Rakqoi

This is actually for lore reasons! Canonically hunters that we play as are right handed; the Hunter’s Guild believes that defense should be a hunter’s priority, and so they mandate that the dominant hand should be used for shields (where applicable). Presumably a left handed hunter would use their shield in their left hand.

There’s similarly lore reasons for why we have parties of only up to four hunters. One of the earliest hunter’s fiancée insisted on coming along for a hunt, resulting in a party with 5 hunters. During the hunt she was killed, and the Guild took this as a sign that a fifth hunter is sure to bring misfortune to the party, and so that tradition has stuck around out of a combination of Guild regulation, superstition, and to honor the fiancée who was killed.

This lawsuit is targeting Valve not because they are a platform or storefront that provides games with gambling, but rather is due to gambling in games that they themselves have developed. From the first line in the article:

New York state has filed a lawsuit against Valve alleging that randomized loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2 amount to a form of unregulated gambling, letting users “pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item of significant monetary value.”

The suit is not claiming that lootboxes are gambling in and of themselves, it’s claiming that the lootboxes in valve’s own games counts as gambling because you can sell the items for steam wallet funds through the steam community market, which can then be converted into cash via multiple methods, most notably by purchasing a steam deck with wallet funds and then selling the steam deck for cash, which is not against any laws or steam’s terms of service.

Personally, I agree that the line needs to be drawn more strictly than just requiring the possibility of converting the winnings into cash, and that lootboxes are predatory regardless. But this case isn’t about lootboxes in general, it’s about the very real problem of valve actively enabling and encouraging gambling with actual monetary value. We can’t easily change the laws, but valve is (allegedly) breaking the laws as they already exist.

I’ve been on adderall for 10 years and not once have I ever had to do a drug test… I’m curious where you live? At least in the US, drug testing isn’t federally mandated for ADHD meds, it just depends on how much your psychiatrist trusts you basically. If you wanted to get back on meds so you only need to do a monthly phone call to renew your prescription (plus a normal follow up appointment every 3 months), I’d recommend finding a better psychiatrist.

but I’ll concede that even just a monthly phone call is hard to keep up with, with ADHD. I most often forget until I’m about to run out so there have been many occasions that I have to go without meds for a few days…

I understand how useful it is to quickly paste selected text, and have used it frequently, but I finally had enough of it after the thousandth time accidentally pasting private information or random garbage into a new tab search, discord chats, or the middle of my code without realizing it…

I think their proposal to make it a toggle that is off by default is the best solution. A lot more people are adopting Linux now and this will be one less point of friction for the new user experience coming from Windows, thus making it more likely they’ll stick with the OS, and old users who are setting up a fresh install will just switch it back to the previous behavior as they configure their system, and never think about it again.

So anyway, not long ago I went searching for a way to disable it system-wide (since KDE on X11 doesn’t offer any toggle for it, at least for me) and the best solution I found is this little program that clears the middle-click selection clipboard any time you middle click so you never paste anything. Works like a charm for me.
https://github.com/milaq/XMousePasteBlock

I’m pretty sure you can disable various types of notifications (if not in-app, then in the android app notification settings). you can disable the notification for losing a streak, and disable it telling you how long your streak is after making an entry, both by tapping the three dots icon on the “days in a row” box on the Stats page. but I don’t think you can fully disable streaks from displaying everywhere but I never notice it, with those two options unchecked.

I had the same exact issues with Finch. My recommendation is https://daylio.net/ but with the caveat that it also costs $5 a month for all the features (though it wasn’t hard to find a modified version… I have no qualms doing so after paying what I feel was fair already), and also it might be too bare-bones in presentation for your preferences. but at least it does have a totally free version that has the necessary features (not a free trial, just a free lite version)

I’ve been using it for tracking all sorts of things to recognize trends. I have categories of “activities” (their general term for “thing you want to track”) for general emotions felt, how I slept, things I did, social circles I spent time in/around, physical health, how well I ate, self-care things I did, etc. and it lets me see the relationship between different activities, and the trends of how each one affects my mood (including how each one tends to affect mood for the following day).

extremely customizable and shows lots of useful data, and it’s really easy to make a new entry (just tap each activity that applies to the past day or however long) so I found it much easier to keep up with, especially since there’s no fomo or punishment for missing a day or ten, so I never felt that “well i broke my streak so why bother” sort of dread that i felt with Finch.

No disagreement with me there, I think the linear dungeons were a poor choice and the game would benefit from a way to track settlements by species.

Personally I dislike boss fights in these sorts of games (the main reason I don’t like Terraria anymore is the focus on bosses, and everything you do is just to prep for the next boss), so that’s likely a big part of why the story doesn’t bother me since I just mostly ignore it or do it passively. But for someone who enjoys the bosses and seeks them out, I can see why it’s more frustrating.

But I completely agree that the tutorial dungeon is the worst. I hate doing it whenever I play vanilla to introduce a friend to the game, and the “skip intro” option on character creation really should skip right to after the dungeon. Or alternatively it could have been designed to be more fun or interesting on repeat playthroughs

I think your explanation is pretty accurate and I agree with your point that it has nothing to do with graphics. however…

there’s no reason you can’t make a game that does all of that but does actually have good polished gameplay, but so many games chasing (and catching) this trend do not.

Any time I see someone say this, they always fail to actually provide any examples of games that fit this description. I know you aren’t defending the term but I just noticed that parallel between your description and the explanations provided by people who criticize these sort of games.

The first time I heard of the term, and when it started getting popular, was around the time PEAK released. At first glance, it seemed like the game fit the term, but after a bit people started realizing that it actually was a fun and well designed game that has some longevity. Ever since then, people who use the term negatively always concede that their prime example doesn’t even fit their criticism, but fail to provide a list of other examples.

It really makes me feel like it’s just people complaining about things for being popular, without any actual basis for their criticism.

I think the story is a point where people unfairly criticize the game, personally. After the tutorial dungeon you don’t have to engage with it whatsoever.

The parts where you have to search for relics between each dungeon are meant to encourage exploration and remove the pressure of the story. It’s the game saying “now go do whatever and have fun!” and you make progress toward the story just by playing normally, as you come across settlements belonging to the particular species you need to scan.

If your goal is to speedrun the story and drop the game, then yeah those parts are annoying, but if you want a sandbox game where you are free to do anything you want, then I don’t really understand why people complain so much about those parts of the main story.

I think you have missed the actual issue here. The issue is not whether or not the game currently contains AI assets, the issue is whether AI was used during development. Quoting the article (emphasis mine):

“The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself,” the statement reads. “When it was submitted for consideration, representatives of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

“In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination.”

The actual problem is that simply using generative AI during development disqualifies a game from being nominated, and Sandfall Interactive lied and said they did not use gen AI.

for the first year or two after it was originally announced, I was pretty excited about it.

Then I learned that the entire project was started because Mojang changed their TOS to stop hypixel from preying so much on children with their in-server microtransactions… and so they decided to make their own game where they are allowed to prey on children freely.

no wonder it fell into development hell. that’s an awful basis for a game of the scope of hytale.

We do, because different traumas are held by specific alters in our system. Each of us also just needs different sorts of care, so pretending to be a single person would only hinder our healing process. Thankfully our therapist is great and is familiar with DID, and also doesn’t pressure us to integrate (since we are much happier living harmonically as our individual selves instead).

I can understand why someone would keep it private even with their therapist if they have a less experienced, or old-fashioned therapist, or if someone’s plurality doesn’t change their treatment. I didn’t even realize that it’s a divisive topic, it seems like a very personal decision that is best left up to the individual.

Edit to add: I also recognize that a system that originates from anything other than early childhood trauma may want to avoid sharing with a therapist just because gatekeeping and distrust is rampant among mental health professionals, from what I understand. I feel for those who have to fear being labeled as malingering just for sharing their honest experience. It’s one of many ways that the current mental health institutions are failing people.

that’s such a terrible name choice haha… apparently it’s a cute lil animal, but searching for it, the chat service doesn’t even show up in the search results at all (because well… it’s a real animal). there’s also already a software called stoat (though it’s a github build metrics viewer app and not a chat app)

but imagine trying to convince people to switch to stoat… “add me on stoat!”

this looks neat, clearly very motherload inspired which is very nostalgic. The automation aspects seem a bit basic since there doesn’t seem to be any logistic design gameplay like a typical automation game would focus on, which may just turn the “automation” into more like “arbitrary timer to unlock upgrades” but I can’t say for sure without having played it. I’ll download it and give it a try!

Edit: Played it a bit, it’s fun but as I expected, the automation is very simplistic and is effectively just a time gate on resources, but that just encourages getting the upgrades to make automation faster. Unfortunately, unlike motherload, the player character has no momentum or gravity at all, so movement is pretty bland. There’s also no damage so there’s no risk, and you can just teleport to the surface (with a cooldown), so the planning, time management, and panic aspects of motherload are absent here. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, they’re clearly going for a more comfy vibe.

Definitely has a lot of potential!

I’m not saying people aren’t responsible for their choices and opinions, I think everyone is responsible for their own actions regardless of what led them to that point. But what I meant to convey with my comment is that people can have harmful ideas without that being indicative of poor cognitive ability, and that people shouldn’t be insulted based on something that isn’t a choice, such as intelligence.

Most of my extended family is like the person you describe, which is a big reason why I find it unproductive to insult their intelligence; I know them, and many of them are intelligent people who have been manipulated into misdirecting their anxieties over hardships at unfamiliar people, instead of at the systems which cause those hardships. But that doesn’t make them stupid, it makes them brainwashed.

and also, I completely understand how exasperating people like that can be and we only have so much mental energy to go around, so I totally get wanting them to fuck off. It’s not our responsibility to convince people to have compassion nor to teach critical thinking skills. fuck nazis, fuck fascists.

I think the problem many people have (myself included) is not just about being against prejudice toward those with cognitive impairments (though that’s part of it), but also against insults based on intelligence in general. People don’t get to choose how intelligent they are, it’s largely down to genetics and the environment one grows up in and is not a choice (nor is it a single spectrum… intelligence can manifest in a myriad of ways, and people can have high cognitive ability in one area while struggling with another). Personally I believe that insulting people for something they had no control over is unjust.

when someone says something really dumb, and you try to come up with an insult to his intelligence

but what if you are trying to insult a person’s cognitive ability?

The thing they said may seem foolish or obviously incorrect to you, with your experience and understanding of the topic. But to them, it may have made sense, or been an attempt at humor, or was something they said in passing without devoting much thought to it. I don’t really think that coming up with a way to insult them for sharing their thought is productive or compassionate, and won’t lead to understanding the person or their perspective any better.

If it’s someone you consider a friend, that’s a good way to build resentment both ways and put distance between you. If it’s someone you don’t like, or are arguing with, all it does it rile up people’s emotions and makes people get defensive and lock down on their stance, instead of approaching the discussion with an open mind and looking for common goals.

Whenever I have an urge to call something stupid or dumb, I stop and think about what it is that I really object to, and then comment on that aspect directly and explain why I take issue with it. I find that this makes me far more aware of my own opinions and clarifies my perspective, and helps me understand why things are how they are.

In regard to a discussion with someone who refuses to see data and evidence (and is acting in harmful ways, or supports those who do)… the reason why they are like that is very complex, and often they have been manipulated into their way of thinking, and are deeply submerged in the culture that encourages it. If their lack of critical thinking skills, or generally poor cognitive ability contributed to them falling into that, then it’s not entirely their fault for being how they are, and I don’t think insulting their intelligence is productive, and it misses all the context surrounding why they’re like that and will never lead to positive change.

I personally never had any crashing issues, but from my sample size of one mission so far, it’s running great. They fixed the stuttering when dropping into missions, and I had no performance issues. The patch notes lists a lot of crash fixes too

movement was done by typing a wasd key then hitting enter lol.

haha I adore this, now I really want someone to make a full game with this control scheme

Oh wow this gave me a wave of nostalgia for my first experience developing games. I took a class in like middle school for game development, and they provided the software Alice for the course.

I fondly remember trying to make a first person, open world sandbox RPG, but if I remember correctly, the engine not being able to create new instances of anything severely limited what I wanted to do. Also, the engine had a ton of floating point precision issues and everything would be rotated in funny ways after the game was running for a long time. And I hated the visual programming and got so frustrated that I couldn’t just type the scripts instead haha… that’s when I switched to GameMaker

Anyway, I was reminded of it because the first enemies in my game were also sword-wielding skeletons just like in the OP screenshots. I appreciate the peak into your past, and I’m thankful for that nostalgia hit :3

One of the decorative paintings in House Flipper 2 does a similar gag and the art is beautiful and I’d just like to share :3