Ah - amazing. That was the very point of the day; so it's super rewarding to hear you say that. Thanks for sharing - and for joining us!

Whoa - new noise genre discovered! ('Harsh Arcade Attract Wall'?)

(I love all kidns of noise - I really could listen to this for hours!)

Yes - a great game and a great mag. What a pairing!

(Print forever! :) )

It’s an evolving resource too; we plan to add and update. So we’re open to suggestions re helpful topics, where to expand detail, etc.!

After months of research, attending events, and speaking to industry experts, with @gameslondon.bsky.social I wrote the Self-Publishing Toolkit.

It's a free guide to self-publishing games, covering marketing, events, assets, community, PR, etc.

Use it! Share it!

toolkit.games.london

#gamedev

Games journalist Will Freeman (wearing a pink cap and white T-shirt) standing on a stage holding a microphone addressing the audience at Games Meets Music.

Games journalist Will Freeman (wearing a pink cap, white T-shirt, green trousers, and sliver trainers) sitting on a stage holding a presenter card, speaking to three panelists also on stage, seen in the foreground of the picture, at the Screen Play conference.

Games journalist Will Freeman (wearing a pink cap and white T-shirt) sitting on a stage holding a microphone and presenter notes, speaking to games writer Jon Ingold, also on-stage, out-of-focus in the foreground.

A screengrab of the homepage of the Self-Publishing Toolkit website.

What a week at London Games Festival! I hosted Self-Publishing Toolkit Live, Games Meets Music, and a Rebellion panel at BFI/Screen Play.

Also launched our game devs' Self-Publishing Toolkit (see reply), and watched the game BAFTAs with my kids after they helped me as juror on the Family category.🔥

DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite on Steam CAVE's arcade bullet hell shooter returns as DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite. New stages, a new character, new music, and other new elements set the stage for a new challenge.

Cave's opened a Steam page for Shinyaku DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu / DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite, a new self-produced version of DFK promising new stages, BGM, characters, assist features & more store.steampowered.com/app/4517190/DoDonPachi_R... no ETA as of yet...

Go for Psyvariar: Revision, Psyvariar 2, or Psyvariar Delta (both variants of the original, plus arrange business).

It’s all about bullet grazing. Grazing fills a gauge. Every time that gauge tops out, your weapon levels up, and you get a flash of invincibility. That’s the basics! Encourages such fun play. And lots of lurking, not firing, letting the bullet clouds amass for a grazing frenzy.

Apologies if you’re already super familiar with this!

Psyvariar 2 - Gluon YouTube video by Saurian

Played at the top level the Psyvariar games encourage a playstyle so unlike typical shmup play. This 19-year-old run against the Gluon boss from Psyvariar 2 is still so mind blowing!

youtu.be/FbaA1qIx-C4?...

Not while trying to also hit the screengrab button at a good time! But I can beat it. And you know… with enough grazing you can get a bit of invincibility window chaining on and be much safer. Not that I’m great at it. But I love the pacey risk/reward energy!

A screenshot of the 2D shooter video game Psyvariar 2, with high numbers of orange enemy bullets overwhelming the screen, to the point very little Elsie is viable beyond vague glimpses of a dark blue background.

I’ve been rinsing the Psyvariar series again. Such a rush to play. One of my all time favourite game series!

My series-history including interviews with devs from Psy 1 to the new Psy 3 coming to Retro Gamer magazine soon!

#shmups

That, and I’m really diabolically bad at rhythm-action games!

I will explore that this weekend! I have a base and debug PS3… we’ll see!

It's is good. Not extrodinarily so, as there's not wild longevity. But disk swopping with a music CD and it building a stage out each tune? That's so wonderful and fun as a concept, and it's wicked to explore what sounds build challenging stages. From the PaRappa the Rapper team too.

I sold my copy of Vib Ribbon to CEX for £8 in the year 2000.

After trading in a towering heap of lesser PS2 games, I own it again! 🤦🏼 on the pennies, but so excited to play again (and I can always flog it!).

Check out our latest blog - CODIE’S CODER: RICHARD SMITH AND THE LMA MANAGER STORY

Read here: www.bitmapbooks.com/blogs/news/c...

Grab a copy of our book - A Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games: www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/...

#bitmapbooks #booksky #gaming #football

Ah. Thanks mate. Hope you like it!

A book, two comics and a video game magazine on a bed. Anathem by Neal Stephenson 20th Century Boys by Naomi Urasawa Assorted Crisis Events by Camp/Zawadzki ´Earthion’ Article by Will Freeman, featured in Retro Gamer magazine

New (& one quite old) bits of reading material. Always good to have a new shmup/stg feature from @spadgy.bsky.social to read 🥳 #books #comics #magazines

I kept seeing something in japanese shmups: bullets are equidistant. So moving up doesn't create clumps of bullets, and moving down doesn't make the bullet stream seem more sparse.

So I mocked it up. Feels very right. It's not for anything, just a proof of concept.
#indiedev

Not making a Switch 2 game? I also have almost every other gaming format. Unless you’re making an FM Towns Marty or X68000 game… but I’m always looking for excuses to buy one of those! :)

A hand holding up a Switch 2 console in front of a shelf containing rows of boxed video games. On the screen of the switch the logo/Home Screen of the game Dinkey Kong Bananza is displayed.

Finally flippin’ got one. First time I’ve not had a console on launch day since the PS1 gen, I think.

Now I can review/mock review/etc. your Switch 2 games!

Thank you!

Absolutely! I’ll always prefer a proper arcade stick (and there I like short throw, short engage, etc.

That kind of vibe in a palm-held joystick? That’s why I love it so!

I wrote some words about unusual game controllers for the mighty @bitmapbooks.com.

And I’m here to defend the Cheetah Bug to the bitter end! Sincerely one of my favourite controllers.

I spoke to Ancient Corp. (devs of the 8-bit Sonic games) about the creation of their recent shmup Earthion for @retrogamermag.bsky.social. Issue 281!

Thanks to Earthion producer and chiptune icon Yuzo Koshiro, and Earthion director and Shenmue stalwart Makoto Wada for all the insights!

#shmups

Just got asked for my CV. Just realised I've not updated or used it in 17 years. 🤦Very professional, me!

(How was it 17 years ago I applied to a wrtiting roll at @mcvdevelop.bsky.social on Develop mag!?)

I LOVE a risk/reward focused shmup. How’d I miss this one until now!? I must try it!

Lost my phone fo three days and it was so blissful and lovely I might start locking the damn thing in a box every weekend!