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David Thatcher

@giraffecat.bsky.social

180 followers 360 following 150 posts

I make video games, as Giraffe Cat! I made The Sirena Expedition, which is out on Steam and Nintendo Switch: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1957300/?snr=1_5_9__205 https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-sirena-expedition-switch/

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · Oct 9

The Sirena Expedition is going to be on sale over the Halloween period! But when, and how much?! I got a little help from a certain someone to explain the details.

youtu.be/BpSZwrx_rlA

The Sirena Expedition - Halloween 2024

YouTube video by Giraffe Cat Games

youtu.be

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 10h

Love this little guy!

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 10h

Some more pages from the manual, including some excellent renders of all of the enemies in the game.

Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2, showing all of the enemies in the game.

Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2, showing the remaining enemies from the game on the left page, and the game's credits on the right.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 10h

Some pages from the manual. Love the little drawings of Robbit!

Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 10h

It's #RandomGameSaturday! Did you know the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 came with a second disc containing the European release of the first game? I didn't! I also can't find any reference to it online. Was the European release so different from the JP one that it warranted re-release?

The front cover of the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 for the PS1. It features Robbit in the foreground, with Baron Aloha behind, above a planet.

The back cover of the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 for the PS1. There are six screenshots and some art of the characters, but nowhere does it say that the first game is included.

The inside of the Jumping Flash! 2 case, showing disc 1 with the main game on the right, and disc 2 with the European release of the first game on the left.

The manual and case inserts for the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 on the PS1. There is a large sticker featuring a MuuMuu from the game, a flier explaining the controls for the European release of Jumping Flash!, and a flier for PoPolocrois.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 2d

Doesn't get the same kind of attention as Prodigy, Chemical Brothers or Fatboy Slim, but it's definitely one of the defining Big Beat albums.

Reposted by David Thatcher

sincerely, rob dubbin @robdubbin.bsky.social · 3d

Looking for a party game that combines social deduction with the pleasant absurdity of rating animals, films, and the weather on a scale of ★ to ★★★★★? And it's just a simple deck of cards? AND it's live on Kickstarter now?!?! Guess what, STARFRIENDS has launched! www.kickstarter.com/projects/bra...

Starfriends: The 5-Star Game About What Everyone Else Thinks

A party game where you get into your friends' heads. Kinda like a blend of Wavelength and Letterboxd that fits into a deck of cards.

www.kickstarter.com

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 4d

I don't know if you've read this article, but it's the most in-depth look at the game and its development that I've found: www.filfre.net/2015/12/dung...

A good YouTube documentary would be great, though, to bring the story of such an influential game to a wider audience.

» Dungeon Master, Part 1: The Making of The Digital Antiquarian

www.filfre.net

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 6d

...but at least critical thinking had been applied at some point. But now 'woke' and 'DEI' are such integral parts of the culture war that they don't have to do that; they're just signalling to people like them that this is a game they can steer clear of.

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 6d

...and b) while they weren't copypasta, there were enough recurring themes that they were clearly getting them from an Angry Joe review or something. So, the point of those reviews was to convince the average person that the game wasn't well-made or well liked...

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 6d

...and the combat mechanics were oversimplified to the point where something was lost, that kind of thing. It felt transparent to me, because I'd been paying attention and I knew that a) it was very unlikely they'd have had time to form those opinions so soon after release...

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 6d

Bit of an aside, but I worked on DmC Devil May Cry, and was closely following the fan backlash throughout that game's development. On release day, the game received a whole raft of low-scoring user reviews talking about how the story didn't respect the themes and characters properly...

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 6d

This feels like a crucial difference to me. There was a time when they would have at least tried to dress it up as critique; maybe talk about how the character in the hijab felt out of place within the setting or some shit.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 7d

I'm away from my games collection at the moment, so here's a photo from my phone for #RandomGameSaturday: Croc 2! This one fixed a lot of the original game's control issues and introduced larger stages, but ended up being more punishing, in spite of (or perhaps because of) giving you infinite lives.

The front cover of Croc 2 for the PlayStation. Croc is holding a Gobbo and surfing on a mine cart, looking '90s-cool.

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 10d

Most of the Sega 3D Classics/Archives ports are great, but Power Drift and Galaxy Force II are SO good! The 3D really makes them come to life.

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 14d

Here's my ST copy. Not shown here is a form you could fill in and send to Core Design with a photo of yourself, and they'd send back a disk with a personalised profile for use in the game with a low-poly recreation of your face. By the time I bought the game, in the mid-90s, this had expired.

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 14d

This #RandomGameSaturday is the Mega Drive port of Corporation. I've not played this version, but I played it on Atari ST a lot as a kid. It was ahead of it time, but kind of in a bad way; a first-person-shooter with weird mode-switching controls for movement and shooting that felt really clumsy.

The front cover of Corporation for the Mega Drive. It features an extreme close-up on the face of one of the green aliens from the game.

The back cover of Corporation for the Mega Drive. There are four screenshots of what look like a fast-paced first person shooter, but don't be fooled; it's slow and awkward!

The front cover of the manual and the cartridge for Corporation on the Mega Drive. Featuring the same green aliens as the front cover.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 18d

And Axyz, which I've had in my library for a while now, and have been waiting for A Year of UFO 50 to end so I can play it. Well, it's over now, so what am I waiting for?! store.steampowered.com/app/2850490/...

Save 30% on Axyz on Steam

Axyz is a retro gravity switching puzzle game that asks the player to use their environmental and spatial awareness to beat every level. Soak in the vaporwave, switch gravity, collect tapes, and more ...

store.steampowered.com

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 18d

Like TÖLT! How have I never heard of TÖLT before? That one's on me! store.steampowered.com/app/3812490/...

TÖLT on Steam

YOU ARE A HORSE - DESTINED TO RUN AROUND THE ISLAND WITH YOUR FRIENDS - JUST AS YOU ALWAYS HAVE - BUT SOMETHING HAS CHANGED - IS IT SOMETHING INSIDE YOU - OR SOMETHING INSIDE THIS LAND?

store.steampowered.com

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 18d

Hey! The Sirena Expedition is on IMIRT's Steam curation list of games by Irish developers: store.steampowered.com/curator/4145.... Lots of really cool stuff on there!

Steam Curator: Games From Ireland

Games developed in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, from Irish creators, or playable in the Irish language (Gaeilge).

store.steampowered.com

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Reposted by David Thatcher

Dan Marshall @danthat.bsky.social · 20d

EARTH MUST DIE

Featuring a load of my favourite comedians - too many even to fit on the trailer! Joel Fry! Martha Howe-Douglas! @alexhorne.bsky.social! Tamsin Grieg! @5teviem.bsky.social @mrholness.bsky.social! @misterabk.bsky.social! @rosieisaholt.bsky.social! MORE

Please RETWEET and WISHLIST

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 19d

The former! I bake a sprite sheet of the car from 256 different angles, and I then choose which one to display on a billboard based on the view angle. I do remember seeing a shader that did a similar thing in realtime (including reducing the frame rate of animations) but I don't remember who made it

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 20d

bsky.app/profile/gira... It's basically only a tech demo at the moment, as I've been trying to get the rendering looking how I want it (and it's on hiatus for the time being while I try to sort out job stuff), but the elevator pitch is 'looks like Power Drift, plays like Ridge Racer'.

David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · May 23

Vrooom vrooom! #ScreenshotSaturday

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 20d

Ah, nice! I did pick up a copy of Sega Rally Championship 2 for Dreamcast recently, so I need to play that at some point. But yeah, should figure out a way of playing the first game too (I never had a Saturn).

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 20d

...as opposed Ridge Racer's method of feeling like you're just on the edge of going out of control.

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David Thatcher @giraffecat.bsky.social · 20d

Ah, 'scripted' is interesting! I might boot up 2006 during the week and dig into how it works a little more. But yeah, it definitely felt like a precursor to drifting in something like Mario Kart, where it's essentially a button you can hold to corner tighter...

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