I recently published an interview I did with the creator of a queer witch short, Coven of the Midnight Son. Set during the Salem Witch Trials, it follows a man who is pushing himself to his limit in an effort to hold on.

https://themezzanine.sbs/coven-of-the-midnight-son-asks-how-far-you-would-go-to-hold-on/

#queer #witch #film #lgbtq #lgbtqia #shorts

This is really cool. Would be cool to see this for other kinds of games (maybe turn-based games?), but it has some unique limitations.

https://gizmodo.com/the-visible-zorker-lets-you-peer-under-the-hood-to-see-how-games-worked-in-the-80s-2000753421

#gaming #gamedev #retrogaming

It's a bit of a concerning sign for #gaming that more and more of Steam's "Popular New Releases" are getting less than 100 (often less than 50) reviews on day one. This seems to indicate that a lot of them aren't breaking 5000 sales before sales stagnate, despite homepage visibility.

This kind of goes in line with what a lot of devs have been saying. Even the CEO of Monument Valley developer Ustwo Games just referred to "having employees" and "long-term employment" as ideas that are "a little bit too romantic."

It feels like the consolidation of wealth is hitting gaming hard, but it remains to be seen.

Learned last night that even #Touhou is using #AI now, which is so incredibly frustrating. Zun is probably one of the most well-known solo devs and even he's turned to AI to generate backgrounds.

Not to mention that AI disclosures on Steam are becoming more and more common, no matter how small a role AI played. Nexon is viewing #ARCRaiders as a "Trojan horse" for getting AI into game development. More and more major companies are admitting to AI use...

...and now I've seen people say MiHoYo's #PetitPlanet is "cool" because of its AI conversations.

Getting concerned. AI is getting harder and harder to avoid in gaming.

Okay, this is a cool way to handle your #gamedev studio shutting down.

https://archive.org/details/beacon_collection

IF YOU WANT A SHORT FILM THAT INVOLVES QUEER AND TRANS JOY, YOU SHOULD WATCH RAINBOW GIRLS.

It was released on April 20th through Short of the Week.

I did an interview with director Nana Duffuor (see here: https://themezzanine.sbs/rainbow-girls-is-a-heartwarming-tale-of-finding-family-in-an-unexpected-place/) and got to watch it early as part of that and it was one of my favorite things I've watched in the past few years.

After 5 days online, it only has 5.8k views. THAT NUMBER SHOULD BE HIGHER. It's the queer-inclusive, trans-inclusive (read: more accurate) version of the same real-life story that I Love Boosters is based on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU7swT_Fp08

#RainbowGirls #Shorts #shortfilm #film #films #queer #trans #transgender