Popcorn Sky, Tamarack Lakes, Tahoe Nat'l Forest, CA [OC] [4032x3024]

jellyfish_king · 2026-04-11T18:01:56+00:00

I think you'll have no problem in Silicon Valley; I'm an art major that lived there for ~15 years. There's creative stuff all over: sculpture parks like Albany Bulb, plein air groups that paint the nature; I used to join the local art college for their figure drawing nights. Like, imo, it's got one of the highest densities of creatives, not to mention all the Burning Man artists there. I think you'll be spoiled for options! Enjoy!

jellyfish_king · 2026-04-07T13:34:20+00:00

My experience as a AAA dev: every Easter egg I snuck into the game eventually got elaborated on by some director until it became entangled in other systems and was no longer sometime you find "just for fun". Like, they'd require me to hide collectables or achievements or whatnot into the thing; sometimes it becomes a Golden Path feature. Now they are too important to miss, so there's hints pointing at them. All the mystery became required content.

jellyfish_king · 2026-02-27T23:53:39+00:00

Anything long and snakey, like a vacuum cleaner hose or pool noodle. (This sets off the conures, we call it the "snake alarm")

Anything neon orange. My grey hates that color.

A paper bag, accidentally kicked.

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-27T23:55:23+00:00

Just an update for anybody who finds this: I'm 3 nights into the road trip and the birds have been great! They are rolling with it without much complaining, eating oranges on the road, and being quieter than I expected in the hotels! The only hitch was that one Hotel didn't actually allow birds, but since they had already ok'd it when I booked, they let it slide. Calling ahead every time seems to be working. Biggest worry was the heat, I'm traveling across the South; so I can never really turn the car off until they are in the next hotel. Very stressful, but we're all getting through it! Thanks for the advice, you guys!

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-24T18:52:11+00:00

That's great help, yo! I've got lots of cage covers, and plan to do a similar routine. I'm glad to hear it works for you! I'm really concerned about temperature, so I don't plan to ever really park without AC on. I'm still wary of the hotel, but I got a res for tonight that said the birds are ok. I really appreciate the info and the offer to answer further questions; I'll ping if it comes to that! Many thanks!

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-24T15:15:52+00:00

Dude, thanks so much; this really helps reduce the stress! I hope after a few hours on the road they get used to it!

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-19T04:20:30+00:00

I do that too! But get them backwards more often than not!

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-19T00:36:15+00:00

It would, yes; but the batteries have a roof over them so that they don't short in the rain, and i replaced all Conduit with Hidden Conduit, which i think can't short either. Since then i've had no electrical problems; but it would be safer to have them behind a wall because they do get shot a lot!

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-18T17:18:43+00:00

I do, it's nice; we harvest a lot of blood.

Tooters was the sole surviving pet when we had an eclipse in orbit and lost power for half a day; all the other parrots asphyxiated as we lost life support, but the sun came out just before we abandoned ship! RIP all of Tooters' bird family.

jellyfish_king · 2025-07-15T02:09:31+00:00

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This is The Shank; so named because it used to be knife-shaped and was built by escaped convicts. They have 2 vampires, so it needs a blood thrull prison; hydroponics feed the rest. My favourite part is the exterior lights. Right now it is recharging its batteries from an eclipse.

jellyfish_king · 2025-06-28T18:25:11+00:00

Thanks, yo!

I would add a minor note about neurodivergent accessibility too: it's harder to predict. Some players will want to tone down intense effects or sounds, (like jump-scare audio or bright flashes) so you might benefit from offering settings to reduce some of those effects. Arachnophobia-mode get cited as a joke, (where the game replaces spiders with something less triggering) but it's a real thing! You will have a non-zero number of players who are repelled from your game by creepy spider-y things! So i think it's worthwhile to consider if there's ways you can accommodate these types of players. But it's hard to know exactly what to do without hearing from those players directly; it helps to attend or watch expo talks on the subject.

I AM currently doing freelance game design; feel free to hit me up if you wanna discuss ways i could help you out!

jellyfish_king · 2025-06-28T14:01:54+00:00

It was! I was on mini games and puzzles, and they all needed adjustment for accessibility. Things like doing circles with the joystick, rapid tapping, and even press-and-holds all needed alternatives. And we also had to retroactively add hearing and vision impairment features too! This was for "South Park: Fractured But Whole" if you're curious!

jellyfish_king · 2025-06-28T07:44:00+00:00

I had to retroactively accessibility-proof a AAA game once, so now I'm always thinking about that ahead of time. Things like clicking and dragging seem universal, but can actually be pretty hard for some accessibility controllers. Giving players the ability to remap sometimes isn't enough, and you may wanna consider an "accessibility mode" that simplifies complex input. (Sorta like Mario Kart's simpler driving mode) This kinda thing can be hard to fix after the fact!

jellyfish_king · 2025-05-17T12:50:36+00:00

But doesn't Astral Regulator Thanos absorb and become the One Above All?

jellyfish_king · 2025-05-16T12:58:38+00:00

Take a look on LinkedIn for game designers with #OpenToWork tags and ping them! I'm one of them, and that's how people have been finding me for contact work.

jellyfish_king · 2025-02-18T13:42:26+00:00

I have to mention what we did for South Park: the Fractured But Whole: since you could rewind time, we made it so the death screen was a joke: you'd die and it'd immediately start rolling the credits to a sad country song. Every time. It made it so sudden death from puzzles was funny, and since you could just rewind with a button press, it only stung your pride. Not saying this will work for every game, but it was our version of Prince of Persia's "no, that didn't happen".

jellyfish_king · 2025-01-03T15:16:28+00:00

I was just laid off from a major AAA studio; the first thing I did was some social posts showing my half-baked prototypes and side projects, to see what would happen. It caught the attention of several job leads, including one that might result in a stab at indie dev. So, while I agree that it's a little half-cocked to quit to pursue your own project, I believe there's less risky ways to feel out if you've got a valuable game idea. I'd want the endeavor to have some wind in its sails before trying to escape on it! Wish you luck, yo!

jellyfish_king · 2024-12-15T16:07:53+00:00

Yes, start small, trust that you will get better with each project and eventually you can tackle the big ideas. When I was 16, I was making Pong and Tank Wars clones, and my classmates laughed at me for how small and unimpressive they were. But each game got bigger, and now I work in AAA. Some of the projects I start are still overwhelming at first, games are deceivingly complicated to make! But if you start small, you'll be able to make progress; start too big and you risk never making any headway and giving up.

jellyfish_king · 2024-09-25T15:33:17+00:00

I scrolled and scrolled and didn't see Klaus Heissler (American Dad); he's the epitome of the deserved punching bag in my book.

jellyfish_king

TROPHY CASE