damienlawardorn.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

It feels like every morning lately, I wake up to news of gaming industry lay-offs and studio closures, and I'm starting to think we're asking the wrong questions. We know WHY this is happening. My question is HOW. How, after cataclysmic firings in 23 and 24 is this still happening? ...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The submission window for the publication I'm planning to submit my new short story to closes tomorrow, so of course I started a rewrite today. Does anyone else do this nonsense? #WritingCommunity #AmWriting

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Really like this quote from Kepler Interactive's CEO, and think it shows in their games. Those same few influences being so pervasive is why a lot of pop culture seems infantilising. www.gamesindustry.biz/how-kepler-i...

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

A "post-literate society" sounds like a concept from an absurdist dystopian fic, but thinking about of what that looks like and would be like is terrifying www.ft.com/content/e2dd...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

SPOILER WARNING Finally watching Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and that moment after Dementus captures Furiosa and Praetorian Jack, where he's torturing them and he looks out and says "I'm bored" is such a ridiculously powerful character moment.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Regular update on one-sentence reviews. Added Rose/House by Arkady Martine (book), Ten Pound Poms (TV), and Mayflies (TV) www.patreon.com/posts/119062...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Happy to finally share that our Animal Well Documentary (@animalwell.bsky.social) will officially premiere on @secondwindgroup.com on Thursday, February 27th at 10 AM CT. Very excited to finally get this project out there, and grateful to have had the opportunity to tell this story.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

IGN's parent company Ziff Davis removes DEI mentions from its website: aftermath.site/ziff-davis-ign...

submitted 7 days ago • 22 comments

I'm on the hunt for more freelance work! Although I think I'm pretty flexible, I've got a list of strengths for you to keep in mind. -Writing: news, reviews, previews, features, editing -Video: reviews, previews, essays, editing Reposts appreciated! Check out some of my work below🧵

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

"Gameplay ideation" like "moving a character," "loitering near a spawn point," and "navigating to the middle pad in various ways." Such innovative. Much wow.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

There's an effort going on atm to paint Dutton as "not like Trump" from the opposition and in the Australian at the moment to not scare the horses but forgot about this thing Dutton did which was very Trumpian. amp.abc.net.au/article/1013...

submitted 11 days ago • 10 comments

Hello! If you are a junior/mid-level games journo who is excited by news reporting, loves to interview people, knows how to read a financial report, and tends to be awake during a UK-ish timezone, I wanna know who you are! Here's a job ad, DM me any questions: www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/41...

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Finished the first draft of a short story. It's been a long time since I just wrote something that took my fancy off the cuff, and it feels so good. Plan to submit after a little revision, so time to see if anyone else likes my completely lack of subtlety #AmWriting

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

This short story I'm working on is hilariously unsubtle. I love it. It's like, let me just ram my point home with a sledgehammer. It's fun.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I think the thing is a lot of people think that fiction (and writing more generally,) is just stories? It's not. It's capable of existential change. You don't have to stop at "entertaining people" or "raising awarness", "making arguments", whatever. You can change the way that *everybody thinks...

submitted 14 days ago • 2 comments

So here for this. The first season was far better than it should have been

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

CEO logic, eh. I don’t really understand betting against revenue from future project releases in favour of live-service revenue. But I also don't think Crysis 4 would raise a smoulder on sales charts, so it kinda makes sense www.gamedeveloper.com/business/cry...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

🚀 TOMORROW Fission #5 OPENS FOR SUBMISSIONS! 👇 window closes 26th Feb. Original sci-fi -- genre-bending welcome -- up to 5k words. No reprints. Follow the link to learn more. Members and non-members welcome to submit. www.bsfa.co.uk/fission

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Listen up nerds! This Saturday starts the new season of Adventure is Nigh! Our slightly animated D&D actual play.

submitted 16 days ago • 10 comments

Criticizing games writing can be difficult, because it's a craft that deserves to be discussed, but a lot of people who practice that craft have genuine, understandable limitations ("i gotta write five pieces today!") which is hard to do. But I think it's important to bear this in mind:

submitted 18 days ago • 4 comments

Two down! Will share the story after the showcase later in the month #FuriousFiction

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

A bit late sharing this, but if anyone wants an update on what I got done in January, the update is here: www.patreon.com/posts/121595...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Great. I have ants living inside my computer monitor. How did they even get in there?

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Depression's playing up, scatterbrained AF, got flood clean-up to do at some point, but still gonna try give #FuriousFiction a crack this weekend. Anyone else in the #WritingCommunity taking part? www.writerscentre.com.au/furious-fict...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

A reminder that fiction — books, film, games, what have you — is always political. The willful absence of “politics” in any work is itself a political choice and a political act. Who gets to tell (and sell) stories is political. It might be an undercurrent — covert, not overt. But it’s there.

submitted 24 days ago • 116 comments

Cleaning up after my third natural disaster in six years, and I'm starting to think those climate change people might be on to something, ay

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

No Star Wars. No Star Trek. Name a favorite sci-fi franchise.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

Climate change is really, really expensive www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02...

submitted 25 days ago • 18 comments

Just finished Mickey7 by Edward Ashton and it's easy to see why Bong Joon-Ho has picked it up for adaptation. Very up his thematic alley. #BookSky 💙📚

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: After the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, dozens of BioWare employees were told they were temporarily assigned to other projects within EA. This week, a twist: those temp assignments are now permanent transfers. And BioWare has shrunk. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

submitted 27 days ago • 59 comments

The longer I go without writing about games, the more I feel like I could just not forever and write about books instead. But then I get a banger idea and want to write about games. Then, of course, there's the third way where I eat my cake and have it too... Alas, all of it must wait

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments