- The insistent ramblings of creative writer and game industry veteran Joe Houston.Learn more...
games Archive
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Fairy Tales for Adults: Framing Game Violence
Posted on January 20, 2013 | Posted In: The Game Industry | 3 CommentsBy my estimation Twitter, the Grand Pooh-Bah of the 140 character micro thought, everyday produces 8,167 times more text than the world record holder for longest novel (Proust’s In Search of Lost Time). This seems to me a pretty fine argument that people really hate to write more than a… -
Published Elsewhere: Dishonored Dev Joe Houston On Violence In Games
Posted on January 14, 2013 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsA piece about game violence I wrote for Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Among other things it talks about Dishonored, video game violence, and the social responsibilities of games with choice. Check it out: Dishonored Dev Joe Houston On Violence In Games … -
Unwritten: That Which Happened
Posted on January 14, 2013 | Posted In: The Game Industry | 1 CommentWhat better place for a shameless, self promoting, plug than my own blog? This is the Kickstarter for our new project, Unwritten. Permanent decisions and infinite variety. Create a nomadic tribe and guide them across a randomly generated tundra to meet its God.… It’s weird, exotic, and challenging on -
Published Elsewhere: Giving Thanks and Giving Back
Posted on November 22, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsStarting today there is some free advice written (partially) by me over at Roxlou Games…. Here’s a quote: “For those that missed it, Joe recently wrote a blog post for Gamasutra talking about why he decided to go indie and form Roxlou Games. In a section titled ‘Why I -
Published Elsewhere: Why I Quit Arkane to Go Indie
Posted on November 16, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsAnticipating the understandable reaction of my friends and family, I’ve been percolating on why I decided to make the risky leap to go indie and “make games for nerds”. After two weeks of fretting and navel gazing the product is now posted at Gamasutra as a promoted blog post. Big… -
Roxlou Games: That’s Me
Posted on November 8, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsNow that my last day at Arkane has come and gone, things are humming on the indie games front. I’ve partnered with artist Lee VanWallene, and together we’re gradually seeing our game world coalesce. But don’t take my word for it, funneled through this blog in sparse updates. We’re Roxlou… -
Now Entering the Independent Space
Posted on November 1, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsA more detailed explanation of my thoughts and feelings are to follow soon, but in short I’ve decided to go out on my own for a while. To that end my last day at Arkane Studios is tomorrow. I can say that I’m excited about the transition, and that I… -
The Golden Child: Dishonored Goes Gold
Posted on September 28, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | No CommentsAt the time I’m writing this we are ten days out from Dishonored’s US ship date, but that number has lost all meaning to me.
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In fact the whole statement is surreal on its face. Over the course of three and half years of development, you learn to -
Games, Art, and Precious Little Snowflakes
Posted on March 25, 2012 | Posted In: The Game Industry | 4 CommentsI recently read a thoughtfully researched and intelligently written review of the PS3 game Journey (by Ian Bogost for the Atlantic). It reaches farther than most critical analysis of games and reads more on the level of literary criticism. Go read it here. It’s good stuff.
Are you back? Great … -
“Dishonored” Announced
Posted on September 1, 2011 | Posted In: The Game Industry | 2 CommentsAlthough it’s hardly timely (it’s been more than a month since the official announcement), I figured I’d post a quick shout out for “Dishonored”, the game I’ve been working on for the past two and half years.
Signing copies of GameInformer’s Dishonored cover story…