Form & Friction
Essays on systems, pacing, repetition, interface drag, and the difference between deliberate design and accidental annoyance. Dissects how a game feels to inhabit over time.
When Inventory Systems Become Personality Tests
This piece examines how video game inventory systems function as pacing mechanisms and, ultimately, as personality tests...
Why Pacing Problems Usually Start Long Before the Midpoint
A senior critic explains why most game pacing problems are visible in the opening hours, long before the dreaded midpoin...
Checkpoint Design Tells You What a Game Thinks of Your Time
This article examines how checkpoint placement functions as a structural statement about player time. Drawing on twelve ...
The Most Honest Part of a Game Is Often Its Tutorial
This article argues that a game's tutorial is its most structurally honest section, revealing pacing intentions, develop...
Dead Time, Busywork, and the Modern Open-World Attention Tax
Critic Nolan Pierce analyzes dead time and busywork in modern open-world games. The piece distinguishes productive repet...