January 24, 2022

So Your Password Manager’s Been Abducted by Aliens

We should have known this day would come.

Heck, you asked the question in plenty of time, but it still caught us off guard when the entirety of 1Password was engulfed in the scintillating glare of an alien tractor beam and pulled into the abyssal night of outer space for eternity.

But why dwell on the past? We may be gone, but you’re still here…and you have questions.

Questions like “is this a joke?” and “Do you have an easy-to-share listicle with next steps?”

Well, dear denizen of the planet formerly known as Earth, don’t worry: we do have answers. They are “yes”, and:

Read More → technology digital lifestyle

May 6, 2021

The Music of Rebel Inc.

Game audio can feel like a thankless industry.

In our distracted world, the idea of listening to music for music’s sake is rare enough as it is. To expect people to notice and appreciate music when their attention is being drawn to enjoyable gameplay is just unrealistic.

Yet music is a critical aspect of establishing the gameplay experience, even if it’s mostly subliminal. It sets the mood, suggests pacing, and offers a sense of triumph in moments of success.

In Rebel Inc., a popular strategy game from the creators of Plague Inc., the gameplay challenges you to avoid combat as you attempt to balance the needs of separate factions.

What follows is a peek behind a curtain few folks ever experience: the process of writing music for games. Specifically, my process for writing the music of Rebel Inc.

The Perfect Kindle

After failing to release any new Kindles last year (for obvious reasons), the expectation is that we’ll see new eReader hardware from Amazon before the year is up.

While we wait, I was imagining what my ideal Kindle would be like—something that brings together all the most important features from existing models, competitors, and my imagination.

Keeping Wanderlust at Bay With Alba: A Wildlife Adventure

I spent every summer of my childhood in the mountains of Romania.

For me, this remote haven was a place I could explore some of the things I love most: nature, animals, and the quaint appeal of having time alone to think.

I’ve been very intentional about trying to cultivate access to those things in my adult life, and every so often I encounter them in unexpected places—like a video game from Apple Arcade.