Melissa Avery-Weir 🎮 @melissa@irrsinn.life

I've been playing some truly awesome small indie games in the last few months. I archive my streams over at https://irrsinn.video/video-channels/melissa_channel/videos, and I work to get closed captioning on them within a week of uploading.

If you're looking for some game recs, I'd suggest checking them out. Just about all of them take between 10 min and 3 hours, so these are quite small games by conventional standards. You can subscribe to a Peertube channel w/ a Mastodon account, too.

#indiegame

An #introduction: I'm Melissa (they/them)! Some of my projects are in my bio, but in general I am and do:

#gamedev & #podcasting

#gardening #succulents #cacti

#asexual / #grayace / #queer

#polyamory #relationshipanarchy

I write. I #webdev. I play way too much Fallen London. I collect tattoos. I will not call posts "toots".

I like learning to be more imaginative in devising solutions to difficult problems. 🎊

Today's session was delightful. I'm a sucker for swingy music and mappings, and so the first segment of "Midnight" by Caravan Palace (https://bsaber.com/songs/1ee3b/) thoroughly hooked me.

...then it got hard. 🤯

I'm not good at extended one-handed work in BS, and this song has plenty after that lovely intro. I failed my first try at the 1:20 mark, right after where I drop to a B in my second try: https://irrsinn.video/w/iNNTu9DKPeQKviXXMCUozs

Definitely a new fav. And peep that cute moon in the background!

Alrighty, so I beat that "2U" song today (incorrectly named on the BeastSaber page 🤔) after another 25 min of working at it. Felt good, and I worry that I may never beat it again. That said, today's a meh shoulder day.

I puttered around with a few other songs, but let me toss out this as one of the maps I enjoy playing every session, sometimes multiple times: "Don't Stop" by Kuuro: https://bsaber.com/songs/d608/. It's full of big, fun swings with nice tempo shifts and good flow.

I experimented with recording my map du jour; the audio balance is off, but I think it's watchable. It's a song by Bad Computer called "U2", and it's the coolest use of bombs I've seen since the official Halloween song "Spooky Beats".

I'm stuck at 90% speed on this one, despite a couple hours of trying. I've beaten it at 95% speed twice, and I made it to the final 15s once at full speed. I adore the song and map, so I'll keep at it. https://irrsinn.video/w/1KoUoe4DnLpy8RT1cdTAWT

Anyway, I don't know if I'm *good* at Beat Saber, but I do know that I like playing new-to-me custom songs, I like beating songs that are juuuuuust at the edge of my skill range, and I'm inclined to keep working at a song until I beat it.

Given all of that, I thought it might be interesting to share a map or two I was charmed or frustrated (or both) by in my session on any given day. Might even record a little video or two, although I'm still tweaking my OBS settings for this.

I acquired a Quest 2 back in September, and took to Beat Saber like a fish to water. Since early Sept, I've played ~130 hours mostly through Steam.

The timing for starting to play was great: I was in the final stretches of in-office physical therapy for my shoulders, and BS is a solid way to improve my shoulders' stamina and assess tightness. I could only play 15-20 minutes on easier difficulties when I started. Now I can play 60-90 min of Expert+ on an average (pain level) day.

I'm live on twitch! Come hang out with me while I play Kentucky Route Zero: https://www.twitch.tv/averymd #magic

I'm live on twitch! Come hang out with me while I play SOMA: https://www.twitch.tv/averymd #magic

A couple years ago, a potter running a shop in Asheville, NC told me that although they'll "never say it" (🤔), potters hate doing commission work. I've wanted to commission two weird pieces for few years, and now I'm even more self-conscious about doing so.

Is that even true, or was it a bad overgeneralization?

#art #pottery

I'm live on twitch! Come hang out with me while I play Heaven's Vault: https://www.twitch.tv/averymd #magic

I'm live on twitch! Come hang out with me while I play The Fall: https://www.twitch.tv/averymd #magic

I've had the strange desire to play my own game lately (other players' creations in it, not my own), and sometimes I'm just delighted at the puzzles folks have made in our system. My puzzle for turning my brain away from a work problem I'm solving this afternoon is https://ezd.link/2YzOyTy Took me two minutes to figure out where to even start. 😅 I have not beaten it yet.

I finished Gris tonight, and I'm not sure I've ever played a game that succeeded so well at being sad without really pulling stunts to do it.

I contrast that with a game like Edith Finch that pretty bluntly trains you on when it's time to be worried sick and when it's time to feel incredibly sad/horrified.

Gris--which tbf, has different design goals than Finch--is a fascinatingly gentle exploration of grief. I didn't stream my final hours with it, so I really got to sit with it patiently. 🥰

I'm live on twitch! Come hang out with me while I play Even the Ocean: https://www.twitch.tv/averymd #magic