The Blog In Yellow

I've been having some trouble figuring out where to go next with my story. Nothing seems right so I put the story into the AI and asked it for what should happen next. The AI didn't have the answer. It's hard because it doesn't seem like I'm going anywhere. Like I'm mapping out a desert. It all looks like barren dunes. I need some shade. I'll try again tomorrow. I'm not going to beat myself up over not doing too much. Sometimes you have to stop for a bit and think. 

I've played top down games before and they always seem to somehow get under my skin. The skyview can lend to some serious gameplay effects that haunt the player. I remember playing Hotline Miami for the first time and completing it within a few days. The game is a trippy shock to your senses as you attempt to figure out what is going on in the drug-fueled carnage. There's something surreal about these types of games that adds more legitimacy to your actions. Maybe it's the way you're watching horrific acts being performed from a drone's perspective that adds to the visceral view. But Hotline Miami and it's sequel were years ago, now I'm playing Darkwood. It's a similar game with a top down perspective but with a view cone that obscures your vision. If you fail to look in a direction, the area is obscured by darkness, like having a flashlight in the night. This means monsters and traps can sneak up on you if you're not careful enough to look around. T...

I feel a little better lately. I'm updating my medicine which probably means it will be hell on my mind but I'll stick to it as best I can. God help me I'm scared but also excited. I've convinced myself to work on my Cain story today so that's what I'm going to do.

I think I was in fifth grade when I thought of this concept. I remember it because I was going to a new school and I felt the need to doodle about alternate dimensions. The concept was that there was this large train that traveled through different worlds. More like different times and spaces such as advanced time. For example: the player could uncover a locked gate and travel using a special wand to a dimension where the lock was rusted away. I don't recall why there was a train in the game, back then I just went with my first instinct. There was a pair of siblings who guided the player. The girl didn't have a name but the brother, if I remember correctly, was named Brock. I sketched all these different types of wands the player would use to affect the world around them. I never got very far with the concept and quickly moved on to other ideas. It turns out I may have been ahead of the curve. About a decade later a game called Quantum Conundrum came out with similar ideas. Ins...

I've been meaning to read this manga for a while and I waited until it was finished so I didn't have to wait for updates. The series was well-recieved for a while and even got a short anime adaptation. The question is, what makes it different from other shows like Chainsaw Man or similar shows? The fact is, it doesn't differ. In fact, it's a weaker version of Chainsaw Man. I should start with what I like first, the protagonist is named Kafka (after the author) Hibino who works with the clean up crew who take care after a kaiju, or monster, is defeated. Someone's got to clean up after Godzilla bites the dust and Kafka is the man to do it. He does this despite wanting to be on the other side of the coin, the extermination squad. But he's failed the test several times and is barely compatable with the devices that humans use to combat kaiju. So he's a lost cause, until one day he accidentally swallows a small kaiju and transforms into a human-sized version of o...

Recently, a game called Highguard came out to...less than stellar reviews. The game is a hero shooter where you pick a character and use their abilities to fight other players on the battlefield. When it was announced, it came at the tailend of the Game Awards which is a spot usually reserved for the best of the best. Highguard was not that type of game. The market is flooded with live service games many of which are hero shooters. So this game had little to no chance of lasting too long in this crowded market. It was also compared to a previous live service game called Concord which was a four hundred million dollar flop. All this attention was given to Highguard and what do they do? They go radio silent online. And for good reason, the gaming world can be cruel to game designers. One developer in particular, named Josh, was singled out on Twitter for being autistic. For his own sanity he blocked everyone who was posting threats and comparing his work to the Concord flop. When Highgua...