writingongames

NEW VIDEO! These Indie Games Will Give You Hope For Gaming's Future (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that the new video is now available ad-free via the link above! The games industry feels broken at the moment, especially if all you're looking at is the AAA side of things. Indie showcases like Steam Next Fest, however, give me hope for the future of the medium. Let's talk about the demos I played during Next Fest that you need to pay attention to, and why they're decidedly not in the AAA sphere.

So first off, I'm so sorry this took so long to ...

New Audio! So, How Does MGS' Codec Actually Work?!

Hey again!

Here's the second of my posts for the month, about a video that is equally close to completion. Here's the audio at least for now, about the rules we expect games to adhere to as opposed to other media, through the lens of something that is barely explained in the Metal Gear Solid series. This one was a lot of fun to write and I'm excited to get it out there.

Thank you all so much once again and I'll get everything done very soon! I might get some rest now (I've been w...

First post of the end of the month: several thousand words on Steam Next Fest games (vids coming soon I promise)

Hey everyone!

It's that time of month where I update you on what's going on with video projects so I can afford to eat while getting them done, lol.

First off, I'm so unbelievably sorry that videos are taking so long, and rest assured they will be with you very very soon. The Elden Ring Bingo one, the MGS codec deep dive, the problem with the games industry one, and this one talking about how cool the Steam Next Fest games have been. I seriously cannot apologise enough and I am so...

New Audio 2 (again, video coming soon): The REAL Problem With Modern Gaming

Hello again!

As promised, here's the second work in progress audio for the video I'm working on. Some of you might recognise this as a script I posted a while back, but honestly I've gone back and forth on this so much, changed so much about the script and the associated video edit, that it's taken so much more time than expected. Once again, as always, I hope you can understand, I thank you so so much for your support that allows me to eat food for the month, and the resulting video I ...

New Audio (video coming v soon): Why You Need to Be Watching Elden Ring Bingo

Hello everyone!

Hope you're all well after the holiday period. I've been hard at work on about a million different things as usual, and as usual I'm posting what I've got at the very end of the month so that, well, I can afford to pay for food next month. Video portions will be coming very soon, and because I've spent a long time doing work on other video scripts and edits in the meantime, I'm planning on having at least three videos to release next month. I hope you're as excited as I ...

New(ish) Video! The Worrying Problem With AI Video Games (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

Just uploading this as it didn't work in November—the AI Minecraft video, but ad-free!

Talk of generative AI feels like it's taken over every facet of modern life, and games are no exception. Oasis represents the first AI generated open world game, if its developer's website is to be believed and, well... it's Minecraft. But it's way, way worse. AI Minecraft is the worst game I've ever played. It's bad in ways you wouldn't believe—broken and unstable in a way th...

New Video! Coming to Terms With Death Stranding, Five Years Later (sponsor-free!)

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that the new video is available to Patreon supporters early! It'll be going up on the main channel once the sponsor (first one I've worked with in a while) approves things. But seeing as you are all directly supporting the channel, you don't have to sit through that guff! Plus you get to see it before everyone else!

Death Stranding represents one of the most complicated relationships I've ever had with a game. Releasing half a decade ago in 2019...

Second script! Well, at least a portion of it... Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Is Not A Skateboarding Game

Hey again!

This is the second bit of writing I've been working on, and it's one I've had in my head for literally years now. I'm still working out a couple of the finer points, so this is just the intro for now. The rest of the piece goes deeper for sure. Essentially I became fascinated by this idea that a big reason why Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ultimately fizzled out, with that fervour around its r...

First script of two! Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is Propaganda

Hey everyone!

Doing the usual thing of posting scripts for which the video portions will soon follow, just so I don't have a month of no income which would make things, uh, extremely difficult. The MGS video, as you can imagine, took a lot out of me, and it...

Here's the finalised Metal Gear video, ad-free!

Hey everyone!

I've been catching up on sleep and generally chilling out for the day after working pretty consistently for... god knows how long, but I figured I'd upload the finalised version of the Metal Gear video without any ads for you all. Feeling relieved that it's finally out there, and proud of the final product. Thanks to all that have checked it out so far—seriously appreciated. Much more to come soon!

Thanks again,

Hamish

Writing on Games

New Video! Can A Game Capture A City? (Patreon exclusive!)

Hey everyone,

Just letting you know that the new Patreon-exclusive video is now available! This is one I posted the audio for a few days ago, and here's the promised video component.

I've been on a total Michael Mann kick lately, which got me thinking about the concept of the city, specifically in reference to Mann's consistent depiction of the existential disarray and unease found within his frequent backdrop—Los Angeles, and a depiction that, as explored in the piece, I find m...

New Audio (video coming very soon): Can a Game Capture a City?

Hey again everyone,

I'm just uploading this audio version of the next episode in time for Patreon's month-end deadline, in case I end up falling asleep while editing this video part because, uh... I'm very tired. The video is probably a couple of hours from being uploaded, but sleep pending it may end up being early tomorrow. Once again, I will keep you posted and I cannot thank you enough for your patience, understanding and continued support.

This one is fun though—basically ...

New Video (1 of 2)! How Metal Gear Solid's Bosses Changed (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

IT'S FINALLY DONE (well, basically—I still need to do one more small pass to sort out more music before I make it public, but I figured you'd want to see what I've spent the last several months working on). I recently felt compelled to replay Metal Gear Solid 1, which I enjoyed so much that it morphed into a revisit of the entire series, at which point I realised—what other series has this many bosses that are truly iconic of their series? Not simply "fights t...

...and here's the other thing I've been working on!

Hey everyone (again),

As per the last post, here's the other thing I've been working on. Similarly this is a work in progress right now, but putting this through as a paid post now just means that I'm not without income for the next month which would obviously be a big help. This one is not going to take as long to finish as the Metal Gear Solid behemoth, obviously. As with that piece, I'm working on this pretty constantly.

The thing is, the script was already largely don...

A Dissertation-and-a-Half on Metal Gear Solid's Bosses (and a conundrum I hope you'll understand)

Hello everyone!

I'm so sorry for the lac

Script 2 of 2! How Does Metal Gear Solid's Codec Actually Work?

As stated in the last post, here's script 2 of 2 for the month—again, the video portion should hopefully be coming in the next week, and again you won't be charged for it when it's done, as this script will be going through as a paid post instead (basically means I can actually work on this stuff and sleep knowing I can pay my rent next month, haha).

This one was fun though, and parts of it might make more sense when the video portion is done, but it uses the codec from Metal Gear Sol...

Update and script 1 of 2! How Metal Gear Solid's Bosses Evolved (extract)

Hi everyone,

First off, sorry for the lack of posts on here this month. As usual I've been working on about a billion things at once, and this month one of the things in particular has been a biggie—a video in the style of one of my Hitman mission analysis pieces on the evolving boss design of the Metal Gear Solid series. I'm just going to be posting an extract today (the section on Peace Walker) because there are some parts I'm wanting to alter throughout the rest of the script

New video—over an hour of me answering your questions!

Hey everyone!

I put out a call for Q&A questions a few weeks back and you were all kind enough to oblige, so as promised here is the video where I answer said questions! We're talking the Armored Core video, video game music, longform videos, deviating from wider critical consensus, playing games more mindfully, and also why lions would be weak against, like, two Pokemon. Lots more too!

I really enjoyed doing this—I talk about it in the video but I've missed podcasting as an...

New video! A Review of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (ad-free)

Hey everyone!

Just to let you know that the new video is now available, ad-free via the player above!

Elden Ring's much anticipated DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, marks the first time I've been able to review a new Souls-adjacent game in over eight years. When I reviewed Dark Souls 3, I asserted that thanks to the high difficulty of these games, reviewing them can be a stressful experience. In the case of Shadow of the Erdtree, the difficulty is that the DLC is so ridiculously vast ...

Hello free members/call for Q&A questions!

Hey everyone!

As the title suggests, I wanted to say hello to all those people who have signed up as free members. Patreon introduced this as a feature a few months back and honestly I've never really known what to do with it, despite a fairly steady stream of people registering their interest.

I guess the free tier is just for people wanting updates or something? Either way, while my focus on here is definitely providing bang for people's buck in the form of a bunch of exclusive ...

New video! A Personal Examination of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

Just to let you know that the new video is now available, ad-free for patrons!

How does one preview an expansion for what is already one of the most expansive, flexible games ever made? When so much of what players enjoy and don't is going to come down to granular choices made in terms of build, an expansion as massive as Shadow of the Erdtree, coming two years after Elden Ring's release, is only going to complicate matters—making it impossible to state with any de...

New Video! Balatro and the Killing of Time (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that the new video is now available! Decided last minute to keep it Patreon exclusive for now, might put it out to the public at some point if I'm feeling brave, haha.

This one concerns the poker-roguelike and bonafide indie smash hit Balatro—a game my friends and I... hell, everyone has poured countless hours into. Surely with that level of commitment, I must think it's fantastic, right? Surely it's a game of the year contender? Well, honestl...

New video (well, the audio, the video is uploading as we speak)! Balatro and the Killing of Time

Hey everyone!

As stated in the title for this post, here's the audio for the new video on Balatro—cutting it pretty close to Patreon's month-end deadline for videos to be posted so I'm just putting this here as a placeholder so I can definitely pay my rent next month, haha. The video portion is being uploaded right now and I'll be posting that soon—as always with this stuff, this post will be charged, but the final video portion won't, so don't worry.

I'll save the big descri...

New Video! The Games Industry is Completely Broken, and This is Why

Hey everyone!

Letting you know that there's a new video available, ad-free via the link above! I am angry at the state of the games industry. Even when the higher ups at game companies were at their greediest, you could usually at least understand the logic behind their decisions. With the recent, baffling news that Microsoft is to shutter Tango Gameworks (among others), despite the studio providing Xbox a bonafide smash hit in the form of Hi-Fi Rush (on top of countless other layoffs a...

New (work in progress) Video! The REAL Problem With Modern Gaming

Hey everyone!

Just to give you a taste of the upcoming video, here's a work in progress version! The video portion doesn't really correlate with much of what is being said in the video right now, but while I'm finishing that actual edit off I figured I'd post something for Patreon at the end of the month and give you something to look at while focusing on the audio for now. Hope that's OK—thanks so much for your patience, the fully edited video will be with you very soon.

If the...

New Video! Stellar Blade is a Wonderful Mess (Patreon version)

Hey everyone,

Just letting you know that the new video is now available for all patrons, ad-free!

Stellar Blade is a game I had zero expectations for, so when Sony sent me a code, I was basically going in blind. What I found was a game that was often frustrating—shoddy platforming, stiff storytelling, odd puzzles, bad checkpointing—but bolstered by a fantastic combat system that makes you feel like the anime protagonist you're designed as, the game ended up reminding me that ...

New Video! A Review of Rise of the Ronin (Patreon exclusive!)

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that the new Patreon exclusive video is now available for you all! This is one I didn't even know if I was going to get to make—a review of Sony's latest big release, Rise of the Ronin. I got sent code for it about a month ago now, and on its surface, it's so Aggressively Fine that it doesn't warrant much scrutiny—I mean honestly, almost everyone has basically forgotten about it already.

That said, I've found myself dying to talk about it in...

New video! You Shouldn't Want "Perfect" Games (ad-free!)

Hey everyone!

Once again, thanks so much for your patience while I sorted out the video portion of this. It's finally here though! With the recent release of Dragon's Dogma 2, I've seen a lot of talk of required "optimisations" and "quality-of-life features," and a lot of angry talk of how the game is "wasting players' time" thanks to its limiting of industry standards like fast travel. All this talk got me thinking—in what world would I want art to be more "efficient"? Why would I wa...

New Audio (video coming v soon, 2 of 2)! A Review of Rise of the Ronin

Hey everyone!

Working hard as hell to bring you the next two videos—posting the audio for both before the month-end Patreon cut off point, which will make the next month and the videos therein (Ace Combat/Mad Max) so, so much easier on me financially. Your understanding is greatly appreciated. The videos for both will be available in the next 24 hours, and you will only be charged for these two posts. As usual, when I post the actual videos, you will not be charged for those p...