Thursday, March 7, 2013

Can Gamers Change The World?

Can Gamers Change The World? — Blue Ink Alchemy

I find myself asking a question that should be at the core of game design: what do gamers want? I don't want the answer given by market demographics and sales figures. Sure, games make money, and the companies that publish them have profit as their end goal, but why should that also be the end goal for the audience? People don't buy movie tickets because they like MGM or New Line Cinema; they buy them because they enjoy the adventures of James Bond or Bilbo Baggins. Likewise, most gamers are not going to putting down cash to save Bungie or Ubisoft or EA; they'll pay their money to slip into the role of Master Chief or Ezio Auditore or Commander Shepard. But outside of established franchises, what is it that gamers want out of their games? Simply to feel empowered? To live out some fantasy? To save the world? All you have to do is look at charities like Child's Play and Extra Life to see that gamers do, in fact, want to save the world. Or at least part of it. They back Kickstarters for new titles that break away from the iterative sequels of the industry. Looking at some of the top games of the past year - Dishonored, FarCry 3, Spec Ops: The Line, The Walking Dead, Journey - I see a trend that has nothing to do with marketing or sales emerging. Gamers don't want to just save the world, they want to change it. Specifically, they want their choices within a game to matter. As much as I've enjoyed playing Skyrim in the past (and still need to check out its DLC), it was difficult at times to feel my character was having much of an impact on the world. Sure, you can take down dragons and rescue people, but there's little sense of those actions having significance. No matter how many battles you win or spells you learn, there will be some guard you encounter who will tell you about a certain leg injury. Likewise, Ezio can rebuild Rome or Constantinople in the later Assassin's Creed games of his time, but the townsfolk or guards never treat him more favorably for his hard work and service. Maybe that's part of being an anonymous assassin? By contrast, look at Alpha Protocol. While not the best shooter/RPG ever made, it is way up on my list of favorites, mostly because the choices you make have consequences. Your conversations and attitudes are remembered. You make an impact in the cities you visit. You, in short, change the world. I am of the opinion that more games should aim to allow for this. Let's say, for example, that you're playing a game based in a city. During the course of the game, an action is undertaken that results in a building catching fire. In my mind, the game would be doing its job right if, after the mission or whatever is concluded, that building stays burnt. Every time the character walks by it, he or she sees the blackened walls, the shattered windows, the marred signage. The building is a husk of its former self, and passers by on the street may even comment on it. And if the player caused the blaze, their character should at least get some dirty looks. I don't think we see enough of that in gaming. We don't see real consequences for the choices a player makes. We don't give players enough opportunities to break away from some of gaming's more blatant linearity. Gaming is a medium in which the audience of the story being told is also a participant in that story. Few games truly embrace this, and instead lean towards exposition dumps and flavor text to fill in any story gaps a curious player may feel are missing. I hope we see more games in the future that make the effort to involve the player in their story, rather than treat said player as a source for cash to fuel microtransactions. Because as much as persistent environmental alterations within the game world may not suit every game, bringing the experience to a halt to remind us that our hero's special hat is available for a mere 520 Microsoft Points doesn't either.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus — Blue Ink Alchemy

I will admit to a certain degree of professional jealousy when it comes to the writings of others. Most of the time it's when I read something good, which encourages me to push myself, to write more, to craft better stories. I'll watch John Green spiel into a camera or read Chuck Wendig's writing advice or see a particularly amusing or thought-provoking tweet from the likes of Susan Arendt or Amanda Palmer and think, "Man, I can get there, if I just get off my ass and work more at it." But there's a darker jealousy I also contend with. It's the jealousy that comes from reading a published work that is irredeemably, completely, and blatantly awful. This happened with Quest for Karn, it happened with the Warcraft manga, and now it's happened with the Word Bearers Omnibus, a trio of Warhammer 40,000 novels collected into one bulky volume for easy shot-putting through the nearest window. Courtesy Black Library

The Word Bearers are a legion of the infamous Chaos Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who betrayed their Emperor in favor of the gods of Chaos for reasons I'm not going to get into. The ranks of the traitors are many and varied, from the foaming-at-the-mouth World Eaters to the stoic and eerie Thousand Sons. The Word Bearers are a middle-of-the-road bunch of incredibly powerful killers, favoring a unified approach to the Chaos god foursome over following a single deity. While twisted and warped, theirs is a doctrine based on faith, and the potential is there to examine and explore what motivates and perpetuates the hearts and minds of those bound to such a doctrine. I spent most of Dark Apostle, the first book in the omnibus, waiting for these ideas to arise, then I waited for the story to get going. For a long time, Anthony Reynolds introduces us to characters and begins fleshing them out just before killing them, often in a rather grotesque fashion befitting the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000's dark future. If a character doesn't die and isn't a Chaos Space Marine, than something even more horrible is going to happen to them the next time we see them. It does something that is the death knell of just about any work: it makes things dull. The repetition not only defangs the entire enterprise right from the start, it kills the story's momentum and throws the pace way off. On top of this inherent flaw, the main characters, the Word Bearers of the title, are also dull and uninteresting. Their rivalries are flat and boring, and their battles are unexciting. A lot of bolters get fired into a lot of chests and a lot of faceless humans are killed instantly by this. Reynolds just really likes to talk about it. Dark Disciple began, and to be honest, I was waiting for a twist. If the first novel was just so much 'bolter porn' to draw in some of the target audience of the miniatures game, perhaps the author was setting things up to become more interesting later on. Perhaps this is part of my disappointment, expecting this sort of development, as it never showed up. More bolter fire, more pointless characters, more dull and uninteresting ranting on how weak the false Emperor is and how his followers need to suffer as gloriously as possible. The story has no momentum, the characters have little motivation, and stakes never escalate, meaning the ultimate end of this tedious tale is a tedious ending. Considering all the things that could be done with warrior-priests of Warhammer's interesting pantheon of Chaos gods, the disappointment merely deepens. I must confess I only read the first few pages of Dark Creed. I was not invested in any of the characters. I was not interested in how the plot was developing. Reynolds had had two whole novels to engage me, and had failed utterly in doing so. I actually started to feel anger at the book in my hands, which somehow had stumbled into publication likely due to its licensed tie-in nature, and its author, who really should have known better than to waste so much time with this absolutely interminable dreck. For a cadre of warriors chosen by both the Emperor and the Chaos gods for their faith and their skill in battle, there's no real conflict to be had in any of this story, not in any of the three novels. There's no scheming by or on behalf of the Chaos gods, no interesting rivalry or betrayal within the ranks as they vie for position, nothing. Everything plays out in the most flat and boring ways possible, any potentially engaging plotting or characterization is smacked down almost the moment it's raised, and even possessed chainswords and face-violating tentacle masks can't save this entire omnibus from being a complete waste of time. With all of the potential tension and rivalries between the Chaos gods, the inherent dichotomy of the nature of faith with the nature of perpetual warfare, and the colorful history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Word Bearers Omnibus could have been an interesting work of licensed fiction. It could have cast the villains of many a tale in this setting as complex, diverse characters instead of just heretics to be gunned down. Instead, we get over 700 pages of pointless gore and meandering plot that goes nowhere and adds nothing to either the overall fabric of the universe or our lives. Save yourself the time and money this omnibus would waste, and skip it. I hear there are better novels on the Word Bearers in the Horus Heresy series, and I may check those out. This, however, shames the followers of Chaos, and the devotees of the dark gods should likely destroy it on sight. I could see followers of Khorne, especially, getting so pissed at its go-nowhere story and flat, dull characters that they start eating it.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus — Blue Ink Alchemy

The Word Bearers are a legion of the infamous Chaos Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who betrayed their Emperor in favor of the gods of Chaos for reasons I'm not going to get into. The ranks of the traitors are many and varied, from the foaming-at-the-mouth World Eaters to the stoic and eerie Thousand Sons. The Word Bearers are a middle-of-the-road bunch of incredibly powerful killers, favoring a unified approach to the Chaos god foursome over following a single deity. While twisted and warped, theirs is a doctrine based on faith, and the potential is there to examine and explore what motivates and perpetuates the hearts and minds of those bound to such a doctrine. I spent most of Dark Apostle, the first book in the omnibus, waiting for these ideas to arise, then I waited for the story to get going. For a long time, Anthony Reynolds introduces us to characters and begins fleshing them out just before killing them, often in a rather grotesque fashion befitting the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000's dark future. If a character doesn't die and isn't a Chaos Space Marine, than something even more horrible is going to happen to them the next time we see them. It does something that is the death knell of just about any work: it makes things dull. The repetition not only defangs the entire enterprise right from the start, it kills the story's momentum and throws the pace way off. On top of this inherent flaw, the main characters, the Word Bearers of the title, are also dull and uninteresting. Their rivalries are flat and boring, and their battles are unexciting. A lot of bolters get fired into a lot of chests and a lot of faceless humans are killed instantly by this. Reynolds just really likes to talk about it. Dark Disciple began, and to be honest, I was waiting for a twist. If the first novel was just so much 'bolter porn' to draw in some of the target audience of the miniatures game, perhaps the author was setting things up to become more interesting later on. Perhaps this is part of my disappointment, expecting this sort of development, as it never showed up. More bolter fire, more pointless characters, more dull and uninteresting ranting on how weak the false Emperor is and how his followers need to suffer as gloriously as possible. The story has no momentum, the characters have little motivation, and stakes never escalate, meaning the ultimate end of this tedious tale is a tedious ending. Considering all the things that could be done with warrior-priests of Warhammer's interesting pantheon of Chaos gods, the disappointment merely deepens. I must confess I only read the first few pages of Dark Creed. I was not invested in any of the characters. I was not interested in how the plot was developing. Reynolds had had two whole novels to engage me, and had failed utterly in doing so. I actually started to feel anger at the book in my hands, which somehow had stumbled into publication likely due to its licensed tie-in nature, and its author, who really should have known better than to waste so much time with this absolutely interminable dreck. For a cadre of warriors chosen by both the Emperor and the Chaos gods for their faith and their skill in battle, there's no real conflict to be had in any of this story, not in any of the three novels. There's no scheming by or on behalf of the Chaos gods, no interesting rivalry or betrayal within the ranks as they vie for position, nothing. Everything plays out in the most flat and boring ways possible, any potentially engaging plotting or characterization is smacked down almost the moment it's raised, and even possessed chainswords and face-violating tentacle masks can't save this entire omnibus from being a complete waste of time. With all of the potential tension and rivalries between the Chaos gods, the inherent dichotomy of the nature of faith with the nature of perpetual warfare, and the colorful history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Word Bearers Omnibus could have been an interesting work of licensed fiction. It could have cast the villains of many a tale in this setting as complex, diverse characters instead of just heretics to be gunned down. Instead, we get over 700 pages of pointless gore and meandering plot that goes nowhere and adds nothing to either the overall fabric of the universe nor our lives. Save yourself the time and money this omnibus would waste, and skip it. I hear there are better novels on the Word Bearers in the Horus Heresy series, and I may check those out. This, however, shames the followers of Chaos, and the devotees of the dark gods should likely destroy it on sight. I could see followers of Khorne, especially, getting so pissed at its go-nowhere story and flat, dull characters that they start eating it.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus

Book Review: Word Bearers Omnibus — Blue Ink Alchemy

The Word Bearers are a legion of the infamous Chaos Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who betrayed their Emperor in favor of the gods of Chaos for reasons I'm not going to get into. The ranks of the traitors are many and varied, from the foaming-at-the-mouth World Eaters to the stoic and eerie Thousand Sons. The Word Bearers are a middle-of-the-road bunch of incredibly powerful killers, favoring a unified approach to the Chaos god foursome over following a single deity. While twisted and warped, theirs is a doctrine based on faith, and the potential is there to examine and explore what motivates and perpetuates the hearts and minds of those bound to such a doctrine. I spent most of Dark Apostle, the first book in the omnibus, waiting for these ideas to arise, then I waited for the story to get going. For a long time, Anthony Reynolds introduces us to characters and begins fleshing them out just before killing them, often in a rather grotesque fashion befitting the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000's dark future. If a character doesn't die and isn't a Chaos Space Marine, than something even more horrible is going to happen to them the next time we see them. It does something that is the death knell of just about any work: it makes things dull. The repetition not only defangs the entire enterprise right from the start, it kills the story's momentum and throws the pace way off. On top of this inherent flaw, the main characters, the Word Bearers of the title, are also dull and uninteresting. Their rivalries are flat and boring, and their battles are unexciting. A lot of bolters get fired into a lot of chests and a lot of faceless humans are killed instantly by this. Reynolds just really likes to talk about it. Dark Disciple began, and to be honest, I was waiting for a twist. If the first novel was just so much 'bolter porn' to draw in some of the target audience of the miniatures game, perhaps the author was setting things up to become more interesting later on. Perhaps this is part of my disappointment, expecting this sort of development, as it never showed up. More bolter fire, more pointless characters, more dull and uninteresting ranting on how weak the false Emperor is and how his followers need to suffer as gloriously as possible. The story has no momentum, the characters have little motivation, and stakes never escalate, meaning the ultimate end of this tedious tale is a tedious ending. Considering all the things that could be done with warrior-priests of Warhammer's interesting pantheon of Chaos gods, the disappointment merely deepens. I must confess I only read the first few pages of Dark Creed. I was not invested in any of the characters. I was not interested in how the plot was developing. Reynolds had had two whole novels to engage me, and had failed utterly in doing so. I actually started to feel anger at the book in my hands, which somehow had stumbled into publication likely due to its licensed tie-in nature, and its author, who really should have known better than to waste so much time with this absolutely interminable dreck. For a cadre of warriors chosen by both the Emperor and the Chaos gods for their faith and their skill in battle, there's no real conflict to be had in any of this story, not in any of the three novels. There's no scheming by or on behalf of the Chaos gods, no interesting rivalry or betrayal within the ranks as they vie for position, nothing. Everything plays out in the most flat and boring ways possible, any potentially engaging plotting or characterization is smacked down almost the moment it's raised, and even possessed chainswords and face-violating tentacle masks can't save this entire omnibus from being a complete waste of time. With all of the potential tension and rivalries between the Chaos gods, the inherent dichotomy of the nature of faith with the nature of perpetual warfare, and the colorful history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Word Bearers Omnibus could have been an interesting work of licensed fiction. It could have cast the villains of many a tale in this setting as complex, diverse characters instead of just heretics to be gunned down. Instead, we get over 700 pages of pointless gore and meandering plot that goes nowhere and adds nothing to either the overall fabric of the universe nor our lives. Save yourself the time and money this omnibus would waste, and skip it. I hear there are better novels on the Word Bearers in the Horus Heresy series, and I may check those out. This, however, shames the followers of Chaos, and the devotees of the dark gods should likely destroy it on sight. I could see followers of Khorne, especially, getting so pissed at its go-nowhere story and flat, dull characters that they start eating it.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Flash Fiction: The Knotted Tree

Flash Fiction: The Knotted Tree — Blue Ink Alchemy

Having missed the posting of the Super Ultra Mega Game of Aspects like a champ, I fired up the Brainstormer app to get this week's story going. The wheels gave me: Sacrifice for love, imperialist, forest animals. I may do the aforementioned Game of Aspects Thursday instead! We shall see.

Engelmore considered himself no more or less heroic than any other squirrel in the wood. He was an excellent climber, a fair hand at foraging, and loyal above all. Yet small and stealthy as he was, he had never passed the border of the wood marked by the Knotty Tree, which marked the end of King Stag's territory and the beginning of that conquered by the expansionist Wild Cat clans. Not until that day. He moved from branch to branch with practiced ease, swinging out from the Knotty Tree to the next one over. Already he could smell the change in the air. As he clambored down the tree into the undergrowth, decay and neglect crept into his small nostrils, threatening to strangle the memory of brighter, better smells not far behind his bushy tail. His paw twitched, too eager by half to unsheathe the sword he'd stol... er, borrowed from one of the hedgehogs who'd fallen asleep guarding one of the food stores the wood kept on behalf of King Stag for the winter. Engelmore was certain the hedgehog's name was Serverus, and he made a mental note to treat his 'victim' to an extra drink of ale when he returned. But the task was ahead, and home and ale would have to wait. Engelmore moved through the bushes and grass to the next tree, and the one after that. Under the less than pleasant smells, the marked territory and the other scents he didn't want to consider, he caught it - a hint of rosewater, a touch of jasmine on the wind. He was getting closer, and he prayed he was not too late as he picked up his pace. There was no telling how quickly the cats would get around to killing and eating what they caught. Sure enough, several of his fellow forest denizens were hanging by their hind legs from one of the trees he happened across. Two raccoons, a possum, and another squirrel. He crept up the trunk of the tree, wary for any signs of captors, and called down to the squirrel. "Gwendolyn! Gwendolyn!" The squirrel beneath him twisted against her bonds. "Engelmore? Is that you?" "It is! Are the other prisoners well?" "I think Ser Edmond is dead." She gestured towards the possum. "He has not moved in hours." "I live." The possum's voice was a soft croak. "Though only just." "I'm going to cut the lot of you free. It's not far to the ground. The Knotted Tree is to the west. You can make a break for it!" "But what about you?" Gwendolyn tried to get a better angle to look at Engelmore. "You are no knight, and these are Wild Cats." "No one else was close enough." Engelmore hated the taste of the lie as he set about cutting their ropes, but he would not presume to voice his true feelings, at least not with danger so close. "And what is this?" Silently, a pair of cats appeared from the boughs of the tree, one tabby and one calico, yellow eyes fixed on the intrepid squirrel before them. "Some fool come to join our feast of his own free will?" His tail back and rigid, Engelmore raised his sword. "Back, devils! Or taste the good and free steel of the Stag King!" "Oooh, sounds like the meal's talking back, Stelios." "That it does, Acheron." "We don't like meals that talk back, do we, Stelios?" "No, we don't, Acheron." Before he could think the better of it, Engelmore sliced the ropes holding the other creatures aloft, rather than carefully cutting them loose and lowering them. He heard soft thumps as they hit the undergrowth, and Stelios, the calico, pounced at the squirrel. For a moment, Engelmore saw only flashing claws and murderous eyes, and he raised his blade to defend himself. The steel bit fur and flesh, even as a claw opened his shoulder to the bone, and with a cry that was part fear, part pain, and part righteous anger, Engelmore shoved into the cat with all of his might. He was much smaller and weaker than the cat, but the interruption his sword had made in the predator's smooth landing had left it off-balance, and it toppled from the tree. Engelmore scrambled down himself, finding Gwendolyn, Ser Edmond and the others untying themselves. He pointed towards the west, holding his shoulder closed with his other paw. Together, they made for the Knotted Tree, even as the yowls of cats calling for reinforcements echoed behind them. Engelmore chanced a look behind them, and saw Acheron bounding out of the bushes towards them. Within sight of the Knotted Tree, he turned to face the oncoming tabby. "Engelmore!" The voice was Gwendolyn's, clear and sweet even in this dangerous time. "Go! Get to the Stag King! I will hold them off!" "Very brave, for a squirrel." Acheron's body was low to the ground, his movements cautious, patient. "But you know no squirrel achieves knighthood. You are not warriors." "Test me and find out." Engelmore kept both paws on his sword's hilt, as much as his shoulder pained him. "So be it. I will enjoy eating your innards." They circled each other for long moments, neither willing to give ground to the other. Their turning brought the Knotted Tree into Engelmore's vision, and he chanced a look in that direction. He saw Gwendolyn in the twisty boughs, with Ser Edmond, the raccoons, a skunk with a general's collar and one of the Stag King's buck princes, all watching him. Acheron chose that moment to pounce. "For the Stag King!!" Engelmore met his foe in mid-air, steel flashing in the sunlight. Gwendolyn would later tell of the sound of Engelmore's neck snapping, the war the Stag King declared, and the letters of confession left that spoke of Engelmore's love for her. The story is a favorite of young lovers throughout the Stag King's wood. It is the story of the first squirrel knight in history.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Monday, March 4, 2013

Turn And Face The Fit

Turn And Face The Fit — Blue Ink Alchemy

Some serious changes are continuing to happen on my end of things. I'm looking down the aperture of a legitimate workout regimen with the intent of finally losing a decent amount of weight. It's my hope that doing so will also yield higher levels of energy and motivation throughout the days and weeks. The life of a writer, gamer, and dayjob computer jockey are all sedentary, and to be blunt, it's past time I got off my fat ass. Flash Fiction tomorrow. I'll definitely be back on my normal blogging schedule next week.

Blue Ink Alchemy

Friday, March 1, 2013

Writer Report: A Writer's Numbers

Writer Report: A Writer's Numbers — Blue Ink Alchemy

Courtesy terribleminds So last week I talked about having goals, which in the case of the stories I'm writing means finishing Cold Streets and at least one other novel by the end of the year. The best way to get there, I would say, is one word at a time, but thanks to Chuck, I can move at a bit faster pace than that. Writing a novel in less than a year can seem daunting, even to experienced authors and especially to mostly untested wordsmiths like myself. We're talking tens if not hundreds of thousands of words, all within an ultimately limited timeframe. Like a pizza or a cake, however, you can manage things better if you divide it into smaller pieces. Hence this handy guide from Master Wendig. I highly suggest you check it out. Other than last night, I've managed to stick to this, even working on multiple stories in one night. It definitely is easier to grok what needs to be accomplished when you're worrying only about the next 350 words, not the next 3500. Weekends off is a neat idea, but I might squeeze in a few words here and there. I'll also be checking out a local gym or two and building myself up to start running. This year already feels different...

Blue Ink Alchemy

Blue Ink Alchemy

Thursday, March 7, 2013