Defunned
As a rule, I usually avoid writing about “fun.” I don’t feel “Fun” is a very useful term for analyzing game design – it’s poorly defined, it’s subjective, it’s regarded as a self-evidently good thing to have. In short, “fun”…
Category Playing Games
Some Steam Reviews I Wrote
Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and which I’ve been perpetually putting off, is writing some short Steam reviews for the games I’ve played over the past few years. I have read from many sources that hitting…
Submissions
For the past few months, the higher-ups at game company after game company have announced that they’re going to be integrating NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) into their games. For those unfamiliar with the concept (probably not as many of you as…
Nine Methods and Reasons to Not Enjoy Art
1. You’re tired already, and anticipating the sheer weight of emotion that might be dredged up by an unfamiliar but well-written story makes you uncomfortable. There is too much emotion on your plate already. Someday you’ll be up for it,…
Cogs
As I worked on last piece about Inscryption, I also played Daniel Mullins’ other games, Pony Island and the Hex – primarily out of a desire to not put my foot in my mouth by making over-broad statements on their…
Inscryption – Curses, Sacrifices, and Roads Untraveled
I finished Inscryption a few days ago and feel I should write about it, but I don’t entirely know where to start. Well, let’s start at the outside and work in: Inscryption is, to begin with, a roguelike deck-builder –…
Do Less More
Brevity is the soul of wit. To elaborate: A story is only as good as the best parts the audience remembers. The more extraneous crap is added on top, the less enjoyable that experience might be. Past a certain threshold,…
Everhood: False Endings, Truths, Choices, and Hope
This essay is almost entirely about spoilers for the game Everhood. If this is a game you intend to play, I would recommend doing so before reading this. It’s a pretty neat game, and I would cautiously recommend it, although…
Playgrounds of Choice
In a traditional narrative medium, moral choice often enters in when a character discovers they can do something that goes against their beliefs to gain some sort of an advantage or object of desire. The audience may perceive the character…
Playing Roles
Games have a weird relationship with morality. For a while, many were including ham-fisted ‘morality systems’ – absurd contrivances where you were presented with two exaggerated choices, choosing between senseless slaughter and saintly forgiveness, and then assigned to be good…