Category Archives: Gaming Culture
No Troglodytes Were Harmed
I just finished reviewing the Knights of Pen and Paper 2 for Hardcore Droid (where I reviewed the original Knights of Pen and Paper), and man, Behold Studios really knows their audience. So many tabletop jokes in this game!
No Pineapples Will Be Left Behind!
Alternate Title: Even More Thoughts Around Games and Education A while ago, I posted about No Pineapple Left Behind, a serious game Seth Alter from Subaltern Games is working on, all about standardized testing and school systems. I was really disappointed to … Continue reading
Secrets of ‘High School Story’ #hssgame
A few weeks ago, I was at a homeschool education conference for my work, and I got chatting with a twelve-year-old about our favorite games. (This was a theme of the conference weekend, and I got quite a few game … Continue reading
Continuity
“Easy to learn, hard to master” is usually considered the gold standard for a casual game. The more time new players must spend, learning how systems and items work, the less casual and accessible the game is. (I love a … Continue reading
Shades of ‘Grey’ and Rainbow Colors
Grey, from Kevin Does Art, is a little platformer in a grey world. I’m not great at platformers, well, actually, that’s an understatement, but I tried to overlook my general dislike of platformers when I checked out this game for … Continue reading
Career Lessons From The Sims: Lifetime Wish
So I recently noticed that following the Writer skill track for The Sims 3 draws an interesting distinction between mastery of the skill, creating brilliant work, selling profitable work, and the activity of writing. Thinking about these distinctions has led … Continue reading
Oddly Accurate Fairy Sim
My Sims’s goals are to talk about her job, work on her novel, become a better writer (because writing skill is distinct from actually completing assignments, isn’t it?) and be worth $20,000. In case you’re wondering if I’m going to … Continue reading
The First Hero: Saving the World on a Grecian Urn
The First Hero, from BeGamer, is a short point-and-click adventure about a young champion on a Greek urn, I mean, a young champion in mythical Greece. You’re not, as far as I could tell, any particular mythological hero, just a young champion … Continue reading
At IndieCade, Part 2
I ran into Nate, and then he ran into one of his friends, and introduced me. “Oh, is your last name Stivison?” Nate’s friend asked. “Yeah, it is.” “You reviewed my game!” I’m always so terribly nervous when that happens, and I was … Continue reading
With Those We Love Alive
his is a screenshot, of sorts, from Porpentine’s With Those We Love Alive. I discovered this game through friends on social media sharing photos of their own symbols. I immediately wanted to play it, but put it off until I … Continue reading
