shadows of doubt, the detective sim, just added a mode where a snail spawns in the city and chases you down and if it touches you, you die. look at the fucking art for this

Folks around here took to calling the skyscrapers of the finance district the headstones, because if you find yourself at the bottom you're as good as dead. I leered up at them and they did nothing back. I knew three things about her. She was a brunette, she was dead, and I was the only person in the world that had to care. It had the window dressing of a crime of passion, but was too blunt and loveless in its execthe snail. Shit. The snail is here. Fuck. Where are my car keys. The snail. The snail. Shit. The snail.

For anyone who wasn’t aware of the Immortal Snail and its origin

does anyone have more games that are just like. stories told through a virtual internet? it's a really weird niche medium i love

examples if what i meant made no sense

I love virtual interfaces in games!
Sadly I’m trying to sneak make this post during a break in a virtual meeting, so I can’t delve into my gaming archives to make a big list. Buuut…
Some good tags to trying combining and searching for these types of games are: Interactive Fiction, point & click, Hacking, Alternate History (for versions of tech that didn’t exist), Visual Novel, typing, Simulation, Immersive Sim, Story Rich, Text Based, Choose Your Own Adventure

The main one I want to recommend right now is:

ALT

Videoverse - Available on both itch and Steam
From the Steam page: “As Emmett, a young video game fan and aspiring artist, dive into this fictional video game era, where the Kinmoku Shark gaming system and its online social network, Videoverse, were still popular. Strengthen Emmett’s friendships, share fan art and browse the lively gaming communities. Make decisions that will change how Emmett grows, his approach to Videoverse and, ultimately, the final outcome!
[…]
VIDEOVERSE is inspired by Miiverse, MSN messenger, early internet forums and 00’s technology.”
It reminded me a lot of Hypnospace in how self contained it was as its own little world. Videoverse feels more innocent in some ways, but I think that’s because you’re playing as an ordinary user and not as a moderator. You don’t see as much of the grime of the cute virtual landscape.

Virtual interfaces are part of what I call the Snoop genre. Where you snoop around in make believe spaces (not where you’re Snoop Dog in make believe spaces, although hey feel free to pretend to be Detective Snoop Dog I guess). I’m not nosy in real life but I love a good rummage around in pretend secrets in games.
Itch.io has a lot more offerings in the virtual desktop mechanic. Or it did before the censorship destroyed things. Not sure about now.

In general I'm basically incapable of accepting any setting where Fate or Destiny or Providence is a real and irresistible thing as anything more than a few degrees off from cosmic horror.

I mean this genuinely, and also as a massive hypocrite: watching the election results come in this early in the night will not make you happy, and it will not tell you who is going to win the election.

Reporting comes in inconsistently. There is a mild panic about Virginia every four years before the extremely blue counties report all of their numbers.

It will feel bad. It will look bad. Until states have reported enough to get an actual clear view of the results, we have no way of knowing if it will be bad.

Give yourself a break. If you must watch, watch on mute. This will be a long day or multiple days. Pace yourself.

Certain states are known for taking days to tally votes. Mail-in ballots can also take extra days to count per state. Oregon has mail-in ballots as the default way to vote (has since the 90s). California is often one of the last states to have their votes tallied and they have 54 electoral votes this election.

It is, quite literally, not over until it’s over.
This is the last day to vote, but it’s not really the day where the election is decided.

Please take care of yourselves. Stop refreshing, minimize tabs, log off entirely, do something you actually enjoy to distract yourself.

I need you all to really look at this.

Raising it TO the poverty level. This is considered a win for us. That's how little the prior funding for us is right now. Disgusting. It's wild to me that this is considered a great thing we need to happen because it IS. From a pittance to a bit more, which would change our lives, just that little bit more.

In case anyone wonders, texting that just has the Resist Bot text you back for your info to help you sign up for the petition. It gives you a choice to see a sample of the letter it sends before you sign, if that worries you.
You will not talk to a human, if that worries you also. I know a lot of folks have phone call anxiety or, like me, have disabilities that impact their ability to call/talk. Its just a polite little bot with automatic responses. Be free socially anxious Tumblr!

Please do sign the petition. This would drastically change lives.
If you don't want to do it through text, head here: https://resist.bot/petitions/PSLOAE to sign yourself.

Another info page from the 2021 attempt (via here):

The fact that they outright call it “subminimum wage” has always astounded me.
Some starter reading for anyone whose interested:
The US Department of Labors page on it here.
The sames fact sheet on it here.
The US Government Accountability Office fast facts here.

American Association of People with Disabilities petition to end Subminimum Wage here.

GameMaker is Now Free!

Here's a cool thing: GameMaker is now free for non-commercial, non-console use, and all its asset bundles are free! They've also introduced a one-time free aimed at replacing their current subscription model.

Also, while they're being vague about it right now they've hinted that they might be working toward some open source progress as well, which is very cool!

So if you've ever wanted to give GameMaker a shot and try out a new engine, now you can!

I need you all to really look at this.

Raising it TO the poverty level. This is considered a win for us. That's how little the prior funding for us is right now. Disgusting. It's wild to me that this is considered a great thing we need to happen because it IS. From a pittance to a bit more, which would change our lives, just that little bit more.

In case anyone wonders, texting that just has the Resist Bot text you back for your info to help you sign up for the petition. It gives you a choice to see a sample of the letter it sends before you sign, if that worries you.
You will not talk to a human, if that worries you also. I know a lot of folks have phone call anxiety or, like me, have disabilities that impact their ability to call/talk. Its just a polite little bot with automatic responses. Be free socially anxious Tumblr!

Please do sign the petition. This would drastically change lives.
If you don’t want to do it through text, head here: https://resist.bot/petitions/PSLOAE to sign yourself.

Another info page from the 2021 attempt (via here):

Here to do my millionth "please go play Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, it's one of the best story-based RPGs you'll ever play" propaganda post by letting you all know that it's currently 70% off on Steam (ended) and GOG for a short time!

- A completionist playthrough is easily over 200 hours long, and the main story itself is roughly 50 hours.
- There are many playable races - aasimar, tiefling, dhampir, kitsune, oread, gnome, dwarf, elf, half-orc, halfling, half-elf, and of course, human. Most come with individual heritages to choose from too.
- There are 26 playable classes (yes, seriously), all with many archetypes within each class. The newest DLC, The Lord of Nothing, adds in even more archetypes.
- On top of that, there are 10 Mythic Paths. I can't go into detail without spoilers, but each have their own NPCs, quests, dialogue choices and endings. A few examples are Angel, Devil, Gold Dragon and Lich.
- The eight romance options are fantastic. In the main game, four are bi, one is exclusively m/m, and two are exclusively m/f. The Last Sarkorians DLC adds a fifth bi option. Ever wanted to romance an aasimar or succubus, lizard guy or spider woman? You can now.
- Evil playthrough and romance is very much viable. This game doesn't force you to be lawful good aligned like many other RPGs.
- Almost every dialogue will give you the option of being good, neutral, evil, chaotic or lawful. These can change your starting alignment over the course of the game.
- And most importantly - the main story, the side quests, the NPCs, and the companions themselves are so well written and well-paced.

For those who might miss the sale: it seems to go on sale routinely with site/app wide sales, and you can occasionally find it in some Humble Bundles as well.

Also, if you’re not great at gaming (or just want to have a joyride) there are cheats (unlimited health, etc) available for free in the program WeMod. Both Steam and GOG version.
Its safe. I use WeMod mostly for single player horror games because I’m a chicken and flashlight batteries shouldn’t deplete that fast damn it, but whatever brings you joy.

Time for another playthrough!