Light Four Torches By Jeremy Signor • April 29th, 2020 Sometimes we take game design for granted, and miss that a lot of it is nonsense to many on the outside looking in.
Murder By Numbers’ Thorny Queer Politics By Jeremy Signor • April 15th, 2020 Murder By Numbers makes an attempt at making queer people both visible and respected. It only partially accomplishes this.
Animal Crossing and Queer Agency By Jeremy Signor • April 2nd, 2020 Animal Crossing gives queer folks the kind of agency they may not have in the real world.
Archipelago America By Jeremy Signor • March 25th, 2020 Video games give us a window into how the US is structured, how it isolates us, and how we can connect.
Vanquish and the Joy of Movement By Jeremy Signor • March 18th, 2020 Speed in games makes us crave that adrenaline rush we get when we go fast. Vanquish captures the joy of locomotion and the thrill of velocity.
Good Grades By Jeremy Signor • March 11th, 2020 Grading systems in games are more than about showing the player how well they’re doing. They also plant the seed for expanding the possibilities available.
Look For Me Under Your Bootsoles By Jeremy Signor • February 26th, 2020 We all have things that are haunting us. What matters is how we move forward together.
PAGAN: Autogeny and Queering Online Spaces By Jeremy Signor • February 12th, 2020 Queer people have to fight to exist. Sometimes, that means queering something that was never meant to be queered.
The Beautiful Lies of 198X By Jeremy Signor • January 29th, 2020 Video games let us escape our lives and give us fake victories that have no bearing on reality. But there’s power in the lie.
Strange Flesh and Making A Gay Man Whole By Jeremy Signor • January 22nd, 2020 Repressed gay men can experience a second sexual awakening after beginning to accept oneself, and a completion of their whole being comes along with it.
Queer Representation Needs More than a Past By Jeremy Signor • January 15th, 2020 Queer representation doesn’t mean tacked-on queer pasts for characters. Queer representation means understanding that queer people have a present, too.
Losing the Magic with Arena By Jeremy Signor • December 20th, 2019 In pushing so hard for a piece of the eSports pie, Magic Arena neglects the community that is the heart and soul of the game.
Pathologic 2 and the Anatomy of a Metaphor By Jeremy Signor • December 12th, 2019 Games can come to life where metaphor, mythology, and mechanics intertwine.
Our Gardens By Jeremy Signor • December 4th, 2019 When we as players interact with the frameworks that developers give us, the tangible result becomes like a garden cultivated by both.
Fallout 3, The Outer Worlds, and the Megaton Problem By Jeremy Signor • November 22nd, 2019 Binary choices in games persist today even as RPGs get more and more open. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Disco Elysium and Finding the Beauty in a Cynical World By Jeremy Signor • November 6th, 2019 Initially unbearably cynical and grim, Disco Elysium asks you to find beauty and redemption in your trash fire of a main character through true role playing.
The Joy of Labor in Wilmot’s Warehouse By Jeremy Signor • October 30th, 2019 Games require labor to work. But the joy we find in labor is what gives games their spark.
Even the Mediocre By Jeremy Signor • October 16th, 2019 Too often we think of keeping good games alive when we think of game preservation. But ignoring the rest does a disservice to the whole of game history.
The Mumbling of Control By Jeremy Signor • October 9th, 2019 The setting and premise are undoubtedly the stars of Control, but the sound design and nonsensical dialogue truly make the Oldest House otherworldly.
Untitled Goose Game Subverts Stealth Gameplay By Jeremy Signor • October 2nd, 2019 Untitled Goose Game is the most innovative stealth game in years thanks to the subversion of the usual stealth gameplay loop and bold thematic juxtapositions.
Sayonara Wild Hearts Exudes Queer Energy By Jeremy Signor • September 25th, 2019 Sayonara Wild Hearts is not only a celebration of the queer and feminine in games, but proof that these qualities have been part of the medium all along.
The Platforming Genre That Might Have Been By Jeremy Signor • September 19th, 2019 We all know how the Metroidvania became the standard for so much of the platforming genre. But what it there was another possibility?
On Sincerity and Scheduling By Jeremy Signor • September 11th, 2019 Anime-inspired games that are built on scheduling like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Persona appeal to queer people through agency and sheer earnestness.
Eliza Shows Why Human Bias Is Necessary By Jeremy Signor • August 28th, 2019 Bias is often held up as an obstacle towards impartial decision making. But in reality, it’s the key to the sense of empathy that connects us all.
Feature Excerpt I Wanna Be Your Dog By Jeremy Signor • August 22nd, 2019 That awkward moment when giving up your free will to a supercomputer-powered hive mind brings out your inner sub.
Problematic Bodies By Jeremy Signor • August 21st, 2019 Tired tropes make gay men the butt of way too many jokes in games. But we can find power within the problematic bodies they inhabit.
Queer Cooperation By Jeremy Signor • August 14th, 2019 Experiences that network queer people together are key to queer survival. That makes games that do that while fostering a sense of cooperation absolutely vital.
Transforming Bodies By Jeremy Signor • August 1st, 2019 Transformation is oftentimes central to the queer experience. That’s why bodies that represent humanity’s transformative nature are so appealing.
Microaggressions By Jeremy Signor • July 24th, 2019 The more media takes little swipes at the core of who you are, the more you wonder if you should be consuming it in the first place.
The Gay Dating Conundrum By Jeremy Signor • July 17th, 2019 Dating sims are increasingly taking on a queer bent, but few examine the quiet devastation of absence felt by the rural gay.
Bear Bodies By Jeremy Signor • July 10th, 2019 When representing masculine characters, videogames default to chiseled muscles. But those who fancied different body types still had something to latch onto.
The Homoeroticism of Contra and Altered Beast By Jeremy Signor • June 26th, 2019 Embracing the homoerotic undertones of video games can help gaymers grapple with their own sexuality.
Gaymer Pride By Jeremy Signor • June 19th, 2019 Identities are great and necessary tools for understanding yourself and establishing communities. But it’s not worth losing yourself to their darker tendencies.
Masquerada and the Heart of the Queer Family By Jeremy Signor • June 12th, 2019 The status quo values blood and legacy while othering those that differ in the name of “family values”. The queer family is built from something else.
The Space Between Lacks Meaning in Its Metaphor By Jeremy Signor • June 5th, 2019 Metaphor can be a powerful tool to lead audiences to some sort of meaning. The Space Between seems content to just bludgeon you with it.
The Ballad of EarthBound’s Gay Tony By Jeremy Signor • May 29th, 2019 Gay representation isn’t about explicit labels, and it isn’t about hollow lip service. It’s about writing characters that are believably queer.
Shakedown: Hawaii Shows Why Capitalism Sucks By Jeremy Signor • May 22nd, 2019 Placing you in the shoes of an unapologetic rich capitalist shows how much of a nihilistic circle jerk capitalism is.
A Sekiro Journey: Isshin, the Sword Saint By Jeremy Signor • May 15th, 2019 The final boss encounter of Sekiro shows just how well paced a video game boss can be.
Katana ZERO Offers Only Excuses By Jeremy Signor • May 8th, 2019 For a game that channels Hotline Miami so heavily, Katana ZERO is unusually generous in granting players absolution for their eventual murder spree.
Preserving Ideas with Blaster Master Zero II By Jeremy Signor • April 24th, 2019 Bold ideas should persevere, but they need room to grow.
