Later today I’m speaking at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival about writing about Minecraft.

As I put it together I realised that I’ve written about Minecraft in many different ways: creativity-n-biz style features in Edge, practical guides about blocks, entertaining (that was the aim) vignettes about them, designing and explaining builds, fiction-based descriptions of mobs, almost-academic works about Minecraft’s creative culture. And then there’s my work as publishing editor at Mojang, in which I read and edit other people’s writing about Minecraft, from novels to sales blurbs.

So I want to talk about that process for the kids that’ll be there, helping them learn about researching, imagining, and putting words down, and hopefully keeping them actually interested by spicing it with little tips and a quiz.

And that reminds me! At EGX a couple of weeks ago I chaired a panel with Robert Kurvitz and Argo Tuulik, writers of the upcoming, and amazing, RPG Disco Elysium.

If you haven’t come across Disco Elysium, I wrote about it for PC Gamer and got quite excited:

Yes, Disco Elysium hinges on an amnesia-powered plot, but don’t let that put you off, because it’s the freshest and most fascinating RPG I’ve experienced in years, perhaps ever; one which plays right into the best aspects of pen-and-paper roleplaying. The first whisper of its promise came even before my character opened his eyes as several of my skills started discussing the nature of oblivion and my impending consciousness.

So it was an honour to be asked to chair the panel. It was very fun, and it’s up on YouTube now - expect discussion of what communism does for RPG narrative design, and why Dishonored’s art style is half-baked. (Not really, Viktor!)