Havilah McGinnis

RIP Tom Stoppard, you were The Real Thing all along

"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”

A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

Shot + chaser

As a bonus, having friends who worked at Gilt and having friends who worked on Gilt gives me amazing potential to create my own "Who's on First?" someday

Gilt on Steam Embark on a quest of redemption across the planet of Gilt to restore a disillusioned priest's faith, a dying God's power, and the waning hope of a people who have forgotten how to believe. A sci-fi fa...

I’m super happy to officially announce our next project, spearheaded by @threeohfour.bsky.social!

“Gilt” is a sci-fi/fantasy game about a priest haunted by a dying God.

Learn more (and wishlist!) over here:

store.steampowered.com/app/3979770

A digital drawing of one of those drawing tutorials that says 'don't do this, do this.' The drawing is of an almost naked middle-aged man doing a flying kick. The 'Don't do this' one has a bunch of areas circled and a cross under it. The 'Do this' one is exactly the same but without the circles and a tick instead of a cross. The text reads 'Needlessly adding red circles will ruin your art' and a smaller bit of text at the bottom reads 'Bonus tip! Add a tick under all your art so people think you did it right.'

#3157 A helpful tutorial

Packing for AdventureX is basically the opposite of refusing the call. Cat's just trying to make sure you see yourself as the hero of your own journey!

I can't speak for other voice actors, but from a casting perspective that seems like a REALLY useful title

A screenshot from a post by Razer advertising AI QA services for video game development

It figures that an industry that thinks that "vibe coding" is a reliable thing would now decide that QA is the next thing you can replace with AI 😒

Your friendly reminder that good QA people are worth their weight in gold and an invaluable part of game dev

Responsiveness in Narrative Systems Author(s): Mason, Stacey | Advisor(s): Mateas, Michael | Abstract: While game studies and interactive narrative communities have developed a rich body ofresearch around agency in our interactions with...

This is all a question of the pleasure of responsiveness, and for me the best model of this is in @stcymsn.bsky.social’s dissertation. It’s been incredibly influential to my thinking on narrative satisfaction.

If your values don't apply to everyone, they're not your values. They're just a favor you do for people that you like.

Ask A Manager is a great place to learn management/office tips, and also a great place to find a letter writer describing common behavior in the game industry and get a response accurately labeling it as "bizarrely adversarial"

Great home for a mimic

I want hades 3: a cozy farm/town simulation a la stardew valley. You're rebuilding Ephyra and the surrounding countryside after all the gods' bullshit and you have to keep the pantheon pleased while building your village.

I might not be making Hades 3, but if this is what anyone is after, PLEASE check out Mythmatch and help spread the word to others who might want this because I am making this and it is good!

store.steampowered.com/app/1778050/...

Man vs. Zealous Spoons

I've contemplated trying to talk my way into that job and then only turning in writing from ChatGPT

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems... SIMON: What? SHAPIRO: ...Or saying... SIMON: You imagine that? SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over. SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level. SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this. SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

An image about the game developer's guide to publishing agreements feauturing otto the otter

Proud to announce Deviant Legal’s Game Developer’s Guide to Publishing Agreements: a free resource for developers wanting to learn about publishing deals. Publicly accessible, without requiring to provide your data: deviantlegal.com/guide/game-d...

I'm curious what the wording was of the prompt that made that image. A lot of the evidence seems to point more towards him accidentally starting the fire, and they're trying to paint it as deliberate in an attempt to reduce scrutiny on the firefighters

These kinds of stories are so important to tell

In my heart, it feels like Giuliani Gardens has the exact same map as Jersey City

"The primary reason is that Hollywood is making less stuff." THIS. I've seen so many people lazily (xenophobically) claim 'outsource is stealing all the work', but MOST countries are in the same boat rn. Never let the suits skimming more and more off the top convince you a fellow worker is to blame.

"We'll take fifteen minutes to introduce ourselves BEFORE we lay everyone off. We're not monsters!"

If you're making wine, screwtop bottles are far better than corked. When serving, red wine should be chilled to the 60s, with the white wine slowly warmed up from fridge temp to the 50s. And while there is a fancier method that can be used, a lot of rosé is just white wine with a dash of red

I'm watching that documentary "Before Stonewall" about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting. The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one "known homosexual". The "known homosexual" is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson. So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there's nothing wrong with him mentally and he's never been arrested. When asked whether he'd take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he's gay, he says that they didn't up until tonight, but he guesses they're going to find out, and he'll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like ... why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says "I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself." 1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium. Despite the pseudonym, Dale's boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary. Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson's disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

Some amazing gay history. Listen up kids.

When I lived in CA, we called those Disneyland Fingers, because if you worked there you were forbidden from pointing at anything with just a single finger

I imagine your move away from NYC as a real time action movie directed by Michael Bay