One Year of Hackery

[NoTalentHack]

You've done great. Your productivity level is amazing. I wish I could keep up with that pace.

I've never heard the term "boomer shooter" before. Is that a thing? Does that refer to the person doing the shooting or the person being shot? I'm a boomer and went through a ten-year phase of playing a lot of first person shoot em ups, and that phrase conjures up an image of my sons rolling their eyes and saying, "Oh God, Dad's playing Half Life again."

It’s a particular subgenre of first person shooters that try to emulate the feel and aesthetics of older shooters, but refined them to be less clunky in terms of UI, controls, etc. Some of them look/feel like Quake-style graphics, some Doom, some Duke Nukem, but sone just do their own thing.

Dusk is the gold standard there, a folk/cosmic horror game that has Quake1style graphics and movement, but there’s a whole list of them that I’d recommend:

Cultic (a spiritual successor to Blood)
Forgive Me Father (more horror, but with a comic book-y art style)
Boltgun (official WH40K license)
Amid Evil (Hexen/Heretic with updated/3D graphics)
HROT (Eurojank at its finest)
Project Warlock (A helluva good game by a single guy, also has a sequel in Early Access)
Hedon Bloodrite (I have no way to describe this and have it make sense; oddly horny-feeling dungeon crawler with a female protagonist that has a "step on me, mommy" aesthetic and wild world building. Karlach from BG3 as a FPS protagonist, for another reference.)
Nightmare Reaper (this is my personal favorite, a rogue-lite set alternately in a mental patient's head and her asylum)
Ion Fury (Duke Nukem, except slightly less over the top and with a female protagonist)

There are a ton more I'm sure I'm forgetting or have only played a little of: Ultrakill, Severed Steel, Dread Templar, and a bunch of others. There's a new wave coming up that are more like Deus Ex, with more emphasis on RPG-like systems, multiple paths to solving a problem, etc. but with the same sort of aesthetic and gameplay grounding.

Also, I can't keep up that pace. I'm done trying for now. I'm glad I did it, but it's not sustainable, at least for me.

 

[NoTalentHack]

You’ve got the talent. Just need more people to discover that.

Em

Seconded. You absolutely deserve more visibility. I know that my count is inflated because of where I post, but you're such a great writer it drives me a little nuts to not see your follower numbers higher than mine.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I know we kicked around an idea for a story to write together. Maybe one of these days.

I've been thinking about that. Maybe once things calm down IRL, we can kick some ideas around.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Congrats. I'm also concerned how accurately you have described me.

I'm just saying, there's a reason there's a clinical description of this particular type of neurodivergency. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 46, and that was only because I sat in the same room with my daughter during COVID trying to work while she did her schoolwork. She had been diagnosed, and I was like, "wow, she acts a lot like I did in school at that age." Then I looked up a bunch of symptoms and I was like, "I used to do that. That too. Still do that. And that. And... fuck."

 

[NoTalentHack]

Hey, @NoTalentHack , I just wanted to say that while I'm only just starting on my own writing journey and I'm not sure where it will take me or how far it will go, I wasn't sure if I'd continue past my first story until I read both of the Perspectives of Infidelity series. Your writing provided me with a real inspiration for how I might approach my first ongoing story, and I'm not sure I would have got there if I hadn't read that story at exactly the right time.

I've still got a long way to go and I think I'll take longer to get there, but I am enjoying the journey so far and just wanted to say maybe helping someone else be inspired to continue writing wasn't one of your goals, but your writing has helped me feel like there's room enough in erotica for the telling the stories I want to tell and how I want to tell them, and thank you.

Wow. That is... honestly, that's incredibly humbling. Thank you. If you want to shoot the shit about writing, want someone to beta read, whatever, hit me up.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I re-read your post. I'm trying to write "something good" which is causing my publishing to slow down (and my dopamine).

Maybe a dip in to LW is what I need.

As much as I grew to hate the "write in every contest" goal when things got hard, it really forced me to stop slamming my face against stories that weren't working. It also enforced a certain amount of discipline, which was helpful.

 

[ThatNewGuy]

A little late to the party, but congrats, buddy. That's a heckuva list of accomplishments!

I remember your first story, a brief toe-dip in the water that used a simple rhetorical convention to great effect.

I think the next one I read, maybe a month or so later, was Unwanted Memories. The unique plot turned the Loving Wives "affair confession" on its head while playing with themes of identity and forgiveness. Both stories made clear just how much of a misnomer your name actually is.

I also appreciate how gracious you've been in encouraging and lifting up others writers on this site. I've seen you reference a bunch of other writers' works in threads here, you've given shoutouts to other writers at the end of some of your stories, and you included a suggested reading list in your recent Loving Wives essay. Good on ya.

I hope that you continue to find creative fulfillment and happiness pursuing whatever goals you decide to set next.

 

[SimonDoom]

It’s a particular subgenre of first person shooters that try to emulate the feel and aesthetics of older shooters, but refined them to be less clunky in terms of UI, controls, etc. Some of them look/feel like Quake-style graphics, some Doom, some Duke Nukem, but sone just do their own thing.

LOL. It's a funny phrase. But ever since my son said "OK Boomer" to me, I've gotten used to being "of a certain age." There's nothing I can do about it now but chuckle. I get in my Gen Z digs when I can.

I remember playing Doom in the 1990s and thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and of course now it would seem hopelessly clunky and crudely pixelated. My kids played Call of Duty but it seemed boring to me because of the lack of an ongoing story. I'm totally clueless about what's out there now, and I don't care.

 

[lovecraft68]

Congrats on the milestone.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Well, it’s a few days late, but I hit 2,000 followers. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Euphony]

I remember playing Doom in the 1990s

You can play it on a pregnancy test now.



Doom and financial doom all in a one convenient package.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well, it’s a few days late, but I hit 2,000 followers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Congrats

 

[oneagainst]

Well, it’s a few days late, but I hit 2,000 followers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Nicely done! Keep up the good work, and we're sure to see you on the Top Author's list in no time!

You've single-handedly changed my opinion of the LW category - from the den of trolls I assumed it was, to the much more nuanced beast that it actually is. It does indeed contain multitudes