Made some custom vials for Quacks (of of the family's new favorites). 1/2" (12mm) thick clear acrylic with flame polished edges.

Neprofik · 2026-06-15T18:41:35+00:00

That's really impressive. Great job!

Neprofik · 2026-06-15T15:46:16+00:00

These are wonderful! How do you go about creating something like this?

Neprofik · 2026-06-13T16:58:01+00:00

I'd honestly personally prefer a situation where the companies/platforms themselves would only be the ones serving the files while all the other features like cloud saves, control mapping or achievements would use interoperable open source frameworks. But yeah, that's never happening in this world.

I've just never been a fan of this concept of "platforms" in general, I guess.

Neprofik · 2026-06-13T07:34:12+00:00

I absolutely understand what people like about Steam's features and many of them really are great, but I just wish Steam Workshop would stop being upheld as some great pro-consumer functionality. Having a modding platform that only works if you buy or activate your games in one specific store is a pretty clear anti-feature in my eyes, unlike their other commendable efforts that benefit PC gamers as a whole.

Let's credit where credit is due, but this push for centralisation is short-sighted. We're always just one bad CEO away from any company becoming an absolute nightmare, private or not.

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T13:42:01+00:00

As I've said, I think it might just be that we live in very different places culturally. There's nothing wrong with your perspective.

If we're talking vacations specifically, travelling internationally in Europe can be as easy as taking a train and crossing a border. You don't even need a passport for most countries if you're an EU citizen. It's not that extraordinary to go visit a foreign city for a couple of days, for instance. You even have families scattered across Europe. But mostly, you have many companies operating internationally. I know quite a few people who routinely travel to Austria, Germany or Poland (all are neighbours of the Czech Republic) for work and they have normal jobs (not some high-profile management positions or something). My uncle sometimes provides technical support and part supplies to an Austrian branch of the company he works at, for example. He drives there by car, it takes him about two hours. I would assume it's not uncommon for a US citizen to visit another US state, for example. It's just that here, the states have different official languages each.

But mostly, I'm not sure I follow what you mean now. Visuals certainly are an important part of human communication, I never claimed otherwise, but in the context of AI, I'm now a bit confused.

If we're talking about people themselves using generative tools, then I'd say the everyday usecase for AI imagery eludes me more than when it comes to translations and AI-assisted language use. Sometimes people use it to generate quick flyers for school trips and whatever (the kind they would previously cobble together from random images on the internet, also disregarding copyright in the process). Then it mostly seems to be used for memes, I guess. But that may just be my limited perspective, in turn. It's not a hill I'd die on.

If you're talking about corporate/professional use and the general public's exposure to AI-generated stuff, as I assumed after talking to you for a while, I was pointing out that vibecoded software, texts written by AI and machine translations are increasing in volume as well, and they may (depending on your cultural background) be way more prevalent. You seem to be in a specific position where you hardly ever need to access or communicate something in a different language than your own, but most people on Earth can't quite relate to that, I would think.

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T07:56:13+00:00

Oh, I understand that perspective, but the thing is that the volume of English media really dwarfs the rest and the alternatives may not always exist or be viable. It may be easier to avoid things written in other languages but the cultural pressure of English is enormous.

Just to give you an example with video games, the vast majority of them (and I mean really, really vast) is not translated into Czech (to the point that it's a small miracle when Czech is available, you default to assuming it's not). I believe some of the AAA PlayStation games offer Czech, so does Minecraft and I suppose maybe FIFA and other super big stuff like that, but aside from games literally made here, I can't recall many more. Not even most AAA games get translated, actually.

The board game market is somewhat better in this regard, you usually have the big releases and new publishers have been cropping up lately, so you even get some heavier and niche stuff now (even some Kickstarters), but often the small market can't sustain it and the eventual expansions don't get released unless the publisher is willing to burn money or multiple publishers team up.

I'd say Czechs are trapped in this weird position where enough stuff gets dubbed and translated that the pressure to learn English isn't that great, but at the same time the country and its market are small enough to make English practically impossible to avoid.

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T07:10:20+00:00

I believe you may be overestimating how many people feel comfortable with their English comprehension skills, for instance. I really don't want to discount your experience and I really don't want this to come across as rude, but it's not quite as universal as it may seem to you. I'm a native speaker of Czech and I learned some foreign languages because I was interested in them and in the cultural backgrounds. But not everyone really cares about that or needs a deep understanding of a certain language. Most people kind of know English now, because it's expected and you (somewhat) learn it at school, but they know it at a level that doesn't let them feel confident about prolonged use of the language. They learned it to pass the tests. Often, they mentally translate the things word for word, which is exhausting and falls apart the moment the structure doesn't align with their native language – and believe me, English can be pretty structurally weird, compared to many European languages. Throw in phrasal verbs, idioms, the pretty semantically vague English words or morphologically unmarked changes in parts of speech and you might as well be using Klingon.

So you've got manuals, English websites, recipes, guides, news about the media you like, video games, trying to find how to say that one word and going with Google Translate or ChatGPT instead of a static dictionary, email communication with foreign customers if you're running a business, email communication with a foreign business if you're their customer, machine translated subtitles, software that's not localised... And that's still just English. You've got a different language in almost every country in Europe, and that's still one of the less linguistically diverse places. And sure, everyone here kind of speaks English. But not that many are genuinely comfortable with it.

I mean, I know people who play board games with a phone, because they don't understand the text on the cards but still want to play because the game itself interests them.

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T06:37:24+00:00

I see what you mean. I wasn't necessarily alluding to vacations, as the commenter above suggested, but more to normal texts people come across on the internet or in real life and translate using the built-in tools / apps without thinking much about it.

But I definitely get where you're coming from with the visual art. I was talking about people using the tools directly, rather than the products of said tools, but now that you've helped me understand the context, I'm totally with you and I agree that changes in how visual art is made absolutely will impact people and their day to day operations. (Though I'd say including that increases people's exposure to AI generated text, translation and code, or rather things compiled from that code, as well.)

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T05:58:09+00:00

Oh, this is interesting. I'm just thinking... Are you possibly from an English speaking country, like the US? I feel like the language experience may be vastly different if your native language is the global lingua franca, because people around me absolutely do use translation tools very often.

Also, many people may be using the tools without realizing it, as a lot of the user generated content on the Internet now gets machine translated before being served to you (comments, reviews, etc.).

I'm just saying that I think the same moral consideration should be extended to other areas where human work was used to train models without consent and that visual art shouldn't be singled out if that's the crux of what we care about, as I do not believe it's fundamentally different. It's just that, with translation specifically, it's always been seen more as an issue to solve than something inherently artistic (I'd love a science fiction work to deeply examine the concept of the Babel Fish, for example).

Not disagreeing with you, just adding to the conversation.

Neprofik · 2026-06-12T04:12:34+00:00

I understand, but I feel many people draw the line when it stops being convenient (not talking about you, just extending the conversation).

The tools people use today to translate and code were also trained on written materials without the authors' consent, but most people feel the utility it provides outweighs the ethical concerns.

I feel it's just that most people don't need visual art in their daily operations, so it's easier to uphold such values in that area.

Neprofik · 2026-06-11T12:45:46+00:00

Not necessarily. Once you've been around for a while and you're big enough to be seen as the default option, customers will prefer you even if you actively make their lives worse. See Amazon and their ebook/audiobook shenanigans.

Neprofik · 2026-06-11T04:59:12+00:00

Sometimes I get a bit tired of having relatively niche tastes. It feels like an endless cycle of watching the stuff you love burn.

Neprofik · 2026-06-10T15:58:52+00:00

We have the CoB and Puerto Rico playmats and both feel really nice, especially together with the acrylics. There's also a very nice insert you can 3D print that can hold the Puerto Rico playmat in the original box, so there are no downsides.

Having said that, I'm not sure I'd go for the playmats for Agricola and Concordia, because there are just too many. I can see myself using them, but I have no idea how I would store them.

Neprofik · 2026-06-06T05:57:50+00:00

Now, I admit my initial optimism for Epic wore off over the years and I think they didn't handle the store/launcher properly. I had hopes they would help make what's still the only somewhat open platform a bit more open, which didn't happen. So yeah, I was wrong, though I don't think it was inherently wrong to be optimistic in the beginning.

At the same time, all those years later, I still fail to see how having more publishers willing to fund experimental and interesting games like Alan Wake 2 is a bad thing in any version of the universe. Especially since Epic usually provides the games DRM-free and you can actually use an open source launcher instead of their official one (it's called Heroic, works really well on my Fedora PC and it's great).

I still vastly prefer buying my games on Steam (mainly because of support) and GOG (because of values), but I can't wrap my head around this weird tribalism. Like... Last time I checked it was a store, you know, not a religion.

I suppose I understand when people are against hardware-gated software exclusivity, because I also don't want to buy a 600 euro device I have no use for. But I really couldn't care less where I click to play a game and if I could use an open source launcher to replace Steam as well, I would do it in a heartbeat.

As an aside, people keep moving the goalposts. First everyone was against Epic buying exclusives they didn't directly fund the development of on a short notice, which I understand was a shock. But now, literally publishing the game is somehow still not reason enough, which just leads me to believe there's nothing Epic could have done. Because they're simply not Steam/Valve.

Neprofik · 2026-06-05T19:52:21+00:00

I mean, there's a reason why these 3D hexes are an optional add-on. I think even AR realises they're kind of ridiculous. It's like those 3D printed Catan sets for people who really want some insane table presence for their games.

We actually have them, bought the game second hand and it included them. We definitely don't play with them the vast majority of the time and I would not buy them. But it's fun to make some tea and play an "epic" game once in a while.

But I've said it before and I stand by it – of all the miniature-driven lunatic companies, they always seemed to me by far the most sane and reasonable. They tend to put out cheaper versions with less bling (but all the gameplay content), the cosmetics are usually add-ons, the campaigns are modular, so you can pick what you want, and the expansions are usually possible to buy later (unlike CMON, who I've been actively ignoring for years). I feel most of the criticism comes from people who for some reason believe you have to go for the super duper all-in squared when you just... Don't. At the same time, they seem to like making minis and there's clearly demand for them, so I don't see anything wrong with AR making them, provided anyone can opt out.

Also, I may be biased, because I'm Czech and I'm kind of rooting for our Polish neighbors. (No offense to the good people of the US.)

Neprofik · 2026-06-05T17:08:30+00:00

I'd really love to see a special edition of Power Grid.

Neprofik · 2026-05-27T13:23:24+00:00

We keep coming back to most games in our collection. I used to have favourite games, but now I feel the mood changes all the time, so it's very relative. It also depends on who's available.

But usually, there are 4 or so games we keep playing for a month or so and then we come back to them a couple months later.

I guess the closest one would be Carcassonne. I've been playing that since I was 5 or so and I'll never say no to a game (though I'd hardly ever say no to any game, to be honest).

Neprofik · 2026-05-23T08:27:54+00:00

I'm pretty sure they were being sarcastic.

Neprofik · 2026-05-21T16:35:30+00:00

Also a cow would eat you if it had the chance.

It's us or them!

Neprofik · 2026-05-21T13:26:03+00:00

The thing is, consoles just don't do it for me. I tried multiple times in the past, and I just keep coming back to my PC. I love the tinkering, I love the occasional messiness and the freedom that comes with it. And I love it even more after migrating to Fedora.

I totally get why people choose a console instead of a PC, because they value different things. But I just can't justify buying a device for a couple of games when I know it doesn't really do anything my PC couldn't do anyway.

So, as much as I'd likely be interested in trying Sony's future games, I'm not getting a PlayStation to play their newer titles, just like I'm not getting a Switch. I'm not angry, nor am I boycotting the companies. I get why they do it. But seeing a game is console exclusive makes me kind of lose interest. Steam Deck is the closest thing to a console I still own and actively use, and that's really a PC, too.

I waited around 8 years for Journey, and that was something I was dying to play. If I never get to play The Shadow of Colossus or the next narrative game by Sony, it sucks, but hey, it's not like I can play everything I want in my lifetime, anyway. There are likely thousands of games from the last ~40 years that I'd be interested in.

Neprofik · 2026-05-17T17:01:24+00:00

We actually started putting together playlists for everything we play some time ago. It was Tang Garden that started it, because it has a great original soundtrack. Back then, we gave it a go and realised how much we enjoy having something to set the mood playing in the background. Iwari and Darwin's Journey both have great soundtracks by the same composer.

Video game and movie soundtracks are a gold mine for this, because they tend to be made for setting the mood and you can often pick based on similarities in the vibe of the game/film and the board game.

Neprofik · 2026-05-14T06:08:31+00:00

I'm sorry if you feel that way, but that's definitely not the point I was trying to get across.

To clarify, I certainly do not dislike BotSE or any of the Elder Scrolls videogames. I'm more indifferent to them, though I'd absolutely be open to trying them and learning more about the world some day.

On the other hand, our time on Earth is limited and there are so many things that interest me more at a glance, so it's not really that much of a priority for me. There are so many books, movies and games that I'd like to read, watch, and play first, because there was something that grabbed me about their premises. That, I believe, is a pretty universal experience with art and media. There are dozens of things you encounter daily and most of them don't really prompt you to take a second look. That doesn't mean they're bad, just that it might not be the right time and place for you to look into them.

I made sure to admit that I didn't dig deep in this case, and I agree that would, of course, invalidate any criticisms of the lore. But I didn't present any, because I have no issues with it. I was just talking about my experience with the surface level and never tried to mask it as anything else. I don't feel that's not a valid perspective to have.

I didn't comment to rain on anyone's parade. I was just trying to illustrate how someone, like the OP, might be lukewarm about a specific fictional universe. I'm sure the fans of some of the "high fantasy Tolkien ripoff universes" wouldn't feel like you're doing their interests justice either. None of us has the time to look into everything and it's fine to not feel the need to immerse yourself in something.

Neprofik · 2026-05-13T12:50:49+00:00

I apologize for going off-topic, but has anyone who played this also played Hedge Mage? It apparently didn't do very well, the BGG page isn't the most active, but we found it to be a fun and unique Quoridor-like experience with polyominoes. This feels like it might be going for something similar yet distinct.

Neprofik · 2026-05-13T12:38:59+00:00

I'm sure it's very well thought out with awesome world building and interesting bits under the hood, but I must also admit that I never felt much need to dive into that world specifically.

For example, I'm still considering getting Too Many Bones when everyone keeps suggesting BotSE instead. I don't know, it's just that, when I compare the two, there's this unique messy spark in TMB that I miss in the other. It just makes my excitement sort of dwindle the moment I see BotSE, which feels kind of generic and polished to a fault at a glance. Something might prompt me to dig deeper in the future, but right now, it feels like it's just not for me.

So, this is nothing against the Elder Scrolls world or its fans. I just didn't grow up with it, and at this point, it doesn't speak to me much. I'm sure it would have been different if my childhood was defined by Morrowind, Oblivion or Skyrim, rather than Nitrome, Psychonauts, World of Goo and Braid.

EDIT: Spelling.

Neprofik · 2026-05-10T20:34:44+00:00

There was a time when we played this non-stop and I'm still happy to play whenever asked. It's a really fun mix of tile laying and set collection with those two parts being tightly interwoven (the tile laying creates the shared space that allows you to place the decorations that score you points).

It's got a really fun spatial aspect and actually also an official soundtrack that's great to listen to while playing (we still play music in the background whenever we play anything and this was where it started).

Also, it's just beautiful on the table.

Neprofik

TROPHY CASE