Hi Everyone,

Starting as a teen playing browsergames (PBBG), I found the biggest issue, both then and now as an adult, is with three pillars:

1. The oldest players beat you with the wallet, not with the skills. I can tell you a lot of these situations I've experienced directly.
2. Stay at the top level of the guild, you need to pay like a monthly subscription, or you will be fired.
3. You need to set up an alarm to fleet the troops every day or alert with a huge sound for EACH attack you receive. It's like a job.

Recently I've spoken with my friends, he and I shared a lot of these games during the years, and we are searching for something new, and we have found only the usual games that survive the years. After some weeks of the game, we have found the same issue above. So I've decided to start a new game.

What is SeedLord?

The idea behind SeedLord is very simple: it’s an economic game where you can’t attack other baronies. By its very nature, it must be a “NO-PAY-TO-WIN” game, and the main goal is to win through skill, not through a snowball effect or the size of your wallet. I therefore decided to implement a "reset" limit: more specifically, after 120 days, the current world will end and a new one will begin, to ensure that players don’t win simply because they signed up first, rather than for other reasons.

The core of the game is trade and diplomacy, and how these are managed:

1. You start with a single seed, which grants a multiplier for harvesting a specific resource (for example, more wood per hour) after that you must specialize in a specific "role" such as the Wizard (explained in detail below).
2. Now you must produce resources, focusing on trade or diplomacy during the day.
3. As the game progresses, harvesting zones will be created. Some are event zones. There, you can collect specific resources needed to construct certain buildings and rare resources, you must control them to win the game. The zone will also provide you with Sigils based on specific criteria.
4. The goal of the game is: collect the gold and Sigils needed to "win the world" before the others. Each world has specific settings. If you and your guild win, you’ll earn a permanent title in the Hall of Fame.
5. Dominate the world, you can participate in multiple worlds at the same time.

Choose your specializations!

At the start, you can choose a specialization, which isn’t a limitation but a multiplier for your economy. Each specialization relies on the others.

Farmer: This is the first specialization that produces a LOT of food and other plants based on their rarity. If you manage it well, it will guarantee you a boost in gold right from the start. Everyone needs one.

Herbalist: You can create many potions and other items based on the plants needed in the shared area.

Wizard: You have intelligence-based abilities: for example you can decode messages intercepted by spies or predict where event zones will appear.

Blacksmith: You have the power to create a specific building that others cannot build, you can control "scalability" for other players.

Lumberjack: You can build a larger warehouse to store items and other specific buildings that require "wood".

Rancher: You can raise animals like horses (to boost movement) and other animals to sell.

General: You have a military boost, so the zone is easier to defend, BUT you have to buy EVERYTHING, your internal production is very limited.

Why no PvP?

A quick behind-the-scenes look: I hate it when you spend 3–4 months building something that will be destroyed in 10 minutes. Let me be clear about this: if you lose because of a "skill in the game" that’s PERFECTLY FINE.

But if you lost everything because of, for example:

• "double-crossing" guild leaders.
• bug abusers.
• troops boosted by real money. And so many others of you have likely had the same experience.

So, I’ve thought long and hard about this mechanic, and the only solution is: the combat will be brutal, but only in shared zones, event zones, diplomacy, and the market. No buildings will be destroyed.

The monetization rule

This is very crucial for me. Before writing ANY line of code, I put it at the top of every file, and the line is:

"Real money purchases cosmetics and comfort features only. It cannot buy resources, troops, production speed, or any advantage that interacts with other players competitively."

It’s not a brilliant idea, but it’s simply unreasonable, and for me, it’s a non-negotiable. To uphold the community guidelines, I’ve created a rigorous community review process before any feature is made public.

Here’s how it works:

1. Has the idea been conceived and is it feasible? Good.
2. Will it pass the test of the phrase above? Fantastic!
3. Post the details on the public page and wait X days for the community to validate it. Did the community rate it as fair?

If you fail ANY of these checks, the idea will be rejected, FULL STOP, NO EXCEPTION.

What is the current status?

I’m in the pre-alpha phase; I don’t have a release date yet, and I’d like to gather honest feedback and criticism about the project. I want to develop the game together with the community, not just for it. This feedback is very useful for every stage of the project, even after launch.

I’ve created a public page where you can learn more and join the project as "founding lords". This is the fastest way for me to gather initial feedback on the project and discuss its key aspects with the community. It’s completely free, and you can sign up in a minute.

Join here: go.seedlord.com

For any questions or more details about the project, please write your question below. I'm very happy to answer you!

PS: This message has already been approved by the moderator.

Google wants its AI to see all the photos of "you and your loved ones." Billions of users must now decide.

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Kinda creepy. I was about to migrate to Immich, fortunately I'm not in the US, so I don't get that update yet. It does seem like a lost battle, anyway :( Even if I migrate to a privacy-respecting FOSS solution, my friends, family, acquaintances and random people around me will not (well, some may). I will still be featured in their photos out of my control.

Google wants its AI to see all the photos of "you and your loved ones." Billions of users must now decide.

--

Kinda creepy. I was about to migrate to Immich, fortunately I'm not in the US, so I don't get that update yet. It does seem like a lost battle, anyway :( Even if I migrate to a privacy-respecting FOSS solution, my friends, family, acquaintances and random people around me will not (well, some may). I will still be featured in their photos out of my control.

From The Little World of Liz.

Today's game is some more Ghost of Tsushima Screenshots. I finally got around to the main story once i got burned out on doing the different camps. I got around 10/17 done on this section of the island so i think it gives me a little bit of space too get around without having too fight my way through new sections of the island.

During the mission where you help escort the pirate off the island, i finally got too free the fort i tried too break into the a few screenshots ago. I was hoping to do a stealth operation and break in there, but the game i guess strong arms you into taking it by force.

It's not too say i hated it though, getting too man the hwacha was fun, it reminds me of getting ahold of the gattling gun in RDR2.

I also saw a cat while exploring for the smuggler bay place. There was this little guy chilling around where you meet that one lady before you find the pirate. This is only the second one i've seen, but i wish there were more. This guy is adorably big and chunky. I just wish there were more cats.

Thats about all i got up too, honestly i feel like the mid game feels like more of the first part of the game (compared too how different the 3rd part i remember it being). It does make me wonder how Yotei compares, but as i don't have a way to compare it i suppose its a mystery and will stay that way.

NDAs mean Daniel Casey can't say much, but the reported rewrites are news to him.

BlueSky post:

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s3atihpcpqmmy44zvl2chwxd/post/3mjvi54bae22d

Semiconductors using gallium nitride tech continue to be a red line for CFIUS.

Why the ceasefire in Lebanon won’t stop Israel’s expansionist ambitions (+972 Magazine, 2026-04-16)

https://www.972mag.com/israel-lebanon-ceasefire/
———

>> Israel’s push for buffer zones and 'natural borders' suggests the emerging ceasefire is unlikely to halt its ongoing ethnic cleansing in southern Lebanon.

>> … why is Israel insisting on this antiquated plan [to establish buffer zones], openly carrying out mass ethnic cleansing in its service? It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the causality is, in fact, reversed. Just as in #Gaza, where buffer zones serve as a pretext to corral residents of the already crowded enclave into 12 percent of its territory; just as in the West Bank, where “security areas” and “firing zones” have been used to disrupt Palestinian agriculture and push communities off the land, what we are seeing in #Lebanon is buffer zones in service of ethnic cleansing, not the other way around…

#palestine #WestBank #EthnicCleansing #IsraeliCeasefire
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/31857458

Great, hope-giving article.

Stephen Heydt [the Jewish man] was one of 22 people arrested at the weekend for the display and reciting of one of two expressions frequently chanted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators that were prohibited under Queensland laws last month – taking the overall total to 25...

The criminal lawyer Terry O’Gorman said the events of the weekend harken back to the dark days of police repression under the corrupt former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

A name synonymous with the fight for civil liberties in the sunshine state, O’Gorman compared the laws to an amendment Bjelke-Petersen made to the traffic act in September 1977 that essentially suppressed the right to street protests. Mass arrests followed.

The activist group Justice for Palestine Magan-djin has said it would be coordinating a high court challenge to the laws, arguing it was invalid law under the Australian constitution.

Great, hope-giving article.

Stephen Heydt [the Jewish man] was one of 22 people arrested at the weekend for the display and reciting of one of two expressions frequently chanted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators that were prohibited under Queensland laws last month – taking the overall total to 25...

The criminal lawyer Terry O’Gorman said the events of the weekend harken back to the dark days of police repression under the corrupt former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

A name synonymous with the fight for civil liberties in the sunshine state, O’Gorman compared the laws to an amendment Bjelke-Petersen made to the traffic act in September 1977 that essentially suppressed the right to street protests. Mass arrests followed.

The activist group Justice for Palestine Magan-djin has said it would be coordinating a high court challenge to the laws, arguing it was invalid law under the Australian constitution.

When researchers in Uganda set up camera traps to monitor African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in a national park last year, they had no idea that they would record so much more than just those animals. Several of the traps, placed outside a cave known to host Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), caught on video a multitude of creatures feasting on the winged mammals. The bats are known carriers of Marburg virus, which can transfer into humans and cause a fatal haemorrhagic fever, so the footage offers real-time insight into how disease can spread.

The researchers... reported videoing 10 species scavenging on or catching bats at Python Cave in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. They saw blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) dipping into the cavern to grab bats, a fight between a crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and a Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) over two bats captured by the eagle, and a leopard standing almost upright to snag bats from the cave. This might be the first confirmation that leopards hunt live bats. “It’s never been seen,” says study author Alexander Braczkowski, who is the scientific director of the Kyambura Lion Project in Kampala. “Sometimes he would eat 30, 40 bats in a night.”

Even more astounding is that the team caught on video more than 200 people — tourists, trainees from a local wildlife institute and children with school groups — approaching the cave during the four-month period when the cameras were active. Only one visitor, a tourist, wore a mask. This is despite warnings posted around the cave about Marburg virus, which has no proven treatment or vaccine.

I'd highly recommend checking the associated video. YouTube link for the video content if you can't access the news or the research article: https://youtu.be/gzL8DL6YrN8

In nocturnal animals, the tapetum lucidum acts like a mirror, reflecting light back through the retina and stimulating photoreceptors a second time, a process that basically doubles visual sensitivity. This heightened ability to see in the dark is useful for hunting—or to avoid being hunted.

“We know basically nothing about the evolution, genetics, and developmental biology of the tapetum,”

“The tapetum has appeared and disappeared countless times throughout the evolution and diversification of animals,”

A lesson in how not to respond to vulnerability reports UPDATED  Vibe-coding platform Lovable is pooh-poohing a researcher’s finding that anyone could open a free account on the service and read other users' sensitive info, including credentials, chat history, and source code. However, the company’s story keeps changing: First it attributed the publicly exposed info to "intentional behavior" and "unclear documentation," then threw bug-bounty service HackerOne under the bus.…

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