There’s an Aztec city building game called Tlatoani. It’s in early access, but has enough meat on the bone that it’s one of my goto games.

Out of curiosity I checked Steam DB for active player numbers. I have discovered at any given point I am 10% to 25% of the given player base BY MYSELF. I am 1 of 4 people playing this game right now in the world. With the prevalence of the internet I always assume whatever weird bullshit you’re into there’s at least a thousand people talking about it; making memes outsiders could never comprehend. It’s actually novel to fly under the radar for once.

What do you do that doesn’t have a community associated with it?

  • Soggy@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Any specific recommendations? I’ve been into prog/jazz/funk for the last few years (thanks to Louis Cole’s various projects for opening that door) and I know Japan has a strong scene.

    • fleck@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Absolutely! These are the obvious ones, maybe you already know them:

      • T-Square
        • “TRUTH” is an absolute classic, just like “サーキットの放浪者”, and “Travellers”
      • Casiopea
        • I think “Be” is my favourite Album, but all are solid
      • Masayoshi Takanaka

      And then also some that are maybe lesser known (no particular order):

      • Katsumi Horii Project
        • They have quite a lot of songs. “Way to morning” or “Flashback” are good examples. I also like “Jungle of Heaven”
      • Trix
        • “ECCENTRIX” is really nice, just like “An Index”
      • Dimension
      • Himiko Kikuchi
      • Naniwa Express
      • Yuji Toriyama
      • Chikara Ueda & The Power Station
      • Toshiki Kadomatsu
      • The Gran Turismo soundtrack also has some hidden Gems here and there

      I think what I like about this genre is that it combines very catchy melodies/riffs and chord progressions with really creative jazzy solos. I have not really found much recent stuff (>2010), though. But I can recommend SOIL & Pimp Sessions. They are more recent and more traditional-jazz-oriented.

      Bonus if you like light prog/math rock: Check out Elephant Gym. Spring Rain (春雨) is one of my favourite songs.

      • Soggy@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        My familiarity with Japanese jazz is very limited to even the “obvious” ones are a treat.

        In the interests of fair trade, here’s a scattering of what I’ve enjoyed lately. Some of it has a similar sound but there’s a lot of variance in the “jazz fusion” space and I like experimental stuff:

        • Peela
        • Lydian Collective
        • Giraffes? Giraffes!
          • More Skin With Milk-Mouth remains excellent
        • KNOWER
          • Their latest album in particular, as well as the most recent solo work of constituent parts Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi
        • DOMi & JD BECK
        • Jacob Mann
          • Jacob Mann Big Band is more traditional and I’m a sucker for a good brass section
        • the olllam
          • I don’t actually know how to describe this but Irish folk is involved and “with pure crystalll teeth” fills me with dopamine
        • Sungazer
        • The Fearless Flyers
          • Tailwind is a really good album
        • Moon Hooch
          • They’re silly and frenetic but I did say I’m a sucker for brass