Fake one. Bought it a decade ago and its still doing just fine.

Readers are voracious and always looking for new things to devour. But your writing isn’t for them, its for you. Every page is slowly honing your craft, getting your ideas onto paper, and turning an amorphous idea blob into a tangible story.

I hate when people tell me this but annoyingly it works, but sometimes ‘just write’ is a solid strategy to just start putting words on the page. Sometimes its rough and you’ll want to go back to edit it, sometimes seeing things start to flow is a great feeling, and the words get easier.

The other trick is spite. Just lots of spite. Spite for the sometimes terrible writing that gets published anyways, spite for the reader who you might lure into falling into love with a character you plan to brutally murder, and spite for the music player that can’t seem to find the right song to match your mood for the scene you’re writing.

It most definitely takes a toll. Most devs don’t even talk about the weird sadness you get after finally getting something out the door either.

I don’t mean to make it all sound bad though, there is some genuine joy in making something and seeing it come together. Anyways good luck on your game dev projects.

They’re referring to these kind of dogs:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/small-white-dogs-with-crusty-eyes

I am unfortunately aware about how predatory microtransactions are - This is a ragebait thread so the broad (and mostly incorrect) blaming was the intent.

As far as I understand it, the vast majority of ‘successful’ indie studios are in the same boat. You need to continual decent hits to keep afloat in an ever turbulent and flooding market. Even if the next title is successful, they already mentioned the other looming problem, burnout. You might be able to push yourself through one game, two is a struggle, and very few make it to three.

To me, and maybe I’m being a bit cynical, but this feels like a very foreboding article.

No, every elephant I’ve ever met doesn’t use Lemmy.

They complain about it all the time, but gamers deserve the microtransaction and slop hell the AAA industry has created, as those same gamers pump billions into these soulless corporate behemoths and keep the system rolling.

I usually only listen to music when I’m doing something else, like driving.

I listen to a lot of game audio or background music though I couldn’t tell you who the artists are, only what game/movie they’re from.

I think that puts me into the ‘not really a music person’ category.

Oh that’s true, I did forget about that one.

Looks glorious.

That’s pretty good for a first attempt, most people’s first games are barely functional, if at all, so I’d consider this a win.

You mean ‘ram’ it?

Well I can’t answer the other parts, but for games: The games industry has been going through a massive upheaval from ~2022-2025 has seen a staggering number of layoffs, games being canceled, and studios being shuttered. We’d be seeing a lot more games right now if they hadn’t been axed over the years.

In the indie game dev side, its sort of* an indiepocalypse where battling for a smidgen of spotlight on Steam is brutal - and even financial “success” doesn’t mean you’ll have enough to follow up with another game. Also because of the above publishers aren’t funding many AA games so its hard to get those going to.

*Its a little different for niches and certain genres so this is a generalization.

I’m assuming your age but I think its normal when people hit early adulthood to start drifting a direction and possibly start losing contact. At least for a few people, not everyone.

That being said, there’s a lot of unnatural disconnect lately due to stress and such and I think people tend to ‘replace’ them with parasocial or low effort social media relationships instead. Basically if you’re overwhelmed you can get some socializing in on Facebook or Instagram or the Ask Lemmy section of the fediverse and it feels like communicating but its actually leaves you wanting more but with less energy than before.

There’s also a possibility they’re dealing with something they haven’t been able (or wanting) to talk about.

The things that have worked for me are low bar meetups. That is, not a lot of time or effort to join. Like hey I’m jumping on XYZ game tonight, who’s down. Or there’s a new coffee shop near your house, want to check it out, etc.

More than I’d care to admit.

Chairs. You can sit on the ground or on a mat by a low table, as many people have done for centuries.

I’m actually going to be ignorant here but I don’t really know what’s up with the bunny ears and maid dresses. I presumed it was a fetish but I never really looked into it.

I got a handful of houseplants that I’ve kept alive for years (one close to a decade) and I’m not sure its really done anything for me.

This little drummer boy who would just NOT stop playing

343/Microsoft should have let Bungie’s “ending” for Master Chief stay - Where chief saves earth but gets put into indefinite cryo as he is forever lost in space.

It would have put him full circle (as he was a superweapon waiting in cryo when the series started) and it would put him into a state not unlike the halos themselves, which I think was Bungie’s intent.

There are a lot of stories and things to explore within Halo’s universe and I would like to see more of those than bad-guy-of-the-week that Chief has to stop.