Shaun Horton's Blog, page 7
March 20, 2016
Game Review: Until Dawn
Just to give fair warning, it is very hard to talk about this game without major spoilers. I'll do my best though.
As video games progress, many of them strive to create a more cinematic feel. They want to immerse the player to the point that they feel like they're controlling a movie, with real people, more than just playing a game.
Until Dawn makes a significant leap toward the cinematic experience. You're not so much playing a game, as much as you're experiencing a "Choose your own adventure...
As video games progress, many of them strive to create a more cinematic feel. They want to immerse the player to the point that they feel like they're controlling a movie, with real people, more than just playing a game.
Until Dawn makes a significant leap toward the cinematic experience. You're not so much playing a game, as much as you're experiencing a "Choose your own adventure...
March 8, 2016
Short Story: Deadline
Welcome! I've got a fun little jaunt of a story for everyone this week. I hope you enjoy it!
Deadline
Karl rolled his eyes and did his best to tune out the blaring alarm. Just a few more minutes was all he needed to verify the numbers on his report and send it off to the analysts. The building wasn't going to come crashing down that quick.
"Four, Nine, what's this three doing over here?" he mumbled to himself.
Someone ran down the hallway, screaming. Bob, from three cubicles over it sound...
Deadline
Karl rolled his eyes and did his best to tune out the blaring alarm. Just a few more minutes was all he needed to verify the numbers on his report and send it off to the analysts. The building wasn't going to come crashing down that quick.
"Four, Nine, what's this three doing over here?" he mumbled to himself.
Someone ran down the hallway, screaming. Bob, from three cubicles over it sound...
March 1, 2016
Are You Writing Good Reviews?
Now, just to get this out of the way, I'm not asking if you're writing all four or five star reviews. I'm asking if your reviews are any good. Sure, the main point of a review is to share your opinion on a particular thing, be it books, movies, art, whichever, but how well does your review really do that?
But first a little rant.
Ratings are NOT universal. The ratings shown here are from Etsy, and are pretty close to what you'll find in most places. Three stars is the middle with "It's okay". L...
But first a little rant.
Ratings are NOT universal. The ratings shown here are from Etsy, and are pretty close to what you'll find in most places. Three stars is the middle with "It's okay". L...
February 25, 2016
Video Game Review: Fallout 4
Dystopian futures are one of the bigger things at the moment. What with The Hunger Games, zombie apocalypse, and multiple other movies and book series out there. But, what if you could pretend you were actually in one?
Fallout 4 is that game. Set in Boston, Massachusetts after the world has been ravaged in a nuclear apocalypse, Fallout 4 puts you in the body of a survivor of a "Vault", a place where people fled when the bombs fell. Of course, the vaults weren't just bunkers, but I'll leave tha...
Fallout 4 is that game. Set in Boston, Massachusetts after the world has been ravaged in a nuclear apocalypse, Fallout 4 puts you in the body of a survivor of a "Vault", a place where people fled when the bombs fell. Of course, the vaults weren't just bunkers, but I'll leave tha...
February 23, 2016
Horror Series
One thing I keep hearing from people is that I need to write a series. That's where the real money in writing is at. While I do plan to dip my toes into Fantasy or more into Sci-Fi at some point, my preference is still Horror. And in Horror, it's very, very difficult to do series.
There are some very good reasons for that. To start, a series is about the continuing experiences of a specific character or group of characters. Occasionally, you will find a series which revolves around different c...
There are some very good reasons for that. To start, a series is about the continuing experiences of a specific character or group of characters. Occasionally, you will find a series which revolves around different c...
February 16, 2016
Are You Image Aware?
Even though authors tend to paint with words, and a lot of us delegate the needs of cover art and advertising to others, our profession and professionalism does require us to at least be aware of the images that are used with our work.
Images have copyright. While you can look up just about anything in Google and save the pictures you want to your computer for later use, you need to be aware that if the wrong people find out, you can be opening yourself up for some very costly consequences.
The...
Images have copyright. While you can look up just about anything in Google and save the pictures you want to your computer for later use, you need to be aware that if the wrong people find out, you can be opening yourself up for some very costly consequences.
The...
February 11, 2016
Movie Review: The Hollow
Recently added to Netflix, The Hollow (2015) is a creature feature/town overrun movie starring Stephanie Hunt, Sarah Dugdale, and Alisha Newton.I don't really do a lot of movies reviews, considering how many sites and blogs focus exclusively on such things, but this movie just kind of screamed to me to write one up.
The Hollow is pretty standard SyFy channel fare. Pretty low budget, kind of made to be cheesy.
Except it's not.
Now, in no way am I going to claim this is equal to any mainstream mov...
February 9, 2016
The Third Type of Horror: The Terror
So, the last look at the three types of Horror brings us to The Terror.
The Terror is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest of the three types of Horror to describe.
(Click the links to see the first two if you haven't read them already.)
The gross-out was the stuff that makes your stomach churn and look away before you hurl your lunch across the ground.
The Horror was the monsters that devour us and evoke our primal fears of dangerous things.
The Terror is the unknown. Now, that may se...
The Terror is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest of the three types of Horror to describe.
(Click the links to see the first two if you haven't read them already.)
The gross-out was the stuff that makes your stomach churn and look away before you hurl your lunch across the ground.
The Horror was the monsters that devour us and evoke our primal fears of dangerous things.
The Terror is the unknown. Now, that may se...
February 1, 2016
SPOILERS! And why they don't bother me that much.
So, for those of you who don't know, I've taken to doing some self-advertising by streaming. I try to focus on games that have a powerful Horror, Sci-fi, or Fantasy element, such as The Evil Within, Alien: Isolation, and Outlast. Lately though, I've been spending a LOT of time running around in Fallout 4.
If you're unfamiliar with the game, it's an RPG based in a post-apocalypse where the entire world got nuked. There's monsters, mutants, robots, and giant cockroaches galore. It's also amazing...
If you're unfamiliar with the game, it's an RPG based in a post-apocalypse where the entire world got nuked. There's monsters, mutants, robots, and giant cockroaches galore. It's also amazing...
January 26, 2016
The Second Type of Horror: The Horror
So, last week, I went over the Gross-out. Today we'll be discussing the Horror. If you want to know what quote started this, go back and take a look. It's a fair sized quote, so I don't want to take up a lot of space with it three weeks in a row.
This is the point where things start to get a little confusing. First off, I want to make it clear that in any given story, none of these things are exclusive. You can have the Gross-out, the Horror, and the Terror all in the same story, sometimes eve...
This is the point where things start to get a little confusing. First off, I want to make it clear that in any given story, none of these things are exclusive. You can have the Gross-out, the Horror, and the Terror all in the same story, sometimes eve...
