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How Should Choices Be Balanced with Good Storytelling Tools?
Jon Ingold has talked about choices in games for years, and I think he's got the right angle
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Industry
The fall and rise of game journalism
In a world of AI slop, bot reviews, and misinformation, who's holding the line?
Industry
Be a poet for your game
Nothing matters more than understanding and honoring your game's genre
Industry
A business case for a "butt slider" in Final Fantasy XIV
Infinite Lives by Harrison Polites-July 30, 2026
Jokes aside, financial pressure at Square Enix means its golden goose has to refocus on keeping players rather than winning new ones.
Industry
The video game executive playbook, part two
The weekly, monthly and quarterly rhythms to lead a game studio
Industry
Slop, Please: Your Prose Is NOT in Order
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-July 25, 2026
OR: Against Pangram scans, virtue signaling, moral cosplaying, moral panicking, witch hunts, and Substack deputizing the witch hunters.
Industry
The video game executive playbook, part one
The journey from making a game to leading a game company
Industry
Ubisoft and the technology trap
What a decade of VR, cloud, blockchain, and AI failed to deliver
Industry
BONUS QUEST: The Gamer's Grimoire
Game & Word-July 8, 2026
A Tongue-in-Cheek Grimoire of Spells, Enchantments, and Potions for the Discerning Mystical Gamer
Industry
Game studio due diligence
What a publisher, investor or buyer checks when they look at your studio
Industry
Issue 5.12: No Such Thing as a Free Lich
Game & Word-July 5, 2026
The Forbidden Arts in Video Games, and How They Let You Skip the Bill [An Archetypal, Metaspiritual, Theological, Philosophical, and Ludonarrative Analysis]
Industry
First Time User Experience: The 60 Seconds That Decide If Your Player Stays.
The first 60 seconds in a game are the most critical experience for a player. Capturing their attention within this time is the difference between a good and bad game
Industry
The Math Behind the Wishlist Revenue Projector
Spawn Point Marketing-June 22, 2026
Ready Check #9: The Launch Readiness Series
Industry
A live operations primer for game studios
Running a PC or console game as an ongoing service, from the decision to the day you turn the servers off
Industry
How to get to a game publisher term sheet
What does and doesn't help you score a funding deal
Industry
What bad looks like in the games industry
Documented dysfunctions that our industry refuses to outgrow
Industry
Alchemy Games: An Introduction to the Medievalism of Experimentation
What alchemy is, what it isn't, and acknowledging that it's everywhere
Industry
Can Visual Novels Tell Great Videogame Stories?
My favorite recent scholarly works, anendophasia, and games as an art form [100 Subscriber Class Discussion 4]
Industry
Squid Pro Quo
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-May 3, 2026
The Eldritch Economy of Worshipping Things That Hate You
Industry
A Toyota lesson game studios can learn from
The NUMMI story and what it teaches us about building teams that actually work
Industry
An HR and payroll primer for indie game studios
Hiring abroad, doing payroll, providing benefits and more
Industry
My Latest: On Crimson Desert vs. The Gaming Press
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-April 7, 2026
An update, a cross-post, and a promise
Industry
Why Don't I Teach Real Games?
On difficulty, improvement, a favorite hot take, and attempting to name every game [100 Subscriber Class Discussion III]
Industry
Rising in the East
Earnings for CD Projekt, Roblox, and Nazara tell us about where to look next
Industry
The Month That Does Not Move
Ramadan, gaming, and why the industry keeps is slowly catching up to the biggest synchronized audience on earth
Industry
Tomb Raider, a 7.6 Earthquake, a Herniated Disc, While Living Out of a Minivan
Why I work in emerging markets, and why I’m never going to stop
Industry
BONUS QUEST: The Banned Bible Book That “They” Don’t Want You to Play
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-February 2, 2026
The Book of Enoch, Heaven’s System Failure, and the Video Games That Keep Repeating the Crime
Industry
Issue 5.10: Sympathy for the Diablo
Game & Word-January 28, 2026
Heaven, Hell, and the Open World in Between [An Archetypal, Metaspiritual, Theological, Historical, Literary, and Ludonarrative Analysis]
Industry
Theater Kid Surrealism, With the Parking Brake On
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-January 16, 2026
A Game & Word Review of "Kentucky Route Zero"
Industry
Discord's IPO heralds a year of sobriety
The first days of 2026 signal much of what's to come
Industry
Player Select: Volume 6 Topic Finalists (Pick One!)
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-December 31, 2025
Help Me Choose a Theme for Volume 6!
Industry
The Year Ends, but I'm Just Getting Started
My top stuff from the year, on hitting 100 subscribers, and growing communities
Industry
Gaming 230: The Livid Hope of Play
A few things on my mind about why our playing gives me hope
Industry
Soccer unties the world
Despite having criticized The Game Awards in the past, I really enjoyed the 2025 edition.
Industry
Issue 4.10 – 22 Minutes to Midnight
Game & Word-December 13, 2025
Cosmic Cycles and Archaeological Echoes in Outer Wilds [A Philosophical and Cosmological Analysis]
Industry
BONUS: One Deck to Rule Them All
Game & Word by Jay Rooney-November 27, 2025
How the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck Changed Everything
Industry
Issue 5.9: Wild Cards and Wilder Magic
Game & Word-November 27, 2025
The Mystical Powers of Balatro's Deck [A Historical, Philosophical, Metaspiritual, and Symbolic Analysis]
Industry
Dispatch Thoughts: Episodes 5 and 6
In which bringing work home is more powerful than a room full of superheroes
