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Machismo and the Marketing Masculinizing of the Video Game Hobby

NOTE: I would like to preface this essay with a few things. I'm a cishet white guy which will color my observations, though I am trying to be observant of something I consider to be unnerving about the medium I love. I would also like to make clear that this is a U.S. centered analysis since that...

The Term Collectathon is Terrible

Let's talk about something light. Something that is entirely within my own wheelhouse of video game inside baseball. Have you heard the term "collectathon"? If you care about old 3D platformers you will and what better place to get up on a soapbox and just say, please stop using this term.

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VR is the Wii for Self Described Gamers

Were you paying attention to the video game enthusiast press when the Wii launched? It's an odd time to go back to. There's some mild excitement based on overestimating the technology but the second the thing actually launched there was an immediate cry of, and this is almost a direct quote from ...

Press Turn and Encouraging a Gameplay Loop

System design isn't something done in a vacuum, the way a system functions usually involves building around what will encourage the game to be played in a way that fits what the developer wants, or at least that's the hope. The Shin Megami Tensei series and its Press Turn combat system are a reas...

The Insomniac Platformer Level Design Paradigm from 1999 to 2016

I want to talk about one of the first forms of consistent design I ever noticed growing up. Probably about 2003? That'd be when Ratchet and Clank 2 came out (Going Commando in the U.S. may have been changed to Locked and Loaded in Europe unless my recall is faulty). While Insomniac's games had ne...

Design Trends and Dead Ends: Melee Combat with the Analog Stick

The early 00s standardized the idea of having two analog sticks on a console controller, with the Dual Shock such an anomaly in the late 90s almost nothing used the right stick. The industry ultimately standardized that the right stick was really best saved for camera movement but there are defin...

Oddworld, a political appreciation

I want to talk a bit about a franchise that's near and dear to me. A daring little series that really went against the grain some 20 years ago and which, whenever it does release, is still respectable for wearing its heart on its sleeve. So let's talk Oddworld.

For those who never played it...

Audio accompaniment...

A quick heads up, a few people who have been supportive of this idea were also encouraging the notion of audio versions of these posts to go up alongside the essays themselves, so I'm experimenting with that. The post going up at 7 pacific will have a narrated version attached and I'll try to do ...

My relationship with Suda51's games, an overview

One of my favorite kinds of game directors is the kind that clearly are capable of drawing those in their team into a production that goes against conventional design wisdom. I dislike the term auteur because video games are made by huge groups, but the kind of person who is able to consistently ...

Complexity and Complication in Devil May Cry

Did you ever notice Devil May Cry games really don't like having you just play Dante anymore? It's a bit odd when you think about it. Dante's popular, he's the face of the franchise and few people really seem to want him to go anywhere. I think because of that the common refrain, especially circa...

The Great Ace Attorney and Adaptation

So, after years of Japan exclusivity the Great Ace Attorney games came to the west about a month ago. As a big fan of the series they've been on my mind a lot. I think they're brilliant, but that isn't what I want to really talk about right now. I want to talk about adaptation, truly transformati...