[Spoiler warning: The following post covers some potentially triggering content and contains major plot spoilers for Life is Strange Episode 2: Out of Time and some slight conversation/situation based spoilers for Life is Strange Episode 3: Chaos Theory.] The warning signs were there from the start of the second episode: […]
life is strange
27 posts
Miguel Sicart defines games as systems “in which the rules force the player to face ethical dilemmas, or in which the rules themselves raise ethical issues.” The game rules force players to interact in specific ways in order to confront ethical issues. In this manner, Life is Strange asks players to […]
In the first of what we hope will be a robust series, we present a critically focused Let’s Play of the second episode of Dontnod Entertainment’s Life Is Strange, in which we explore representation, characterization, mechanics, branching narratives, and choice lines from two very different playthroughs.
This week, I’ve been playing Life is Strange, rereading I am Charlotte Simmons, and thinking about unlikable characters. Both Life is Strange and I am Charlotte Simmons are filled with characters that I just do not like, but nevertheless I’m fully invested in both narratives this week. Unlikable characters often […]
Life Is Strange is shaping up to be one of the most innovative games around right now, but the innovation is so invisible and well crafted that you might not even see it. Dontnod’s sophomore effort is taking the dramatic episodic adventure to all new levels with the second installment, “Out of […]
The first day at PAX East is extremely overwhelming. As the escalator descended into a landscape of colossal screens and mainstream logos, I wove through throng after thong of colorful cosplayers and eager gamers on the EXPO floor. I attempted to wait in line for the Oculus Rift but the […]
Fresh from multiple narrative and writing based GDC panels, my head has been full of theories on best incorporating narrative into game design and all the ways narrative reveals itself in games. At one writing roundtable today, an attendee proposed a question on how to explore and build a game’s […]
What exactly marks a good writer? I don’t know that there’s a real answer, even with two creative writing degrees under my belt. I can break down a story and analyze the elements, the way everything fits together, the way it might weigh in on various scales of quality, both […]
Episode 95: Strange Choices: Discussion of Life is Strange (Episode One) (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) This week we talk about the first installment of DontNod’s episode game, Life is Strange. Spoiler alert, we talk about the entire episode.
My post for today was going to be specifically about Evan Narcisse’s article that talked about video games’ blackness problem, but as I sit down to write I find that it is only going to be tangentially connected. Video games do have a blackness problem…and so do video game players. […]
DontNod Entertainment’s new episodic game, Life is Strange is the studio’s answer to the variety of games coming from Tell Tale Games. Life is Strange is point and click with an original storyline and a young female protagonist, Max, who attending high school, Blackwell Academy, in a small town in […]