Play
The names we give things can be so unexpectedly revealing sometimes. I saw a play a few days ago. It was a good play, but that’s not relevant. This was the last staging of this show, though, and as someone…
Category Narrative Design
The Dark
I would almost say that fear of the unknown is the only real kind, but that seems difficult to defend. Certainly, the fear that the guy who told you he would cut your arm off at 3:15pm next Tuesday will…
Heroes
The problem with always saving the world is that it necessitates that the world be always broken. The problem with the world being always broken is that it surrenders the idea of it ever being better. Our games cast us…
Crafting the Path
It is often observed that playing games and making games are different activities. This is kind of obvious, but whatever the technical college advertisements might have you believe, there is more involved in developing a game than playing through it…
True Ending
Endings are hard. Endings are weird. Our effects as humans, as entities and processes, will outlast our lives, never ending but blending instead seamlessly into each other, on and on, forever. Our stories will outlive the process of our bodies,…
In-Between
Just as some people seem realer to us than others, some places seem to be solid while others are ephemeral and hypothetical. Our map of the world is akin to a sensory homonculus, exaggerated out of proportion in our homes and…
Storyland
Here’s a weird idea I’ve been playing with: A concept of narrative dimensionality. First, take a painting, or a photo, or even a description of a room. This is a moment, frozen in time. It may imply a greater story,…
Idea Man
Sometimes, as a creative-type person, you are going to realize that you have no ideas. Absolutely none. And, when you’re starting out, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’ve run out. You’ve tapped your well. You’ve emptied yourself, and now…
Noise
I ran a fan every moment of every day, for three or four months, over the Summer. Now that the temperature has cooled down, I turned the fan off and immediately began to feel uncomfortable. I could hear too much,…
Just a Joke
It’s peculiar sometimes to think about how narrow and tenuous the line which divides horror from humor can be. Both genres have deep roots in the unexpected, both make liberal use of the grotesque – the main difference between them…