That’s about it. Clients often have an idea of what they want, inspired by stuff they’ve seen already. It’s just safer to request stuff that already works than innovate. So designers might have more interesting and readable ideas but they end up doing what the client wants anyway. Good way to see this is designer’s online portfolios.

A good client provides some guidance but offers a fair amount of freedom in regards to exploration, the average client has an idea of what they want already, and the worst kind of client tells you what they want from the go (because most often it just won’t work).

I see your point, but… I don’t know. Nowadays, attention is a prime commodity. The easier something is to consume, the more people it will reach. And while that doesn’t matter as much in entertainment media, it has to be considered when designing for more important topics. Thus, media has to be designed to be read efficiently.

I don’t love how media is designed nowadays, precisely because it is monotonous and boring often, but I don’t long for the days when I had to look an entire page over for the bit of information I’m after. A balance can be struck through clear layout design and following trends that respect hierarchy. Maximalism does neither.

Though, I feel like I have to differentiate artistic media from informative media. Art can go bonkers, in fact art should challenge established tropes, but design should prioritize function over form, keeping in mind there is some room for aesthetics in there.

Again, I’m approaching this from an efficiency and ease of use point of view.

I’m a graphic designer, so maximalism and antidesign. It’s taking a bit to become more than just a trend, but it’s getting there. I understand minimalism is getting stale, but the answer is not going for something hard to read. Even with proper hierarchy the sheer clash of colors, sizes, etc., will lead to a jumbled mess. Form follows function to make life easier.

A balance must be struck between maximalism and minimalism.

And odds are, they already made their choice.

Also, this one might be somewhat subjective since stuff can feel hot or cold depending on the person, but body temp is around 37C, with hands lagging behind a degree maybe.

Even a two degree difference is obvious, and helps with pets (cats have an internal temp of 39 and dogs of 37), and to a lesser degree, cooking.

I’ll be sure to mention it! Appreciate it

Yeah this is the one.

Hm, the first session I ever ran I had this mentality. The session would entail meeting in a tavern, talking to the locals to gather info on a nearby tournament, and get ambushed on the road by undead. I had listed out every bit of XP that my players could earn along the way, plus a little over in case they did something cool. Both combat XP from killing monsters, as well as passing planned social and exploration checks and player-initiated social and exploration checks.

It was hell. I had a spreadsheet on one screen checking boxes to automatically add stuff (so as easy as it could be), for even the smallest stuff possible. The XP was shared as well, so I wasn’t even counting each player individually. The very next session I decided I’d start doing narrative level ups instead.

The problem with XP systems, especially the ones like Elder Scrolls which levels skills through use, is that it adds a ton of homework to the DM. On top of prepping encounters, quests, maps, NPC’s, oh-shit situation scenarios, etc., doing XP is a bit much, at least for me.

Part of the entire reason I moved away from DnD was the level up system. Savage Worlds is much better in that regard, since on an advancement players can upgrade combat skills, social skills, exploration skills, or gain the equivalent of feats (or remove what would amount to anti-feats) after an important story beat - all from the same point pool. So, an advancement could be achieved after a particularly important conversation or exploration event, and result in non-combat skills being upgraded.

Hm, appreciate it! I’ll look into it.

Might’ve been, but I don’t remember it being so red. I’m on mobile right now though, and my PC browser loads everything in dark mode, maybe the colors were affected.

In any case, the site my buddy showed me ranked games according to performance just like that one so that one would still be useful.

One of my buds is a programmer and runs linux and windows on his machine. At this point he’s pretty adroit at fixing any issues on linux, but he has faced limitations before.

Regarding work, being on linux apparently was a big plus when he got hired, and works exclusively on linux due to its stability.

Regarding gaming, many games we play apparently run better on linux (inc. ArmA Reforger and some others, I forget), but some will just not run at all (anything with a kernel anticheat), and his mic sounds like utter shit on discord due to missing drivers or something.

I do remember there was a site where you could check how well a game ran on linux, but I forget. You might be able to check if the games you got run on steam deck, since they are linux based.

Shit. What if you are running the home edition? I’ve been thinking about switching as well, but I don’t have a background in coding and I’d have to run a dedicated ssd with windows just for my work programs (design related) or migrate to FOSS completely.

There’s this belizean hot sauce called Marie Sharp’s, I get the gold one. Doesn’t sting me at all, my family can’t handle heat, but it does the job well enough.

My favourite however is Salsa Macha. Can’t get dried pepper where I’m at though, or I’d make it myself. Goes great with just about anything, even compound butter slathered bbq steaks.

Running through the most golden wheat field I could’ve ever imagined (I swear I’m not a british PM), on the side of a hill that went on to the horizon. Behind me, hauling ass, was the mystery machine with no driver. On top of the mystery machine was Cliff Burton, Bo Bonham, and Jimi Hendrix playing purple haze. I woke up as I stopped running and just started floating.

Either that, or the time I dreamt I accidentally killed a romantic partner in my sleep in a huge hotel that looked like something out of Brazil. As I woke up (in the dream), the bed was covered in blood and the police was banging on my door. I pushed an armoire into the door frame, broke a window, and jumped out. Then I woke up.

Wdym, all landlords are already leeches!

Was it? It was my understanding that one was another game.

Zgrok is a good alternative. Used it some months back for Foundry vtt.

Yeah, however, leaks around this have been a bit more believable than before. Can’t remember the specifics, but more concrete stuff has been found by datamining (iirc) deadlock and paying attention to steamdb, with less reliable leaks ranging from the game or assets (again, iirc). So, there’s a fair chance this is real.

However, HL3 has been real multiple times before, it has been cancelled many times apparently, only to be taken up again later on.

Fact remains however, that Valve have been working continuously on an appid that isn’t deadlock for some time now, and there’s plenty of noise around them working on a new half life.

In addition to what others have said, I’d recommend two things:

1. Deliberately understalt food. You can always add more salt on the table, you can’t take salt away.

2. Prep compound butter beforehand with someone helping you taste. Grab roasted garlic (2-3 heads), red wine vinegar (a couple drops), 400g of good quality butter with no added ingredients (eg avoid garlic butter bars), handful of fresh chopped thyme and rosemary, and bit of pepper and salt (same thing as before, underseason). This will give you an already prepped flavour bomb to add to savoury foods. I usually add a couple bones’ worth of marrow as well, and the resulting butter goes well with any meat (non-fish), vegetables, bread, even plain rice.

Puuure pazaak