this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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TL;DR:

Animal Well is his game of the year, with runner ups being Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers, Arco, Nova Drift, Ballionaire, and Mouthwashing.

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[–] TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 82 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Although somewhat unrelated, I thought this excerpt from the article was interesting and sad.

Asked in an interview if he regrets Balatro's success, he replied: "Honestly, yeah. Don't get me wrong - this has changed my life in a lot of amazing ways. I'm so grateful. But I do miss that time before. It was just a hobby that recharged my batteries. Sometimes I think, 'Maybe I would've been happier if I had never released this game to the public.'

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 45 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The guy has all the resources to rekindle that flame by organizing game jams for example. I am sure he‘ll think much more positively about the whole thing a couple years from now when he realized opportunities granted by his success. Either that or he’ll go down the Notch route but I don’t think he’ll be that kind of stupid rich.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 21 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but his way to relax and get away from stress was to code. Organizing game jams is a whole other world of stress. The different level of stress is like that Mitchell Hedburg joke, "You're a great chef! Can you farm?"

[–] ech@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago

If you remain fixated on the idea that your way to relax is gone, you'll never be able to find a new way. Life changes, for good and bad. It's on us to make the best of it.

[–] DerArzt@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago

Don't feel sad for them! They have now reached a point in life where they get to ask these kind of what if questions and no longer need to work. I love the game they built, and hopefully if they still feel down they have to time and resources now to seek help (i.e. therapy).

[–] verdigris@lemmy.ml 26 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Animal well is great, but still has one massive problem; the keyboard controls can't be rebound, which is an absolutely unforgivable miss in 2024. Beat the game but had to use a controller... I really don't understand why he still hasn't added this basic feature.

[–] coriza@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Quake was released in 1996 and if I recall correctly at the time the arrow keys were the standard but one famous Quake pro player used WASD and it helped launch it to today default.

My point is, I don't think it was ever OK to not have customizable keyboard controls, and having it also give you permission no be perfect in your chosen default. I understand not including the option to have multiple keys assigned to the same control (although I don't excuse it because it is not rocket science), but not have configurable controls at all? It was unforgivable in the 2000 and it is exponentially more unforgivable today.

[–] garretble@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Animal Well is also my game of the year.

No other game was more interesting and exciting when you found something new. Or solved a puzzle.

While on the surface it’s a simple Metroid style game, once you start noticing things it becomes so intriguing. I have a document on my iPad full of handwritten notes and maps. It felt so novel to return to a feeling of the late 80s where paper maps and notes were king.

While there were a lot of great games last year, I put so much more brainpower into Animal Well, and it felt so good to do so.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 5 points 6 months ago

I heard one video essayist identify it as a "metroidbrainia" - a game where progression is gated not simply by items/keys, but by knowledge of systems, many of them hidden.

[–] _sideffect@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Animal well surprised me completely, and it's definitely the best metroidvania I've played in a long time

[–] Elevator7009sAlt@ani.social 1 points 6 months ago

Thanks for the TL;DR!