being real one of the things that make me so Afraid of a bachelor route drop that's getting closer with every day is that the laptop i played patho on [the only beast i have that's running windows, and as such can run steam + download games without much hassle] has been sick for a while, i don't think she can handle running P2 anymore (she struggled with it already before. but now i think she would just quit on me) + not sure what repairs would cost. fear and shivers...

Discover Snacktorio Factory Cooking Simulator with a Free Chance to Play

Snacktorio factory cooking simulator game has a Demo for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Which is the result of the hard work and dedication of the TNgineers development team. Available to try yourself on Steam and itch. Snacktorio factory cooking simulator is an exciting new experience for players. Especially if you're into cooking and managing things. Developed by a small team from the UK, TNgineers, it's a mix of cooking and building. The team behind this, Ell and Jamie, started their studio in 2020 and already have a cool beekeeping sim called APICO under their belt. Now, they're bringing something different to the table with Snacktorio. The Demo is due to offer you 8-16 hours of gameplay on Linux. In Snacktorio you're a chef, but not just any chef. You're one of the last ones in your clan, and you have a big job. There are huge, hungry monsters invading, and it's up to you to keep them happy with your cooking. But it's not just about whipping up a quick snack. You need to build a whole factory to make enough food for these creatures. This means setting up machines, laying out pipes, and making sure everything runs smoothly to produce loads of meals.

Snacktorio - Demo Out Now!

This all happens in a 2D world where you can move around, explore, and find ingredients. You'll be mining for ores, spices, and other resources to create the best dishes in Snacktorio. The goal is to keep these monsters fed and at bay, proving you're a top chef, even under pressure. You'll take orders from these beasts, each wanting different kinds of food. It's your job to make sure they get exactly what they want. To do this, you need to be smart about how you set up your cooking machines and pipe networks. Think of Snacktorio as a puzzle where you need to figure out the best way to move ingredients around to cook the meals. The game is not just about building and cooking; it's also about strategy and managing your resources. It's like running a restaurant, but instead of customers, you have monsters, and instead of a kitchen, you have an entire factory. And to top it off, the soundtrack is created by an indie composer named Mothense, which adds to the whole vibe. So, if you're into cooking, building stuff, and like a bit of a challenge, the Snacktorio demo is definitely worth checking out. This factory cooking simulator game is a fresh take on the factory simulation style. Focusing on cooking for monsters instead of the usual sci-fi theme. Available to play on Linux, Mac, Windows PC via Steam and itch. The release date is still TBD.

i have a small moral conundrum and i'd like the webbed site best known for its morality (/s) to help me:

i have a mac, specifically an m2 pro. the thing is a beast, i got it as a gift because I finished my first year at uni with straight A's. i love it to bits because it can handle anything i throw at it, big or small.

apple released something in the past few months that lets you play windows games on mac, which is huge. seriously. it is monumental that they did this. unfortunately, it is not a silver bullet. there are still a handful of games that are not playable no matter what you do, and as somebody who has used linux for years, i am very comfortable and familiar with tinkering. it used to be that you could check protondb.com to see if a game ran at all, but unfortunately because this windows-games-on-mac tech is so new, the corresponding website doesn't exist yet (or if it does I haven't heard of it).

now, as somebody with a limited amount of money, whenever I see a game that i want, i can't immediately go out and get it. I get this is a very first-world problem to have, but also if I do have the money, i want to be damn sure it can run on my computer. unfortunately there is no way that I know of to do this other than..... pirating the game.

(booing ensues)

I KNOW! i know. big studios can afford to swallow the loss of lil ol me pirating a single copy, i'm just more concerned about the smaller indie studios that produce some quality content. i'm talking aggro crab (subway midnight, etc), bluetwelve (stray), and more. i've seen people play their games, that's what makes me want to buy them in the first place and support the studio, but I simply cannot do that until i know that i can enjoy it at least a little for myself.

here's the point of this post:

is it okay to pirate a game with the sole purpose of ensuring that it can run on my computer before buying it?

kind of like getting a demo, if the publisher doesn't already offer one.

i'd also like to point out that this wouldn't otherwise be an issue if i was running windows (or even linux, again with protondb.com). i'm aware of steam's two-hour refund policy. however, due to the experimental nature of running windows games on mac with this new compatibility layer, things get complicated.

that's all for now. hopefully somebody will notice this post if i throw it into the ether.

love u all <3

Lots of games have players climb a tower to take on the big baddie and/or rescue a princess. Having a tower of baddies is far from unique, sure. But what if – hear me out here – instead of walking your way up, you launched yourself up, bouncing off of enemies to reach the top in mere minutes?

Welcome to Knightmare Tower, a wild, frantic ride up a tower full of baddies to hack apart, and a geyser of lava chasing you the whole way up!

Title: Knightmare Tower Developer: Juicy Beast Platform: Steam Game Version: Final Review Copy: Purchased by reviewer Interface: Keyboard Available on Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), iOS, Android, and OUYA

Break through ceilings, rescue princesses and escape boiling lava as you slash your way to the top of the Knightmare Tower!

I grew up with gaming on Atari and all that jazz, but there was a real change in gaming for me when Newgrounds came around. Being able to play a buttload of games with a click, vote on them to help others find them (or hide the terrible stuff), and comment right on them to critique games was a gamechanger. Then Kongregate came along, and I quickly found my favorite Flash game developer: Juicy Beast. Console gamers may know them for Toto Temple Deluxe, but I knew them for the Burrito Bison games and Knightmare Tower. Knightmare Tower hit Kongregate in 2012 (where it can still be played for free), and I played the absolute heck out of it. Then in 2014 – just under 2 years later – it hit Steam. Nearly 5 years later I found it there, played the whole thing with a smile on my face, and figured hey, why not write a review?

Knightmare Tower is a humorous game where you fling your heroic knight up the tower with a rocket, then proceed to propel yourself off of various baddies to get as high as you can before you run out of health or the lava overtakes you. As you ascend you’ll collect gold, which can be used to upgrade all sorts of stats, before trying again and again and again.

The controls are simple: you’ll automatically move upward, so you only have to move right or left. To attack, you can either let the knight drop toward the bottom of the screen on his own or attack, which thrusts him down until either he hits an enemy or you miss and go off the screen. Going off the screen drastically drops your speed and returns you into place via rocket, but you gain speed when you kill enemies. You also have a limited amount of life, and taking damage from projectiles or colliding with spiky foes reduces it. If you slow down too much lava will overtake you, and if you run out of health you’ll die.

This sounds complicated, but it all basically boils down to carefully attacking as many enemies as you can so that you can propel yourself quickly up the tower. Everything happens fast, so you’ll be dodging, weaving, and attacking relentlessly. Attacking has a fun pogo feel since you bounce right back up after you hit something, but then missing can be pretty darn funny too when it happens repeatedly. To mix things up, there are loads of enemy types, power-ups, and bags of money to grab, and the more princesses you rescue the more things you’ll have to go after.

Knightmare Tower also has dozens of quests to complete. You can have up to three at any given time, challenging you to do things like collect a bunch of gold, kill a certain number of enemies, or reach a certain height within a certain amount of time. The quests get tougher and tougher, but just like in real life, if you have enough gold you can just buy your way out of them.

Finally, once you complete the game you’ll unlock survival mode. Here you’ll get a whole new list of quests, face off against tougher enemies, and ascend a new, endless tower. It’s a great place to challenge yourself, and it’s rather funny going back to the original tower after honing your skills there for a while.

The game is a blast to play, and there’s a serious “just one more try” vibe to it. Unfortunately, the game loses a lot of its replayability once all of the upgrades and quests are complete. It took me about 4.5 hours to knock all of that out, but those 4.5 hours were a lot of fun, and they were totally worth every cent. Now if only we can get the Burrito Bison games on PC or console…

Also, it’s worth mentioning that Knightmare Tower has an incredibly intuitive, brilliant mechanic: enemies that will take more than one hit to kill have a life bar under them, but enemies that take only one hit don’t. When an enemy with a life bar is down to one hit left, the color changes a bit. This makes it super clear, at a quick glance, whether an enemy will only take one hit or not to kill. This is incredibly important since tougher enemies require mashing the attack button to hit them repeatedly, and hitting the attack button even one too many times will slow your speed down.

#indiegame Review: Knightmare Tower by #indiedev @juicybeast Lots of games have players climb a tower to take on the big baddie and/or rescue a princess.

Forum Mortuorum to forge legions in gladiator school

Forum Mortuorum gladiator management sim game announced for Linux and Windows PC. Developer Vittoria Games' creative efforts have birthed an appealing classic that leaves players spellbound. Due to make its way onto Steam. There's a brand new game on the horizon called Forum Mortuorum. Picture this: you'll be transported back to ancient Rome and put in charge of a gladiator school. In Forum Mortuorum, you'll have the important task of training and equipping your very own gladiators. It's kind of like a sports management game for Linux, but with a twist. You see, in Forum Mortuorum, when your gladiators get defeated in battle, they're gone. So this makes gameplay a bit intense, but that's what all about. There are a lot of features coming to the game on Linux. Since you'll have the ability to upgrade your gladiators with perks and new gear. Plus, you can also improve your school and its facilities over time. Imagine having the best gladiator training grounds in all of ancient Rome. Now, here's the important part: league play. You'll get to compete in different arenas all across the Mediterranean. You won't just be fighting against other people or animals, but also mythical creatures. Since you can battle legendary beasts like dragons or griffins. Forum Mortuorum isn't just about fighting. It also has a gripping story. As you play, you'll meet a range of interesting characters. There's a mysterious taxidermist, an alchemist who's not quite human, and even an exotic zoologist. Each of them has their own unique story, and it's up to you to uncover the secrets they hold.

Forum Mortuorum - Announce Trailer

What's truly remarkable is that this entire game development is all due to Nick Francisci. He's also a full-time software developer. Can you believe it? He's been working on Forum Mortuorum during his free time for the past six months. Right from the code and design to the art and marketing. The graphics in are already looking great. Similar to other popular titles like Battle Brothers. Although Forum Mortuorum is still a work in progress, there's some good news. A demo version is due to release later this year, at the end of 2023. That means you'll be able to get a taste of the action before the full game release in the middle of 2024. Nick wants to make sure everything is perfect and polished, so he might take a little more time if needed. The game is being developed by Nick Francisci's company Vittoria Games. Which he founded in 2022. Due to specialize in making management and strategy games like Forum Mortuorum. To sum it all up, Forum Mortuorum gladiator management sim is a game that's going to test Linux players. You'll run a gladiator school in ancient Rome, train and equip your gladiators. Now to mention battle against humans and mythical creatures, due to uncover a thrilling story. Forum Mortuorum is coming your way in 2024, and it's going to be a fantastic experience. So be sure to Wishlist the game on Steam. Along with support for Linux and Windows PC.

Stellar Monarch 2 turn based grand strategy in development

Stellar Monarch 2 empire builder sequel announced for Windows PC, but due to get Linux support. According to details from the developer Silver Lemur Games. The game will make its way onto Steam and Humble Store in 2021. Stellar Monarch 2 is the sequel to turn based, 4X, feudal themed, empire space builder, grand strategy. Where you are the Emperor and Head of the Royal Dynasty. Since it's up to you to help keep the Barons and Dukes in check from other Great Houses. While you ensure their loyalty and obedience. Making them a definite asset of the Empire, not the obstacle. Appoint people from the imperial court to Ministers and Advisors. While taking into account not only their competence and loyalty. But also family connections. Fend off assassins, traitors, usurpers, and rebels. Once the Empire is strong within. Then you can deal with the certain alien threat.

Stellar Monarch 2 Core features:

You will feel like the Emperor (assassins, imperial court, noble houses, granting audiences, rebels, usurpers)

Rule from the heights of the imperial throne (no micromanagement: no moving individual ships around or constructing boring farms, you deal with more important things)

Unique mechanics (if you are bored with other games and wanted to see something fresh, you won’t be disappointed)

What is the deal with Linux support?

Stellar Monarch 2 will use the same engine as my other games. So it will run on Linux as well.

This is not actual native Linux support. So try not to get triggered. Since the original Stellar Monarch runs at a Platinum via Proton. This will carry on for the sequel. But this time, development is focused on making a completely new game. Redesigning everything and analyze every mechanic. While keeping the polish of the best parts of the original game. The premise behind Stellar Monarch 2. You are the emperor, not a logistics officer. So you don’t deal with low level stuff like building farms, factories or individual ships. Instead, you focus on the grander scale of things. Players grant audiences, make edicts, and appoint imperial officials. Then deal with noble houses and assassins and crush rebels. Also deciding on production quotas and priorities.

The Premise of management

In Stellar Monarch 2 there is no micromanagement. So the late game does not drag on forever. You can play a fairly fast paced game on a huge galaxy without late game slow downs. You own hundreds of planets and thousands of ships. All of this is on the high level by edicts and a ranked fleet system. The whole premise is to have the player make only the important choices. Leaving everything else as abstract. Another important feature is the asymmetric nature of Stellar Monarch 2. The AI plays by different rules and does not try to win the game. Aliens are more like creatures living in the galaxy. Instea of computer controlled players. Sometimes they can be valuable assets worthy of protection. At other times, an obstacle to overcome. Aliens are not created equal, some are primitive beasts. Which should be wiped from the face of the galaxy. Some are fellow humanoids inferior to Terrans of course. But considered sentient and worthy of compassion. In short, Stellar Monarch 2 is fast paced turn-based space empire builder. Including a feudal twist and no micromanagement. But does include asymmetric mechanics and focuses on you as the emperor. Also, with the empire builder sequel announced. Check out the official explanation by Silver Lemur Games. Due to arrive on Windows PC with Linux support via Proton. A Steam page is coming for Wishlist support next month. With an Early Access release due around summer 2021. Followed by a full release, "several months afterwards."