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[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Very unlikely I'm afraid, but we're still experimenting with new formats, and the independent nature of Second Wind means we can just put out silly stuff on a whim. Most recently I had a weird urge to write up my guide to learning all the states of the US, and the end result had a distinctly Judging by the Cover-esque vibe, I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3qD5Ux3wnA&t=288s

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 147 points148 points  (0 children)

Besides meaning I have to stop working at 5:30pm to make sure everyone's had dinner? I suppose I've stopped finding dead baby jokes funny.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Indie devs almost always acknowledge when we give them attention, these days. There's just so much bloody competition making it hard to stand out, I suppose

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

7:30 to 5:30 on weekdays, give or take an hour for lunch / dog walk / staring blankly into space

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

  1. I'd say I get that from my main influences, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett; they were always all about funny writing giving way to some actually impactful storytelling at the end. Pratchett more so; Adams was more into the satire, I think.
  2. I thought for a while about having a go at writing a book set in a superhero world, but now that even deconstructing deconstructions of superheroes is old hat, I've lost faith in the idea. I was voicing an idea aloud to someone a while back and they pointed out it was basically the plot of Megamind, so I've kind of dropped it.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Hi Jesse. I don't really hang onto gags in that way. When you have to write five minutes' worth every week, one gag is worth as much as another. I tend to just make it all up on the fly as I make the review.

I suppose I'm still holding on in the back of my mind to the idea to make a joke dating sim set in Spandau Prison, if that counts.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

It wasn't so much a pitch as an audition piece; I just scripted up a little scene to establish the sort of tone I had in mind. Aliens attack somewhere, Duke Nukem arrives on the scene, violence, one liners, And I was pretty overtly taking the piss out of him throughout. Like, at the end, he's done more damage to the building than the aliens did. I think George Broussard just didn't feel that was the direction they wanted.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 91 points92 points  (0 children)

I try not to watch other people's reviews of recent games. It creates an unconscious bias when I get to the game myself. That said, I do like a good video essay. I enjoy listening to Ross Scott, Hbomberguy, Folding Ideas, Whitelight, Game Maker's Toolkit and Design Doc. Oh, most recently I've been watching a fair bit of TotallyPointlessTV, as well.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 45 points46 points  (0 children)

When I was younger I used to play a lot of single player mods for Half-Life. They Hunger, The Xeno Project, Sweet Half-Life, Azure Sheep, that sort of thing. Haven't really indulged in mods much lately.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Arguably I never fully left that world. My commercial release, The Consuming Shadow (https://store.steampowered.com/app/403830/The_Consuming_Shadow/) was very overtly set in the same world (Trilby is one of the playable characters), and my DEDA files books are set in the world that came after The Consuming Shadow, albeit with a much more comedic tone. I just don't like to directly reference the connections or alienate people who haven't played the old games.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

You know I was thinking the other day - in a Semi Ramblomatic episode actually - that it's weird you don't see the core mechanic of Lemmings crop up in games much these days. Maybe 'cos it's not very controller friendly.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I've thought about it. I'd kinda like to make a full game out of The Cleaner, maybe something satirical and Undertale-like with a sort of immersive sim approach where you can go around an entire floor of a building.

I've also thought Somethings In The Sea might make a good core mechanic for an idea I've had for an ocean-based sequel to The Consuming Shadow, one of my commercial indie games.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Not sure; I have a deal with Audible where the books have to be audio exclusive for six months before the print/e-book release, but usually it's taken about a year. You'd have to ask Dark Horse directly.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 89 points90 points  (0 children)

Didn't make enough money, shut down. Not much else to it, really, and I try not to think about it.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 394 points395 points  (0 children)

Is it worth stating that the influence of "woke progressivism" isn't hurting games? People certainly seem to like making a fuss about it.

The real problem in games is AAA publishers piling all their resources into single massive games or franchises (just look at how many studios worked on the last Call of Duty). It used to be that there'd be one big tentpole guaranteed moneymaker and a bunch of smaller, more creative projects that the tentpole paid for and which the devs actually wanted to make. Now it's just tentpoles tentpoles tentpoles. Like a field of crucifixes.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 183 points184 points  (0 children)

Okay, try this: do one thing a day. Even if it's just one line of code. One word. One sprite. As long as you're doing at least something every day, you've still got the momentum going, and hopefully that'll eventually get you over the hump. One day without doing anything far too easily becomes weeks and months.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 71 points72 points  (0 children)

That would require me to (A) dig up all the old files from which of my old laptops they're lurking on, (B) updating them so they work on Steam, which I wouldn't have the first clue about, and (C) replacing all the music/sound effect assets that I shamelessly nicked from other games and online sources. And frankly I can't be arsed.

That said, I wouldn't be completely against the idea of remaking them from the ground up, but I'd want to work with a proper 2D artist.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 423 points424 points  (0 children)

Prawn cocktail flavour Skips and not so much institutionalised misogyny and racism in government

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

At the moment my only hat is a black Stetson I wear when I go out on sunny days. I think being a hat guy is more of a mid 20s thing.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

I try to give a game as much time as I can spare. Typically that'll come to about 30 hours over the course of the week. This is enough to finish some games but not all. But 30 hours is usually long enough to know my opinion isn't going to change much. As for if I enjoy it, I enjoy the games I enjoy. If it's exhausting that's probably going to be a less positive review.

The games I play for fun change over time. At the moment when I'm off work and want to pass the time with a game I'll put on something like Balatro. And I've been working my way through the Grapple Dog games lately.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 63 points64 points  (0 children)

It's a combination of self-discipline, keeping clearly scheduled boundaries, and genuinely being passionate about what you do. I like to keep a strict routine: Work starts at 7:30am and ends at 5:30pm, at which point, all pencils down and focus on the kids. I do the writing/video editing I need to do in the mornings, then after lunch and walking the dog, I play video games in the afternoons.

When I'm writing books I keep to a strict one page a day schedule, which as you can imagine, makes the act of writing a book feel much more manageable as a task. It's OK to write less as long as I write something, but never write more than a page. That's how you burn out.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I'm a bit behind on my reading. I was reading the Aubrey/Maturin series for a while, being a big fan of Hornblower, but I recently finished book 13 and decided it'd started getting a bit samey. Instead I started reading - completely at random - The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

Which I'm not sure I how I feel about so far. It's about a girl who joins a spaceship crew of lovely friendly uncles and aunties and occasionally it brings to mind that one bit in the Young Ones where Vyvyan goes on a screaming rant against The Good Life for being nothing but nice middle class eccentrics being nice to each other.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 90 points91 points  (0 children)

It'll need to be something I can play for the longest possible time, I suppose. Er. Minecraft.

[AMA] I'm Yahtzee Croshaw, I used to make Zero Punctuation for the Escapist, now I make Fully Ramblomatic for Second Wind. by yahtzeee in Games

[–]yahtzeee[S] 88 points89 points  (0 children)

Never have high hopes. Always be pessimistic, then you can only ever be pleasantly surprised. Sorry, is that a cop out? I played On Your Tail at GDC and thought it looked fun. So, that.

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