Tweets from 2024/02
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if you're joining Bluesky now that registration is open, then you can also follow me there: I'm v21.bsky.social / bsky.app/profile/v21.bsky.socialPermalink Look on archive.org
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if you're not: fair enough! (I continue to remain someone who only comes back here infrequently to promote stuff)Permalink Look on archive.org
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alright alright, i guess i'm gonna be back here a bit while i do some promotion. speaking of which, today i am sending out some press releases. does anybody want a press release?Permalink Look on archive.org
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new Downpour game! from my friend @susepicious, about the time we went out for some Chinese food downpour.games/~susie/per-person-refillablePermalink Look on archive.org
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@susepicious guess what drink i orderedPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @Ludipe: Downpour is one of my most anticipated game things for 2024. Being able to make quick games from your phone sounds incredibly c…Permalink Look on archive.org
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@SquaredApe @susepicious if only!!Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @ACMI: Go out of bounds again with The Grannies as @tigershungry's video artwork makes its return to ACMI 🤠. Adapted into a digital-fir…Permalink Look on archive.org
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new from me & @tigershungry : we made an immersive website to watch her brilliant film The Grannies in. go watch some people glitch out of a videogame from within a glitchy videogame landscape thegrannies.acmi.net.au/Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @SzMarsupial: Who remembers the Armenians? I remember them and I ride the nightmare bus with them each night and my coffee, this mornin…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @molleindustria: The Grannies, a lovely short documentary about a gang of glitch hunters, is finally online! One of my favorite movies…Permalink Look on archive.org
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big news from me: my game making app Downpour is coming out in three weeks time! you can sign up for the mailing list & see the shiny new screenshots here: downpour.gamesPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @susepicious: 🤠 You don’t need the app to play, just a browser 💜 Follow your friends & get notified when they make something new ⬇️Downl…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @susepicious: 🏔️ Works offline - make games anywhere 📂 Exported games are built on an open source base 💸 Free with an optional subscript…Permalink Look on archive.org
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@flexmandeville thank you! honestly i feel like making these might've been the hardest part of the whole process?Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @pillowfort: i've seen a little of this in progress and it's such a fun tool - someone is probably going to make a very good game in thi…Permalink Look on archive.org
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check out this really cool preview/interview I did with Alexis Ong! theverge.com/24071829/downpour-game-development-app-date-iphone-android "for the first time in years, I feel like I want to make art again" 😭😭😭Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @mtrc: I’ve been testing this and if you liked any part of the game making scene from the last twenty years, make sure you check this ou…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @mtrc: It all works on a phone, creates games you can host online, and is mostly done with images or photos you take yourself. Here’s my…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @hannahnicklin: I'm so proud of V's work on Downpour, it's such a cool tool for allowing everyone to tell little interactive game/storie…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @dreamfeelx: this looks like everything I've ever wanted from an interactive medium. can't wait :3 I played with an early version last…Permalink Look on archive.org
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Downpour is capable of making games with rich moral choices downpour.games/~cas/turtle-punchPermalink Look on archive.org
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Downpour got written up in Polish! futurebeat.pl/newsroom/nadchodzi-program-ktory-pozwoli-przerobic-zdjecia-na-gry/za28466Permalink Look on archive.org
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@RamzeeRawkz If On A Winter's Night A Traveller comes to mindPermalink Look on archive.org
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made a little sketch of a game about playing with shapes downpour.games/~v/shape-playPermalink Look on archive.org
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update: i made it slightly more confusing (in a good way?)Permalink Look on archive.org
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@SamsCulottes @plentyofalcoves yeah, like, the screenshots for the app I'm putting out are very analogue aesthetic, but are gonna have some generated imagery in (to extend a piece of sugar paper to the edge of the frame without having to use the clone brush)Permalink Look on archive.org
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@SamsCulottes @plentyofalcoves is that evil? idk! am i gonna ask the friend who did those edits for me to go back and do it a slower way? absolutely not.Permalink Look on archive.org
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icymi! - i'm making an app for making games, it's called Downpour, it's super fun & easy to use - it's coming out 6th of March! - maybe you read the bit about it being fun and easy to use and didn't believe me, well ok someone else said it in The Verge theverge.com/24071829/downpour-game-development-app-date-iphone-androidPermalink Look on archive.org
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@lewis_gordon @steppinlazer @mike_thomsen ahhh, yeah I love that thought (even if I don't know how much I agree). there's videogame like pleasures that you can get from much smaller interactions- ages ago I wrote about the feeling of the content warning field on Mastodon, which gets at this v21.io/blog/uses-of-cwsPermalink Look on archive.org
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@lewis_gordon @steppinlazer @mike_thomsen and then obviously Downpour is a kind of bet that there are more of these kinds of pleasures to be found, and that people want to create and play with themPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @lewis_gordon: "Downpour has the potential to become a formidable niche for a new form of spontaneous, interactive social media art that…Permalink Look on archive.org
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love that feeling of reading a retrospective for a pretty similar product to the one you're about to launch... adamwiggins.com/muse-retrospective/ (thanks for the insightful post, @_adamwiggins_)Permalink Look on archive.org
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hopeful i've dodged some of the issues they got stuck on, but i'm sure i'll run smack into some othersPermalink Look on archive.org
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this is good copywriting. i want to play this game now. (it does later mention the fact that it got an honourable mention for design at the IGF. if you're reading this and worrying they didn't mention that - don't worry, they did)Permalink Look on archive.org
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lovely tiny puzzle here! @Ludipe/1759508910728151091Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @v21: big news from me: my game making app Downpour is coming out in three weeks time! you can sign up for the mailing list & see the…Permalink Look on archive.org
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made a little Downpour admin post with some game recommendations downpour.games/~admin/game-recsPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @studioanisa: https://t.co/CGoTTxoKKaPermalink Look on archive.org
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@UncrownedJules @catacalypto my take is that this is the future of VR and is also the present of VR, and it's only a few companies that believe otherwisePermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @nowplaythese: If you missed The Grannies (or want to see it again) @tigershungry and @v21 have created a truly phenomenal digital scree…Permalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc here is a fan post i have myself written, which i am linking to you in an attempt to try to push you towards reading/watching it cohost.org/v21/post/4512939-the-end-sequence-ofPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @Short_Box: This week’s ShortBox-is-closing offer: @torpordust’s brilliant, heart-wrenching, era-spanning ‘Homunculus’ - for only £9 (in…Permalink Look on archive.org
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back in my day, the only thing we used AI for was poetry. and it was all beautiful, and all of it was broken. glad to be reminded that amidst the humdrum horrors of today's uses, the poetry still remains. @seanw_m/1760115118690509168Permalink Look on archive.org
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so very excited for this book @TheWhitePube/1760300799450550307Permalink Look on archive.org
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oh hey what's this? petapixel.com/2024/02/20/downpour-app-lets-users-turn-their-photos-into-interactive-games/Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @Ludipe: I love the concept behind Downpour (by @v21), an accessible app that lets anybody make a short game from their phones. I got t…Permalink Look on archive.org
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hello, last night I made a stupid game. downpour.games/~v/flipPermalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc yes! a choice can go to another page, a URL, or a random choice between multiple optionsPermalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc also thank youPermalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc i had not! i just played a little and... i am not going to spend time with this, but it is a cool concept. also, thanks! fixed!Permalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc random button! you can also do the Tracery thing of adding things multiple times to skew the oddsPermalink Look on archive.org
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@mtrc also I think you might like this from @tambourine - really nice writing downpour.games/~charlotte/the-dice-oracle?p=5iwPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @yxakirves: pang xunqin | girl on the couch, 1930sPermalink Look on archive.org
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@TodePond yesPermalink Look on archive.org
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@ka_bradley holy shit KaPermalink Look on archive.org
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can you flip an imaginary coin ten times, and get a heads every time? > yes, of course you can do you want to? downpour.games/~v/flipPermalink Look on archive.org
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today i am thinking about pigeon diapers rescuereport.org/2010/11/pigeons-as-indoor-pets-miracle-of.htmlPermalink Look on archive.org
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AGI winterPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @jenny_briar: "Y'know, Fozzie reminds me of this fella I've been talking to on Grindr!" "He's a bear?" "No - he can't host!" https://t…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @v21: can you flip an imaginary coin ten times, and get a heads every time? > yes, of course you can do you want to? https://t.co/ha4Yl…Permalink Look on archive.org
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not a translation, but... let's try this Downpour, my easy-to-use game making app, comes out on the 6th of March. I'm really proud of it. Please look forward to it. @innesmck/1760694716666962208Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @Mappletons: Wrote up some thoughts on structures and tactics for gathering people together in low-stress, high-payoff ways. Learned so…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @mtrc: via @v21, this hour-long recap-video of a streamer trying to toss a coin and get ten heads in a row is so good in a truly confusi…Permalink Look on archive.org
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the idea for this game, of course, came from @tomwalkerisgood's incredible recent stream youtube.com/watch?v=cb0_hqbhzKkPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @dril: @AlanDersh Hello Alan this is your lawer speaking. I am advising you today to please keep posting this shitPermalink Look on archive.org
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i hadn't actually checked until this point, but it turns out the export format of Downpour is exactly right to be the upload format for itch.io. so that's lucky.Permalink Look on archive.org
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i mean the format is "a zip file with an index.html in it", it's not an especially unusual format. but still.Permalink Look on archive.org
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@WhosTheSuit huge poster of Perfect Blue. (the film was great, when i saw it years later)Permalink Look on archive.org
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feel like I'm doing some impressive ninja moves to miss all of the current tech trends with Downpour. AI? no! multiplayer? not really! augmented reality? nahhPermalink Look on archive.org
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these are all things I'm pretty good at and pretty expert in, too! and each of them is just lightly grazing the project. I do want to add AI (for background removal). You can share your games for other people to play! The interface involves mixing physical and digital elements!Permalink Look on archive.org
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i guess part of this is also that it sits in a weird place in relation to the web. it's a powerful tool for making websites! that you can't use on the web.Permalink Look on archive.org
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anyway, congratulations to me for making a weird project that sits between a bunch of things... that also has a snappy salespitch (make a game on your phone)Permalink Look on archive.org
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and also, actually, not trying to raise money and therefore not needing to swerve the project to be on trendPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @adacable: Many of the players in the honour oak harrassment of drag queens were also significant players in the racist EDL protests tha…Permalink Look on archive.org
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I don't know if I agree that LLMs are tools for summarisation. They are, originally, technically, auto-complete. A big black box that guesses real hard what the next word ought to be, and then the next one, and then the next one.Permalink Look on archive.org
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But then, the way they do that is taking those words & boiling them down to numbers, pulling apart all the different levels of structure present within them. Including, it turns out, some structure that looks like meaning. So maybe that's summarization.Permalink Look on archive.org
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So now I guess everyone is getting an intuitive grasp of information theory. Entropy, surprise and compression. The feeling of seeing Gmail complete a sentence and knowing that that's a sign that it's an empty sentence, there for form but not conveying anything new.Permalink Look on archive.org
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This is different from the "being wrong" angle. It's something like the "there's something uniquely human" angle - but without the exceptionalism. Instead it's... the richness and texture and surprise that the world contains cannot fit inside a couple of gigabytes of vectors.Permalink Look on archive.org
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I guess this is also the criticism of VR! And passthrough AR, too. I know that when I was working at Niantic and thinking hard about this stuff, I ended up taking it for granted that no videogame could be as good as a nice walk (but it could be a good excuse for one)Permalink Look on archive.org
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this is why LLMs are so destructive to things like letters of recommendation. an entire genre of writing where the point is not the content but that it takes a bit of effort to write the thing. @v21/1761083518182998278Permalink Look on archive.org
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@Ceetar the effort is the point! speech is not just communication, it's a social act! you could easily make a machine that regurgitates "I pronounce you man and wife" but that doesn't stop the words from having an effect in the right context.Permalink Look on archive.org
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@Ceetar yeah, it's the recommendation, but the limiting factor on the recommendation is that it's a pain in the arse to write the letter. the social signal is seen as genuine because it has a cost. as AI decreases the cost the weight of the social signal declines.Permalink Look on archive.org
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@hoskingc yeah, I agree, I just got in a little back and forth on this x.com/v21/status/1761160573687885831?s=46 but also people are using them for a bunch of stuff that isn't emailing, to mixed resultsPermalink Look on archive.org
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I loveeee the party trick where I do a 5 minute demo and make and upload a game in that time. I love that I've built something that can do this. Anyway, Downpour comes out on the 6th, get hyped. @ttanatb/1761319985366868358Permalink Look on archive.org
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and in the right conditions your eye can detect, like, a dozen photons. (annoyingly I did a whole talk on it, but I can't remember the shortest interval people can detect directly. I think it was trained drummers picking up something being very slightly offbeat, tho) @AskYatharth/1761220694153765335Permalink Look on archive.org
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@nhyphenc ah, sorry, I was out of date! it's a single photon nature.com/articles/ncomms12172Permalink Look on archive.org
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a correction in this tweet: no, it's a single photon nature.com/articles/ncomms12172 @v21/1761329567954825566Permalink Look on archive.org
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"colocation is a proxy for meaning" is kind of a funny thing, right? it's saying: if you know all the possible contexts for a thing in enough detail, that's the same as knowing what it is.Permalink Look on archive.org
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the replies to this are such an example of people crawling into internet rabbitholes of polarization and loneliness and alienation from others. it genuinely worries me. @samaritans/1760599123923722266Permalink Look on archive.org
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There's a whole thing where as you get lonelier you also get more fearful of other people, less likely to engage. It's a vicious spiral, and one you can only really escape through an act of will or the kindness of others.Permalink Look on archive.org
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and money makes it worse, of course x.com/v21/status/1580856371133960193?s=46Permalink Look on archive.org
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@dinosaurrparty I am also not gonna be at this one, but I go to most of them - they're good, my number one recommendation for where to go to chat to folks doing immersive theatre type stuff. Anyway, hope to see you at the one after!Permalink Look on archive.org
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@Khelevaster yeah, it's a great game huhPermalink Look on archive.org
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RT @susepicious: Downpour is launching March 6th 2024! It's an app for making weird games and websites on your phone - quickly, easily, in…Permalink Look on archive.org
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i am so sad to hear that Die Gute Fabrik has stopped operations. as you may or may not know, I worked for them yeeeears ago, on Mutazione, and since leaving have watched them soar, releasing some real good games & being incredibly thoughtful about the way they work.Permalink Look on archive.org
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so let's mention some people i have worked with, who are now available to hire & who you should absolutely snap up if you have a space for themPermalink Look on archive.org
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that the thing about operating thoughtfully? well, a lot of that is down to Hannah. both in operating a company, but also in crafting a good game narrative. i mean, you know this, she literally wrote the book on it (Writing for Games: Theory and Practice) @hannahnicklin/1762117103631425801Permalink Look on archive.org
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i worked directly with @NilsDeneken on Mutazione. and, god, what a treat it was, when i was rigging up scenes and fixing offsets on plants, to get to look at his art that whole time. to live, for a few hours at a time, in the worlds he created.Permalink Look on archive.org
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@NilsDeneken look i literally employed @angusdick like two weeks ago. i said "hey can you make some stupid games for Downpour, do some fun drawings and add some jokes and also make them work to teach people how to use it". and... he knocked it out the park. look: downpour.games/~angusdickPermalink Look on archive.org
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@NilsDeneken @angusdick (and he is, y'know, a great animator, too. i guess that bit is the main thing he can do)Permalink Look on archive.org
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anyway, yeah, all three very talented people, who can do their specific jobs at the highest level and also think about the larger picture and what the game actually needs and will try to get that sorted.Permalink Look on archive.org
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i hear the rest of the team is stellar, too, but i haven't worked with them directly like these three. anyway, you can go see stuff about them here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AbCSvTrzOScGDVzQIqVzLiT6iXZunFacp1kFGNFPKM8/edit#gid=0Permalink Look on archive.org
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@studioanisa is this not how you do it???Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @unaminhkavanagh: Hi all! I'm #lookingforwork in the games/creative/HR/online industry. I'm an award-winning, experienced remote worker…Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @ctrlcreep: If you dig while dreaming, you will uncover the fossils of previous dreams—even those forgotten. You can forensically recons…Permalink Look on archive.org
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me but about doing Downpour promo @salesforcechild/1372014654390734851Permalink Look on archive.org
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@Sosowski yeah - the escape hatch is that you can fork the codebase if the foundation goes bust/evil. which is way better than the Unity situation! but still not infallible.Permalink Look on archive.org
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@Sosowski yeah, the three situations it gives you are: - can keep your current build running, with occasional critical bugfixes patched - a new org springs up to take it in a different direction - the foundation goes bust but a bunch of the people who worked on it keep working as a hobbyPermalink Look on archive.org
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@pyrofoux it's okay, i'm kidding (tho i do need to be on Twitter less)Permalink Look on archive.org
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@nikitabier I mean plenty of people make plenty of money making premium videogames, even if the majority of the revenue goes to free to play. Different market segments.Permalink Look on archive.org
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people I know on the creative code side keep playing around with multiplayer and social experiences and I have been wondering why I'm not excited and full of ideas (as a videogame designer who loves that stuff). But I think the problem is... I've seen too much.Permalink Look on archive.org
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by which I mean... I can't help but think about moderation. About ways the services can be abused. About scaling problems. About the problems of balancing dynamic economies. All that stuff. I get stuck on the hard problems and it stops me from making the small fun prototypes.Permalink Look on archive.org
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Like the thing I made in this space a few years back, Frog Chorus... it mainly came out of trying to think through that kind of social dynamic and how to give expressivity without the potential for abuse. Which is a different kind of place to be coming from.Permalink Look on archive.org
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definitely would've been quicker to build in a world where PartyKit already existed, tho partykit.io/Permalink Look on archive.org
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going to be sending out some ~~press releases~~ later today. lemme know if you want one! even if you're not press, maybe you just wanna feel fancy. @v21/1757784382763319537Permalink Look on archive.org
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@alphachar you're on the list!! feel fancy!!!Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @Jackapedia_: i'm making one (1) free album cover or artwork next month. it could be yours:Permalink Look on archive.org
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let's do a countdownPermalink Look on archive.org
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the Wonka thing is such a fantastic example of what happens when you try to get an AI to do all your work for youPermalink Look on archive.org
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@SzMarsupial replace "more fun" with "less scary" and it makes more sensePermalink Look on archive.org
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@SzMarsupial 100%. I think it's the kind of thing that's the top of the funnel form stuff like this x.com/v21/status/1762065052914389104?s=46 . I try real hard not to be like "kids these days" or doomery about technology... but this stuff really bums me outPermalink Look on archive.org
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@SzMarsupial Although, some counterbalance here: the other reason is because of parasocial bonds (nice to have a friendly voice) at times that might otherwise be inconvenient (on a train, in your lunch break, etc), and that's no different to, for example, drivetime radio.Permalink Look on archive.org
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reread this and it was pretty good! click through if you wanna read me on avocados, Vimeo's pivot, and "content" @Jackapedia_/1762942080521822421Permalink Look on archive.org
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@RuberEaglenest I'm excited for you to use it!Permalink Look on archive.org
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same energyPermalink Look on archive.org
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@FreyaHolmer "both halves" as the chaos optionPermalink Look on archive.org
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did an interview with mobilegamer.biz where i explain that the whole thing is a terrible from a business perspective mobilegamer.biz/downpour-is-the-indie-game-making-ugc-platform-for-scrappy-storytellers/Permalink Look on archive.org
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the real tricky thing here is to do this without requiring that everyone involved is using the same code editor, same code repo, same everything. by which i mean this sounds good, but i'd rather not have it if only Microsoft can provide it. @dubroy/1763223595138879681Permalink Look on archive.org
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@hipsterelectron yeah - this is exactly the kind of thing where you see the ratchet from "VS Code user" to "Microsoft solution customer"Permalink Look on archive.org
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@dezren39 @hipsterelectron yeah, NAT punching is a problem. but it's not a problem that requires a corporate subscription to solvePermalink Look on archive.org
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this is a fantastic excuse to use up some nice bits of stationery I've been hoardingPermalink Look on archive.org
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yes yes yes, i'm excited!! @nowplaythese/1763253093481799691Permalink Look on archive.org
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this is a genuine silver lining of the current state of the industry @_Geotherma/1763267157377356047Permalink Look on archive.org
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RT @colorfulKati: I'm looking for work as a Lead/Senior/Generalist Programmer or Technical Narrative Designer. I'm open to join any company…Permalink Look on archive.org
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forgot i'd followed this account on Letterboxd til i stumbled across this reviewPermalink Look on archive.org
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ps guess the filmPermalink Look on archive.org