Hey you, reader. Yes, you. The world outside is desolate, the weather bleak. You’ll catch your death of cold out there, so come on in and warm yourself up by the fire. Come on, there’s nothing to be afraid of. The ale is flowing and there’s plenty of pork belly for all. We’re sharing tales. Yes, they’re scary tales, but a reader like you can handle it, right?

It is spooky-season after all.

For horror buffs, now is the most wonderful time of the year. You can expect Halloween themed Twitter handles, people sharing tales of doom and gloom, and a heavy supply of scary games streaming on Twitch. If you’re a fan of the macabre, this will no doubt feel more like Christmas than Christmas itself. For good reason too, as horror game titillation is big business. We enjoy being scared or watching someone else be scared on our behalf. Alien Isolation, Creative Assembly’s masterpiece in stealth horror, is still hugely popular at this time of year on streaming platforms, even 6 years after its initial release in 2014. Why? …

I quit Twitter.

Enough was enough and I didn’t care for what most people were sharing. The whole experience was making me miserable. My 11-year-old account had been tailored around my career as a designer, and as such, my tweets and the tweets of those I followed were, for the most part, design-oriented. I primarily used the account to learn from those I admire in the industry. All lovely people, I should add. All incredibly talented in their respective fields, and I have no doubt learned so much from them over the years.

Regardless, I inevitably felt the need for a hard reset. I would continue learning on my own terms, at a pace I had control over. Twitter was not a viable option for me any longer. …

On the 12th of March 2020, Jason Schreier of gaming website Kotaku published a damning insight into one of my favorite game developers, Naughty Dog. In his piece, he would go on to reveal a culture within ND aptly called, “Crunch.” These are long, extended periods of time in which employees are expected to forego their existence outside the confines of the office walls and work relentlessly to meet set project goals.

How old are you when you start making that sound? You know, the one you make whenever you bend over to pick something up or make the effort to get up from the sofa. It’s the sound those around you have become accustomed to (while not saying anything for fear of offending your fragile sensibilities). It’s just one of many quirks I’ve noticed as I creep through my 30s and into my 40s — although it’s not the quirk I think about most often.

Another reality of life at my age — especially speaking as a father of three — is the lack of time to play games. …

Before I begin, I want to say while much of my analysis applies to creating content on YouTube, the advice herein applies to any type of content you’re creating and sharing with your audience. YouTube, Medium, Instagram posts — there’s a commonality regardless of platform.

We consume a lot of media. Television, podcasts, YouTube videos and right here on this very platform, Medium. There appears to be no slowing down, and no indication our appetite for content will be satiated anytime soon, especially while Covid-19 runs rife. …

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

44 novels, 121 short stories, and 14 short story collections. Phillip K Dick was, if nothing else, a hugely prolific writer best known for his science fiction efforts. The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ubik, Flow My Tears The Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly. Classic science fiction, referred to as new wave science fiction, was particularly popular throughout the 60s and 70s, and often engaged with complex philosophical themes, particularly around the construct of reality, individualised perception and self-identity.

False realities, humans and machines, entropy, the nature of God and Social control. An intoxicating mix, intricately woven into captivating narratives — the protagonist an every man, or woman, coming to the slow realisation that the world around them is not what it seems. The transition from relative normality, to surrealism, to simulacrum realisation is rousing stuff, if, a somewhat predictable trope now some 50 years later. …

Silent Hill fans like myself across the globe live in hope, possibly delusional hope, that the series will make a return to our screens in some form or other. Those rumours of a PS5 exclusive Silent Hill, “Project Zero”, don’t seem to be going away — but as it stands, they are indeed just rumours, unsubstantiated, and from questionable sources. It’s fun to speculate as always, and we live in hope.

Meanwhile, the gaming industry continues to turn, and developers, both large and small, have been doing an exceptional job at creating fear on their own terms. They’ve gone some way to fill the void from Silent Hill’s absence, for some, even surpassing its legacy as a horror masterpiece. …

Did anyone else go through a phase when they were young when they wanted to become a pilot? I certainly did; well, up until I realised what the requirements were, both academically and physically. Unfortunately, I had neither the brains, nor the brawn to do what it takes to become a pilot, and to be honest, I’m much too anxious a flyer now. It’s for the best really. My interest in flying never waned though, and I can still imagine the excitement of being a pilot. The thrill of the airplane powering up its engines, releasing the break, and hurtling down the runway until the pilot pulls back on the stick. People, cars, buildings become smaller — clouds become closer, the sky becomes a slightly darker shade of Blue at 35,000ft. …