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Alan Zucconi Profile picture
@AlanZucconi
Sep 27, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
Turns out 2020 was—for many of us—one of the worst years on record.

If you are feeling stressed and need somewhere to escape for a little bit, this is a thread about some short, calming games that I hope will help you relax.

Starting with...

👇👇👇 🧵
"A Short Hike" is without any doubt the best indie title of the year. 🏔️🐦

@adamgryu has truly crafted something that can soothe your soul for a good few hours.

store.steampowered.com/app/1055540/A_…
"Kind Words" is a game like no other. 💌🤗

You can write about your own issues, and read anonymous replies from other players.

It's warming and empowering. @popcannibal created one of the few experiments on empathy that actually worked.

store.steampowered.com/app/1070710/Ki…
"Townscaper" is a small town-building toy. 🏡🏠

An incredibly relaxing experience, powered by @OskSta's procedural goodness and shader wizardry.

store.steampowered.com/app/1291340/To…
"Fugl" is a bird-flying game, with hundreds of animals you can morph into.

The way in which @melodive renders voxel animations is simply stunning, and unlikely any other voxel game out there.

store.steampowered.com/app/643810/Fug…
"Donut County" is (possibly) the only (good) game in which you play as a hole in the group.

@torahhorse and his team made @donutcounty into a short, funny and light-hearted experience.

store.steampowered.com/app/702670/Don…
"Cloud Gardens" is a minimalist game about reclaiming abandoned dioramas using plants. 🌱🏚️

@noio_games crafted a relaxing, almost meditative experience which will—literally—grow on you.

Supports the ability to export time-lapses of your creations.

store.steampowered.com/app/1372320/Cl…
"Islanders" is a minimalist strategy game about building cities on colourful islands. 🏙️🏝️

The folks at @_grizzlygames created a perfectly paced game, which is both challenging and relaxing.

store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/IS…
"Tiny Islands" is a small masterpiece in emergent storytelling. Build your island in the game, while building its story in your mind. 🤏🏝️

A tiny game by @dr_d_king that will stay with you for a long time.

dr-d-king.itch.io/tiny-islands
"Proteus" is possibly the first—and the best—"walking simulator" to this date. 🏝️🐿️

The procedural landscapes by @edclef are complemented by one of @kanaga's best OSTs.

A title that is definitely worth rediscovering after almost 10 years.

store.steampowered.com/app/219680/Pro…

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More from @AlanZucconi

Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Sep 14, 2023
In case you missed it, @tkexpress11 wrote a long thread about Unity's recent changes.

First of all, thank you for writing this, really! 🙏

But I think the thread is missing a few important points...

🧵 (1/8)
1⃣ LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

Nobody knows how Unity will measure installs. And Unity made it very clear they will not share more details about their "proprietary technology".

It's impossible for gamedevs to contest numbers when Unity is both the judge and jury.

(2/8)
2⃣ "TRUST US, BRO"

If there is anything Unity cannot leverage right now, is trust. Unity has consistently eroded the trust of its user base for over 5 years, showing to be an incredibly unreliable company.

Gigaya & the recent AI dramas show how NO, we cannot trust Unity.

(3/8)
Read 8 tweets
Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Aug 1, 2023
If you're a big fan of FEZ, you might have noticed that to *fully* complete the game, you don't have to complete it to 100%. You have to complete it to 209.3%. 😅

Let's see why. 🧐🧵
FEZ monitors the progress with a percentage. That is the number of cubes you need to complete the game.

You need 32 cubes (or anticubes) to unlock the first ending, which gives you 100%.

This unlocks a cutscene so trippy that not even the YouTube compression can keep up.
FEZ "real" ending is achieved by collecting 64 cubes (32 cubes and 32 anticubes).

This leads to 200%, which makes sense as by now most players are effectively on their second run.

This unlocks another cutscene, revealing the multiverse, and that FEZ is likely a simulation.
Read 7 tweets
Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Jun 8, 2023
With so many photo editing tools powered by Generative AI, I think is worth remembering some of the most powerful techniques that do NOT rely on Deep Learning. 🧮

🧵 Let's see how SEAM CARVING works and how we can make it in @unity! 👇

alanzucconi.com/?p=8000
SEAM CARVING is a technique that resizes images without "squeezing" them.

It does so by identifying "seams": continuous lines that cross as fewer edges as possible. Image
Removing one seam means removing one pixel from each row (or column), in such a way that fewer edges as possible are disrupted.

Identifying these seams is a non-trivial task, which involves EDGE DETECTION. This is often done using Sobel filters. ImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Aug 28, 2022
From "RimWorld" to "Firewatch", there are countless games which feature maps. 🗺️

These are FIVE #gamedev resources to create them in your games...

🧵👇
1⃣ 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝘀 🗺️

This tutorial shows how to render any terrain like a proper topographical maps.

It also supports isolines/contour lines, and custom gradients!

alanzucconi.com/2022/04/19/top…
2⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝘀 🗺️

This tutorials shows how to create interactive maps. This is particularly useful if you want to give life to satellite data.

alanzucconi.com/2019/07/03/int…
Read 8 tweets
Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Apr 3, 2022
This week I've been replaying Firewatch. 🛡️🔥
Despite being 6 years old—which is about 40 in indie game years—it has aged gracefully and is still an incredibly enjoyable experience.

And replaying it now, I can see how much love @camposanto has put into its making...

🧵👇
For me, it's the tiny details that make Firewatch an absolute gem to watch and play.

Like selecting a different number makes your in-game hand move on the lock.
Firewatch is the prefect compromise between being an open-world, exploration game and a more traditional story-driven experience.

@thatJaneNg gave a very interesting talk at GDC about the challenges of designing (and building!) such a space in two years.

gdcvault.com/play/1023191/M…
Read 8 tweets
Alan Zucconi Profile picture
Oct 6, 2021
Did I really installed *every* major version of @unity?

Yes, I did. 😌

Join me in this journey to celebrate how much Unity has changed since 2005...
▶️ Unity 1.0
Was officially released on June 8 2015, and was initially limited to MacOS.

▶️ Unity 2.0
Launched in 2007, with a bunch of new features.

These versions are nowhere to be found, but the editor looked very familiar.

Fun fact: not many know that Unity actually started as a collaboration from the Danish programmer Nicholas Francis (@unitynich) and Joachim Ante.

This is what version 0.2b looked like before becoming the Unity we all know.

blog.unity.com/technology/bla…
Read 22 tweets

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