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.
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.