This essay was written as a means of articulating why I felt certain games–as mechanically well designed as they might be–ultimately failed in their implementation. It was written specifically with video games in mind, though, I believe, it holds true for board and role-playing games as well. Don’t Tell Me What to Do: Modern GameContinue reading “The Gravitational Model of User Expectation”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Finding the Balance Between Words, Pictures and Time in Making Comics
This was a talk I gave to a webcomics summer camp program at Smith Vocational High School a few days ago. I decided to flesh it out beyond my notes in the hopes that I’ll A: use it again and B: help others interested in making their own comics. Many thanks to Kevin Hodgson forContinue reading “Finding the Balance Between Words, Pictures and Time in Making Comics”
A Hypothetical China Miéville Swamp Thing
I read last week (or the week before; who can keep track of these things?) that a run of Swamp Thing comics penned by British fantasist China Miéville was canceled by DC. Miéville is one of my favorite writers: he blends the horrific, the fantastic and the political into a grimy bouillabaisse of delicious reading.Continue reading “A Hypothetical China Miéville Swamp Thing”
Is No One Safe from My Biting Pen?
An illustration that accompanied Nina Huntemann’s article about the ethics of immaterial consumption (specifically related to the allegations that the labor conditions involved in the creation of Red Dead Redemption were… um… less than ideal).
Illustrating Glenn Beck
Clearly, I’m no caricaturist. This was me playing around with some of that razor sharp political commentary you all expect from me. It took all the will-power in the world to omit the Howard Hughes-esque mason jars from the composition.
My Favorite Recent (well, sort of recent) Episode of Teaching Baby Paranoia
I have a hard time reading my own comics. It takes me months and months to be able to see them objectively and look past the glaring flaws in their execution. Plus I often find spelling or grammatical mistakes. This is one of my favorite comics from the last year of the strip. I thinkContinue reading “My Favorite Recent (well, sort of recent) Episode of Teaching Baby Paranoia”
Messing Around
Now that the Disney Marvel Comics merger is complete, maybe they’ll rethink my Ghost Rider proposal. How about it Marvel? Ghost Rider on a velocipede? Call me.
Dropped Frames #5: Violence
This comic was written during the frenzy surrounding the Amy Bishop shooting at the University of Alabama. The intrepid reporters at the Boston Herald dug up the valuable and pertinent insight that Ms. Bishop played Dungeons and Dragons in college. This comic was my attempt to better understand the relationship between media (particularly interactive media)Continue reading “Dropped Frames #5: Violence”
The Lower Kingdom
For the past couple of years (sadly, with no consistent schedule), I’ve been working on a graphic novel called “The Lower Kingdom.” Below is an page from the book (it’s the 80-somethingth page of the 110 pages completed to date). With luck, I’ll complete it this year.
Dropped Frames #4: The Game of Life
Years ago, two designers at the game development company I worked for were talking about “cellular automata.” I didn’t really pay too much attention to the conversation (beyond remembering the name). Much later, I was reading the book “Hackers,” by Steven Levy and came across a chapter almost completely devoted to the concept. It’s aContinue reading “Dropped Frames #4: The Game of Life”
Bryant Paul Johnson 