individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware r̶a̶n̶t̶ manifesto alienmelon.itch.io/shovelware "This is an interactive-essay-meets-walking-sim about technocapitalism and the things we lost along the way." 🦴💕✨🐛💥 #GameDev #IndieGame #IndieGames #IndieGameDev #LiminalSpace - ThreadSky

alienmelon.bsky.social • 185 days ago

individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware r̶a̶n̶t̶ manifesto
https://alienmelon.itch.io/shovelware
"This is an interactive-essay-meets-walking-sim about technocapitalism and the things we lost along the way."
🦴💕✨🐛💥
#GameDev #IndieGame #IndieGames #IndieGameDev #LiminalSpace

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Comments

dbattery.bsky.social•135 days ago

@dingdongvg.bsky.social Something tells me that this is super in your taste.

dorcat.bsky.social•42 days ago

I wish this didn't make my computer die, I had to quit before it set on fire. :C

urmultimedia.bsky.social•178 days ago

This looks amazing. Will check it out when I'm back home 🙏

alienmelon.bsky.social•178 days ago

yay thank u !

syx98.bsky.social•79 days ago

thank you

minty-oh.bsky.social•42 days ago

📌

maxnewland.com•89 days ago

📌

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

This is fantastic, does a great job formalizing the soapbox I've been screaming off the top of for years!

I could easily have a day long conversation (rant) about all of this stuff that I just can't fit here. 🥺 But it mirrors so much of the things I've been talking about for the last decade or two.

alienmelon.bsky.social•180 days ago

i’m glad you resonated with it! it’s meant a lot hearing from other people that relate to it. big talking point for me for a long time too. hard not to feel so strongly about it if you do really love tech but hate what the “system” is doing to/with it.

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

Another thing that I keep coming back to - that isn't necessarily part of the piece - is how that sort of customisation / individuality was mirrored in stuff like graphic design or consumer electronics, and how all that stuff is just... gone, in the name of conformity.

ANYWAY NOT RANTING PROMISED 😭

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

One thing I wish it had at least a slight wink towards is the "renegade" software scenes like the demoscene (they could've fit well in the staircase bit), but I understand we're a niche of a niche of a niche :D

alienmelon.bsky.social•180 days ago

i appreciate this bit definitely but i have to admit i know next to nothing about that scene. i mean not enough to properly present it. if you wanted to send links my way i would appreciate it tho!

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRkZcTg1JWU is a pretty good documentary, if you promise to close your eyes during the bits when I'm on screen 🫣

alienmelon.bsky.social•180 days ago

cool thank you!

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

One thing I do wish it would've addressed though is the irony when talking about centralization of the manifesto itself having been created in Unreal Engine, and how even a manifesto like this has to go through UE and Itch to have access to public attention.

alienmelon.bsky.social•180 days ago

lol i love this point 😆 was hoping to be as ironic about it as possible when i kept pushing “next gen” features & hardware in the description. like lol its all edgy but u need the latest hardware. it’s kind of post-manifesto then bc there is no way of uncoupling urself properly from these systems.

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

I think there's a distinction though between using latest hardware, which I view is opportunity, and a commercial engine, which is conformity - though of course granted, our beloved Flash suffered from a similar issue.

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

The irony of course is that hardware costs money and thus subject to economic inequality, while Unreal Engine is "free" - but then, as you correctly point out, there's no such thing as really "free" when there are Terms and Conditions.

gargaj.umlaut.hu•180 days ago

(Also, I think there was a typo around halfway where it said "nothing maters", which the speech synth dutifully read incorrectly as-is? :D )

ptk2k5.bsky.social•53 days ago

Reminds me of the game bad toys https://www.myabandonware.com/game/bad-toys-fow

alienmelon.bsky.social•52 days ago

lol this is really cool. i love that era of shooters.

ptk2k5.bsky.social•52 days ago

It was an amazing era!

jhpdf.bsky.social•180 days ago

Wish there was a Mac version (of this and blue suburbia)

pussyfullawasps.bsky.social•54 days ago

📌

hereticalproductions.net•4 days ago

I've been saying shit similar to this for years and everyone ignores me. People are so deadset on over-centralizing everything and cramming themselves into a sardine can that they've abandoned everything and just assume that the shitty corpos won't destroy these major platforms.

nuclearanna.bsky.social•59 days ago

📌

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