Tootfinder

Day 9: Eniko Fox
Edit: added a store link for Kitsune Tails.
We're back to videogames, and with another author who's on the fediverse: @…
Fox has developed a few games, but the one that I've played and love is Kitsune Tails. It's a sapphic romance take on Super Mario Bros. 3, and (critically for a platformer) it's got very crisp controls and runs smoothly. I think one thing a lot of indie platforms devs struggle with is getting those fundamentals right, because on the technical side they require very challenging things like optimization of your code and extremely careful input handling that go beyond the basic skills necessary to put together a game. From following her on Twitter and now the Fediverse, it's clear that Fox is a deeply competent programmer, and her games reflect that. Beyond the fundamentals, Kitsune Tails has a very sweet plot with a very cool twist in the middle, and without spoilers, that twist made both the levels and gameplay very difficult to design, but Fox rose to that challenge and put together a wonderful game. Particularly past the plot twist (but in subtle ways before it) Fox is able to build beyond SMB3 mechanics in ways that gracefully complement the original, and the movement in the game ends up being difficult but extremely satisfying, with an excellent skill/speed response allowing for both slower, easier approaches that work for a range of players and high-skill extremely-fast options for those who want to push themselves.
There have been plenty of people I follow with indie game projects that are kinda meh in the end, and I'll still boost them without much comment if they're decent. Fox' work is actually amazing, which is why if you've followed me for a while you'll know I tend to mention it periodically, and which is why she makes this list of authors I respect.
You can buy Kitsune Tails here: #20AuthorsNoMen

I am once again begging, begging everyone to hold these 3 thoughts in their head at once:
1. Plastics recycling is not very effective. It’s far, far better to not use plastic at all in the first place, and that failing, far better to reuse.
2. Plastics recycling is not worthless or pointless. Don’t just throw it all away because “iT dOEsn’T matTeR.” A miserable 5% reclaimed is still better than 0% reclaimed.
3. Plastics recycling is nonetheless part of a petrochemical greenwashing campaign, per @…’s post below. https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars/115650231600448649

Is the US peace plan for Ukraine falling apart? Moscow disrupts negotiations: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/03/is-the-us-peace-plan.html

This is wild.
EDIT:
https://castle-journal.com/sensational-claims-emerge-following-south-african-ambassadors-tragic-death-in-paris/

1,000 Swiss glaciers already gone, and the melting is speeding up #Switzerland

1,000 Swiss glaciers already gone, and the melting is speeding up
Swiss glaciers lost nearly 3% of their volume in 2025, following a snow-poor winter and scorching summer heatwaves. The melt has been so extreme that some glaciers lost more than two meters of ice thickness in a single season. Scientists caution that the decline is destabilizing mountains, raising risks of rock and ice avalanches. Long-term monitoring efforts are now more critical than ever.

CPJ says Mario Guevara was deported early Friday to his native El Salvador, after spending months in custody following his arrest while covering a protest (Liam Reilly/CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/media/mario-guevara-journalist-deported-ice-el-salv…

Live-streaming journalist deported to El Salvador after months in ICE custody
The reporter was arrested while reporting from a “No Kings Day” protest in June and was deported on Friday — a major blow to press freedoms, say groups including the ACLU.

Sounds easy, looks nice: Crossmodal transfer of auditory processing fluency to visual object preference https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-025-03177-5

Sounds easy, looks nice: Crossmodal transfer of auditory processing fluency to visual object preference - Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
Fluent (i.e., rapid and efficient) processing of perceptual objects is vital for humans to successfully navigate their environments. The experience of fluent processing per se tends to trigger positive affect; however, this affect is often misattributed by perceivers to the objects themselves, meaning that easy-to-perceive objects are judged more positively. These fluency-based preference effects have been robustly demonstrated unimodally, and specifically in situations in which fluency and pre…

"A PlayStation game is now the best-selling game on Xbox."
This is like the end of Hundred Years' War ... enemy banners flying, no one admits defeat, but the battlefield’s empty.
https://www.theverge.com/news/770311/plays

😼 Answerman - Is Superhero Burnout at the Box Office Affecting Anime Films?
#anime

Answerman - Is Superhero Burnout at the Box Office Affecting Anime Films?
If superhero fatigue is affecting anime, it's only in a good way. Read on to find out why.

Facts: “The report shouldn’t be a shock to anyone...because zoning is just one factor of 100. I’m afraid ‘We’re going to sue the government until the capital markets do what we want’ is basically the textbook definition of San Francisco YIMBYism.” - @…