INDIE GAMES // MUSIC // WORDS Mode 7 // nervous_testpilot // _ensnare_ mode7.games nervoustestpilot.com modecollapse.com
UK
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- Followers 12,303
- Likes 24,985
COMPUTER: I can render the shimmering fantasy worlds of your dreams 60 times a second
ME: search some emails for a string
COMPUTER: oh no
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"are games art" is for babies
"stereo is fake" is the new discourse
Jean-Michel Jarre: "I always considered stereo to be a fake process, created in the ‘30s, just to produce a sense of space" trib.al/gorqPrT
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🚨@groundshatter and Mode 7 announce...🚨
👊FIGHTS IN TIGHT SPACES
A card-based tactical fighting game
Full trailer: piped.video/eFvirN-0ync
Join the Discord and battle it out to win a beta slot: discord.gg/6T4TDJh
PLEASE WISHLIST: store.steampowered.com/app/1…
[PLEASE RT]
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Valve's 30%:
- Discoverability on Steam provides an unbelievable amount of value
- Valve have consistently supported indie dev in ways they didn't "have to"
- I think the rate should taper up to let a greater number of smaller indies progress to a second game / reinvest
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So to summarise the advice for indie game devs:
- You are stupid and will die
- You will cripple yourself
- Success is luck
- Specialise but also do lots of things
- If you’re not doing it now it’s too late
- Don’t worry - you have lots of time
- Marketing
- Everything is bad
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it's clear that the dev community as a whole is determined to accept revenue sharing - just a reminder that revenue sharing is *inconceivable* in other fields for tools and that, had this been announced in isolation, there would have been a pretty significant outcry
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The concept for my Forza character is "creative director about to tell you his game is 'emotionally immersive' at an E3 press conference"
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well
Frozen Synapse 2 is code locked for launch
And we're on the correct server
And we got the store stuff sorted out
And people have keys (if you're press and you don't have a key shout at me)
And the adverts are happening
So we're going to release it on Thursday
OK
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Can't get enough of this story about a Facebook group that has gained over a million followers since the lockdown where everyone just pretends to be ants cnbc.com/2020/05/12/a-millio…
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I think most people genuinely don't understand that any shipped game is an unholy miracle and there's very little reason for anything to work at any time
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.@sonic_hedgehog @MightyNo9 you can talk, Mr '06
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big shout out to everyone screaming about how epic exclusives would harm lifetime sales for an individual title
we spend a long time telling devs to listen to their communities, but the audience for games is so frequently wildly wrong about commercial decisions and their impact
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Frozen Synapse 2 is out now
Turn-based combat
Strategy in a big city
Glowy cyberthings
OPEN WORLD TACTICS
Steam:
store.steampowered.com/app/4…
GoG:
gog.com/game/frozen_synapse_…
Humble:
humblebundle.com/store/froze…
(Please RT - this is the last time I'll ask for RT's for a LONG WHILE)
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I wrote a blog post which gives away all the secrets of indie game development
medium.com/@mode7games/the-1…
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Like a lot of developers, I didn't speak up enough during Gamergate. Now things have got to this point, with the opportunisic hatemongers who profited from it seeking real political power in the UK.
We've got to continue working to get rid of this poisonous culture around games
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why is "No Man's Sky was wildly successful at launch" something which can JUST NEVER GO IN to the collective consciousness
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Frozen Synapse 2 comes out tomorrow
We put a massive amount into it and it's insanely, insanely hard to get that essential burst of initial attention that a game needs to kick off these days
Please RT and Wishlist on Steam - thank you!
store.steampowered.com/app/4…
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I...have scripted gentrification in Frozen Synapse 2? The banking faction now go to a low- or mid-quality housing area, kick everyone out and build flats- I didn't realise it was set to be the nearest area by default, so they're just building a gated community now
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ART HAS CONCRETE OBJECTIVE MEANING BEYOND WHAT THE ARTIST MAY INTEND, I bellow at a wall socket I have once again mistaken for an exhibit at moma
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I don't like "Steam doesn't provide any value" discourse as it's demonstrably nonsense - it's not even worth engaging with.
Valve staying private and taking a long view is SO immensely important for the health of indie games generally.
But! You can still tweak the rate
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uhhhghg the "it took a modder x amount of time to 'throw this together' and therefore it should take the official devs less time to implement it as a full feature" argument is right down there in the bin with "are games art"
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🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
Fights in Tight Spaces (@Fightsgame) will leave Early Access / Game Preview and head into 1.0 on Dec 2nd
Featuring:
👊200+ cards
👊30+ enemies
👊6 starter decks
👊2 [REDACTED]
👊...some other things we can't talk about yet!
Review code available- hit me up!
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PRODUCTIVITY TIP!
10x your productivity by doing ten times the amount of things you normally do
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sometimes I forget there are people out there who don't understand how ridiculous music tech is - this is Mr Pot, a meticulously sampled pot
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Dusk is an absolutely phenomenal game - such a profoundly deep and detailed understanding of what made 90's and early 00's shooters great while pruning out most of the design elements which have dated poorly
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I'm pro lockdown but at some point we need to let you all out so you stop posting about being stepped on by vampires
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I'm sorry that we missed our release date window several thousand times but there are genuinely better uses of your life than shouting at me / into the void about it - the game is nearly done and we're trying to release something good while juggling a million things
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Frozen Synapse 2 will be released on September 13th
Wishlist now -store.steampowered.com/app/4…
Look at this nice video - piped.video/iXgfbY7jiQE
Please RT
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can we somehow just make the gamers understand that if you're bored of a game after 100 hours.......that doesn't mean the game is "bad"
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Announcing Tokyo 42 (@Tokyo42Game) - a colourful Syndicate / GTA1-inspired action game!
piped.video/Bo_K8xkFx70
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PRODUCTIVITY TIP!
to save time spent iterating and polishing, simply do everything perfectly the first time around
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99.9999999999999999999% of games writing is telling the player what to do enough times that they don't write a shitty steam review
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I wrote about why Sean Murray isn't a liar
medium.com/@mode7games/promi…
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The two types of community response to any dev update:
1) Choo Choo I am the conductor of the hype train!!! Love you guys shut up and let me push my money into the screen!!!
2) The feature you mentioned - which I have not yet seen or played - is boring. Fire yourselves.
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Opened a cupboard. A mop fell out, hit me on the head, bounced into the cat's water bowl and spilled water everywhere. I bent down to pick it up and hit my head on the cupboard door. I am the antagonist in a movie starring one, possibly two, talking animals.
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🚨Fights in Tight Spaces launches in Early Access TODAY (10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET) 🚨
👊 BUILD your deck
👊 DO some tactics
👊 PUNCH the bad people
👊 These bullet points are FISTS
There is STILL TIME to WISHLIST store.steampowered.com/app/1…
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Not the best Eurovision ever but the choice of entering an actual song sung by someone who can sing is a landmark moment for the modern UK
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@EnglishHeritage that's a no from me and also the entire UK games industry - how about collaborating instead of this nonsense? There's a huge heritage aspect to games which you're casually dismissing with this daft campaign
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we'll have some new Fights in Tight Spaces (@fightsgame) info for you very soon but in the meantime, if you know someone who likes deck-building and/or tactical punching then please do point them in our direction - Wishlists hugely appreciated!
store.steampowered.com/app/1…
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NEW GAME ALERT! We are publishing The Colonists, a planetary settlement game from the amazing @codebyfire
thecolonistsgame.com/
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imagine a world in which all engineers understood that human existence isn't about optimising yourself to provide maximal utility
One of my coworkers at SpaceX (also my manager) was an ex-video game developer who worked on some famous games, such as HL2. We both agreed that it was a waste that so many coders work only on game tech, when they can accomplish so much more if they just applied themselves.
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You have elected @dril
Someone incorrectly stated that the phrase "DRAIN THE SWAMP" was no longer being used by me. Actually, we will always be trying to DTS.
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Frozen Synapse 2 comes out today at 6pm BST / 10am PST
store.steampowered.com/app/4…
Take a look at the launch trailer...
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- Start small because it will lose money
- Marketing
- Don’t name your company after genitalia
- Marketing
- UR dumb
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IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR Fights in Tight Spaces will come out and I might shut up about it for a bit (unlikely)
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Expressing my dislike for YouTube bilge pump Sargon of Akkad isn't "insulting my customers" because my customers generally don't spend their time standing around a toilet applauding
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There's a certainly a gap the market for game design theory books without ultra wacko gender essentialism because every single one seems to roll along fine and then suddenly, out of nowhere "MALES ENJOY MASTERY BUT SWEET FRAGRANT LADIES MUST ONLY PLAY GAMES ABOUT SEWING"
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We're delighted to announce that an early version of Fights in Tight Spaces will be launching exclusively on Xbox through Game Preview this Tuesday, 10th Nov. (TOMORROW!). The Xbox Series X|S enhanced version will be available via Smart Delivery AT LAUNCH.
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I feel like people who post generic nice "I like this thing - look forward to seeing more" responses to updates on creative projects should be celebrated more and given more attention than the rampaging idiots who always dominate the conversation
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TOKYO 42
MAY 31st - PC AND XBOX ONE
MID-JULY - PS4
WISHLIST HERE - store.steampowered.com/app/4…
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I'd like to get indies together to ask @steamgames for the ability to split game revenue between multiple payees.
Revenue sharing is essential for modern indie dev. As things are getting more competitive, as @RaveofRavendale pointed out yesterday, you need to de-risk.
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Don't normally do politics on here but this government's cutbacks to essential services have gone too far
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Wardialler is out now on itch.
It's a free narrative hacking game by me.
You can play it here:
nervoustestpilot.itch.io/war…
[If you like it, give it a RT - thanks!]
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Love to take all the idiots crying about games being on a different Internet store back in time to when you had to travel to a *different town* to get a game if Dixon's didn't have it
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Tips for Surviving GDC:
- Shoes go on your feet
- Should you come across a sinister merchant, do not purchase an arcane puzzle box from him
- Consume precisely one standard cube of jellied wheat every 20 minutes
- If you see Sid Meier, immediately scream “IRRIGATION”
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I love the fact that all players are forced to look at the Lego cars. That is genuinely beautiful to me.
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Frozen Synapse 2 will be coming out in August (hopefully).
Here is 30 minutes of gameplay so you can decide if you think it looks cool:
piped.video/6vcU6B594Ig
If you think it looks cool please wishlist it on Steam:
store.steampowered.com/app/4…
THANK YOU
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Indie devs, you don't need to read this as serious marketing advice - you are allowed to read this as a journalist going "hey this was refreshing!" ie in good faith
Hi-Fi Rush is a strong argument for more game releases to be treated like a Beyoncé album drop than a years-long marketing campaign. trib.al/n2R3hUM
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Thinking of making a strategy game eh *chews cigar* well I hope you enjoy futzing with UI for 900000 years while people post "obviously zero thought has gone into this UI"
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If you like deck-building, turn-based tactics and punching men in the face then do us a favour and give Fights in Tight Spaces (@Fightsgame) a Wishlist today!
store.steampowered.com/app/1…
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I have a 30 Under 30 take everyone! Lucky you!
I think a substantial portion of the games industry has a really unhealthy relationship with awards in general.
Awards are an *arbitrary* process of an organisation saying "these things / people are cool". They are nothing else.
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I'm watching the Matrix. Morpheus said "what is the matrix?" and my phone responded "The Matrix is a 1999 film starring Keanu Reeves..."
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Computer, generate the world's most annoying sentence
Tron's 28-year-old CEO wants to use blockchain games and BitTorrent to decentralize the internet wp.me/p8wLEc-aiXM
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I would like to thank Gabe for - in addition to basically my entire career - providing me with this reaction image
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The most precarious time for an indie team or startup is trying to get that first game finished and shipped - if you can target improving revenues for them you will get a MUCH greater number of banger second or third games
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Fights in Tight Spaces (@fightsgame) comes out THIS THURSDAY
If you are:
- Press
- Creator of so-called Content
- Someone who knows me and we don't have a long-running bitter feud
...and you would like a key then get in touch via me or via Terminals:
terminals.io/games/fights-in…
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One thing I wish The Gamers understood is that dynamic music is a creative choice, not a format that is somehow objectively better than linear music
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I have a fairly strong reaction against "if you follow [bad person] on twitter then you are not to be trusted"
It feels like an attempt to control what others read, and who they interact with. Secondary to that, it can lead to a raft of false assumptions about someone's views
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sometimes, we all get insecure about our UI design abilities
but then we remember
this is the button to add an audio plugin in Premiere
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just to reiterate why Frozen Synapse 2 is good, it is a viable strat on this level to have everyone climb on top of each other and hide in the toilet
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HELLO
Wouldn't it be good if there was a game which had:
- Deckbuilding
- Punching a man in the face
Well there is and it's called Fights in Tight Spaces.
Give us a RT and Wishlist on Steam please
(store.steampowered.com/app/1…)
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ah yes every programmer I know is extremely good at being organised in their life - can't think of any exceptions to this
Before you learn to code, learn to codify.
Codifying means taking the repetitive tasks in your job or life and organizing them in a systemic way.
Once you see a pattern you can automate with code, learn to code.
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I can literally have them do this and then quote Ayn Rand at you after it happened - I have the power to do this
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Nothing like kicking off a New Year with a huge tedious YouTube controversy.
Can’t wait for:
▫️a slow spread through every Twitter subdomain
▫️trite mainstream news coverage tomorrow
◽️three days of Important Takes
▫️big side order of “I have never heard of this guy”
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If you’re new to a creative field, and you have the opportunity to ask an experienced artist a question, don’t ask “what software do you use?”
Instead, try asking people how they approach a specific problem, or how they achieve an effect. You’ll both get more out of it.
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more people are going to click on an article about mario's nipples than will ever click on an article about your game
remember this at all times
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Also worth saying again, the mega efforts of the Steam team particular around stuff like NextFest, more themed sales, better tagging and just straight up advocating for cool indie stuff is immensely important and appreciated - has to be acknowledged whenever this is discussed
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People are *still* peddling the pernicious bollocks that No Man’s Sky was somehow a failure, a “PR disaster” or some other vacuous nebulous gibberish
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I wrote about trying to fit games into a troubled world medium.com/@mode7games/playi…
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