Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[Chumbawumbafan69]

If you spend $20 million on a Wachowski movie in 2026, trans or not, you deserve to have your studio eaten up by Netflix.

[kaleidoscopium]

It's all well and good banging on about game theory when you don't have a fraction of the skin in the game as we do.

How has embracing anti trans positions gone for the Labour party in the UK? Did things get better for trans people when Labour got in? They've watched their rights get stripped away with no clear path to slowing down the rot, let alone reversing it.

Time and again we have seen people that embraced pro trans positions *win* and people that hedged or stayed quiet on them *lose*. Yes most Americans feel a way about trans women in women's sports, but they don't feel *strongly* about it. The only people who feel strongly enough for it to effect their vote are the frothing at the mouth transphobes, or transgender people and their families, and some attempt at 'middle ground' isn't going to sway either of those groups into supporting the Democrat.

I won't vote for a transphobe like Newsom.

Feel free to keep comparing the election to a 'game'.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/us-politics-2026-ot1-mega-midterm-mania.1452433/page-232#post-159068362

I see they’ve not changed at all on this site

[benji]

It's all well and good banging on about game theory when you don't have a fraction of the skin in the game as we do.

How has embracing anti trans positions gone for the Labour party in the UK? Did things get better for trans people when Labour got in? They've watched their rights get stripped away with no clear path to slowing down the rot, let alone reversing it.

Time and again we have seen people that embraced pro trans positions *win* and people that hedged or stayed quiet on them *lose*. Yes most Americans feel a way about trans women in women's sports, but they don't feel *strongly* about it. The only people who feel strongly enough for it to effect their vote are the frothing at the mouth transphobes, or transgender people and their families, and some attempt at 'middle ground' isn't going to sway either of those groups into supporting the Democrat.

I won't vote for a transphobe like Newsom.

Feel free to keep comparing the election to a 'game'.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/us-politics-2026-ot1-mega-midterm-mania.1452433/page-232#post-159068362

The middle paragraph here seems to imply it's meaningless and irrelevant, but the start and ending paragraphs suggest it's all that matters.

It's also funny how they only ever bring up Newsom when the only "pro-trans" Democratic candidate for 2028 so far is presumably AOC. Who has only ever participated in a single contested election, in a small slice of NYC.

[kaleidoscopium]

If the dems win without caving to the trans mafia can we officially write them off for good? I know Hogwarts Legacy was their biggest loss but this would be great

[Taco Bell Tower]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/summer-is-suppose-to-be-winding-down.1602577/
Slayven thread

It's been hotter the last 2 days than it has been the last 2 months. 98 degrees and God knows what the heat index was. AC is on it's last legs and trying to make it stretch so I can get a cheaper deal during the winter

It's still summer, how is he still a mod?  

[benji]

Newsom is one of the most pro-trans governors in American history but they've written him off because he said concerns about males in women's sports are valid to consider rather than immediately dismiss. That's all he's done.

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/%E2%80%98the-matrix%E2%80%99-director-lilly-wachowski-says-hollywood-won%E2%80%99t-finance-her-10-million-thriller-because-it%E2%80%99s-got-a-%E2%80%98wall-to-wall-trans-cast%E2%80%99.1602376/page-2#post-159071506

Important to note that $10 million is basically zero in Hollywood. That's the catering budget for reshoots on a Marvel movie. They're paying RDJ like a hundred million to do that shitty Dr Doom voice. Ten million for a new movie from the woman who made The Matrix is such a no-brainer, any of the studio execs she's met with could have easily just written her a personal cheque on a whim.

[DavidCroquet]

I like that the underlying point here is that anyone should be able to ask (and receive) 10 million dollars from hollywood for any reason.

It’s basically nothing! It literally costs them more than that to review the request and deny it!

[Polident]

The big success story this year has been Obsession, a $750k movie from a novice director starring unknown actors. One of the big failure stories recently was Francis Ford Coppola spending $100m of his own money to make Megalopolis. 

I don’t know the larger point I’m trying to make. Maybe that you have two extreme examples of directors who worked within their means to make something they were passionate about regardless of outcome. And then you have this one who is just whining.

[benji]

"Wow, only $10 million for your movie? Let me get my personal checkbook!"

[Uncle]

The big success story this year has been Obsession, a $750k movie from a novice director starring unknown actors. One of the big failure stories recently was Francis Ford Coppola spending $100m of his own money to make Megalopolis. 
I don’t know the larger point I’m trying to make. Maybe that you have two extreme examples of directors who worked within their means to make something they were passionate about regardless of outcome. And then you have this one who is just whining.

strategies to make your full trans cast movie:

- the actors do it for basically nothing because spreading pro trans messaging is more important then personally enriching themselves, they will be paid in increased tolerance in everyday interactions

- use AI to make the expensive scenes, the establishing shots, the FX 

simply getting the movie done is more important than any ideological concerns, right?

[Greatness Gone]

Newsom is one of the most pro-trans governors in American history but they've written him off because he said concerns about males in women's sports are valid to consider rather than immediately dismiss. That's all he's done.

so you're not going to mention he platformed Charlie Kirk on his podcast? you reallllly ain't slick. 

[benji]

I can't believe Hollywood won't just finance someone whose last two films are Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, both more than a decade ago. Like are they stupid and just fascist?

[benji]

Why can't Lilly do this?
https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-peoples-joker-is-the-most-ive-ever-cried-at-a-movie-warning-open-spoilers-and-extremely-trans-opinions-inside.845001/

[Chumbawumbafan69]

I can't believe Hollywood won't just finance someone whose last two films are Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, both more than a decade ago. Like are they stupid and just fascist?

Are you asking if those goddamn Jews Zionists that control Hollywood are fascist?

[BIONIC]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/super-mario-sunshine-hits-gcn-nso-august-13th-on-switch-2.1591723/page-5#post-159074617

I will forever love this game and the weirdly high skill ceiling for movement (that isn’t THAT weird when you consider the attention Nintendo pays to game feel). It is an absolute bright and joyful vibe. Perfect summer game to beat away the August end-of-Summer scaries

40 year old hands typed this

[BIONIC]

Why can't Lilly do this?
https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-peoples-joker-is-the-most-ive-ever-cried-at-a-movie-warning-open-spoilers-and-extremely-trans-opinions-inside.845001/

I remembered the existence of lower case bionic (were they always trans??) [last posted 2 years ago]

Twohearts (PBUH) posting all over that thread

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

So they are going to attack the children actors, huh?

Necessary to achieve Trans Liberation. 

[Uncle]

sunshine sucks in a lot of ways

it feels like they just couldn't nail the game feel and the water backpack is cope to give you more precision, floating before landing

bunch of truly terrible time wasting challenges, both in unnecessary difficulty like the leaf boat, and tedium like the blue coins

if you play the galaxies and odyssey it's really hard to go back to, and yet mario 64 before it was also more fun

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

Almost as funny as when I fucked ur mom last night lmao goteem

Did you fuck her in a gross heterosexual male way or a beautiful WLW way, how I feel about this is directly related to your answer

WLW always

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Up her tight filthy lil asshole!

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

where is filler??

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

where is filler?

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Up her tight filthy lil asshole!

[I don't swear]

Getting banned on an alt account has me only wanting to post out of help from the knowledgeable hobbyists on the site. Screw discussion of any type on that site, not going to play Minesweeper with a discussion post, hoping I don't touch upon a bomb hidden among their ToS or general guidelines. Actually frustrating moderation, opening a ticket is useless. Got Slayven posting about something asinine before my ticket ever got a response.

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

Getting banned on an alt account has me only wanting to post out of help from the knowledgeable hobbyists on the site. Screw discussion of any type on that site, not going to play Minesweeper with a discussion post, hoping I don't touch upon a bomb hidden among their ToS or general guidelines. Actually frustrating moderation, opening a ticket is useless. Got Slayven posting about something asinine before my ticket ever got a response.

Post hog.

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

Why can't Lilly do this?
https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-peoples-joker-is-the-most-ive-ever-cried-at-a-movie-warning-open-spoilers-and-extremely-trans-opinions-inside.845001/

Twohearts is in that thread.

[Daffy Duck]

So the person who was replaced by Claude on that game - the CEO replied and it’s a zinger alright 

[Update: 13 August 2026: This Week in Videogames requested a follow-up comment from Saber Interactive, and received the following statement from Karch:
“Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her. We have already said we are using AI for certain parts of the game and will update the Steam page once we have finalized the feature set.
“Let me clarify that the entire story script, were it to win an award, would go to someone who can walk up on stage and receive it. It was always our intention to reveal this until Stella violated her confidentiality clause and revealed this before we were ready.
“We look at our use of AI in this particular game, which will be a lower priced title, as a plus for consumers,” he said.
“As far as Stella is concerned, she was replaced by someone more talented and terminated for a variety of reasons a few months later. From what I can gather she enjoys controversy even more than I do. I would frankly in retrospect have been happy to replace her with AI. At least we would be dealing with someone programmed to be honest.”]

And their response

[Update: 13 August 2026: Sacco has released a public statement in response to the comments Karch provided to This Week in Videogames. It reads:
“I’ve seen the statement by Matt Karch, the CEO of Saber Entertainment, and all of the truly horrendous things he said about me. I think it should be obvious to anyone who reads that statement that he’s lashing out because he did not want people to know there was AI use in the game.”
She continues: “Everything I said was true. Here’s more truth: that statement is remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making, and combined with the AI use it will do far more damage to Saber’s reputation than it ever could mine. This screed will be many people’s first exposure to the Saber brand.”]

[jooseloose]

Oh wow. Planet's going for it today -

I did. And I did it for a while, but I ended up burning out after a few years of the grind. I wasn't really having fun writing "clever" takes on regurgitated PR releases and talking about random stuff I wasn't all that interested in, and my contemporaries like Austin Walker just had better and more interesting shit to say about games as art pieces than I did, so I stepped back.

But hey, at least I can claim I'm (partially) responsible for Souls games hitting in the West, so that's nice.

I was expecting some bullshit from him but we're through the looking glass now folks.

Austin is now a contemporary. He was responsible for DS popularity



https://www.resetera.com/threads/did-you-ever-want-to-be-a-games-journalist-any-favorites.1601875/#post-159043147

fuck me  Possibly the biggest bullshit he's ever posted?

    

Someone a few posts later isn't having it  https://www.resetera.com/threads/did-you-ever-want-to-be-a-games-journalist-any-favorites.1601875/post-159043639

This is all true. I was there.

Demon's Souls owes a lot to you.

[Averon]

If there's one thing I want to see more than anything else is for someone to confront Smasher for all his lies he spews constantly. No bullshit mods or other ERA members coming to his rescue. Just sit the motherfucker down and force him to confront all his bullshit.

[benji]

So the person who was replaced by Claude on that game - the CEO replied and it’s a zinger alright 

Lead Writer
Saber Interactive · Full-time
Jul 2023 - Jul 2024 · 1 yr 1 mo
New York City Metropolitan Area · Remote

Lead Narrative Designer
Genjoy · Full-time
Mar 2021 - Feb 2023 · 2 yrs
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Lead Narrative Designer at Genjoy, a Scopely Studio.
Drove narrative on an unannounced casual mobile project.

Narrative Designer
Jam City · Contract
Jul 2020 - Oct 2020 · 4 mos
San Francisco, California, United States
Contract narrative designer on casual mobile title "Vineyard Valley".

Narrative Designer
Tactile Games · Full-time
May 2018 - Sep 2019 · 1 yr 5 mos
Copenhagen Area, Denmark
Narrative Designer for "Lily's Garden" and other projects.

Narrative Designer
505 Games · Contract
Oct 2016 - Sep 2017 · 1 yr
Narrative designer for "Portal Knights," (PS4/XB1/PC)  by Keen Games and published by 505 Games


Lead Game Content Designer
NetEase
Jan 2015 - Oct 2015 · 10 mos
Brisbane, CA
Headed content design and localization team.
- Launched games: Tome of the Sun, Eternal Arena, Speedy Ninja, Lunar Flowers

Game Content Designer
Storm8
May 2013 - Dec 2014 · 1 yr 8 mos
Redwood City, CA
- Launched Mystery Crimes (2013) - Peak #4 Top Free Games, Top 50 Grossing. Designed and wrote the game's narrative and characters. Created seasonal content for limited-time binaries.
- Launched Fairy Tale Wonderland (2014) - Peak #16 Top Free Games, Top 100 Grossing. Wrote game narrative and dialogue.

Senior Editor
AOL
Nov 2008 - Jun 2014 · 5 yrs 8 mos
Freelance
- Wrote, edited, and scheduled hourly news postings and columns World of Warcraft fan site "WoW Insider," part of AOL's Joystiq network.

Creative Developer
Cryptozoic Entertainment
2011 – 2013
Irvine, CA
Along with licensor Blizzard Entertainment and our Creative Lead, drove creative content for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Community Representative
Blizzard Entertainment
Jun 2006 - Nov 2008 · 2 yrs 6 mos
Irvine, CA
- Acted as the voice of Blizzard Entertainment on the World of Warcraft official forums.

Stella Sacco
Narrative Design Lead/Game Writer
5mo • Edited •

I didn't want to make this post but unfortunately my hand has been forced.

Sentona Games told me this week, after ignoring me for two months, that they will not be paying me the $24,000 deferred payment they owe me for hours worked in 2025 per the terms of our contract.

When they hired me, I fell for their effusive praise of my past work writing Lily's Garden and believed in their stated mission. I agreed to work full time for half my normal rate, as the company was extremely cash poor, on the stipulations that they pay promptly and that when their large-dollar funding from the Marc Impact program came in (in September, they said) they would pay me the other half of my rate for hours worked in 2025.

I received zero complaints and only praise about my delivered work. Buy many (most?) of my monthly checks were weeks late, and the continued delay in receiving those checks and my deferred payment (which did not arrive in September as stated) landed me in housing court, where I was at risk of eviction. The stress was immense; Sentona was my only client. I had to withhold a significant amount of completed work, and I did not perform any work for them in November or December because I was so stressed trying to find other work just to pay my rent. It became clear to me that I was never going to receive the money.

I was informed in January that the Marc Impact money came in. After I sent them my invoice they did not reply to repeated reminders for two months. On Monday, I demanded payment within 24 hours, telling them I would be evicted per my housing court agreement if they didn't. They finally sent a long email that boiled down to: "you're too expensive, we just don't feel like we should have to pay you that money, so we're not." They are based in Croatia and I'm in the US; my legal options for recovery are limited and expensive. They know this, which is why they didn't pay me.

After telling other game industry peers about this, I was unsurprised to discover the CEO, Nikolina Finska, had pulled this scam on vulnerable visa-holders in Finland in the recent past, leaving, as the affected individuals put it, "a trail of bodies."

Sentona is currently interviewing to replace me as the writer/narrative designer for Merge Medicine. If they offer you the position, don't take it. Regardless of discipline, I would avoid working for Nikolina and Sentona Games altogether.

I don't like airing this; it's not a strong-arm tactic, as I know I'm never getting my money. I just can't let others be hung out to dry when Sentona inevitably screws them over too. Beware.

EDITING TO ADD: Holy *shit* the stories I’m hearing about this woman just in the time I’ve had this post up

Stella Sacco
Narrative Design Lead/Game Writer
1yr • Edited •
Follow

Hi everyone. I am very desperately in need of a job. I have been unemployed for five months and my unemployment benefits are about to run out.

• I need a narrative design or game writing position, or at least a contract role.
• I need it to be remote. For several reasons, I simply cannot relocate. (I am based in NYC.)
• I can start right away.

I have been in games since 2006. I’ve worked on everything from physical trading card games to casual mobile to PC/console sims. I’ve worked with big IPs and licensors like Marvel, DC, Blizzard, and Universal. I wrote the mobile smash hit Lily’s Garden, which players loved—probably the only match-3 game to get five-star App Store reviews for story.

Again: I cannot move to another country or even to many other US states, and I cannot take on anything that doesn’t pay or is on some kind of contingency. I need to pay my rent.

Please reach out if you have an opportunity. I’m very good at what I do. I just need to get paid to do it.

Hi everyone. I need some help.

I was unemployed for 8 months in 2023 when an offer I had accepted (and left a job for) was rescinded; after finally finding a job again, I was laid off in August of last year. It has now been almost six months since I lost that job.

I’ve been working in the game industry for almost 20 years. I’m not sure the job market has ever been so grim. There have been tens of thousands of layoffs in games since the start of 2023, and despite the industry making 3x as much as movies and music combined, companies are still laying people off every financial quarter for Shareholder Value. There are fewer open positions and more newly laid-off competition for open roles every day. Recruiters are ghosting, requirements are more specific and arcane, places that ARE currently hiring often require relocation to other countries... So a job hunt that, in years past, for me would last a month or two now has the potential to last a year or more. As a writer and narrative designer, I’ve written games like Lily’s Garden, which grossed a half billion dollars, and for that work I’m left with no backend for it, struggling to pay my rent.

I am currently on unemployment benefits in New York. They will explore the first week of February. I have not been able to pay my rent since August, as the unemployment benefits would cover rent…and that’s it. I have applied for help from the city for my back rent, and I’m hoping it will be approved. But even that potential help will only apply through January.

I am hopeful I’ll find a job doing what I do in the next few months. Hiring tends to ramp back up in January. Switching careers, as others have suggested, at this point feels unlikely: places far outside of my discipline won’t hire me because they figure I’ll leave when I find something in my discipline (and they’re right), and jobs adjacent to my discipline have specific requirements of their own—certifications, degrees, expertise—that I simply don’t meet. Additionally, I’m locked out of doing most frequent physical labor because of chronic conditions and back injury. But even if I could, the problem remains: I need money to live, and to pay my rent. I already live pretty frugally. I tend to cook at home. My idea of a splurge is getting more than one Narragansett at free karaoke once or twice a month. This isn’t a matter of mismanaged funds. It’s a matter of no funds. I cannot get more roommates, as my lease does not allow it, and I cannot move, since that requires much more money than simply paying my current rent, and I’d…still need money to pay my new rent.

So here’s what I’m asking for:

$1600 for February rent.
$400 for utilities (phone, internet, power).
$400 for medical needs (appointments, OTC medicine and prescription meds, and stuff my state insurance doesn’t cover, like edibles for sleep)
And the rest for food and other general needs for me and my little dog.

My initial goal is for one month of continued job hunting. If I surpass it, I will simply use the extra for the same thing in March, and so on.

I don’t want to be doing this. I am extremely uncomfortable with it. As anyone who knows me can attest, I love what I do and I’d rather just be fucking *working*. It is simply an incredibly difficult time and I don’t have many options for how to keep going.

Thanks for reading, sharing, and supporting if you can.

-Stella

Jan 20, 2025
Stella SaccoOrganizer
Hey, uh, wow. You guys not only doubled my original goal, you even beat the amount GoFundMe auto-extended it to. I don’t really know what to say here beyond the fact that I am extremely grateful. This will buy me a couple months of rent and expenses. Thank you.

I was despondent and suicidal earlier this week, and the past several weeks have been no picnic mentally. But I feel a lot of love and support in the response to this fundraiser and it’s helping. So thank you, again, for your help. This is not a cure-all; I still need a job, after all. But it does mean I’ll have a place to live and food on my plate and all that, and that’s a lot.

I believe the CEO.

Spoiler: be shocked by what's in this lesbians Amazon wishlist (click to show)(click to hide)

[Snoopy]

How is he so bad at this?

No, it's the exact opposite. The idea is the OTs would be for people actively watching a thing and everything else would get their own threads. So if you're playing catch-up on a show, you make a LTTP thread for you and anyone else who isn't current instead of diving into the OT and potentially getting spoiled. If there's a bunch of fan art for a show, that gets it's own thread. And so on and so forth.

He's managed to turn something as basic as adding a movies subforum into a convoluted mess

https://www.resetera.com/threads/potentially-adding-a-tv-and-movies-embedded-subforum.1602004/

[Boredfrom]

He got into Gundam before the Witch of Mercury.

[Daffy Duck]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/%E2%80%98the-matrix%E2%80%99-director-lilly-wachowski-says-hollywood-won%E2%80%99t-finance-her-10-million-thriller-because-it%E2%80%99s-got-a-%E2%80%98wall-to-wall-trans-cast%E2%80%99.1602376/

Uhm no sweetie, I don’t think Lilly was a director on the matrix, that was the wachowski brothers…