Monkeytennis

Not utterly disappointed, but certainly underwhelmed by Wingspan to begin with. Oceania + removing ravens fixed a lot - mostly around difficulty playing birds, overpowered birds, boring endgame egg-laying.

Had a similar thing with Viticulture, it just felt unfinished. Tuscany fixed that too. Turns out I’m a sucker for expansions.

I was kind of mystified by its appeal too, all that tiny text, the pointless tree…

I really enjoyed it, it’s not a challenge, more an interactive story with amazing visuals

Haha, oh. I can’t remember if you’re literally in someone’s mind, but it’s a psychedelic guitar fantasy. It’s a very pretty game.

Last credits I saw was Mass Effect 1 (legendary edition on gamepass), last 100%ed was Psychonauts 2

The Artful Escape?

Tacking “Reddit” onto search queries almost became a prerequisite. Never imagined I’d have to replace that with “-Reddit”.

It’s made researching a media centre setup very difficult this week…

Great recommendations there, each got under my skin. I feel the same about David Lynch films, they connect with something inside me, and lodge permanently in my brain.

I’d put What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Talos Principle, Stanley Parable, Metroid Prime and maybe Portal 1+2 in there too - they share an authentically mysterious vibe.

Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds hit me hard, they nailed the atmosphere perfectly. Haven’t actually played DE, was a bit put off by the sheer amount of dialogue, but I need to try it.

How do you draw the line on those problems?

I find it hard to know when something is irrationally bothering me vs an actual problem.

Emoji seems clear cut, but interpersonal issues fall into a huge grey area. My tendency is to cut people out, which isn’t going so well.

That’s interesting, I think that’s why I started using them occasionally, especially at work. I can definitely come across as very serious, and remote work only made that worse. A little emoji goes a long way 🤣

I’m a UX product designer and a major issue I’ve encountered within FOSS is extremely opinionated developers, who regularly sacrifice usability for features and configurability, which is instantly off-putting to a general audience.

I’m painting a very broad picture there, and I’m not criticising - I’m a staunch advocate for Linux and FOSS in general, the technical execution and intent is usually brilliant.

Apple is extremely opinionated in their design by limiting options and complexity, that’s one way they achieve a solid foundation, by offering few options (both in terms of software and hardware). They don’t make their users think too hard.

There’s plenty of low hanging fruit that could be addressed (use of plain language, clear actions, other tried and tested design principles) but that’s not enough, and it often relies on strong UI dev skills, which the team doesn’t necessarily have.

I’ve seen some appetite for making FOSS projects easier for a general audience, but things fall flat when it comes to making hard decisions (stripping out or hiding complexity, making decisions to promote simplicity, spending considerable effort on UI instead of features).

I’d love to be more involved in it, and maybe I’m being unfair, but it can be demoralising work for a designer.

My smallest solos are probably Friday and a few Oniverse titles. I love Aerion and Nautilion the most, out of that series. I do enjoy Wingspan solo, been meaning to unbox the Oceania expansion, which I got because it apparently fixes the final round egg hoarding.

Coffee Roaster is fun and not big, also I’m a sucker for Cascadia - a couple of solo games back to back run to about 30-40 mins. Finally, been getting into Glass Road, which is pretty short.

Same here, I’m trying to wean myself off the firehouse of relevant content, in favour of a more community feel. Truth is, quality over quantity is exactly what I need.

If you haven’t tried it, I’d recommend Cascadia for a couples game. Also, Tuscany adds some pleasant complexity to Viticulture … Not that you were asking for recommends, I just couldn’t resist…