Making Games

(I'm dealing with Circumstances and may be scarce; apologies. Don't want to discuss details here, thank you!)

Recent gaming! What have y'all been playing lately?

recent games
- On rydra_wong's recommendation, Slay the Princess (visual novel) on Steam Deck. Probably this is best largely unspoiled: it's fairytale horror, but I'm a comparatively squeamish player/viewer and this was fine. ('Ware the content notes if that's a concern.) It features beautiful "pencil sketch" style art that works well for the theme and I especially enjoyed how the main musical theme was altered in ways to complement the gameplay. (I brought this in to a smol but cheery "videogame music of 2024" listening hangout at my postgraduate program and the people in the video games/sound design programs agreed it was terrific.)

If you're the kind of player who enjoys Creature of Havoc by Steve Jackson (Fighting Fantasy gamebook), Slouching Toward Bedlam by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (parser-based interactive fiction/text adventure; you can play in-browser at the link; the button is in the top right of that page), or Doki Doki Literature Club (visual novel, also horror), you might enjoy this.

- I got sucked into Balatro on Steam Deck, iPhone, and iPad :p and Max Gladstone claims he wasn't the vector of transmission so it might have been yeloson or someone else? I genuinely don't remember. This is a poker-themed roguelike where, as you go, you alter the deck, alter modifiers that affect scoring, etc. You don't need to know how to play "real" poker - I mean, it might initially help a tiny bit in having a sense of the odds for hands in a standard poker deck, but the game tells you everything you need to know and I suspect it's easy to pick up.

There's functionally no narrative and it doesn't need one. The interface is retro in style, charming, extremely easy to navigate. It's addictive, fun, can be played in snatches, and the random combos can be very satisfying.

currently playing
- Fights in Tight Spaces - again, I can't remember who rec'd this to me! The go-to people I tend to think of as delivering game recs to me are yeloson and Max Gladstone, but it could have been someone else. :p

This is a "special agent" fighting deckbuilder (think James Bond, I guess, for those who have watched or read any James Bond [1]), but with a spatial (isometric square) small-group tactics component. You'll have cards that do movement, attack cards, defense cards, and of course cards will combine some of these elements; your task is to kill all the opponents (and sometimes, for bonus, to save allies), who have decks/moves of their own.

Hilariously, I died EIGHT TIMES using the second deck that unlocks after the starter deck (Counterstriker), which even TELLS YOU in the name how to play it if you're not paying attention to the MECHANICS of what's in the deck. The core strategy for Counterstriker is:

- lots of maneuver
- lots of block (defense), much of which deals a lot of counterattack damage after YOU'VE been hit
- a small amount of attack

The primary way you deal big damage is by building up block (to protect yourself from taking damage from incoming attacks), maneuvering so enemies can only hit you one or two at a time but DEFFO placing yourself where they can hit you, and not...really attacking all that often.

I kept dying because I couldn't deal enough damage because I was trying to deal damage on straight-up attacks AND AVOIDING BEING HIT AT ALL. I radioactively hate being hit! But if you play this deck correctly (and get lucky on card draws, position carefully, etc.), you DEAL damage by BEING HIT, NOT taking (much) damage because your block is high, and COUNTERATTACKING AFTER THE HIT. And it's right there in the name of the deck but I had to convince myself to STAND THERE TO GET HIT.

(In real life, I'm 5'4" and have the upper body strength of an overcooked noodle, so. :p)

I haven't gotten far into this game, but it's delightful - extremely clean, well-thought-out graphically minimal interface but it evokes the "secret agent mission" feel, cartoon violence (I'm pretty wimpy and this was fine), a pleasure to play and explore. I think the best comparison is if you took Sirlin Games' Yomi (originally a fixed-deck fighting card game with physical cards, still available; there's a digital version too, and a sequel in the works?) and gave it a small tactical grid element. (I like Yomi a lot although I know others differ.)

[1] I have to specify this as to this day I have never watched or read a James Bond anything. /o\