisis of being old and trying to make sure my game examples are relevant do the kids know what skyrim is? did they all grow up playing minecraft?

no but this 100% describes the first and only one I watched

no but this 100% describes the first and only one I watched

I think not being on facebook or instagram or tiktok (I have no account, I just

I think not being on facebook or instagram or tiktok (I have no account, I just occasional use it for ‘anthropological’ purposes like this) really put me out of touch with whatever the hell is happening out there.

On a lark I decided to look up ‘ai’ on tiktok and I was not prepared. I just can

On a lark I decided to look up ‘ai’ on tiktok and I was not prepared. I just can’t even describe how not prepared I was. The convos about AI I have are like “is it ever ethical to use AI to develop tools to speed up your asset pipeline” and people are out here pumping out fruit people soap operas.

I finally tracked this down tonight. Miro removed passwords. You have to sign on

I finally tracked this down tonight. Miro removed passwords. You have to sign on through social (google, microsoft, etc.) account, or SSO (biz account). The magic link does not work on the app (wtf). In theory it makes it more secure, but I use a password manager so it is extra frustrating.

Yeah. I’ve been using Obsidian’s canvas but its no where near what miro provides

Yeah. I’ve been using Obsidian’s canvas but its no where near what miro provides, it mostly lets me map info but not actually brainstorm or work directly in it.

Just realized I have not used miro in two months because the sign in process for

Just realized I have not used miro in two months because the sign in process for the app puts me in an infinite loop of entering my email <-> clicking a magic link, and then once I find the right path to log in I get "Too many attempts. Try again in 60 minutes". This company is worth $1.36 billion.

dnd update: banana muffins made with coconut and rum, drizzled with a lime icing

dnd update: banana muffins made with coconut and rum, drizzled with a lime icing

wow critical hit on the psychic damage brendan

wow critical hit on the psychic damage brendan

Never fails to amuse me, but more importantly this always feels fair in comparis

Never fails to amuse me, but more importantly this always feels fair in comparison to the "95% chance to hit" language other games use. (I know smarter people than me have written on this so I won't get into why).

be very rude to the fairy in the moonlantern and then smash the lantern on the g

be very rude to the fairy in the moonlantern and then smash the lantern on the ground

I never finished BG3 because of an act 3 bug, so I am replaying it. And I never

I never finished BG3 because of an act 3 bug, so I am replaying it. And I never really looked at other people’s play through branches so I've been often surprised at how much you can affect a playthrough. So anyway Gale is cursed by an angry fairy with clown face in this run and I am never curing it

I always say it doesn’t matter if you code up a full maslow’s hierarchy of needs

I always say it doesn’t matter if you code up a full maslow’s hierarchy of needs for your game ai if all the player sees is “flee cower or attack”

The goal is to get more /textured/ characters, more unusual and spikey, more sur

The goal is to get more /textured/ characters, more unusual and spikey, more surprising, more unique to a setting. But stickjng to poetic rather than humorous. Bad procgen is often funny, so learning away from comedy means doubling down on getting the rules right.

I have come to the conclusion that I want to start with more abstract flavours f

I have come to the conclusion that I want to start with more abstract flavours first, which is neither model, not really. The tarot card / zodiac / vibes approach to procgen. Which means frankensteining the highly rational systems I know with some highly subjective aesthetic-first woo.

I have extensive experience starting with demographics and then getting more and

I have extensive experience starting with demographics and then getting more and more specific and last balancing gameplay/narrative to be interesting & spikey (having some extremes). And I did sone attempts at stats first but we threw it out (wrong game for it) so I have much less experience there.

So another way is you start with gameplay or narrative, like stats (20 int / 8 c

So another way is you start with gameplay or narrative, like stats (20 int / 8 cha) or for ex story roles (married person having a secret affair, embezzling from the guild, spy for enemy) and then start marching the other way to determine their demographic data (gender, species, class/job, etc)

But if I want to just generate a handful of characters, like instead if populati

But if I want to just generate a handful of characters, like instead if populating a city I want to populate agatha christie’s newest murder mansion and the twelve lucky souls that will spend the night there, I don’t want ”representative demographic data” I want my weird little guys to be weird

This is great when you’re generating a ‘population’, like a city, where you want

This is great when you’re generating a ‘population’, like a city, where you want bell curves to help moderate the mean and makes extremes possible but rare. These generate extremely coherent characters.

Later you determine stats (str, dex, int, etc) and abilities (spells? attacks?)

Later you determine stats (str, dex, int, etc) and abilities (spells? attacks?) based on that demographic data. Like, you choose “drow noble” early on and that determines “darkvision, equipped with a rapier” at a much later stage. Narrative too explains “drow noble” after the facts are chosen.

As you march through generation you figure out these demographic details (wealth

As you march through generation you figure out these demographic details (wealth, age, gender, social class, job). Often there’s an order as prior choices constrain later choices.

To explain the difference I’ll use DnD npcs as an example. Starting demographic

To explain the difference I’ll use DnD npcs as an example. Starting demographic data first means fir example choosing a species (human, dwarf, orc, etc), and then possibly a class / archetype (fighter, peasant, noble, etc). You might link these so like halflings are more likely to be commoners, etc

(I may regret typing this from my phone since I’ve turned off auto correct so ev

(I may regret typing this from my phone since I’ve turned off auto correct so everything takes longer to type)

so anyway there’s like two models I’m trying to merge together for procgen peopl

so anyway there’s like two models I’m trying to merge together for procgen people, one is a model that starts with demographic data and then uses that to inform narrative or gameplay details, and the other starts with gameplay/narrative and then uses that to inform in demographic data later…

I spent a good couple of hours working out a technical design for procedurally g

I spent a good couple of hours working out a technical design for procedurally generating weird little guys that half borrows from prior work and half invention and just when I started feeling good about it I had a long pause and realized oh god it’s just a bunch of if statements

found while looking for 1500s flemish paintings of peoples faces because I need

found while looking for 1500s flemish paintings of peoples faces because I need something public domain to chop up so I can generate weird little guy portraits

feels like this might make a good reaction image

feels like this might make a good reaction image

yes, but i haven't made weird little guys in more than five years now! that's to

yes, but i haven't made weird little guys in more than five years now! that's too long!

okay but is the character creation process actually good or is it bad in part be

okay but is the character creation process actually good or is it bad in part because you can die during it?

I wanna make a game where I procedurally generate a bunch of weird little guys.

I wanna make a game where I procedurally generate a bunch of weird little guys. But really the game part is incidental. I just want to play with procgen again and need an excuse.

people: baldur's gate's writing is best in class baldur's gate:

people: baldur's gate's writing is best in class baldur's gate:

this is me every other month, I like to be inundated in alternating waves of rel

this is me every other month, I like to be inundated in alternating waves of relief and horror to keep me sharp!

there are so many things wrong with that statement I don't even know how to star

there are so many things wrong with that statement I don't even know how to start

I just realized this reminds me a lot of the pseudoscience they'd spread on the

I just realized this reminds me a lot of the pseudoscience they'd spread on the oculus subreddit back in like 2013 when it was the only public source for people learning to use the vr devkits, just tons of made up technically sounding answers to things like motion sickness but no basis in fact

I actually can't remember the last time I heard the term script kiddie and I thi

I actually can't remember the last time I heard the term script kiddie and I think it's time to bring it back

On the one hand, subreddit commenters are pretty good at making fun of posts on

On the one hand, subreddit commenters are pretty good at making fun of posts on this topic. On the other hand, I have also seen the term "tokenmaxxing" and learned about the "caveman prompt". In short, tt is a land of contrasts.

I've been spending time in the ai subreddits and one of my conclusions is that y

I've been spending time in the ai subreddits and one of my conclusions is that young men often confuse themselves for "software engineers" when they are actually "consumers", and when they get their hands on powerful tech they will always find a way to do it wrong and be shocked at the outcome

"it took all my tokens" is the new "my apes are all gone"

"it took all my tokens" is the new "my apes are all gone"

you can just send msgs like this to the bot, i periodically log in to fix bugs e

you can just send msgs like this to the bot, i periodically log in to fix bugs etc

I guess we just die 🤷

I guess we just die 🤷

Today I walked down the street and in the dangerous act of stepping into the sto

Today I walked down the street and in the dangerous act of stepping into the store I pulled my calf muscle. I can now only take stairs one at a time. I live on the second floor. Don't get old.

jane why are you do afraid of doors?

jane why are you do afraid of doors?

this is stressing me out

this is stressing me out

it is obsidian, I used some plugins + some of my own custom styling (since it's

it is obsidian, I used some plugins + some of my own custom styling (since it's just .md files + css)

we are playing curse of strahd a very serious gothic horror campaign

we are playing curse of strahd a very serious gothic horror campaign

also, I was absolutely BODIED by a player when in the middle of roleplaying they

also, I was absolutely BODIED by a player when in the middle of roleplaying they sent this to the chat and it was 100% a match to the look, tone, personality, and goddamn accent I was using for the NPC I took a bathroom break and from the other room could HEAR them pulling up a bug's life clip

I guess after wrapping up a 3-year campaign last year, we just vibe our way thro

I guess after wrapping up a 3-year campaign last year, we just vibe our way through d&d these days

my actual dnd update is that my session notes these days just look like this

my actual dnd update is that my session notes these days just look like this

excellent yes I will make them roll for this

excellent yes I will make them roll for this

yes

yes

dnd update: my players leveled up and all (?) of them have invisibility now

dnd update: my players leveled up and all (?) of them have invisibility now

okay actually this tastes great, may ir may not be related to sleep deprivation

okay actually this tastes great, may ir may not be related to sleep deprivation tho

happy brunch day (featuring slightly sad airport breakfast)

happy brunch day (featuring slightly sad airport breakfast)

Cabin Factory (an anomaly detection game), Dead Letter Dept (a typing game)

Cabin Factory (an anomaly detection game), Dead Letter Dept (a typing game)

happy brunch day

happy brunch day