I will use my own self-promotion prompt to share that I've collected all of Michael Gerber's essays for Viral Load in one spot, so you can read them all in one very long sitting: https://theamericanbystander.substack.com/t/mg-goes-long
Thanks for being better at promoting my work than I am, apparently. How about this...
I am a narrative designer with +15 years experience in the game industry and a love for interactive storytelling. Next month, I’m opening up to new projects. Past clients include Ubisoft, Capcom, Disney, and Square Enix, and indie studios around the world. If you’re looking for a game writer, check out my recent work and contact me at geoffreygolden.com.
I love me a good story-driven game (Thief is my all-time fave). I’ve long wondered what that writing process is like--it must be so different to storytell that way.
We often use the basic building blocks of linear storytelling - a protagonist with a clear goal, scenes with conflict, characters who evolve and grow - but we also work to balance how the narrative can feel responsive to player feedback in a satisfying way while not blowing up the scope of the project or altering intended subtext. So, in some ways similar, but yeah, it can also be very different.
I'm about a decade younger than you but I'm also a school teacher, constantly assaulted by youth. (Less often: assaulted by youths.) But I say "kids today," I think about death a wee bit more than is typical, and I frequently feel like I can't shake my own failures. Either I'm getting this stuff out of the way now, or I'm gearing up for one hell of a mid-life crisis.
I read a writer say that anyone older than 35 is not a young man so...I guess that's what I'm feeling? The thing I've noticed at this precise stage of things is that it feels like all my friends are...what they are? Like I have rich friends now, friends who got rich I mean. They live in fancy houses in rich neighborhoods. It's like, OH, right, they went to law school. RIGHT. RIGHT, that was the idea. Right, decisions, they have consequences.
Anyway, thanks for this one, and A+ for self-promoting!
I think you're mostly getting stuff out the way. It'll be a soft landing. Mild ennui. I can't say the same for your law school friends, though. Lawyers tend to go big on the mid life crisis.
I’ll promote my newsletter: it’s Zuko’s Musings, and it’s part intellectual natterings on nerdy subjects, part unhinged memoir. Or is that personal essay? I was attempting to teach some grad students the difference between the two last week and I still have no idea.
Through it, I’ll side-promote my ribald variety show, Blue Dime Cabaret. Which is a huge hoot, taking place monthly in a queer distillery in Boulder, CO. @bluedimecabaret on Insta.
I will use my own self-promotion prompt to share that I've collected all of Michael Gerber's essays for Viral Load in one spot, so you can read them all in one very long sitting: https://theamericanbystander.substack.com/t/mg-goes-long
I’ve been called out! I am he who is out called!
Thanks for being better at promoting my work than I am, apparently. How about this...
I am a narrative designer with +15 years experience in the game industry and a love for interactive storytelling. Next month, I’m opening up to new projects. Past clients include Ubisoft, Capcom, Disney, and Square Enix, and indie studios around the world. If you’re looking for a game writer, check out my recent work and contact me at geoffreygolden.com.
Better?
Awwwwwww yeah, that's the stuff.
I love me a good story-driven game (Thief is my all-time fave). I’ve long wondered what that writing process is like--it must be so different to storytell that way.
We often use the basic building blocks of linear storytelling - a protagonist with a clear goal, scenes with conflict, characters who evolve and grow - but we also work to balance how the narrative can feel responsive to player feedback in a satisfying way while not blowing up the scope of the project or altering intended subtext. So, in some ways similar, but yeah, it can also be very different.
Not enough?? Well, you're in luck because this silly comedy piece is guaranteed to increase bone density in at least no known instances.
https://clippingsilver.substack.com/p/what-is-arcturus
Today's funny brought to you by Buttery Flaky Pie makers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIrQ9ilL8aw
I wasn't going to share any self-promo, but I think it's important to show Geoffrey how it's done. Anyway, here's an essay I wrote about middle age. https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelestrin/p/ask-your-friends-if-middle-age-is?r=1fqhx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I'm about a decade younger than you but I'm also a school teacher, constantly assaulted by youth. (Less often: assaulted by youths.) But I say "kids today," I think about death a wee bit more than is typical, and I frequently feel like I can't shake my own failures. Either I'm getting this stuff out of the way now, or I'm gearing up for one hell of a mid-life crisis.
I read a writer say that anyone older than 35 is not a young man so...I guess that's what I'm feeling? The thing I've noticed at this precise stage of things is that it feels like all my friends are...what they are? Like I have rich friends now, friends who got rich I mean. They live in fancy houses in rich neighborhoods. It's like, OH, right, they went to law school. RIGHT. RIGHT, that was the idea. Right, decisions, they have consequences.
Anyway, thanks for this one, and A+ for self-promoting!
I think you're mostly getting stuff out the way. It'll be a soft landing. Mild ennui. I can't say the same for your law school friends, though. Lawyers tend to go big on the mid life crisis.
This is going to be great for my schadenfreude!!
Exactly! Find that silver lining wherever you can. You're gonna rock middle age, Michael!
I’ll promote my newsletter: it’s Zuko’s Musings, and it’s part intellectual natterings on nerdy subjects, part unhinged memoir. Or is that personal essay? I was attempting to teach some grad students the difference between the two last week and I still have no idea.
Jenn5c3s4.Substack.com
Through it, I’ll side-promote my ribald variety show, Blue Dime Cabaret. Which is a huge hoot, taking place monthly in a queer distillery in Boulder, CO. @bluedimecabaret on Insta.
I gotta get to Boulder!
I grew up there, though I don't live there anymore. It's a wild place, lemme tell ya...