Writing
DECON-
STRUCTIONS
Pulling games apart to see how they're built — economies, retention loops, what the design is actually asking the player to do. Plus a few pieces where my day job and games overlap.
Deconstructions
Systems teardowns. Two of these are free-to-play mobile, where the economy is the design.
F2P MobileGenshin Impact Deconstruct
How an open-world gacha holds players across a monetisation model that has to stay invisible to work.
July 2023
F2P MobileRodeo Stampede Deconstruction
A one-input endless runner that turns collection and progression into the reason you come back.
August 2023
SurvivalThe Flame In The Flood Deconstruct
Resource scarcity and procedural generation working together to make every run feel like it was authored.
September 2023
Where my two jobs meet
I work in cybersecurity. Occasionally that's the most useful lens on something happening in games.
Security & ProductionAnalyzing Rockstar's GTA 6 Hack: Cybersecurity and Product Management
What a leak of in-development footage costs a studio, and what production and security should have been doing about it before it happened.
August 2023
Live ServiceModern Warfare 2's (2009) Worm Issue
A remote code execution vulnerability in a shipped multiplayer game, and what it takes to still be responsible for a title years after launch.
September 2023
Also written
Earlier posts — games and stories I wanted to think about properly.
Finishing The Backlog: AC Valhalla
Modern Warfare 2’s (2009) Worm Issue
The Flame In The Flood Deconstruct
Analyzing Rockstar’s GTA 6 Hack: Cybersecurity and Product Management
Rodeo Stampede Deconstruction
Genshin Impact Deconstruct
Ghost Of Tsushima: The Art of the Samurai
Sony IPs do a great job of making great single-player games and Ghost Of Tsushima is no different. Based on a fantasy element towards 13th century Japan it does a great job creating a vast explorable world that lets the player explore the beauties of Japan. Now, while this is all fictional work Sucker Punch uses a great color palette within this world to show just how beautiful their work is.
Solo Leveling: Overpowered Done Right
Man, where do I even begin... I caught up to solo leveling in the span of 3 days, that's how much I was into it. At the time of this post, it's about 168 chapters in and I believe it's nearing the final arc. Solo leveling is amazing, in terms of just pure hype moments and a good progressive plot it really takes the cake. To try to summarize the plot in a short way, it's basically about a weak hunter who grows to be the strongest hunter in the world.
God Of War: A Wild Chase To The Top
With Sony's Livestream concluded, we all got to see our first look at God Of War: Ragnarok. So this is a great time to re-visit the first God Of War (GoW) that rebooted the series in 2018. Admittedly, I play God Of War halfway, and then l shelved it for a good year or so. I know, I know totally wrong on my end and it is a great game, the good news is that I actually ended up finishing it. So I totally qualified to write a blog on it.
How Tokyo Ghoul Became A Tragedy
I'm a big fan of Tokyo Ghoul, in fact, it's my favorite Manga... Manga, not Anime. Tokyo Ghoul is a great story when you read it, but when we get towards the Anime that's an entirely different subject. So where did we go wrong?
Nier Replicant: The Beginning, Middle, and Hopefully Not The End.
I'm a big fan of the Nier and the Drakkengard series, at least lore-wise. The gameplay of the older games doesn't necessarily hold up well -- at all. Nier: Replicant involved a bunch of new improvements from its older PS3 form: New dialogue, expanded areas, reworked combat, etc. I have both versions the original one for the US Nier: Gestalt for the PS3 and the new one for the PS4 Nier: Replicant ver. 122 and I can confidently say it has some much-needed work that needed to be addressed in the original.