I haven't been updating much. I'd like to say it's due to work (Today is my only day off this week), but truthfully I just haven't felt any need to do... anything. Call it burn-out or whatever, I just don't have as much energy as I used to.

But there has been progress. Above is a new scene I've made, which I did mostly while livestreaming. I intend to save the meat of it until I'm ready to do another marketing push.

Additionally, I've started my own discord server, with some hesitation. I've yet to do a real push for that, either. I intend to strongly advertise it along with the next marketing push, which should (hopefully) put S1CK on top. In the meantime, if you'd like to join you can, at this link.

Anyways, the current plan is to push an update for No Man's Asteroids. I'm thinking about changing the name (so I don't get sued to oblivion), as currently I'm in a position to be taken down by both Atari and Hello Games. That wouldn't be ideal, I think. Afterwords, who knows?

(Somewhat Ironically, I wrote this before Death Game was a thing)

If you're here, you've likely played a LOT of games. Even more likely, is the possibility that you've died in one.

There's a pattern with death in a lot of games, one that I don't like. Checkpoints. Savepoints in the universe, where you can go back to the way things were. To be honest, I think it betrays the nature of a narrative world. I have no problem with the concept in arcade-y games, and it's even pretty generally decent in a lot of newer FPS games. But it's a mechanic that I think bears more thought.

Many arcade-y, death-match games are balanced around respawns, creating an interesting meta and risk based on timing, positioning, and reaction. But I think there could be more to it than that.

I've long wanted to make a game that self-destructed if you died. This could happen in a number of ways. like deleting user/system files, removing the game itself, or changing the game irreversibly in interesting ways. I've been toying with this concept for a long time, apparently even posting as early as 2012. It's a little ironic that this would surface soon after No Man's Sky's release, but more on that later. It's dumb, but I think a game with a virus tied to the game-state would be really, really cool. Extremely impractical, however, if I by chance, actually wanted someone to play my games, and y'know, not get arrested by the internet police.

So unless I want to hide my identity 10 ways to make that game, we're left with in-world consequences, as game continuity. As in, making character deaths part of the mechanics and world, not separate from it.

I'm not the only one thinking about this. Playing with death is on an upward trend. Dark Souls (The Series), has sold 8 million copies, each one playing with death, and narrative.

So what's the price? Can we mess with death, while keeping things light-hearted, and realistic?

saw Gerard in october and it was fuckin’ s1ck