Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Being able to backtrack is generally going to be more realistic in the RPG sense--of course your character should be able to go back and pick up that item they left behind, or fight that enemy that scared you away before. Not universally so, to be sure, but grind tends to be more of a roguelite thing.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Mechanics Open World Feature 52

Radiator Blog

OCTOBER 13, 2022

The high visual polish and stellar production values adorn a solid but predictable gameplay loop: you fight through dungeons with random rooms / enemies, collect resources, and bring them back to your hub to build up your village and its inhabitants. A high concept with a high execution. The documentary process is unusual for games.

Indy 52

Indy Film Games Puzzle 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

A homophobic English farmboy is forced to work with a hunky Romanian farmhand, and so inevitable muddy fight sex and simmering romance ensues. Back in 2012, John Mix Meyer wrote "Women aren’t vending machines you put kindness coins into until sex falls out" to critique proto-PUA concepts like the friendzone.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

I’m reminded of Beta 11’s spicing up the main complex with Heavies and Cargo Convoys , though in this case it’s not just adding one or two new mechanics but instead about turning Garrisons into proper branch maps in terms of content distribution… Encounter Architecture. Some concepts: More enemies could show up?

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52