After our discussion about Tempest-like games, I looked at what else could at least scratch a similar fast-paced space-theme racing, with optional shooting itch on Switch.

To kick off the discussion, these are the games I already tried that I kinda like. I‘ll update this list, once people suggest other entries. I realise it’s a bit of a mish-mash, but it’s more about the feel than a specific genre.

Fast RMX is a very fast-paced pod-racer, with a similar feel to Wipeout, if you take away the weapons, and add a boost mechanic where you need to switch your booster’s code with the speed lane. I prefer playing it with motion/gyro controls, which admittedly makes it harder to play, but with that actually feels a lot more like you’re travelling at massive speed where every unintentional jerk of the steering wheel can cause you to wipe out.

Velocity 2X is a very successful mix of a vertical shooter where time matters with added platforming levels in between. Boosting for speed and warping/teleporting to solve puzzles is a huge part of the game.

The Next Penelope is a top-down 2D (pod?) racing game with weapons, where the acceleration happens automatically, but is influenced by boost, boost markers on the track and bumping into stuff. I haven’t played it for a long time yet, but once you learn the controls it seems to be a very good game.

VSR is a pure zero-gravity, zero-friction 3D space racer. Which makes mastering the controls very hard for anyone who is not used to it. To be honest, I haven’t mastered them yet either, but haven’t given up, as I really liked RPGs and shooters with such a mechanic. It just gives a specific type of zennish “in the zone” feeling, once you get into it.

Fast RMX
price: 20 € 14 € until 2019-07-25
reviews: 81 % on MetaCritic
length: 3½ h main game (57 h completionist) on HowLongToBeart

Velocity 2X
price: 20 € 8 € until 2019-07-18
reviews: 87 % on MetaCritic
length: 5 h main game (26 h completionist) on HowLongToBeat

The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus
price: 13 € 2 € until 2019-07-11
reviews: 79 % on MetaCritic
length: 2½ h main game (5½ h completionist) on HowLongToBeat

VSR: Void Space Racing
price: 5 €
reviews: 66 % on MetaCritic
length: (no HowLongToBeat entry yet)

I'm in no rush to buy but I am considering getting a Switch. From my brief bit of duckduckgo-ing, it appears that a new Switch is on the horizon, either a newer version (Switch 2) or a mini-Switch and the current release may drop in price.

Any thoughts? What would you do at this point? Most of the shops around here that sell them are out of stock anyway so unless I was to buy online, it's not necessarily an option.

Thanks all!

Update: I bought a Switch. With Mario Kart and Zelda. It's brilliant!

What moment from your games stands out to you? What was burned permanently into your memory? Is there an interesting story attached to it? Let me know!

For those who do not know it, Tempest is a classic arcade vector-based game, and I urge you to check it out. It is highly addictive and nowadays should fall well within the fast-paced retro fashion.

The problem is that for quite some years, I had nothing to scratch that itch. The last proper Tempest-like game that I played was Typhoon 2001 on Linux, which was a free/gratis clone of Tempest 2000.

Now it seems that in 2018 Tempest 4000 came out, but only for PC (a.k.a. Windows), PlayStation 4 and XBox One. As a Linux and Nintendo Switch gamer, that doesn’t help me one bit.

There are two FOSS versions: Arashi, which works only on old Macs, and Arashi-js, which is a JavaScript re-implementation of the former. Unfortunately, none of the two seem to work on my laptop.

So, here I am, itching for that Tempest fix, yet without a clue how to get something on either Switch on Linux (apart from perhaps Typhoon if it still works). Any suggestions would be more then welcome.

I don't have nearly as much time to game as I used to, and as such, I tend to prioritize games that are quick to finish over those that want my attention for a long time. Thus, I'm curious to know: what are the best short games you've played?

I'm going to arbitrarily set "short" at a threshhold of 3 hours or less.

Furthermore, I'm referring to games that have a defined start and end, rather than potentially infinite play sessions. That means a game like The Binding of Isaac wouldn't count despite the average play session being much less than 3 hours, but a game like Gone Home would.

If you're not sure about a game's length, check HowLongToBeat for crowdsourced runtime data.

Here's a table of recommendations mentioned in the thread, and their approximate time to complete from HowLongToBeat (using the "Main Story" category).

Has anyone here played both Shantae ½ Genie Hero in its Officer costume and Mighty Switch Force of any classical version?

If so, I would love to hear how the two compare. I have the former and and trying to figure out if I want to later order the latter’s recently announced collection.

I adored Shantae’s main game, but left the DLC/costume modes for a later time, which might be coming ;)

(… but first, finishing Velocity 2X and Wonderboy 3)

Shovel Knight is essentially an NES game that got released in 2014, as its design and artwork are deliberately reminiscent of games for that system. It's a definitive example of an answer to the question, but I'm also interested in games that weren't necessarily intended to be throwbacks but can be interpreted as such by nature of their execution.

What are other examples of games that feel like they could have been released for, say, the Dreamcast, PSOne, SNES, or any of the other consoles of yesteryear? Furthermore, what are the defining traits they possess that make them fit in on that system?

Video game's approach to storytelling usually comprise of mixing gameplay mechanics (gunplay, health system, enemy AI...) and storytelling elements (cutscenes, dialogue trees, environment details...). There are also special systems designed to work both as gameplay challenge as well as narrative carriers (quick time events, the nemesis system in Shadow of War...)

However, there's also a third approach, where traditional gameplay elements when put into appropriate context within the game gain additional narrative significance (the way Thomas was Alone's basic platforming mechanics are personified via narration, or Undertale's combat system being integral to how the story develops...)

Have you ever noticed if a gameplay element also doubled as a storytelling device in the games you played before? If so, what was it and what did it "tell" you?

I've been curious about making a switch for ergonomics and just lack of space on my desk.

• Do you recommend it for gaming? Any guidance on genres that do or don't work? I mostly play real time and turn based strategy games or point-and-click style games such as Diablo on my computer. I don't generally go in for twitchy FPSes, but I'd like the option.

• Opinions on index vs. thumb?

• How long was the adjustment period to get used to it?

• Any recommendations on good ones to buy?

• Are there any advantages I'm not thinking of besides just being better for my wrist?

• Disadvantages besides, potentially, being less precise than a mouse?

• Are there any tradeoffs with going wireless?

I've never really been that into video games. When I was young, I played a lot of RPGs on the SNES and PS1. Within the last couple of years, I dipped my toes back in the water and tried a few out. I tried Skyrim on a friend's recommendation, but it was just a little too involved and open-world for me. I got Cities:Skylines, which I love because I love city builder sims, but that game just does not run well on any of my underpowered computers. And I loved Ori and the Blind Forest, a beautiful platformer, and I'd play it again right now if it wasn't Windows-only.

Here are my requirements. First, it needs to run well on a low-powered machine without making the fan go insane. I've got a MacBook Air 2012 and a ThinkPad x250 (Linux). Neither of these are the ideal gaming experience, I know, but I'm not looking for amazing graphics or bleeding edge technology or something super immersive. Pixel graphics are fine with me. It reminds me of my youth, anyway. I played both Skylines and Ori on my Intel NUC 4th Gen and while it worked, they both really taxed that little machine. I was able to finish Ori, but once a city reaches a certain size in Skylines, it gets unplayable.

I'm not looking for stress. I like RPGs and sims. But it doesn't have to be really hard or frustrating. I don't want to feel chased in a game. I prefer to feel that I'm driving the action and I can go at my pace. I want to feel like if I look away for a moment, I'm not going to lose everything. I'm a casual. I also don't mind if there's no defined ending of a game. For me, I'm more looking for a diversion and a slow build over some kind of constant progression/achievement type scenario.

If it has full controller support, that would be ideal. I've got a Steam controller, and I prefer using a controller to play a game. I've never liked using the keyboard to play. I'm not totally against it, but I guess I just never got into computer gaming. I pretty much always played on consoles in the past.

Linux or macOS only, please. I did have Windows installed once so that I could play games, but I'm not bothering with that anymore. I don't want to have to boot into another operating system just to play a game. I want to be able to hop in and out of a game while using my daily driver computer.

So in my research, I've looked into Terraria and Stardew Valley. These might be what I'm looking for. But I really don't know. Do either of these scratch my itch? Is there another game that I would enjoy based on what I've told you? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

EDIT: Thank you everybody for your awesome suggestions. I'm still happy to hear more, as I plan to add the ones that really interest me to my wishlist and revisit later. I ended up getting Hollow Knight yesterday and I spent the whole day playing it. It's very engrossing, and it's the perfect game for me. It's so much like Ori, and that game blew me away. Chilled out, go at your own pace, exploring dungeons, challenging but not impossible (though the first Hornet fight was pretty tough for me). The game runs fine on my ThinkPad x250 (i5-5300U) in Pop!_OS Linux, apart from the initial movie scene stuttering--I just had to skip past it, unfortunately. It's such an awesome game, and I'm glad to see they've already announced a sequel. If you know of any other games that are like Ori and Hollow Knight, let me know.

I personally usually heavily mod my games, due to finding the process of modding itself fun, along with me preferring to spend a LONG time at one run through.

As an example, I'd give minecraft where I usually play so-called expert packs, which are basically taking a lot of mods and making them depend on each other for progression.

I was thinking about this question recently because I finished watching Game of Thrones and it made me want to play a game where I get to be a badass dragon. Unfortunately, it turns out there are surprisingly few games that tackle that experience.

I also recently played a game called 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, which attempts to inform the player about a real event in history through Telltale-style adventure gameplay. Though it's fictionalized, I realized while playing that it's as close to a documentary as I've come in gaming, which I would argue is another unexplored area.

That said, I'm curious to see what people here think.

• What are some ideas/experiences that games haven't tackled, or have hardly scratched the surface of?
• Why do you think this area has gone untouched for so long? Oversight? Tough to design around? Unfeasible? Unfun?
• Are there any games that do fit your bill? Are they any good?
• If you had to design a game to fill the niche you identified, what might it be like?

Like the title says, every Christmas when my family gets together we play board games traditionally Monopoly. Last year I got tired of playing it and after some research I found Concordia and we had a blast playing it. I'm trying to jump the gun and researching ahead for this year, what are ~games recommendations for a good 2+ player game that isn't too convoluted to pick up and is a good time?

Inspired by @Whom's music and anime threads

What have you been playing to this week? You don't need to be playing the latest games, nor do you have to write gigantic essays. This is just a space to talk games!

Feel free to give recommendations, thoughts, opinions. Chat about playstyles and habits! Reminisce about games and mechanics long gone, or coming back!

I'm interested in a game that you still loved or enjoyed in spite of its significant flaws or issues. "Best" and "worst" are, of course, based on whatever subjective criteria you choose.

• What made the game bad?
• Why did you keep playing it?
• What enjoyment or appreciation did it give you?

This post went well in ~books, so I figured we could give it a go here.

Top level comments should fill in the blank with some sort of descriptor identifying a kind of game you would like suggestions for. Be as generic or specific as you want.

Replies can then recommend games to that individual.

Hint: Use the "collapse replies" button to view only top-level posts.

Looking for some new games to play. This is my list of liked games so far

1. Worms WMD. This style of game just never gets old for me
2. Mario kart. Looks really nice in 60fps and a ton of fun
3. Golf story. Surprisingly fun golf RPG game, also great 2 player multiplayer
4. Arms. Quite a bit more fun than wii sports boxing
5. Baba is you. Really fun puzzle game with a unique idea
6. Korg gadget. Not a game but I love playing with synths
7. Night in the woods. I never got to playing this when it came out but I tried it on the switch and I like it

Howdy folks.

Pretty unorthodox post from me here hahaha, but these past few weeks since Rise of Shadows dropped, I've been really getting into Hearthstone again.

I used to play hyper-casually back in high school and never really got too into the scene or too passionate about the game itself, but now that I've (much to my displeasure) got a little more downtime I've been getting a lot more into it.

I 100% predicted that the last card Viper pulled in his finals match with Hunterace was gonna be Thalnos, but I couldn't remember the name of the card quick enough to post it in the chat I was in lmao.

Any of you here play Hearthstone?

What decks you run?

What, if any, nerfs do you think we'll see coming up?

And how the hell do some of these cats drum up a 5-figure dust count? I trashed my whole Wild category and I had just under 10k. Enough to make myself a few decks that keep me steady Rank 4.

I recently read a book about Nintendo and Sega in the 90s, and it reminded me of something I'd long forgotten: the Sega Channel.

The idea that the Sega Genesis had a digital delivery system in 1994 is wild to me. For comparison, Steam didn't have its first release until 2003, nearly ten years later!

What are some other examples of games, hardware, or ideas that were ahead of their time?

Inspired by @Whom's music and anime threads

What have you been playing to this week? You don't need to be playing the latest games, nor do you have to write gigantic essays. This is just a space to talk games!

Feel free to give recommendations, thoughts, opinions. Chat about playstyles and habits! Reminisce about games and mechanics long gone, or coming back!

What is your favorite homebrew console application/game? A really cool thing I saw recently was someone moved the dsi version of flipnote to a 3ds and connected it to an unofficial server to continue using it like when the servers were still online. Another cool thing was DS linux, I never managed to get it working but as part of the install process it removed the health and safety warning screen which is kinda neat.

I bought Tekken 7 about 6 months ago and have been seriously addicted to it ever since. My friend used to have all the old tekken games when we were really young but back then I just used to mash buttons.

It's a tough game to learn and even play passably but the process of improving is very satisfying. Currently I've got Asuka to Vindicator (2nd yellow rank) and plan on sticking with her until I (eventually) reach high orange/ first red rank. Dabbled a little with Kazumi/Paul but I don't think switching characters is a good idea at this point.

So do any tildinista's play Tekken?

Downloaded it, it is NOT noob friendly but seems like it will be fun once I get it figured out. Has been a somewhat annoying process. Figured out the crafting system, get killed by exiles. Start trying to set up a camp fire and make a little space, get killed by some hyena thing that was invisible due to server lag (on an official server, no less). Which, of course, results in losing everything.

Anyone else playing it? What has your experience been like? Also looking for a good server/group to play with, although I probably will not be able to log in much since I have a fairly busy schedule.

I'm looking into making a 2D video game just for fun, and I'd like to know some books on the subject. Not necessarily technical, since I got that covered with Godot Engine materials, but brainstorming, planning, narrative, theory, etc... You know, some big-picture stuff!

For convenience and personal preference, I much prefer books instead of videos and articles.

So I really respect what can be done with the let's play format and think it can be great art in its own right, but I think it's in a bit of a rut. A lot of the older and more successful channels have gotten repetitive or otherwise stopped being worth watching, so I'd love some recommendations for creators who are currently putting out good work.

Who do you think is making good content or even pushing the format forward?

I was playing Stardew Valley recently and ended up playing the mini arcade games in the tavern for a couple hours. I was suprised at the depth they put into a video game that is inside another video game. Truly great.

Note: I wasn't sure whether to post this in ~games or ~tech, so if it needs to be moved, feel free to put it where it belongs!

I've been playing my Playstation Classic a lot, and it's made me want to setup a full emulation box for my TV. I started looking into options and quickly got in over my head, so I'm hoping you fine folks can help me sort this out.

Caveat: I am somewhat techy, but not nearly to the same level as the average Tildes user.

Here is a rundown for what I'm going for:

• Systems: I want to be able to emulate up through the Dreamcast with no slowdown (or, at least, no slowdown as a result of my hardware--if it's natural to the original console or a limitation of the emulator, that's fine).

• Input: I want to use a wireless controller for input. Ideally six face buttons and four shoulders, so that it can easily stand in for almost all common controller layouts.

• Graphics: If possible, I'd like to be able to enhance the eye candy a bit with things like upscaling, increasing the internal resolution, and shaders. This would be nice to have, but is not a necessity. Running at fullspeed in the original with no enhancements is the target minimum, though.

• Footprint: Something up to the size of, well, a retro game console. I don't want a full PC next to my TV, but it doesn't have to be the size of a credit card either.

• Budget: Let's go with under $400 USD? Given the cost of a Raspberry Pi that seems like overkill, but I know the Pi can't do all the way up to N64/Dreamcast, and I'm not sure how much more power those need. That price limit is flexible if I'm being unreasonable with my expectations.

With all that in mind, here are my questions:

1. What hardware best suits my needs? I am not interested in building my own and am seeking pre-built solutions.

2. What controller is best? I'd prefer to have a one-size-fits-all solution, rather than swapping them out. Six face buttons would help make the Genesis, Saturn, and N64 feel more natural, but I suspect that might be hard to come by?

3. It looks like Retroarch is definitely the way to go for easy setup, but there seem to be a lot of different standalone options (e.g. Lakka, RetroPie, Recalbox). Which one should I go with? I should add that I really only care about ease of use and simplicity. I do not need something flashy, and the less friction in both setup and use, the better.

4. Any other tips, pieces of advice, or resources? I don't have a lot of experience with emulation, so a lot of this is uncharted territory for me, hence my uncertainty and need for guidance.

Not sure if this the right place to post this but here goes... I'm writing a story and I'm trying to figure out the best medium to tell it. I'm strongly leaning toward visual novels. I like anime and I want the story to have a similar look and feel. Maybe someday it will even become an anime. Who knows?

That said, does anyone here have any thoughts on the pros/cons of taking the visual novel approach as opposed to a traditional novel or light novel?

Hi there!

From time to time, me and wife enjoy playing 7 Wonders Duel on our weekends and we like that it's not that long because we always have to do other things. Of course, always playing the same game starts to get old (even though 7 Wonders Duel is quite great).

My wife was not totally excited by Jaipur, Santorini and Patchwork, for example. So, which board games would you recommend for two players where the playing time doesn't exceed 60 minutes? The board games don't need to be 2-player specific (like 7 Wonders Duel), though.

Edit: For future reference to other players. Besides the great recomendations in this post, I also found other very interesting 2-player games under 60 minutes. They are, Hanamikoji, Kodama Duo, Yokohama Duel and 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis. I actually bought Hanamikoji because it's so cheap and fast. Great game too!

Any other tabletop RPG fans here? What system do you play and what kind of character are you currently running?

I'm in two D&D 5e campaigns at the moment. In one I play a Gnome Mystic, and in the other I play a Tabaxi Monk.

D&D isn't my favorite system, but it's difficult finding groups for other systems. I'd prefer playing something where character ability progression is more freeform, like GURPS.

I’m in the market for a Game Boy Advance SP and games for it. I know there’s eBay, craigslist, and local thrift stores, but are there other places I should check? Perhaps retro gaming forums, or specific Facebook Groups?

A Pokémon Direct is taking place tomorrow, February 27, 2019, at 6:00 am PST. What are you hoping will be announced? Specifically, if they announce generation 8, what new Pokémon or settings do you want to see?

So I stumbled upon this streamer, KRX_ and he plays Cities Skylines in the evenings, when I have time after work to check it out. And it is relaxing to see someone build a city. He's playing Sims 4 right now, and it's still, it's like watching Bob Ross.

For those of you who may be too poor to afford the latest AAA titles, or just don't want to support policies like micro-transactions and "If you're offended, just don't buy it", there are many open-source and/or free games that can tide you over. Some of my favorites are:

• FreeCiv: A civilization building game based on Sid Meier's Civilization 1 and 2
• OpenTTD: A transport network building game based off of Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon Deluxe
• Dwarf Fortress: Not Open-Source - fortress colony management simulator with an additional RPG gamemode

Do you guys have any other free, possibly open-source games that you would recommend?

I know I'm late to the party, but do you have any recommendations, hidden gems? What's your favorite lately?

I've played most of the big games on console, so I would be looking for something that isn't on PS/Xbox.

Thanks!

Edit: I usually like puzzly games such as Limbo, Inside, Little Nightmares or story-driven epics like RDR2, God of War.

So I'm running a D&D 5e campaign, and so far have been doing "theatre of the mind". But it has it's limitations when I want the players to use actual combat strategy in some areas. I have experience a few years ago with using a 25mm paper grid for 3.5e and Pathfinder, which worked well because it was quick to draw a map with whiteboard marker.

Now I have a 3D printer, and I'm wondering if anyone has any dungeon tile recommendations, considering the following:

Firstly, are there any systems that are quick to assemble/disassemble as the players discover new rooms, or we need to clear table space?

Second, stability of the map is important. If a player knocks the map with their hand, will everything collapse, simply shift slightly, or is it rigidly held together?

Third, community: A larger community that contributes (and takes contributions) would be better than a propriety system that doesn't allow homebrew designs.

I've seen a few systems (openlock, openforge, and almost any keyword combination that I can think of is on kickstarter), but I'm finding it hard to get a feel for how popular the systems are, and how well they actually work when on the table.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good system? I guess i'm most interested in the game flowing smoothly, but I'm not opposed to going to a blank paper grid if that's really the better solution.

Hey, all. First actual post here!

In another post on the site (having trouble finding it at the moment, alpha is alpha), someone mentioned a virtual tabletop that was more asynchronous and focused on storytelling rather than battlemaps like roll20. Does anyone happen to know what it is? I'd definitely like to explore something like that for starting a game for busy folks, and also because my interests in tabletop gaming are definitely more focused on the story rather than combat (I'm a spade / heart rather than a club). Thanks!

edited to clarify: It was definitely not Tabletop Simulator, it was something relatively new, so not e.g. Maptools.

Hey! Lately I've decided that after years of wanting to do stuff on the internet, I'm gonna try my best to start streaming video games. I'm rather excited to start trying to form a lil community and I wanted to know if anyone here has tips/experience they would like to share. Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated! I did a little test stream of Bioshock (using OBS) for some friends, but I'm currently using a wireless adapter so it didn't go very well for very long. I'm definitely picking up an ethernet cable before I try again. But in the meantime, I thought I'd ask for some wisdom.