I'm on a mini-vacation with my family just a bit outside of the town where we live. I'm also under the weather. So I've been spending a huge amount of time in the big hotel bed! This means I've had some time for reading and recuperating from the extremely long April I had - thank goodness for that. Here's what I've gotten up to:
Sanity Circus
Fair warning: This comic is not done and has not been updated (regularly) for several years. That said, it is really great. I raced through the whole thing in a day (always a brutal thing to say about a work that has taken someone years and years to do), and it's hooked me in good. It really seems like this writer is actually going to be able to wrap all their threads together and end it in a satisfying way.
The Roottrees Are Dead
The Roottrees Are Dead is something I would hazard to refer to as an "Obra Dinn-alike." Or, frankly, a Highlights Magazine video game. It's hard for me not to see these games as an evolution on the word puzzles that I would play all the time as a kid... Just with more mass. I am also struck by the fact that these games have been almost entirely white-centric and heteronormative as all get out. This game made me want to develop an "Obra Dinn-alike" that is about a queer polycule. Maybe you're trying to seat people at their wedding. There's something there, I feel it.
I haven't actually said much about the game itself... It's good! It's very good! I played it for several hours straight and even had a friend over to finish it out since they also really love puzzle games. It's a very shareable game and a very solo-able game; excellent experience. Obviously, I wish it didn't have AI art, but fortunately the developer - now developers - is remaking the game with original art for a paid Steam release. I wish them every success. (And yes, you should play this game.)
(Sidenote: I've noticed I say "frankly" a lot these days. I think I'm using it as a cushion word for when I feel I'm being a bit more blunt or confusing than the rest of the sentence.)
Several days later...
Slow Web Essay
I'm not sure how I ran across this one, as I don't believe it was in my bookmarks folder. I suspect this was a hop away from one of the links I had bookmarked, and I kept it open just long enough to actually read the whole thing.
I'm intrigued by most all thinking on how to relate to the web in a healthy and enjoyable way. I didn't realize until I hit the end that this essay is from over a decade ago: 2012. I wonder what the author thinks of the current Fast Web as compared to the 2012 Fast Web being referred to in this essay. There's something interesting too about the note at the start: most of the sites referenced in this essay are now defunct. I've been thinking a lot about how everything around us is man-made in some way, save for the plants (though their travel to us is certainly influenced by human actions). This applies to sites as well. Everything we see, someone made.
I don't have a conclusion to that thought; it's just top of mind.
Soundtrack shoutout: Cryptmaster OST by surasshu
This was my soundtrack to read this essay to!
The Making of Overland Essay
This is one of the few essays I've seen that lists some real numbers for what they needed in their budget. Kudos to them for that. I adore Overland, so I enjoy seeing a peek into the backstage of that development process. This essay also made me really think I may need to hire a concept artist for the game I am in the early stages of ideation for... I need to ask more people about joining that project. Always busy!
They have a related essay on hiring diverse talent, which is definitely something I am interested in (and is a bit of a struggle too).