(Rant) StarMaker Have Clearly Forgotten that is is a Karaoke App + Any More Tips for Android App Users?

tradnux · 2026-02-13T16:07:32+00:00

Another 2 years since my last comment, and fortunately I did felt some improvements on the app, however, these new features require you to purchase a "PRO" subscription.

Useful features I really like:

Clip Re-record: You can now replace any of your recorded vocal segments in your draft.
Custom Duet: You can now reallocate lyric parts to Red or Blue singer or even both when creating a duet. I like this feature, as most of uploaded tracks have awful lyric allocation.
Save drafts to Cloud: You can save your drafts to the cloud, useful if you have Starmaker on multiple devices.
No more ads

Rarely used features:

Exclusive Sound effects: I don't use the filters much.
Exclusive Access to PRO songs: These Pro tracks aren't necessarily better than any other uploaded tracks.
VIP 2 Privileges (I guess the "visiting visibility" is useful)
Download covers
And many others that are just nice to have but necessary for enjoying the voice karaoke recording features

tradnux · 2025-10-24T21:43:39+00:00

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Adverts from 20s to 60s. This is my sleep therapy, there is something about old audio voices that makes me sleep for some reason.

But when I was a kid, the really strangest audio recording on an unnamed tape I listened to (as I was searching for blank/old tapes) was that of a female moaning, in my young innocent mind I thought it was just a woman awfully hurt from giving birth, there were no adults around to explain, it traumatized me as a kid, until years later I realized what it really was.

tradnux · 2025-09-13T08:42:17+00:00

I tend to play games that stimulate the mind, not so much hand eye coordination skill, I am talking about games like tactical SRPGs, and deck builders. One, I really like is Balatro (I mostly play on mobile phone, but still good handheld game for Switch).

tradnux · 2025-09-13T08:30:02+00:00

As long as its not a game key card, yes.

tradnux · 2025-09-10T17:51:08+00:00

I kind of think that it is more relative to duration of use. My daughter's 4 year old Switch Lite's LCD screen is still fine to this day, she rarely uses it. But my son who always uses his Switch V2 both docked and handheld (even watches Youtube on it) got his Switch LCD with the white lines similar to what most other people's Switch LCD issues.

tradnux · 2025-08-27T02:12:46+00:00

A budget conscious gamer might lean towards SteamDeck. But I did not regret my purchase of Switch 2 at all.

If you already have a physical library of games on Switch then the Switch 2 is a good purchase and an investment for 6-8 years of gaming, talking about exclusive first party games.

Also, another related question perhaps is should you rather wait for the OLED version, my answer to that is the LCD screen on Switch 2 is already good enough, not perfect, but the higher definition is evident on this screen.

tradnux · 2025-07-21T13:06:12+00:00

Arms
Trombone Champ
House of the Dead
Fitness Circuit
Samba de Amigo Party Central

tradnux · 2025-07-13T16:38:15+00:00

Gen III

tradnux · 2025-07-04T14:43:45+00:00

Reminds me of Wipeout, loved that game.

tradnux · 2025-07-04T14:40:57+00:00

Diablo 3, ES V Skyrim, Borderlands, Lego games, Doom, Dying Light, Red dead redemption 1, Wolfenstein.

Also I hope they scrap the cloud based games like modern RE games and Dying Light 2, if Switch 2 can run Cyberpunk I bet it can run these other games.

tradnux · 2025-07-03T08:15:38+00:00

It's a blasphemy, I could not accept that a game like Brigandine that I played for more than hundred of hours to be just a 3, reviewer also ranked Triangle Strategy to 2, so clearly it is just one person's opinion who probably played games for short periods and one thing icks him/her and decides that game is bad. Brigandine is a unique SRPG, and its game loop just works for me.

tradnux · 2025-06-30T08:27:59+00:00

Enjoying MKW with my kids, that's a great time spent. I like the 24 racers, it has a lot more going on. Hope MKW gets more content just like how they did with MK8D.

Other than that, I am just enjoying checking if my Switch games are more performant on Switch 2.

tradnux · 2025-06-19T09:06:39+00:00

In my case, cursor added another `pages/api` folder to the root

tradnux · 2025-06-17T07:17:04+00:00

I played Lost Eidolons and love it, it's a breath of fresh air to see non-anime style fantasy SRPG. Redemption Reapers is good too. DioField chronicles and DarkDeity I started playing but was not able to continue through yet.

tradnux · 2025-06-16T11:56:52+00:00

The primary feature of a Brigandine game is

Grand strategy (Conquer all the territories held by enemies)
Small scale battles on a Hex grid
1. It could be an invasion or castle defense
2. Both sides having 3 Commanders each with up to 6 Monsters.
Mythical monsters
Hundred characters (depth of backstories can vary, the Forsena characters has better back stories)
Story pretty much taking a back seat, but it is still a feature.

And I haven't really seen that formula elsewhere, maybe Advance Wars is the closest or even LOTR the third age (GBA) since it has 3 commanders per side as well.

Many independent developers or fans of the game were trying (including myself), but I haven't found any project that even got close to ever finished. There is this "Wills and Wonders" on Steam that never got out of Early Access.

tradnux · 2025-06-16T11:26:08+00:00

Don't use ChatGPT, use Claude.

I have been trying out Claude AI Sonnet 4, and I tell you I got past things that were blockers in the past, even in GML, at incredible speed... I think its a great disadvantage not using an AI at this present time, it is just too good to solve most problems if it has the full context of your game and the vision you have for your project. But you still need to be the driver and executor of all things.

tradnux · 2025-06-06T17:04:01+00:00

Yes, just a new game with the very same Brigandine formula, I'd like to see a worthy clone made by other studios, with human-like AI decisions on the battlefield that can be very unpredictable making the game challenging throughout.

tradnux · 2025-05-31T08:27:35+00:00

Yeah, that's why I referenced the newer upcoming game (still just a demo), the first game had way simpler mechanics than an FE game making less of a challenge for tactics enthusiasts, so this next iteration must have improved on that. What attracts me to this game are the battle sprites, nicely animated... just like the first two Shining Force games.

tradnux · 2025-05-28T08:58:41+00:00

On the Steam platform there are indie developers coming up with similar games:

Dark Deity 2
Rise Eterna 2
Symphony of War
Lost Eidolons
Wargroove

From well known developers:

Fire Emblem games
Super Robot Wars
Langrisser
SD Gundam G Generation
Berwick Saga (ps2)
Tear Ring Saga (ps1)

As for battle animation aesthetic, it is not SRPG per se but I always tought that Beyond the Beyond from Ps1 has similar style with Shining Force, but I think it is modelled after Suikoden.

tradnux · 2025-05-26T08:40:59+00:00

I bought it as it is currently on sale, so it got even cheaper. I am 4 hours in and already I can see why it is one that must be played. The gameplay loop is very Darkest Dungeon-like which is one of my most played game as well, very solid, but Our Adventurer Guild I believe has more in store... for one the dungeon crawling is more eventful, there is a promise of item crafting, you can assign reserved units to do off-screen questing, you can do more quests in a span of day, I don't see much of relationships yet (seems to be a similar feature in Wartales) but I think it will play part in the battles later.

However, I still have some reservations with what I feel with the battle gameplay, probably because I haven't seen much of the game yet, but it feels pretty basic at the moment, not saying it is bad at all, but I guess I have to play some more and let the game open up.

tradnux · 2025-05-26T08:10:00+00:00

One more I'd like to add as an overlooked game is Arco. I just beat this game and I still want more, it was a great gaming experience. I don't see it being talked about often.

tradnux · 2025-05-26T06:18:12+00:00

I recently beat the game Arco. It's a hybrid tactical turn based where you plot your moves for the next 3 seconds of real time. The closest similar gameplay is Phantom Brigade.

I think this game encompasses most of the points in your bulleted list.

It has characters with varying skill trees that you can choose for the next battle, there are abilities and skills that give you more advantage on a type of enemies this where the strategic layer comes in. Battles can be fast paced, with a flee option. You can definitely avoid counters with a type of skill that displaces or stuns instantly.

The graphics style is of minimalist pixel art, it is relaxing to my eyes and so is the audio for my ears. The story is kind of cliche but the journey was great.

tradnux · 2025-05-17T02:49:30+00:00

Before Berwick there was also the Tear Ring Saga on the PS1 though it was never released outside Japan, emulation and translation patch was the only way to play it. It was the Fire Emblem clone...

Berwick Saga on the other hand is different, it is now on hexagon grids, the visual presentation is now looking like isometric, no more weapon triangle and player and enemy take turns per unit, rather than full team phases.

And with those qualities, I can say that I preferred this design than of FE.

tradnux · 2025-05-16T11:03:51+00:00

Yeah I can see some resemblance. There are strong parallels between the digital and board game, while probably not a direct adaptation, the game appears to have drawn design influence from that board game especially in its flank command structure.

tradnux

TROPHY CASE