Lavishness is often the way, as exhibited by The Great Gatsby both in film and in Fitzgerald’s words from so long (and not very long, after all) ago. There is something to be said for sublimity. For letting a thing just be, in its space. There’s a bravery found in its nakedness, for just letting a thing be what it is without any garnish or garishness or distractions. Form following function in the proper order of things. While this can serve one well in game design, it also follows that extrapolating it outward enables one to create a resonance in [...]

I am still diligently working away on the tremulus materials. I’m enjoying developing it immensely, but am saddened by the delays. The bomb ticks. The guilt rises.  This is likely something I shouldn’t be sharing with you. However, I am. As much as I want to move swiftly through the materials (to better get them into your hands), there is a certain amount of thought and research necessary to pull some of this stuff together. I don’t want to shortchange anyone with my efforts, just want to give you a heads up. If there are moments when I talk about [...]

As much as I love a well structured plot, there comes a time when randomness rules the day, and you have to throw in obstacles which have little rhyme and reason and let the players help you make sense of them all. Before I present my examples, I’d be curious to hear any tales you may have to tell of doing this yourself (and how things worked out). Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!

Hello All! I hope you’re having a great week. For myself, it’s been crazily busy. Got the new iMac up and running, data migrated, and have been puling double-duty to catch up on stuff. Today, I dabbled in some brainstorming on some Agents of Oblivion, discussed a few unannounced projects, did some tremulus layout, and finished my editorial pass of Karthador, not forgetting to do some promotion for the brand, spankin’ new Ravaged Earth: Second Edition! Since everything seems to be stable (for the moment), I look forward to diving deep into tremulus for the time being. I’ll talk more [...]

Today has been bone-crushingly weary. It was not entirely a bad day. In fact, parts of it were very, very good, if not downright outstanding. Yet, some of the other parts, dragged me down. I’ve been pulled in a lot of different directions, pulled off of center, pulled off my default setting of creator, and more into the role of technician, and administrator, and forced to dust off hats not worn in this capacity in some time. The reason? There is just some stuff I have to do myself, whether I really want to our not. Technical stuff, I generally [...]

This week has been chaotic and exciting on multiple levels. The new computer. The new OS. Revealing the tremulus proofs. Getting Ravaged Earth (electronically) out the door. But there is always more to be done. And other parts of life get in the way. We often say REAL LIFE gets in the way, but let’s face it. For myself, and other creative types, this is our real life. It’s glorious, and ugly, and fascinating. And a dozen (or more) words cannot even hope to capture a fraction of who any of us really are. As someone who works largely in [...]

Or something like that. I’m blasting a music medley of MTV’s first day of visual and audio assaults from back in the day (courtesy of ShareMyPlaylist and Spotify). Life is strange. I’m largely doing what I’ve done since my preteen years–messing around with computers, gorging on pop culture, reading randomly with a purpose, writing in all the in-between times. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Sure. Some things have changed. Friends have drifted away. New bonds have been forged. Technology presses on. Instead of 8 tracks and cassette tapes, we have discs (for a while, yet) and streaming everything. I recall a conversation [...]

Imagine a cold day in November. The angels weep in the heavens. The skies are grey. Now transpose such a day into a Friday, this Friday. Melancholy, thy name is Memphis. Though I spend a better part of each day in the gentle glow of a monitor, my mood shifts based upon the weather, and, to be perfectly honest, my health and temper are sometimes impacted by the cold. My back aches from the cold, and I get growly. As a rational being (most of the time), I recuse myself from human contact at this points, because I don’t need [...]

Some days are more exhausting then they have a right to be, staggering about like a drunk ninja, knocking one about before taking a breather on a stool for a moment before resuming the dreaded beating. Today was like that for me. It started out sunny, maybe even a bit auspicious? This false hope did not last. The computer was sluggish and MS had updates which could be put off no more. As they trickled slowly down like a thawing molasses waterfall, I got a bit restless. I’ve learned in the past not to do too much else on this [...]

All in all, things came together on all sorts of fronts for me. Which is good, because I’m really exhausted. I did get my new keyboard today, and had other news which put me mentally in a good space. While it’s not always necessary to be in a calm, quiet spot when you’re writing, it certainly doesn’t hurt when the cards turn your way. Now, does it? I hope you all get some good games in this weekend (or engage in otherwise relaxing activities of leisure). I’ll likely be right here, trying to teach myself how to type (all over [...]