Melissa's Game Streams & Clips

Future Proof Plays: We should talk - 2023/10/21

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:50:26 GMT

This was an interesting concept for a game! I'm not sure it entirely worked for me, but I like that it was made.

This was part of my game studio's Future Proof Plays series of streams. Check out our upcoming schedule and our entire set of archives (including my partner's streams) over on YouTube. Follow me over on Twitch to watch my streams live.

We should talk: https://www.weshouldtalkgame.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Beat Saber - dark cat - "Bubble Tea" - Expert+

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Fri, 03 May 2024 23:13:32 GMT

This was my first warmup after five weeks of being unable to play! I strained my left pectoral muscle playing Beat Saber back in March, and while I'm not entirely pain-free, it's time to get some movement going. I'm playing super conservatively here when I need to swing my left arm cross-body, but overall, it felt good and I adore this song.

Song: Dark Cat - Bubble Tea (Lyrics Video) ft. Juu & Cinders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJm5pExRkKA
Mapped by roeek: https://beatsaver.com/maps/13e9

Future Proof Plays: Night Call - 2023/08/12 (CW: abuse, murder/death)

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 22:20:45 GMT

I found this game to have a little bit of disconnect between the mystery and the taxiing, but it's a beautiful game and quite fun. I haven't played more since this stream back in August 2023, which... I feel like I should, but it also feels like I'd have to pick up a lot of threads and jump back in. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Night Call: https://nightcall-game.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Mask of the Rose - 2023/07/01

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:00:31 GMT

I'm a huuuuuge fan of Failbetter's games and have played Fallen London on and off for over a decade, so I've been excited as hell about Mask of the Rose since it was first announced. It's as good as I hoped (I've played a bunch since this stream) and it's gotten me back into Fallen London heavily.

Mask of the Rose: https://www.failbettergames.com/games/mask-of-the-rose
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Strange Horticulture - 2023/05/26

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 16:00:46 GMT

I absolutely adored this game. I finished two endings the same weekend as this stream. If you aren't in the mood to play in real dirt, why not instead play in virtual dirt while unraveling the inner workings of a coven and a cult? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Strange Horticulture: https://www.iceberg-games.com/strange-horticulture/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Samorost 3 - 2023/04/08

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:00:45 GMT

I don't know why I didn't turn on the lamp in front of me so that I'm not shrouded in shadow the entire stream. 😂 One of the things I loved about this game is that I felt very able to be patient in figuring things out on stream. I often feel like I need to keep moving at a certain pace, but this stunningly gorgeous game encouraged me to take my time.

Samorost 3: https://amanita-design.net/games/samorost3.html
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Frog Detectives 1 and 2 - 2023/03/05

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 20:10:53 GMT

What delightful games. I finished the second one off-stream maybe later that day. 😁

Frog Detective: https://frogdetective.net/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Fortune-499 - 2023/01/14

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 16:00:53 GMT

This game was neat! I don't know if I like the deck building part? But I liked everything else. 😅

Fortune-499: https://apthomson.itch.io/fortune-499
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Button City - 2022/12/17

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:22:33 GMT

This was an adorable, light-hearted game. I'm relatively quiet during the stream because there wasn't a ton in the game that was... revelatory? But I'm particularly fond of the art direction and implementation.

Button City: https://www.buttoncitygame.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Welcome to Elk - 2022/11/27 - CWs in description

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:01:18 GMT

CW: The game contains scenes including deaths and children experiencing murder. Alcohol abuse, sexual assault, prostitution, violence and offensive language.

This was a weird one. First: it has the best knees in video games, hands down. Second: it gets shocking towards the end of the stream when it switches formats of storytelling and gets kinda graphic in its descriptions of harm and death. The game is (according to the devs) about storytelling, and I begin to see some of what they're trying to do in that back half, but I wish the beginning had been a bit tighter in getting to the thesis.

Welcome to Elk: https://www.welcometoelk.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: A Mortician's Tale - 2022/10/02 - CWs in description

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 17:00:42 GMT

CW: death, blood, needles, dead bodies; discussions of cancer, suicide, and transphobia.

This game was phenomenal. It has such a care for death and the people involved, and such a distaste for capitalism. On top of being educational, it's visually beautiful and narratively hopeful. If it strikes your fancy in the first few minutes, pause the stream and go play it! It's in several of the huge itch.io bundles.

A Mortician's Tale: http://laundrybear.com/a-morticians-tale
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Wildermyth - 2022/09/04

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 17:00:41 GMT

This game is friggin'cool. Generating cohesive narrative for random characters in a tactical RPG across multiple generations is no small task, and the system they're using under the hood is clever. I've played a few hours of it since this stream, and some of the story beats it comes up with are haunting, especially a fetch/double moment with a character who had already been through Some Shit.

Wildermyth: https://wildermyth.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

No Man's Sky Time (Polestar Expedition) - 2022/08/16

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 17:00:39 GMT

I decided to give No Man's Sky streaming another try, this time with the well-contained Polestar Expedition! Next time I stream an expedition, I'll start it from scratch; it was difficult to keep track of what I'd done, and my freighter organization was abysmal because I used the expedition as my way to get back into NMS for the first time in two years. 😓

NMS only gets better every time I play, and I love it dearly.

Follow me over on Twitch to watch my streams live.

No Man's Sky: https://www.nomanssky.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Mutazione - 2022/07/30

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:00:41 GMT

Holy crap, what an outstanding game. Intriguing story, weird characters, and gardening. GARDENING! I'll definitely be playing more of this.

Mutazione: https://mutazionegame.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Astrologaster - 2022/07/03

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 17:00:40 GMT

The art style of this game is outstanding! The pop-up book look is done so well. I'll eventually play more of this. I think it'll run its course in a few hours of play, but that's still a good run.

(Unfortunately, this is another video with crappy audio quality.)

Astrologaster: https://www.astrologaster.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Commune Corvidae - 2022/06/10

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 17:00:39 GMT

I really liked the way this game was setting out to explore and dismantle the stories that oppressors tell about themselves. Unfortunately, I had a ton of problems with the controls (my own lack of skill, I assume), and this video has regrettably lower voice audio quality than I prefer, as I was trying out a different mic.

Anyway, I'll probably try this game again off-stream, possibly with a controller.

Commune Corvidae: https://magresta.itch.io/commune-corvidae
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Can Androids Pray (CW: suicide) and Sun Dogs - 2022/05/07

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 18 May 2022 14:00:34 GMT

Two small text-heavy games about what people/humans are (i.e., transhumanism). I enjoyed "Can Androids Pray" quite a bit, although it (and "Sun Dogs") are definitely exploring themes in a way I would have found more impressive when I had less experience with such things. Also, "Sun Dogs" really, really needs some accessibility options re: font size and color. Really, really.

Can Androids Pray: https://itch.io/b/343/can-androids-pray
Sun Dogs: https://store.steampowered.com/app/404420/Sun_Dogs/
Future Proof Games: https://futureproofgames.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: Chicory - 2022/04/09

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Wed, 04 May 2022 16:00:53 GMT

An artsy game that explores what it's like to be a creator? Played by a game dev on a game dev's stream? How appropriate! 😁 Boss battles aside, this game is wonderful. I've already put a bunch of time into it since this stream, and gets pretty deep into self-esteem/confidence, mutual trust, support networks, etc. Still don't care for the sluggishness of the boss fights (although they can be turned off in the settings), but even those are thematically appropriate.

Chicory: https://chicorygame.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Future Proof Plays: 80 Days - 2022/02/12

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Mon, 02 May 2022 17:00:52 GMT

The audio on this is subpar, unfortunately. There was something causing interference on the mic that I didn't catch before starting the stream. 😔 Anyway, I adored 80 Days and have played a ton more on my phone since this stream.

80 Days: https://www.inklestudios.com/80days/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa

Music album "Petal" by Broke For Free
Available at https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/album/petal
Used with permission

Beat Saber - Schwank "$1.78" - Expert+ 90% speed (light "commentary") CW: swearing

Melissa's Game Streams & Clips — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 03:50:14 GMT

Well, I'm back with a voice on this one, although I can't say I'm doing any insightful analysis. 😁 This is the first track off the new Beat Saber OST, and Expert+ is kicking my ass. I'm currently a little hot-and-cold on the OST. Love the mappings and the new blocks, don't care for some of the actual music. "$1.78" is solid, though.

Beat Saber: https://beatsaber.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/averymd
Mastodon: https://irrsinn.life/@melissa