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The Truth About Writing Characters You Love

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Writing characters to seem real is essentially the sport of writing in a nutshell. Yet whether you are writing a book, engaging in some tabletop roleplaying, or creating a homunculus in your basement, there are some strategies. In fact, the title of this article was inspired by a very famous author I saw on television talking about how little time he spent developing story parts that it all actually sounded kind of–well–easy. The irony of character creation is most people have built into them everything needed to assess the realness of others in the real world. But what you might… Read the rest

The Ultimate Truth on World Building

Posted on by Dave Pizza
This article is a how-to on world building in writing. This article is equally accessible to creative writers, visual novel devs, and game devs. The devs are, of course, in the worldbuilding phase, but perhaps there is even another application I’ve overlooked, screenplay writing maybe. If you don’t even know what I’m talking about? Don’t worry! This is a general concept here. So, with that, let’s get you started. “Guys, where ARE we?” –Charlie, LOST When you start a new story, you need to write a little bit of it before you can figure out where it is or what… Read the rest

How to Write Game Reviews

Posted on by Dave Pizza
So you want to know how to write game reviews? As I glide through a tremendous Steam list full of unique reviews, it’s actually pretty awesome that gamers are getting involved and writing thoughtful reviews even though some are, not inaccurately, candid. Praising reviews and critical reviews both serve a purpose. Even a 5-word sentence that reads something like “Just spins me around infinitely” is actually helpful, because if the game costs $20, you might have a point. But let me tell you how, for me, nice reviews are still the best review. I don’t want to teach a gaming… Read the rest

Best of Ancient Aliens on DVD is What I Watched Today

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Well, howdy, friend. I suppose you reckoned I’d done gone and disappeared in a seamless maelstrom deep in the great sea. Well, I haven’t. I am back from my unexcused absence, and we’re going to be doing some things differently. Before I continue, let me just clarify, that’s right I am reviewing Best of Ancient Aliens, the History Channel show. It is not an indie game, it is not even a game at all. There are several reviews all through Mr. Dave Pizza. It’s time to broaden the horizons though. Things were starting to get a bit robotic, so I… Read the rest

The Character Creator is a Free Tool For World Building

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I talked earlier today about using character creators for game creation, particularly for a visual novel. I went on a hunt, first on Itch.IO, but then on Google. It took me less than a minute to find a free 2D character creator to work as a visual novel character maker. Here is a video of it in use. I trimmed the video so you didn’t have to do a click-play to a full Monty scenario. Check it out though, I was able to customize clothing, facial features, facial expressions, and body types. Here’s the video link: Character Creator, A Visual… Read the rest

BROK the InvestiGator is a New SUPER Explorable, Anthro Detective, Point and Click Game

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Brok the Investigator is a side-scrolling point-and-click cartoon adventure detective story. Fully interactive, voiced characters. It’s chock full of feel-good, heartwarming, animal noir gameplay. And what would an animal people noir be without a detective croc named Brok? The game begins in an inexplicable house fire, although things aren’t quite what they seem. After this introduction, you’ll start your story from an underground apartment. Brok’s son, Graff, is a raccoon or bear, I think. Graff is a teenager who’s your typical snippy teen, but fairly helpful in establishing location. Brok’s phone rings shortly after he wakes up and a call… Read the rest

Cloudpunk is A Game That Deserves Reward For What it Has Accomplished

Posted on by Dave Pizza
The way games roll out in relation to cult themes these days feel like popping a bean bag chair full of glitter. Shiny and colorful, but spreading everywhere. Cloudpunk IS DEFINITELY a cyberpunk game. Life exists in an oppressively technological Babylon run by criminal overlords and the rebellious underdogs to send it tumbling–not always in an obvious way either. Of course, Cloudpunk is massive, and I have no idea how long it takes to reach the end, how it ends, or if it ends. Hold on let me look that up. WOW, this game is massive. Get Yourself Connected I… Read the rest

Art of Rally and My First and New Impressions

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Somewhere in my past, I played an awesome rally game that came fully loaded with mud-flapping corners and virtually no control over anything. I also know that these aren’t a grapevine of hits in the racing genre, but rather a genre unto itself. That said, I had no idea before Art of Rally that rally races have a rich aesthetic history that looks darn fine low-poly rendered on a computer screen. Okay, let’s get meta. Art of Rally: Go I don’t want to bog this down with too much research, because I know there’s some treatise on the themes of… Read the rest

Carto: Pieces of the Map is a Terrific Exploration Indie You Need to Try

Posted on by Dave Pizza
Finally, my love of tile board games like Carcassonne has been revived. But it’s completely different mind you. Carto is a tile-placement puzzle released to much praise last year. My first impressions were very positive, but I set them aside until today. It’s a terrific game! While it’s probably the best adjective, I’m not really fond of describing games as cute anymore, because there are so many vocabularic adjectives for a game of this caliber. Perhaps this is “clever,” “witty,” “minimalist,” “pleasant,” and “empathic.” There’s a whole slew of wonderful descriptions. So, let me garner your attention and put the… Read the rest

Metaverse Keeper is a Little Hidden Gem on Nintendo Switch

Posted on by Dave Pizza
This game has a very simple concept behind it, one that I’m not sure of the importance of really–it’s very light–but it’s good enough to kick off another exploration of the eShop and click to purchase. Metaverse Keeper seems to have been promoted really hard lately. I never really thought a whole lot about this title, but since it’s resurfacing in the real metaverse of social media, I’ll take a look here. (By the way, this has nothing to do with Meta or Cyberpunk, which is odd–but fine.) So, without any more delay, here’s Metaverse Keeper. Metaverse Keeper Has a… Read the rest

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth Taught Me Robots are Beautiful

Posted on by Dave Pizza
I think I recently made a comment that, as I get older, the more I make the heartbreaking conclusion that mankind will never explore the galaxy due to physics and entropy. What a bummer. What if we had explored it though? And what if we went so far that we couldn’t find our way back? That’s what’s going on in OPUS: The Day We Found Earth. OPUS: Data Briefing This game is now reaching 6 years old with a release date by SIGONO INC. back in 2015. As I write these, I keep finding games around that era that are… Read the rest