Belltower Games (Jeff)

Games: Sands of Time, Fabelwald, Acts of the Evangelists, Lost Adventures

Book: You Said This Would Be Fun, available on Amazon, Audible

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

I put together this printable summary sheet, and bookmark, capturing the central constructs at the heart of You Said This Would Be Fun. Perhaps it's useful as a reference/reminder

If you're a designer, I suspect you have cardstock to print it on!

https://t.co/pydLVybhwW

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@Clint_Davey1 Fans won't like this but I think the most economical explanation is that the story changes between Ep IV and Ep V. The universe enlarges, it doesn't exactly break continuity but some elements change as they're fleshed out, similar to how things change going from Hobbit -> LotR.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@IraFews42784 I feel like "Yes but your child is not /objectively/ fast" has maybe crossed into the proverbial "this is weird"/"go outside and touch grass" territory.

This girl has great takeoff and strong mechanics. She will get "objectively faster" with continued coaching and training.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@remotelywrite A few:
@BillAckman
@TRHLofficial
@gghamari
@bungarsargon
@realsashastone
@buttonslives
@mkhammer
@hoovlet
@karol
@DataRepublican
@DataInterpretr
@ScooterCasterNY
@Erin_Molan
@AnnaRMatson

I'm not sure of their politics but they all post interesting things.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 Haha, that's sadly true. The stakes of this one are thankfully low. Whether Tom is or is not biased isn't too important in the grand scheme of things. If only all online discussions could be so low-stakes, tempers could surely stay in check more!

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 It's all good, thank you for the discussion!

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 What I get from Tom, and as he makes explicit in this video, is that Tom loves...certain games, that play a certain way and look a certain way.

But, I think he's wrong. "It didn't have a lavish production" is not synonymous with "it's subpar".

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 To me the gold standard is Ebert, and what comes through clearly in Ebert's reviews is, Ebert loved film. Loved the medium, the artistry, just loved everything about it. He didn't love every film, but he loved great films in all their forms.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 A game with a $20k art budget will look different from a game with a $1k art budget. If you set par (as Tom pretty much does) at the $20k art budget standard, sure, you'll judge many games to be subpar, but that is indeed A BIAS!

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 And I think that's deeply irresponsible in a reviewer. If you watch an art school film or listen to a garage album, you can't consider it through the same lens as you would a major studio or major label release.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 I didn't watch the video yet, I guess my point is more to wonder, is anyone actually saying that they are overly kind to indie studios, such that he felt they needed to set the record straight?

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 he (Chris) cited the game as one of his top 10. Then, for no reason, the other guys started making fun of it, and Tom blurted out "It has problems!" It's fine if Tom has the opinion but he didn't elaborate, and it just felt tonally off for a "games that we liked" recap.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 My general sense is the DT is actually kind of the opposite: Tom is more likely to go hard at an indie game than one from a "big" publisher.

That was my experience. Chris from DT played, and liked, an indie game I released. In their annual "games we liked this year" video,

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames Ok. I mean, he's free to go against his own website, it's his company! Good luck.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames They don't take outside submissions unfortunately.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

@AnnaRMatson My son has profound nonverbal autism. He's sweet and funny and happy and we love him very much. But, it's a hard life and he will need support for his whole life. If there was a "cure", we'd take it. If we could prevent anyone else from being profoundly autistic, we would.

[Belltower Games (Jeff) @belltowergames]

I'm not particularly great at programming games but this one looks fun!

https://t.co/PadvyydYoa: the adventurous family board game on @Kickstarter https://t.co/zTm1qTTZGd