I’m very glad to see you folks found a lot of things to be terrified by last month — October included some of my favorite Musings by you guys, ever. Let’s hope that November will, if not surpass October, at least get a little close.

This month’s theme is“A Time to Build”. WithLittleBigPlanetout and (sort of) functioning, one can’t help but think of those games which, rather than forcing the player through a linear series of missions, either provide the player with an external toolset to create their own experiences (like theFar Cry 2mapmaker), or somehow integrate those creative elements into the game proper (like, say,Crayon Physics Deluxe).

BO7 key art

What with so many games being focused on destruction, dismemberment, or chaos, what sort of fun have you had either creating levels or situations of your own, or experiencing those created by other users? Mods you’ve enjoyed, levels you’ve built, things you did inSim-whatever games — all are open for discussion.

Hit the jump for a further clarification on the theme, and, as always, the instructions for posting.

yordles animation still image

This is a pretty general theme (I know I say that every month, but seriously, this is a pretty general theme), so I’m just going to rattle off some random things I might want to write about which fall under it:

– An awesome level you created for an existing game

Destiny 2 Solstice 2025 armor

– A game you made yourself

– A really clever, unusual solution you came up with to a puzzle or situation that the designers probably didn’t foresee

Hell is Us gameplay reveal

– Any cool situation from aSimsgame: “Oh man, I locked him in a room with no food but a bunch of drinks and soon the entire room was filled with pee”

– A great user-created mod you played

Black Ops 6 Season 5 Multiplayer Ransack Mode

– Characters you’ve customized in open-world games

And so on. Or, you’re able to just talk generally about the joys of creativity, or the nature of programming, or what have you.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2: a black and white Jin and Heihachi stand back-to-back.

As always, title your cblog with the name of the theme (“A time to build: bah blah bork”), check the “Monthly Musings” tag in the editor, and if your article is really badass or results in interesting discussion, we’ll promote it to the front page.

Any questions, concerns, comments?

PEAK Bing Bong plushie

Silent Hill f: a woman’s face covered in blossoming but deadly looking flowers.

A snap of the upcoming MESA update in PEAK

Naked Snake sneaking around in MGS Delta.