ShawnTheMiller's first shipped game is the exact kinda thing that makes me want to make games. A 3D puzzle adventure platformer where you switch between multiple different toys to navigate through, and eventually escape, the confines of a closed mall. Switching between the toys flows nigh-seamlessly with each having very simple controls, but together the game has quite a depth of movement options. The general loop of collecting new toys to access new areas provides a nice light-metroidvania structure to the progression. But what really stood out to me about Omochapon is the audio design. I've dipped my toes into game dev a bit, and one thing I realized pretty early on; is that making audio sound good, is WAY harder than you'd think. Sound effects, music, diegetic and otherwise; never sound right, no matter how hard I try. Sound design firmly falls into a category of design elements I like to call, "Thankless Design". If it's good, no one notices. If it's just a little bit off, EVERYONE notices. Other examples include: Jumps, Crosshairs, Inventory Menus, and basically anything else that is only ever brought up to be described as "Janky". Omochapon is not jank-less. No game is. But goddamn it is pretty good. If you've got 15usd, a Nintendo Switch, and want to immerse yourself in a dreamscape of cozy toy platforming, this is for you.
ShawnTheMiller strikes back with
A Fast Paced, Electrifying, Dual Stick, Action Adventure game… with ROBOTS!!
This time he's joined by the incredible Rui Onishi who was concept artist and UI designer for
Transformers Devastation and lead UI artist for
Astral Chain and
Star Fox Zero.
It's a game made by two artists I love with robots who turn into vehicles. Needless to say, my tushy is planted firmly on the hype train.
You can check up on the game's progress on Bluesky.
You've heard of Cookie Clicker. It's Orteil's 2013 viral hit incremental game, that's STILL in active development today, adding new features such that you never run out of new cookies to click for. Incremental games are a genre I hold very near and dear to my heart. It's a genre rife with innovation from fresh outta the metaphorical womb game devs throwing shit at the wall. And I Love it. Cookie Clicker, is a pioneer of the genre. Where would we be today without it? Where would we be without ascensions, and buildings, and upgrades. Incremental games without Cookie Clicker would be like Platformers without Super Mario Bros. My save file started up in 2018, and the game has stayed with me ever since. It's a game that inspired me to become who I am today. For the only good thing to come from a Frenchman, play this. And check out his Tumblr, there's some good stuff on there.
Through the power of
The Enigma of Combination
Lock-On Technology
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles become one
EXTREME
game that only the Sega Genesis'
Blast Processing can handle.
It has since been re-released on PC, Sega Saturn, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Wii, Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One,
Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and the Epic Games Store.
As the culmination of the Sega Genesis era of Sonic the Hedgehog,
S3&K shows how quickly the video game industry was moving at the time.
A combination of two games that were always meant to be one
(thanks McDonald's),
it really is the only way to play either of those games.
S3&K is a sprawling epic through visually stunning zones to be navigated with one of the three playable characters;
each with thier own buttery smooth one button moveset giving access to entirely new areas and new approaches to old ones.
The expert spritework and mastery over the console's soundchip make the game an almost cinematic experience.
Complex level designs made of multiple interwoven paths make each playthrough a little different.
Learning to master the layout of the stages allows one to take advantage of the incredible speed the games movement allows for.
S3&K is quite possibly the greatest platformer, perhaps even video game, ever made.
Currently, a widescreen remaster of the game is available on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Epic Games Store as a part of the
Sonic Origins collection alongside Sonic 1, 2, and CD.
Alternatively, a fan-made widescreen remaster is available at sonic3air.org.
However, I would suggest playing the game on original Sega Genesis/Mega Drive hardware if possible.
From 2015 - 2016, Fun Publications published a LOT of stuff on some Facebook pages. Many fans say it's "Fanwanky" or "Glorified Fanfiction". I think it's "Fanwanky" and "Glorified Fanfiction" (affectionate). Unfortunately, said Facebook pages are no longer available. Luckily, TFWiki has us covered with an archive of all of the Facebook content, plus Ask Vector Prime sessions prior to the Facebook era. Follow the link above to be whisked off into a world of obscure refrences, retcons, metaphysics, lampshading-by-technobabble, and intentionally confusing lore. If these hundreds of pages aren't enough for you, check out Wadapan's Fun Publications Transformers Reading Guide for more. And if you're feeling a little lost while reading, here's some handy annotations at Going Full Sorenson
A college webcomic by David M Willis, the man behind Recordicons, Shortpacked, and making Sideways' explode that one time. Perfect to binge all of in a week or so while neglected your actual, real life, college work. It's got superheroes, it's got mob violence, it's got more explorations of identity than you have fingers (barring extreme polydactyly). And you can bet your ass it has drama. It's here, it's queer, and it updates daily.
What football will look like in the future. I don't really care about football. It is perhaps my greatest failing as a U.S. citizen. What I do care about is science fiction. And expermental storytelling formats. And deep space probes developing sentience over the course of 5,000+ years. 17776 has all of that, and some. If you've ever wondered what Americans would do with immortallity, or what the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is thinking about; this impressive piece of sports fiction can provide answers. And maybe even make you care about american football a little bit. Maybe.
A fun and informative fortnightly podcast about Transformers and other amazing toy properties!
This is the only podcast I listen to.
It's three adult british men talking about Transformers (and other amazing toy properties) twice a month.
Personally, I find the insight into earlier times in the franchise and fandom to be quite interesting.
I never got into the franchise until ~2010 on account of a rare condition known as "born in 2006" and didn't really get into the toy side of things until
Siege in 2018.
I mean to say this in the most affectionate manner possible, the hosts of Triple Takeover are huge nerds, and have been for longer than I've been alive.
As such, they often provide observations on Transformers that are much more... seasoned? than mine.
Lately, they've had quite the string of guests onto the pod, including, but not limited to:
Daniel Warren Johnson, Nick Roche, Evan Brooks, Bob Budiansky, Josh Cooley, and Simon Furman.
While it would be cool if the pod was just constant deep wisdom from the great elders of Transformers fandom, truth be told, most of the appeal of the pod
is the oft ridiculous and hyper-specific Transformers-based british humor. It's great.
A Quarterly speculative fiction comics publication inspired by Old Pulp and Weird Fiction
.
The blurb on their website kinda undersells it. It's more than a speculative fiction anthology.
This ain't some Netflix Black Mirror shit. This is a collection of snapshots into the minds, and perhaps souls, of the artists.
"Weird Fiction" is certainly an apt descriptor.
Gravity Loop provides independent artists with the opportunity to publish comics no major publisher would ever greenlight.
You might not always understand what's going on, and that's to be expected. People can have vastly different experiences and world views,
and deeply personal art is often only fully understandable by a select few.
But reading Gravity Loop, you'll always feel something. If that's not art, nothing is.
I greatly suggest ordering the print issues as I feel the physicality is much of the reading experience, but digital issues are also available if wanted.
Digital archive of Historic Transformers Media.
.
The premier source for random Transformers material.
Promos, commercials, film reels, booklets, magazines, CDs, series bibles, scripts, storyboards, press kits, model sheets.
If it's out there somewhere, it's probably on here.
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