Let me preface this by saying that there’s a lot going on in my head right now. I just finished reading Edward Castronova’s Synthetic Worlds and made a lateral jump into Second Person, edited by Harrigan and Wardrip-Fruin. Because Second Person is from 2007, the ludo-narrative war is ongoing, even in these pages. The interesting... Continue Reading →
Put Some UX On it
One of the most common misconceptions about user experience design is that it is actually user interface design, or, as one of my former game directors seemed to believe, something that could simply be applied to a game after the fact. He used to say “we need some UX on that” or “put some UX... Continue Reading →
We (Still) Need Separatist Spaces
Have you ever felt that you can go several days at work without really being able to relax? Without feeling entirely safe in the space you spend at least 8 hours a day? Because I have, on and off for as long as I’ve been in game development. It is part of the nature of... Continue Reading →
The Resistance
This December I exchanged Christmas calendars with quite a few friends. In one of them there was a button with Princess Leia on it. It stated “we are the resistance”. Translating it to my hobbies and my profession, the games I’ve loved since I was barely a teenager of course indicate that we - us... Continue Reading →
Interactivity and other distractions
I’m reading a lot of older game related books because of my intentions to try to get through the massive pile of literature that I have accumulated during the years. One thing that has continuously struck me is the lack of the player’s voice, mostly when it comes to books written by men. They talk... Continue Reading →
Refuse Unicorndom
It bugs me a bit that in the world of game development you still have to be EXCEPTIONAL! At least according to job ads. BE PASSIONATE! BE A ROCKSTAR! A NINJA! A UNICORN! (Strangely enough there’s nothing about cowboys or pirates. One would assume that with ninjas they would follow?) I’ve been trying hard to... Continue Reading →