@imalcolm@mastodon.social
@imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

imalcolm

@imalcolm@mastodon.social

Writer, editor, game designer. Occasional bass and uke player.

Worked in game dev as a designer from Star Wars and Nightshade on NES through to Need For Speed: Shift on iOS, with 30+ titles in between.

Freelance writer and editor on various books and publications.

Bassist for several bands you never heard of.

And so on and so forth...

#reading #writing #books #fantasy #scifi #videogames #retrogames #boardgames #ttrpg #MacGaming #music #movies #photography

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golgaloth, to writing
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Do you use reference to Greek mythology, or any other mythology?

#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #writing #authodons

imalcolm,
@imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

@golgaloth

Euripedes' trousers, Eumenides' trousers...

flockofnazguls, to random
@flockofnazguls@mastodon.flockofnazguls.com avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @flockofnazguls

    I almost got whiplash doing a double-take at seeing a Master's Apprentices song posted on here, especially one that wasn't "Turn Up Your Radio" which was a regular fixture on classic rock stations here in the 70s-80s.

    Have to say I definitely prefer the prog vibe of 'Games We Play'. 😎

    imalcolm, to Starwars
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    It's Star Wars Day once again, so with that in mind, here's a bit of minor Star Wars gaming history for the three people who might be still interested, haha - an interview I did with Jack Yarwood for Time Extension last year, about developing NES Star Wars for Lucasfilm/JVC back in the day.

    https://www.timeextension.com/features/flashback-how-an-australian-developer-helped-lucasfilm-make-its-first-star-wars-game

    timrichards, to random
    @timrichards@aus.social avatar

    Her upcoming tour sounds like fun.

    Joanna Lumley on why Absolutely Fabulous could never be made today

    (maybe paywalled) https://www.smh.com.au/culture/celebrity/absolutely-not-joanna-lumley-on-why-ab-fab-could-never-be-made-today-20240418-p5fkyq.html

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @timrichards

    Yeah I reckon it could def be a good one.

    Have to say though that whenever comedians/comedic actors claiming their old show could not be made anymore “Because everything has now become unacceptable … “ (to quote Lumley directly from that piece) I wish I could point them to shows like “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” or even “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, which are massively popular and long-running shows that go far further than something like Ab Fab ever did.

    golgaloth, to Pubtips
    @golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

    Me at the start of my Kickstarter, vs Me at the end of my Kickstarter.

    Well that was a ride. I didn't anticipate being hospitalised halfway through my campaign, but we're funded and I'll have my first book available through Ingram Spark for everyone in June/July.

    Writing is easy compared to publishing.

    #WritingCommunity #publishing #WritersLife #AmWriting #Fallout

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @golgaloth

    I'm sure it will be worth the effort - looking forward to reading it!

    golgaloth, to australia
    @golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

    It's Sunday here in #Australia. I have big plans for the day. Biiiig plans. So big.

    #Sunday #books #reading

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @golgaloth

    Bestest plans right there. 👍

    craiggrannell, to random
    @craiggrannell@mastodon.social avatar

    Weeknote!

    🤖 Not everything needs AI and subscriptions
    🍎 Where Apple will be in 2030
    👾 The Game Boy turns 35
    🐥 Tiny Wings is my latest classic app
    🎂 Our indie magazine hits issue 300
    🪫 The strange nature of the RGB30 console

    https://reverttosaved.com/2024/04/27/weeknote-27-april-2024-thinking-about-milestones/

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    Inspired me to go and redownload Tiny Wings to play for the first time in over ten years. Noyce! 🏆

    Binder, to random
    @Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

    Borrowing a cup of stone off of the neighbor to get some soup going.

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @Binder

    😉

    DJDarren, to random
    @DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

    Just noticed a comment under The Chats - Pub Feed saying “How many new national anthems do these guys need to write”, and I’ve never felt more kinship with the Aussies than I do right now.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LGM82uPuvA

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @DJDarren

    Yeah, they're pretty bloody good. The only thing I always wonder about in that clip is the Fosters t-shirt, but I'll have to give the drummer the benefit of the doubt and assume he's being ironic. (Or possibly iconic, for better or worse...)

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @DJDarren

    Haha, definitely, especially as they're from Queensland.

    When I was in my late teens/early 20s I had one friend who drank Fosters. We all thought he was a freak. 😉

    jmac, to random
    @jmac@masto.nyc avatar

    Literally nobody in a 3,000-person work chat liked my story about how walking past a nearby burger bar when its window is shuttered makes me say "We're closed now!!" in a weird voice because I'm remembering a 1983 TV ad for the video game Burgertime, so I'm telling you instead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjJ0Tl3WENQ

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @jmac

    I was an Atari VCS kid, but for some reason Burgertime was like the killer title that made me occasionally wish I had an Intellivision instead.

    I honestly have no idea why, in hindsight. Thinking of all the fantastical experiences and things you could simulate, making burgers while being chased by eggs and pickles really shouldn't be up there. And yet...

    imalcolm, to random
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    #WritersCoffeeClub

    1. Change one word in the first sentence of a famous novel to change its meaning.

    “I write this shitting in the kitchen sink."

    golgaloth, to random
    @golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

    #WritersCoffeeClub
    22. Change one word in the first sentence of a famous novel to change its meaning.

    In the beginning, the internet was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

    The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @golgaloth

    Very well played indeed! 🏆

    DJDarren, to iPod
    @DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

    I know people legitimately shit on Apple for their business practices and making relatively new devices if not obsolete then not a million miles away...

    But the fact I can plug a 20 year old #iPod into my Mac to repair a corrupted SD card is pretty bloody cool actually.

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @DJDarren

    Yep. My 2005 vintage 5th gen click-wheel iPod is still going strong, happily synced to a 2021 MacBook Air. 🤷‍♂️

    ColleenDoran, (edited ) to random
    @ColleenDoran@mastodon.social avatar

    Cain and Abel from House of Mystery and Sandman. Brush and ink.

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @ColleenDoran

    Not pictured: the axe concealed behind Cain's back, shortly to be buried in Abel's...

    (Lovely work. 🏆 )

    jmac, to random
    @jmac@masto.nyc avatar

    In the 1970s and 80s, the Yellow Pages phone directory in the U.S. had this logo and I had no idea what in the world it was supposed to be. It looks like a weird goblin with a huge head, stubby arms, and no knees lurching its flattop hairdo over to the left, yeah?

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @jmac

    We had a similar (possibly the same) logo on Australia, to tie in with the Yellow Pages slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking.”

    I’m now kinda disappointed they didn’t go with, “Let your hydrocephalic, knee-less goblin do the walking.”

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @mjgardner @jmac

    Ah, looks like it was used more widely than I thought. After watching that vid I went down a rabbit hole revisiting old (and not so old) Australian versions, from the 80s to early 2000s, but along the way found versions all over, from Ireland to Myanmar. AT&T would have been kicking themselves...

    craiggrannell, to retrogaming
    @craiggrannell@mastodon.social avatar

    By me: The Game Boy at 35 – and six of the best Game Boy games // The Game Boy’s green screen might not have made rivals green with envy, but, boy, did its games shine • https://www.stuff.tv/features/the-game-boy-at-35-and-six-of-the-best-game-boy-games/

    #retrogaming #nintendo #GameBoy

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    Got to play Game Boy a couple of months after the Japan launch: where I worked had gotten approval to do NES games a few years earlier (via similar blackmail-ish method as Rare) so Ninty sent us two units and the launch games to check out while awaiting dev kits.

    TBH I was more smitten when Lynx dropped later that year, but monochrome or not, GB had killer games and battery life. Had OG grey unit, a silver GB Pocket, then a teal GBC.

    Still play GB on NSO (and now Delta, heh).

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    I had OG Lynx and Lynx II - as a die-hard Amiga head (and C64 fan) at the time - it felt to me like a portable Amiga (unsuprising, given its design by RJ Mical and Dave Needle), albeit with a bit of a C64 vibe, given the chonky screen rez.

    But yeah, hoo boy, battery life, or lack thereof... I used maybe three sets of batteries in 'em ever - treated them as laptops with dead batteries, always plugged in. 🤷‍♂️ 1/

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    For GB though I grabbed Delta on the assumption it may disappear again, mainly as a "neat to have" thing more than anything else - already have plenty of emulation options.

    Delta's haptic touchscreen feedback is satisfying, but at the same time after three days I synced an 8BitDo controller to my iPhone instead for preference - no matter how well done touchscreen controls are, input errors are unavoidable and quickly get annoying, esp. on things like Mario Picross. 2/

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    Yeah, while Atari ultimately failed with it, def agree that the Epyx Handy likely may not have even gotten to market, or would have died far quicker.

    Still pretty lovely tech for the time (battery issues aside) and some unique games.

    And Warbirds was fun with a few mates (for better or worse I convinced a number of peeps to buy em...), if you could get multiple ComLynx cable sync happening. Not quite as erratic as picking a LensLok image, but close... 😉

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @craiggrannell

    I have similar touchscreen history, and worked on a few iOS games with virtual joypads, but prefer ones with touchscreen-intuitive control, e.g. line-drawing in the now sadly gone Flight Control, or gestural puzzle games like The Room.

    The Minotaur Project games are notable exceptions - Jeff did amazing touch control work there that sadly went unrewarded.

    Love Pico-8! I find I mainly play puzzles and roguelikes on mobile, mostly saving action games for MacBook with gamepad.

    DJDarren, to random
    @DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

    Morning champions!

    Was about to make a fry up, then I realised that I have no mushrooms or baked beans.

    Bugger.

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @DJDarren @troberts

    My personal fave is a toasted English muffin (aka "a muffin" when in the UK) with tons of butter and a sparingly thin application of Vegemite. Mmmm...

    Binder, to random
    @Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

    Priscilla, Quern of the Desert.

    It’s the same story but it’s all happening in a mill.

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @Binder

    Priscilla, Quorn of the Desert.

    It’s the same story but it’s all happening in a chunk of mycoprotein.

    Daojoan, to random
    @Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

    The real cancel culture is Netflix who can’t let a single good show get past season one

    imalcolm,
    @imalcolm@mastodon.social avatar

    @hexagr @Daojoan

    The cancellation of the OA before the story was done was the first time I’ve really been angry about that sort of thing.

    Occasionally I still rave about that show, but when people ask if it’s still worth watching what was made, I generally say “No.” cos I don’t want to be responsible for their future frustration.

    I half-suspect that’s why Murder At the End of the World by the same people was a one season story arc, so that couldn’t happen again.

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