Platform Manifesto

"We are ideologically opposed to non-PC platforms" - Strong language here is necessary

• If you have a problem with that then go some place else
• We are not here to make money, we're here to make games that make sense

PC Master Race

• Large variety of keyboard controls enables many degrees of freedom
• Mouse allows for tremendous granular flexibility and degrees of freedom
• Modding is natural on this platform
  • We aim to make modding so simple that a great deal of modding can be achieved through editing YAML configuration files
• Fine-grained control of gameplay elements using chat interface commands (CIC)
• Very high degree of and number of video and audio hardware customization and configuration
• (Future) Voice command support

Time & Place

We believe there is a time and a place for playing video games and that video games should live there and stay there and not be permitted to leak out of that designated place into other areas of life because that would be unhealthy. Desktop PCs are conducive to this paradigm, mobile computing platforms aggitate it. Desktop PCs make it impossible to play video games standing-up on a public bus or elevated metro train, but mobile platforms would allow that. We insist that our games are played in places that are considered to be characteristic of homes and places of refuge and places of rest, not in places outside of that. This is important because of the believe we have in that games should be tightly tethered to physical places where they are experienced, contrast this with the polar opposite: Pokémon GO. We believe video games are activities of rest and rejuvenation, and we believe such activities should be tightly tethered to places of rest and rejuvenation.

Macro Keypads

We want to reward keyboard users, but we also want to go beyond that and incentivize macro keypad users. In particular, we want to support equipment like the Shuttle Pro (depicted below) with any sort of control key bindings favouring the most popular devices (for now), which requires a considerable degree of key event code support.

Mobile is Dumb

• The screens are stupid tiny, especially those masochistic Apple watch screens
• No mouse-precision control, no granularity in movement

Console is Dumb

• Nubs are a ridiculous replacement for the mouse
• One is stuck with the hardware they have in the console, so games must conform to this

FOMO

FOMO is not a bad or negative thing, it inspires or rather spurs gamers to get equipment best suited for the game they have invested in (ours, in this case). If we pretend that we want to people-please everyone and in-particular people-please non-PC platforms then we set an unhealthy precedent and enable entitlements to non-PC platform support. Therefore, it is imperative we make it clear that we are ideologically opposed to non-PC platforms and then justify that opposition rationally.