Posted inCommentary Game Design
Aliens
When you're lying awake in the night and dreaming new dreams about far off places and alien races, in science fiction and fantasy, and you think it might be easy…
Posted inCommentary
Warlock writes: Why don’t you just give it up.
In the comments on the previous post the almost anonymous Warlock (IP: 213.78.235.176 - 24/10/07 - Some Onetel subscriber in the UK who hides by putting false email addresses) writes:…
Posted inCommentary
BadWrongFun
Great Definition badwrongfun: Playing "the wrong way", but having fun anyway. You might be playing the wrong way by going against the expectations of the game ("You can't run a…
Posted inCommentary Game Design Out-of-Character
I bought a book today…
...entirely because it was illustrated and designed exactly the way I want Q to be paid out. I spent a few minutes leafing through it and in my minds eye…
Posted inCommentary
Rowling channelled Lucas?
(I'd attribute this but it was passed to me and no-one seems to know...)
Posted inCommentary Game Design
Heroics, Risk and immersion.
James "JimJamJom Jimbo" Wallis writes about Heroics: Of course, a lot depends on how the player views their avatar, whether they regard the game-character they’re controlling as ‘me’, as a…
Posted inCommentary
Rowling casts Evil Eye on Hindi festival
A Hindi community is being targetted by Warner Bros and the Rowling estate for infringement because they're building a huge model of the Hogwarts school. The finishing touches are being…
Posted inConventions Industry
Q-CON XIV video
The official video for Q-CON XIV was posted today: It's good to see it running as I did all the research for the first Q-CON by visiting cons around the…
Posted inCommentary
Rolled up a superhero character?
Flight? Check... Agility? Uh... Strength? Um... Energy Attack? Ah... Reactions? Well, you see... So we have Flight. Cool.
Posted inGM
Run out of plot ideas?
LifeOptimiser covers some of "the best books of human civilization." It beggars my belief that someone may not have a plot to mind much like I find it hard to…
Posted inGame Design
The Game I’d Play Right Now
I'm having a lot of fun writing half-a-games at the moment. You know - getting the grist of a game together. I'm not really enjoying the layout/art section though I'm…
Posted inCommentary
post-apocalyptic rainstorms
The atmosphere is becoming more humid in a pattern consistent with man-made climate change, researchers have found. "This confirmation that humidity and temperature are increasing as expected has important implications…
Posted inCommentary Out-of-Character
Your rights … under Section 44 of the UK Anti-Terrorism Act
This kind of thing gives me the shivers. Two disabled blokes were detained by UK police for suspiciously opening a white envelope and looking at police men in public view…
Posted inCommentary
Bad Halo Reviews? Bungie leaving the Evil Empire?
Pardon my French, but this is fucking mint. Escapist's Yahtzee reviews Halo 3. It made me chuckle and made her-indoors roll her eyes. Meanwhile we learn that Microsoft and Bungie…
Posted inCommentary
Even more on Sexism
Okay.... From the Wonderland blog: While we're debating the use of English pronouns in RPG books, we find that Ubisoft have just created a range of games for the Nintendo:DS…
Posted inCommentary Review
Jame’s Herbert’s ’48. A review.
I recently read James Herbert's '48 which is a post-World War II version of a few post-apocalyptic stories. It was essentially "28 Days Later" or "Night of the Comet" but…
Posted inCommentary Game Design
Natural Wonders
The Giant's Causeway is one of the most astounding natural formations in Northern Ireland. This got me thinking about the representations of natural wonders in gaming. In the Aurore Sourcebook…
Posted inCommentary
A Guide to Britain, for Americans.
It's funny :) You will find British people very polite. Here are some of our quaint phrases; if you learn them before visiting Britain, you will be able to understand…
Posted inCommentary
Being moody sucks.
I've been a grumpy bastard all day and the kids just turned what was already going to be unpleasant for me into something hellish and I think I took my…
Posted inCommentary
More on Sexism
This time it seems to center around the use of the English language (which does not have a gender neutral pronoun). Is it possible to write gender-neutral (as opposed to…