it's daniel

hi! i'm daniel. i produce videogames at KO_OP. here's some other stuff i like and may or may not post about: - music and playing instruments - labour organizing (hit me up if you want to unionize your studio) - comic books - weightlifting

great news

if you're at the top of your field and you don't even want to try anymore, then get out of the way and let someone else take the wheel for a change. jesus christ.

I hope workers in other game studios see WoTC unionizing, and see the mass layoffs and BioWare closing and decide it's time to put their foot down. What do we have to lose by unionizing? A job that you're afraid every day you'll be laid off from anyway? UNIONIZE THE GAME INDUSTRY!

you can't judge when bioware was really killed because the mismanagement at the higher level under EA has been so constant and pervasive since the acquisition at every stage that every game shipped at all was a herculean miracle

Video games has decided to discontinue its once leading product, the video game

We’re proud to share that over 42,000 of you have signed our petition for Wizards to voluntarily recognize our union! Our numbers inside and outside of Wizards are growing every day, and we are grateful for the support! actionnetwork.org/forms/uwotcp...

So with the news of the layoffs at KO_OP, I'm officially looking for work later this fall. I'm an experienced narrative designer that's worked on both sprawling open world stories and intimate cinematic narratives, even netting some award wins and noms. More details on my experience below!

I've got about 2 months left on Young Suns and was trying to find out how to talk about being furloughed, showing off all the work we put into the character creator and having some fun 🌟 So starting this video series ^^

Last week, after two years of bargaining attempts, members of Activision Quality Assurance United voted to authorize a potential strike. If you want to support these workers in their standoff which stands to establish precedent and set baselines for the entire industry, now's your chance:

it’s worth underlining that the amount which a modern live game is not this is directly the result of devs fighting inch by inch, for months if not years, against the guy at every corporation who demands an explanation for why you aren’t doing this at all times

If you’d like to join us in calling on leadership to reconsider yesterday’s decision and help us build a better Wizards together, you can encourage them to do so by signing our petition and sharing it! actionnetwork.org/forms/uwotcp...

Yesterday, Wizards informed us that it doesn’t intend to voluntarily recognize the D&D or Studio X units of our union ahead of a vote. We remain committed to creating a workplace focused on wellness, transparency, and collaboration by winning our coming election.

Like they fired the entire union, as best they could

Like this is fake, sorry. This is damage control. The big bad unionnnnn it was dodgy you guys trust me, there was just a vibe. Fuck off

Also, there are rules for how unions can be set up and organised and after a union-busting event, you're going to have wreckers out there trying to sound reasonable with shit like the below, where they ask the impossible. You're eligible to be involved or you're not. They're pretending not to know

I'm sure it's a great place to work for a lot of people a lot of the time, but it's never a good idea to accept the idea of any company as a big lovely teddy bear; you need to be sceptical of these narratives. There are otherwise lovely people you'd never dream are viciously anti-union, anti-worker

I just want to flag for anyone who listens to me and might be understandably under the Double Fine spell (despite their propaganda show depicting some pretty grim shit) that there's no way this is true. These union efforts don't just happen. Huge amounts of care go into getting these things lined up

So, the things that stand out to me about this. There's an anti-union employee who has yelled at people till they cry both times there's been a unionization attempt, and yet hasn't been fired. If management won't fire an employee who yells at you till you cry then you need a union cuz what the fuck.

just to build on this - as a person, in all things, your actions are more important than your words. if you say you are pro-union and then the OC at your company knocks on your door and you vote no, or worse, campaign against your union, you are in fact anti-union.

Everyone in this story saying “I’m pro-union, but we don’t need one here”: There are 10^x of you at every American company. Literally nowhere is the exception. The fact that you think you’re better than your coworkers IS the leverage that the company is using against you and everyone else.

this article is really good with a lot of well researched interviews and perspectives and context as to what was going on in the studio. but sometimes. sometimes there's really only one sentence that speaks louder than all the others

Friend is making something incredible: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZipG... Wishlist, please! store.steampowered.com/app/2885890/...

This morning, the D&D team and Magic's Studio X informed our leadership of our intent to unionize. We love the games we make and the work we do, and unionizing is how we protect that work. unitedwizardsofthecoast.com/news/dnd-stu...

false: netrunner is a game about hackers infiltrating corporate servers in a cyberpunk dystopia true: netrunner is a game about traveling to a tournament, playing badly all day and then going to a fancy restaurant with your friends at 10pm

happy 40th anniversary castlevania www.youtube.com/watch?v=opUE...

Today marks the public launch of the Ubisoft Workers of Montreal (UWM) campaign, with a first action: a petition to preserve hybrid work. Every Ubisoft Montreal employee is invited to sign the petition and every supporter encouraged to reach out to their network to encourage them to sign!

I try to hammer this home in the unfortunately many conversations I have with non-creative normies about the state of games, animation, etc. They have all been lead to think AI is replacing us, and it’s just not true. The money people have by and large just tossed us aside for a shiny new toy!

the average snes game looks better than the average genesis game, but an ugly snes game looks worse than an ugly genesis game

ok but how many of these so called ‘100 best tv shows of the century’ had illegal sold out stadium screenings in mexico for their finales. that’s what i fuckin thought

UVW-CWA joins @cwacanada1.bsky.social, along with myriad other Canadian unions, in condemning proposed changes to the Canada Labor Code that would grant unprecedented power to the Minister of Labour to unilaterally kill strikes. canadianlabour.ca/canadas-unio...

After calling for a multi-union strike against the company, Candy Crush developers at King in Sweden have officially won a collective bargaining agreement. https://kotaku.com/candy-crush-developers-win-contract-2000737027

That's cool. I'm sure all the BitReactor devs that were furloughed weeks before launch are gonna see some of that $50 million... right? Residuals are standard in other creative industries. If the people who actually made the game got their share of the profits, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Can we call it apartheid now

honestly this is a lot more "generic millenial white guy" coded than i would like, but - masterworks all

We’re so excited to share our BRAND NEW trailer for Young Suns and announce that we’re launching on Steam on November 3rd! 🚀 ✨ Wishlist now! hi.youngsuns.com/Steam

As Order of the Sinking Star is coming out next month, in advance of review coverage coming in I wanted to add one thing to my last statement about the game: bsky.app/profile/drak... (note: at that time I didn’t have a separate personal account)

people are always saying anti-AI arguments don’t understand the full nuances of the technology. which is correct. but only because it stole everyone’s work, exists solely to get you fired, has made the entire internet unusable and has been forced on everyone without consent

i also wrote a little blog about other people who blog and what you might write in a blog. nicknicknicknick.net/notes/2026/0...

Now that everyone has turned on Ed Sheeran I finally feel comfortable saying this: you shouldn’t be allowed to get a bunch of tattoos if you’re a musician who makes wuss music

btw Kanye did a song Heil Hitler and no one stepped in to oppose his tour(s), which is ongoing. In fact, Kanye is scheduled to perform at one of the stadiums Macklemore has been stopped from being at.