#inner-worlds-and-world-building

[ follow ]
Podcast
fromEngadget
9 hours ago

Ursula K. Le Guin's blog has been turned into a podcast

Ursula K. Le Guin's blog is being rereleased as a podcast featuring all posts, including essays, poems, and cat pictures.
fromKotaku
12 hours ago

The Mass Effect TV Show Is Having Problems With Non-Gamers

Peter Friedlander has requested that the scripts for the upcoming TV series be rewritten to appeal to 'non-gamers,' which has upset some Mass Effect fans. However, production for the series is reportedly 'on the verge' of starting.
Television
Film
fromKotaku
15 hours ago

Fan Catches First Glimpse Of Alex Garland's Elden Ring Movie

Footage of Alex Garland's upcoming movie set has surfaced online, raising questions about its authenticity and hinting at imminent production announcements.
Games
fromKotaku
2 days ago

How To Finish Big Open World Games Like Crimson Desert

Focusing on one open-world game at a time enhances motivation and progress, making it easier to complete them.
Design
fromwww.archdaily.com
2 days ago

Flipmod / Ambit Narrative Design (A.N.D)

Flipmod is a modular shading system designed for public spaces in subtropical cities, promoting climate responsiveness and public engagement.
fromInverse
2 days ago

'Project Hail Mary's' Relativity Problem Is More Complicated Than You Think

"I've done a lot of time-dilated travel." This statement encapsulates the essence of Grace's journey, highlighting the profound effects of traveling at speeds approaching light, where time for the traveler slows down significantly compared to those remaining on Earth.
OMG science
Video games
fromKotaku
4 days ago

Hope For A New Open World Lord Of The Rings RPG Is Surging

Warhorse Studios may be developing a Lord of the Rings game, but conflicting rumors and industry challenges create uncertainty.
Books
fromThe New Yorker
3 days ago

The Sci-Fi Novelist Who Disappeared for Decades

Cameron Reed's science fiction explores cognitive estrangement, revealing alien worlds that reflect and challenge our own societal norms and moral dilemmas.
fromKotaku
6 days ago

Dimension 20 Is Finally Doing A Vampire: The Masquerade Campaign

Dimension 20 has primarily used Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition across its campaigns, with occasional side quests using other systems. The main cast has only deviated from D&D for the sixth campaign, A Starstruck Odyssey, which utilized an unofficial Star Wars system.
DC food
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 week ago

Recently Published Book Spotlight: Aesthetics and Video Games

Video games possess unique aesthetic value that challenges traditional philosophical frameworks of games and fiction.
Games
fromInverse
2 days ago

The Biggest RPG Phenomenon Of The 2020s Is Coming To TV

Dungeon Crawler Carl is being adapted into a TV series, marking a significant moment for the LitRPG genre and its mainstream acceptance.
Television
fromDefector
1 day ago

It's Time To Grow Up | Defector

HBO's Harry Potter series aims to attract new fans while navigating controversies surrounding J.K. Rowling's anti-trans activism.
fromGameSpot
4 days ago

New The Lord Of The Rings Game Coming From Tomb Raider Studio - Report

Crystal Dynamics is developing a new The Lord of the Rings game, which would be its third game now in development, joining Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst.
Video games
#horror
Books
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Fiction Is Indispensable to Life's Journey

Fiction is essential for emotional connection, learning, and social cognition, allowing us to escape reality and engage deeply with narratives.
fromThe Atlantic
3 days ago

Today's Atlantic Trivia: Video Games

Nintendo was founded in 1889, the same year the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris, starting as a manufacturer of Japanese playing cards.
Games
fromEngadget
3 days ago

An immersive 'Black Mirror Experience' is launching in Montreal

The Black Mirror Experience is an interactive virtual reality experience that blends physical space and VR, designed to blur the lines of fiction and reality in which you become the main character.
Television
#meta-horizon-worlds
Tech industry
fromWIRED
2 weeks ago

Meta Will Keep Horizon Worlds Alive in VR 'for the Foreseeable Future'

Meta reversed its decision to shut down Horizon Worlds in VR, keeping the platform operational for existing games after user feedback, while discontinuing new content creation and major investments.
Tech industry
fromWIRED
2 weeks ago

Meta Will Keep Horizon Worlds Alive in VR 'for the Foreseeable Future'

Meta reversed its decision to shut down Horizon Worlds in VR, keeping the platform operational for existing games after user feedback, while discontinuing new content creation and major investments.
fromBoard Game Quest
2 weeks ago

Everbound Review

Everbound uses an 18-card construct to fill out the crew of a pirate ship. You start with your Captain and a twinkle in yer eye. And presumably a ship. Yarrrr. You'll take one of two actions per turn. Draw: Take a card from the Dock. Recruit: Play a card from your hand by paying its icon cost.
Board games
#science-fiction
fromBig Think
1 week ago
OMG science

How "Project Hair Mary" turns hardcore science into page-turning drama

Ryland Grace, a science teacher, awakens in space on a mission to save humanity from extinction.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago
Books

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror review roundup

Two novels blend science-fiction or supernatural elements with intimate suspense: an alien-linked serial-killer investigation and a Cornish folk horror about ancient sea pacts and sisterhood.
OMG science
fromBig Think
1 week ago

How "Project Hair Mary" turns hardcore science into page-turning drama

Ryland Grace, a science teacher, awakens in space on a mission to save humanity from extinction.
Video games
fromGameSpot
5 days ago

Crimson Desert Is Doing Something Very Uncommon For RPGs

Crimson Desert has seen a significant increase in player count shortly after its launch, indicating strong ongoing interest in the game.
fromWIRED
2 weeks ago

Meta Is Shutting Down Horizon Worlds on Meta Quest

Meta sent an email blast to Horizon Worlds users today stating that the social VR world will officially end on its Quest VR headsets; starting March 31, Horizon Worlds will no longer be in the Quest store. Some Horizon-specific perks, including Meta Credits, avatars, and some digital clothes and in-world purchases, will also be removed.
Wearables
fromdesignboom | architecture & design magazine
2 weeks ago

critical futures: how superflux draws upon speculative designs to transform our present

The most effective way to change what people do today is to make them experience what tomorrow can look like. They illustrate details backed by data, science, and facts, allowing their imagined futures to no longer stand as theories but as actionable methods. Where forecasting extends from data, speculative design builds from imagination, supported by research.
Graphic design
Data science
fromHackernoon
2 weeks ago

The World Model Problem: Why Sora-Style Video Still Breaks | HackerNoon

World models require consistency across three dimensions: temporal coherence, cross-modal alignment, and physical plausibility to achieve general artificial intelligence.
Games
fromEngadget
4 days ago

A Palworld horror-themed dating sim spinoff is on the way

Palworld: More Than Just Pals is a dating sim with horror elements where players can romance and eat creatures from the original game.
Books
fromInverse
1 week ago

Behind 'Project Hail Mary' And The Hard Sci-Fi Renaissance - And What's Next

Andy Weir's evolution as a sci-fi author reflects a blend of realism and personal growth in his characters and storytelling.
#film-vs-literature
Artificial intelligence
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Reality Splits: Seeing Different Worlds in Mixed Reality

Mixed reality systems create perceptual conflicts when users see different digital objects in shared spaces, reducing collaboration synchrony and increasing mental effort while eroding confidence in joint decisions.
Games
fromEngadget
5 days ago

BOXROOM lets you build a cozy game room for your Steam library

Customize a virtual space to showcase your game library with personalized furniture and game displays.
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago

Inside Andy Weir's wild world-building for Project Hail Mary

In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, wakes up in space with no memory of how he got there, highlighting the film's intriguing premise.
OMG science
Board games
fromMedium
3 weeks ago

Are games really "dumbing down"?

The Elder Scrolls evolved from a struggling franchise after failed games Battlespire and Redguard into one of gaming's most influential RPG series.
History
fromMedievalists.net
3 weeks ago

10 Ways Video Games Have Rewritten the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net

Video games have become a primary way modern audiences encounter the Middle Ages, creating a distinctive form of medievalism shaped by gameplay mechanics that emphasizes warfare and reshapes historical reality.
Television
fromInverse
2 weeks ago

Amazon's Most Underrated Fantasy Epic Is Getting A Surprising Second Life

Amazon Prime Video is expanding The Wheel of Time universe with new animated series, movies, and video games despite the show's cancellation after Season 3.
fromKotaku
1 week ago

I Can't Stop Playing This Terrible Game, So Maybe It's Good?

Timber Rush is about numbers going up in the crudest way imaginable, a clicker game that barely even features clicking, in which you move your woodcutter side to side as increasing numbers of increasingly silly logs fly around the screen.
Games
fromKotaku
2 weeks ago

Starfield Free Lanes And Terran Armada Update Revealed

Interplanetary exploration is what Free Lanes is all about. The idea is to add more reasons for players to travel through space instead of just fast-traveling. Bethesda is even adding a cruise control-like mode that will let players step away from the helm while their ship flies to a specific location. During these crises, you can be interrupted by random events.
Video games
Independent films
fromInsideHook
1 month ago

Can an AI-Generated Character Have a "Universe"?

Particle6 is creating an AI-generated cinematic universe called the 'Tillyverse' featuring software-generated characters like Tilly Norwood, marking a new approach to shared fictional universes.
Video games
fromKotaku
3 weeks ago

I Fell In Love With Highguard And Now It's Gone Forever - Kotaku

Highguard, a multiplayer shooter that shut down after three months, provided deeply enjoyable late-night gaming experiences despite initial bland impressions and negative community reception.
Books
fromSlate Magazine
4 weeks ago

Something Strange Is Happening With Books. It Could Reshape Literary Culture.

BookTok readers increasingly prefer first-person narrative perspective in romance and fantasy novels, viewing third-person narration as unnecessarily complex and off-putting.
Board games
fromKotaku
1 month ago

Our Dark Lord Cthulhu Awakens In This Lovecraftian Adventure

The Dark Rites of Arkham is a point-and-click adventure game set in Lovecraft's fictional city of Arkham, where Detective Jack Foster investigates ritualistic murders linked to mystical cults and ancient gods.
Video games
fromThe Verge
3 weeks ago

Meta exec hopes VR teens will stick around

The VR gaming industry faces its roughest period in decades, with Meta cutting over 1,000 jobs and shutting down studios, while revenue growth relies heavily on free-to-play titles popular with young players.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Why some of us build entire worlds inside our heads and then feel homesick for places that never existed - Silicon Canals

Elaborate inner worlds built through imagination are common cognitive features that fulfill emotional needs, characterized by specific details and consistent logic that can persist for decades.
Games
fromKotaku
3 weeks ago

15 Incredible Indie Games Made Computer Worlds A Must-Watch

Computer Worlds is a new showcase celebrating innovative indie games, featuring 15 trailers and 16 released titles to highlight unique games struggling for visibility in a risk-averse market.
fromBig Think
1 month ago

From myth to machine: The technological evolution of storytelling

I wanted to write a book about how the smartphone changed the world, but the more I researched, the clearer it became that phones were actually the latest step in this evolution of storytelling technology that stretches all the way back to prehistoric times.
Books
Video games
fromKotaku
1 month ago

Esoteric Ebb Has A Lot Of Hilarious Ways In Which You Can Die

Esoteric Ebb is an isometric RPG combining Baldur's Gate 3 and Disco Elysium elements, released March 3, where character stat allocation significantly impacts gameplay difficulty and survival.
Gadgets
fromEngadget
1 month ago

Meta's metaverse is going mobile-first

Meta is separating Horizon Worlds from Quest, making Worlds mobile-first while focusing Quest on VR and supporting third-party developers with new monetization and discovery tools.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy

Fantasy is a dominant, all-pervading cultural form offering diverse subgenres, serious artistic value, and lineages from varied creators and traditions.
#generative-ai
Arts
fromdesignyoutrust.com
2 months ago

Artist Builds Epic Scifi Worlds: Dystopian Cities, Ruined Castles And Alien Megastructures In Cinematic Detail

Contemporary creatives span surrealism, illustration, installations, concept design, and craft to reimagine everyday objects, nostalgia, folklore, social commentary, and dreamlike worlds.
fromInverse
2 months ago

Could 2026 Be The Best Year For RPGS Ever?

The last five years have seen a tremendous resurgence of role-playing games, from the turn-based masterpieces of Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, to the action-packed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. And staggeringly, it looks like that trend is set to continue well into 2026. While there's undoubtedly a handful of games we don't know about, even what we do have looks like it's going to make this another banner year for RPGs.
Gadgets
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

The Void co-founder: 'The secret to storytelling in VR? Don't!'

"Storytelling implies one-way communication: I am telling a story and you are listening to it," Hickman told The Drum. "If that's what you want to do maybe don't use an interactive medium to do it. Use a film, use a book, use a blog - tell a story in a medium designed for storytelling. If you're doing it with VR, you have to recognise that no matter what, the person in the virtual world has decision and choice."
Marketing tech
UX design
fromMedium
2 months ago

Spatial vibe coding: prototyping immersive reality with AI

AI-driven vibe coding enables rapid prototyping of spatial XR experiences, producing functional 3D canvases with WebXR, frameworks, and production-ready toolchains.
fromFast Company
2 months ago

A play with no actors on stage? That's the bet behind the world's first play in mixed reality

When a stranger smiles at you, you smile back. That is why, when Sir Ian McKellen ( The Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Amadeus) walked on the stage in front of me, looked me straight in the eye, and smiled at me, I smiled back. It was the polite thing to do. It was also completely unnecessary, because McKellen was not actually on the stage in front of me. He smiled at me through a pair of special glasses.
Arts
fromEngadget
2 months ago

Google's Project Genie lets you generate your own interactive worlds

This past summer, Google DeepMind debuted Genie 3. It's what's known as a world world, an AI system capable of generating images and reacting as the user moves through the environment the software is simulating. At the time, DeepMind positioned Genie 3 as a tool for training AI agents. Now, it's making the model available to people outside of Google to try with Project Genie.
Artificial intelligence
Marketing tech
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

'The metaverse is dead; long live the metaverse': emerging tech's table of elements

Metaverse technologies will continue advancing; prioritize enabling technologies over hype, since hardware, standards and interoperability will improve and unlock new value.
Board games
fromBoard Game Quest
1 month ago

A Wayfarer's Tale Review

A Wayfarer's Tale is a competitive roll-and-write exploration game with unique companions, shared dice pool, and intricate production across varied hex maps.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Another World review kaleidoscopic afterlife fairytale with the dark fury of a Greek tragedy

Another World is a visually stunning, violent fairytale animation exploring human destructiveness and the beauty of the human heart.
Books
fromArs Technica
2 months ago

TR-49 is interactive fiction for fans of deep research rabbit holes

Research notes in a cataloged database reveal interlinked authors, hidden computer commands, and an unfolding narrative converging on a metaphysical search and encroaching threat.
fromArs Technica
2 months ago

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy tries something different, and I don't hate it

Ake accepts the job, and to atone for her mistake in separating Mir from his mother, she pressgangs him into the Academy as a new recruit. Oh, she's also a Lanthanite (technically a human-lanthanite hybrid), and 422 years old, which means she remembers working for the pre-burn Federation. She isn't the only academy instructor with pre-burn experience in Starfleet. Jett Reno (Tig Notaro), who came to the 32nd century with Discovery, teaches the cadets physics. And the Doctor (Robert Picardo) is chief medical officer.
Television
fromEngadget
1 month ago

Layers of 3 revealed via a mysterious trailer and poem

The new chapter will include not only a game but a novel and music, the company said in a press release. The developer revealed the new IP via a live-action teaser, with an actor reading lines from William Blake's poem, The Sick Rose. A painting then fell from the wall, and the actor then turned over an hourglass with red sand, with a tagline stating "The door won't stay closed."
Video games
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

Six Books for the Chronic Daydreamer

What is available is the daydream-a limitless realm of freedom. In this other world, one might be famous or rich, finally catch the attention of their beloved, or simply sit on a beach as a waiter brings them cocktails. They might fly or speak to animals, heroically save a child, tell off their boss with no consequences, win the Super Bowl at the whistle, or travel to another continent, planet, or time period. No one can stop them; no one can even object.
Books
Video games
fromKotaku
2 months ago

Split Fiction's Director Dishes On Clair Obscur, EA, And Gen AI

The games industry must preserve diversity across AAA, AA, and indie projects rather than converging solely on perceived 'safe' AA successes.
#video-games
Books
fromDefector
2 months ago

Fanfiction's Total Cultural Victory | Defector

Fifty Shades of Grey's transition from fanfiction to mainstream publishing transformed the industry, proving fanfiction-originated romances can be highly lucrative and culturally influential.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

What a Fantasy Can Reveal About Real Life

Fictional lies and imagined worlds can reveal deeper human truths through protagonists who fabricate realities, exposing inner desires, vulnerabilities, and psychological unraveling.
fromInverse
2 months ago

The Best Character of 2026 Is Totally Unexpected

Trails Beyond the Horizon's new character, Ulrika, is like staring into the abyss of a broken TikTok algorithm, and while my knee-jerk reaction might have been shock and even a little disdain, over the next 100 hours, I grew to find the character's bit surprisingly genuine and, admittedly, hilarious. What first felt like a gimmick grew to become one of my absolute favorite parts of the game, enhancing the already distinct personality of the Trails games.
Video games
Books
fromSlate Magazine
1 month ago

The Unlikely Hit That's Popularizing a Whole New Type of Novel

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a bestselling LitRPG series blending RPG mechanics with post-apocalyptic adventure, inspiring fervent cosplay fans and a television adaptation.
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

Brandon Sanderson Teases Potential "AAA" Mistborn Video Game

I feel I'm finally getting established enough that we can make a Mistborn game happen. ... This is at Step One only, but it's an encouraging One.
Video games
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Dev Doesn't Just Want To Be People-Pleaser With Next Game

Creatively, we've always let our North Star be our own personal taste in terms of what we think is cool--what it is we enjoy and want to see. I've seen too many TV shows and books be swayed trying to please a lot of people, and in the process you end up losing the heart of what's there,
Video games
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

A Biography Without 'The Boring Bits'

Sophia Stewart poses a choice that many biographers struggle with: "what to do with the boring bits."
Books
Video games
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

The Best World Of Warcraft Player Housing Creations So Far

WoW player housing, available with the Midnight preorders, provides robust decorating tools and progression that players use to build highly creative, evolving homes.
Video games
fromWGB
1 month ago

Obsidian Will Make More Avowed Games, But No Plans For Outer Worlds 3....Yet

Obsidian will not currently develop a third The Outer Worlds game and will continue making games in the Avowed universe while shortening development cycles.
Video games
fromKotaku
1 month ago

Cyberpunk 2 Dev Explains The Beauty Of First-Person Storytelling

First-person perspective in Cyberpunk 2077 enhances immersion by aligning narrative subjectivity with a body-decay, consciousness-transfer story and avatar-like player identity.
Video games
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Files Flat Out Explain All Its Naming References And Meanings

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 asset files include detailed name explanations, etymologies, and Wikipedia links revealing the meanings and origins of characters and enemies.
Video games
fromGameSpot
2 months ago

This Part Of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Really Surprised Sandfall Interactive

Clair Obscur's optional side content proved far more popular than expected, altering player pacing and revealing developer underestimation of endgame expectations.
[ Load more ]