James Margaris
@markymarg2.bsky.social
A perfectly harmless box. Game dev, half of Dark Roast Entertainment. Games criticism at http://jmargaris.substack.com
I just read a blog post about the artist behind this:
magnvsrpgjourney.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
Also the artist behind one of my favorite box arts of all time
magnvsrpgjourney.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
Also the artist behind one of my favorite box arts of all time
November 29, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I just read a blog post about the artist behind this:
magnvsrpgjourney.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
Also the artist behind one of my favorite box arts of all time
magnvsrpgjourney.substack.com/p/the-art-of...
Also the artist behind one of my favorite box arts of all time
Of course you can disagree with the point being made but claiming *to not understand* what this is saying seems ridiculous.
November 21, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Of course you can disagree with the point being made but claiming *to not understand* what this is saying seems ridiculous.
Every time one side in this dispute threatens to look slightly redeemable some new revelation emerges.
These are what many people would consider the "good guys" here lol.
These are what many people would consider the "good guys" here lol.
!["Korea—they are the Joe Pesci of countries. Charming until they're incredible [sic] nasty. It goes to 11 quickly. No filter," it adds. "It can be emotionally draining dealing with this, especially as male westerners. Males might be more problem-solvers and bring less emotion—they're [sic] biological reasons for this. Making games is about problem-solving.
"Korea has been surrounded by enemies who want to kill them. They are fighters. It's small and nasty. Every year some big film star commits suicide because of sex, drugs or something, hounded by the press. Put your crash helmet on and stay cool, but don't let that scare you away. You've got $250M coming. Put a wall around your emotions.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p6hvxep2dpanyl742r2ll2aj/bafkreiaonzs7ksk44czonv4f4btidey3ve6vkl3b7k2eqcsfzu6zeh5c7m@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Every time one side in this dispute threatens to look slightly redeemable some new revelation emerges.
These are what many people would consider the "good guys" here lol.
These are what many people would consider the "good guys" here lol.
November 18, 2025 at 10:22 PM
November 17, 2025 at 10:37 PM
"Ogre Magi will remember that"
November 17, 2025 at 10:35 PM
"Ogre Magi will remember that"
A long hard look into "player fantasy" rhetoric, including:
Power fantasies
Is calling Ico an "emotional fantasy" helpful?
Psychographic profiles
And, most importantly:
Should a Ninja ride a surfboard?
open.substack.com/pub/jmargari...
Power fantasies
Is calling Ico an "emotional fantasy" helpful?
Psychographic profiles
And, most importantly:
Should a Ninja ride a surfboard?
open.substack.com/pub/jmargari...
November 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
A long hard look into "player fantasy" rhetoric, including:
Power fantasies
Is calling Ico an "emotional fantasy" helpful?
Psychographic profiles
And, most importantly:
Should a Ninja ride a surfboard?
open.substack.com/pub/jmargari...
Power fantasies
Is calling Ico an "emotional fantasy" helpful?
Psychographic profiles
And, most importantly:
Should a Ninja ride a surfboard?
open.substack.com/pub/jmargari...
This seems like a good time to promote my blog "On Unfriendly Games - It's OK to be a Little Prickly"
(As a side note, the Navi-like NPC or the constantly-self-narrating main character has been the norm for like 10+ years now)
jmargaris.substack.com/p/on-unfrien...
(As a side note, the Navi-like NPC or the constantly-self-narrating main character has been the norm for like 10+ years now)
jmargaris.substack.com/p/on-unfrien...
November 14, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This seems like a good time to promote my blog "On Unfriendly Games - It's OK to be a Little Prickly"
(As a side note, the Navi-like NPC or the constantly-self-narrating main character has been the norm for like 10+ years now)
jmargaris.substack.com/p/on-unfrien...
(As a side note, the Navi-like NPC or the constantly-self-narrating main character has been the norm for like 10+ years now)
jmargaris.substack.com/p/on-unfrien...
1. I'm very happy that Earthquake is in fact a ninja, I wasn't sure
2.A Texas ninja to boot! (Texas in "New Spain", lol)
3. Should a ninja ride a surfboard? THIS QUESTION IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING PLAYER FANTASIES!!
2.A Texas ninja to boot! (Texas in "New Spain", lol)
3. Should a ninja ride a surfboard? THIS QUESTION IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING PLAYER FANTASIES!!
November 10, 2025 at 5:24 AM
1. I'm very happy that Earthquake is in fact a ninja, I wasn't sure
2.A Texas ninja to boot! (Texas in "New Spain", lol)
3. Should a ninja ride a surfboard? THIS QUESTION IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING PLAYER FANTASIES!!
2.A Texas ninja to boot! (Texas in "New Spain", lol)
3. Should a ninja ride a surfboard? THIS QUESTION IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING PLAYER FANTASIES!!
This is pretty close to where I've landed.
Also I wrote this last night - you're the second person who has mentioned pirate specifically!
Also I wrote this last night - you're the second person who has mentioned pirate specifically!
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 AM
This is pretty close to where I've landed.
Also I wrote this last night - you're the second person who has mentioned pirate specifically!
Also I wrote this last night - you're the second person who has mentioned pirate specifically!
I wrote this last night:
November 6, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I wrote this last night:
Me playing a narrative video game in which the hot female characters immediately fall in love with my main character, a loser with no appealing qualities: "this is great writing!"
November 1, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Me playing a narrative video game in which the hot female characters immediately fall in love with my main character, a loser with no appealing qualities: "this is great writing!"
RIP to a real one.
October 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
RIP to a real one.
Feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to do a "The King of Dragons but the enemy drops 3 pieces of equipment and you can only choose one" thing.
Equipment progression in TKOD is satisfying even though you have no control over it.
Equipment progression in TKOD is satisfying even though you have no control over it.
October 13, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to do a "The King of Dragons but the enemy drops 3 pieces of equipment and you can only choose one" thing.
Equipment progression in TKOD is satisfying even though you have no control over it.
Equipment progression in TKOD is satisfying even though you have no control over it.
@tolkoto.com After listening to your robo-racism on a podcast I just have one question for you:
this you?
this you?
October 9, 2025 at 12:33 AM
@tolkoto.com After listening to your robo-racism on a podcast I just have one question for you:
this you?
this you?
"Squeeze holes" are a great example of something that served a purpose, became a common feature of AAA games, and now persist despite no longer serving that purpose.
Now you have games and demos that include them issue a disclaimer about how they *aren't* loading!
(substack.com/@jmargaris/p...)
Now you have games and demos that include them issue a disclaimer about how they *aren't* loading!
(substack.com/@jmargaris/p...)
October 1, 2025 at 8:24 AM
"Squeeze holes" are a great example of something that served a purpose, became a common feature of AAA games, and now persist despite no longer serving that purpose.
Now you have games and demos that include them issue a disclaimer about how they *aren't* loading!
(substack.com/@jmargaris/p...)
Now you have games and demos that include them issue a disclaimer about how they *aren't* loading!
(substack.com/@jmargaris/p...)
This man (the creator of Concord*) has a lot of great ideas that probably could have helped Concord. (The game he created*)
* That's reductive but Concord was the flagship product of his company so it's not *that* reductive
* That's reductive but Concord was the flagship product of his company so it's not *that* reductive
September 25, 2025 at 10:01 PM
This man (the creator of Concord*) has a lot of great ideas that probably could have helped Concord. (The game he created*)
* That's reductive but Concord was the flagship product of his company so it's not *that* reductive
* That's reductive but Concord was the flagship product of his company so it's not *that* reductive
I can't believe this is real - genuinely assumed it was a joke.
There are few people on earth (or at least outside of Japan anyway) who like both Street Fighter and Banshee's Last Cry as much as I do.
And I have proof: I name dropped it in an old Gamasutra blog.
There are few people on earth (or at least outside of Japan anyway) who like both Street Fighter and Banshee's Last Cry as much as I do.
And I have proof: I name dropped it in an old Gamasutra blog.
September 24, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I can't believe this is real - genuinely assumed it was a joke.
There are few people on earth (or at least outside of Japan anyway) who like both Street Fighter and Banshee's Last Cry as much as I do.
And I have proof: I name dropped it in an old Gamasutra blog.
There are few people on earth (or at least outside of Japan anyway) who like both Street Fighter and Banshee's Last Cry as much as I do.
And I have proof: I name dropped it in an old Gamasutra blog.
I had some buoyant object code that I experimented with years ago, brought it back for some lava. These objects float in lava and interact properly (ish) with the character, like the character weighs them down. (At the end I tried to show off and died oops)
September 23, 2025 at 7:06 AM
I had some buoyant object code that I experimented with years ago, brought it back for some lava. These objects float in lava and interact properly (ish) with the character, like the character weighs them down. (At the end I tried to show off and died oops)
This is such a weird graphic to produce, where the most expensive edition of the game looks like it's missing content from the cheaper versions.
The more I look at this the less I understand it.
The more I look at this the less I understand it.
September 17, 2025 at 2:52 AM
This is such a weird graphic to produce, where the most expensive edition of the game looks like it's missing content from the cheaper versions.
The more I look at this the less I understand it.
The more I look at this the less I understand it.
At my local Starbucks you can use 100 stars to get a croissant, or 200 stars to get a Grande Americano, but they cost exactly the same amount.
September 16, 2025 at 1:41 AM
At my local Starbucks you can use 100 stars to get a croissant, or 200 stars to get a Grande Americano, but they cost exactly the same amount.
Writing a long blog post about the 2XKO control scheme and researching which fighting game was the first to feature simultaneous button presses of buttons that don't align vertically or horizontally.
September 8, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Writing a long blog post about the 2XKO control scheme and researching which fighting game was the first to feature simultaneous button presses of buttons that don't align vertically or horizontally.
After years of talking about how Judas was going to have a very procedurally-and-AI-driven dynamic narrative "you inevitably piss off one of three people and they become the villain" sounds like falling back to something tried-and-true.
jmargaris.substack.com/p/prototypin...
jmargaris.substack.com/p/prototypin...
August 28, 2025 at 12:08 AM
After years of talking about how Judas was going to have a very procedurally-and-AI-driven dynamic narrative "you inevitably piss off one of three people and they become the villain" sounds like falling back to something tried-and-true.
jmargaris.substack.com/p/prototypin...
jmargaris.substack.com/p/prototypin...
As part of a post on 2XKO I'm making this graphic of which direction + button combination results in a special move. It just seems weird. Half the characters use diagonals and half don't. On more than half the characters one of the two buttons is barely used.
August 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM
As part of a post on 2XKO I'm making this graphic of which direction + button combination results in a special move. It just seems weird. Half the characters use diagonals and half don't. On more than half the characters one of the two buttons is barely used.