Not too long ago, Polygon came out with an article basically calling the first two episodes of the anime Dr. Stone lackadaisical. I haven't seen the anime, but I have read the manga at length and can agree on this front. I wasn't too taken with Dr. Stone to begin with, and I didn't commit … Continue reading Polygon Doesn’t Know What It’s Talking About When It Calls Dr. Stone an Isekai
If you've devoted as much of your lifetime to absorbing stories as much as I have, it'll come as second knowledge that when a character points to a baseball bat on the wall and comments, “I use that in case of rapid clown attacks,” and then the third act features a tsunami of foaming, savage … Continue reading Putting Stuff in Your Story and Actually Using It
I think it's safe to assume that each and every one of us has a collection of masks we keep locked up in a tansu for convenient storage and easy access for the various social situations we put ourselves in as we bustle about our lives. For instance, a teenage boy hanging out with his … Continue reading Designing A Game Like An Amateur [Part III] – Lazy Level Design
Fragile Dreams. I'm not too particularly fond of this game. But if you read my last post, you would've guessed that by now. If you haven't read it but insist on continuing past this sentence, I advise you to go back and check it out so that the rapture this post will put you in … Continue reading Designing A Game Like An Amateur [Part II] – Objectives Which Demoralize
There's an old expression in the English language which reads, “You can't please all of the people all of the time, and you sure as hell can't please C³ most of the time.” Whenever I pick up a new story, I, like every other human being on this blue marble, am hoping to gain something … Continue reading Designing A Game Like An Amateur [Part I] – When Combat Sucks
Imagine for a moment that it's a dull Sunday afternoon and you're perusing the fantasy section at your local library. One book in particular catches your eye because it has a badass black dragon on the cover and you think nothing in the known universe is more badass than a badass black dragon. Now, let … Continue reading Satisfy Your Audience By Giving Them Exactly What They Want Now
Anyone who's knee-deep into the anime industry has undoubtedly spotted the name Reki Kawahara floating around. For those of you who are just getting your toes moist, he's the original creator of Sword Art Online, that one anime everyone and their parakeet loves to hate, and Accel World, that one anime no one remembers exists. … Continue reading Tease Your Audience By Not Giving Them What They Want
