Games | Zines | Essays | Art
A look at some small game design choices that were going into a previous build in Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim — a way of dealing with an issue between the NPC Autonomy system and making the story more accessible to players, and how Cennedig is the lynchpin in player interactions with the three chiefs of the clan.
Continue reading “The Whispering #1: Choosing Duties; Cennedig as Front of House”
Exploring dens, private spaces, and room to breathe in game design through The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and merritt k’s Soft Chambers project.
The Silent Hill series draws upon a vast range of artists and media for the inspiration behind its macabre setting, its disturbing and suggestive monsters, and its unsettling stories; the work of David Lynch (especially Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive), Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder, Stephen King’s “The Mist”, and many more. Of particular importance is Francis Bacon (1909 – 1992), a gay Irish/English figurative painter whose artwork frequently explores themes of dread, violence, sexuality and the human condition – there are strong parallels between Francis Bacon’s work and the monsters, environments and themes of Silent Hill – violence, punishment, redemption, sexuality, death and humanity.
Continue reading “Fear for the Flesh: Francis Bacon’s Influence on Silent Hill”
A look at Dorian Pavus, and how he embodies queer narratives in Bioware’s Dragon Age III.
Continue reading “A Different Kind of Sophisticated Gent: A Look at Dorian Pavus”
Monsters have always been a prominent part of the games we play; the moblins of Zelda, the demons and darkspawn of Dragon Age, the orcs of Shadow of Mordor, even the grues of Zork – creatures of disparate biology, origin and motive that are clustered together because they are the inhuman enemy – the Other, a concept that is prevalent throughout fantasy and sci-fi genres in all media.
However, there has been a great deal of interest in art, academia and other avenues of exploring what “monsters” really are, how we as a society construct them, and what their relationship to humanity is – which has led to complex understandings of monstrosity that move beyond a simple catch-all category for anything deemed inhuman.
Continue reading “Monstrous Identity: Monsters and their LGBTQ Fans”