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Why Online Virtual Holiday Video Game Events Feel Less Special

Editorials
hallowsend

The fall chill was in the air, in 2007. It was another Hallow’s End and the decorations, quests and festivities in World of Warcraft were the exact spirit of Halloween. The world felt like a fantasy novel had come alive and the holiday had this sense of true meaning. Now it’s as if a holiday is more side quests, you don’t really want to mess with unless the game offers some kind of inresistable reward for the effort. Players complain frequently about the lack of connection with holiday events or, even worse, they get almost little press and fanfare being more or less automatic gestures of the change of time. Why in two decades has gaming changed so much from the cozy, comfy connected holiday experience to what tad amounts to almost ignorable window dressing in online games? While I think it wouldn’t be fair to answer that with a…

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Dave the Diver – Unlocking Cucumbers and Special Events Guide

Guides
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In Dave the Diver you actually don’t get cucumbers until fairly late in the game. You may have even noticed in one of the hotfixes shortly after launch that it wouldn’t give you the cucumber event unless you had the farm unlocked. That’s because the events generally cycle in a rotation and you could, in theory, not have done the farmer’s quest by that time. The only actual quest VIP that you have to do for the story is none of them? I think, actually yeah, you don’t have to catch the seahorses to get enough town popularity. So really, you could play forever and never unlock the farm. Not only do you not get cucumbers until fairly late in the game, but there are special events that occur. We’ve got the details and the general rotation they follow below along with how do you get cucumbers on your farm.…

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Video Game Conventions Returning in Full Force: FFXIV to Give Away Polygonal Grapes

News
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Everything from Final Fantasy XVI to Path of Exile are having their conventions return to their regular cadence. During 2020-2022 it was rather rough for travel and events. Now, in 2023, it seems that more and more games are returning to their yearly fan meet-ups. That’s awesome! To celebrate, this year’s Final Fantasy FXIV Fan Festival is rather awesome: You get a small tote, some nice pins and a stress ball of grapes. This joke is not only rather neato but it also is a return to the things that make the video game community awesome. For some context, some grapes in FFXIV had bugged out and were rendering in their low-polygonal version. A lot of games will derender an asset the further you are from it since you can’t see the fidelity. In this instance, the game wasn’t properly rendering the grapes. It’s neat that games are returning back…

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Base Building with the Energy Flow of Feng Shui

Guides
minecraft base

Feng Shui is a very deep practice that has many elements and a lot of philosophy to it. Often thought of in offices and at home, yet rarely thought of in video game homes. Yet, the basic principles of Feng Shui can apply to your Minecraft, Valheim, Rust, Grounded, etc. base just as well at your apartment or house. Let’s dive into that. The Flow of Energy In Feng Shui the idea is that the entrance of the house is where energy begins to flow from. Pathways that everyone walks brings energy with it and manipulating that flow of energy is how you can have good energy or bad energy within a home. While this is a massive oversimplification, that oversimplification can really help to understand the basic principle here. If you think about your base in a game, especially a multiplayer base, you can quickly see the pathways where…

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Dave the Diver Vegetable, Fish and Seaweed Farm Guide

Guides
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In Dave the Diver you will unlock three different kinds of farms: vegetable, fish and seaweed. You’ll unlock them directly in that order. The game does a fantastic job of going over the basics of each farm, but you may be wanting to know what’s coming up or how to deal with specific mechanics. That’s where our guide comes in. We’ll go into unlocking them and how to efficiently run them. In order to avoid spoiling the game, we will not call any specific character out by name or story. We now also have a video guide on YouTube! Unlocking the Farms The first farm is going to be unlocked by a loud-mouthed guest who visits your sushi restaurant fairly on. They’re going to ask for curry and you have to deliver that dish to them yourself. So not only does it have to be on the menu, but Dave…

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Dave the Diver GYAO! Guide

Guides
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GYAO! is a traditional Tamagotchi game within Dave the Diver. It follows the exact Tamagotchi formula with some quality-of-life upgrades. You’re probably wondering how to grow and take care of your GYAO! because the game doesn’t provide any tips, unlike other areas of the game. The reason being is that the original Tamagotchi has sort of a thing where folks would play without the instructions. That lead to a lot of Tamagotchi pets lost. Just like the original Tamagotchi Connection, the same instructions do work exactly here. We’ve included the Tamagotchi Connections v1 Instruction bits that are relevant to Dave the Diver at the bottom. How to Care for GYAO! There are two main needs for GYAO! Food and affection. The manage screen shows you this. If you see a mess, click the clean button. If you see the purple skull, press the medicine button. At night, you must check…

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The Rise, Fall and Future of Lore: Why Recent Indie Games Failed and How to Fix Them

Editorials
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Lore and worldbuilding have the power to ignite passion in players and fuel an immersive experience. At their best, lore-driven games create a sense of mystery and discovery that motivate players to explore each part of the world. However, some recent games have exploited lore and ambiguity primarily as a marketing tactic, rather than using it to enhance gameplay or build meaning. This phenomenon highlights the need for more balanced, player-centered design. When developers commit to transparency and ethical practices, lore can be used to strengthen community trust and craft impactful stories. But that depends on valuing immersion and artistry over profits alone. We’ll dive into the history of lore focused games, what happened and where to go from here. This is all inclusive of the entire indie scene, even if there’s a heavy emphasis on mascot horror. It makes the best example and we’ll avoid referencing mascot horror to…

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Who Are Inarius and Lilith and What is Sanctuary (No Game Spoilers)

Guides

Players can be quite confused at who Inarius and Lilith when they have almost no exposure to either of them before Diablo IV’s launch. Inarius is a rogue angel and Lilith is a rogue demon who created Sanctuary as a means to escape the Eternal Conflict between angels and demons over the Worldstone (the focus of Diablo II). They birthed the nephalem which eventually over time became humanity. That’s everything. We have a ton of technical lore history below, but if you’re just curious who they are that’s about the best summary I think you can have. When they introduce themselves in the game as the mother and father of Sanctuary, they’re not lying. There’s a lot more technical info on the situation than that, but we first need to talk about what came about to cause them to create Sanctuary. We’ll then go into a mixed bag of topics…

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Limited Inventory in SIGNALIS is Paradoxical Yet Intentional

Editorials
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SIGNALIS only allows for six inventory spaces and many players do not like the concept at all. So much so the developers have responded noting that they’re working on iterating on some kind of change that doesn’t remove the spirit of the gameplay but alleviates some of the player concerns. For me, I find the entire debate fascinating. The issue stems from the way that the game presents the inventory as sort of a puzzle challenge, akin to games likes Resident Evil. It forces the player into a set playstyle, something modern gamers aren’t very appreciative of, where you will always optimize your run by not bringing ammo and only carrying one weapon. That gives you five inventory slots for all other items. Yet, players who play the game on Easy or Normal will likely want to play aggressively and in doing so will want different weapon options, lots of…

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SIGNALIS – The Story & Ending Explained

Guides
signalis

SIGNALIS is sort of an enigma of a game. It’s a great recapture of the feeling of the “5th generation” era of gaming and is actually a lot of fun. While its considered a survival-horror game, its more akin to an action-stealth game like Metal Gear Solid and less like Resident Evil per se. However, it has a very interesting, wild and convoluted story that needs a bit of explanation. Another thing to note is a three person team worked on this game. I touch a bit on this in my article about meetings at video game studios, but a lot of the game is clearly intentional from a development standpoint. Which is why SIGNALIS feels so buttoned up. SIGNALIS Is an Analog Horror Simulator That’s it, that’s as simple as it is. Everything in the game is built around a dream like experience of that 5th generation era of…

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