Dedication

They told me I should use this page to talk about why you should subscribe to this Substack, but instead I’m going to use it to thank the people and things that this work wouldn’t have been possible without — just because I’m that kind of guy. Also, I doubt I’ll ever figure out a way to monetize me playing and writing about video games, so a sales pitch seems kind of pointless, ya know?

I would like to start by thanking the good people at Poppi. It was your Doc Pop soda with just a little bit of caffeine that inspired me to get out of bed at 4 in the morning and start writing this. Using the (very loud) coffee maker in the middle of the night would have been a real “dick move” to my partner (Angela) and dog (Pudding — whatever “author picture” I come up will undoubtedly have him in it), who are sleeping in the other room.

Speaking of which, I should probably thank them, too. Pudding is the sweetest boy in the whole world, and my top priority is being a better father to him. Angela is fine. She bought me the rainbow light-up keyboard on which I’m typing this manuscript. She’s also been with me at every high and low point over the past 12 years and no one has ever had a more loving partner who has adapted to their (somewhat strange) sense of humor in a way that allows us to have the same kind of wavelength-connection I assumed was reserved only for twins and those mother seals who have to find their pups in the North Pole. This book (or whatever the hell you call this) absolutely would not have come together without the support I received from her, whether that was encouraging me to go write when inspiration struck at odd hours of the night, or helping me to iterate and refine many of the ideas that ended up in the final version of this, if not just coming up with them herself (talking about the color theory for each pillar essentially changed the direction of this whole thing). Plus, she deserves a ton of credit for having to listen to me talk way too much about Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed, both while creating this work and just like, throughout our relationship. Really not sure why she’s stuck around for this long, but I’m sure glad she has. Love you, Pook. (Oh, and she definitely would have wanted to be included after Pudding in this.)

I’m also going to throw out a recommendation for the Netflix show “It’s Bruno.” Slick Naim, we should hang out sometime. I think you’d like Pudding. There’s absolutely no relation content-wise to what’s being discussed here, but I came up with the idea for this while pausing a binge watch of that show. And I’d like to think if you like this work/my perspective, then you will definitely like “It’s Bruno.” Though that’s not really saying much — you can literally recommend that show to anybody. It does end on a cliffhanger, which is kind of a bummer.

OK, that’s enough heaping praise on others — it’s all me from here on, baby.