Heaven is a Place

A common critique I hear about the Perfect Tides games is that “nothing happens”. This is strange to me, since by my eye, everything - too much, really - happens in these games. waiting for what? I write about love and death and passion because these are the basic and eternal concepts that interest me. For a subset of players, to refrain from viewing these themes through a sci-fi or fantasy lens is to obscure the action. Maybe this is an issue in games more broadly. I don’t think slice-of-life realism puts lovers of books or film on the back foot. At any rate, it’s not my place (or within my ability) to explain why a game about life should excite its players. I’m glad people play mine regardless, even if they don’t always feel the stakes. But I’d be remiss not to say that I think life is worth exploring on its own terms. I think life itself is a high-stakes endeavor. Here too is something to venture, a mystery untold, a world worth saving. In news, the Second Wind Games Showcase kicks…