Hey, so unlike many of my previous blogs which were hosted on various services (blogspot, tumblr, wordpress.com), for what looks like about a year, I self-hosted loseyourway.net which was cool because it let me really own my individual style (and what a style! damn, 2013-2014 droqen & offal!), but less cool because then I deleted the database and didn’t know how to archive things.
Luckily, the wayback machine exists, and many of my old posts have been archived. Unluckily, it loads slowly and it’s a bit awkward. So I made this little blog just to archive my old posts verbatim. Enjoy! — droqen the self-archivist. March 20, 2021.
blog posts from 2013-2014 (12)
- Lose Your Way is back again!by DroqenI lost my whole damn post to browser folly! What a way to be reborn from the ashes. @_@ Here’s your introduction to me, to this place: I’m Droqen, and I make games because I love creating and exploring systems, spaces, rules — and recently I haven’t been enjoying that many! I’ve been too busyContinue reading “Lose Your Way is back again!”
- The Arbitrary or Authored Loss of Control against Perfect & Natural Avatarsby DroqenWhen you play a game, who are you? Are you your character’s mind controlling his every move or just a strange choice-making entity? He is ‘your’ character only when the creator gives up her power over him — over you. Are you in control? Don’t fool yourself, player. For a moment, let’s consider the oldContinue reading “The Arbitrary or Authored Loss of Control against Perfect & Natural Avatars”
- How to play Ace of Spades and not hate itby Droqen“Ace of Spades is a sandbox building and FPS game, originally developed by Ben Aksoy for the PC and released in 2011 as a beta version. In late 2012, RuneScape developer, Jagex, announced that they would take over development of the game, making it payware on Steam and updating its gameplay. The game is currentlyContinue reading “How to play Ace of Spades and not hate it”
- Whyproof to 5,000 feetby Droqen‘Immersion’ is a difficult word. On one hand, the barrier between fiction and reality is clear; the events in a piece of fiction are not actually happening as you experience them, and mostly everyone understands and accepts that. On the other hand (of course there’s another hand), the barrier is fuzzy! We empathize with imaginedContinue reading “Whyproof to 5,000 feet”
- Falling off the edge of the worldby DroqenGames are finite, and we consume them. We gobble them up whole and utterly destroy them. I am going to keep this blog post short — I promise. The other day I was playing the Undertale Demo (it’s amazing, by the way), and I did something bad. I made some bad decisions because I thoughtContinue reading “Falling off the edge of the world”
- Action in Contextby DroqenOverworlds are cool and amazing and you could probably be paying more attention to them than you are right now. The reason: Context. At any given point in any given game you can stop in your tracks and think (well, in some games you can’t literally stop in your tracks, but you can probably mentallyContinue reading “Action in Context”
- FJORDSby DroqenI started printscreening a map of FJORDS on the streetcar the other day. I have only done this once before, for a game called LA-MULANA. If you know me and how much I talk about La-Mulana, that’s… a big deal. Sure: I’ve drawn many maps before, but at some point a game becomes too large,Continue reading “FJORDS”
- relaxing undirected notepad thoughtby DroqenDescribe, through words, how something functions. This is easier than prototyping systems that will eventually become a great massive thing. When you pull the trigger of a gun, it throws a hammer forward that strikes the exploding end of a (cartridge?). This explosion propels the head of the cartridge, or the “bullet”, forward. However, thereContinue reading “relaxing undirected notepad thought”
- the last of us ramblingsby DroqenThe Last of Us had me struggling with my inner nature as a game designer as I played through it; I made some tweets about it & its ilk — game+movie videogame hybrids (including the ‘in-game cutscene’ stuff that amounts to walking around, maybe doing stuff, while the characters talk). Alright. So, let’s start thisContinue reading “the last of us ramblings”
- let’s watch the starry sky shineby DroqenStarseed Pilgrim has been a journey. I can hardly remember what I thought of it so long ago — before common opinion of it took over! — but it’s strange realizing, remembering, that it wasn’t always an unfathomable exploration of space. It isn’t that it was so terribly different before but that I saw itContinue reading “let’s watch the starry sky shine”
- precise terminology, pt. 1by DroqenHaving the right words to say what you want to say is a matter of precision and accuracy. These are two words I learned the real meaning of in a science class in grade 10. One without the other is worthless. precise & not accurate A precise measurement that is not accurate simply has aContinue reading “precise terminology, pt. 1”
- MULTIPLAY: Filo Filo Discoby DroqenFilo Filo Disco is a competitive two-player disco deathmatch of artful dodging, disc slinging and split-second life-or-death decision. As you learn to pick out the different actors at play, and learn how each behaves, peculiar strategies and risky trick-shot maneuvers begin to emerge. Play long enough and you’ll find yourself buffing up discs, constructing makeshift defenses, andContinue reading “MULTIPLAY: Filo Filo Disco”
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