december highlights
Mabeopsa is now available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Versions for the Mac App Store and iOS store are forthcoming. The demo version provides the wood deck along with two difficulty levels; try it out on itch.io. If you're interested in reading more about Mabeopsa, I wrote a small series (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).
Phillip Rogaway's The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work discusses cryptography's use as a political tool and the social and moral implications o it. Though it explicitly addresses cryptography, it serves as a useful treatise for others developing cultural and scientific works such as games.
Reading Rory Miller's Violence: A Writer's Guide changed my perspective on media violence and how it works. While most people playing games, watching fictional movies, or reading fictional books and comics know that the violence portrayed isn't real in the sense that it's not happening to real people and that the methods portrayed also aren't realistic (even in some non-fiction), Miller's explanations addressed the latter issue in a straight-forward and readable manner.
Happy New Year!