November Newsletter
How we kicked off the fall season
Happy belated Thanksgiving!
November marks the second month of Lawrence and Goliath's existence as a little corner of the internet where I can talk about video games. Honestly, that short time has given me a chance to reflect on a lot of things regarding my writing and how I approach looking at games as art. It's been a busy year that's taken a lot of adjusting, but it's all been slowly coming together one piece at a time.
For these monthly newsletters, I want to focus on highlighting the works that were published here, as well as some external essays and other reading materials that left an impact on me this month.
FROM LAWRENCE AND GOLIATH
This month's feature article was my review of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. This game was my life for the few weeks that I played it. It's fun, creative, and looks gorgeous on the Nintendo Switch OLED (speaking of, how come they haven't made an OLED Lite? I'd buy one of those in a heartbeat). I avoid number scores on reviews because I think they detract from the actual substance of what I thought worked about a game and what didn't. I'd say the hardest thing about this review was not spoiling most of the endgame content, but perhaps I'll go back one day to highlight that section and how much fun it is.
Lawrence Adkins
While I published this in October, it was the first essay that I wrote for Lawrence and Goliath, so why not include it in the first newsletter? I went to Portland Retro Gaming Expo in September thanks to SUPERJUMP, and I had a blast! This wasn't my first convention, but it was my first time going across the country alone for a trip, and it's one that will stick with me for ages.
Lawrence Adkins
FROM BEYOND THE VEIL
Still speaking on PRGE, all of my developer interviews have finally been published on SUPERJUMP! I conducted these a few days after getting home from the event, and it was incredible to talk to everyone about their experiences. Everyone I interviewed was a member of PIGSquad, a collection of indie developers working together as a community to collaborate, uplift each other, and feed into the inherently artistic nature of Portland's culture.
Thomas McGrath wrote to me on Discord about his time as Lead Programmer for Super Dungeon Designer, a Zelda-inspired dungeon builder the likes of which I'd never seen until now!
Lawrence Adkins
Viktor Krause and Julia Barnacle sat down with me to talk about Initial Daydream, their retro-inspired Playdate RPG. I loved hearing them talk about their relationship with JRPGs and how that influenced the game's design. I even managed to get an exclusive lore bit from them!
Lawrence Adkins
Chloe Charlotte discussed her time with Retromine as a freshman game developer, and what it was like moving to Portland to pursue full-time game development.
Lawrence Adkins
And I still can't get over how Red Thread was described as a mix of Disco Elysium and Mario Party. With a demo that's available now, Cerise Pomme and Alex Sheppard talked about their time with PIGSquad, moving across the country to develop games, and the impact on diversity they want to instill with their games.
Lawrence Adkins
Game of the Month
Okay, so a short story time: PRGE is a three-day event, with Saturday being the big highlight like most conventions, right? At some point in the middle of the afternoon, the fire alarm goes off after I've been sitting at one table for a good 10-15 minutes, spending way too long on my turn with this game. When I came back inside, my seat was taken, and that game didn't make a Sunday appearance. That game was Retromine!
This has become my "Solitaire when I bring my personal laptop with me to work. There have been moments where I just can't stand to think about files and paperwork, and Retromine comes in to discretely save the workday. It's insane how I've built a genuine appreciation for this game, not only because it's fun, but because of the sheer convenience and replayability it offers.
