MJ Weise

It's Not in the Writer's Manual: Q&A for New Writers | Agenda | GDC Festival of Gaming How do newer writers fit into game design and narrative design teams? Do writers coming from the worlds of film and comics have advantages getting work over prose writers? Is it easier to be a freelan...

If you're attending #GDC next week, I'm on a panel with several other talented writers. Stop by if you want the inside scoop on game narrative from people who've been doing it for years.

schedule.gdconf.com/session/its-...

I am in the minority who prefers SH1 to SH2, and it's partially because it is full of moments like this.

Sky Odyssey (pilotwings meets shadow of the colossus)
Spy Fiction (swery does metal gear)
Steambot Chronicles (disco elysium with anime dorks)
Stretch Panic (cute girl + demonic scarf)
Way of the Samurai (has an 'apologize' button)

Ring of Red (diesel punk WWII mecha)
Robot Alchemic Drive (GTA with giant robots)
Rule of Rose (lord of the flies with girls!)
Second Sight (psychic stealth, great story)
Shinobido (deus ex with a ninja)
Sky Gunner (miyazaki-esque dogfight game)
(more...)

Chulip (be a kissing mailman)
Disaster Report (survival without the horror)
Haunting Ground (most disturbing final girl sim ever)
Life Line (control with mic, terrible and fascinating)
Mister Mosquito (suck blood of human giants)
(more...)

Y'all looked at us funny when we said this apocalyptic death-cult mutation of Christianity was a feature, not a bug, of the Religious Right, but now here we are. They were telling us shit like this in Sunday School in the 80s.

U8 is all fucked up (great soundtrack and atmosphere, tho). It is, however, a masterpiece compared to the Ultima Porn Parody that is U9. :P

I have a long list. :)

I will admit this is a good game, and I don't want to take that away from other people, but it was always a frustrating/disappointing sequel to me personally, really distilling the difference in design (and writing) ethos between Looking Glass and Irrational.

I was born in an Iranian prison. My parents were held in their jails. My uncles lie in their mass graves. Nothing you can tell me about the crimes of the Iranian regime that I haven't lived in blood and bone. That doesn't mean I want my people bombed, maimed, killed, their homes in ruins. If your vision of liberation comes only through the destruction of innocent lives, then it's not freedom you're after. Sahar Delijani, Iranian author

I am pro Iranian people. I stand with them against their own government’s repression AND against the imperial violence in the form of bombs dropped from the sky from Israel & the US who have already killed hundreds.

I support neither imperialism or dictatorship.

Sahar Delijani said it best:

@adriandaub.bsky.social You mentioned having some dealing with the Bay Area tech world in the last podcast. Do you ever make it to GDC, or is the game branch of tech sort of apart from the circles you've been in?

Just give people what they want.

i think games should be weird and frustrating sometimes for the same reason i think billionaires should not exist-- a lack of friction in your experiences will drive you crazy if you let it

i

This game uses the conventions if visual novels for horror so well, like when your spooky girlfriend is RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!

I have a degree from MIT, and don't even get me started on the special kind of stupidity that only "smart" people can achieve. You have people who can't pass a Turing Test themselves insisting these machines pass. It's like getting dating advice from a serial killer.

Those commentaries were amazing. Some of the most absurdly thorough DVD extras ever.

no, it simply isnt.
People are talking about capital using gAI as an excuse to conduct mass lay-offs, about students losing learning because theyre being lied to about gAI in education, about the mass theft of the work of artists and authors to train LLMs, about CSAM and nonconsensual sexual images.

It's mind-melting how great this game looks.

This looks like Mechner after he survived an apocalypse.

It was so far ahead of its time the mind boggles.

This fucking game has aged like wine. Could be an indie game from last year. Top notch.

Also, this monster was the inspiration for the aliens in Attack the Block (the director said so).

Have you seen this obscure Japan-only PSX port of Ultima Underworld? It had sort of an anime maker-over for the character portraits.

Would really, really love to see you both go deeper on this at some point, unpacking the whole "superhero / super cop" as a particularly insidious flavor of American masculinity. The prevalence of ICE stormtroopers who explicitly reference The Punisher on their uniforms speaks to how deep this is.

Fantastic ep. The masculine heroism stuff made me think of J. Hoberman's The Dream Life and Make My Day, where he charts the slow appropriation of "the rebel" archetype from the left in the 60s to the right in the 80s. Massive recommend to you and @adriandaub.bsky.social if you haven't read it.

Exploding Nazi faces since 1988.

I mean... I'm not being entirely serious. :) I do think one of the reasons I connect with anime personally is that it *doesn't* see cute/serious as a dichotomy. FF6 is "cute" like this, and a 1000 times more harrowing than anything in Ultima V, and all the more impactful for it. But that's just me.

Its a crime every Ultima game doesn't feel like this.

Curious: what sort of examples come to your mind for this trope, and is it always a trope in your eyes, or does that depend on how it's presented?