Author: Julia Brackett

  • How the Evolution of Witches Affects Gaming

    How the Evolution of Witches Affects Gaming

    Witches are easily one of the most recognized monsters in the world, and their history is a long one. From being sought out and killed in Salem, Massachusetts, to being presented as a common mystical villain, to becoming fashion and lifestyle icons, witches have made their mark in popular culture and will continue rise in…

  • Art as an Evocative Tool: A Talk with Lucah Developer melessthanthree

    Art as an Evocative Tool: A Talk with Lucah Developer melessthanthree

    On Tuesday, August 21st, indie game developer melessthanthree released their new title, Lucah: Born of a Dream. A Kickstarter funded action-adventure game that combines the powerful aspects of storytelling, role-playing, and survival-horror, Lucah tells the story of the Marked Child, cursed to have their personal demons manifest as real demons wherever they go. Lucah must face…

  • Fat-Shaming in Villain Design

    Fat-Shaming in Villain Design

    The problem of fat-shaming stems from many places. First and foremost, it comes from the alarmist tendencies of reporting on the “obesity epidemic.” It comes from doctors seeking money from pharmaceutical companies, prescribing weight loss medications, cholesterol medications, and various procedures to people who typically do not even need them. It comes from a lack…

  • Kids Game Too : Reliving Virtual Magic Kingdom

    Kids Game Too : Reliving Virtual Magic Kingdom

    It goes without saying that kids make up a massive portion of the people playing video games. In fact, people aged 18 and younger are the second largest age demographic that play video games; this demographic makes up about 28% of gamers in the United States. This is a pretty close second to the 29%…

  • Waiting for Animal Crossing

    Waiting for Animal Crossing

    The Nintendo Switch was released in March 2017. That makes the new console nearly a year and a half old; and quite the year and a half it’s been. We have seen long-awaited releases such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, and we are awaiting titles such as…

  • Racism in Villain Design

    Racism in Villain Design

    The battle between good and evil is an age-old plot device that is both fun and engaging. When playing video games especially, people want to feel like they are accomplishing something spectacular; maybe because those feelings are difficult to come by in the real world, or maybe because they want to feel like a hero.…

  • Should Trigger Warnings be Commonplace in Gaming?

    Should Trigger Warnings be Commonplace in Gaming?

    Video games have always been a type of media and entertainment that, in a way, combine books and films. You get to see what is happening to have a visual to go along with the storyline, much like a movie. You also get to come up with your own ideas, your own head canon to…