Dan Salvato

Uh actually, as a coffee aficionado the more proper terminology is "Vessel of Joseph"

This is awesome. I'm curious about the wireless linking, if any changes were required or they just emulated it as-is. Given how much physical link cable sucks to emulate due to expecting perfect data integrity, it warms me to imagine their esoteric wireless support staying relevant 20 years later.

Don't give unsolicited advice to neurodivergent folks, it's oftentimes a big trigger of negative feelings due to a lifetime of them enduring people trying to "fix" them with misguided suggestions

I think I remember you plugging this game during your AGDQ Phantom Hourglass run as well. I'll be sure to check it out at some point

I'm writing a blog post about the Nintendo DS era. What are some games you feel used the stylus in especially creative, bold, or joyful ways that centered the whole gameplay experience around it? For example, WarioWare: Touched!, Trauma Center, and Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

A page from the Pokemon Gold Prima Strategy Guide book showing Feraligatr misspelled as "Feraligtr"

Out of curiosity, I was looking around at old Pokemon print material to see if Feraligatr was ever spelled "Feraligator" and that the name was simply shortened in-game due to the character limit. Then the Prima Strategy Guide delivered what feels like a punchline aimed exactly at my specific musing

Unexplored things:

- Most items don't work, but Exp Candy works on the null Pokemon, so maybe other obscure usable items have some effect too.
- Can we get a free Pokemon anywhere while in this state? One NPC gives Bronzor from fragments. Maybe pick starter but skip rival fight and farm fragments.

The hard part: Requires handheld speed glitch. Connect a second controller while not docked, and tilt both left sticks diagonally for a speed boost. Push up-left into the wall, then swing up-right to launch. Every 2 tries, run back to the grass or the game will think you're stuck and warp you home.

Getting onto the beach ledge: Multiple methods from the slope shown. I did it in a couple minutes by rapidly wiggling the stick back and forth while running across the slope to maintain speed. An alternate method is the (already-known) handheld speed glitch, explained below for the next trick.

Getting behind the fence: Get onto the rock as shown. Then, while pushing forward into the rock, slowly angle the stick right until your character is walking as slow as possible to the right. If all goes well, they will pop up and over the rock.

I discovered a new, unpatched method of escaping without a starter in Pokemon Scarlet on Switch and Switch 2. (Old save/load displacement method was presumably patched.) Detailed instructions in this thread, as well as some things I haven't yet tried but would like to find out if they're possible.

A mockup of a Jeopardy board question that reads "Konami's depiction of Count Dracula iconically called this type of person "a miserable little pile of secrets"

Age verification?

All your base are belong to us

Here are the kinds of sketches I'm giving to my sprite animator for Magicore on a regular basis. Using phrases like "Whiplash her spine like a noodle" and "that downwards power pose chibi magical girls do" and "0-10-50-90-100 motion curve". Really a language that only humans can actually understand

Very vague memories, but I remember there being "Bound" maps which were like dexterity challenges to get a unit through a survival obstacle course, and a Risk map that was some kind of tactical strategy game. At least 11-year-old me thought those were some cool ones.

Eh, I think they're going to follow it up to ride the momentum of the movie. IMO, the Wonder DLC is their "out in time for the movie" project (for those inspired to play Mario after watching the movie), but they'll ride the movie marketing wave straight into some big news to capitalize on visibility

I think Mario Maker 3 will be announced during some upcoming "Mario 40th Anniversary Direct", probably as we approach the premiere of the Galaxy movie, so unironically it could be upon us yet

Thanks for playing, it was a fun watch and I'm really glad you guys had a good time with it!

I have another theory about the SNES eject button. As you know, NES front-loader cartridge slot was a common point of failure due to bending, so the SNES eject button ensures a gentle lift w/ no lateral bending force.

Now, the handle on the GameCube—completely useless, but it just has to be there.

Steam SDK does have "stats" for devs to track that info internally. IMO it can be fun for players to see some of that data with public achievements. The problem again lies in implementation, where devs can't really choose which achievements "deserve" a fanfare over others, without lots of extra work

IMO, the problem is that third-party API (e.g. achievements) is a late, obligatory step in game development, so the goal is to get it working, not to craft player experience around it. It'd fall on Valve to help inform when and how achievements should be triggered. But expectedly, they're agnostic.

I like achievements, but I'm not a fan of the expected implementation for them. Getting a pop-up e.g. the exact instant I get the final hit on a boss takes me out of the moment. I know I can just disable the notifications, but I still don't like how it's become the default experience in gaming.

This is interesting to think about. Gunpei Yokoi made Game & Watch after supposedly seeing a bored person passing time by pressing buttons on a calculator. Unbelievably, G&W games have responsive action and satisfying feedback. They make it fun to press buttons.

Stock image of Luigi with his index finger held to his nose

"Luigi, we need your approval on this scented deodorant. Here, I'll put a little drop on your finger, let us know what you think of the scent"

Luigi:

In Melee you can cancel aerial endlag by sliding off the edge of a platform while landing. I've always wanted to see other games do that, it's so situational but so sick when you find a use for it. The closer you cut it, the more frames you save but the more you risk missing the edge entirely

Playtesting has recently taught me that there is a very fine line between "too precise for anyone but the designer's movement habits" and "too lenient causing players to tunnel-vision on the unintended solution that's 10x harder". And you teeter between the two by moving obstacles 2 pixels at a time

Thab leaning and pointing at the screen with Dan Salvato’s newest demo of Magicore Anomala. The screen reads the time as 04:42 and 0 deaths

Got to do a couple runbacks of Dan Salvato’s newest game demo at AGDQ. Got the deathless and found some cool speed strats too! I’m real excited for the full release

A photo of an Amiga 500 next to a monitor displaying a title card for the game MAGICORE ANOMALA

If you're at #AGDQ, I have a brand new Magicore demo up and running in the practice room. It'll be here all week. I worked incredibly hard to get this demo done in time for the event, so I hope you take the time to check it out!

You can always tell whether Gen Z is on desktop or mobile because on desktop they're like sjdfsfsdlkjsdf but on mobile they're like skxkdksnskxk

Do you wanna build a snow... cow? ❄️🐮

Official #DDLC 2025 Winter Illustration