Topics

Narrative Control:

A pair of articles giving an overview of the topic of narrative control in video games. A lot of what I write comes back around to the subject of narrative control in one way or another. So giving these a read might be a good starting point if you are interested in my writing at all.

Choice:

Here I tackle the problem of choice (that is to say picking one option out of a limited pool) in the context of narrative games. It’s a more specific aspect of narrative control. The articles discuss considerations behind decision making from a player perspective and how evaluating choices is not always as straightforward as we’d like them to be.

Memory:

Memory is another specific topic related to narrative control, these articles contain my thoughts about the subject. I divide my focus between what can be achieved with memory and some practical considerations from a programming perspective.

Resolving Conflicts:

Conflicts are a driving force behind narration, here I give my own perspective on the topic in light of the previous two issues – choices and memory. I often come back to the subject of agent-driven narratives and various tropes associated with conflict.

Relationships:

My take on including relationships in video games. Starting from a breakdown of what I find to be the general issues plaguing many existing games, to a set or proposition that can be used to improve on the concept. It contains some practical musings on how I implement some of these concepts in my own game as well.

Probability:

This is a straight-up discussion of the subject of probability and randomness in game design. The scope is related to video games but tends to move in slightly broader circles. Chance is a topic that often underappreciated by game designers, despite their incessant usage of random number generators.

Worldbuilding:

Despite suffering due to being trapped in a very badly designed world on a daily basis, we often do not do well with making new ones. This series discusses the topic of worldbuilding.

You Are Naming Things Wrong:

A companion to the above topic, a short series of articles focusing on one of my pet peeves with worldbuilding – naming conventions!

Primers:

A bunch of quick explanations for various metaphysical and philosophical concepts that pop up often as inspirations in various games.

Puzzles:

This series takes on the issue of puzzle design from a more formal angle. The articles presented below might challenge your way of thinking about puzzles or at the very least be very confusing. Yet I find myself drawn to this topic because, despite the prevalence of puzzles in video games, the quality of their implementation often fails to impress.

Game Design:

A hodgepodge collection of other topics dealing with game design that I couldn’t fit anywhere else. There is a lot here, and the articles are mostly stand-alone. If you dig in you might find something that holds your interest, I think.

Fundamentals:

A series of articles that aim to explain the fundamentals of my own game. It is a dry and somewhat tricky topic, but it may show you a few different ways of doing things you always took for granted. Warning: math ahead.

This set of articles is a tutorial I originally posted on Itch:

And here are some explanations for specific formats or systems:

Sex:

Yay sex! The below collection of eclectic articles contains my thoughts on sex, generally in the context of fiction (which includes game design), though it often circles back to reality. BDSM is the recurring theme here, relating to my game’s many influences from this corner of the kink garden.

Other articles:

Every other article I have written, most of these can be divided up into rants and writing advice, including the everpresent rant on writing advice. As a somewhat chaotic collection of different ideas and topics, this is best pursued by picking a link at random and checking the actual subject. These articles are mostly self-contained, but a few sprouted out into short series.