Writing

Stuff that I have written.

O’Reilly picks up, reprints A Theory of Fun

 Posted by (Visited 8890 times)  Game talk, Writing
Jan 142009
 

I now have official word that A Theory of Fun for Game Design will be published by O’Reilly. They are going back to press on it pretty much immediately to meet the giant pile of backorders (like, well over a thousand), so hopefully everyone waiting for a copy will be able to get one for less than $200 in the next few months.

I am thrilled about this — it’s new life for the book, and the possibility of even some fresh momentum. I get asked about getting a hold of copies every single week, sometimes multiple times.

The question has also come up regarding updates. I’d have to re-read it closely, but although there have been lots of studies that have come out since publication that seem to reinforce the points the book makes, I haven’t seen anything to substantially alter the thrust of the argument. You?

Also, if there were any sort of update, the commonest thing I have heard requests for is to actually have endnote numbers, since it is used a lot in academia. Anything else? (No, not color cartoons…)

The Sunday Poem: Since the Zombies Came

 Posted by (Visited 8074 times)  The Sunday Poem  Tagged with: , ,
Jan 042009
 

Between Left 4 Dead, and The Last Guy, I think something got into my head. 😉

Since the Zombies Came

Since the zombies came, you can’t get decent sushi;
Zombie sludge, it spoils fish like nothing doing.
And all the second hand stores, they had to close up shop…
Stains just don’t wash out the way they used to, do they?

Stuff that’s better – well, the horror flicks, of course. Duh.
Extras just show up. And don’t need paid, or credit.
Watch at home, though! Darkened cineplexes…
Real bad news. Though crowds are thinner at the malls now.

‘Sides, the zombies, mostly peaceful, right? Like yoga,
Tai chi, meditation, all that shit. OMMMM, then
Nom nom BRAAAIIIINS. They mostly stand and stare in corners
Seeing into places we cannot with jelly

Eyes and dreaming of the sushi and the clothes, the
Pay and credit, ordinary hungers (BRAAAIIIINS), good
Posture, faces still intact, more moods than one… sad.
Pity them; resent them, for the sushi’s sake.

Worse? It could be worse, sure. Aliens are worse, right?
Zombies get you, BRAAAIIIINS, you’re dead, undead, whatever.
Aliens, you live on screaming, tentacles in
Awkward places, slaved. I’d rather eat my friends, thanks.

Continue reading »

The Sunday Poem/Song in progress: The Road II

 Posted by (Visited 8064 times)  Music, The Sunday Poem
Dec 292008
 

Once you know the shape of the passage, and just how rough the road,
You’d think that it would be easier, but it’s still so hard to go.

We always have to part at the doorway, as I put on my shoes;
You give me a jacket and that wistful smile, and say “Careful out there, silly goose.”

Maybe the issue is the things that I can see that are left behind;
There are parts of me you’re keeping close, and parts of me lost to time.

There are boxes full of our old aspirations, and that one there holds our youth,
There’s crazy music coming from that one — and that one used to have truth.

When there are bridges to cross that sway in the wind, and adventure at every turn,
Wild jungles full of mystery and so many new things to learn,

I always mention that you could come, but you just always shake your head:
“Too much to do here at home, someone has to make the bed…”

But do these shelves hold all of the meaning?
If the dust is blown off, can we fly with the sun?

Or do these these pages sit here, quiet,
until all of the sun setting is done?

I try to remember to bring back a gift, from all those foreign climes
But somehow most of them are dust, even if I get them home in time.

“I swear, this was gold, that was precious diamond, and this one here was fragrant wine…”
But you brush them aside with relief in your eyes, and choose instead to hold me tight.

You say you know the shape of the passage, and just how rough the road.
You act like it should be easy for you now, but it’s still so hard to let go.

Amazon says Theory of Fun is coming

 Posted by (Visited 4691 times)  Game talk, Writing  Tagged with:
Dec 052008
 

Sort of. Several folks let me know they got order update emails — and i got one too. What does it say?

We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on August 29 2008 20:02 PDT (Order# 002-8006376-3950630):

Raph Koster (Author) “Theory of Fun for Game Design [Illustrated]”
[Paperback]
Estimated arrival date: 05/07/2009

Sigh.

The Sunday Poem: From Kabul to Kandahar

 Posted by (Visited 7732 times)  The Sunday Poem  Tagged with: ,
Nov 162008
 

…The highway between Kabul and Kandahar was supposed to be a success story. Completed in 2003, it has instead become a symbol of all that plagues Afghanistan: insecurity, corruption and the radical Islamic insurgency that feeds off both.

—Aryn Baker, Time Magazine, Oct 31, 2008

“This is my road,” Saboor says: a dust
Track gone the long way through the desert rocks.

He drives the bus, two times a week, trusting
Life and face to dirt he smears across

His lips, a beard to baffle Taliban.
He wears mechanic’s clothes: a claim the road

Then makes on him, a thieving in the sand,
The way last week the robbers burst and stole

The crates with chickens, goats a-leash, the wealth
That masquerades as dirt itself, the greens.

I ask him, does he fear insurgent’s stealth,
The bark of guns, the bullet’s code, the dream,

When east Sarobi’s tea shops dish fruit cold and sweet,
Pomegranates, porcelain plates, nuts and honey treats,
The scent of lamb in stew, the simmering of the meat –

He shrugs. Stolid, fleet. He says, “This is my road.”
It is a dust track where the accent makes the meaning.

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