Ahoy there cap'n, and welcome to Puerto Retiro! Once you have docked your ship, head over to the town's best (and only) tavern, La Aventura Colosal, to rest your peg leg, sip a glass of rum, and exchange tales of your exploits with other well-salted seadogs.

How was your time with Sid Meier's Pirates!, our CGA title for May? Which version did you play? How did it meet your expectations? What worked for you and what perhaps didn't? Did you read the manual?

Don’t get too comfy though! In just a couple of days, u/Lapbunny will be booting up Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for us, which based on the title I assume is a karaoke game for melancholy songs. I for one have been practising my rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for weeks in anticipation!

Week 4 has begun!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!

If you did not participate in Week 1 but want to start this week, that's fine!
Reminder: playing bingo is OPTIONAL.

Quick links:

• Backlog Bingo Site
• Week 3 Discussion
• Week 2 Discussion
• Week 1 Discussion

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

• u/CannibalisticApple
• u/CompChris
• u/dannydotcafe
• u/Durinthal
• u/JCPhoenix
• u/Wes

Team MO! - TI! - VA! - TED!

• u/1338
• u/BailerAppleby
• u/kfwyre
• u/ShroudedScribe
• u/SingedFrostLantern

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

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

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<- Previous Thread

Taking it all into account - storyline, presentation, roster, gameplay, etc.

Not sure if there are too many fighting game enthusiasts on here, judging by the posts. I'm not exactly an aficionado myself, as I haven't really been into them since the Neo Geo and PS1 days. I'm probably only really qualified to say Samurai Shodown 4 is the best in the series, although it is remarkable how well Street Fighter 2 still holds up today. For Tekken, Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom, etc. I didn't play past the first couple entries.

Week 3 has begun!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!

If you did not participate in Week 1 but want to start this week, that's fine!
Reminder: playing bingo is OPTIONAL.

Quick links:

• Backlog Bingo Site
• Week 2 Discussion
• Week 1 Discussion

Week 2 Recap

11 participants played 9 bingo cards and moved 28 games out of their backlogs!

Team Mellow

• u/BailerAppleby
• u/Bullmaestro
• u/CannibalisticApple
• u/dannydotcafe
• u/Durinthal
• u/JCPhoenix
• u/Wes

Team Motivated

• u/1338
• u/kfwyre
• u/ShroudedScribe
• u/SingedFrostLantern

All but one are listed above.

u/Wes

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 that he rolls with.

So the question lingers: with whom will he stand?

Answer: u/Wes remains on Team Mellow

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

Background:

While playing games for the Backlog Burner, I was surprised to learn that the Humble App (which is a "free" perk of having a Humble Choice subscription) has a few games that are actually exclusive to it.

Part of the reason I chose to play games from the Humble App is that I don't expect it'll be around much longer. It isn't getting updates or new games added to it. Also, Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble which released many of the games available through the app, was abruptly dissolved in 2024.

With this in mind, I went through the entire current library for the Humble App and tried to identify games that I could not find available for purchase/download elsewhere.

Below is a list of games that I consider to be "endangered" because they might become unplayable/lost media if (i.e. when) the Humble App does shut down or stop working.

If you've got the Humble App, it might be worth playing some of these sooner rather than later.

If you've got game preservation sensibilities, it might make sense to download and archive these for posterity.

Game List:

Here are the games that are, as best as I can tell, Humble App exclusives and in danger of being lost permanently.

For each title below, I tried to find a decent link that gave information about the game. Many of these simply don't have a lot of online presence.

Some of them have Steam pages linked, but in those cases, they're just placeholders and you cannot actually buy the game.

• A2Be - A Science Fiction Narrative - Steam page

• after HOURS - info link

• Crescent Bay - info link

• Divinoids - Steam page

• Elephant in the Room - trailer

• fistful of nothing - homepage

• Heeey! Park-Boy - Steam page

• Jawns - playable on the web but no download available

• Keyboard Sports - Steam page (note: I found an itch.io page with it available for download, but it is clearly unofficial)

• Lyric Sonata - gameplay video

• Operator - trailer

• Quiet City - trailer

• Rogue Mansion - Steam page

• Roman Sands - gameplay video

• Space Routine - Steam page

• Spoolside - trailer

• The Groundz - gameplay video

• THOR.N - gameplay video

• Woten - Steam page

• Yojimbrawl - gameplay video

• Zodiac XX - trailer

Feel free to check my work and let me know if I missed any, or if some of these games are actually officially obtainable outside Humble and I didn't find them.

Also let me know if I whiffed any of the links or if you find better ones for any of the games.

Maybe beating a certain dungeon or winning a particular game, or something deeply emotionnal for you.

What is yours?

I have two and they are both in WoW because I played for 10 years.

1. Amber Shaper Un'sok. I decided to join a hardcore guild before MoP because I had ambition and wanted to know what it felt like to raid with capable people. It was an awesome 4 years journey that I will never forget.

When you raid in WoW, it's very rare that the kill relies mostly on 1-2 people, it's always a group effort. That boss was different because there was a mechanic that allowed one random person every ~1min to get transformed and you had specific duties to do and dealt A LOT more damage.

We kept wiping and wiping because people kept fucking up when they got transformed and I kept thinking "if only it could get back to me, I know what to do, just transform me!" Lo and behold, we got an attempt where I got transformed first and last (before the phase switch).

We killed that boss on that attempt. It felt so good to "carry" the group!

2. Last one is with my brother, doing a duo run of MC back in WotLK. It was super easy to do as a raid, but doing it with 1-2 people was definitely still hard.

See, I almost never played with my brother, ever. But WoW was the first game we played together for real. It was an awesome time.

Anyways, we had decided to start a guild together, just to have the guild bank lol so one day we decided to run MC to try to get some old stuff that maybe we could sell. We had an absolute blast that night, wiping, having fun, just playing together.

...it was 15 years ago and I still haven't had a moment with my brother like that. He ended up quitting WoW a couple months after and I just kept playing. We grew apart and that was that. I still think about that MC run with him from time to time.

switches to an emotional ending music

Once upon a time, in the sun-dappled realm of Millefeuille, a tale of courage, folly, and friendship came to a close. After enduring countless trials born of pride and greed, our gallant yet hapless Prince of Sablé has reached the end of his journey.

It all began when the Prince learned that the radiant Princess Tiramisu had vanished, spirited away just after his umpteenth defeat in a duel against the ever-boastful Prince Richard. Barred from sailing beside his rival, our humble hero took to the road alone, his purse light and his hopes heavy. What he lacked in fortune, he made up for in heart (and the occasional odd purchase).

Along the way, he fell for a trickster's promise, a ludicrously-expensive potion said to restore his human form "at any time", though bound by more strings than a puppet show. In his kindness, he even repaid the damages wrought upon Saltwater Town, tossing a mountain of Nuts to a boy whose gratitude shone brighter than gold.

Though tempted by greed and misled by pride, the Prince of Sablé's heart remained pure. Through tangled mazes and fierce foes he pressed on, never losing sight of his mission to rescue Tiramisu. By the end, even the proud Richard bowed his head, moved by the Prince's resolve to fight without malice and spare his old rival from needless harm in their final duel.

Yet behind every fairytale lies a clever twist. For while our Prince was chasing glory, he unwittingly became a key piece in the grand design of Polnareff's scheme to save Millefeuille from the sly serpent Delarin. His bravery, fuelled more by sincerity than wisdom, turned the tide at last.

And where was the Princess, you ask? Why, she was by his side all along! In disguise as the wise witch Mandola, Tiramisu guided her beloved Prince more times than he ever realized. Perhaps he should have noticed the resemblance in their mannerisms a bit sooner.

And as our story fades to its final act, the air fills not with solemn silence but with the rhythm of celebration, a raucous DJ's beat spun by a mad scientist in his whirring metal giant. A strange ending, perhaps, but a joyous one all the same.

So then, dear travellers, as the curtain falls on this comical and heartfelt adventure, let us gather 'round and share our thoughts on the tale of The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls, a story where even the smallest frog may leap into legend. I'll start.

The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls feels less like a traditional video game and more like an interactive storybook, something remarkably ahead of its time for the early '90s. The combat, platforming, and puzzle segments are kept simple on purpose, serving as stepping stones for the charming storytelling that carries the whole adventure.

Battles play out automatically when you bump into an enemy strong enough to challenge you, with the outcome depending on your stats like HP, attack, defense, and speed (plus whatever items you might have on hand). It's a good idea to keep your health up and hunt for stat-boosting items if you want to make steady progress.

A sprinkle of puzzles and light platforming keeps things fresh, and the ability to switch between forms adds some fun variety, the strong human, the amphibious and nimble frog who can breathe underwater, and the slinky snake who can turn some foes into stepping blocks.

Sure, none of these mechanics are deep by modern standards, but their simplicity works in the game's favor. It keeps the spotlight on the story, one that explores how kindness, greed, and good intentions can intertwine in unexpected ways. It's funny, heartfelt, and often downright ridiculous in the best way possible.

While I might not revisit this one as often as other Nintendo classics, I'm glad I played it. Not only is it interesting to see where Link's Awakening borrowed a few ideas (and a certain prince!), but it's also worth it for the humor alone.

As I make more progress in Cure Dolly's Japanese lessons, I might even try the original version one more time someday. Who knows what little translation quirks or cultural touches I've missed?

That about wraps it up for this month's game. Our time in the whimsical world of the Millefeuille Kingdom may be over, but the adventure continues.

Next time, u/vili takes us on a trip to outer space aboard an overly complicated spaceship, hopefully with fewer spacetime mishaps... but no promises.

Until then, jot down your thoughts and memories; no moment of gaming glory deserves to be forgotten!

THE END

(sorry for my rookie attempt at photographing this screen in real life!)

How are we feeling about it?

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 point to your personal tag filters.

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The server operates on a soft whitelist. Anyone can log in and walk around, but you need a Tildes account to gain build access.

We recommend you install our mod web-chat so that you can chat while in your web browser. It turns the server into an old-school chat room.

<- Previous Thread Next Thread ->

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 point to your personal tag filters.

Hey everyone!

I know there are some people on Tildes who like making games as a hobby. I’ve had a long-standing passion for game development, but I never managed to finish a project. About a month ago, I decided to push myself to finish a small game and publish it somewhere, and finally that day has come! Orb Sweeper, a 3D minesweeper puzzle on a sphere, is now live on the Google Play Store. Just as a disclaimer: it’s free, has no ads, and works offline by default, so I’m not earning anything from it. I just genuinely wanted to share my first finished project, along with the joy and relief I feel now.

Honestly, I’ve always been more ambitious when it comes to game mechanics. I’m a big fan of strategy games, especially TBS games over the years, so of course I always dreamed of creating a grand 4X strategy game of my own. Over time, I implemented many different systems and mechanics that are complex on their own: generation of realistic and interesting maps, pathfinding, economic models, different variations of game AI, and so on. But since these kinds of projects are huge, I was never able to finish one as a solo developer, or even bring it to a properly playable state. I burned out relatively quickly.

Over time, I realized what motivates me to continue: when somebody else is also working on the project, and when you can quickly see the results of your work. Both things are difficult to achieve. First, it’s hard to find people who are ready to spend a lot of their free time developing a big strategy game while following the same vision. Since it’s a hobby and I cannot pay for development, I also have to spend a lot of energy motivating others, not just myself. The longest I managed to keep a small team of two enthusiasts together was one month.

Second, with complex games like strategies, there are only a few big and impactful mechanics that bring the game to the state of a playable prototype, but getting there demands a ton of polishing. Graphics, sounds, small animations, 3D models… a lot of work that is almost invisible on its own, but contributes enormously to the overall look and feel of the game. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in these small fixes, and that also leads to burnout.

So I decided to make my projects progressively smaller until I could realistically complete one from start to finish. It’s a bit sad to see that only a Minesweeper-like game survived this approach, but I feel like it’s an important starting point. Seeing my game actually published gives me a bit more motivation to finish other projects.

But then… it’s Google. All interactions with its platform make me feel a bit frustrated. It’s surprisingly difficult to publish such a simple game. I even had to hire paid testers just to satisfy their entry requirements for closed-test user engagement. There are so many policies regulating data handling that even if your game does nothing in terms of transferring data, handling accounts, or showing in-game ads, you still have to go through all these bureaucratic procedures anyway. I guess it’s probably the same with Apple, but their famous support still hasn’t helped me with account verification after a month, so I’ve yet to experience that side of things fully.

Anyway, I’m glad that the game is available somewhere at least. And I actually play it myself sometimes on my phone. I know some people here are going through similar obstacles, so I have a question for you: what motivates you to continue working on big, complex games? And more generally, how do you avoid burning out on long-term projects?

Week 2 has begun!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!

If you did not participate in Week 1 but want to start this week, that's fine!
Reminder: playing bingo is OPTIONAL.

Quick links:

• Backlog Bingo Site
• Week 1 Discussion

Week 1 Recap

⚔️🛡️ Battle lines have been drawn. 🛡️⚔️

Team Mellow

Calm, easygoing, relaxed (<3 games played this week)

• u/CannibalisticApple
• u/dannydotcafe
• u/Durinthal
• u/J-Chiptunator
• u/JCPhoenix
• u/ShroudedScribe
• u/Wes

Team Motivated

Driven, energized, results-oriented (≥3 games played this week, or, like, only one game played but for a LONG time)

• u/1338
• u/BailerAppleby
• u/kfwyre
• u/SingedFrostLantern

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

Inspired by a youtube video thumbnail I saw saying "Which Link would function the best in society?" I didn't watch the video, but that did get me thinking to how weird player characters can behave. You know, with all the walking into strangers' houses, constantly crouching and jumping while moving, breaking any containers we see in hopes of loot, using special powers for silly things... Destroying stuff just for the heck of it...

So! Here's my extended question: how long would a society comprised mainly of video game protagonists last? And I mean protagonists who behave the way players make them behave, not just how they're written by the story. And that includes still having all potential powers.

Can be based on specific past playthroughs, could just be generalizations of how they're typically played. How many protagonist characters could actually hold down proper jobs without getting fired? Who would be able to avoid causing heavy destruction in daily life? Or get arrested fastest?

How long would they be able to put up with other protagonists' weirdness before snapping and starting a city-wide battle?

Hey Steam users, I'm wondering if you can help me troubleshoot an issue I am having with Steam Link. Some games work flawlessly, and some games just show a black screen (with game audio) on the Steam Link Client. I have tried this in various configurations and devices, but my host machine remains the same (PC running Bazzite)

I have tried this wired via router (to Steam Link on raspberrypi OS), wifi (to steam deck), and cellular via remote streaming to the android app.

The symptoms are the same on each setup. Games like Helldivers 2 and NMS run flawlessly, others are just a black screen.

Also, big picture mode runs great until you bring up the menu, and then the screen goes black.

Do you guys have any ideas?

SOLVED

thank you everyone for your suggestions! I switched to an X11 session and everything is working now with steam link!