Notices by Nathalie Lawhead (alienmelon) (alienmelon@mastodon.social)

😌 sharing this one last time before letting it vanish into the social media void ~ forever ~ 😱

https://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/making-art-matters

i just published...
"Why making art matters: We no longer have a type of industry where we can chase financial success. We can only sustainably fail."
https://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/making-art-matters
about sustainable alternatives to existing in the game industry, and the positive impact of failure.
#GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGameDev #FOSS #Software

i never shared this but i truly believe it… if you grew up in America, and America is the only culture you ever experienced, you are wired for fundamentalism. you grew up hearing that you’re number one, therefore ends justify means. the country has a talent to kill empathy. it’s best expressed in online discourse. /4

it’s no different than these awful takes about “Ukraine refugees are privileged actually” when that conflict started, and then you pit them in your online arguments against other refugees… yet that war is still going on and nothing changed except a new conflict being normalized. 3/4

America always had these problems but there was still a chance that it can turn around. whatever was is gone. it will take more than bickering on social media over what victims are more privileged than others to stop that. online American social justice is almost as guilty at destroying solidarity as the right. 2/4

my grandmother was sent to the camps, and other family caught up in similar political situations. i grew up hearing stories about how things get this bad… i don’t need to be lectured if i’m fear mongering or not.

this is fascism now. 1/4

too much gamedev advice focuses on making a success. success is such a complicated, often random, and subjective thing.
i want more advice on learning from your failures or even openly celebrating failure. destigmatize failure please 🙏🥲

(Bonus Content!) the playable essay “individualism in the dead internet age” now has a print ready zine to go along with it https://alienmelon.itch.io/shovelware
i made these to give away at GDC but hey since they are zines they can easily be printed folded and shared by anyone! (fold instructions included)

say what you will about the writing (which i am proud of) but all assets where made by me…they are original & made for the game. anyone would know that if they follow me.
also it’s not abandoned. 🙃
ugh… shouldn’t have looked at the reviews.
i love itch. it’s so much more supportive on every level.

a page of unicodes all conveniently in one place
⬊ ⬇ ⬋
⟶ https://unicodes.jessetane.com/ ⟵
⬈ ⬆ ⬉
unicodes are the original emoji. bring them back𜴳
look at this snowman ⛇
blank face ⚇
3d square ❑
centipede 𓆨
communism ☭
realize ur power ⎃
╰┈➤see what you could do？！

there’s something really endearing about amateur pixel art. no mater how amateur, it just doesn’t ever look that bad.
hot take: everything is better as pixel art.

i just learned about “riot dogs” (stray dogs that for no knowable reason join in when people protest, and protect protesters from police), reinforcing my view that all dogs are good boys https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_dog
(i am not a dog person so this is an unbiased nonpartisan dog assessment)

"In light of all the promise that AI will "revolutionize" gaming, this post is about how AI has already affected the home of experimental games: itch.io."
https://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/in-defense-and-absolute-condemnation-of-ai-how-ai-has-already-affected-the-game-industry
I wrote about the Funko fiasco... because i think this scenario is like a "canary in the coal mine" for us.
~
#GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGames #IndieGame #AI #GameDevelopment #Games

i’m definitely going to write about this because the way itch has been struggling with AI (first the whole thing about asset results being flooded, now this) is imo kinda canary in the coal mine when it comes to how this impacts indie communities online. there’s a lot to observe in this story.

funko called itch.io admin’s mother. this keeps getting weirder and i’m genuinely amazed that you can fuck up so badly, and just… keep it up?…
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42371481
screenshots because this is too irresponsibly bizarre at this point.

posting about this here too…
ok i’m super pissed off at this rn because fuck that’s ALL my work, access to all my work, and pretty much my ONLY SOURCE OF INCOME rn… itch.io is literally the only safe haven for queer, trans, gay, and experimental games in this industry. it gets taken down for this?? fuck wtf 🤬

genAI is not the same as generative art.
you gotta distinguish 😭🙏
(let’s not stigmatize the entirety of other movements in digital art as a reaction to genAI. nuance! nuance is good! there are differences!)

sharing my final talk for the year one last time before letting it vanish into the social media void forever.
Creating for a Better Industry: http://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/creating-for-a-better-industry
on the importance of tech literacy and how small tools & DIY tech culture empowers that ✨💪💕🔧⌨️🤓✨
#GameDev #IndieGames

i have to share this again because it's such an empowering initiative
👉 https://enginesdatabase.com/
a large growing database of game engines that sorts content so you can easily find alternatives or tools for what you're doing. it's an indispensable resource! 🤓
(been including it in every talk lol) #GameDev

🎶💕✨it’s my birthday today go play my games🌸🎊🍰
👉 https://alienmelon.itch.io
🥰🙏
#GameDev #IndieGame