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Damion Schubert - @ZenOfDesign.com on bsky Profile picture
Damion Schubert - @ZenOfDesign.com on bsky
@ZenOfDesign
Creative Director at Boss Fight (a Netflix game studio). Focused on MMOs, RPGS, social systems, monetization. Advocate for putting treasure behind waterfalls
2 subscribers
Oct 29 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
“And every four years, we will have suburban housewives in Pennsylvania choose a new president.”

“Just Pennsylvania, sir?”

“And Wisconsin and Michigan. And maybe Arizona, as a treat.”

“No one else can vote, sir?”

“They can vote but it won’t matter.” Image God damn I hope this stupid shitpost doesn’t convince a single person not to vote. The election’s going to be scary close and there’s still a lot of important stuff happening down ballot even if you’re in a deep blue or deep red state.
Sep 23 • 41 tweets • 11 min read
Hi. Game designer here. I’ve seen the metrics.

While it’s not just you, there is a sizable number of players who spend huge amounts of time in character creation. Some will spend more than an hour there.

(Thread) Also, in a dialogue-heavy game with a lot of NPCs like a DA or a BG3, you’ll need a wide wealth of options to create a world of options to make your NPCs not feel like pod people copies of each other, so the work is not just about appeasing that portion of the audience.
Sep 5 • 28 tweets • 6 min read
I've been thinking about writing this thread for a long time, because I think most people - including a lot of game devs, especially more junior ones - don't understand something important about the AAA games industry.

Let's talk about home run swings.

(thred) When most devs think of jobs, they think of... well, jobs. Jobs are the important thing to us. Execs firing people is bad because devs are good and jobs are important. We like it when talented people can pay their rent and feed their family. So on and so on.
Jun 22 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
A lot of people have taken pot shots at this but I want to go into a little more in-depth, because I think it's important to understand what people like Mira just do not get. Let's talk about writing, esp. game writing.

Everyone thinks they can write.

1/Thread By which I mean, everyone capable of putting words into a sentence thinks they have what it takes to be a writer. And the people making AI seem to have the same mindset.

(Everyone thinks they can be a game designer, too, but that's a tangent)

2/x
Apr 19 • 21 tweets • 7 min read
Greetings, Teslamaniac! Today is the delivery day for your new obsession, the CYBERTRUCK! As we finish final preparation of your new CYBERTRUCK, here are some hints and tricks to help you really live the dream of being a true CYBERTRUCK owner!

(long thread) Image First, please don't accelerate the CYBERTRUCK, as you may not be able to stop once you do.
wired.com/story/cybertru…
Oct 4, 2023 • 48 tweets • 13 min read
A lot of game devs are dunking on this, but if you're not a game dev it's probably not actually obvious why. So I thought I'd take a moment to answer a little more thoughtfully in hopes of giving gamers a little more insight on what we do. Let's just start with the obvious: art directors all wish this guy was correct. And some art directors stick to their guns and either have no cues, or cues that only appear if you enter 'scan mode' or turn on 'spidey sense' or something. What in this screenshot is interactable? Image
Jul 24, 2023 • 25 tweets • 8 min read
Let's talk about X baby. Here's a roundup of the stupid of the last 24 hours.

(Incredibly stupid thread)

They announced that would redirect to Twitter but ... it doesn't.
https://t.co/tZIitwnIHPx.com
Jul 16, 2023 • 24 tweets • 10 min read
The last week on Twitter has been really an amazing string of WTF, even by the impressive standards of Elon. It's really funny when you put all the pieces together.

it's important to start at the beginning. Twitter's pretty broke.

(amusing thread) Image Twitter is 'can't pay the rent' level of broke.

tech.co/news/musk-twit…
Jun 7, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
If the recent rumors of Broadsword buying SWTOR are true - which I believe by the way - it could be very good for SWTOR. SWTOR still earns considerable money if you’re a small studio like Broadsword. Them investing more in the title frankly makes more sense than EA doing so. The confounding factor is, of course, the shape of the deal and how big a cut EA gets from any ongoing revenue.

But SWTOR is still a lively game with dedicated spenders, and it gets a boost of users any time new Star Wars content comes out.
Apr 21, 2023 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
Okay, real talk, let's talk Twitter Blue. A short thread on why this whole misadventure is so stupid and doomed.

I've designed monetization for F2P MMOs. I know about subscription fees, and I know about free options, I know about enticing players to upsell to the sub.

1/ When selling an MMO sub, the important thing to do is to add actual, tangible value to the sub, so that if you're going to spend money in the game, the subscription is the first thing you should buy. Subs are great because they're fairly predictable income.

2/
Jan 17, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Two points I’ll make about this beyond ‘lol crypto games’.

1) In board games and traditional digital games, poop games are ‘cheap’ games. Board games about poop are ‘family fare’ you play with your 5th grader, and you buy them at Target. Video games about poop are a little rarer, but they’re usually also bargain bin fare aimed at 13 year olds. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is the only one that I can remember having a serious budget. (Maybe the South Park games too, I don’t remember).
Nov 20, 2022 • 32 tweets • 6 min read
Once upon a time, there was a thriving social space that was utterly destroyed by capricious management destroying the community's goodwill through rushed and ill-advised changes to meet a ridiculous bullshit deadline. I'm talking of course about the NGE.

(/thread) I should note before I begin that I did NOT work on the NGE - or even at Sony. But Austin's a small town, and as such I know many people who did. But I freely accept that my viewpoint from the bleachers may differ from the memories of those who were in the trenches.
Dec 28, 2019 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
Movie: .. and then Rey takes Luke and Leia’s sabers to Tattooine.
Me: Why?
Movie: So their spirits will be home. You know, closure.
Me: Leia wasn’t from Tattooine.
Movie: ....
Me: Leia primarily remembered Tattooine as the place where she was a giant slug’s sex slave. @MikeWeaver800 @HarryTHop @delance2 @KentCiao @bhiner1029 They also could have made the movie longer - or split it into two - if they needed more time! Or alternatively, taken another year once they realized they were changing scripts and directors.