Feels a little homey! Homie.
Thank you for the support and comments -and supportive comments- on the new home for the newsletter! Overall, the swap went smoothly.
(I typed “on the whole” but then I had to go through the whole Austin Powers skit mentally…)
Through reader feedback, I learned that it would be good to include a quick heads-up to folks at the start of the email. I just need to figure out where to stick it. (Not referencing the gif above, surprisingly.)
I’ll place it here for now.
If you don’t see links or images, or the email is cut off or anything odd at all, open the newsletter in the browser. There should be a ‘Read Online’ link at the top of the email…somewhere.
You can comment and like the post when you’re in web view —and it’s in dark mode, if that’s your style!
ICYMI: The Subnautica 2 drama is still alive and well - hit up Google for the latest they said/it said on the topic, but GamesIndustry.biz actually did a solid timeline of the entire drama, dating back to like 2021. And if that drama is feeling a little stale, you could always check out the absolutely terrible rollout of Ark: Aquatica, currently sitting at Overwhelmingly Negative with 1300 reviews. How bad was it? [checks notes] They had to offer a way for players to revert to a pre-Aquatica state. So, kinda bad!
Gamers
Anthem? More like funeral dirge, amirite?
A hundred years ago, give or take, I was stoked about an upcoming gorgeous game featuring random gun nonsense- but also flying exosuits. Hype, hype, and I gleefully tossed in my cash to pre-order. A random amount of time later (damn you, imperfect memory), a VIP demo became available for those who had pre-ordered. I was finally hands-on with their shiny metal goodness.
I cancelled my preorder.
No need to relitigate what was wrong with the game, for me, or what ended up going wrong with the game. Frankly, I had completely forgotten about the title until I saw that EA/BioWare would be shuttering servers in January 2026, effectively killing the game off for game owners since it can’t be played offline.
That being said, this opinion article is definitely worth a read:
Has the live-service dream crashed back down to earth? | GameIndustry.biz
Scope creep, cart before the horse, circle of life?
walk before one can run
idiom
: to learn the basics before trying to do something more advanced
Don't get ahead of yourself. You have to walk before you can run.
Rooted is creeping its way through development, chugging through Alpha 2, I think. They recently released a small news blurb detailing how they onboarded to their development team, yadda yadda. Nestled in there, though, was an interesting piece of info: to fund the studio’s growth, they “…launched a side project developed in just four months (a genuine challenge!) called Backrooms: Extractions on Steam.”
A little further down the page, they mentioned “Beyond its financial impact, this side project allows us to test features in a smaller-scale environment before introducing them to Rooted. We iterate rapidly, collect valuable player feedback, refine and enhance features, ensuring quality before implementing them into our primary project.”
I’ve seen this crop up a ton lately, most recently with 3C Games- creator of the upcoming title WASTED Will Be Brutal, and who recently released a demo for another title, WASTED BLOODLINE.
Yanno what, as I sit here and rev myself up for a tirade, I’m starting to think it’s probably worth expanding into an article. So I won’t get into it too deeply right now! I will say, though, that there can be an array of factors that inspire swapping to another title before the main goal, whether it’s money, polishing skills, or just being in over your head. Some shit is just easier than others.
Hashtag
Two small things from last week, alongside a post or two for the paid patrons on the Hashtag Patreon - thank you guys for your support!
Handful of games added to the curator page (Misery, Above the Snow, DreadZone) and tweaked some blurbs.
Sorry if you visited the website this weekend! I know it was completely fucked up. I was trying something, it didn’t work, I rolled it back. (Ish.)
Dev Stack
Are You Ready?
“On July 25, the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) will kick in with full effect – and wherever you are in the world, if your games target UK users, or are even 'likely' to be played by youngsters in the UK, you're legally obligated to comply.”
Code & Coffee
A /SurvivalGaming poll: What are your thoughts on handcrafted vs. procedurally generated worlds? [ Reddit ]
A thread on mini games- enjoyable to terrible? [ Reddit ]
Two years after the Unity controversy, how are things going with Godot? [GameIndustry.biz]
Random Tabs & Shit
A billion links in my RSS feeder were about them casting Link & Zelda for the live-action movie, so here you go if you’re curious. [ IGN ]
Am I pregnant? [ Classic YouTube ]
If You Hike With Your Dog, You Need to Be Able to Rescue Them Yourself! (No jokes.) [ Outside/Backpacker ]
Real talk, do we need a Captain Planet and the Planeteers Live-Action Series? [ IGN ]
On paper, I hope to make this the last newsletter where I skip relevant game updates. I plan to either have a video format ready by next Monday or add a link section to the format, as it’s evolving.
My original idea for a weekly video was somewhat built around not having to voice over, since I figured that would vastly cut down on production time and allow me to edit it anywhere, basically. However! It didn't work out after repeatedly punching my Davinci Resolve timeline, so I scrapped the idea.
Keep your toes crossed for me and remember to….
Keep rollin’ 🙂
- Jordan
