How is your week? Hope you’re doing well despite everything going on. I saw Weird Al this last Wednesday with my kids and it was a fantastic time. It was my first time seeing him even though I’ve been a fan of his for 30 years and I don’t know why I waited so long. I still mostly only really feel comfortable seeing live music outdoors but when I get the chance to, it’s the best.

If you’ve seen me post on social media, you’re probably aware that I’ve been participating in the Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game. I’ve posted about it here before too. My wife was working and my kids were with my mother in law all weekend so I went to two of the library’s branches to get codes for points and had a great time. I even saw a couple get engaged at one of the branches. I think I just really like visiting libraries even when I can’t check out books because I do this in other cities when I travel and always like it. If you live near me and your library sells shirts, let me know. I’ve been collecting more library shirts and merch lately. I suppose this also applies to folks that have a library that sells merch online.

Anyway, this is what I’ve enjoyed reading lately:

The Blog Links

I learned a bit of history about that classic microscope puzzle from The 7th Guest on The Good Old Days.

Andrew Plotkin writes about a Discord bot that lets you play Interactive Fiction in a channel. I need to get this setup.

Michael Coorlim has been writing Godot tutorials on his blog.

The Explorateur is a fantastic roundup of tabletop rpg writing.

Yaffle writes about the soundtrack for the various versions of the video game Uncharted Waters

CD-ROM Journal wrote about enhanced music cds that come with extra multimedia, which is obviously something I would lose my mind over.

Nat Clayton is working on a Marathon-like!

I saw Devo last night in Detroit and it was great! I had seen them 15 years ago in Ann Arbor but that was basically an eternity ago and they haven’t been in Michigan since then. They’re also coming back in September with the B-52s, who I had seen before about 8 years ago and were also very good. I’m surprised they’re here twice in one year after almost never coming here, that Ann Arbor concert was also their first time here in 15 years, but I think both bands are very close to wrapping things up so maybe they’re trying to hit all the places before stopping.

One day I’ll write about that Devo adventure game from the mid 90s. It’s an incredibly frustrating experience because I love Devo and the studio that made the game, it’s by the same folks that made The Dark Eye and The Residents: Bad Day on the Midway, but has a couple bits that kind of ruin the whole thing. Even removing the timer from it would do a lot to improve the game.

Oh well, people are probably more interested in blog posts I liked reading and not ramblings about Devo Presents: Adventures of the Smart Patrol, a 1996 adventure game that got poor reviews at release.

The Blog Posts

Emily Price did an indie game roundup for Unwinnable! She’s a great writer and it’s better than the ones I do on here.

Unwinnable also had this very good article on the allure of the summer reading program. I am currently in TWO reading programs for different libraries. You’ve probably already seem my post on Ann Arbor’s Summer Game. Libraries are the best and so are reading programs. It’s not too late to join your local library’s summer reading program and get cool prizes.

It just made me happy to see Terry Cavanagh praise a mod someone made for his game VVVVVV. When game devs get excited about fan art, mods, etc that other folks have made for their game it’s the best.

Martijn Frazer has a very good post on Dutch snacks. I never even heard of most of these and want to try making some. I’m not a big mayo person (sorry) so that limits things a bit, but there’s still quite a bit for me to try.

There’s also been a post mortem on Cohost from one of the developers. RIP Cohost. I still think Eggbug should be a Dopefish-like character that just pops up in various games.

There were a few dev logs I enjoyed reading this week too! Blendo Games released the source code for Skin Deep, and Meredith Gran and Essay Games wrote about their experiences at Narrascope.

That’s it for this week! There’s actually a bunch of blog posts I haven’t read yet just sitting in my RSS feed reader so next week may be longer. I just think blogs are neat!

Probably goes without saying but fuck war. No war with Iran or anywhere else. End the genocide in Palestine. Leave people the fuck alone. What the fuck. I don’t know how to seamlessly transition from all that to what I’ve been reading lately and just like using the beginnings of these and the indie game posts as my check in/diary, but there you go.

I’ve been reading Alex Rinehart’s blog, which has recently had interviews with ttrpg game designers like Aaron King and Jess Levine. I didn’t even think about how you can just have interviews on your blog but yeah, no shit? Anyway, now that I’ve interviewed two librarians for my grad school class, can I talk to you? (points finger towards the screen)

Rascal had an article today about how DriveThruRPG delisted a game because of its anti-fascist politics. I stopped buying anything from DriveThruRPG a long time ago because it’s a visual nightmare but the site sucks. I’m not going to tell people to not sell their stuff there because it’s the biggest site for ttrpgs, but please make your games available elsewhere. They have a history of crappy decisions like this and that 30-50% cut for selling your pdf is ridiculous.

Unwinnable had a good article about the recent RoboCop game. Ultimately I still ended up enjoying it, but agree with everything this article says in addition to the game being too safe and basing a lot of its beats off Robocop 2, a movie I don’t like that much (it has its fans) because it’s too similar to the first movie. It has its moments but still has the stink of Frank Miller on it (I’m sorry, I am a Frank Miller hater).

And finally, I’m just happy to see erysdren doing a dev log.

I just realized that when I did my indie game roundup two days ago, I didn’t even realize it was Friday the 13th. Would that have changed anything? Probably not! Maybe I could have said it’s the scariest round up of all. Anyway, today is Father’s Day in the US. Yesterday I went with my kids to a yearly comics event I love at the local library, although I left earlier than I wanted to since I had a migraine that was building up all day from me not getting enough sleep. I also learned I could sign up for the library’s Summer Games and win prizes, and that’s already becoming my whole personality. I’ll probably end up doing a post or two about that at some point. I’m glad the turnout for the protests yesterday was great. Again, there was a huge one where I was at but the whole migraine thing so I wasn’t able to join.

Anyway, people came here to look at some blog links. Consider adding them to your RSS feed reader of choice. I use Inoreader, which I gripe about because it’s starting to poke at AI summaries, but there’s probably something better at that. RSS beats refreshing social media all the time for updates anyway.

And if you don’t have a blog? Start one! It doesn’t have to be anything big, it can just be a free blog on Bear Blog, and then post a link to it so I can add it to my feed reader.

Video Games

I’m a huge fan of Rob‘s blogs (and games). He has the b-movie blog but there’s also the video game one. This time he writes about the slog that is the Summer Games Fest.

If you’re a game dev using Unity, this guide on porting your games to consoles may be handy.

I haven’t followed the Steam Next Fest at all so maybe it’s over. I’m still going to link to round ups though because they may help you find stuff to add to your wishlist. Buried Treasure did a very nice one and so did Adventure Game Hotspot if you’re looking for games in that genre specifically. Alex Rinehart posted a few demo reviews on his blog too.

Unearthed Treasure Room is the only thing I watched during this summer fest and it was very good. Startmenu has a writeup about it and links if you want to learn more about the showcase focused on obscure games that have been already released. Maybe all of us can just do our own showcases.

Bros Get Stoked writes about Interface Dramas, games set entirely on a computer desktop. I had called them Desktop Simulators as a joke but Interface Dramas is probably a better term.

The Good Old Days has a nice review of Air Pico, a flight sim made in pico-8. I just like that there’s multiple sites I follow that are just personal games databases. Jefklak’s Codex is another one I follow. I’ve thought about doing that someday if my list of reviews gets to be pretty big.

Tech

It’s an older post I keep forgetting to mention, but usebox writes about being back on xmpp, which is something I really need to give another shot. I get so excited about talking to people outside of the big social media sites and apps owned by corporations because it makes the web feel bigger and somehow more personal to me when I’m talking to people outside of bluesky or Discord.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually posted about Computer Chronicles Revisited on here before? Which is really weird because I’m a huge fan of it. Anyway, it’s been back for a while after a hiatus and covering Macworld Expo/San Francisco 1989

Food

Brain Baking found his Granddad’s Cooking Notebook and I just thought it was a really nice read. It reminds me that I need to digitize all the old recipes my grandparents have.

Dev Logs

erysdren makes great games like Bitch Hell and I’m happy to see the site posting .plan updates again.

Fuck ICE. I have so much love to everyone pushing back on them in LA right now and hopefully one day ICE will be abolished.

Well, here’s what I’ve been reading lately:

Technology

A few days ago I posted a list of everything I follow in my RSS feed reader and it looks like some other folks were doing that too. Maybe you’ll find some new sites to follow through LunarLoony and reidrac. They’re better organized than my post too.

Andrew Plotkin has posted some data points connected to how AI data scrapers have been hitting his site. I don’t believe I’ve been getting hit like other folks but it’s been more than zero and I’m not happy about it.

Here’s a guide and thoughts about making your own personal archive of the web.

Video Games

The story of how the classic puzzle game Boulder Dash was created, with an interview with the creator.

The Lords of Midnight was a little before my time and I haven’t made the time to play it yet, but here’s an article about the history of the game and why it’s great.

I loved reading about this baseball series I never heard of, Diamond Mind Baseball.

The Imaginary Engine Review has an interview with SEQUENCEBREAK// curator Nilson Carroll. SEQUENCEBREAK// is an in-person exhibit of “artist’s games.”

Adam Le Doux wrote about making games in bookmarklets and how you can do it yourself.

Not Blog Posts

These aren’t blog posts but here’s some other things I liked:

I really vibed with this video titled there’s no such thing as a bad game.

Enjoy this list of Games By Trans People Before 2010. Trans game devs have always been here!

I just learned about this site about forklifts in video games.

That’s it for this week. Hope you had/are having a good weekend!

A few days ago I mentioned I was going to sleep in a zoo and folks? I have slept in a zoo. Not very well of course, one does not simply snooze for 8 hours straight in a random zoo building when they are a light sleeper, but technically I have slept in the same building as pied tamarins thanks to my daughter’s Girl Scouts troop.

So anyway, here’s some blog posts I’ve enjoyed lately.

First of all, consider supporting Michael Coorlim and getting lots of cool games and writing! They’ve worked on some very cool stuff like the recently released Kathy Rain 2.

I like seeing what games other people are excited about and Aura has a nice one featuring stuff I mostly haven’t heard of before, which is always great.

Nicole Express breaks down the hardware for the arcade game Kiki KaiKai, which is more famous for Natsume taking the concept and making Pocky & Rocky. I really liked Pocky & Rocky as a child and never knew that it had something before it.

Nathalie talks about a ton of experimental games on Not Quite A Game (Games that go beyond the need to be understood)

Atari Archives goes into the history of BASIC Programming being brought to the Atari.

Point-and-click adventure Technobabylon has turned 10. Good lord. If you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it. If you have played it, go check out this interview with the designer about the game’s queer themes and sequel plans. Great stuff! If this wasn’t a personal blog named after a moose I would love to interview game devs. If you’re ok with being interviewed on a blog that has nothing to do with moose, let me know. If you think this blog should talk more about moose, let me know.

Speaking of personal blogs, sometimes they’re fun because 90% of the time they’re focused on one thing like tabletop rpgs, and those posts are good, but then you come across what it’s like to work in a library.

If I see a post about the Amiga, I have to post it. That’s the rule. This time it’s a post that asks What is an Amiga?

Florence Smith Nicholls talks about what games get covered in academia. The article goes into wanting to cover Wurm Online and the importance of talking about MMOs that aren’t dead, but aren’t exactly thriving either and have low player counts, so they just kinda don’t get discussed. Since I am a massive fan of the NOT DEAD mmo Myst Online, which you can still play today for free and is still getting new content, this resonates strongly with me.

Speaking of MMOs, KRITIQAL has an excellent article about Ragnarok Online Indonesia and how it is still alive today through a fan server.

Read Only Memo has an interview with the modder who has brought the X-Box 360 game Chromehounds back online.

No Escape writes about Final Fantasy and those Pixel Remaster versions, and just about Final Fantasy remakes in general. I don’t really follow the series so I liked learning about the weirdness of these and what’s even going on in that series.

I’ve linked to this adventure game blog before but there’s some interesting computer history at Michigan State and Troy at the beginning of this article. The rest of it about the game The Final Countdown is very good too.

And finally, it’s not a blog post but Microsoft confirm they’ve supplied AI tech to the Israeli military for use in Gaza so if you aren’t already, try not to give Microsoft money to the best of your ability.