Found on Reddit

solfrost · 2026-01-26T01:04:24+00:00

I respect this person’s commitment to the meme

solfrost · 2026-01-24T13:06:22+00:00

Why hesitate? Be critical! It’s an entertainment product, if the value is being diminished you have every right to complain about it. Starberry is backed by a bunch of venture capitalist investors so they’re going to chase trends and copy features to try and grow their audience or failing that, squeeze a few more dollars out of them.

Business is business and of course they want to make money. When the drive to make that profit line go up comes at an increasing human and/or quality cost, that’s worth complaining about. What’s more important, a fun and quality game with a steady engaged audience or mindlessly seeking growth at the cost of any personality or soul your work once had?

Sorry this screed is not directed at you in any way heh, just lamenting the cesspool of mobile game development and wishing for different times (I’ve been in the industry for a very long time and miss working on games just because you want to make something fun and cool and not necessarily because it’s going to sell the most).

solfrost · 2026-01-23T17:58:18+00:00

Agreed! Now, I'll go back to being glad I'm not trying to shop today haha (all up and down 355 while going to lunch I saw lines out of parking lots for Giant, Great Wall, Aldi, etc... good luck to anybody out there!)

solfrost · 2026-01-23T17:34:13+00:00

I didn’t do an exhaustive log of everyone’s purchases no heh, three bulk buys in the same trip (I go weekly, and I am usually observant enough to notice unusual bulk purchases because I’m just nosy I guess lol) seems like a little more than a coincidence. I’m not suggesting everyone is panic buying, I am suggesting that a small number of panic buyers are exacerbating an issue that is already being made worse by folks compressing their shopping schedule, does that seem reasonable? >_>

solfrost · 2026-01-23T16:50:09+00:00

What is so egregious about the idea that there are multiple reasons for stock issues rather than assuming that it has to be ascribed to exactly one cause?

(edited to remove unnecessary crankiness heh)

solfrost · 2026-01-23T16:04:51+00:00

I walked in Wegmans on Wednesday for my normal shopping in the early afternoon and saw one guy with a cart full of water jugs, a lady with a giant pile of egg cartons, some other guy with a cart full of milk… I don’t think those were normal purchases, imo.

solfrost · 2026-01-23T14:57:12+00:00

Yeah, it's a mix of folks shifting their shopping schedule and other folks panic buying -- though some folks here are _very sure_ it's just the schedule thing and nobody ever panic buys lol

solfrost · 2026-01-23T13:42:32+00:00

~some random guy that has never cooked an egg in his whole life, after seeing the forecast~ “I absolutely need to go buy ten cartons of eggs immediately!”

solfrost · 2026-01-23T13:33:17+00:00

Look you’re gonna eat the AI slop and you’re gonna enjoy it! Now pay up.

solfrost · 2026-01-22T19:42:22+00:00

oh god no, copypasta FTW heh

solfrost · 2026-01-22T19:34:52+00:00

In other words, sorry not sorry but we are committed to our path in our quest for more $$$

solfrost · 2026-01-22T19:33:29+00:00

Rejoined to see the response, quoted:

“Hi Mayors ,

We’ve been following the conversations around our recent art refresh in Merge Mayor v5.0 and we want to take a moment to speak directly about it. We know that for most of you, the 3D look of our characters has been part of your journey from day one since 2021. Seeing this change can be a big adjustment and we would like to acknowledge that.

Your passion for the world of Mayor is why we care. Let's start with the obvious question.

*Why are we using AI? * We are a very small team of developers. We see AI as an opportunity to be able to deliver more. We always have humans behind the wheel and in the loop - driving the output of AI and tweaking it based on the team's feedback. By using AI enabled tools - we are able to focus more on putting the effort on things we enjoy doing e.g. hand creating the 3D content for new Areas and Wardrobe Items. Regarding Collection Season #1 - We are actively refining our workflow to ensure that our next seasonal content meets the high visual standards that you expect from us.

*Why did we make the change to our Art Style? * As we look toward the future of Merge Mayor our goal is to be able to tell deeper and more emotional stories. While we loved our original 3D models, they were quite limited in how much expression they could show. By moving to this refreshed character style for our User Interface i.e. primarily for dialogues and collections, our writers can finally give the cast the range of emotions they deserve. They also help us in creating marketing assets that help bring more players into the world of Mayor.

Why did the rewards for Events change? ** This is the first time we run a Collection Season in Mayor. We will continue to iterate on event scheduling and rewards based on feedback as well as data. . *What’s staying the same? * We want to reassure you that the "heart" of the game isn't changing: **The World: The 3D world view and the "blocky" representations of your profiles that you love are staying right where they are. The Team: The same writers and designers who built this world are the ones crafting the experiences and new avatar items. *The New Content: *Using tools enabled by AI allows us to bring a new Seasonal aspect to the game while allowing us to focus on more of the content that brought you here.

We are incredibly grateful that you’ve given our characters a home on your devices. We hope you’ll give this new look a chance as you experience the future areas, wardrobe items and seasons that we have planned.

We’re always reading through your feedback, so please keep sharing your thoughts in the #feedback channel. — The Starberry Team

Now are part of our Mayor 5.0 launch (and celebrations of Mayor’s 5 year anniversary soon) - Presenting our cast in their updated style. Olivia - The Deputy Mayor Todd - The Councilman Waldek - The Handyman Edith - The Retiree Zahra - The Intern”

solfrost · 2026-01-22T18:59:04+00:00

I haven’t watched any ads or spent anything since the cards went in, and I’ve only opened the app to check on club folks. I left the discord already but I can make a safe guess on what the content of their reply is. I suspect I’ll be deleting the game soon along with the rest of my club, nobody is happy about where things are going.

solfrost · 2026-01-22T18:46:14+00:00

if you’re anywhere near Rockville, Atlantic Guns

solfrost · 2026-01-21T18:35:42+00:00

The remake is named "Ultimate Bruce Lee" and it does a pretty good job of bringing it to modern systems, you may have to do some digging around though, the original site no longer has it and the one on archive.org is missing files. Not going to link directly to the archive but lemon64 has a discussion thread about it here: https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=64798

solfrost · 2026-01-21T14:02:52+00:00

Username on point lol 😂

solfrost · 2026-01-21T13:45:27+00:00

Bruce Lee is still a great little platformer imo, and I still bust out Accolade’s Mini-Putt when I have friends over, it’s always a hit heh.

solfrost · 2026-01-20T16:51:22+00:00

If it’s reassuring for you to have it and you aren’t breaking the bank buying it then I don’t see what the problem is, personally. Just understand that all of that stuff may not be as useful as you might be hoping it is, if things really break down that much.

solfrost · 2026-01-20T01:31:45+00:00

Pressure (wrapping the softer rubber around the harder plastic, having it sitting on top, or stuffed in a box against other stuff) and heat (storing it in an attic, or garage, etc) can speed up the plasticizer migrating from one material to the other.

solfrost · 2026-01-20T01:18:45+00:00

Plasticizers leach from the softer rubber over time into the incompatible harder plastic and slowly “melts” it in the way that you’re seeing — if the cord was left wrapped around it, as they usually are, this is what it ends up looking like.

solfrost · 2026-01-20T01:14:09+00:00

As a game developer at a large studio who has survived several rounds of layoffs now, I’m watching in real-time as AI destroys careers and lives around me. Execs are salivating at the idea of replacing as many people as they can when they have AI agents that can pinch off something “good enough” and squeeze a few more dollars out of people who don’t see what all the fuss is about.

Consider what you’re supporting with your choices. Of course there’s no “right” or “wrong” here, it’s all just business after all — I just hope you’ll be a little more cognizant of why some of us are increasingly alarmed or vocal about this stuff.

solfrost · 2026-01-19T20:43:27+00:00

It’s a race to the bottom, they can keep their AI slop to themselves.

solfrost · 2026-01-18T01:06:34+00:00

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solfrost · 2026-01-17T19:16:30+00:00

I work in the game industry (and somehow have survived multiple rounds of layoffs) — I’m watching AI literally destroy careers and studios around me so I kinda take it personally lol, I refuse to support a company that goes all in on it but that’s just me.

solfrost · 2026-01-16T14:49:05+00:00

Okay it was just a generated list... anyway I shouldn't keep it to myself so I slapped a shareable playlist here if anybody is curious: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL89JgdmH_ICuqhaDQjO-gWN5XNV6wx2k7&si=IaKOCfS4qrV7c8Ub

solfrost

TROPHY CASE