Blog
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You Feel Nothing: The Problem with Second Person Storytelling in Games
There’s a book I used to keep on my desk in the office. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. Every time someone came to me with a design concept that had a particular problem baked into it, I’d hand them the book, tell them to read the first chapter, and let them figure out…
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Less Is More: A Framework for Game VO That Players Actually Listen To
There’s a version of this post that starts with a rant about Claptrap. We’ll get there. But first, a principle. Good game VO — the kind that actually lands, the kind players remember years later — isn’t really a writing problem. It’s an attention problem. And attention, it turns out, is one of the most…
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From Playing to Watching: How Let’s Plays Changed What It Means to Be a Gamer
There’s something I’ve been turning over in my mind lately, and I think it’s worth putting into words. Here’s my hot take: the rise of Let’s Play videos and live streaming has fundamentally shifted what the gaming community is. Not just in size, but in its very nature. And I’m not sure we talk about…
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Criticism
“If you’re not your own worst critic, you’re probably not very good.” This is a quote I’ve been telling people for years, though in all honesty it’s always been more of a reminder to myself than anything else. I started saying it when I was in school, surrounded by creative people for the first time,…
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The 7 Principles of Illusion (And How They Apply to Narrative Design)
A magician’s job and a narrative designer’s job are more similar than you might think. Both are in the business of making people invest in something that isn’t entirely real. Both rely on attention, assumption, and a carefully constructed experience to pull it off. And both, when they’re working at their best, leave the audience…
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There’s A Knock At The Door
Imagine you’re sitting in your home, doing something casual, not using much effort or thought. Then there’s a knock at the door. Who’s knocking?What do you do?How does it make you feel? Your immediate answer might be something like — I don’t know, who is it? — and that’s a completely reasonable response to such…
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Morning Power Cycle 003 – Are Mech Games Even A Genre?
It’s a good question really. If I were to list the first 5 mech games that came to my mind they would span across several known genres of games, from first person shooters to turn-based role playing games. So can mechs really be called a genre in the first place if it can be applied…
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Morning Power Cycle 002 – Why Aren’t Mech Games More Popular?
It is interesting, isn’t it? It feels like mech games should fall into similar categories as Call of Duty, or at the very least World of Tanks. But generally speaking while some mech games find relative success (Armored Core 6) most are considered niche hits at best. But why is that? Mech Games Tend To…
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Morning Power Cycle 001 – What Makes a Mech Game a Mech Game?
I love mech video games. I have since I played Armored Core for the first time at a friend of a friend’s house back in high school. Sometimes I try to pinpoint what exactly it is about mech games that draws me to them, but the truth is I don’t think it’s one thing. Maybe…
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Stuck In A Loop? Try This.
I feel like some of the great “do-ers” in the world are authors of fiction novels. To give oneself an assignment of writing at least a few hundred pages of (hopefully compelling) content of one’s own creation in a timely manner seems like it wouldn’t just take a creative muscle, but also some self-discipline I’m…
Got any book recommendations?