On Gameplay, Writing and The Holy Spirit (Narrative)
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...