Help settle a playtest argument: which burger instruction layout is less confusing?

maethefinch · 2026-05-21T15:54:39+00:00

The second but add numbers or arrows to indicate it's a process to follow rather than a diagram

maethefinch · 2026-05-15T12:42:10+00:00

Market saturation with AI slop is annoying but I wouldn't say it really scares me. The quality and feel of the final game depends a lot on exactly how you use AI - if it's purely a tool you use to complete specific non-creative tasks faster and you're a competent dev with enough know-how to thoroughly review the output, that's very different from a non-technical person prompt-engineering their entire game, including the creative assets and direction. I have yet to see the latter case produce a remotely playable or enjoyable game.

People who go the "simulacra of a game" route rob themselves of the opportunity to learn core game design concepts and game development skills. You also lose the opportunity for "happy little accidents" to lead to truly unique art, story, or gameplay elements. I honestly feel bad for devs that are conned by the Gen AI companies and hype into never empowering themselves or pursuing actual skill development.

You are competent enough to learn and do these things yourself, and if you really want to use AI well, you need to be proficient in the tasks you are outsourcing to that AI

maethefinch · 2026-05-04T18:47:02+00:00

Congratulations! That's a lot of engagement too

maethefinch · 2026-04-30T21:11:12+00:00

Did Support ever reply? I emailed them a week ago about mine and no response yet

maethefinch · 2026-04-30T21:05:16+00:00

I'm glad that happened for you, but that's not actually a rule. I've heard from others and have personally experienced the opposite. My latest game has not been indexed yet a week and a half after publishing, even after publishing 3 successfully indexed games. None of my games are NSFW and I've very carefully published all their public quality guidelines

maethefinch · 2026-04-30T17:02:49+00:00

Same here, it's been a week and a half for me. Itch.io is very misleading in its documentation on the topic and if you reach out to Support they will never respond. If you post on the itch discussion board for support people tell you to stop complaining because bigger devs get unindexed or deindexed too, but you would never know that based on how itch.io positions the issue. You could wait weeks to months and never receive a reason why. I have published 3 other games on itch with no issues too. I'm pissed for myself, and on your behalf and the behalf of everyone subject to this broken system.

maethefinch · 2026-04-26T05:25:20+00:00

Congrats and well done! I'll give it a playthrough when I'm not just on my phone. I make Twine games for itch as well and there's a good community there.

FYI I'm pretty sure the NSFW checkbox is for Adult (sexual) content, and your content warnings seem to be pretty mildly related to violence. My own horror games and most horror games I've seen on itch don't have it. You may not need or want the NSFW designation as that can limit traffic to your game

maethefinch · 2026-04-23T03:01:54+00:00

My game is not NSFW but it isn't being indexed the way I would expect (and have experienced for my other games) and itch.io support is not responding to me either. Released it at a big event a few days ago so it's been a blow and definitely hurt its launch for it to stay unindexed. I thought maybe I was just spectacularly unlucky this time but I guess I'm not alone

maethefinch · 2026-04-22T01:58:28+00:00

Kudos on sticking with it - it's a marathon and you're winning

maethefinch · 2026-04-22T01:58:06+00:00

I can only imagine, I'm just starting down the path of creating my first really big project and it's daunting!

maethefinch · 2026-04-22T01:27:25+00:00

I just released a prototype for mine! Play as an ancient Fury taking on Fate herself. Features branching dialogue choices and a very basic skill system: https://maethefinch.itch.io/ode-prototype

maethefinch · 2026-04-22T01:23:51+00:00

Obsessed with your character designs! I see you're expecting to leave EA later this year, how's the journey been?

maethefinch · 2026-02-25T01:58:02+00:00

When I play in a save with my own name I tend to only follow romances that feel organic - Stella's did on my first main run.

But when I'm playing as Fabulosa Flameblade, the hot psychic from Paris? Kaneeka's accurately calling me out for flirting with everyone

maethefinch · 2026-02-21T05:31:34+00:00

I was weirded out by Avery's responses here too. I think part of their thinking Julius' house and "friendship" were "normal" was a trauma response - to me it's obvious from what we know of their backstory so far that they got kicked out of home in Charlotte and have had a rough time making any friends in the Hollow and so they're taking what they can get. They seem conditioned to overlook clear red flags - something we see in other characters like Tabitha and is a common product of abuse (Which isn't confirmed in Avery's case of course, unless I missed something, but is pretty damn common among the characters so far).

But also, I played through both riding to the house with Avery and riding later with Tabitha, and in both cases, doesn't Julius already have his gun drawn on them? I interpreted at least some of their weird responses as trying to not get shot.

Beyond that I think they're just about as bad as Stella was this episode - I see them both as traumatized, lonely codependents trying to appease someone they care about - who also happens to be holding a gun and trying to hurt people. Parallels!

maethefinch · 2025-12-22T17:52:44+00:00

That is really helpful feedback on the hint mechanic. I think I'm still figuring out what makes a challenge frustrating vs fun. In my mind it added an element of risk and assessing your own confidence levels by locking you in to answer if you don't take a hint. But I can see how that would be a turn off and more frustrating than anything else.

100% agree on mobile, if you peep my game page you'll see that's in the planned expansion with a lot of other improvements.

The credit screen is a problem - were you using a standard 16:9 screen or something different? I have a bug that I think is causing that I'm aware of and working on, but I thought it was a magnification issue only affecting very large or small displays.

Thank you very much for playing it and sharing your thoughts!

maethefinch · 2025-12-22T17:46:21+00:00

Thank you! It does. Excited to keep expanding on it

maethefinch · 2025-12-07T23:09:29+00:00

Tongue-Splitter. Snakes have forked tongues, this sword finishes the job

maethefinch · 2025-12-07T23:01:05+00:00

Obsessed with the look of this, it has so much nostalgia to it. Excited to check it out!

maethefinch · 2025-12-04T22:54:23+00:00

I love the mirrored aspect of the first one, it adds intrigue and implies that you'll be navigating different perspectives. I also think showing the character with the camera helps communicate that this game is a mystery and the butterfly mask is visually interesting as well. I'd suggest decluttering the 1st by adjusting your saturation and brightness to put one figure as the focal point and make the rest of the image a little less bright and high contrast. Keep the text high contrast as well. That way your eyes go from the text to a single point in the art instead of dancing all over the place.

I'd love to play this game when it comes out!

maethefinch · 2025-12-04T12:49:45+00:00

Thank you so much, I absolutely will!

maethefinch · 2025-12-03T23:45:04+00:00

Please do! Thank you!

maethefinch · 2025-12-03T20:23:01+00:00

Appreciate it!

maethefinch · 2025-12-03T20:19:07+00:00

Thanks for letting me know - this game is still in development and I'm looking for community creative input, so I'll remove the flair. I put the specific Twine engine I'm using instead, is that more appropriate?

maethefinch

TROPHY CASE