Posts

On Gameplay, Writing and The Holy Spirit (Narrative)

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On Gameplay, Writing, and The Holy Spirit (Narrative) Please feel free to leave a comment if you think I got this all wrong,  or if you have strong opinions on Michael Fried.  Happy holidays. -Sam           There’s been a torrential wave of discourse on the topic of Video Game Writing on X: The Everything App over the past few weeks. The boiling point might have been the ongoing viral tear of This Video , which seems to perfectly encapsulate the issue of how AAA devs are increasingly approaching writing video game dialogue. It’s a fantastic video if you haven’t already seen it: the ultimate in-joke, a perfectly pitched satire and critique; if you get what it’s going for, it fucking hurts (as many others have noted, the phrase “focus, M” has settled pretty permanently in my brain, right next to Amazing Mobile Game’s “I need to blink” ).           Outside of users deservedly praising the AAA Mario video, the main sent...

A Joke I Have Tried to Share

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A Joke I Have Tried to Share I wrote a joke last summer while I was working at the Bronx Zoo in 102 degree weather for a Bloomberg corporate recreational event.  Our job was to walk around, find a big cart, try to find something to put in the big cart, try to find something small to put in a small cart, and then take both carts down and back the length of the three mile zoo. We got an optional voucher to eat at the zoo for lunch, which I did, despite the alternative option being quite, much better. Unfortunately, the zoo food is my favorite part of going to the zoo, and it did make me sick. My manager, Eleanore, was about my age if not older, and presented to me a constant state of flux between faux enthusiasm at my work ethic and disappointment at my burgeoning incompetence. It was through her foggy glasses that I learned the flags for the scavenger hunt I had just erected in record time were placed backwards, leading guests to finish the activity shockingly early. At the time, I...

Welcome to my blog

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This is what the top third of the screen would look like at all times if Blogger allowed me to do something like that. So just remember this image while you're reading the blog. You can print it out and tape it to the top third of your screen too, if you want.