Problem Solutions
There’s a lot of talk right now around AI art, and I’ve mostly just patiently listened to it. However, more and more I feel the need to yammer at length about it, because several aspects of how this gets discussed…
Category Criticism
Sheeple
I played through Cult of the Lamb a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to write about for a little while but got derailed by a general failure to write anything. Cult of the Lamb is a roguelite…
Hellbound
A while ago I had the opportunity to see the stage show Hadestown, a jazzy operatic retelling of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. We had to drive a while to get there and I wasn’t sure how much down-time…
Growing Green
I’ve noticed in myself that recently whenever I see gameplay footage of a new game I tend to have a kneejerk negative reaction. In part this is simply because I’ve gotten sick of a lot of game design and writing…
Cross-Pollination
I admire innovative game design. It’s always fascinating to see new ideas for expressing things through gameplay, new ideas for things to be expressed through gameplay, new ideas for what sorts of play could even be considered a game. At…
Magic/Routine
I don’t like spell-casting much in games. If I get the option between playing as a character who uses physical weapons and one who uses magic I will almost always choose the former – which is a bit odd when…
Made to Order
Solving a problem is one of the most satisfying sensations in the world. Often this satisfaction is preceded by hours, days, months, or years of tedium and frustration as we struggle to understand the problem, collect the tools and skills…
Silent Hill: The Bad Place
“In my restless dreams, I see that town.” I miss Silent Hill. The games are still around, of course, and perhaps I ought to replay them – but you can’t really go back, and any replay is going to be…
Balancing in the Middle
For a while there was a trend of providing a moral choice to players: The choice between Good and Evil. My understanding is that this idea probably started with Ultima IV in 1985 – but when I think about “moral…
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…