There is a lot of amazing music in games. From the early 8bit days until now some of the best music written on this planet has been written in the service of games. The particular repetitive nature of game music has made it memorable both by circumstance and design. We have roughly 50 years worth of game music available to us. It would be pretty easy to argue that only since the 8bit era has game music been really great. Let’s call it 35 years. Since the NES and the 8bit computers, music for games has been increasingly spectacular. From the bouncy notes of Super Mario Bros. to the choral soundscapes of Halo to the surging metal power of Doom Eternal, music is an integral part of the video game experience. So why then do almost no game soundtracks have lyrics?

Best Games - Batman: The Video Game Look at this. Just look at it. Okay. You seen that. Now look at this.

When you are expecting a new baby everyone is keen to tell you about all of the firsts. There will be a first poop. A first step. A first fall. A first full night sleep. A first real laugh. A first word. A first illness. A first solid meal. A first sentence. A first day of school. There are so many firsts to anticipate. So many firsts that seem so important. So many that you try to record or inscribe to memory. Most of them will be quickly lost amidst a flood of seconds and thirds and so on. Some you will regret losing to time, some will be better lost. Some will burn so deep in you that you will recall them perfectly and often for years after. What people never tell you is all the lasts. There will be a last diaper. A last toddlers tantrum. There will be a last breastfeed. A last daytime nap. Lasts are usually things you are glad are over. I think this is why people don’t mention them. That last diaper is a real relief and something to look forward to, but you won’t remember it. Every night before bed I would read to my kids. There was probably a first bedtime story for us, but I don’t remember what it was. The last was only a few months ago. That was a last that will stick with me. They like to read on their own now. At night or whenever. I understand it and appreciate it, but I don’t have to like it. Over the years we went from reading picture books and small short stories to entire series of novels. I didn’t keep count but I know that I have read, out loud, at least 50 novels to my kids. Some of them I did voices for the different characters. Some I didn’t. Some were so dull I would tune out and think about something else while I said the words on the page. Some I had to fight back tears to read certain scenes. During some of them, everyone was fighting back tears. Doing that every night. Reading stories out loud. That’s the sort of thing that wears a groove into your heart. Giving that up, giving up reading to them wasn’t something I wanted to do. Of course there are lasts. I knew that this would be one of them. I knew it, but I don’t have to like it. I know that when the next book in the Kingkiller Chronicle series comes out, I will likely read it on my own, as will they. We will be able to talk about it and discuss it and share it in the way that adults and young adults typically share stories, but I probably won’t read it out loud to them. That stings a little. But for them and for me I know it’s okay. Things change and just as there are firsts, there are lasts. As long as everyone is safe and healthy, lasts are something we all just need to accept. I know it’s more difficult for me than it is for them. Don’t be too surprised if I start reading some of these posts and recording them. I’ll just call it therapy.

Here is a concept painting squeezed down to 30 seconds. Enjoy.

I started this one by quickly smashing some color down and starting the characters form and pose. After two false starts I finally got an angle that I thought I could work with and build on.

Best Games - Karateka Fighting games are all about range and timing. You press the kick button of this side of the screen and a few milliseconds later your character has their leg extended reaching for the unguarded midsection of your opponent. Let that kick fly from too far a distance and the game’s hidden collision boxes strike nothing. Too close and your opponent can intercept with a shorter range, but slightly quicker attack of their own. Range and timing.

sadstronaut

This guy here came out of the new resin 3d printer currently humming along in my basement. I think I would like to make more of this sort of thing. Miniatures, figurines, toys. When I work on the game I'm making, I think of all the characters in terms of action figures and toys. They have to look like they are meant to be played with. The robot characters I designed for Neon Noodles have an air of "miniature" about them. I've sort of always wanted to make stuff like this guy. I suppose this printer is one more tool to making that happen.

Best Games - Metal Gear Solid V Imagine you are in a forest. It’s a pleasant day. You hear birds chirping in the treetops above you. Enough shade to be cool, enough sunlight to be warm. There is a shallow creek in your path that you would like to cross. What do you do?

​I have had a 3D printer for about 5 years. This is it. Right from the hop this thing never worked right. Turns out, after running the thing through all sorts of tests, the board that came with it had a counterfeit chip. Oh sure it could move around and print plastic bits, but it never really worked the way it was supposed to. I have had to recalibrate it several times and each time it would run well for months and then suddenly screw up a batch of prints. Then it would be time to recalibrate it again.

I’ve been doing some work over here. I try to write on it at least once a week, but I haven’t been posting them up because most of what I have been writing doesn’t directly follow what is already there. I have some holes in the story. Great wide gaping ones. Ones that would cause the whole thing not make a lot of sense if you tried to read it. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a story that would be much fun if you randomly came across it.

Best Games - Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back Action video games are all about feel. The feel of connection between your fingertips and flickering pools of light on a screen. Get that feel wrong and it won’t matter how clever your mechanics are or how inventive your puzzles or how engaging your story, no one will want to play it. Get that feel right and it won’t matter that every other aspect of the game comes up short.

I have played two games recently that only exist because of the terrible power of nostalgia. Ah nostalgia, come to bite us again have you? I’m glad these games exist because they are both good, but nostalgia did them no favours in a couple of different ways. I’ll get to that. First, the requisite old man recap.