@ckunzelman
Critic. Tabletop columnist at The AV Club and Rascal News. Podcasts for Ranged Touch (Shelved By Genre | Just King Things | Game Studies Study Buddies). Wrote THE WORLD IS BORN FROM ZERO and EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED. Working on a Magic: The Gathering book.
you ever look back with immense sorrow and pity at the needlessly bitter but intensely pursued agendas of people trapped in a world they don't realize is preparing to die in a frenzy
it's @foddy.net giving a game design talk / career retrospective at @nyugamecenter.bsky.social right now live www.twitch.tv/nyugamecenter
i am now pushing the button to go live to play slay the spire come hang twitch.tv/katbamkapow
The close reading interest in the academy is also the result of a couple trends: the pendulum swinging back the other way from the “distal” reading of DH and other modes and (sadly, stealthily, in another name) something that feels like a final door slamming on Theory
I think it’s a really important linkage and the game is fun!
Quantum Break
eight hours left on this. probably less now. cos of how time works
yes this is the point i'm making (although I do think there's some way for recursive revision of outputs to deal with this, introducing a kind of paranoia to the LLM via second order reading of the outputs)
This is bad, and part of what makes it so bad is that this is clearly pulling from *genre* understandings of reality, which the statistical linguistic machine seemingly cannot distinguish from other text included in the training data. Truly an ideology machine where every episode of CSI is true.
i need this. it will fix me.
forget "which fictional characters could resist the ring" it's time for "which fictional characters really don't need or possibly already have the ring"
Happy to announce the Quadrilateral Cowboy March 2026 update! 💾💾💾
Details here: store.steampowered.com/news/app/240...
Big thanks to Ethan Lee www.flibitijibibo.com for making this update happen. Hire Ethan!!! flibitijibibo.com/maintenance....
from reading their own materials about the development, part of what made it so good as that the french devs actually already has a strong handle on the history which led to some real debates about what to depict and how, which is maybe revealing about the others games (I write about it in the book)
this is one of the best things I've ever seen bsky.app/profile/ghou...
Unity is the game I came to appreciate the most while writing EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED (bookshop.org/p/books/ever...) and I am really interested on how it plays at 60fps.
universal rentier economy
"I was expecting it to take longer for people to care about Maeve and Dalia's relationship," narrative director Kait Tremblay said. "But it did not. People got in on that sapphic yearning right away."
Amberspire, our dice driven science fantasy city builder, will release MAY 6!
Roll dice, grow a city, forge alliances, interact with an ecology, and read a history of the future.
PC, Mac, Steam Deck - May 6!
s.team/a/3350750
A busy weekend pushed us out a day or two, but as of yesterday your podcatcher should have received the latest episode of GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES, in which we journey into the deep past with the debut issue of GAME STUDIES from the alien world of July of 2001 rangedtouch.com/2026/03/02/9...
I’m the top Steam review for Reavers of New Rome
I’ve just learned that I have the top Steam review of Reavers of New Rome
You can read my book EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED to learn more about this, but Shira’s point is even sharper than she knows: the origin of the term is as fictional and and troubled as its current usage, meaning that from top to bottom it’s a phrase that produces chaotic outcomes.
The full release of DEATH CUT IN STONE it out!
Death Cut In Stone is a brutal old west skirmish game that hacks the Violence System by @lukegearing.bsky.social. Editing and layout from @forbiddenpsalm.bsky.social and art by the incredible VIL.
Grab it here 👇
I think about half of my teaching is in things I don’t have any interest in outside of my teaching them, but I have found diving into the specialties and trying to puzzle out how to make them interesting *to me* has made it worthwhile
An ink drawing of a lightly armored person facing one of the fallen giants from dark souls 2.
Forest of Fallen Giants
yeah it is the interleaving of the something there (and how it impacts the end of that plot) that matters a lot to me
Three Necrons (skeleton robots) by John Blanche.
One Necron (skeleton robot) by John Blanche.
Necrons by John Blanche
If you were someone who was like "Wellll I don't need to re-read the Hobbit or listen to those guys talk about Bilbo and all those Dwarves, but maybe I'll get on board once LOTR starts..." well: We've made it to Fellowship.
A long-expected episode: prepare your party favors, brush up on your lore, and get your traveling cloaks ready as SHELVED BY GENRE embarks on the Quest of the Ring today with our first episode on J.R.R. Tolkien's THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. rangedtouch.com/2026/02/27/t...
