Electron Dance Highlights
Marginalia #2
Marginalia is an eclectic compilation of links tailored for game developers. Links contributed by Clara Fernández-Vara, Amanda Lange and Miguel Sicart. Kickstarter, free audio and how to keep a level head. Plus a gaming controversy from 1985 that was similar to the ludology/narratology debate.
Marginalia #1
Welcome to the first edition of Marginalia, an eclectic compilation of links tailored for game developers. Links contributed by Clara Fernández-Vara, Amanda Lange, Miguel Sicart and Doug Wilson.
Pause: Recharging
Illness has taken a toll and I just don't have the energy to write a proper post this week. You were supposed to be reading about the narrative wonder of Kairo but, er, sorry. Dog ate my homework.
So as not to leave you forlorn, here are a few notes. Link Drag back from the dead, I suppose.
- Michael "Angelina" Cook has started a new series covering game-related academic research. The first is on auto-generated RPG classes. I put up my hand to review this before posting as I'd love to see good academic work getting more attention, gaining traction in the wild. (Further reference: The Academics Are Coming series last year.)
- Out of the ashes of Culture Ramp is Upstreamist: "Don’t come here looking for tech enthusiast news or “life hacks.” There are already a number of sites that report on the industry or attack the subject of information technology from the angle of productivity. Upstreamist is about more than coping with, or succeeding on the strength of, those technologies. The goal is not to weather the tide or go with the flow, but rather to find ways of navigating those streams that let us to travel toward a culture worth having." It's early days for the site, but this might be one to watch.
- I asked @bfod and @Jonathan_Blow if they had finished Starseed Pilgrim, because I am finding the end blisteringly hard. Literally, I am screaming no no fuck no at the screen.
- Chris Priestman writes about the struggle for quality in videogame writing. To be honest, there's nothing here I hadn't heard before except... indiegames.com had stopped paying its staff. Then again I unsubscribed from the site a couple of months ago because it had largely become an indie press release feed.
- I've started listening to Joe Martin's short interview podcasts again (I started and totally forgot to subscribe until he retweeted Ethics last week) and you can listen to an entire series in less than an hour. The latest batch has this mournful quality. It's either Joe's voice, the subject matter or the music that does it.
- Shaun Green reviewed Killing is Harmless, Brendan Keogh's book on Spec Ops: The Line. Spoiler! He didn't like it so much.
- I made a joke on Twitter.
- Worth a read if you have the time, suggested by Ben Schroder in the open comments thread: Renata Adler takes down film critic Pauline Kael (Aug 1980). When critics turn columnist.
- In "Psytron", Rob Fearon writes about his childhood memories of Margaret Thatcher... which reminded me a lot of my own.
The open comments thread is still open for business, of course.
After the Dust Settles: Ethics Revisited
Here's a short supplement to The Ethics of Selling Children (TEoSC), which was read by a lot of people. Some of those people approved. Others did a *rollseyes*. And someone scratched on my bedroom window while I tried to sleep... whoa, sorry, was actually channelling Salem's Lot there.
First, a reminder of what this was all about. Confessional writing has been going on since for-ever and was not invented by folks who like writing about games. However confessional games writing is in vogue right now so TEoSC was about the dangers that stem from how intoxicating such naked writing can be. It was not about confessions being worthless as games criticism, which is an entirely separate topic.
Electron Dance: The 2012 Review
Welcome to this year's bloated annual round-up! It's another chance for me to rub your nose in all those Electron Dance articles you so deftly avoided reading, thus depriving yourself of important educational supplements required for daily life choices. You know who you are. Yes, you. You who didn't read the Chaim Gingold interview. You who thought qrth-phyl was just Snake in 3D. I GOT YOUR NUMBER PAL.
Look, if you don't click open this bad boy, you won't discover your secret Electron Dance Christmas bonus.
I dare you not to click. Think of this as a Twine game with one possible move. What could go wrong?
This Link Drag Has Died
HELLO I'M HELLKITE DRAGON AND AAAAARGH WHAT IS THAT
This edition of Link Drag is dedicated to a diary series on Dark Souls.
This Link Drag Is Independent
This link drag features contributions from Paolo Pedercini, Eric Swain, Robert Yang and some guy called Eric Brasure. What should indie developers aspire to? What was Dear Esther about? And Frog Fractions?
Pause: Reflections on Goo
September was filed under "busy" but the first week of October got put in the special "exhausting" folder. I went to the Expo, prepared two Expo podcasts, both children got sick on different days bringing about epic sleep deprivation and someone came to stay. Oh and I also lost a day to illness.
Long story short, I'm out of gas. This week I'm putting up a post which is shorter and more shooting from the hip than usual.
I'm going to share two things with you today. First, I was interviewed on another site. Second, I want to add a few more reflections on the games I played at the Eurogamer Expo.
This Link Drag Is So Money Baby
This link drag features contributions from David Kanaga, Phill Ash, Chris Dahlen, Jimmy Maher, Rami Ismail and Rami Ismail. Let's begin...
This Link Drag Rocks
You'll find links to everything below - from attacks on Tom Bissell to concerns that procedural generation focuses too much on mathematics and too little on humanity. Plus two free browser game recommendations! Enjoy these links or your money back!
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