Kazeta is a new OS by the creator of ChimeraOS. You might have seen some news on it in the last few days, or at least some posts on social media. Its not trying to be the next big gaming platform, it’s more like a little love letter to the old style of gaming. Instead of all those menus, online accounts, and updates, it takes things back to the basics: stick in a 'cartridge' you make yourself, turn on the system, and play. That’s it! No fuss, just the game you wanted to play.
What makes it extra fun is that the 'cartridges' are really just SD cards you load games onto. Label them, stack them, swap them around, it’s built to make you feel like you’re back in the ’90s, digging through a shoebox of game carts. For someone who wasn’t alive for that era of gaming (not even close, honestly), it’s a neat little glimpse of what it was like. A tactile vision of when games came on actual carts...well, kind of.
Kazeta is a neat mix of nostalgia and practicality, especially if you’re tired of modern gaming feeling like a chore.
I got the chance to chat with Alkazar, the dev behind Kazeta, and he shared some great insights into building the OS. This feature pulls together our conversation and what makes the project so unique.
I didn't get that impression. I'm also someone who will write a lot, incidentally recapitulating a point or two along the way, and it takes genuine high stakes to convince me to edit down.
I think these days, people are conditioned to see a page of text and always have that suspicion. Sadly it doesn't help when the writing style is friendly, cheerful, and easily understood - it's being copied by LLM makers for a reason.
Thank you for writing about this project. Game preservation is still undervalued, even in the age of Stop Killing Games imo. Indie creators like Alkazar aren't going to change the world perhaps, but Kazeta certainly signifies an ideal that should not be forgotten.
Oh that's so kind of you to say!
One thing I had to change with my writing was dropping my en and em dash use. I loved them, but seeing how Chat has adopted them and throws them out like confetti has made me change my ways :(
I'm really glad you enjoyed the content, Kazeta feels so unique and fun to me, it really desveres some attention!
The presence of LLMs has really cast a pall on creative writing. I want to find a positive spin on it; some call to action or a challenge to be met... I wonder what the people of Star Trek would do in our shoes.
Should we be letting LLMs change how we write, though? What is an artist's best, most meaningful choice in this situation? I still don't know.