February 10, 20258 min readEgg Farmers Are Losing the Battle with Bird Flu"I call this virus a terrorist," says one egg farmer after millions of chickens have died in recent weeksBy Kate Wells & KFF Health News Antyoko Rostriardi/Getty ImagesGreg Herbruck knew 6.5 million of his birds needed to die, and fast.But the CEO of Herbrucks Poultry Ranch wasnt sure how the family egg producer (one of the largest in the U.S., in business for over three generations) was going to get through it, financially or emotionally. One staffer broke down in Herbrucks office in tears.The mental toll on our team of dealing with that many dead chickens is just, I mean, you cant imagine it, Herbruck said. I didnt sleep. Our team didnt sleep.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The stress of watching tens of thousands of sick birds die of avian flu each day, while millions of others waited to be euthanized, kept everyone awake.In April 2024, as his first hens tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus, Herbruck turned to the tried-and-true U.S. Department of Agriculture playbook, the stamping-out strategy that helped end the 2014-15 bird flu outbreak, which was the largest in the U.S. until now.Within 24 to 48 hours of the first detection of the virus, state and federal animal health officials work with farms to cull infected flocks to reduce the risk of transmission. Thats followed by extensive disinfection and months of surveillance and testing to make sure the virus isnt still lurking somewhere on-site.Since then, egg farms have had to invest millions of dollars into biosecurity. For instance, employees shower in and shower out, before they start working and after their shifts end, to prevent spreading any virus. But their efforts have not been enough to contain the outbreak that started three years ago.This time, the risk to human health is only growing, experts say. Sixty-six of the 67 total human cases in the United States have been just since March, including the nations first human death, reported last month.The last six months have accelerated my concern, which was already high, said Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician and the founding director of Boston Universitys Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases.Controlling this virus has become more challenging, precisely because its so entrenched in the global environment, spilling into mammals such as dairy cows, and affecting roughly 150 million birds in commercial and backyard flocks in the U.S.Because laying hens are so susceptible to the H5N1 virus, which can wipe out entire flocks within days of the first infection, egg producers have been on the front lines in the fight against various bird flu strains for years. But this moment feels different. Egg producers and the American Egg Board, an industry group, are begging for a new prevention strategy.Many infectious disease experts agree that the risks to human health of continuing current protocols are unsustainable, because of the strain of bird flu driving this outbreak.The one were battling today is unique, said David Swayne, former director of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory at the USDAs Agricultural Research Service and a leading national expert in avian influenza.Its not saying for sure theres gonna be a pandemic of H5N1, Swayne said, but its saying the more human infections, the spreading into multiple mammal species is concerning.For Herbruck, it feels like war. Ten months after Herbrucks Poultry Ranch was hit, the company is still rebuilding its flocks and rehired most of the 400 workers it laid off.Still, he and his counterparts in the industry live in fear, watching other farms get hit two, even three times in the past few years.I call this virus a terrorist, he said. And we are in a battle and losing, at the moment.When Biosecurity Isnt Working or Just Isnt HappeningSo far, none of the 23 people who contracted the disease from commercial poultry have experienced severe cases, but the risks are still very real. The first human death was a Louisiana patient who had contact with both wild birds and backyard poultry. The person was over age 65 and reportedly had underlying medical conditions.And the official message to both backyard farm enthusiasts and mega-farms has been broadly the same: Biosecurity is your best weapon against the spread of disease.But theres a range of opinions among backyard flock owners about how seriously to take bird flu, said Katie Ockert, a Michigan State University Extension educator who specializes in biosecurity communications.Skeptics think that were making a mountain out of a molehill, Ockert said, or that the media is maybe blowing it out of proportion. This means there are two types of backyard poultry enthusiasts, Ockert said: those doing great biosecurity, and those who arent even trying.I see both, she said. I dont feel like theres really any middle ground there for people.And the challenges of biosecurity are completely different for backyard coops than massive commercial barns: How are hobbyists with limited time and budgets supposed to create impenetrable fortresses for their flocks, when any standing water or trees on the property could draw wild birds carrying the virus?Rosemary Reams, an 82-year-old retired educator in Ionia, Michigan, grew up farming and has been helping the local 4-H poultry program for years, teaching kids how to raise poultry. Now, with the bird flu outbreak, I just dont let people go out to my barn, she said.Reams even swapped real birds with fake ones for kids to use while being assessed by judges at recent 4-H competitions, she said.We made changes to the fair last year, which I got questioned about a lot. And I said, No, I gotta think about the safety of the kids.Reams was shocked by the news of the death of the Louisiana backyard flock owner. She even has questioned whether she should continue to keep her own flock of 20 to 30 chickens and a pair of turkeys.But I love em. At my age, I need to be doing it. I need to be outside, Reams said. Thats what life is about. She said shell do her best to protect herself and her 4-H kids from bird flu.Even the best biosecurity in the world hasnt been enough to save large commercial farms from infection, said Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board.The egg industry thought it learned how to outsmart this virus after the 2014-15 outbreak. Back then, we were spreading it amongst ourselves between egg farms, with people, with trucks, Metz said. So egg producers went into lockdown, she said, developing intensive biosecurity measures to try to block the routes of transmission from wild birds or other farms.Metz said the measures egg producers are taking now are extensive.They have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements, everything from truck washing stations which is washing every truck from the FedEx man to the feed truck and everything in between: busing in workers so that theres less foot traffic, laser light systems to prevent waterfowl from landing.Lateral spread, when the virus is transmitted from farm to farm, has dropped dramatically, down from 70% of cases in the last outbreak to just 15% as of April 2023, according to the USDA.And yet, Metz said, all the measures were doing are still getting beat by this virus.The Fight Over Vaccinating BirdsPerhaps the most contentious debate about bird flu in the poultry industry right now is whether to vaccinate flocks.Given the mounting death toll for animals and the increasing risk to humans, theres a growing push to vaccinate certain poultry against avian influenza, which countries like China, Egypt, and France are already doing.In 2023, the World Organization for Animal Health urged nations to consider vaccination as part of a broader disease prevention and control strategy.Swayne, the avian influenza expert and poultry veterinarian, works with WOAH and said most of his colleagues in the animal and public health world see vaccination of poultry as a positive tool in controlling this panzootic in animals, but also as a tool that reduces chances for human infection, and chances for additional mutations of the virus to become more human-adapted.But vaccination could put poultry meat exporters (whose birds are genetically less susceptible to H5N1 than laying hens) at risk of losing billions of dollars in international trade deals. Thats because of concerns that vaccination, which lowers the severity of disease in poultry, could mask infections and bring the virus across borders, according to John Clifford, a former chief veterinary officer of the USDA. Clifford is currently an adviser to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.If we vaccinate, we not only lose $6 billion potentially in exports a year, Clifford said. If they shut us off, that product comes back on the U.S. market. Our economists looked at this and said we would lose $18 billion domestically.Clifford added that would also mean the loss of over 200,000 agricultural jobs.Even if those trade rules changed to allow meat and eggs to be harvested from vaccinated birds, logistical hurdles remain.Vaccination possibly could be on the horizon in the future, but its not going to be tomorrow or the next day, next year, or whatever, Clifford said.Considering just one obstacle: No current HPAI vaccine is a perfect match for the current strain, according to the USDA. But if the virus evolves to be able to transmit efficiently from human to human, he said, that would be a game changer for everybody, which would probably force vaccination.Last month, the USDA announced it would pursue a stockpile that matches current outbreak strains in poultry.While deploying a vaccine for poultry would be difficult in practice and may have trade implications, in addition to uncertainty about its effectiveness, USDA has continued to support research and development in avian vaccines, the agency said.At this point, Metz argued, the industry cant afford not to try vaccination, which has helped eradicate diseases in poultry before.Were desperate, and we need every possible tool, she said. And right now, were fighting this virus with at least one, if not two, arms tied behind our back. And the vaccine can be a huge hammer in our toolbox.But unless the federal government acts, that tool wont be used.Industry concerns aside, infectious diseases physician Bhadelia said theres an urgent need to focus on reducing the risk to humans of getting infected in the first place. And that means reducing chances of infections in animals that are around humans, which include cows and chickens. Which is why I think vaccination to me sounds like a great plan.The lesson that we keep learning every single time is that if wed acted earlier, it would have been a smaller problem, she said.This article is from a partnership that includes Michigan Public, NPR, and KFF Health News.KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Sony has seemingly delisted a number of games following an investigation into the prevalence of "spam" titles on digital storefronts. Read more

GAME "scalping" Pokmon cards, staff say, demanding 20 shipping to post small tinSky high delivery cost appears a deliberate move to hike prices.Image credit: GAME / Eurogamer News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Feb. 10, 2025 UK retailer GAME has been slammed by shop staff and store customers for charging 19.99 delivery on small tins containing the latest Pokmon cards, which are in hot demand nationwide.Stock of the new Pokmon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Prismatic Evolutions card set is extremely hard to find with many toy shops and supermarkets selling out. But GAME is still taking pre-orders for the set's new 11 Mini Tins - if you stump up a 19.99 delivery fee, which nearly triples your overall purchase price. Speaking to Eurogamer anonymously to protect their jobs, GAME staff say the situation amounts to the chain effectively "scalping" their own supplies, and customers. Employees say they've been left exasperated by the chain's handling of the popular Pokmon cards' release, and had to deal with angry customers left unable to buy the cards in-store on release day. GAME staff say that too much of the chain's stock of Prismatic Evolutions cards has been put up for sale online, rather in actual GAME stores or concessions. Additionally, staff say, the small amount of stock sent out to GAME shops has also arrived late, meaning customers who popped in on the set's launch day left empty handed - despite staff previously being told that stock would arrive on time. One staff member claimed their store had been sent a single TCG card pack."We're constantly taking the brunt of abuse from customers and the company itself," one staff member told Eurogamer, saying they felt they had been lied to by bosses after they'd been told to reassure customers their store would get stock on a certain date - only for it not to turn up. Online, meanwhile, Pokmon card stock such as the 11 Prismatic Evolutions tins is only available to buy with that 19.99 fee - for what the chain is describing as an "Oversized Delivery" that will arrive in three to five working days.GAME typically charges 4.99 for a Standard Delivery, or alternatively you can pay 4.99 to Collect in Store (also both three to five working days). If you really want to splash out, you can spend 11.99 on some items for Next Day Delivery by DPD. Checking online today, none of these cheaper options are available for the new Pokmon card tins. GAME's website does not offer 4.99 Standard Delivery or Collect in Store options for Prismatic Evolutions card tins - only the pricier 19.99 Oversized Delivery option. | Image credit: GAME / EurogamerSo why are these cards an Oversized Delivery? Staff say they have questioned their bosses about the matter - initially thinking it was a mistake - only to be told the decision was deliberate.These Mini Tins (which describe themselves as offering "Pokmon Favourites in the Palm of Your Hand!") are no larger than a smartphone. At the same time, GAME still offers its usual 4.99 Standard Delivery option for much bulkier items - including consoles such as a new PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch.GAME staff say they had initially assumed the Oversized Delivery requirement is a mistake, only to be told by bosses that it wasn't, without any further explanation. Eurogamer has contacted GAME for more.Last year, Eurogamer published a report detailing GAME's ongoing issues, the difficulties faced by shop floor staff amidst store closures, relentless redundancies, and a head office that was failing to deal with stock problems. At the time, staff told us the chain was losing touch with customers.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereSkin mods have been a huge deal in Marvel Rivals, where players can enhance their characters with fan-made designs. The Galactic Talon Captain America, with his star-spangled Iron Man suit, and the Green Scar Hulk, are among some of the most viral mods that provide players with visually unique and powerful takes on the characters.The visual attractiveness has been greatly enhanced by fan mods, and an active community has been formed, sharing and discussing their works online. A Red Hulk skin, however, is a fan-made mod that has lately come to the forefront. The mod brings the intensity of General Thaddeus Rosss (also known as Red Hulk) persona to life and adds a degree of detail and violence not found in the official releases. Although the skins official release is speculated to tie in a collab with the upcoming MCU film Captain America: Brave New World, the mod has already gone viral. Heres how you can use it in the game. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. How to use Marvel Rivals Red Hulk modThe Red Hulk mod in Marvel Rivals is a costume mod in the game that can only be overlaid on the Bruce Banner/Hulk hero. The mod was published by PColeD on Nexus Mods and since the upload has gotten nearly 5,000 downloads.Red Hulk mod overlays multiple colors over Hulk and Bruce Banner models. Image by PColeD.In order to download the mod, head to the mods link, then download it for free. Once done, navigate to your games installation folder, and find the Marvel\Content\Paks subfolders. There, create a folder inside Paks named ~mods. Inside the newly created folder, extract the .zip file and launch your game. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now You can try out the mod for the first time inside Practice Range by playing as Hulk and check if youve followed the above steps correctly or not. If the process fails, delete the mods folder and repeat the process all over again.Although wed not recommend you using mods in Marvel Rivals as it goes against NetEase terms as devs have taken strict steps with the release of Season 1: Eternal Night Falls to remove support for such mods in the game. Still, modders have once again proved themselves by introducing newer mods to work with the new game version.However, if youre patient enough to wait for the official Red Hulk skin to arrive, check out all the free rewards you can get from the Captain America Brave New World movie collab.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterRelated TopicsMarvel Rivals Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Pokemon Emerald is one of the purest games out there, released in a time before microtransaction hell. More than a decade before the release of lootboxes, battle passes and other predatory gubbins, Emerald released on the beautiful Game Boy Advance.In a comedic bid to bring modern gaming practises to our untainted retro games, one Pokemon modder has hacked the GBA game to bring loot box mechanics to the the beloved classic JRPG.Pokemon Emerald defiled by Loot BoxesCreated by modder btchmampdup, the new Pokemon Emerald mod replaces the basic Pokemon catching mechanic with, well, loot boxes. Just like an EA game crawling back from its 2015 grave, players will no longer be able to engage with fun gameplay mechanics, but will instead will have to open a box for a random game of chance. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. The new Pokemon mod has a bunch of different loot boxes that you can purchase to get your hands on new creatures. The basic Poke Pack willgive you a weak, basic monster; Great Packs give you a Stage 1 Basic Monster; Ultra Packs give Stage 2 monsters, and more bespoke Packs give you themed creatures.Of course, the Master Pack is here, and can be opened to get a guaranteed legendary creature. Come ooooon, Deoxys! Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Theres actually no way to get any Pokemon outside of packs of trading, the modder told fans on Reddit. I changed the code for Poke Balls and any instance where you receive a mon, so youre kinda stuck opening these things until you get a good mon.Additionally, as with real loot boxes, the mod creator made it so that the game nickle-and-dimes players to even get a chance at gambling. A basic Poke Pack is 3,000 PokeDollars and an Ultra Pack is 8,000. In comparison, a single PokeBall price in Pokemon Emerald costs 200 PokeDollars.I did a play through and before Gym 5 while fighting everyone and selling everything the most you get per town is 2-5 of these packs(assuming you waste your money on only packs), the modder explained. Also its not common you get anything good from these by design so youll have to keep grinding them to get anything good, like real loot boxes!While the idea of real loot boxes in an actual Pokemon game is demonic, their addition into Emerald via this mod does make for a fun challenge mod. If youre tired of Nuzlocking the Gen 3 games, this could be a fun new addition to your library of ROMs you play three hours of and never pick up again.Pokemon EmeraldPlatform(s):Gameboy AdvanceGenre(s):RPGRelated TopicsPokemon Emerald Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"During the 20242025 winter (northern hemisphere), Blender developers focused on quality and stability. This blog post offers an overview of the work accomplished.BugfixesBetween December 1 and January 31, 2025, more than 500 reported issues were fixed.High severity bugs since January 1st 2025Here is a per-module breakdown of the fixed reports:Animation & Rigging: 24Asset System: 6Core: 10Grease Pencil: 82Modeling: 33Nodes & Physics: 71Pipeline & IO: 9Python API: 3Render & Cycles: 37Sculpt, Paint & Texture: 31User Interface: 82VFX & Video: 40Viewport & EEVEE: 76Additionally, many old reports have been double-checked and either fixed or closed (for example, if the issue could not be reproduced in a recent Blender version). Issues that were not reported by users were also addressed.Module Work OverviewIn addition to fixing bugs, developers also spent time tackling technical debt, updating documentation, and stabilizing certain areas of the code. Lets take a look at the reports from each module.Animation & RiggingMultiple bugs have been closed (either fixed or re-investigated and closed).Pose Library:Added support for slotted actions, including multi-object poses.Added support for pushing to the pose library.New tools for slotted actions have been implemented.Switching assigned actions is now smoother.Library Overrides for slotted actions have improved.Code documentation is much better, APIs have been polished, and the new animation system is generally easier to work with for future development.CompositorThe CPU compositor rewrite has been completed, aiming to improve maintainability by unifying the CPU and GPU compositors. In the process: Tens of thousands of lines of code were removed. Performance of many operations was improved. The behavior of CPU and GPU devices was unified.The main benefit of this rewrite is that future development of the compositor will be faster and easier.Grease PencilThe focus was on stabilization following the significant Grease Pencil v3 changes introduced in Blender 4.3. A total of 91 bug fixes were committed, 86 of which were high-severity bugs, many addressing regressions.ModelingThe focus was on fixing crashes and older unresolved bugs. 17 issues were addressed, including several long-standing bugs and 8 crashes. In total, 74 issues were closed.Nodes & PhysicsThe team kicked off the quality project by developing a tool to categorize all module issues and split them into batches. This tool made the project feel far less daunting, as they were only tackling 20 issues per day instead of 700.The focus was on addressing reports for active projects (rather than end-of-life features like the particle system or inactive areas such as the cloth modifier). In total, they closed about 150 issues and resolved several long-standing, frustrating problems.They also made time for some important refactors, including:Reducing the number of changes required to add a new node.Starting a replacement for the CustomData system.Implementing various smaller improvements.Render & CyclesThe team improved test coverage, fixed around 40 bugs, and cleaned up the code to better align with modern C++ standards.Sculpt, Texture & PaintThe team focused on bug fixes, as well as improving testing and documentation.IssuesClosed 25 high severity reports.Followed up on issues tagged with Need Information from DevelopersClosed 57 additional issues (Design, To Do, and Bugs).Created a tracking issue for Sculpt/Paint undo problems.Testing & DocumentationAdded a BVH building unit test.Work is ongoing for a sculpt stroke + render test.Added a technical documentation overview for mesh painting.USD (Universal Scene Description)The team focused on a variety of tasks, including adding additional test coverage, completing partially implemented features, and upgrading the user manual.They also investigated, fixed, and prototyped performance improvements for USD import, which were also useful in determining some other areas of Blender that should be improved.User InterfaceThey focused on reducing the number of UI issues to a more manageable state. Out of more than 1000 open issues, 275 were closed.Viewport & EEVEEThe team migrated overlay, selection, and image engine to the new drawing manager API. This migration fixes known and long-standing issues with overlays, and it paves the way for future optimizations, including removal of a global lock/freeze.The team also focused on improving test cases, fixing high-severity issues, and better platform support.Video Sequence EditorThe team focused on bug reports, code cleanups, and refactors:The Sequence -> Strip rename in the codebase (and to some extent the Python API) to make the code less confusing.All movie read/write-related C++ code is now in imbuf/movie, with clearer naming and improved structure.The code for VSE effects and modifiers was cleaned up and modernized to align more with C++ standards, resulting in a slight performance boost.Retiming code received fixes, cleanups, and improved developer documentation.Several UI interactions were polished for better usability.Future Quality ProjectsAfter a year of exciting new features like EEVEE-Next and Grease Pencil v3, the Blender Winter of Quality was the perfect opportunity to tackle loose ends and enhance stability.While quality is always a core focus of new development and part of the daily work of module teams, having a dedicated period to focus solely on it was great. As a result, future quality projects are being considered, and feedback is currently being gathered to learn about the experience for developers and identify areas for improvement in the future.Support the Future of BlenderDonate to Blender by joining the Development Fund to support the Blender Foundations work on core development, maintenance, and new releases. Donate to Blender

Behind the Scenes: Short Film Pan Si Background Environment By Alina Khan on February 10, 2025 Behind the Scenes Explore how Tianyi Zhu crafted the captivating background for her short film Pan Si, from sculpting terrain to scattering plants, using Blender to bring the scene to life.INTRODUCTIONMy name is Tianyi Zhu, a CG freelancer from China.I started working in architectural visualization in 2002 and have received several industry awards, including: First Place in the 2005 Architectural Visualization Competition (Organizer: CG Architect) Best Animation in the 2007 Architectural 3D Awards (Organizer: CG Architect) My 3D works have been featured in many industry magazines, such as 3D World, CG World, CADesigner, and Autodesk Architectural Visualization.I have been self-studying Blender by watching YouTube and Bilibili since the end of 2022.INSPIRATIONThis project was inspired by photographs of Kanas Lake.I am currently working on a short film, and this scene serves as its background environment. Some interesting events will take place here.PROCESSTools UsedHardware: Processor: Intel Xeon E5-2687W (2 processors) @ 3.10GHz Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro K5000 + NVIDIA Tesla K20c Memory: 32GB RAM Software: Blender Photoshop WorkflowThe entire 3D work was created in Blender. First, I painted the displacement map for the ground in Photoshop and used the Displace Modifier in Blender to generate the center ground.Next, I created several low-poly mountains around the center ground for placing the plants.I then painted the base color map, roughness map, and normal map and applied them to the shader. This completed the center ground. To achieve a rich and varied water surface, I incorporated complex surface bumps.Test renders:Next, I created plant assets. I used the Blender add-on Sampling Tree to make two types of trees: fir and aspen.The shrubs were also generated using Sampling Tree, but I recombined their branches and leaves to form several groups of shrubs with different densities.The small grass models were the simplest, while the small stone models came from Poly Haven.I then used Blender's particle system to scatter these plants on the ground.Finally, I added water plantsalso created using displacementto enhance the scenes details.There was no artificial lighting used in the scene, only HDRI environment lighting. The final rendering was done in Cycles. A slight contrast adjustment was made in Photoshop.RENDER: Short Film Pan Si Background Environment Below are the clay renders: Thats all for now! I appreciate you taking the time to read my article. Wishing you a wonderful day!If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out.About the Artist Tianyi Zhu is a 3d artist from China, currently as a freelancer working on her own short film. Links

submitted by /u/DomesticErrorist22 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken [link] [comments]

Got the juiceWhat do you get if you blend Adult Swim, Street Fighter, and Escape from Tarkov? An out-there new fighting game called Longjuice SqueezeA PvP focused fighting game with a hell of a twist.Image credit: Goblin Delight Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Feb. 10, 2025 Fighting games are, to a certain degree, a known quality at the moment. While some of the big hitters have added their fair share of interesting quirks and twists, the core gameplay loop has largely remained the same over the past few decades. As such, players looking for something a bit out-there have had to turn to indie developers for boundary-pushers. For truly innovative spins on the genre.One such game, which aims to bridge the gap between fighting games and other genres, is Longjuice Squeeze. Developed by a "Micro-studio" composed of one core developer and various collaborators, you can sign up to playtests for it right now. But if you want to learn more, developer Jeremy Boniface was willing to answer a few questions about the game, what inspired him to make it, its inspirations, and the distinct art style it champions.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. VG247: Where did the idea of blending fighting game and rogue-like deck building mechanics stem from?Boniface: Basically, to solve my own issues with a genre I love, I wanted to make a fighting game with, Meaningful character progression Permadeath PvP loot Low executionI'm not personally motivated by the stakes of the fight being "can I pull off this combo" or "can I get to platinum" -- I like unlocking stuff and customizing my dude. Ultimately, I wanted a fighting game multiplayer loop that kind of feels like playing an extraction shooter (like Tarkov). Roguelite deckbuilding is sort of the scaffolding for these other concepts, where your build is going to be as relevant as your moment-by-moment play.VG247: How do you strike that balance so that fans of both genres can find something to enjoy here?Boniface: Ultimately, I'm making a game for myself to some extent, as someone who loves both genres, and Im hoping that resonates with other people. Now when I see this, I get excited. | Image credit: Goblin DelightI've never been great at learning long combos, but I love the way a fighting game feels once you get to higher level play. I love the strategic, tactical, and interpersonal layers (like mindgames) that come about when you're able to stop mashing and understand the systems. so one of the major motivations in our design is reducing the execution barrier of entry that blocks a lot of newer players from the high-level play experience.The main theme of the game is 1v1 fights with high stakes youre either gaining or losing an item when you queue for a match. Your items gain in value as you use them, and that value gets transferred when you win an item from your opponent. So you can lose your prized items and even your entire character if you lose a match. I wanted to have that Pog or old school marbles dynamic, where you can lose your favorite item and then fight to win it back. Or your opponent could decline to rematch and juice the item to extract all that value you imbued into it during previous fights.VG247: I'm a fan of the art style! What's the artistic inspiration for that? What sort of vibe are you trying to get across?Boniface: Thanks! It's evolved a bit over time but our original inspirations were Samurai Champloo (and that mid-00's era of adult swim in general), Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain (which is a wild and just super trippy movie from the 70's), and japanese tokusatsu shows (you can see the sentai influence in some of the gear). I also just like adding a sheen of static and wobble to things. There isn't another fighter that looks like this. | Image credit: Goblin DelightVG247: In terms of fighting games and rogue-likes this plays like, what is Longjuice Squeeze's the closest to?Boniface: It's sort of like.... Rounds by landfall meets Escape from Tarkov? I would say that the moment-by-moment is somewhere between Street Fighter and Nidhogg.VG247: I looked at your website. Tell me what it's like working as what you describe as a "Micro Studio". What are the pros and cons of working as a solo dev with rotating collaborators?Boniface: The main pro is probably just running lean. I don't have a full-time team working on this, so my monthly burn is really low.The main con is that there's no shield between the outcome of this project and my own ego, I guess, ha. There are a lot of decisions that I have to make unilaterally because I don't have another designer to bounce my ideas off of. That's why the upcoming playtests are going to be invaluable to the project.