-
16 votes
-
Demand is booming for new no tech, repairable tractor
35 votes -
Tokyo land is still >$85 million an acre
6 votes -
When AI builds itself — progress toward recursive self-improvement and its implications
6 votes -
Denmark wants to test whether weight-loss drugs can help get more people into work, adding a new economic dimension to the debate over obesity treatments
16 votes -
Single file Gleam BEAM programs with escript
2 votes -
Serious relationship problem, seeking advice
EDIT Thank you to all who posted. I heard some really good advice, some things that hurt but needed hearing, and some new perspectives to consider. This post is becoming a new thing to be anxious...
EDIT
Thank you to all who posted. I heard some really good advice, some things that hurt but needed hearing, and some new perspectives to consider. This post is becoming a new thing to be anxious about so I've removed the main body and will likely delete the whole thread a little later. I'm going to ruminate on all this and come to some decisions very very soon. Thanks again.
34 votes -
Elixir v1.20 released: now a gradually typed language
6 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
11 votes -
No right to remain silent: negative rights in a positive-rights world
38 votes -
Babylon 5 S01E14: "TKO" - Episode Discussion
4 votes -
Mina the Hollower | Out now!
18 votes -
What creative projects have you been working on?
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on. Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just...
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
4 votes -
Tildes Book Club discussion - May 2026 - Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Warning: this post may contain spoilers
This is the fifth Tildes Book Club Discussion for 2026 and the twenty-fifth overall. We are discussing Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov. For June we will discuss How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Wexler.
I don't have a particular format in mind for this discussion, but I will post some prompts and questions as comments to get things started. You're not obligated to respond to them or vote on them though. So feel free to make your own top-level comment for whatever you wish to discuss, questions you have of others, or even just to post a review of the book you have written yourself.
For latecomers, don't worry if you didn't read the book in time for this Discussion topic. You can always join in once you finish it. Tildes Activity sort, and "Collapse old comments" feature should keep the topic going for as long as people are still replying.
And for anyone uninterested in this topic please use the Ignore Topic feature on this so it doesn't keep popping up in your Activity sort, since it's likely to keep doing that while I set this discussion up, and once people start joining in.
9 votes -
Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56
20 votes -
Online quests and fanfictions recommendations
Similarly to the few years old thread I made for webserials I would like to recommend and introduce some quests and fanfictions. Quests are a collaborative(ideally) stories that usually live in...
Similarly to the few years old thread I made for webserials I would like to recommend and introduce some quests and fanfictions. Quests are a collaborative(ideally) stories that usually live in forums. The usual format is that the writer/s enable the readers an input in how the story is written which is usually done by voting. I found that fanfictions vary in quality wildly but any sufficiently popular work will have some that are very good.
For the tyrants fear your might - https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/ - (quest) - a story of a an entertainment planet in a hypercapitalistic society rebelling. Does not have a single protagonist
The Practice War - https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/the-practice-war-complete.31698/ - (quest, Practice Effect) - humanity creates space faring dragons but is defeated by an advanced and enigmatic race.
Divided Loyalties - https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/warhammer-fantasy-divided-loyalties-an-advisors-quest.44838/ - (quest, Warhammer fantasy) - a Grey wizard becomes the advisor to the Elector Count of Sylvania and later continuing on in her adventures elsewhere. Very long with several distinct arcs
RHUNRIKKI STROLLAR - https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/rhunrikki-strollar-warhammer-fantasy-golden-age-dwarf-runelord-quest.63581/ - (quest, Warhammer fantasy) - a life of dwarven golden age runemaster among the coming troubles
The Burbank Situation - https://archiveofourown.org/works/19189534 - (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Chuck) - Chuck has some unusual hobbies, such as LARPing as a vampire hunter. First part of a series
My Name Is Beautiful - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/155302 - (Unordinary) - reincarnation story. A side character from original story runs a rebellion built on lies and manipulation against the Authorities. Probably the darkest story on this list
To The Stars - https://archiveofourown.org/works/777002 - (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika) - story set in a ai run world that tries its best among a brutal war with advanced aliens. And of a magical girl whose wish was to be extraordinary
Birds of a Feather - https://archiveofourown.org/works/15996890 - (Harry Potter) - this is both a solid character exploration and a depiction of WW2 Britain
A Song of Ice and Fires That Weren't All My fault - https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-song-of-ice-and-fires-that-werent-all-my-fault-asoiaf-dresden-files.336499/ - (Game of Thrones/Dresden Files) - Dresden makes a living in Braavos finding things. The merging of these two different settings is very good
The Maretian - https://www.fimfiction.net/story/396744/ - (The Martian/My Little Pony) - Mark Watney is joined on Mars by the crew of an alien race. More fantastical than Martian but still features engineering challenges. MLP fandom needs a lot of getting used to but has some good stories
5 votes -
A vernacular web (2005, Olia Lialina)
5 votes -
May 2026 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap
The May 2026 Backlog Burner event is officially over! Over the month of May, 14 participants moved 176 games out of their backlogs. Congratulations to the following Bingo winners: u/aphoenix...
The May 2026 Backlog Burner event is officially over!
Over the month of May, 14 participants moved 176 games out of their backlogs.
Congratulations to the following Bingo winners:
- u/aphoenix
- u/BailerAppleby
- u/CannibalisticApple
- u/kfwyre
- u/ShroudedScribe
- u/SingedFrostLantern
- u/Wes
Special congratulations:
- u/1338 playing a total of 39 games (including many that you can't even buy anymore)
- u/aphoenix for masterfully executing a thematically relevant plan for participating
- u/BailerAppleby for playing so many games from the Tildes Game Giveaways
- u/dannydotcafe for a truly mellow win
- u/Durinthal for finishing a game from the 2024 Backlog Burner
- u/J-Chiptunator for prioritizing their health
- u/JCPhoenix for posting awesome Let's Plays
- u/Wes for his many thoughtful comments
To everyone who played games, shared their thoughts, or even just read through the comments for the event:
This event is amazing because y'all all make it amazing. Thank you for playing.
Use this topic to post your final bingo cards, give recaps of your games, and share any thoughts you have on the event itself.
Who won?
The question on everyone's mind.
The feud between the Motivateds and the Mellows was a (possibly one-sided?) rivalry for the ages.
Who came out on top?
Well, I'm happy to report that the final numbers are in, and the Grand Winners are:
Winner
🎉 Team Mellowtivated 🎉
We are all one team! There's no actual rivalry. We've actually been gaming together as one wonderful little group this whole time! (Now everybody saw "AWWWWWW" and get all sappy)
Also, the jury has returned a verdict in u/Wes's trial:
Verdict
He has been found guilty of being awesome. His sentence is that he is required to feel immensely proud of his community service in making the amazing Backlog Bingo site and responding thoughtfully to everyone all month long.
Statistics
- We averaged 12.6 games per person and 40.0 games per week.
- There were 424 comments posted across 5 topics.
- Games starting with the letter
Saccounted for a full 12% of what we played. - Shortest game title: 3 characters (Hue)
- Longest game title: 54 characters (Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective) (a 1700% increase)
Game Lists
Full Game List (alphabetical)
0-9
A
- Agent Intercept
- Alt-Frequencies
- Analogue: A Hate Story
- Another Crab's Treasure
- Ape Escape
- Aris Arcanum
- Assault on Proxima
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
- AtmaSphere
B
- Baba Is You
- The Ball
- Bendy and the Ink Machine
- Berserk Boy
- Beyond Blue
- Blast Rush LS
- Blue Maiden
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
- Breakneck
- Broken Age
- Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective
C
- Camera Obscura
- Cards and Towers
- Cargo! - The quest for gravity
- Cat Quest 2
- Chains
- co-open
- Coffee Talk Tokyo
- Crash Time - Undercover
- Crescent Bay
- Curious Expedition
D
- DEAD LETTER DEPT.
- Dead Space Demake
- Death and Taxes
- Death's Door
- Delver
- DigDigDrill
- Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
- Doki Doki Literature Club (x2)
- Dokimon: Quest
- Donna: The Canine Quest
- Dorfromantik
- Dreadhalls
- Droplitz
E
F
G
H
- Hades
- Haimrik
- Halfway
- Hate Plus
- Hatoful Boyfriend
- Heeey! Park-Boy
- Hello Neighbour
- Hexcells Plus
- Hive Jump
- Homebody
- The House in Fata Morgana
- Hue
- The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy
I
- I Am Legion: Stand Survivors
- Immortals Fenyx Rising
- Infectionator 3: Apocalypse
- Infinite Air with Mark McMorris
- Interactivity: The Interactive Experience
- Intergalactic Bubbles
- Invisible, Inc.
- Ironclad Tactics
- It Comes in Waves
- It Takes a War
J
K
- Kaamos
- Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls)
- Keyboard Sports
- Knights of Pen and Paper
L
- Layers of Fear
- Legend of Grimrock 2
- Library of Ruina
- Little-Known Galaxy
- A Little to the Left
- Lost Nova
- Lucid
M
- Machinika: Museum
- Magicka
- Marble Mayhem: Fragile Ball
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Minami Lane
- Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
- Mr Rescue
N
O
P
- The Pedestrian
- Pie in the Sky
- Pikuniku
- Pinball Spire
- Pixel Wheels
- Pokemon Trading Card Game 2
- Pokémon: Kanto Expansion Pak
- Polarity
- Poly Bridge 2
- Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
- Programming Factory
- Proteus
- Pseudoregalia
- pureya
- Pyre
Q
R
S
- Sanicball
- Say No! More
- Serial Cleaner
- Seven: Enhanced Edition
- The Shapeshifting Detective
- shapez
- Sir, You Are Being Hunted
- SMIB: Mission Cure
- SOMA
- Sonic GT
- Still There
- Strange Horticulture
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
- Styx: Shards of Darkness
- Subnautica 2
- Subserial Network
- SUMMERHOUSE
- Sunblaze
- Super Mining Mechs
- SuperTuxKart
- SYMMETRY
T
- Tails Noir
- Tales of the Neonsea
- Tametsi
- The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia
- theBlu
- THOR.N
- Tinykin
- Touhou Mystia's Izakaya
- Transistor
- Tunnet
- Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Full Game List (by week)
Week 1
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Aris Arcanum
- Assault on Proxima
- AtmaSphere
- Blue Maiden
- Death and Taxes
- DigDigDrill
- Donna: The Canine Quest
- FINAL FANTASY IV
- Hades
- Hatoful Boyfriend
- Marble Mayhem: Fragile Ball
- Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
- Not Tonight 2
- The Pedestrian
- Pokémon: Kanto Expansion Pak
- Polarity
- Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
- Ravenswatch
- Serial Cleaner
- The Shapeshifting Detective
- shapez
- Strange Horticulture
- The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia
- Vartio
- Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
Week 2
- 911 Operator
- Agent Intercept
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
- Bendy and the Ink Machine
- Berserk Boy
- Cards and Towers
- Curious Expedition
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- Dorfromantik
- Heeey! Park-Boy
- Hello Neighbour
- Hue
- The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy
- Knights of Pen and Paper
- Library of Ruina
- Lucid
- Machinika: Museum
- Node Farm
- Ocean's Heart
- Pokemon Trading Card Game 2
- Programming Factory
- Pyre
- Say No! More
- Sir, You Are Being Hunted
- SOMA
- Subserial Network
- Tametsi
- THOR.N
- Transistor
- Understand
- Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Week 3
- Analogue: A Hate Story
- Blast Rush LS
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
- Breakneck
- Broken Age
- Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective
- Camera Obscura
- co-open
- Death's Door
- Delver
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- Dokimon: Quest
- Elephant in the Room
- Fields of Fortune
- Forgotten 23
- Gamedec
- Generation Zero
- Guild of Darksteel
- Infectionator 3: Apocalypse
- Invisible, Inc.
- Kaamos
- Layers of Fear
- Legend of Grimrock 2
- A Little to the Left
- Lost Nova
- Mr Rescue
- Nex Machina
- Oxenfree
- Poly Bridge 2
- Pseudoregalia
- pureya
- Seven: Enhanced Edition
- Styx: Shards of Darkness
- Sunblaze
- Touhou Mystia's Izakaya
- Tunnet
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
- Wanderlust: Rebirth
- Woten
- You Suck at Parking
Week 4
- Alt-Frequencies
- Another Crab's Treasure
- Baba Is You
- Beyond Blue
- Cat Quest 2
- Crash Time - Undercover
- Crescent Bay
- Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
- Dreadhalls
- Dead Space Demake
- Escape First Alchemist (x2)
- Fabledom
- Gods Will Be Watching
- Haimrik
- Hexcells Plus
- Hive Jump
- Immortals Fenyx Rising
- Infinite Air with Mark McMorris
- Intergalactic Bubbles
- Ironclad Tactics
- Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls)
- Keyboard Sports
- Magicka
- Minami Lane
- NUTS
- Out There Somewhere
- Pie in the Sky
- Quern - Undying Thoughts
- Quiet City
- Ritual of Raven
- Rogue Mansion
- Roman Sands
- SMIB: Mission Cure
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
- Still There
- Subnautica 2
- SUMMERHOUSE
- SuperTuxKart
- Tales of the Neonsea
- The Ball
- theBlu
- Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane
- ZODIAC XX
Week 5(ish)
- 60 Parsecs!
- Ape Escape
- Cargo! - The quest for gravity
- Chains
- Coffee Talk Tokyo
- DEAD LETTER DEPT.
- Droplitz
- Electronic Super Joy
- Halfway
- Hate Plus
- Homebody
- The House in Fata Morgana
- I Am Legion: Stand Survivors
- Interactivity: The Interactive Experience
- It Comes in Waves
- It Takes a War
- JARS
- Little-Known Galaxy
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Nexuiz
- Nexuiz BETA
- Nexuiz STUPID Mode
- Octahedron
- Pikuniku
- Pinball Spire
- Pixel Wheels
- Proteus
- Sanicball
- Sonic GT
- Super Mining Mechs
- SYMMETRY
- Tails Noir
- Tinykin
- Vigil: Blood Bitterness
- Zoombinis
20 votes -
Tildes Survey #7: What is your gender identity?
Submit your response here! Direct link: https://survey.tildes.community/-/what-is-your-gender-identity-7/ This survey closes on June 7, 2026 at 10:00 UTC The results will be published on June 7...
Submit your response here!
- Direct link: https://survey.tildes.community/-/what-is-your-gender-identity-7/
- This survey closes on June 7, 2026 at 10:00 UTC
- The results will be published on June 7 shortly after the survey has closed. I'll edit this topic and post a comment about it!
The current plans for questions that will be asked in the coming weeks are as follows:
Question Survey opens Survey closes Vote for the next 4 surveys 2026-05-24 18:00 UTC2026-05-31 10:00 UTCWhat is your gender identity? 2026-05-31 18:00 UTC 2026-06-07 10:00 UTC What's your favorite video game? 2026-06-07 18:00 UTC 2026-06-14 10:00 UTC How optimistic are you about the future? 2026-06-14 18:00 UTC 2026-06-21 10:00 UTC How often do you visit/read Tildes? 2026-06-21 18:00 UTC 2026-06-28 10:00 UTC Another week, another survey! Now that the next four weeks have been voted on and we know what's on the docket, we start off with the top voted question: What is your gender identity?
Special thanks to @TaylorSwiftsPickles and @DefinitelyNotAFae for helping with figuring out the survey! I could not have done it without them! <3
Please submit your ideas for questions here! Even if they've been submitted already by someone else. All input is valuable! You can view all submitted questions on this dashboard.
Thank you all for participating!
30 votes -
What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now?
I was talking with a friend about recent events that seemed eerily suspicious to me, and was wondering if all of you might have any similar experiences. (Preemptively tagging this as politics. If...
I was talking with a friend about recent events that seemed eerily suspicious to me, and was wondering if all of you might have any similar experiences.
(Preemptively tagging this as
politics. If anything in this thread is deemed malicious or inflammatory, let me know and I'll delete the thread)69 votes -
My thoughts after using Clojure for about a month
10 votes -
What do you think about Destiny 2’s imminent death and games as a service?
Before I go into my rant I would like to ask you: Have you played Destiny or Destiny 2? What are your thoughts on Bungie, the imminent death of Destiny, their push for Marathon, and “games as a...
Before I go into my rant I would like to ask you: Have you played Destiny or Destiny 2? What are your thoughts on Bungie, the imminent death of Destiny, their push for Marathon, and “games as a service” in general?
As for my opinion, I think that the real problem is that (probably) most managers, CEOs, investors, and shareholders involved in live service games aren’t gamers. They don’t care about the quality of the games. A majority of them probably don’t even play what they publish.
What they care about is to maximize revenue with minimal effort, cost, and risk.
The programmers and artists suffer from low wages and job insecurity, and the gamers suffer from live service slop that eventually gets sunset even when it has a dedicated fan base (that could grow if the game was better).
We can’t win against this horde of managers, CEOs, investors, and shareholders. They got AAA in a chokehold, especially in live service.
We gotta continue to vote with our wallets and give our money to the companies who deliver quality games, and pull our money out when they don’t.
If Bungie dies, I’ll be sad because I have a long history with Halo (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST, and Reach), but so be it. Something better may rise from their ashes.
We gotta resist the slop. It’s like fast food. We gotta resist it even if it’s addictive, and go get better quality grub elsewhere even if it costs more. If we keep eating the slop, they’ll continue frying more of it.
Edit: To make sure I don’t confuse anyone, I should add that Destiny 2 will receive one last content update this month, and will remain playable, just as its predecessor, for the time being. What I think most people are complaining about is that a game that could potentially be excellent, will be left in a messy state, designed mostly around maximizing revenue through micro-transactions, rather than offering a good experience. It has a large and passionate fanbase, but will basically abandoned by Bungie, in favor of their new game Marathon, which no one cares about
37 votes -
What are you reading these days?
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
14 votes -
What are people's experiences with using Kagi?
With Google search going AI-first, I'm really interested in trying it out. But I don't know anyone IRL who's used it. Kagites of Tildes, what do you think of the search subscription product? Do...
With Google search going AI-first, I'm really interested in trying it out. But I don't know anyone IRL who's used it.
Kagites of Tildes, what do you think of the search subscription product? Do you find the privacy satisfactory? And for bonus points, how do you find the anti-AI ("slop-stop") features?
62 votes -
Who’s buying SpaceX and Anthropic?
Both are filing for IPOs. Are y'all buying at launch? I think I will.
29 votes -
What change would make you quit Tildes?
I'm curious to see how many have as strong opinions as me about Tildes. I'll go first. I'd quit if the site shifted away from a text-only philosophy.
57 votes -
Custom LED light frames
16 votes -
‘Backrooms’ stuns with $81 million debut, ‘Obsession’ has another unprecedented jump, ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ suffers 70% drop
50 votes -
Games journalist Jason Schreier has started a YouTube channel
20 votes -
May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion
Only a few days left! Post your current bingo cards. Continue updating us on your games! Quick links: Backlog Bingo Site Week 4 Discussion Week 3 Discussion Week 2 Discussion Week 1 Discussion...
Only a few days left!
Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!Quick links:
Week 4 Recap
11 participants played 9 bingo cards and moved 43 games out of their backlogs!
There were three bingo wins. Congratulations to u/CannibalisticApple, u/kfwyre, and u/Wes! 🎉
There was one ✨⭐️ HONORARY BINGO ⭐️✨ for u/aphoenix.
There was one betrayal. u/Wes will go on trial following the conclusion of this eventteamellow
- u/BailerAppleby
- u/Bullmaestro
- u/CompChris
- u/dannydotcafe
- u/Durinthal
- u/JCPhoenix
- u/SingedFrostLantern
TEAMOTIVATED
Y'all are going to have to wait on the game list. I got my allergy shots today and they wreck me, so I don't have the energy to link up everything right now. I'll get to it tomorrow. Sorry!Game list:
- Alt-Frequencies
- Another Crab's Treasure
- Baba Is You
- Beyond Blue
- Cat Quest 2
- Crash Time - Undercover
- Crescent Bay
- Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
- Dreadhalls
- Dead Space Demake
- Escape First Alchemist (x2)
- Fabledom
- Gods Will Be Watching
- Haimrik
- Hexcells Plus
- Hive Jump
- Immortals Fenyx Rising
- Infinite Air with Mark McMorris
- Intergalactic Bubbles
- Ironclad Tactics
- Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls)
- Keyboard Sports
- Magicka
- Minami Lane
- NUTS
- Out There Somewhere
- Pie in the Sky
- Quern - Undying Thoughts
- Quiet City
- Ritual of Raven
- Rogue Mansion
- Roman Sands
- SMIB: Mission Cure
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
- Still There
- SUMMERHOUSE
- SuperTuxKart
- Tales of the Neonsea
- The Ball
- theBlu
- Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane
- ZODIAC XX
Week 3 Recap
11 participants played 10 bingo cards and moved 37 games out of their backlogs!
There was one bingo win. Congratulations to u/ShroudedScribe! 🎉
Team mmmeeeelllllllooooowwwwwww
Team MO! - TI! - VA! - TED!
Game list:
- Analogue: A Hate Story
- Blast Rush LS
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
- Breakneck
- Broken Age
- Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective
- Camera Obscura
- co-open
- Death's Door
- Delver
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- Dokimon: Quest
- Elephant in the Room
- Fields of Fortune
- Forgotten 23
- Gamedec
- Generation Zero
- Guild of Darksteel
- Infectionator 3: Apocalypse
- Kaamos
- Layers of Fear
- Legend of Grimrock 2
- A Little to the Left
- Lost Nova
- Mr Rescue
- Nex Machina
- Oxenfree
- Poly Bridge 2
- Pseudoregalia
- pureya
- Sunblaze
- Touhou Mystia's Izakaya
- Tunnet
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
- Wanderlust: Rebirth
- Woten
- You Suck at Parking
Week 2 Recap
11 participants played 9 bingo cards and moved 28 games out of their backlogs!
Team Mellow
Team Motivated
All but one are listed above.
Is he still Mellow? Or did he join the Motivateds?
He played three different games, which seems very motivated...
...but Mellow is also a state of mind, a pace, a vibe.
With whom will he stand?
Game list:
- 911 Operator
- Agent Intercept
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
- Bendy and the Ink Machine
- Berserk Boy
- Cards and Towers
- Curious Expedition
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- Dorfromantik
- Heeey! Park-Boy
- Hue
- The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy
- Knights of Pen and Paper
- Library of Ruina
- Lucid
- Machinika: Museum
- Node Farm
- Ocean's Heart
- Pokemon Trading Card Game 2
- Programming Factory
- Pyre
- Say No! More
- Subserial Network
- Tametsi
- THOR.N
- Transistor
- Understand
- Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Week 1 Recap
Week 1 Recap
⚔️🛡️ Battle lines have been drawn. 🛡️⚔️
Team Mellow
Calm, easygoing, relaxed (<3 games played this week)
Team Motivated
Driven, energized, results-oriented (≥3 games played this week, or, like, only one game played but for a LONG time)
Who will come out on top? Which team will reign supreme? What metric will we even use to determine what counts as a win? STAY TUNED.
11 participants played 10 bingo cards and moved 24 games out of their backlogs!
Game list:
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Aris Arcanum
- Assault on Proxima
- AtmaSphere
- Blue Maiden
- Death and Taxes
- DigDigDrill
- Donna: The Canine Quest
- FINAL FANTASY IV
- Hades
- Hatoful Boyfriend
- Marble Mayhem: Fragile Ball
- Not Tonight 2
- The Pedestrian
- Pokémon: Kanto Expansion Pak
- Polarity
- Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
- Ravenswatch
- The Shapeshifting Detective
- shapez
- Strange Horticulture
- The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia
- Vartio
- Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
12 votes -
With Graham Potter at the helm and Viktor Gyökeres finding form, hopes are high after playoff success for Sweden at the 2026 World Cup
4 votes -
CGA-2026-06 🦇🧛♀️🔥 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
COLOSSAL GAME ADVENTURES PRESENTS: 🦇🧛♀️🔥 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Yarrr! Now it be me... [ahem] Sorry, we're out of Pirates!. Now it's ACTUALLY my time to post! Let's set the scene. Looking...
COLOSSAL GAME ADVENTURES PRESENTS: 🦇🧛♀️🔥 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Yarrr! Now it be me... [ahem] Sorry, we're out of Pirates!. Now it's ACTUALLY my time to post! Let's set the scene. Looking for a nice summary last month, I found this one from TCRF:
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Castlevania game that, shock, isn't about one of the Belmonts! Instead, we get some white-haired emo kid that happens to have the ability to absorb souls.
... Thanks, TCRF. I'll spoiler the writeup for the sake of scrolling through twice.
Some background: Dracula in your Pocket
Unfortunately, as a slap in the face to my thirties, the GBA is a decidedly proper "retro" console. That shouldn't really be a surprise, though, as it's a distinctly 16-bit console with many parallels to SNES hardware. Sampled audio, mode 7 graphics... But only a little 240x160 screen. Despite that, a few companies managed to pack in some very robust experiences on the hardware.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third GBA Castlevania entry; before it came Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. At the time, these were pretty well-received - Circle was nominated for a few awards and sold ~500k copies. Harmony wasn't quite as universally acclaimed, but sold a respectable 120k in America. It flopped in Japan.
That said, nowadays the first two titles aren't esteemed quite as well. Circle is a very polarizing title. Some appreciate the mechanics and exploration, while others detest it for some awful control scheme decisions. The GBA display did not suit its dark color palate well, and playing it on original hardware without a backlight is asking for eye strain. Since it was made by a different team than the contemporary Castlevania devs headed by Koji Igarashi, he swept Circle under the rug when it came to establishing a Castlevania timeline. (I have not played it myself yet, though I suspect my wrists are not ready for the impending RSI of a double-tap dpad run command.)
Where Circle's experimental bits get love, Harmony of Dissonance has really not aged well for many. Igarashi was looking to get a Symphony of the Night experience in a mobile form factor by design, but this meant a pretty conservative approach. He unfortunately left the comparison open - at a time when you can play both games on the same device - to call Harmony "SotN at home". The aesthetics are kind of nutty as well; the team flew in the opposite direction of Circle by making things - especially Juste Belmont - glow with a very garish set of vibrant blues, reds, and greens, on top of purple and sky blue backgrounds. This was to REALLY stand out without a backlight. Boy do they. The soundtrack was also compressed to save room on the cartridge, leading to a reputation as one of the worst Castlevania soundtracks in a pretty musically-storied franchise. (With some proper sampling, I love it! Played back on the little high-pass GBA speaker, though, stuff like this really grates.)
Igarashi and his team had another shot on the platform. This time, they nailed something special in the coffin.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Aria takes place in the year 2035, quite farther ahead than anything else in the series. Japanese transfer student
and fashionista boy band dreamboatSoma Cruz is hanging out with his friend and shrine maiden Mina Hakuba to observe a solar eclipse. In doing so, he finds himself warped to the eclipse itself, where Dracula's Castle has been imprisoned. There, an enigmatic man introduces him to his unknown power - the dominion over monsters' souls to use for himself. Trying to find his way out of the castle, he meets a few other mysterious figures who are there for various reasons and agendas... I'll leave the rest of the plot to you to discover.Now, we're not quite at 2035. (I think bell bottoms are back? I don't see the fur coats and flame boots yet.) However, it is 2026 now, and much like the cycle of Dracula's castle, last year's most hyped release was a 2D Metroidvania! Konami just announced the first 2D Metroidvania in a very long time, and they and the Dead Cells dev team will be fighting a forest which they all themselves planted. But looking backwards, despite over two decades of iterative work on this genre, Aria has plenty that stands out - not just against Castlevania's run of six games over about seven or eight years, but arguably still today in a very crowded genre.
First off, this game is eight megabytes small. It's nipping at its big brother Symphony's heels in scope, despite it being a little over one percent of SotN's CD file size, and some crazies like me still prefer it. The team made damn good use of that space after learning their mistakes from Harmony.
Despite that little size, it's a memorable adventure! I hope you enjoy it. I find Aria's main strength is setting a pace and size which it meets and rarely over- or under-stays. It's also an aesthetic crown jewel for the GBA platform; the colors still accommodate the hardware, but there's much more mastery of the system. Flowing water, the flickering moon, bats flying off in the distance... It captures the gothic feel of the castle in a more subtle way. And while I'm fond of Harmony's, uh. Dissonance, the sound design is much tighter here. Some little bits of lore and character interactions help color the adventure, and it creates plenty of space for your head to fill in the gaps, too. (Konami! J prequel when??)
The game has a number of neat secrets that I'll let you discover. So - I'll leave you to it!
...Or, if you'd like, I won't! Since Aria isn't the most obscure game, some of you may have played it. With that - or, to kick off some discussion of the game's flaws - I'd like to pivot into a new topic here!
Mods
Aria of Sorrow is great, but there are a few rough edges. Notably, the stats are a little fucky - Wit barely influences item or soul drop rate. Int is also a little weak, not influencing your bullet souls much. The colors still acquiesce to the mix of GBA and GBA SP screens, a bit too washed on modern displays. Weapon balance is a bit off, due to one particularly dominating choice.
Of course, with that 8 MB filesize, numerical problems are just a hex edit away! Bump some values around and you maybe can "solve" these problems. But is that better? Worse? In line with the developers, or a bastardization of their vision? The most powerful tool in the hands of modern video game players? Does it ruin a shared conversation of art, or does it stoke it?
For what it's worth, I personally fell off Super Metroid about three times until I applied a patch that gave Samus movement closer to the GBA games. Modding sometimes just opens up options or tastes to us - and I think when it comes to pure enjoyment, go buck wild. So I invite people to try it and see what you think!
As always, I'm a slut for randomizers and Aria rando seems fairly robust. But since I suspect I will eventually play that in Archipelago many times, I think instead I'm going to try a slew of new hacks and throw them together to see what happens. Weapons modifications! Color palate changes! Vegan items? Sure, why not! I'll post what I go with in the end.
As always, mark ya spoilers as such with the following text block:
<details> <summary>Spoilers</summary> Spoiler text goes here. </details>
Game Setup
A couple years ago, Konami released the Castlevania Advanced Collection with Circle, Harmony, the SNES version of Dracula X, and Aria. This is pretty much the only way to legally obtain Aria nowadays - and if I'm not mistaken, it includes the .gba ROM in case you'd like to play it in a way other than the official emulator. (Someone fact check me on that...)
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
- Share which version of the game you're playing
- Share what hardware you're playing it on
- Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend
- Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game
- Share if you ever cosplay as Soma Cruz
- Ask questions if you need help
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself? What about its system or era? What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time? What other games from the same time period are you familiar with? What are you expecting from this game in particular? Which Castlevania game has the best Death fight?FAQ
What is CGA?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
Do I have to sign up?
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Are there restrictions on what/how to play?
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
- Choose whichever version of the game you want.
- You can use cheats, save states, mods, etc.
- You can watch a streamer or longplay instead of playing it.
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
- Try a randomizer or challenge run.
- Play a different version of it.
- Play a related game (sequel, spiritual successor, something inspired by it, etc.)
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
What is the schedule?
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the
colossal game adventuretag.What do Insert and Remove Cartridge mean?
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
12 votes -
New studies are fueling optimism about GLP-1's potential role in prevention and treatment of breast, colon and lung cancer
17 votes -
Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites
26 votes -
Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of May 31
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!
Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”
Rules:
- No grey market sales
- No affiliate links
If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.
All previous Save Point topics
If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add
save pointto your personal tag filters.6 votes -
Humble Choice - June 2026
June 2026's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games. Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB OCTOPATH TRAVELER II 85 85 / 93 Win ✅...
June 2026's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.
Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB OCTOPATH TRAVELER II 85 85 / 93 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum The Riftbreaker 80 90 / 90 Win 🟨 Playable 🟨 Gold Life is Strange: Double Exposure 71 74 / 67 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum INDIKA 79 88 / 89 Win ✅ Verified 🟨 Gold Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector 87 86 / 91 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Construction Simulator 72 75 / 80 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum Hell Clock 82 93 / 84 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Overlooting -- 85 / 81 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?
12 votes -
Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (June 2026)
This is a monthly thread for those who need it. Vent, share your experiences, ask for advice, talk about how you are doing. Let's make this a compassionate space for all who may need one.
14 votes -
The Power of Pride Bundle 2026
12 votes -
Icona Pop – Butterfly Feelings (2026)
2 votes -
What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
3 votes -
A new industry body, The Tokenomics Foundation, will hammer out open standards for measuring and managing the soaring costs of AI infrastructure as token-based pricing becomes the norm
15 votes -
House of Pain - Jump Around (Wolfie x John Kroon Remix) (1992, 2026)
4 votes -
Round eight of Norway Chess 2026 will go down as one of the most shocking – two decisive classical games featuring both Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh Dommaraju
6 votes -
A Parade of Horribles - Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #8)
14 votes -
Bloody Falls – Mother, Your Son Is Bleeding (2026)
3 votes -
Midweek Movie Free Talk
Warning: this post may contain spoilers
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
6 votes -
It's not just X. It's Y.
28 votes -
Rich Markdown Editor Userscript for Tildes
Some of the discussion in another thread inspired me to try making a user-script that would inject some rich text editor into the tildes desktop site. I have only tried it on Firefox, but figured...
Some of the discussion in another thread inspired me to try making a user-script that would inject some rich text editor into the tildes desktop site. I have only tried it on Firefox, but figured it might be worth sharing in case anyone finds it useful or has suggestions for improvements.
Install Tampermonkey extension. (Chrome, Firefox).
With the extension installed, this link should be detected as an installable userscript.
@ some people who directly said they want a better editor in that thread.
It injects EasyMDE with some extra css to make it match the Tildes theme. EasyMDE uses FontAwesome for its toolbar icons, but Tildes's content policy seems to make it impossible to use this. Instead, I add some CSS to put plain text in the toolbar buttons. Some nice features
- Full-screen and side-by-side editors.
- Spell checker.
- Auto-save. (Based on the URL and element ID, so each comment reply is saved separately.)
- Keyboard shortcuts like
Ctrl+B,Ctrl+K, etc. - Conveniences like "enter" on a list adds an item to the list, or in a quote adds a line to the quote.
It is not perfect, however. It bugs out if you pick the built-in "preview" tab (the editor is still visible but does not update the preview), and it does not understand username mentions or group mentions.
I used it to write this, and the auto-save behavior seems to be fine, but I'm not sure how much I trust it not to lose my work.
Screenshots!
21 votes -
Emacs bra size calculator
31 votes -
The big little penis panic
33 votes