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DamonWakes

@[email protected]

Author of Ten Little Astronauts, Face of Glass and literally hundreds of works of flash fiction: I've been writing a story a day for the whole of July every year since 2012. I also make videogames.

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@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

Mad Max Beyond Slumberdome

The movie poster for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, but a blue and white striped nightcap has been crudely edited onto Mel Gibson's head.
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@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

This is hilarious. Eddy Burback suggested to ChatGPT that he was the smartest baby of 1996, and then proceeded to play along with all its "yes, and"-ing to the point he was wrapping himself in foil and performing baby food rituals beneath power lines.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VRjgNgJms3Q

DamonWakes OP ,
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Also, one thing that really sticks out watching this: ChatGPT seems borderline incapable of constructing a response that doesn't contain some variation on "This isn't just X, it's Y." It's infuriating! Why is there so little variety in the ways it hypes up total nonsense?

@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

Like...genetically? Where do you draw the line?

A captcha showing a distorted, AI-generated image of an elephant with the instruction "Pick all animals related to the one shown." The options below are all (mostly similarly distorted) elephants, cats, and fish.
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@kenney@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar kenney , to random

Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 has been updated and now includes a new tool! ✨ Next to the thousands of assets you'll receive an optional launcher which helps with common tasks like tilesheet creation, compression and audio converting!

https://kenney.itch.io/kenney-game-assets/devlog/1099428/update-version-32

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney This actually sounds wonderful, but I saw "new tool ✨" and was instinctively concerned it'd be a "new tool 💩".

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney Ah! Sorry. The ✨ emoji is widely used to indicate an AI feature. But these new tools do strike me as a useful addition - I really appreciate the work.

@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

"Skeleton" is the weirdest choice of Halloween costume. That's literally what you look like on the inside. You're dressing up as a bone-meat-bone sandwich.

@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

Who Whacked Jimmy Piñata? took 12th place in IFComp - my best result ever!
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=0lovvsnqq4z7na5j

The cover image for Who Whacked Jimmy Piñata?, showing a Polaroid of a piñata in a noose. The Polaroid rests on a bed of Jolly Ranchers.
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DamonWakes OP ,
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With a standard deviation of 1.00, this may be my least divisive entry by quite a margin (though I have yet to actually check).

@DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org avatar DamonWakes , to random

This seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone that I'm sitting on a surplus of simulated gold bricks worth close to $300 million: https://damonwakes.itch.io/gold-brick-simulator

A screenshot from a news article: "As we reported previously, Tesla is sitting on a surplus of unsold Cybertrucks worth close to $1 billion."
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@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , to random
DamonWakes ,
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@gamingonlinux This bit of the devs' statement strikes me as really odd:

"Anyone who claims that you can 'train' your own model from scratch solely on your own data is either misinformed, is conflating the concepts of 'training' and 'finetuning', or has enormous amounts of cash and time."

I've literally done this myself in Python. It's a Markov chain text generator trained solely on my own text. It won't take prompts like ChatGPT, but it's absolutely not finetuning an existing model either.

@kenney@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar kenney , to random

The Pirate Kit will soon be updated with additional models, like the fort pieces at the right - and the masts! Any ideas are welcome, feel free to suggest 🦜

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney Have you considered creating a kraken for this kit? Because if you did then you could... RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!

@kenney@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar kenney , to random

While is going on and participants are doing great there's also a sale, 50% off everything! https://itch.io/s/157053/kenney-jam-2025-sale

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney Asset Forge is so good.

@kenney@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar kenney , to random

While it's almost 10 years old the "Abstract Platformer" still hold up, they're completely free to use in any sort of project!

https://kenney.nl/assets/abstract-platformer

image/png

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney The character animations for these are so good.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

where does one go to get free kitbash parts for 3d modeling

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I feel like I must be suggesting something you're already aware of here, but @kenney 's Asset Forge seems too useful not to mention. https://www.kenney.nl/tools/asset-forge

The software itself is admittedly not free, but once you have it it's a source of free parts.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

it's so easy to think about jam games like "if i can do this in 2 days, imagine what i could do in 20!"

but those 2 days are more like 8 days. so really you're talking more like 80 days than 20, so you're already up to 4 months of fulltime work now, and this doesn't involve all of the business aspects, marketing, playtesting and polish that you'd need for a commercial release

plus when the complexity of a game increases linearly, the scope of designing it so it's fun and satisfying is exponential

so now to turn your 2 day jam game into a commercial release with 10x as much to it you're looking at years of fulltime work

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko This makes me feel better about my track record of churning out an ungodly quantity of jam games and basically nothing else.

@kenney@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar kenney , to random

Almost done creating New Platformer Pack! It'll be available for free (CC0), include vector + bitmap sprites, spritesheets and some sounds too!

DamonWakes ,
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@kenney Ahh, sweet! I've got a lot of use out of the Kenney platformer assets. Looking forward to this!

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

Killed Ganon. Even parried a couple beams in the process. Kinda enjoyed Hyrule Castle a lot more than the Ganon boss fight tbh. Hyrule Castle is a really cool and well executed set piece

Kinda disappointed they don't give you the bow of light on the save you beat Ganon with

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I love the music in Hyrule Castle. That big orchestral version of the little tune you've so far mainly heard played on a single accordion.

@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar vga256 , to random

mozilla: here's a great way to get your browser permanently deleted from all of my production machines

A browser prompt that reads "Update to keep using Firefox after March 14, 2025."
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DamonWakes ,
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@vga256 Is this concerning as well as just annoying? The way Mozilla's been going, I don't entirely trust the update.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

i'm going to say something that may be upsetting to some of you but i need you to understand i'm not attacking you or the things you like, you can still like the thing even if i have mixed feelings about it

anyway. is it me or is breath of the wild like ... really shallow? i mean it's well designed shallowness. there's always some thing that has you going "ohh! wonder what's over there!" but so little of it feels like it ultimately really matters, and while they fleshed out this world with lots of stuff to see and do and loot it's so easy to also see the like, 3 or 4 systems they built literally all of it on

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I quite like that. I feel as though it's one of those games where interesting behaviour emerges from simple rules.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , (edited ) to random

For an Ultima like game, what combat system would have your preference?

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko This sounds a lot like what Steambirds does (though presumably for a different sort of game): https://armorgames.com/play/5426/steambirds

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , (edited ) to random

man taking a game engine that already does stuff and just sprinkling more stuff on top is so eeeaaasy

making games from scratch is a fools errand

EDIT: apparently people are misunderstanding this, im talking about a game i already made, adding stuff on top of that. not taking a generalized game engine like unity or unreal

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko
sprinkles space zombies on Tiger Woods PGA Tour
gets Dead Space

@froyok@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar froyok , to random
DamonWakes ,
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@froyok I'm getting a 404 error. ☹️

DamonWakes ,
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@froyok Thanks! The original link seems to be working now, though. I assume it was just a brief technical issue.

@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , to random
DamonWakes ,
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@gamingonlinux RIP MultiVersus (May 2024 - May 2025).

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

The new Nvidia App is probably hurting your PC gaming performance
Fully disabling optional, AI-powered filters seems to fix the problem.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/12/the-new-nvidia-app-is-probably-hurting-your-pc-gaming-performance/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

DamonWakes ,
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@arstechnica What does the Nvidia app even do? Why would anybody install such a thing? I have an Nvidia GPU in my machine right now and it works fine without it.

@nixCraft@mastodon.social avatar nixCraft , to random

Microsoft Connected Experiences means they collect your Word and Excel files for AI training. Why not call it AI training? Why use such words? This is an unethical practice followed by a trillion-dollar corporation. How is this even legal? I am so glad that I don’t have Windows OS or MS office.

From blog post I won’t beat around the bush. Microsoft Office doesn’t make it easy to opt out of this new AI privacy agreement, as the feature is hidden through a series of popup menus in your settings: On a Windows computer, follow these steps to turn off “Connected Experiences”: File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences > Uncheck box: “Turn on optional connected experiences”
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DamonWakes ,
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@nixCraft Hand on. Let's say I never use Word in the first place, let alone leave this box ticked. What happens if someone else opens my work in it?*

*Not a serious question. I realise hoovering up material it doesn't have the rights to is essentially a bonus to Microsoft.

DamonWakes ,
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@nixCraft Is there somewhere that actually confirms that unticking this box opts out of AI training? The policies that Microsoft links to on that settings page are so fuzzily worded that it's hard to say if anything means anything at all.

@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , to random

For people worried about their following on X / Twitter, it's really truly not worth it.

I've left behind 74K followers. I don't miss having my content on there at all, and it has clearly not affected traffic even in the slightest bit.

It's been a week since my last content posted from the website to X, so I have a pretty good look at traffic now, there was literally no drop-off, and the first few days after leaving X traffic went up 🤷

DamonWakes ,
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@gamingonlinux I found exactly the same thing. Right after I stopped using Twitter (but long before I actually deleted my account), I had a decision to make about whether or not to let my blog keep auto-tweeting new posts. I checked how many people were actually following those links. It was something like four that year, and it had been going down and down since even before Musk drove it into the ground.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

i wonder how many people notice the midboss sound effects i shamelessly reused in kitsune tails

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I've played both, but not a lot of Midboss and not for quite a while.

glassbottommeg , to random

Fuck it, might as well post next-game concept art.

It's gonna be neat!

It's kinda eh, EDF'y / Dynasty Warriors'y by way of DMC.

A crow person with two swords doing a siwshy in the middle of the frame, with big SWISH LINE sword trails carving an arc through the scene, with rat soldiers caught up in the swishes, and a frankly distressing number of rat soldier corpses piling up in the distance
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DamonWakes ,
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@glassbottommeg I know there's no rule that there can be only one, but the rooster bard immediately makes me think of this guy:

DamonWakes ,
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@lritter @glassbottommeg I mean, really it feels like a missed opportunity to have a bard who's not a bird.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , (edited ) to random

when's the last time you wore a watch?

for purposes of this poll it counts as a watch if you feel like it's a watch and not something else

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I nearly always wear a watch, but the strap on my current one broke a couple of months ago and I haven't yet got around to replacing it.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

pro-tip: use the cancel button (right face button on gamepad) to skip the death sequence

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I LOVE that this is an option.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

do i take a week off or do i add steam workshop support

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko I'm no expert when it comes to the quirks of Steam specifically, so I don't know if this is s good approach at all, but if you need an excuse to take a break then holding off on workshop support might give you something big to announce later on and keep up momentum, once the initial buzz may have died down a bit.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

from the IRC

...you know, people are all automatically against any kind of metrics/telemetry/etc by default, no matter how anonymous, because "privacy", but I bet that if you actually put upvote/downvote buttons next to each option in the settings menu, specifically for the purpose of judging interest and deciding which ones should be on by default, those same people people would click them without hesitation <.<
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DamonWakes ,
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@eniko "People are against me turning up at their house unannounced and peering through the windows to check they've got smoke detectors, but I bet those same people would be fine with me breaking in to put out a fire if a majority agreed with it on principle in a survey they filled out voluntarily."

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

good news everyone! after some back and forth with @HauntedOwlbear it appears that we have a working native linux build for kitsune tails!

Professor Farnsworth saying "good news everyone!"
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DamonWakes ,
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DamonWakes ,
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@eniko @HauntedOwlbear @gamingonlinux I figure it probably helps to have the suggestion from a reader anyway: I'd have been glad to hear about this from them if I hadn't heard it from you.

@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , to random

Are you a ? Sound off in the comments so I and others have more cool people to follow, bonus points if you remember to link your game.

or whatever

DamonWakes ,
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@gamingonlinux I tend to make a bunch of little browser games (all developed on a Linux machine!). But to give people just one to try out, Nine Hole Ninja is golf, but with a katana instead of a club.

https://damonwakes.itch.io/nine-hole-ninja

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

So are there like a lot of big servers that have defederated from mastodon.social?

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko In case it helps, I picked sdf.org partly because they've been running a public access UNIX system and a bunch of ancient BBS/gopher/etc. stuff for decades now. I don't know how big the server is compared to others, but it's definitely big enough to have some reach and I trust them to keep it running long-term.

@gamingonlinux@mastodon.social avatar gamingonlinux , to random
DamonWakes ,
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@gamingonlinux I've got to give this thing another go. It was fun to pick up even just briefly, but I got the impression it would take longer to get to grips with than I had time for. Now it looks as though there's enough to look forward to that it's probably worth that amount of effort.

glassbottommeg , to random

Been trying to figure out how to phrase the next era of my / studio

If it's my partner and I making games, but she's a very silent artist partner and wants zero exposure, do I just roll the "single creator" angle?

It feels weird, but also a lot of single creator games sure have lots of contractors so shrug?

DamonWakes ,
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@beeoproblem @glassbottommeg I was thinking the same sort of thing. Get just enough involvement from other people that it's "not really solo" but doesn't raise unwanted questions.

@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar eniko , to random

saying "well mastodon is losing money too cause it's run by volunteers" is really kind of weird since. like. it's okay to have spaces that are provided for community members without a profit motive by people who have the time, energy, and or money to volunteer

DamonWakes ,
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@eniko "How will you ever break even on that party that you're throwing for all your friends?"