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Some recent conversation on cultural appropriation
A few months ago, I wrote about how I think VR "empathy machines" are basically just a form of appropriation, where VR brands associate themselves with vaguely progressive political causes in a bid to...
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Lol we're all poor
Some recent posts on indie dev failure have been going around lately -- Introversion Software talks about how their experimental exploration game "bombed in a big way", and also Cliff Harris argues...
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The Tearoom as a record of risky business
WARNING: This post spoils what happens in The Tearoom. If you care about that, you should probably play the game before reading any further.The Tearoom is a historical public bathroom simulator about...
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On first person one-roomers and grass games
old WIP production still from an early version of The TearoomI want to talk a bit about the formal design constraints in my gay sex games -- I don't usually emphasize this aspect of my work because...
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Bevels in video games
Like a lot of digital artists today, I learned Photoshop in the late 90s in order to make awesome-looking fan sites and "professional" forum signature images. One of the Photoshop tricks I learned was...
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Paseo, devlog
the original prototype from early 2017, with a weirder style to match the artist's vibeA few months ago, a big record label asked me if I wanted to make a short gay sex thing set to one of their...
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announcing: No Quarter 2017 on November 3rd in Brooklyn
poster by Sophia Foster-DiminoA short while ago we announced the date and lineup for No Quarter 2017: it's on November 3rd at the Starr Space Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, featuring new commissioned...
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Toward an honesty of pixels: on Final Fantasy 12 HD and Quake 3 Arena
combined screenshots from Final Fantasy 12 (PS2, 2006) and Final Fantasy 12 HD (PS4 Pro, 2017)You either love or you hate Final Fantasy 12, and you either love or you hate the somewhat recent trend of...
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new tool: Yarn Weaver
I'm working on a game that uses the excellent Yarn and YarnSpinner narrative toolkit for Unity. For this project, I'm also collaborating with a narrative designer -- unfortunately, the Yarn editor...
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Cleaning out some old Black Mesa archives for PC Gamer
Here are two old level design illustrations I did for a PC Gamer feature on level design in Half-Life 1, quite a few years ago. In the overview map, I focused on the construction of the Black Mesa...
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Recent developments in queer game studies, Summer 2017
Here's a few recent updates in the """discourse""" within the exciting world of QUEER GAME STUDIES!!!First, there's a new call for papers in the long-running Game Studies journal -- this time the focus...
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Go West young Slime Rancher, and grow up with the country
This post spoils some mechanics and game systems in Slime Rancher.One in-game day in Slime Rancher, I found a rare "quantum slime", a creature that pooped out "quantum plorts" that I could sell for a...
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StoryCode August 2017 Forum at Film Society, Lincoln Center, NYC
Next week on August 22nd, I'll be giving a presentation for StoryCode, a local community group focused on immersive media and storytelling technology. As one of the few game designers invited to...
View ArticleTeaching, Fall 2017
As mentioned before, I'm going full-time with NYU Game Center starting this September. For this upcoming fall semester, I'm going to be teaching three classes and advising an independent...
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Road trip sketches; notes on extracting and visualizing Half-Life 2 levels in...
So I'm working on (another) article about level design in Half-Life 2. I chose the d2_coast03 map of the Highway 17 chapter, which is the first real "coastline" road trip section of the game, and is...
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On the hopeful undead future of VR and "A Short History of the Gaze", by...
I played Paolo Pedercini's first (and maybe last?) virtual reality piece "A Short History of the Gaze" last year at Weird Reality. I think ASHOTG is good for a lot of reasons, but the foremost reason...
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How To Tell A Story With A Video Game (even if you don't make or play games)
This post is a summary of a talk I gave at Storycode NYC on August 22nd, 2017. All the slides are available here. It is a primer for storytelling in games, intended for people who aren't gamers or game...
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On "Tacoma" by The Fullbright Company
This post spoils some of Tacoma and Sleep No More.Tacoma is a sensible design progression from Gone Home. How do you expand upon the audio diary design and walking mechanics? The Fullbright Company...
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How to Graybox / Blockout a 3D Video Game Level
from de_crown, by FMPONE and VolcanoWhile planning a level design class, I googled for a good article about blocking-out or grayboxing a 3D level design prototype. I didn't really find one that...
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Level With Me, Half-Life 2, complete!
I've just finished playing through all of Half-Life 2 on my level design streaming show, Level With Me. Much like with my playthrough of Half-Life 1, I've played through this sequel several times...
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