A Goodbye, Of Sorts
I’d like to address the question of why I’ve stopped posting here.
Impressions – Book of Hours
An impressions article! We’ve not had one in a while, primarily due to a lack of games I particularly wanted to discuss. Both positively and negatively. But here we are now with Book of Hours, and I can just give you my impressions of it right here: great game, can’t recommend it. But if you want to know why I say this, please read on.
So, you want to be a video game writer?
Realistically, you don’t need any qualifications. Really, from how we’ve seen the industry shape up, if you can put “I tweet 28 times a day” on your resume, you are already overqualified for the position. But let’s assume you want to actually contribute to something more… artisanal, shall we say? Well, here are some things you might want to consider.
Lore: Manhede
It would, at least superficially, seem to follow that mages, understanding so much more about the nature of reality, the mind and the “soul” would have some greater understanding of the fundamental nature of the “I”. Yet, they have pierced one veil only to find their vision clouded by a wider breadth of solipsism. And it doesn’t seem as if humans are the only ones.
Mechanics: Modular Writing – Part II – A Practical Lesson
Alright, now that we know a bit more about what modular writing is, let’s try to do something in practice. In this case, I’ll use the game’s engine (haha, not like I have any ulterior motives by doing this, hint hint) as a way of verifying what we’re doing in practice. Meaning that this will be more of a practical lesson in modular writing rather than an article.
Mechanics: Modular Writing – Part I – The Concept
Alright, so here’s something we’ve not done in a bit. I’ll try to write a tutorial on something. This will be a three-part tutorial; the first part will go over the basics of modular writing and the specific context the next two parts will follow.
Lore: The Self-correcting Error
Mages cling together for mutual protection and support. But yet, there are those who find themselves outside of the pack. Those born from affairs with the non-magical folk, or who live in those parts of the world where, even in the modern times, mages lack a strong presence. Those who are often consigned to unavoidable death through their isolation.
Lore: The Minor Rites Of The Magi
Mages are still people, and people like to make themselves feel special. Here are two excerpts from a book describing the various “rituals” mages participate in, since childhood. These rituals have no major arcane meaning and exist only to celebrate the mage, the mage’s family, or some particularly important dates through the year.
Lore: The Machine Mind
Artificial intelligence is a very current topic, and granted that the timeline of the setting’s world closely follows our own, they are dealing with their own emerging AI boom as well. But how do mages interact with this trend? They are, after all, not in the least opposed to technology, indeed they are often on the very bleeding edge of science. Thus, they will have their own things to say about the topic of AI.
Lore: Consensus Reality
What is the difference between reality as it objectively is, compared to reality as humans understand it? When you forget something, do you know you’ve forgotten it? When you’re wrong, do you realise there’s a mistake in your thinking? If a human holds a belief in a particular reality, isn’t it, to them, the reality of existence?
Esoteric Musings... 