Hating the player
Whose fault is it when playing a game makes you feel bad, and how did we start getting games like this?
Horror for Kidz
Can you make good horror for kids? What would it look like, and why is it Steven Universe?
Skyrim vs. Witcher 3, part 4: Immersion
In the final part of our comparison of these two open-world RPG juggernauts, we talk about what it takes to get lost in a game’s world - with special guest cameos from thirsty Greek gods and zombie knights!
Skyrim vs. Witcher 3, part 3: Mechanics and Meaning
In part three of the review of these two acclaimed open-world RPGz, we get into some blood, guts, and lore. This is a great fight - are you ready? Go!
Skyrim vs. Witcher 3, part 2: Morality
In part two of this brawl between open-world RPG heavyweights, I ask light questions - like “What’s the point of choosing between good and evil?” Let’s rock!
Skyrim vs. Witcher 3, part 1: The Open World
Asking what it means to be an open-world RPG by pitting two titans of the genre against each other. The current stage: Changing the world! Are you ready? Fight!
Monsters in repose
How we characterize the inhuman, and how we can do it better than just humans in costumes.
Actively boring
Building better action through consequences and progression (a.k.a. why Henry Cavill is consistently cooler than King Kong).
Horror through honkwiching
Studying how the SCP Foundation uses defamiliarization to create unease, and how their techniques might be approached visually.
12 Days of Monsters: Day 11
When dissonance in design, rather than making the animal look implausible, makes it evocative of mythical tropes.
12 Days of Monsters: Day 10
A wild, interpretative, almost free-associative type of "research" in defense of rubber hoses as monster design.
12 Days of Monsters: Day 9
So, the Jurassic Park movies have been doing that thing where each new entry basically just repeats the elements from previous ones but bigger.
12 Days of Monsters: Day 8
When my friend asked what was up, it took me a moment before I could simply say, “That’s not what that room looked like for me.”
