This month was a bit busier at work and personal life, but I’ve still got things to share.
Video Games
I actually made time for games this month.
Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- (Switch)
To be fair, this is a visual novel/adventure game so you could probably call this more of a book than a video game. I’ve also not completed the game, I’m almost done with one of the characters’ arcs and still have another one to read.
This is a remake/retelling of the original 2000 visual novel. I played part of the original game back when I was in high school (and far too young for it) using a fan patch on my Windows XP computer. It was interesting, but getting it working was too janky to actually put a lot of time into. This remake is available on the Switch with an official translation so I had to jump on it.
This retelling is only half of the original story, covering two of the character’s stories. The other character arcs will come out sometime in the future. Despite being half of the story it is significantly longer than the original version of the game.
This game is not for the faint of heart as it is dark, gory, and very human, but the writing and translation are very good. I won’t spoil much, but I will say if you like dark fantasy, can put up with some uncomfortable and awkward moments, and enjoy other works by Kinoko Nasu you will probably like it. This is the second Type-Moon visual novel to get an english release to my knowledge, but most of their games have had fan translations and english translated anime so if you are into anime/visual novels you might already know what to expect.
The original was hard to get running in english, had lower production values, and was an adult game back when authors thought that sexual content was necessary to sell narrative focused games/visual novels with little gameplay. This version has significant production values, no shoehorned sexual content that doesn’t serve the narrative, and a more experienced visual novel author as Kinoko Nasu now has a lot more games under his belt. Everything I’ve seen so far in the game has served to further tell a great contemporary dark fantasy story.
I’ll probably spend most of August’s video game time reading/playing the rest of it. Also for Nasu fans, Fate/stay night is supposed to get a remaster this year as well so expect to hear about that when I get my hands on it.
Factorio (Linux)
Factorio is one of those games that really captures me. I’ve not played it in a long time, but back in May’s favorite things post I mentioned the developers’ blog post regarding the native linux port of the game. That reminded me of how much I love the game. I had some more video game time this month so some hours were put into this wonderful automation and logistics game.
When I say some I mean 31 hours of my life have been put into this playthrough. I won’t pretend to be good at it, but it is one of the most addicting (in a good way) games I’ve played.
Blogs
Leaving the web industry by Simone Silvestroni
Simone Silvestroni talks about leaving the web industry for something he actually cares for. It is very relatable.
I left dev work for IT and it made all the difference in my mood. I hope it works for him.
He mentions the “Jack of all trades, master of none” mentality that too many companies are obsessed with. It is better to master a few skills and have a breath of knowledge in many other things than to hyper specialize in my not so expert opinion. It is infuriating to be told “you have too many interests”. Despite all the corpos not understanding the value of knowledge we still romanticize the idea of polymaths from other eras, maybe there is something in that.
He also complains about the current state of the web. I’ve never done anything regarding front end development as part of a job before, but knowing the industry from what others have said it is not the best place right now. The counter culture Independent/Personal Web is a much better place though. Hope Simone Silvestroni sticks around.
Ads hypocrisy by Manuel Moreale
Manuel Moreale saw an annoying message asking him to disable his ad blocker after it says that the website owners use one too.
Everything with the ad industry is awful and hypocritical. Manuel’s anger and frustration are shared by many of us I’m sure.
There is a right way to do advertising and the way the majority of the industry does it is not that way.
Are the LLMs worth it? by Michał Sapka
Michał Sapka talks about LLMs and the hype train around AI. He talks about the cost these types of AI models have on our environment, society, and economy.
I spoke and linked to too much AI Stuff last month so I won’t say much more on this, but AI is generally bad news despite its potential.
Four years of the personal web by James
James has been running his site for four years now.
He recalls the fun he’s had and the beauty of creating a space on the web.
James is one of the more involved people on the IndieWeb. He has helped cultivate a wonderful place for others to get involved and grow the web they want to see.
Useful cross-platform desktop emulators by Ruben Schade
Rubin shares a list of emulators he uses. A great guide if you want to play retro games, develop new ones, or use other old software.
The Story of the PING Program by Mike Muuss
Mike Muuss talks about the story of how he created the ping utility.
ping is one of those foundational tools that is used every day by many people, even when they don’t know it. It is always fun to see what the original author has to say about it.
I found this via Nicole’s blog where she tries to find the source code for ping, also a great read.
Should you give up social media? by Manuel Moreale
Manuel gives his insight on social media in response to Kev’s post about giving up social media.
The idea of mass social media has never been appealing to me, but small communities are awesome. Like Manuel I find that the small platforms let you really get to know people.
René Coignard’s Blog
Found this one via Manu’s website. René Coignard writes a personal blog that also covers his political activism. It is equal parts charming and haunting.
Why “Everything is Politics” by Dave Rogers
Dave Rogers presents an argument that politics are everywhere, in most things, and are of high importance. He thinks that if there is any kind of public square small social networks is where it is most likely to form.
Unfortunately I don’t think that is ever going to be the case. Social media, by design, is not a place for discussion. Manuel commented in his own post “Because if you dig deeper, people don’t want to have a conversation on social media. They want to vent.”
Social media is designed to get small comments out to a large audience, not to have discussions. You can have discussions on there, but you won’t have the best time. Personal blogs, email, even some forums (arguably still social media) can help provide a better experience where people can have nuanced discussions.
It is one thing to post something on social media the moment you hear it and another to deeply think on what you have to say, write out an argument, and post somewhere where people have the ability to discuss it with you in private. Social media can be used for good conversation, but its fast paced nature, post length limits, and rules imposed by others make it mostly performative and less of a tool for discussion tool.
Dave’s post is in response to Kev’s rules on his 500.social mastodon instance. Kev also responded to his posts.
If anything the amount of people discussing this topic on their own blogs and linking to each other helps illustrate the point, you couldn’t have this kind of discussion on Mastodon with only 500 characters. If you want to have a deep and nuanced conversation in public write a blog post and share it. If you want a one on one conversation then email is still the best way to do it.
Again, I’m not saying nothing good can come from social media, but I do think that it is one of the evils that has lead to the political division we see today around the world.
The Parent Trap by Wouter Groeneveld
Wouter Groeneveld has had a rough few months, having a child is a lot of work and all the other things happening in his life aren’t helping. I don’t have kids, but I’m the oldest of the 6 my parents had so I got to see the hard work my parents put in and watched my siblings grow up.
I hope Wouter and his wife get some time to rest and enjoy the time they have with their daughter. You have my sympathy, respect, and best wishes.
YouTube
YouTube is my default time waster and I’ve been trying to cut back on all that infotainment junk, but there are still a lot of good things on the platform.
What if forks were made of salt? by Ben Walker
Have you ever wondered how to make a fork out of salt? Most haven’t, but Ben Walker made a video on how to do that.
Then he made a video showcasing how to mass produce said salt forks.
This is what engineering promised us.
The Human Made Mark by No Boilerplate
Tris Oaten from No Boilerplate created his own mark to put on projects to indicate that it is made by humans and not AI, but without the negativity that many such marks have against AI.
His mark celebrates human creativity rather than antagonizing AI generation. I think it is a nice change of pace compared to the more anti-AI stuff going around. Check out the website for it here.
NEW DLC in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (Without hacks…) by im a blisy ._.
im a blisy ._. showcases how he used ecards to create custom events in the GBA Pokémon games.
What makes this so cool is that he creates new maps, events, and even Pokémon using just the data on the ecards to program the game. It is amazing to see what GBA games were capable of.
What Project 2025 Means for Our Cities by CityNerd
It is no secret that Project 2025 is a terrifying plan to harm the United States and eventually the rest of the world, but not many people have taken an in depth look at what it actually wants to implement.
CityNerd talks about a small part of the plan that focuses on how they will dismantle public transit, remove much needed emission targets, take away state’s rights to set stricter emission targets, and otherwise create a hostile urban environment for people to travel in.
This is a political video, but shouldn’t be. Any plan to make people’s lives worse should be shunned, regardless of political leanings.
How The Wizardry Remake Redefined Its Musical Identity by The Crawl
Wizardry is a foundational RPG video game. Brendan from The Crawl has an interview with the remake’s composer Winifred Phillips.
The original game didn’t have a soundtrack and music creates a large amount of the atmosphere and feeling players get when playing a video game. This makes it very challenging when trying to capture nestalgia when remaking old video games. Winifred Phillips talks about the process of trying to capture and enhance the feel of the original game with music.
