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?

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?

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 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.

Just as with the Wii, I think the motion controls are a big and fun feature of the Switch.

I have already searched online, but could not find a list of games that have motion controls (and in what way). I did see some attempt to put it on Wikipedia, but it was removed due to being too specific to be on Wikipedia itself.

If anyone found anything or is willing to help out, we could collaboratively write one up. What the best place for it would be, I do not know yet, but WikiData pops to mind.

I see votes, but I see no comments ...no idea how to interpret that.

Hi, so my SO and I are looking for a third person to play Apex with. We're pretty casual and not the best skill wise but just playing it for fun. Having a third person to talk to would be cool. We typically play around 9pm EST for about an hour or two. If you're down you can add us on xbox and shoot us a message at Rocket Man and Bubblegum KMA

I used to watch TotalBiscuit's videos to learn about PC ports of games, to see if they were any good. Obviously I can't do that anymore, and the best replacement I've found so far is looking at PCGamingWiki. If a game has a long page with a lot of issues and workarounds, it is probably a bad port.

But that doesn't really help if I want to know if a game has improved a lot since launch. Does anyone do a good "state of game x a few years later" series?

Anyone else play visual novels? If you don't know what they are, it's like an interactive story with pictures and sometimes player choice. People called Bandersnatch a kind of visual novel!

I got into them by playing Katawa Shoujo, which is astonishingly well-written and empathetic and funny. Recently I played Don't Forget Our Esports Dream, about two Starcraft pro gamers trying to chase their dreams while facing the realities of their lives. I love how it talks about the soul of esports, and if you ever played Starcraft, this game will bring back all the memories. What visual novels do other people recommend?

Of all video games out there where a good guy beats a bad guy, which bad guy do you personally feel got the shittiest end of the stick? I recently beat Mother 3 and SPOILER Porky's fate seemed kinda fucked, what with him being permanently sealed away, unable to die, for all eternity in the Absolutely Safe Capsule.

I bought a starter pack in 2015, played a few dog fights and races at 25fps, and then forgot about it. I reinstalled it today and was amazed at all the progress. There's some really cool stuff, like having your own expressions mapped onto your characters face with a webcam, or how you can get on your ship, jump to another planet, descend through the atmosphere and land at a camp, get out of your ship, and go inside, all seamlessly with no load screens.

The game looks fantastic, and runs a lot better too (I did upgrade, my pc, but not that much. I have a ryzen 5 2600 and a radeon 570)

Do any of you play? What do you think about the game?

We've had this conversation many times but the server was never set up or is no longer running.

Things to discuss:

• Whitelisted, must share Minecraft username so we can tell who is who
• Spigot with plugins
  • Nicknames of Tildes usernames
  • Anti-grief
  • Online map?
• Lightweight mods, if you want
• Which game version?
  • 1.12 if we want mods
  • 1.13.2 if we want vanilla

If around 5 people would be committed to this server, I'll set it up to the majority's preferences.

Looking for VR game suggestions. Turns out there's a lot of crap to dig through to get to the good stuff. Give me your best of the best. I'll start us off:

Multiplayer - Arizona Sunshine, Pavlov, Rec Room

Single player - Sairento, Beat Saber

What upcoming game are you looking forward to so much that they're already on your Steam wishlist?

Mine are:

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Away: The Survival Series
Children of Morta
Morning Star
Noita
Space Haven
What The Golf?

Over 10 years ago the world of mobile gaming was totally different from today's. Still many (if not most) phones could run installable and built in games. Which were your favorite ones?

Let's say the mobile game is retro if released before 2009.

I've played and enjoyed Neverwinters Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. I was wondering if you guys could recommend some games in a similar style that I've overlooked. Thanks!

I've found a few really, honestly fantastic open source games and I'd like to share them and discover some new ones too.

Firstly, NullpoMino is a fantastic cross-platform Tetris clone. It's highly, highly customizable and is lots of fun to play. It's got a great community over at Hard Drop, and if you like Tetris - you'll like NullpoMino. However, there are a few issues with it; one in particular being the relatively low skill ceiling of Marathon. The skill ceiling is very low (compared to other titles such as the NES edition), but this is solely exclusive to Marathon as far as I know. It turns into a test of patience rather than skill. Another issue is with installation; as the game was made for 32 bit systems it is rather slow, and it's finicky to run on Linux. However, it is a fantastic Tetris title (and open source!)

Another good open-source game is Osu! I've never played it competitively, but it's a fair bit of fun to play with friends and is a great game. It's cross-platform, although I've only ever played it on Windows, and it has a nice community. Fantastic game that I don't see mentioned too much.

The last game for this post is SuperTuxKart. It serves as a great kart-racing game, that's fun and has a low barrier to entry. Graphically, it's not drop-dead gorgeous, but it's not bad at all either. It's decent solo, and a lot of fun with friends. Would highly recommend. Cross-platform and available as a snap.

So you're thinking about starting up a game, remembering all the fun times and great experiences you've had with it, and then you realize that if you want to play that game, you have to go through there again. A place so annoying, so difficult, or so boring that it saps your will to play it preemptively, or makes you drop it partway through. For me, I have this issue with the Dark Souls series. Tomb of the Giants for DS1 (Seriously, fuck the whole needing a lantern thing and fuck gravity), Lost Bastille for DS2 (I still struggle with the Ruin Sentinel 3v1), and Undead Settlement for DS3 (Seriosuly, fuck those bee shooting witches. And the swamp afterwards is a spit in the face after). Anyone else have their grievances with their games?

I've found a fair few glitches that I find really interesting, and I'd be pretty interested in seeing some more pixel vomit too. For the ones I'll be listing, they are in old games but are very interesting.

Everyone's seen the MissingNo. glitch, but a far less famous (although in my opinion, more interesting) glitch is the Super Glitch. If you've got an emulator, I'd recommend doing a save state and messing around with it - it's results vary a lot.

A glitch available in quite a few games is arbitrary code execution. It's pretty interesting in general, as people can do loads of things, from loading up homebrew to replacing maps. Most of the time it is rather difficult or time consuming to do, but it's still fascinating to see.

This one technically isn't a glitch at all, but teleporting in SRS-based Tetris games is pretty cool. An actual glitch in Tetris (NES version) is pentrises don't clear all lines, which can make pretty interesting stuff happen.

EDIT: I nearly forgot about The Big Skip in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. I recommend watching a speedrun from AGDQ, it only goes over it very briefly in the tasvideos page.

What made them great? Who would you recommend them to?

Don't feel like you have to limit yourself to 2018 releases either. I'm interested in whatever you played and enjoyed regardless of when it came out.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out last Friday, and it seems everyone (including me) is enjoying the game. What are your opinions on it? What was missing? (Waluigi aside, unless you actually explain why.)
What are its high points and its low points? I'm hoping we can use this as a sort of guide for people looking to buy, but really, I just want to know your opinions. Type away, my minions! Mwahahahaha!

Now hear me out, alright? This is a very polarizing issue but I do want some experienced opinions on the matter. There are too many bandwagoners spouting regurgitated opinions and it's hard to pick out the genuine impressions

When 76 went on sale, I decided to grab it up. Yes, I know, I'm the cancer rewarding Bethesda for a low hanging cash grab effort and I should be ashamed. However, I really wanted an educated opinion on the matter and I had the money. So, despite the hivemind having made themselves up, and myself being not so keen on the decisions, I buckled down and dived in.

So, while everyone's complaints were focused more towards gameplay, engine, and server side issues (which are completely valid complaints), I found myself blown away, and deeply saddened, by the art direction. The game honestly does look beautiful! I got sick of dilapidated buildings and browns and greens in Fallout 3 and 4, and New Vegas was nice when it wasn't brown sand and olive brush. This game looks gorgeous. They managed to throw a ton of different tiny biomes into one map, that all look interesting and appealing to the eye (once you tweak the .ini to get rid of the god awful Depth of Field). Lots of beautiful forest settings and foreboding mountains.

But overall, my favorite thing about the game is the enemy design. And no, I don't mean the stupid scorched. My favorite thing about Fallout has always been the mutation/radiation angle. I love the possibility for terrifying and disgusting mutated creatures, and the art team absolutely nailed it with creatures like the Wendigo, Snallygaster, Grafton Monster, and Gulper. Just super unsettling and creepy monsters in the most literal sense. I feel the worst for the art team, who did a fantastic job but who were ultimately drowned out by the flak thrown at the gameplay and bugs.

This, of course, does not excuse the horrendous bugs encountered during regular play. Power Armor pieces not actually being repaired yet still using up mats, constant server disconnects, poor scaling system (Did a level 70 player walk into an area first? Well expect every enemy there to be around their level even if you enter!), awful graphics setting options (for the love of god, no more depth of field), no push to talk voice (seriously?), poor economy, exploits, and lack of true endgame, among many others I've missed.

So, does anybody else want to expand?