James Cavin Writes

I don't normally post first drafts of personal writing, but I submitted an in-progress short story for last week's Operation Garbage Fountain , and, as per my agreement with fellow garbage-fountainier Lars Doucet , I am contractually obliged to write about it online. The theme of the week was "Rust." Lars wrote a highly amusing story about a narcoleptic Dream Agent named Rusty (which I'm hoping he will post soon). I decided to dust off an older story and start expanding it. After last week's 1930s Explorer-inspired pulp adventure shenanigans , I wanted to do something in a decidedly different genre. (Although it remains, as always, AS WEIRD AS I CAN MAKE IT. ) The other thing that I really wanted to do was write in the first person again. Some of my favorite novels are first-person accounts, and I actually did a lot of very well received first-person writing for Defender's Quest (critics regularly called the journals the best wr...

For only 5 of your human minutes, you can experience the glorious pulp horror comedy splendor that is Interview with an Ichthyologist Itch.io! (Did I mention that you can get a pet fish-puppy to smite your enemies?) Ask not for whom the garbage fountain fountains, IT FOUNTAINS FOR THEE. I wrote a simple game in Inkle as part of a writing test for a prospective employer, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to cheat and make it my submission for last week's Garbage Fountain Day. You see, I'm currently embroiled in Operation Garbage Fountain with my friend Lars Doucet (of ValueBase, Land Is a Big Deal, Fortress of Doors, etc. fame.) I had originally planned on making a Twine project for my entry when a job that I had applied to weeks beforehand invited me to engage in a writing test. As someone who enjoys both writing and being employed*, I obviously said yes. *Actually, what I enjoy is purchasing unhealthy numbers of Lego castles. Employmen...

Do you have a Garbage Fountain Accountability Buddy (TM) ? I'm currently using Twine to make a game that was originally created as a deliberately terrible idea to stress test our marketing formulas while working on Steam discoverability, and I owe it all to my Garbage Fountain Accountability Buddy. You see, I just entered a garbage-making pact with Lars Doucet (of Fortress of Doors , Land Is a Big Deal , Level Up Labs, and ValueBase fame). Lars initially pitched the idea of the Garbage Fountain in his seminal blog post (wait for it) Operation Garbage Fountain . (Didn't see that coming, did you?) It's well worth a read, but the gist of it is this: – We want to do things, but we don't, because we're scared that they will be garbage. – BUT you can only get better at things by doing them. – In fact, doing things as much as possible causes you to get better faster than doing them slowly and perfectly. – So, let's make g...

Is what you are doing right now less emotionally fulfilling than moving large bags of rat feces? A useful metric for judging your current course of action. It's easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of particularly chaotic industries and end up devoting large amounts of time and energy to prejects without actually considering whether or not they are, in fact, slowly crushing your soul. Fortunately, I have a foolproof metric by which to judge any endeavor mid-undertaking: Is what I'm doing right now less emotionally fulfilling than moving large bags of rat feces? The answer is sometimes surprising. You see, back in the halcyon days of my youth, I once took up a job at a national pet store chain which shall remain anonymous. (Never draw the ire of an entity with access to infinite malevolent, inbred gerbils*.) *Infinite in number and malevolence ...and inbreeding. My logic was as follows: "I like animals. I would a...

Temple Run: Legends was a really interesting challenge in general, but the trickiest part was definitely the limited time events that the design team wanted to do as post-launch content. The "main game" is a linear string of hundreds of also linear levels (it's the first Temple Run game where you can reach a finish line!) This linearity gave us the power to have a fun Saturday-morning-cartoon-show-style narrative attached. (Time and budget and layoffs complicated things, but the end result is still a zany little linear romp with a fun roster of pulp adventure heroes from across time and space that I'm still quite proud of.) The player started out with franchise mascots Guy Dangerous and Scarlett Fox, and then made their way across Temple Run's lost world, discovering mysteries and unlocking new allies to run as they went. NOW, having established this zany little linear story, the design team wanted to add limited time events that players could ...

Our premise is simple: Don't try to use story to contradict everything else that the player sees and does. It's actually a shockingly easy thing to fall into: players see the visuals and mechanics of the game and come away with a conclusion. Is it not the conclusion that we want them to have? Do we have a different narrative in mind? Quick! Send in a bit of story to tell them they have the wrong idea! WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN AND PLAYED HAS DECEIVED THEM. THE TRUE TRUTH IS WHAT THIS CONTRADICTING SNIPPET OF DIALOGUE HAS TO SAY! Tragically, videogames, are first and foremost, a visual medium. This means that if the player sees something, they believe it. If the visuals tell the player something, it is going to be an uphill battle to convince them that things are otherwise. If you ever find yourself trying to use the game's narrative to tell players that things are actually different from what the visuals lead them to believe, you are going against th...