By Justin Amirkhani, Creative Director
Always Sometimes Monsters started as an attempt to find the answer to one of the biggest questions I had ever come across. What else could my life be?
Whether the game was ever able to successfully answer it, or if it was even able to pose the question to players is not what's worth talking about here. Over the course of producing ASM I have come to understand that in life there is no certainty in anything, and possibilities exist only in the realm of curious wonderings. No matter what angle I analyze the question from, or how I use the game and the experience making it as a filter, I will be forever uncertain whether my life could ever be anything other than what it is.
This is the real heartbreak of the game.
In many ways, the story of ASM is the story of making ASM. Like the protagonist we set out on a mission with a hard deadline, no real clue how to progress, and mired in the tedium of work. Here and there we'd find lessons and misadventures, all in pursuit of a highly intangible goal we only really appreciated in dreams. As we pull to the end of the journey, sacrifices need to be made, and we come to an ending that is equal parts celebratory and gut-wrenching. A guilty feeling overtakes as the credits roll and we think of all the ways we could have done things better, and we want to play again.
http://s2.n4g.com/media/11/...
Being happy with what you've made is probably the most difficult thing about creating any form of art. Even when your praises are being sung, it can be hard to believe what people are saying because you know how much better it could have been given just a little more time. Sadly, with a game like ASM there is no "done". No matter what you do or how much effort you put in, you will inevitably release something that may be good, maybe even great, but will always feel incomplete to the creator.
It's like running on a track by yourself; only you decide how many laps is enough.
Still, I look at myself and my life now that we're through with our first game and things look good. We're comfortable and fulfilled, making a living doing something we love. Nothing is perfect, our naive ideals are unmet, but everything about life is better than it was before we started. Perhaps this is what the game was trying to teach me all along.
http://s2.n4g.com/media/11/...
What else could my life be? With persistence and effort, it could be better.
Seeing an idea of yours come to life and success from scratch leaves you with no doubt that hard work has its rewards. I now know that regardless of circumstance, I can always improve my station with the will to endure. That's a valuable lesson to learn, and probably the most important thing gained from making a game.
As we move forward from Always Sometimes Monsters, and on to whatever comes next, it's with a confidence that we never had before. With luck it bolsters our ability to deliver games that continue to impact people emotionally, and never cripples us by turning into cheap hubris. Vagabond Dog has only started telling its stories, but now that we know someone is listening, there's all the more reason to keep talking.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Day 8 | Vagabond Dog
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
This game seems like it goes real deep, gotta play it
A game about life, if it's fun - I'll play it.
" A guilty feeling overtakes as the credits roll and we think of all the ways we could have done things better, and we want to play again"
Life would be a lot more interesting if there were save points i could return to.
Seems like the game can spawn some pretty humorous stories.