FPS Baby

So I know I said my next RPGDad installment would be about level-based childhood, but RPGBaby came early and I had to change my plans. Who woulda’ thought a child would require something like that? I wrote the below while we were in the hospital, and I hope it does not offend too terribly much 🙂

In case you never noticed it before, childbirth is much like a good first-person shooter designed solely for female players. Some people may tell you it is co-op, but just like in most co-op games, you will be doing all the real work. As a man, I have perfect insight into this matter and am happy to share these truths.

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Fifth-Level Toddler?

Since we all know life exactly parallels games, how do infants advance? Do they gather experience and then make great leaps forward, as with a brooding drow yearning to be free in the Forgotten Realms, or do they advance bit by bit over time, like a vorox munching on al-Malik in the jungles of Ungavorox?

One of the complaints about D&D is that characters can adventure like mad, traveling the world, without learning a blessed thing. Then they kill one more kobold and immediately level up, gaining all sorts of powers and abilities. Contradictorily, that is also one of the fun things about D&D – the anticipation of that moment. Skill-based RPGs feel more real but lack that golden moment of leveling up.

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Speaking with Stoker

I had the pleasure of speaking at a couple World Horror Con panels this weekend, including “Why are So Many Contemporary Vampire Novels Set in the South?” It’s always a pleasure to share the stage with a group of excellent writers, and this one included Naima Haviland, Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse series), and Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker himself. Naima has an excellent writeup of the panel here, and it was a pleasure to share ideas with her.

A few of the other areas I enjoyed exploring were:

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TBT: Vague Thoughts on Game Writing from 2012

I posted this in April 2012 on my old blog. Thought I would share it again for Throw-Back Thursday.

We had a good GGDA meeting (okay, party) at Mowgli to celebrate the release of their Songster Facebook game. Fun mix of people – pros, amateurs, students and outsiders; artists, coders, musicians, business folks and writers.

It’s not easy being a writer in the game industry. Everyone feels they can write and, sadly, many games show the result. At HDI we used to joke about programmer voice actors, but the same sad results can happen when a designer tries to be a writer. Trouble is, people who are successful writers outside of games have a hard time making the transition. Too much to unlearn.

At tonight’s meeting we had a good mix of writers, including folks who are making their living at game writing (Derek Koehl with the Writer’s Studio) and folks doing it because it is their passion (Charles Moody with the Grey Backpack). This left me brooding as to what makes for a successful game writer.

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