In Defense of Short Games

Every so often I hear someone complaining about how short a video game is and I always break it down the same way. A movie is about $12 (pre-upgrades) for two hours of content. Why do we then have a different set of standards for video games? I love ending a game and wanting more. That's the best criticism anyway isn't it. "I didn't want this to end."

John Waters puts a 90 minute cap on all of his movies and I think that's a great way to ensure that the film your creating is boiled down to essential parts.

Some of my favorite modern short games:

• Portal
• Journey
• Uncharted
• Fez
• Steamworld Dig

Numbers 16:32 Is Done

Officially finished the short story last night and it's off to my reviewers. Like I said in an earlier post this is more in the novelette range, but should prove to be a swift read. 

Giving it about a week for the readers to get back and it should be available on e-readers. More on that soon.

I tried to find a video about farms to celebrate the face that the lead character is a farmer and ended up with this gameplay video of a farming game. Enjoy?

Patchwork Art: Group 2

Here's two more concept pieces for the Patchwork book. I think we have our bases covered here. I'm amazed how similar and different these first four turned out. Always looking for more styles to try even though I think I have a favorite. Can you guess which one?

The Writing List

I'm getting faster at my writing now that I've found my groove on the train. Here's the backlog I'm working through in no particular order. Some of this I'll never get to, but it's fun to list out my options.

• Patchwork 2 & 3
• Royal Ladybugs
• Knuckle Justice
• That Other Robot Story
• Generations of Quantum Theory
• Cigarettes for Breakfast
• Sangrimal 
• Blood Patriots
• Small Town Wolves

If you see me on the train, be sure to ask which one I'm working on at the time.

Patchwork Art: Group 1

I'm playing around with the concept of illustrating the first Patchwork book. While I'm waiting for my second round of proofing, I was encouraged to fish for artists interested in joining Team Patchwork. 

I gave five people the same character description from the book and told them to do whatever they liked. Here's the first two that got back to me. I'll post the other three soon. We all seem to have different favorites out of the first five.