Nick

horseshadowing

The Week that Was: March 2nd–8th, 2026 — Whymog Welcome back! This week was no joke, but I’ve got a few game design-y thoughts and a deeply engrossing game recommendation to share with you all.

Hey, new post! In this week's issue, I:
- examine the distressing but undeniable parallels between Bilbo Baggins and Ray Smuckles;
- traverse an extended metaphor for how it's hard, frustrating work to decommission the brain garbage we inherit;
- recommend a game that's overflowing with bird puns

I also wrote a lot about commander deck design but, I mean, I think you can probably just assume I'm gonna go on a lengthy aside about Magic whenever I write these days

The Week that Was: March 2nd–8th, 2026 — Whymog Welcome back! This week was no joke, but I’ve got a few game design-y thoughts and a deeply engrossing game recommendation to share with you all.

Hey, new post! In this week's issue, I:
- examine the distressing but undeniable parallels between Bilbo Baggins and Ray Smuckles;
- traverse an extended metaphor for how it's hard, frustrating work to decommission the brain garbage we inherit;
- recommend a game that's overflowing with bird puns

I just hauled 45 pounds of groceries up a hill on my bike! Dang, bikes are cool

(Kinda want an ebike though…)

If you cannot convey sarcasm effectively without explicitly naming it, you should probably try being sincere instead

Bluesky’s “Add muted words and tags” interface. I have entered “/s” as the mute phrase.

a weight is lifted

Sparrow Warfare is a delight! I’m not just saying that — I, um, actually can’t stop playing? I keep thinking I’m done for the night and then, well, y’know. The whole “one more run” thing.

Anyway: it’s a clever and deep piece of game design, and it feels very much like its own thing. Check it out!

I lack the words to capture it, but ... it's just endlessly remarkable to me that so many people in our society have chosen trans kis -- TRANS KIDS, the smallest, least significant, most vulnerable demographic slice you could possibly pick -- as a repository for all their fears & insecurities.

It bums me out that Movie Madness is moving from a beloved neighborhood main drag to a busy urban highway with terrible bike and pedestrian infra. I’m frustrated that the Hollywood Theatre seems to be pushing NE Sandy as a destination w/o vocally supporting traffic calming, bike lanes, transit, etc.

Both showers and public transit rides have 3x multipliers to Thinking Time. You'd think stationary bikes would be too because they're both moving and mindless but actually they're 0.5x at best. Long flights have 10x to Thinking Time but only if you're in the sweet spot of tired but not TOO tired

Modified dril tweet that reads: *sees the windows vista 2 logo on a website, tthrows head back and screams the word "Epic" before immediately defaulting to aberrant emotionless state*

Aw, thanks! 🎉

Things are shifting; gears are turning

Despite living on the West Coast for nearly my entire life, I've never really felt like I wanted a tattoo until now(!)(?)

I wonder about this too! Like, is it a purely chemical process playing out, or is it just a well-trod mental pathway getting activated because I'm (speaking for my own brain) "not doing enough" or "not strong enough"? Either way, it's really helpful to have someone there to help with the lifting!

The Week that Was: February 23rd–March 1st, 2026 — Whymog In this week’s issue, I look at the perils of over-reliance on the inner critic, the (not unrelated!) challenges of getting back in the saddle, the apotheosis of Hades , and I recommend a lovely litt...

I am trying very hard to be good at writing again. It's hard! So many cobwebs to tend to! But I am at least less bad than I was a month ago.

Here's the latest from me on making games, brain stuff, and "finishing" Hades. And I've got another great game recommendation for this week: Strange Jigsaws.

That’s what the internet is for!

I hadn’t, but it’s not surprising — this gambling trash is swallowing up everything good

And what a privilege it is to have worked on something that didn’t just come and go — that people keep finding their way to. I may never be so lucky again; I’ve got to remember to appreciate it.

Trash the Planet still gets played by a hundred people a week, give or take, five years after launch. It pops up on lists and Reddit posts semi-regularly. I don’t claim to be in the same ballpark as Perfect Tides, but I do feel the same sense of resolution with our game that she describes here.

For ppl who aren't aware:
Old temperate forests are insanely rare nowadays and extremely important ecosystems lost forever once cut.
They're not just "old trees" but intricate networks of trees, fungi and all kinds of living creatures.
You CANNOT replant this!! Once it's gone it's lost FOREVER!!!

just became aware of this--the regime wants to clear-cut massive chunks of Oregon's old growth forests in the name of timber production.

you have until March 23rd to comment.

i know we have endless fucking things to scream at politicians about--this is an important one too.

Look it's just a really fucking scary picture book about a "shadow ghost" I'm done we're done here

ok good night

The same dark room, now inside and looking left. A teddy bear hangs from a rack, missing its right eye. A bed, medical curtains, and more toys are scattered in the dark distance. This sucks, man.

love this for me

First-person screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem of a woman's hand holding a burning cigarette lighter in front of a dark room. An open white door and green-painted left wall are visible at the periphery, and older furniture can vaguely be made out in the darkness. It is very scary in person; trust me.

cool cool cool

I, a giant baby, really screwed up by waiting until it's dark out to play Resident Evil Requiem

Update: I did, in fact, get the dodge roll feature into the game today.

I understand how signals work now. Honestly, what a cool feature: it's one of those things you think should've just been baked into every game engine at this level once you've worked with it a bit.

The Week that Was: February 23rd–March 1st, 2026 — Whymog In this week’s issue, I look at the perils of over-reliance on the inner critic, the (not unrelated!) challenges of getting back in the saddle, the apotheosis of Hades , and I recommend a lovely litt...

I am trying very hard to be good at writing again. It's hard! So many cobwebs to tend to! But I am at least less bad than I was a month ago.

Here's the latest from me on making games, brain stuff, and "finishing" Hades. And I've got another great game recommendation for this week: Strange Jigsaws.