Shane Burkholder

writer and game designer

The New Metric

Increasingly I feel like the only number that matters in game reviews is not the Metacritic score, but the amount of hours the player can sink into the game. There are as many AAA heavy-hitters in this category as there are indie games. A game can have the most beautiful environments, the most intuitive gameplay, […]

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Scene Geography

Where things are is almost as important as the things that are being said. Oftentimes it is enough to address objects or terrain or the layout of a structure as these are met by the character who is moving through them; sometimes, it is even necessary. Detailing the scene in sum before the characters have […]

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I Ain’t Worried

In 2015, at least from this listener’s perspective, alternative music was upended by the addition of Nathaniel Rateliff to its chorus of new and promising voices. Of course, Nathaniel himself is not new. He’s been around on the Denver music scene since around 2002. Leaving alone that it’s a shame most of us are only […]

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How Many More Doors Need Stopping?

I’ve never picked up his stuff, mostly because I’m forever whittling down a massive backlog, but someone finally tried explaining the appeal of Brandon Sanderson to me. I’m not sold. The person’s love for his books, namely the Stormlight Archive series, stemmed from his non-traditional style. I was not aware he had one, much less […]

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