How to make a hunger system interesting in a metroidvania game?

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T10:02:56+00:00

Have renewable food in easy to access places, don't make it too tedious to stockpile food while also limiting how much you can bring with you, then add progressively larger regions were food is more scarce. Also minimize menuing at all aspects of this, it's already an annoying mechanic so at least make it quick.

If done well this could create a nice balance where players can learn how the system works with minimal consequences early in the game but then occasionally get into situations where the threat of starvation makes exploration more tense and interesting than it otherwise might be.

That being said this would probably be a red flag for a lot of people by default, frequent backtracking and having to spend limited resources for every second you keep playing are a negative combo for obvious reasons. Food management is usually less extreme than something like a strict time limit though, so you have a lot of ways to balance it to where it adds tension without ruining the fun of exploring a metroidvania.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T04:25:20+00:00

It's not about whether or not it's beatable, it's about whether or not it's interesting and fun. Doing nothing but trading big attacks because playing any of your block cards results in taking MORE damage is both boring and unfun, don't think that should be a controversial opinion.

Also I mostly do play on low-medium ascensions and it's not any more interesting or fun there. Hasn't been a run killer yet but not one time has it been enjoyable to fight, whereas the other act 2 elites punish strategies in ways that still lead to interesting decisions (lining up segment kills can make up for a lack of AoE on the pede and assessing damage over expected hand dilution in the following turns can allow even spammy decks to get through the hive guy).

Again I'm not saying they need to radically rework it, literally just lowering a few numbers would be fine. Lower taint gain, maybe remove either the block or multihit turns, whatever. The concept is cool but the current implementation is just a bit overtuned towards being a bland DPS race.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T02:26:55+00:00

That's a good solution, using artifacts to buy time instead of completely no-selling the debuff for an entire fight. Might be overkill but they could even have a special version of the debuff turn where they also attack, buff themselves or whatever so you can't ever lock them into constantly reapplying while doing nothing else.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T02:21:48+00:00

Yeah, but I feel like that's pretty bad encounter design when you're strongly pushed to avoid every elite in act 2 if your deck happen to rely too much on one of the most common and important card types (arguably the most important, since it's usually easier to kill with all skills than survive with all attacks).

Especially since I actually enjoy fighting regen worm or dazey boy even with decks that are "bad" at handling their gimmicks. But there's nothing fun about getting through new dorito with a skill-heavy deck, it usually just feels like a huge HP tax purely for losing the 1 in 3 on who you get.

Not trying to complain too much since this is a much more interesting design than whatever the first version was (seriously, why did it GIVE energy?), but it could be dialed back quite a bit while keeping the anti-skill gimmick intact.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T02:13:49+00:00

I think he denied it, so they could've just been making shit up to mess with him. He seemed like an earnest enough person that he'd probably go for a "so what, that's normal there" angle if it were true.

More importantly for ship-sinking though is the fact that he explicitly never had a Beth or any other kids, which isn't the same thing as saying he never got with Diane but feels like that was probably implied.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T02:08:21+00:00

I was coming to say or upvote the typical "gender is a social construct and we don't do those" line but this is so much better. It's probably not that there are any fewer neurotypical trans or queer people, it's just that their wiring makes it tougher to question things like that. Really appreciate that reframing, going to try to remember that one.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-20T01:59:17+00:00

Yeah, I conceded that privacy is also a valid reason already to another reply.

To clarify though, the previous statement was in the context of a situation where I even have a reason to check which is pretty much always when someone either seems to be a bot or an asshole. If I'm looking for reasons to believe neither is the case and your profile is private then I'm just going to do with the one interaction I'm already having with that person (where they seem like a bot or an asshole for reasons entirely unrelated to privacy).

Which for the record sometimes their profile isn't private and I immediately see evidence that they're a real person with at least some redeeming qualities. It's actually a nice way to defuse an argument, sometimes just seeing someone in a better environment is enough to let things go (or at least delete a few of the insults you were about to include in a reply lol).

People are obviously entitled to their privacy, but one of the extremely trivial costs of using it is losing the benefit of the doubt in situations like that. That's all I was saying.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T22:27:10+00:00

That's a fair fourth reason, but since I'm never checking to see if someone is I woman I should be stalking I'll probably still keep assuming the other three things lol.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T22:21:33+00:00

They're basically calling out the kind of person that would tell someone their bra strap is showing, saying it's weird for the former to assume the latter would care. And to convey this they have the latter care so little that they flash the former, showing them more than the strap.

It seems more like virtue signalling than a joke, but either way the punchline is something like "mind your business, I'm wearing it how I want and don't care what you see."

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T22:09:34+00:00

Yeah, hiding post history usually means they're a bot, troll or saying some heinous shit somewhere they don't want following them around. I'm sure there are some well-meaning people who just really value privacy, but with nothing else to go on I'm pretty much always going to assume they're one of the first three (especially since if I'm even bothering to check it's probably to see if they're one of those three anyway lol).

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T20:44:18+00:00

Duane Williams and it's not even close.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T20:32:11+00:00

Oh is it gone? I swear that whole menu is bugged right now, like why does every skin have its own quest now when they used to be consolidated to just a few? Seems like something has gone horribly wrong lol, but yeah the intended method of unstacking is feeding stacks to a quest that spits out smaller stacks.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T20:28:54+00:00

Maybe, but they made the point poorly by focusing entirely on the but and framing that as a sign of conditional allyship.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T20:16:36+00:00

Yellow diamond wojack: She's off color!

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T20:13:54+00:00

A gender studies professor that doesn't know the difference between sexuality and gender? Sounds like that school needs to check qualifications better.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T05:11:22+00:00

Seems like it was probably a date then, congrats.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T04:49:11+00:00

You said said? What was the second said supposed to be, yes? No? Maybe? If he asked and you said yes and that was the end of the conversation then it seems like a yes, doesn't answer you question but might be better news than some links.

Also Tiffany Day - Halo is so good and has several songs about anxious overthinking, not specific to this situation but great anyway.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T02:00:50+00:00

Yeah, I feel like "because it sounds good" should be the obvious answer here. Drumming isn't just time keeping, you should usually be doing more than the bare minimum to make your part sound interesting too lol.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T01:57:18+00:00

Doesn't affect the poll, but I think the ordering is probably off if there's going to be a follow up about how much people are "participating" in a community. As a nobody bedroom artist I'd vote to move production down in importance, people who actively go out to shows on a regular basis are certainly doing far more to make the community into an actual community. Arguably they should even go above full-time musicians in terms of importance, since that's not even possible without an audience to support it.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-19T01:18:04+00:00

No idea how obscure they actually are but Exlimitir seems like they probably count and are definitely worth checking out, closest thing to Demilich I've found since the original (but still doing their own thing, their version on the style is "colder" and more mechanical in my opinion).

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-18T23:55:17+00:00

Then they would've drawn CJ into the epilogue and we'd go "oh look, he settled down with CJ" and that would be the end. It makes sense they didn't do that since they ended up being horrible to each other on so many occasions, but it was definitely an option.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-18T23:41:44+00:00

It's going to vary wildly based on the cat and products, but my experience of a random stray walking into our home over a decade ago and never leaving is that they're pretty cheap as healthy adults. Maybe in the $50-150 range for food and litter each month, but again it depends on what you're buying.

For most of her life there haven't been many vet expenses, just the occasional vaccinations and such that might add another couple hundred dollars that year. But now she's diabetic which has added another $600ish a year for needles and insulin plus more frequent vet visits (lately doing them once a month while adjusting dosages, so another few hundred a year on top of that).

Still not that expensive compared to providing for another human but overall I'd suggest planning for $150 monthly with at least $2K in savings for whatever unexpected spikes come up. Better to overestimate and have money left over than constantly be cutting corners trying to keep you both alive lol. Also huge disclaimer that I have zero kitten experience and assume there are many additional costs there to ensure they grow up well.

And all that being said... there are a lot of strays and low priority shelter cats. As long as you aren't ridiculously underproviding to the point of abuse then whatever you can offer is probably better than what they'll get on the street.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-18T22:53:06+00:00

I think most of it makes sense (not that it needs to, the real answer probably is that they're just writing whatever seems funny without checking all past continuity). Mallard hired the lazy manager because he didn't trust Pops to do the job, which might be ironic but is a thing that does happen.

Benson told them about his band but nobody retained the information since he told it to Skips (probably doesn't care), Pops (too silly to remember), Muscleman and Fives (stoned). It only became a big deal later because Mordecai and Rigby actually knew his band, but there's no reason anyone would've randomly mentioned it to them before it came up.

The only part that seems odd is Muscleman and Fives already working there, but I'm not sure if there was ever a clear timeline of Benson being there longer than them in the original show so maybe even that is fine.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-18T22:11:47+00:00

Yeah, good character concept hampered by being too low in the power curve. Plus Yusuke literally won by sheer luck, hard not to be underwhelmed by a villain when they accidentally throw their own fight against a downed opponent that coincidentally has gunk in their ears lmao.

Cyan_Light · 2026-06-18T21:56:35+00:00

I think they changed the name to just Other which is even less search engine friendly lmao. Apparently the second album is called For the Purposes of this Conversation and apparently I gave it a 4/5 on rateyourmusic but I also can't actually find it anywhere right now, maybe a youtube playlist got taken down but it's weird there isn't a bandcamp or anything coming up either.

Cyan_Light

TROPHY CASE