In the late 19th century, the automobile was invented. Early in the 20th, humanity discovered powered flight. In the century since, the quest to...
Flying Cars
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J.S. Morin
Starfarers of Catan
It’s no exaggeration to say that when Settlers of Catan came on the scene in 1995, it changed board gaming worldwide. The randomized board...
Year 11 of My 5-10 Year Overnight Success Plan
Some of you (the clever ones), may note a Curious Math Situation right in the title of this year's update. The cynics among you will further observe...
Snitched on Me, a very Ramsey Christmas Song
by Jamie Ramsey (age 12) I sold a guy some stolen stim; somebody snitched on me.I broke a bully’s nose and chin; somebody snitched on me.I cut off...
The Holiday Special that wasn’t…(and won’t be)
For people reading the J.S. Morin emails, you might know we've been playing with Midjourney a lot lately. And we finally started trying to create...
A Prequel to a Sci-Fi Classic (With Apes)
Back in 2011, someone had the bright idea to trample on the grave of science fiction classic, Planet of the Apes. The Charlton Heston original...
Hearthstone: A Mobile/PC Powerhouse of a Game
Hearthstone isn’t news. It’s an offshoot of the world’s most famous MMORPG and it’s been around in its own right since 2014. But it’s notable for a...
Off-brand gods: When an Idea is So Bad That It’s…Bad
So, sometimes a funny idea pops into your head. That’s fine. It’s ok to laugh at it, maybe share it with whoever is closest, and simply move on....
The End of Backbreaking Labor
Job posting from 2040: Entry level construction job Will be supervising 20 employees No physical limitations You’ll be building bridges and...
Honor Among Thieves: THIS is how you make a D&D movie
Fantasy movies have had a rough history in Hollywood. Cheesy special effects, ren faire level costumes, and dialogue that sounds like a high-school...
Encodya: Just a girl and her robot
Point-and-click puzzle games are a mainstay of PC gaming dating back to the 80s. Due to the limited scope, they can be reliably produced by indie...
Google Maps Timeline: The Argument-Killing Machine
"We haven’t been to X in ages." "What was the name of that little Italian place we stopped at the day we went to Y?" "Yes, we went to Z on our...
Altered Carbon: What Happens When Tech Makes Life Cheap?
Altered Carbon begins with a futuristic twist on the noir whodunnit. The victim commissions the detective’s help himself. Thanks to an alien...
Chess: Good Game, Bad Plot
Chess is having something of a minor resurgence these days (all things being relative, it’s probably still less popular than the average pay-to-win...
Mobius wimmelbilder – behind the scenes
Before I share the exciting project we spent 8 months working with an amazing wimmelbilder artist to complete, if you missed either my...
Wimmelbilder – Greatest German word ever?
Language is funny stuff. Often absurd. Especially English. I certainly make that point often enough in my writing by having my characters...
Yachts Are Evolving – Into Starships?
Early space travel was never going to be cheap… When I came up with the story of Hotel Caledonia (mission 7 of Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire), the...
The Puzzled Patron
I'm doing a little bit of a different take on the "fantasy board game" theme this week. This is a puzzle, but one whose artwork speaks directly to...
The Witcher – One of the few times you don’t need to read the book first
Back in 1990, Polish author published a short story collection whose title, in English, was The Witcher. In 2008, someone translated the first of a...
What Has Nine Lives and Is Stuck in a Loop?
A premise does not a story make. This one comes up time and again in Author Scrapheap. A lot of times I come up with a story idea that’s really just...
Incoming Transmission: Space Stations Are Hard Enough to Fix…
If only the antenna wasn’t the first thing broken. Incoming Transmission is a co-op puzzle game wherein a team tries to complete a set of repairs to...
Genetically engineered plants
Your Garden Center Doesn’t Carry THESE (yet…) Maybe you wanted to add a pop of color to a living space or just enjoy tending to living things and...
12 Monkeys: Time Travel Cranked to 11
The Army of the 12 Monkey was just the start Terry Gilliam’s 1995 movie, 12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, was a looping time travel...
Endless Blanket Fort
Who doesn't love a blanket fort? …maybe when it's like Labyrinth meets Coraline. So, I’ve always loved the notion of the "X wishes" story. You’ve...