Change, change, change!
I know I sound like a combo of unhinged and a broken record, but I’m still missing 30+ familiar faces from the tracking list. So here’s your now-weekly reminder: this new platform and your email provider both need to be trained that I am not porn. I am pure(ish). I am safe for your inbox. You’re happy(ish?) I’m here.
Easiest way to prove it? Click a link.
Dragging me to your inbox and whitelisting the sending address also helps. If you’re feeling extra generous (or chaotic), reply to this email.
Tell me something like whether you’ve caved and upgraded to Windows 11 yet. And if it broke your gaming life. October’s creeping up (yeah yeah, you can pay for another year — but no), and I’m still planning to wait till the last minute.
Dev Stack
Is My Game $9.99 Sad or $24.99 Confident? $69.69 Rebel?
Alright, so here’s the title of the article: Hollow Knight "was so underpriced" that a fellow Metroidvania dev was nervous to go higher than $15 and bought Team Cherry's masterpiece "multiple times because I'm just like, take my money, please" via GamesRadar+.
In a nutshell: guy made a game and struggled on pricing because Hollow Knight — one of the most beloved games in the genre — only costs $15. Eventually, he parked his game at $20, and it’s now sold over 200,000 copies. The article wanders a bit through his story, Hollow Knight, and pricing trends in general, but that’s the gist.
It’s interesting to see all this unfold at a time when massive studios are pushing AAA titles (and some genuinely mid-tier IPs) past $60, even $70–80 — while indie devs are out here pouring their souls into projects and agonizing over whether $14.99 is “too much.” (Even when that $80 price tag is sometimes walked back?)
No grand opinion piece here — just rambling. But if you’re working on a game: what’s your take on pricing? Because after helping manage half a dozen dev Discords, I’ve seen wild extremes. Players showing up early asking if the game will be free. Or $5. Or “definitely no more than $10.” All while others are in the same server saying “take my money” before there’s even a demo.
Wild little pricing ecosystem we’ve got going.
Gamers
I said I’d either figure out the new video format for weekly game news… or just chuck it into the next newsletter.
Since I redirected my most recent spoons refill (and my entire schedule) into the site revamp instead, congrats, you’re getting the newsletter version!
Mr. Prepper is not only on a hefty sale, but there’s also a new DLC on the way, alongside a free content update to the base game. So if you’ve been holding off — now’s a decent time to jump in.
For those of you who wanted to get hands-on with Lost Rift and see how your take compares to my… let’s call it not-glowing one — the next playtest is set for August 7th.
I’m bummed to see Survive the Fall slip into Mixed status. I really liked the original demo — it was fun, promising, and weirdly charming. They just updated the demo again, though, so I’m planning to give it another spin this weekend and see what’s changed and why people think it sucks.
While we’re on the topic of demo updates: Ember’s Verge, the more bushcraft-leaning one, also pushed a new version recently.
And, sneaking in another one — Cairn has updated their demo too, with a handful of new features.
(Which means yes, I probably could’ve made this one sprawling, demo-filled bullet point instead of several. But here we are.)City20 has been in my backlog for ages, but after seeing the newest changes in their latest Major Update — like the revamped starting experience — I’m kinda glad I waited. (Unintentionally waited, but still.)
With every content drop, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days creeps closer to a “yeah, I’ll grab that” title.
(Waiting on a good sale, but that’s a me being broke thing, not a game’s not worth it thing.)EndZone 2 shifts into full release- have a video!
Under a New Sun got its biggest update so far. It’s a lot. Just go read the patch notes.
The Last Plague: Blight has seen some solid updates lately, including an injury system, seasons, and a bunch of other meaningful additions.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, now’s a damn good time.
Hashtag Glow Up (Paolo is exhausted)
One of the more actionable pieces of feedback I’ve gotten about the site has always been about the look. People liked the content — I’ve gotten plenty of thumbs up on articles and posts — but the vibe? It was giving more mommy blog than “place where I get snark and news-ish news.”
So this weekend, I finally tackled that. I also knocked out another long-standing request: the site is now perma-dark mode.
It’s still a little wonky in places — I’m slowly ferreting through images and post layouts — but overall, it’s solid. And honestly? I fucking love the main page now. (I’m going to drop some new articles this week.)
[clap clap] You go look!
(Also tossed a behind-the-scenes rambly little update into a $3 post if you wanna tip toward site plugins without doing the whole Patreon/newsletter sub thing. Very optional. Very sparkly.🦄)
Dev Stack
Coffee & Code
Steam dropped a short blog post detailing some tweaks to their sales and scheduling setup — worth a skim if you’re planning promo windows or trying to dodge awkward event overlaps.
“He made a viral horror game in 2 months – it sold 6 million copies, and now he can make whatever he wants for the rest of his life.” Thanks, GamesRadar+, I’ll add that to my list of pipe dreams, I suppose!
Skyrim NPCs are only as complex as they are thanks to a literal "napkin drawing" that Todd Howard doodled, reveals ex-Bethesda dev: "It's actually a napkin story" [GamesRadar+]
Red Flag
The First Rule of Reinvention…
First, to catch up on the tea, here’s a bit of developer history, and then we see this crosspost for a new game.
Second, why change your name but also advertise the game on your previous game? Wouldn’t you be proud of the game you built (solo dev!) and want to expand your portfolio & name recognition?
At least make the names somewhat different.
Color me confused.
Have a Tab
“As a Neurodivergent Person, Traveling Entails Prioritizing My Mental Health and Avoiding Overstimulation.” [ Outside ]
The title of this article was super long, but I ALSO use this lotion and vouch for it. [ Outside ]
Speculation that Hayden Christensen will have a much bigger role in Ahsoka Season 2? [Games Radar +]
“Guy with 35,000 hours in Ark: Survival Evolved gives it a negative Steam review…and wants a refund.” [ PCGamer ]
“As Krafton acquires Last Epoch, the hit ARPG's lead says he isn't worried about an ugly Subnautica 2 situation happening to them: ‘There's plenty of misinformation.' “ [GamesRadar+]
As someone who mentioned - in Issue #1 of this newsletter, I think - that it would be interesting if the narrative turned out NOT to be “big bad company does shitty rich people things” but “indie devs turn out to be bad guys looking for easy payday”, I have to say, maybe this is swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction?
Or maybe! It’s just a brave public front to avoid screwing up the deal, and then cutthroat negotiations took place behind closed doors? I dunno. I’d be covering my ass with paper, for sure.
I’ll save that screencap for later, though, just in case.
Play me off, Johnny.
- Jordan
