Data-Driven
Can we just get something out of the way, and admit that ‘Data-Driven’ is a nonsense statement? There are a lot of companies out now that claim to have a ‘Data-Driven’ philosophy which, in practice, means that they collect a…
Category Essays
Hunger
When we’re hungry, we can gain insights our overall physical and mental state by the foods we crave: Sugary and sweet stress salves or crunchy salty protein reinforcements, our hungers reveal our deficiencies, real or perceived. Our tastes in entertainment,…
Relax
Whenever I decide I’m not going to do something I’d intended to do, whenever I decide to let myself off the hook, my jaw loosens. I don’t notice the tension until it’s gone. I put these burdens on myself and…
As Luck Would Have It
Is luck fun? Games, and those who play them, have a somewhat tense and delicate relationship with luck and randomness. In the best case, adding some randomness to a game can create unexpected and delightful variations on the basic challenge…
Want
The Game Developer’s Conference is starting today, and I’m not there. I haven’t yet managed to reach the heights of either profitability or notoriety that make attending practical, so I have to sit out for now. It’s not a disaster,…
Detraining
There is a process which repeats, a cycle with no end in sight. As my skill grows, my ability to recognize my own flaws grows with it, and thus, from my perspective, it appears that I’m not growing more skillful…
Clay
I keep having trouble writing. I’m dismayed at how many posts I’m writing premised on the situation that I’m having a hard time writing, even if each approaches it a bit differently, even if each day’s problem is its own.…
Okay
It will be okay. If I don’t make this one post, it will be okay. If I don’t work on my game today, it will be okay. I have to keep reminding myself. I have to keep telling myself over…
Under Control
The line between playing games and watching them has been blurred once more, in a rather interesting way, by the huge success of Twitch Plays Pokemon. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Twitch Plays Pokemon is an event which…
Rogue Legacy
I’ve been holding off on writing this for some time. I got Rogue Legacy shortly after its release, something unusual for me, because I wanted to play it as soon as I saw it. On paper it seemed like the…