Paranoid Ramblings

Images and words mostly about video games, horror, crime fiction, and Hitchcock. Richard Rouse III is a director, game designer and writer and is the Creative Director at FarBridge on dark new games. He was creative director and writer on The Suffering action-horror franchise, and has also worked on The Church in the Darkness, State of Decay, Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Drakan: The Ancients' Gates, Damage Incorporated, and Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis. He wrote the book Game Design: Theory and Practice, and is known for his lectures on game design and storytelling. He lives in the Seattle area with his very understanding wife and children. More about The Church in the Darkness at www.paranoidproductions.com/church @RichardRouseIII Visit his game development web site at www.paranoidproductions.com  

[richardrouse3]

Happy to be back at LudoNarraCon this year, which starts later today!

Our talk "Very Different Tales" is up first - come watch Jesse Schell, Deborah Hendersen and I talk about the many different ways that game stories change across genres and mediums.

More info here: https://www.ludonarracon.com/

[richardrouse3]

Rules of the Game returns for GDC 2025! We're Thursday at 3:30, Room 2002, West Hall.

Come see what game design rules will be shared by Chandana Ekanayake, Carla Engelbrecht, Noah Falstein, Harvey Smith, and Alisha Thayer!

[churchinthedarkness]

Wrapping up the year, we're mailing out some Limited Run Games Switch & PS4 editions to the folks that worked on The Church in the Darkness. So much thanks to the team!

Not on the team and interested in one for? The Limited Run Games online shop is sold out, but you can still find them in a few other retailers, such as Amazon...

[mostlyghostlyy]

[richardrouse3]

I'll be back at LudoNarraCon (I believe this is the 6th one I've talked at) this weekend talking about Difficult Decisions & Moral Quagmires - Player Choices in Game Narratives in games with the wonderful Desiree Cifre, Garce P Fong, and Josh Sawyer. It's all streaming for free on Steam! come watch for free on Steam - looks like we're on first at 10am PT on Thursday! The talks should then Stream all weekend.

http://ludonarracon.com

http://ludonarracon.com/2024-speakers

[richardrouse3]

Honored to share one of the projects we have been making at FarBridge - Homeworld: Vast Reaches has shipped!

So proud of the team that crafted a new way to be immersed in space battles and a whole new chapter for Karan S'jet and the Homeworld saga, built expressly for VR and MR. We've launch on the Quest and will be coming for Steam VR.

I wrote about shipping on the Quest Blog: https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/homeworld-vast-reaches-launch-meta-quest-3/

And you can get the game right over here: https://www.meta.com/experiences/7777435315609988/

Or wishlist on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2949240/Homeworld_Vast_Reaches/

[churchinthedarkness]

We've been quiet in our jungle, but now our time has come to emerge.

The Church in the Darkness is manifesting in limited physical editions for The Nintendo Switch & PS4 from Limited Run Games.

Pre-orders are available on December 10th – so come meet us, soon. 

The Church in the Darkness

The Church in the Darkness Pre-Orders Close December 10, 2023 In the late 1970s, the charismatic Isaac and Rebecca Walker lead the Collectiv

[richardrouse3]

I’ve done a panel at all five LudoNarraCon events, and I’m glad to be back at this year’s event, running on Steam this very weekend!  This year the panel is titled “Game Stories Told in Most Unexpected & Surprising Ways” about all the unconventional ways games can tell stories, and with me I have Richard Dansky (narrative lead on extraction shooter The Hunt:  Showdown), Daniel Benmergui (creator of unique story-builder game Storyteller) and Latoya Peterson (head of Glow Up Games, makers of Insecure: The Come Up Game).  The panel is streaming all weekend long as part of LudoNarraCon, but you can also watch it anytime on YouTube right here:  

As part of the event, my experimental narrative game The Church in the Darkness is up for it’s biggest sale yet at 90% off.  Take a look at all the LudoNarraCon content right over here:  

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ludonarracon

[churchinthedarkness]

The Church in the Darkness are long time guests of LudoNarraCon, the annual online festival about narrative games.  And we’re glad to be featured again for 2023, now with a 90% off discount!  Check out us and all the featured games on Steam right here:  https://store.steampowered.com/sale/LudoNarraCon

As part of LudoNarraCon, our project director Richard Rouse also participated in the panel Game Stories Told in Most Unexpected & Surprising Ways which includes Richard Dansky (of The Hunt:  Showdown), Daniel Benmergui (of Storyteller) and Latoya Peterson (of Insecure: The Come Up Game).  The panel is streaming all weekend long as part of LudoNarraCon, and  but also you can watch it anytime on YouTube right here:  

Not all the games features will all promise cults in the jungle, but there’s more to life than joining the Collective Justice Mission.   Right?  Right?  

[richardrouse3]

Rules of the Game returns for the 2023 Game Developer’s Conference with great speakers including Jamie Cheng,  Aleissia Laidacker, Beth LaPensée, Richard Lemarchand and Tanya X Short.  Come see them Wednesday at 11:30am,  West Hall Room 3016.  Each gets 10 minutes to share a Rule (or perhaps Belief) they have about developing games.  People have liked it before and we are optimistic they will like this one too. 

[gatabella]

Anita Ekberg during the filming of La Dolce Vita, 1960

[churchinthedarkness]

We’re happy to see the Fellow Traveller exploring kid is skipping off on their way to join The Church in the Darkness and our very friendly little cult…  Even the dog is coming! 

And all because the game’s on sale on Steam right now.  

https://store.steampowered.com/app/339830/The_Church_in_the_Darkness/

Kid can’t be wrong?

[jarofblades]

Creepy statue located in Wicklow, Ireland (The Indian Sculpture Park, outdoor sculpture gallery)

[richardrouse3]

Shocking Developments!

That's the name of the panel I’m doing at LudoNarraCon May 5th-9th - the panel is a long with great and shocking people Heather Albano, Antony Johnston, and Xalavier Nelson Jr.  

Thanks to the good folks at Fellow Traveller for organizing this great conference dedicated to fascinating narrative games. 

See all the talks and all the games right here:

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/LudoNarraCon

[richardrouse3]

This year I was able to host the Rules of the Game talk at the Game Developer’s Conference once again!  It was my pleasure to include Eleanor Todd, Carrie Patel, Osama Dorias and Frank Lantz, who did a series of excellent talks on their personal game design rules. 

Slides from the talk at are now up for free download at the link below.  https://paranoidproductions.com/writings.html#GROUPTALKS

[churchinthedarkness]

For the New Year, Isaac and Rebecca want to bring their music to the world, so we are proud to say our unique soundtrack is now available on Bandcamp.

Of course it features the talents of our cult leaders John Patrick Lowrie & Ellen McLain, along with soundtrack music by Andre Maguire.    With cover art by Shane White

https://paranoidproductions.bandcamp.com/

And we should add that if you really love our music, you can still pick up a beautiful 1970s-style gatefold double vinyl from Minimum Records  (Though it is sold out at Limited Run Games)

UK/EU/World via Minimum Records

US via Ship to Shore Phone Co   

And if you want to hear our music while running through the jungle, we are still on Winter Sale at some of your favorite places to play video games set inside dark religious cults.

Steam 

GOG

Nintendo Switch

[realduality]

So you think the color of my hair is bad luck? Oh, there’s two schools of thought on that.

Sea Fever (Neasa Hardiman)