Nostalgia and Roses, dirty socks and fine wine

A full disclosure that I'm sure is no secret to anyone that knows me: Capcom's Resident Evil is a series that, for all it's missteps and hiccups and highs, I love through and through. From the pre-rendered, low quality halls of the 1996 classic Resident Evil to the action-packed entries found from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 6, and even … Continue reading Nostalgia and Roses, dirty socks and fine wine →

Narrative – A Small Look

Narrative in video games isn't too far off from narrative in movies (and most other forms of media). They center around a singular character (or group of characters) that is typically the crux of the events of the story in some capacity. Now, that's extremely derivative and probably the most basic comment ever, so let's … Continue reading Narrative – A Small Look →

Toxicity and Gaming: Acid Pits Pock the Land

When discussing gaming, toxicity is something that is brought up more often than the actual content of games. Toxicity exists in multiple forms— hate messages, review bombing, and literal death threats to name just a few— but they all combine into the whole that is considered the toxicity present in gaming as both an industry … Continue reading Toxicity and Gaming: Acid Pits Pock the Land →

Accessibility, The Article

Game Design Blog #5 Control is one of the best third person shooters to come out of last year— so much so that it nearly won game of the year twice. However, the most impressive aspect of Control isn't its flow, narrative, consistent and fun to use controls (bah dum tiss), but rather the options it has for … Continue reading Accessibility, The Article →

The Inevitable Fighting Games Post (complete with some minor hot takes)

Game Blog Post #4 At every point, someone will have played a fighting game and thought something along the lines of "oh, that really shouldn't work that way." Balancing and animating fighting games is a tricky prospect for most people (unless you're ArcSys, for some reason— they have a catalog of very good anime fighting … Continue reading The Inevitable Fighting Games Post (complete with some minor hot takes) →

The itch.io Study Pt.1 (Karlson & Blake McKinnon Prod.)

In my recent exploring of itch.io (something that I personally had written off as a site for sharing half-baked, hardly started projects— a sentiment I regret ever having heavily now), I found a few games that have interesting mechanics or premises that I wanna talk about. Firstly, one of my favorite games of the bunch: … Continue reading The itch.io Study Pt.1 (Karlson & Blake McKinnon Prod.) →

Open Worlds: Cowboys, Gangbangers, and Conspiracy Theory.

GAME 420 Blog Post #2: Open Worlds: Cowboys, Gangbangers, and Conspiracy Theory. Through the years there have been many different examples of open world titles in the gaming sphere— Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, Hello Games' No Man's Sky, Ubisoft's FarCry series, and Interplay/Bethesda's Fallout series to name a few. However, the utilization and population … Continue reading Open Worlds: Cowboys, Gangbangers, and Conspiracy Theory. →

Fallen Order’s Narrative & Gameplay Problems: Jedi Can’t Dance

GAME 420 Blog Post #1: One key factor within the Star Wars universe is the ultra-powerful, god-like Force users. They are attuned to a naturally occurring power that grants them enhanced power, agility, and other abilities. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has a narrative surrounding Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis following the events of Order 66. … Continue reading Fallen Order’s Narrative & Gameplay Problems: Jedi Can’t Dance →

Update Again

Hey all. I regret that I must inform you that I won't be posting daily content. I will be beginning school in August and am trying to find employment, and thus am unable to find time to write in doing that. I apologize for any inconvenience that may cause.

Introductory Post

Welcome to my blog. I'm C. B. Irby, an author and student currently enrolled at Penn State Erie. This blog will contain many of my writings, some personal and some assignments from classes. I am currently working on a collection for publication, titled The Three Piece Anthology, that will be shared (only in part) on this … Continue reading Introductory Post →