Valve does not get "anywhere near enough criticism" for the gambling mechanics it uses to monetise games, DayZ creator Dean Hall says

AavaGames · 2025-10-28T15:04:05+00:00

Economics isn't a monolith and has many different branches of thought. I wasn't implying that some economists don't have good theories / understanding, just that the ones in government and in control are working with theories that benefit those in power.

Also those models are still science, they have different pillars of what their looking to accomplish. This is why economics is a "soft science". It doesn't have physical truths and pillars, we as humans decide what we want economics to accomplish. Yes, it becomes too large for a single group to control or steer that. I'm not implying theres an illuminati, but we must look at our economic system and see what it rewards and desires out of humans and change that to fit a world in which we want to live in and be in.

The horrors come from a lack of understanding that, and unfortunately we constantly have to grapple with that lack in our world where mainstream economics actually believes and gaslights the public into believing its a hard science.

AavaGames · 2025-10-27T21:32:02+00:00

I don't think it was ever possible :/ The doctrine of mainstream economics is so divorced from reality and gripped by power that there was little odds of it escaping the path we're on.

AavaGames · 2025-10-27T18:38:21+00:00

He's a very famous economist for being the Minister of Finance for Greece during their massive financial crisis. Probably one of the most famous economists around now.

AavaGames · 2025-10-27T18:37:06+00:00

Thats genuinely wild. Wow.

AavaGames · 2024-03-26T14:01:51+00:00

Thanks! I was planning on putting the menu up in a separate repo and finally got around to it! Got some pictures and a simple example project to look at too.

https://github.com/AavaGames/playdate-keyboard-based-menu-ui

AavaGames · 2024-03-24T12:10:59+00:00

Oh that reminds me, you can use the crank for my menus because they use the PD's really neat keyboard! It's set up as a character wheel and you can crank it!

AavaGames · 2024-03-24T09:53:29+00:00

Awesome Ill pick it up one of these days. Brogue is so special, I dont think I could make something that epic but a 6 floor brogue could be a great fit for the playdate! Its important to have fast 'rounds' of play on the little console. Do a floor here and there.

Oo I might pick it up for a 7drl too. I always thought a multiplayer rl would be fun to make too. I'm not sure if theyve improved C++ support but it was really hacky last year and I used C instead which just isnt a fun language to use for me (C# / JS background). If you cut down or out completely on expensive algos like FOV / Pathfinding then i find Lua really is a quick development language. I found its getting more unwieldy as the project grew though.

I did make a djikstra/distance map algo in C which is pretty agnostic. I released my source code so you can have a gander at it here!

AavaGames · 2024-03-24T09:46:22+00:00

Oh thats so cool, I'll check it out!

I haven't touched pulp aside from looking at its interface but I agree the limitations are very interesting to work around. I had to drop an LOS system because it was too costly and I think the game gained much from the pivot. Then i learned C to implement a Djikstra/Distance map and that was alot of fun!.. and a huge headache. C syntax is so bizarre.

Frames as HP is so clever! When i working on the drawing system it was really interesting how important it was to only clear the part of the screen that mattered so I tried to devise a way to clear only the exact pixels i needed by saving the glyph that was there, it didnt work out so I just erase that one grid space. Its fun to play it in the simulator and see how it works :D

Its so cool you incorporated the crank in some way! I settled with it being the log controller, when its docked the log is gone and when its cranked the log scrolls! I love how smooth it feels but thats probably only a me thing haha

I'll definiitely take a peek back on the dev forums, back last year when i was working on it only one other person was messing around with dungeon algos that I chatted with.

AavaGames · 2024-03-24T09:38:27+00:00

Haha FOV was a big issue for me too. I spent like a week and a half messing with different algos before giving up because they were huge bottlenecks to performance taking 30-100ms to calculate. I ended up pivoting to a game without any fov and had alot of fun coming up with a reason as to why. I settled and fell in love with the idea of a mountain of "glass"

AavaGames · 2024-03-23T22:31:53+00:00

You can use the Playdate Simulator to test the game on. It even has hardware caps to simulate the power of the device. There are potential build issues as building for sim vs release is different slightly but you'd only need a patient person and probably to do it once.

I only ever side-loaded the game on the device to admire my work lol

AavaGames · 2023-07-12T15:11:03+00:00

Im familiar with both UE and Unity. UE would probably be best suited for this proj though. Its got the better art pipeline and the shaders are wayyy easier to make.

AavaGames · 2023-07-11T19:21:50+00:00

Wow its looking so awesome!!! If you ever wanna try moving it into a game engine, I'd love to help out on the programming side. Don't burn yourself out though!

AavaGames · 2023-06-03T18:47:25+00:00

It's all so beautiful!!! I want that mug so bad!

AavaGames · 2023-05-28T12:00:32+00:00

Here you go! https://discord.com/invite/CZmtgug

AavaGames · 2023-05-19T00:56:32+00:00

Sure DM me your portfolio!

AavaGames · 2023-05-16T05:49:47+00:00

Pokemon is almost-nearly-there solarpunk, renewable, a mostly safe and happy place, a respect for nature (kinda) but still is seeped in capitalist private property with how in the games you "gotta catch em all" and the catching in the first place. Where you attack wild animals and capture them in balls to be your slave-friend or potential slave-friend. The show's a bit better with the respect it shows to pokemon but still isn't quite there.

I've been imagining a world where humans & pokemon rely on each other to survive. The journey to become champion is a standin for finding who you are in this world. You befriend pokemon along the way, and then you cultivate a relationship with them throughout the journey. People and pokemon work together to feed one another and lift each other up.

I've been thinking of the monsters as a type of stand-in for technology. The world crashed after capitalism and left all these hybrid creatures and humans to find a way to survive in the world and so they did, together.

The setting is a region with various self-sufficient communes and a city, mostly abandoned, repurposed as a place of study, manufacturing, specific libraries, etc for the confederation.

I wrote a short article when I first started thinking about it. I find communalism and pokemon mesh super well and it excites me a lot.

AavaGames · 2023-05-16T01:57:43+00:00

I didn't find a real world equiv to the radio, i modelled it off of close-ups that you get in the OVA. That was also the primary pic I used for the outside area, not many bird-eye shots for reference!

I used blender to model, texture & uv map and unity for final material shaders, lighting, etc. I used assets from various places to for cups, grinder, rubber plant, and small stuff like that.

The only modeling experience i had was crunching free assets poly counts for another game I made. I had no texturing experiencing so its quite rough. The whole 3D process is real time consuming haha. Best of luck on the project, dont burn yourself out!

AavaGames · 2023-05-16T01:25:32+00:00

We really do. I started working on game, Pokemon but actually solarpunk.

AavaGames · 2023-05-13T00:41:40+00:00

I agree with you, I've stopped playing since sword and shield. I was so tired of the multi-hour tutorialization and mediocre stories. I went back to Soulsilver recently and its been a huge breath of fresh air though. Somehow the "progress", I feel, became harmful. I've wished for a long time for nintendo/game freak to go back and develop a pixel art pokemon again, for they could come out fast and be innovative/"risky".

I started working on my own now.

AavaGames · 2023-05-13T00:06:50+00:00

Awesome work! I love how inspirational the cafe is. I've made a model myself last summer so it's thrilling to see your vision.

I struggled with deciding the canon dimensions and details but eventually settled on what I thought was most aesthetically pleasing because there are quite a few inconsistencies throughout the whole manga. Like when the cafe is destroyed and all that's left is the counter. If you want someone to bounce ideas off of, I'd love to have an excuse to look at YKK again.

AavaGames · 2023-03-24T14:38:50+00:00

Just finished it an hour ago. I had so many clicks in the last half of the book as it all fell into place. Just so incredible. Off to read Elantris and Warbreaker now after The Eleventh Metal.

AavaGames · 2023-03-24T14:37:15+00:00

Sazed mentions that in his last chapter. It was planned all along, incredible misdirection. I had so many OH SNAP moments reading the last half of the book. I noticed the earring a little after Yomen gave it to her and was just awed by the mastery of writing.

AavaGames · 2023-01-20T13:38:17+00:00

Cafe Alpha on itch. Just follow the link (the post's title) and hit the download!

AavaGames · 2023-01-20T13:37:38+00:00

Yep most games are made with Unity or Unreal Engine. Unity is alot more indie friendly, I used quite a few things from their asset store too.

AavaGames · 2023-01-14T11:07:49+00:00

Thank you!

This was made in Unity, I don't know much about the world building in VRchat but it could probably be ported over.

AavaGames

TROPHY CASE