I had the privilege of not only being accepted to my first GDQ (Games Done Quick) but opening for all of AGDQ 2024 with TUNIC Any%! So much work, practice, and worry went into this run, and I really couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out. Thank you to those who helped, donated, and made this a magical experience for us.
Mega shoutouts to Asuka for having me on my first GDQ Hotfix! They host a show called “Express Lane” that features speedruns under an hour in length.
I was part of an episode that specialized in animal-based runs, and ran the same run I submitted to AGDQ 2024–which was accepted! I had SO much fun and the run could not have gone much better. Many thanks to Silent for commentary and joke participation.
I sat down with TUNIC creator Andrew Shouldice for an exhaustive multi-hour interview looking back at his game, one year later. We cover childhood, school, early work, game jams, the origins and inspiration for TUNIC, how it came to be, its release, and Andrew’s thoughts now.
TUNIC is an isometric action-adventure game about a tiny fox in a big world where you explore the wilderness, fight monsters, and find secrets.
First named “Secret Legend” in 2016, it became “TUNIC” in 2017. I first discovered the game in 2018, at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. I was fortunate to get to play an early demo at FWA and fell in love with the game.
My first adventure was challenging and magical. Just three days after launch, I had uncovered all there was to see in TUNIC. I joined the early speedrunning community, hoping to ease the withdrawal, and two months later ran Any% in my first charity marathon.
I feel so fortunate to have had such a fantastic experience with TUNIC. I’ve made good friends, talked with the devs, and even influenced a patch. TUNIC has quickly become one of my favorite games of all time. With TUNIC’s new platform releases, I wanted to do something to give back and celebrate.
DREAMS OF A RUIN SEEKER is a celebration of TUNIC’s artistry: its visuals, soundscape, design, world, and story. Using various UI mods (debug, no-UI and randomizer), I captured footage across the game from different angles, perspectives and zoom levels in 4K at 60fps. I then arranged it over the official soundtrack, in relative gameplay order.
This of course means this production is full of MANY SPOILERS, so please play the game before watching this!
I hope this production brings you even some of the joy I felt making it. 🦊❤️
Back with the 4th installment in the series! Myst IV: Revelation, a full playthrough with commentary before, during and after about the game’s development, story, puzzles, conclusion, and place in the Myst series.
(I’ve had to play whack-a-mole with the Copyright Claim system, but I eventually gave up after the 4th attempt. It just keeps tagging different parts of the video with Jack Wall’s OST. Sorry for the few edits to remove some BG music in cutscenes.)
Whether laid off and looking or stuck inside for nine months, gaming was critical in helping fill the void for many of us this year. Here are some of my standout experiences of 2020.
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (GameCube | 2002): A seminal experience for me in high school with my Dreamcast, PSO has continued to be an alluring, simple hum of a grind that relaxes me almost 20 years later. The household and I started new characters and I personally pumped over 160 hours into this classic this year. Our characters as of writing: a 110 HUcast, a 99 RAmarl, a 91 FOnewm, and our guest character, a 26 RAcast.
Join me for a full playthrough of the early-2000s Presto Studios adventure game, Myst III: Exile! I also discuss the game’s development and reception, and try my best to explain the story and puzzle solutions as I go.
In the closing weeks of 2017, I recorded some for-fun streams of playing through Myst and Riven on Twitch and posted them to YouTube.
Despite being one of my favorite game series ever, I dropped off the series after Exile. In an attempt to get back on and get some motivation to see through Myst 4 (and maybe Uru and 5) before mainlining Obduction, I wanted to revisit the first three games and share my thoughts in some form. Three years later and I’ve finally completed that self-imposed obligation! On to Myst 4!
The “Super World” update for Mario Maker 2 could not have come at a better time. To generate some spice during the COVID-19 lock-down (and as a break from studying for the PMI-ACP), the roomies and I spent May and June building our own Super Worlds and played them together in early July.
It’s nothing too special in a Mario Maker sense, and it’s my first real shot at designing challenging (but not super challenging) levels, but I took it pretty seriously and I’m pretty happy with the results! Enough to make a trailer at least.
Below are screenshots, level codes, and some narrative bits I wrote for each world to read during our livestream. I even wrote this…ridiculous prologue story to set the scene in the hour prior to the stream that you all have the sad privilege to read now. If you want to play the Super World yourself, my Maker ID is: GCG-9QN-TMG
What happens when you mix the star-struck owl from 2020’s chillest anti-viral videogame with the hottest celestial meme of 2017? Animal Crossing: New Horizons Shooting Stars!
True to form, I played a lot of games last year. I didn’t quite carry through on my goal to play the classics primarily but I’m super glad I had the chance to play some of these gems from this year!
Ringtail Quest 