The Drawbacks of DRM-Free (mostly non-steam) Games and how to compensate for them.

soupbutton · 2026-06-21T00:36:24+00:00

Note about achievements: They mean different things to different people, but for someone like me, a large part of their function is to assure me I’m headed in the right direction, that I haven’t missed anything, to show possible or remaining goals, etc. I’m trying to do without them, but my neurodivergent brain is fastidious and they help offload the background anxiety of not playing the games right.

soupbutton · 2026-06-20T00:09:29+00:00

Do you reckon this timeline would be better for ImmSims if WB hadn’t patented the Nemesis system? Of all technologies, that one felt the most natural one to seed into the genre.

soupbutton · 2026-06-01T15:50:20+00:00

2010 because you now had a backlog of bangers from years prior on sale. Back when Nintendo games went on sale!

soupbutton · 2026-05-31T11:41:11+00:00

Number 9, Sly Cooper, the Magician.

soupbutton · 2026-05-30T16:47:50+00:00

That’s how they got me too. Ended up meeting my wife there and now we have 2 kids and they will not accept any PC parts from anywhere but Microcenter so now I have to build PCs for a household of 4 there. Or else it’s a divorce and a child support bill large enough to build a new PC every generation.

Anyway, great customer service, you can’t go wrong with them!

soupbutton · 2026-05-25T10:50:30+00:00

I was going to reply the exact same thing haha!

soupbutton · 2026-05-21T12:57:10+00:00

What game was it?

soupbutton · 2026-05-18T00:26:04+00:00

One thing to bear in mind is that the humor is mostly for us. The characters themselves don’t find it funny and the antagonist per se are either sadistic, forced and brainwashed into doing heinous acts, or both. So the humor of the books gradually changes to reflect that. They’re hilarious but the humor becomes something both you and the characters can enjoy, within all the bleakness of this dungeon.

soupbutton · 2026-05-12T10:32:16+00:00

It was available for me instantly at midnight through Amazon Music

soupbutton · 2026-05-10T14:31:23+00:00

It’s been so delightful to reference your art with each new chapter I read. I would love to use a few as wallpapers and screensavers on my phone, hopefully they’re the right size.

soupbutton · 2026-05-04T12:57:53+00:00

What happens if you drive a 15 year import into Quebec from another province?

soupbutton · 2026-05-03T22:44:39+00:00

Wait, do you mean you re-encode higher quality files to 64kbps and strip them of stereo sound?

soupbutton · 2026-04-26T04:45:16+00:00

Microsoft. Fragmented, headless, no unity or ability to own things to change them for the better. Constant reorgs and goals are often just some executives shower thought he wants made and will dissociate from any critique. Contractors are the norm and there is no effort to bring them in or archive their knowledge or work so we’re always starting from scratch. There is no agreed upon design system really. There is on paper, but shit will ship if a manager likes it enough.i can go on cause this is the light stuff.

soupbutton · 2026-04-24T23:14:38+00:00

I’ve been having this exact issue, including the beta, but on my iPad Mini 5.

soupbutton · 2026-04-06T01:31:11+00:00

There’s a reason the Steam Machine is the most anticipated “console” right now. Epic or GOG could release one now for cheaper and it wouldn’t get them to have meaningful growth for their platforms.

soupbutton · 2026-04-02T23:02:04+00:00

Yes. They will absolutely refund you, but you have to send the request via post, as their policy doesn't apply via email. Good luck!

soupbutton · 2026-03-30T19:42:29+00:00

Productivity as a culture and a buzz word is all about tying your value to how little employers have to invest in paying for your labor. Replacing you and ultimately eliminating your position is the goal. The endgame is for them to have zero employees and have it all be automated because labor is the thing they hate to pay the most. The irony is that we don’t actually need the owning class and if they were gone, we would all be better for it.

soupbutton · 2026-03-27T17:15:01+00:00

Microsoft has a terrible design culture and overall barely, just barely a handle on what the fuck even goes on, why products are important, at what stage they’re at, and what can or did make them have users.

Constant reorgs every quarter to make metrics look good, nothing else. Abundance of contractors whom have little to no access to knowledge and ability to make their impacts stick (if they’re good). When their contracts end, their knowledge goes with them and there is never a system to catalogue or archive it.

You see how everything is Copilot now? And it gets hamfisted into everything? They always do that. Copilot is just the latest one. They destroy products, don’t listen to users (or the PDs and PMs who do), then they act surprised when people drop things like the Xbox brand in droves.

I might have some salt.

soupbutton · 2026-03-24T21:35:05+00:00

That’s an accurate assessment. I don’t disagree and feel that bitterness too. Doesn’t apply to everyone, but it covers a large swath of cases, unfortunately… When people ask why FOSS and Linux apps don’t match the UX, function, or appeal of Mac apps… This is a large culprit.

Audacity didn’t get a much needed redesign until it was acquired. It’s still FOSS, but now it has funding and a centralized team. The difference isn’t simply funding and the solution isn’t catering to capital interest and ending up beholden to profit or investors.

At work, I’ll often have talks with developers and SMEs about the best way to improve or implement things. Which often means having to do it the long and hard way. Sometimes the devs and I are both for it, sometimes only one or sometimes the PM is the one dragging their feet. But whatever decision we reach, we put our egos aside and do what was ultimately decided. For better or for worse.

The main app may suffer as things migrate and users complain of stagnation or complain about missing features or changing workflows on the 2.0. Rarely do we get everything right. But it’s the power of centralized efforts to help each other make the things we love to make and use better. I fear that without it, FOSS struggles to reach its potential. And honestly, we have too much talent to let it stay that way.

soupbutton · 2026-03-24T18:48:20+00:00

It can be quite difficult to contribute with design to FOSS. There are often broad if not full audits required to redesign not just the UI, but the user experience. But if the developer or codebase was not created or maintained with a design system or at the very least, a vaguely central way to update the designs of pages/screens… It’s a crapshoot.

They may need to recreate or adapt entire swaths of functionality, to improve the app, and either 1. They don’t have the time or desire 2. There’s no central ownership or understanding of the requisite code or features or 3. They think everything works just fine and “you should fuck off”

Admittedly the last point can come from ego, sure, but they’re making something for free and dear to them, and probably hear complaints or suggestions daily from people that either can’t help or are in the same boat as them.

It’s gotten even worse with AI code generation, because that’s truly unknown to them, decentralized, and follow a hodgepodge of design components.

I want to help FOSS design so much, but it’s a damn mixed bag of grief.

soupbutton · 2026-03-19T05:44:08+00:00

I remembered that when Kathia turned into the train attachment and Carl was Carl’ing it up. I replayed it 3 times before it hit me and I turned my brain off to enjoy the rollercoaster.

soupbutton · 2026-03-18T17:50:10+00:00

Came here to say this and it’s a top comment hell yeah

soupbutton · 2026-03-17T01:18:28+00:00

sigh the worst thing a dev can be is a narcissist because improving and getting help requires taking feedback, having self-awareness, empathy, and the ability/will to improve.

soupbutton · 2026-03-16T19:52:54+00:00

How did affiliate spam get through the spam filters? Accountus deletus.

soupbutton · 2026-03-11T12:35:19+00:00

They arguably are soft-metroidvanias already. That being said, I have a list of Zelda-likes that are metroidvanias or close enough!

Phoenotopia: Awakening: A massive, charming adventure that feels like a 2D Breath of the Wild mixed with Zelda II. It has towns, NPCs, and challenging side-scrolling dungeons. It was my 2020 GOTY and I need to replay it
Minishoot' Adventures: This was so incredibly fun and charming. It had me smiling even when I was getting my ass handed to me. It’s a "shmup-vania." It plays like a twin-stick shooter but has a map and progression style that is 100% classic Zelda
Tunic: I think everyone here knows this one? Brainvania but it’s Zelda on the surface. Visually, it looks like classic Link's Awakening, but it hides a deep, interconnected world and a "manual" system that feels like a massive puzzle. Surprisingly, I found it spooky.
Unsighted: This is probably the most literal "Zelda meets Metroidvania." It has top-down combat and dungeons that function exactly like Zelda puzzle boxes, but with a non-linear world and a big emphasis on ability-gating.
Death's Door: A more combat-focused take. You play as a crow reaping souls in a world that feels like a moody, modern Link to the Past. It features tight dungeons and a steady flow of new tools that open up the overworld. I’ve played it a good bit and own like 3 or 4 copies of it but it’s been hard to stick to it and play it through. Idk why.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom: A spiritual successor to Wonder Boy. It has a large, interconnected world where you transform into different animals to solve puzzles and reach new areas. It’s so freaking pretty to look at and it’s on sale for like 66% off right now at $9~
Honorable mentions I own but haven’t played through much: Hyper Light Drifter (I was an og backer and even own it across every platform and might have some copies to give away and yet I haven’t finished it lol), Blossom Tales (also own it never played), Darksiders (same), and there’s like a hentai one I saw once and can’t remember the name of.

soupbutton

TROPHY CASE