Forty hours in one roguelike
Notes on difficulty, design, and why I keep dying on purpose.
I keep a small notebook of what a game asks of me in the first ten minutes. It predicts, almost perfectly, whether I will still be playing in ten days.
Difficulty is not a number. It is how a game responds when you fail, and whether that response feels like a conversation.
Pay attention, then count.
What I would tell my past self
The best loops are tiny: try, fail, notice one thing, try again. Everything else is decoration.
I would rather finish a small game than admire a large one.
Related notes: Difficulty is a conversation, Pixel art on a budget, What 10,000 phone photos taught me.
Links to
Games · 2026-06-02
Difficulty is a conversation
A good game tells you what it expects and listens to how you answer.
Games · 2026-01-20
Pixel art on a budget
Sixteen colours, one grid, and everything you can do with less.
Photos · 2026-10-02
What 10,000 phone photos taught me
Constraints are a feature. Ten thousand frames later, what I keep, what I delete, and why the worst camera is the one I stopped using.
Linked from
Photos · 2026-10-02
What 10,000 phone photos taught me
Constraints are a feature. Ten thousand frames later, what I keep, what I delete, and why the worst camera is the one I stopped using.
Games · 2026-06-02
Difficulty is a conversation
A good game tells you what it expects and listens to how you answer.
Games · 2026-01-20
Pixel art on a budget
Sixteen colours, one grid, and everything you can do with less.