Phil Salvador @shadsy@mastodon.social

@SpindleyQ Oh my god, I just listened to this song, and I think this is where the OUCH sound from Toyland in Klik n Play comes from (at 0:06) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=512TSQ__GbY

I had tried to work something about that into the article, but it just ended up being like "Isn't it worrying that the military was interested in this?", but it was really out of place, and it was too much to unpack the problematic history of tech-military relationships in this article (and I honestly don't know enough to say something worthwhile there)

I think one criticism I've seen about the Maxis article is that it glossed over the guy's involvement with the military, which I think is fair. But I hope I was even-handed about being between "this guy had big ideas" and "that is not a functioning business"

The creators of SimCity had a division that made Sim games for corporations, including a game for Chevron called SimRefinery.

For the first time ever: this is the story of Maxis Business Simulations

This is the culmination of four years of research, and I'm so proud to share it 💚

https://obscuritory.com/sim/when-simcity-got-serious/

New post on The Obscuritory!

The Multimedia Bird Book is an adorable CD-ROM that teaches two important things:

- Birds are pretty
- Birds are everywhere

https://obscuritory.com/educational/multimedia-bird-book/

THE TIME HAS COME. I'm going deep into my past and streaming early 2000s fangames and thinking about the place of homemade games in gaming history. Going live! twitch.tv/obscuritory

@SpindleyQ For your museum of games made by kids: https://archive.org/details/hypercard_da-game

Friend: Help me make this Doom mod
Me: okay [works exclusively on easter eggs and jokes]

Keep forgetting to share here: I'm streaming more often! Trying to do it every Saturday at 3pm while the stay-at-home order is in place. Going live now with the finale of Spaceship Warlock and some edutainment games! twitch.tv/obscuritory

Going live on Twitch in just a bit with the 1992 choose your own adventure story Beyond the Wall of Stars! https://www.twitch.tv/obscuritory

I've been messing with Doom modding again! I'm helping out a friend with their new project, and this is a lot of fun. It's a great way to get hands-on with coding and level design without the commitment of making a full project

Between the GDC cancelation and the ALA financial crisis, this has been one extraordinarily weird year for major conferences in my professional networks that I don't attend but only read about on Twitter

I think it's great to do something because you enjoy it, putting resources INTO something rather than expecting something back. At the same time, I know saying that is also intertwined with monetization, and I'm in a position of privilege to be able to work on stuff without needing to turn my hobby into a #hustle. But even if it's something you're making money from, it's still worth asking yourself what you're getting out of it

This has been coming up a lot this week: I think it's worth checking in with yourself once in a while about why you're writing/making videos/etc. and who you're doing it for. I've become a big fan of doing things for yourself, or for a smaller audience, but I've also had ask myself what I feel like I'm getting out of it

New post on The Obscuritory. We're gonna talk about CAPITALISM.

By which I mean the 1995 simulation game Capitalism, which is a lavishly accurate depiction of the insatiable world of business that's light on ethics and big on profits

https://obscuritory.com/sim/capitalism/

I wanted to start a newsletter for The Obscuritory, but the restrictions around newsletters are absolutely wild. I am legally obligated to put my physical address in the emails?! The other option is to get a PO box, and I don't want to pay $5 a month to send a monthly email newsletter. Why is the internet terrible now

I want to learn how to use Unity so I can make Flat Man

My submission to the Speculation Jam: a speculative short story titled IT IS EASIER TO IMAGINE THE END OF GAMEPLAY THAN THE END OF VIDEO GAMES https://shadsy.itch.io/post-gameplay

Oh my god I just got a Speculation Jam idea that I need to write on Sunday