Justin Kuiper

Progress enjoyer, human extinction disliker. Scriptwriter: @idolmanagergame, @TeamTheorist, #Necrobarista @route59games. Read me at

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

If I had a nickel for every time a game I worked on came out on Nintendo Switch, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a ton, but it's cool that it's happened twice

[Idol Manager @IdolManagerGame]

Idol Manager is coming to the Switch, PS4 and PS5 on August 25!
https://t.co/xpnjWmyQdI

[Substack @Substack]

A retail mystery: if Costco pays employees more, how do they offer the lowest prices? Because "Target and Walmart can't copy the things that make Costco good"

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@IsaacKing314 Au contraire! The first 30 seconds of the video you link confirm the core "play within a play" conceit.

This clip doesn't show Junior Asparagus in his actual bedroom; he is an *actor* on a *set*. Addressed at length here: https://t.co/D5fADuRsk9

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@wfenza @EneaszWrites I agree with you that we need less IP policing: in fact, I think that excessive IP policing (and Weird Al’s need to pay royalties to the artists when he parodies a specific song) are a big part of the reason why he is so unwilling to name Dick’s Automotive as his inspiration!

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@NIKO93 @EneaszWrites Like, I explicitly talked about how "lawful/chaotic" and "good/evil" are orthogonal axes.

My thesis is something close to "I think that Al is behaving legally here, but it's not great."

I would like for laws to be more permissive. I don't think we disagree on too much there.

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@NIKO93 @EneaszWrites Hi Alex. I think you are reading a lot of my descriptive claims and parsing them as normative claims.

In fact, part of my goal in this post was to decouple descriptive statements about what's legal from normative claims about how I'd like to see artists share credit.

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@RosieCampbell I’ll add that whey isolate is the ultimate ethical high-protein dairy (and also low-cal): it’s a byproduct of the cheese-making process that would otherwise be dumped

(Much of it still gets composted because we make more cheese than the whey isolate market can absorb.)

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

Doing it again this year, catch me in Berkeley from now to 6/8

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

Headed to Berkeley for a couple weeks, holler if you're in the area and want to say hi

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@qntm Cool concept for a new book! Sounds completely unlike any of your previously-released work

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

FWIW I think it does this because of the semantic distance between New Mexico and Albuquerque, Connecticut and Quinnipiac, New York and Queens

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

pure vibes

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@oxa11ce Glad to have helped!

I'll add that most board game fan content is additive -- more levels, more flexible player counts, etc. People make it for games they already like.

"This game rocks, I wish there was more of it" is more common than "this game sucks, I want to fix it"

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@oxa11ce Here’s a BGG thread on fan-made solo modes (some replacing the game’s native solo mode, others adding solo modes to games that were only designed for multiplayer) https://t.co/EcRmDda6Yu

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@oxa11ce These fan creations usually don’t have their own BGG entry, but instead exist in the “files” section for the game in question, mostly shared via the forums

Some publishers promote and elevate these fan creations, as Stonemaier does here for Wingspan: https://t.co/O2gI8ZMT0g

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@MaxDiffusionRL I’m definitely not the median attendee, but I really appreciate how everyone made me feel welcome!

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

Gonna be in Berkeley for the next ~week, let me know if you want to say hi

Will be doing at least one talk at mini-Manifest on Saturday

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@drethelin Depends on rapport. If it’s someone I’m not close with, I am probably more likely to say “saw this, I’ll respond later when I have time to compose a more thoughtful reply”

Friends and close colleagues hopefully know me well enough to know I’m not just ignoring them

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@patio11 Do you get the sense this is a uniquely American feature?

I'm curious as to whether there's any parallel system abroad. (Or whether the "side channel" is unnecessary in countries that are invested in having government agencies that just work by default.)

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@QuixoteKnight Is donating whole blood more effective for reducing heavy metal levels than plasma donation, since heavy metals are present in red blood cells?

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@patio11 e.g. the presence of a magnet in an escape room implies something *generally*, but an experienced player will know specifically what kinds of room geometry or features to look for when the magnet shows up.

[Justin Kuiper @justkuiper]

@patio11 Part of the "difficulty level" is tied to familiarity with the medium's conventions/tropes

In the same way that video gamers know that red barrels explode when shot, or can spot conveniently-paced ledges for progression, escape room players learn how to "sight read" a room.