Parker Davis (he/him)
@parkerhdavis.com
https://parkerhdavis.com/
Multimedia Director and Developer @mirrortouchmedia |
prev: Development Director @serenityforge
Just doing my best to make people feel like other people 🎮🎶🎥📝
Multimedia Director and Developer @mirrortouchmedia |
prev: Development Director @serenityforge
Just doing my best to make people feel like other people 🎮🎶🎥📝
Pinned
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."
- Baba Dioum
- Baba Dioum
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
On the other hand, I cannot do my job effectively if a writer isn't there to explain their reasoning for the lines and where it came from to a director, who then translates that into vocal technique to the actor. This is a very collaborative process that requires human interaction and intention.
If your game has voice acting, then working with the voice actors is half of your writing process. It's not complete until you've heard it interpreted and reimagined by a voice actor. And they always reimagine it in ways that elevate the writing, in ways you never would have imagined yourself.
November 11, 2025 at 7:38 PM
On the other hand, I cannot do my job effectively if a writer isn't there to explain their reasoning for the lines and where it came from to a director, who then translates that into vocal technique to the actor. This is a very collaborative process that requires human interaction and intention.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
On the narrative projects I've directed/produced, it's been pretty much unarguable that union VO is the absolute best bang-for-buck there is. A drop in the bucket of cost, but an ocean of benefit.
Games are always tricky to budget, but the costs we choose to target speak volumes about our values.
Games are always tricky to budget, but the costs we choose to target speak volumes about our values.
The thing that strikes me about replacing voice actors with AI slop is that, in the scope of a big AA/AAA production it barely saves money? These people aren't even full time. It's immizerating people because immizerating people is your goal, nothing more.
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
On the narrative projects I've directed/produced, it's been pretty much unarguable that union VO is the absolute best bang-for-buck there is. A drop in the bucket of cost, but an ocean of benefit.
Games are always tricky to budget, but the costs we choose to target speak volumes about our values.
Games are always tricky to budget, but the costs we choose to target speak volumes about our values.
This frame from today's xkcd's What If? video hits different lol
November 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
This frame from today's xkcd's What If? video hits different lol
💯
Ignorance re: AI's limitations in creative workflows so often seems borne of the idea that creatives start with a perfect imagination of what's needed, and the process is in the way. Couldn't be more false.
The process is how you find what you need. Friction is the only way to heat the forge. 🧵
Ignorance re: AI's limitations in creative workflows so often seems borne of the idea that creatives start with a perfect imagination of what's needed, and the process is in the way. Couldn't be more false.
The process is how you find what you need. Friction is the only way to heat the forge. 🧵
If your game has voice acting, then working with the voice actors is half of your writing process. It's not complete until you've heard it interpreted and reimagined by a voice actor. And they always reimagine it in ways that elevate the writing, in ways you never would have imagined yourself.
November 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
💯
Ignorance re: AI's limitations in creative workflows so often seems borne of the idea that creatives start with a perfect imagination of what's needed, and the process is in the way. Couldn't be more false.
The process is how you find what you need. Friction is the only way to heat the forge. 🧵
Ignorance re: AI's limitations in creative workflows so often seems borne of the idea that creatives start with a perfect imagination of what's needed, and the process is in the way. Couldn't be more false.
The process is how you find what you need. Friction is the only way to heat the forge. 🧵
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
If your game has voice acting, then working with the voice actors is half of your writing process. It's not complete until you've heard it interpreted and reimagined by a voice actor. And they always reimagine it in ways that elevate the writing, in ways you never would have imagined yourself.
November 11, 2025 at 2:52 PM
If your game has voice acting, then working with the voice actors is half of your writing process. It's not complete until you've heard it interpreted and reimagined by a voice actor. And they always reimagine it in ways that elevate the writing, in ways you never would have imagined yourself.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
RIP Baudrillard you would have loved this shit
New uncanny valley unlocked: inflatable corn maze for urban fall fests.
November 9, 2025 at 4:25 AM
RIP Baudrillard you would have loved this shit
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
The Mamdani political sign generator is kinda fun https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/for.html
November 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The Mamdani political sign generator is kinda fun https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/for.html
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Our industry does have peer-voted awards, the most visible being DICE, Game Developers Choice Awards, BAFTA. There are scores of smaller developer-led awards too. We do have spaces to celebrate and uplift one another, please support and watch these shows! The teams work hard for the devs!
November 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Our industry does have peer-voted awards, the most visible being DICE, Game Developers Choice Awards, BAFTA. There are scores of smaller developer-led awards too. We do have spaces to celebrate and uplift one another, please support and watch these shows! The teams work hard for the devs!
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
A note about the TGAs worth remembering as this Future Class story unfolds: it’s a marketing beat, consumer-facing, and voted on by media/influencers. Developers are, by design, not included or considered in the structure. Which feels bad! www.polygon.com/explained/49...
How The Game Awards voting works
It’s the press and fans, not game devs, who vote on The Game Awards
www.polygon.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
A note about the TGAs worth remembering as this Future Class story unfolds: it’s a marketing beat, consumer-facing, and voted on by media/influencers. Developers are, by design, not included or considered in the structure. Which feels bad! www.polygon.com/explained/49...
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
It's cool how we keep proving over and over and over again that there's a significant market for narrative-heavy, character-driven, single-player experiences in video games and publishers just categorically refuse to believe us
Dispatch has sold 1 million copies in under two weeks
Dispatch has sold 1 million copies in under two weeks
The episodic superhero comedy features big-name actors like Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright.
www.gamedeveloper.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
It's cool how we keep proving over and over and over again that there's a significant market for narrative-heavy, character-driven, single-player experiences in video games and publishers just categorically refuse to believe us
Oh hell yeah
youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
clipping.: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
youtu.be
November 2, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Oh hell yeah
youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
youtu.be/h0-k7vW9Xek?...
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over?
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over?
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.
www.ft.com/content/4855...
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
I’m sorry, if someone has a birth certificate that proves they were born here but a mobile app with face recognition software disagrees, they will side with the app?
What?
What?
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I’m sorry, if someone has a birth certificate that proves they were born here but a mobile app with face recognition software disagrees, they will side with the app?
What?
What?
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
I always get drawn back to Al Gore telling voters that he’d only raise taxes on the top 1% and then after the election a poll showed that something like 20% of voters thought they were in the top 1% and another 20% thought they would be in the next five years. Just a total tragic disconnect.
Maaaaan, this. So much this. Every time there's any kind of actual in-depth survey we find that the American people are *abysmally* ignorant about even the most basic political facts, but the pundit class just immediately forgets & proceeds with political analysis based on subtle policy differences.
Feels like so many of our convos are revolving about how voters respond to what politicians are doing, or what parties’ positions on issues are, without much actual empirical sense of what they actually know about those topics.
October 29, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I always get drawn back to Al Gore telling voters that he’d only raise taxes on the top 1% and then after the election a poll showed that something like 20% of voters thought they were in the top 1% and another 20% thought they would be in the next five years. Just a total tragic disconnect.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Tolkien is not perfect but he did, in fact, hate the fucking Nazis.
DHS just posted a Lord of the Rings meme as an appeal to join ICE
October 29, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Tolkien is not perfect but he did, in fact, hate the fucking Nazis.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
This is an incredible LIE being told by the guy that manages the agency that oversees the ACA. It's obscene how easily, how frequently and how dramatically these Trump folks lie to us.
✅Fact check from the extremely reliable @kff.org (& no, KFF did not retract this.)
✅Fact check from the extremely reliable @kff.org (& no, KFF did not retract this.)
October 30, 2025 at 12:27 AM
This is an incredible LIE being told by the guy that manages the agency that oversees the ACA. It's obscene how easily, how frequently and how dramatically these Trump folks lie to us.
✅Fact check from the extremely reliable @kff.org (& no, KFF did not retract this.)
✅Fact check from the extremely reliable @kff.org (& no, KFF did not retract this.)
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Why is it that every disappeared US citizen is not front page news? At the very least we should have a little box with a count of the number of citizens who have been taken away and are not locatable and a link to a story with photos & min-bios, just as we used to do with military casually figures.
In Portland, Oregon, masked ICE GOONS abducted and vanished US citizen Gonzalo Catalan last week. Tragically, his family remains unaware of his whereabouts and has not received any communication from him as of today.
October 30, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Why is it that every disappeared US citizen is not front page news? At the very least we should have a little box with a count of the number of citizens who have been taken away and are not locatable and a link to a story with photos & min-bios, just as we used to do with military casually figures.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
I think a lot about the chance we had at the start of COVID to finally become a more compassionate, collectivist nation, and how profoundly we were failed not only by the sociopathic greed of the ruling class but by each other.
It doesn’t mean we won’t get there, but the lost opportunity haunts me.
It doesn’t mean we won’t get there, but the lost opportunity haunts me.
Remember how just a few years ago during the worst of the pandemic when we saw how the govt can actually do big things and saw that our collective health & well-being are intertwined, and then corporations got mad that they lost a modicum of power and helped fund a backlash of amnesia and fascism?
October 30, 2025 at 4:02 AM
I think a lot about the chance we had at the start of COVID to finally become a more compassionate, collectivist nation, and how profoundly we were failed not only by the sociopathic greed of the ruling class but by each other.
It doesn’t mean we won’t get there, but the lost opportunity haunts me.
It doesn’t mean we won’t get there, but the lost opportunity haunts me.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Silence is a choice. 'institutional cowardice from organizations that spout high-minded ideals as a shield to explain their refusal to make a clear decision, while ignoring that doing so is a very real choice with very real consequences.' - @mmasnick.bsky.social www.techdirt.com/2025/10/27/h...
How “Neutrality” And “Free Speech” Become Excuses For Driving Out The People You Claim To Value
Mike Brock’s piece on Sequoia Capital last week laid out a pretty damning case study: a well-respected COO complains about a partner’s Islamophobic posts, senior leadership invokes R…
www.techdirt.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Silence is a choice. 'institutional cowardice from organizations that spout high-minded ideals as a shield to explain their refusal to make a clear decision, while ignoring that doing so is a very real choice with very real consequences.' - @mmasnick.bsky.social www.techdirt.com/2025/10/27/h...
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
“We hate tutorials, we hate yellow paint”. Exactly 30 seconds later in the Steam reviews: “this game sucks we got lost and it’s hard to play because we didn’t understand a core mechanic”
One of the most important jobs of a designer is understanding that there are some things that everyone says they want, but then absolutely hate if they get it
October 24, 2025 at 7:53 AM
“We hate tutorials, we hate yellow paint”. Exactly 30 seconds later in the Steam reviews: “this game sucks we got lost and it’s hard to play because we didn’t understand a core mechanic”
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
October 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Lindsey Halligan says I’m not a journalist.
But if you think I am, and you value our our non-profit legal news and analysis, you can support our work here: givebutter.com/journalism/a...
You can also follow me on Substack: annabower.substack.com/about
But if you think I am, and you value our our non-profit legal news and analysis, you can support our work here: givebutter.com/journalism/a...
You can also follow me on Substack: annabower.substack.com/about
October 20, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Lindsey Halligan says I’m not a journalist.
But if you think I am, and you value our our non-profit legal news and analysis, you can support our work here: givebutter.com/journalism/a...
You can also follow me on Substack: annabower.substack.com/about
But if you think I am, and you value our our non-profit legal news and analysis, you can support our work here: givebutter.com/journalism/a...
You can also follow me on Substack: annabower.substack.com/about
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Reposted by Parker Davis (he/him)
Haven't noticed this before! "it's missing accessibility features that I need" given as an option on Steam's refund reason dropdown
#gamedev #indiedev #accessibility
#gamedev #indiedev #accessibility
October 16, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Haven't noticed this before! "it's missing accessibility features that I need" given as an option on Steam's refund reason dropdown
#gamedev #indiedev #accessibility
#gamedev #indiedev #accessibility