A Star is Born
Remember the superhero MMO from 2009? Neither does anyone else. It was dumb. So dumb I was compelled to write this.
DM of the Rings
Both a celebration and an evisceration of tabletop roleplaying games, by twisting the Lord of the Rings films into a group of friends rolling dice and bickering over the rules.
Twelve Years
Even allegedly smart people can make life-changing blunders that seem very, very obvious in retrospect.
Overthinking Zombies
Let's ruin everyone's fun by listing all the ways in which zombies can't work, couldn't happen, and don't make sense.
Autoblography
The story of me. If you're looking for a picture of what it was like growing up in the seventies, what computer science looked like in the eighties, or just want to know about me personally, then this is for you.
Push the Button!
Scenes from Half-Life 2:Episode 2, showing Gordon Freeman being a jerk.
Seven Springs
The true story of three strange days in 1989, when the last months of my adolescence ran out and the first few sparks of adulthood appeared.
D&D Campaign
WAY back in 2005, I began blogging about a little D&D campaign I was running. That blog eventually became overrun with videogame and programming talk, but the campaign is still there, in the bottom-most strata of the archives.
Project Octant
A programming project where I set out to make a Minecraft-style world so I can experiment with Octree data. Then everything changes halfway through and I end up making something else entirely.
The Middle Ages
Would you have survived in the middle ages?
Shamus Plays WOW
A silly romp through the first 20 or so levels of World of Warcraft, right at the release of the Cataclysm expansion. If you've ever wondered what's in all those quest boxes you've never bothered to read, then brace yourself: They're a lot more insane than you might expect.
Fable II
Never has what you WANT to do been so completely at odds with what you're MADE to do. The plot of this game isn't just dumb, it's actively hostile to the player and holds them in open contempt. This game hates you and thinks you are stupid.
Stolen Pixels
A screencap comic that poked fun at videogames and the industry. The comic has ended, but there's plenty of archives for you to binge on.
Megatextures
A video discussing some new graphics technology. Why we needed it, what it was supposed to do, and why it maybe didn't totally work.
Good Robot Dev Blog
An ongoing series where I work on making a 2D action game from scratch.
Chainmail Bikini
A collaboration with artist Shawn Gaston. The series focused on a group of players running through a horrible, railroading, stupid, contrived, and painfully ill-conceived roleplaying campaign.
Bowlercoaster
Two minutes of fun at the expense of a badly-run theme park.
Pixel City Dev Blog
An attempt to make a good looking cityscape with nothing but simple tricks and a few rectangles of light. Spoiler: It ended up as a screensaver.
Spoiler Warning
We have a unique approach to Let's Play videos: The cast is a mix of game journalists and developers, and we focus on analysis and deconstruction of why a game works or why it doesn't.
Free Radical
The product of fandom run unchecked, this novel began as a short story and grew into something of a cult hit. I know 'fanfiction' has a terrible reputation, but this seems to have found an audience of its own.
The Biggest Game Ever
How did this niche racing game make a gameworld so massive, and why is that a big deal?
Shamus Plays LOTRO
As someone who loves Tolkein lore and despises silly MMO quests, this game left me deeply conflicted. Here is the story of one Hobbit trying to find her place in this often accidentally goofy adventure.
The Diecast
A weekly podcast where we discuss games, technology, and comics. And sometimes wrestling.
Skyrim Thieves Guild
The Thieves Guild quest in Skyrim is a vortex of disjointed plot-holes, contrivances, and nonsense. Sure, lots of game plots are silly, but this is something special.
The Witch Watch
My first REAL published book, about a guy who comes back from the dead due to a misunderstanding. Check out the first chapter and see if it tickles your fancy.
Project Frontier
A programming project where I set out to make a gigantic and complex world from simple data.
Linux vs. Windows
Finally, the age-old debate has been settled.
Silent Hill Origins
I have a dysfunctional and borderline abusive relationship with the Silent Hill games. I claim to love them, but all I ever do is criticize them. Here is a long look at a game that just didn't work.
Good to be the King?
Which would you rather be: A king in the middle ages, or a lower-income laborer in the 21st century?