Video Games

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 3)

Posted on August 6, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

Last time we talked about my abiding love for the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, and how it taught me the courage to go nuts with stories (and how it partially inspired my Deadgirl Saga).

This week I’m casting the net a bit wider, with a trio of unconnected but stylistically related games that made me want to write my own epic fantasy series. Alongside a heaping helping of D&D and fantasy novels in my youth, of course.

Let’s get into the business with three beloved 90’s classics: THE SECRET OF MANA, ILLUSION OF GAIA, and the FINAL FANTASY series.

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Categories: Books, Deadgirl, Inspiration, Video Games, writing | Tags: arpgs, b.c. johnson, book-review, books, fantasy, fantasy novel, fiction, final fantasy, gamers, games, gaming, illusion of gaia, Inspiration, mana, secret of mana, writer, writing, writing inspiration | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 2)

Posted on July 16, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

As an author myself, books will always be my first and truest love. However, video games have been a constant companion, a wonderful form of social interaction, and a port of harbor in this our blighted world. Games have provided a place to rest, certainly, but it ain’t all escapism. Games have always been a key part of my curriculum for story, character, and narrative, and deserve every bit of thanks I can spare.

Last week, I poured a couple pints of e-ink out for my boys, the DARK SOULS games, sharing how they taught me the value of perseverance and the joys of sad dignity. They also directly inspired the newest manuscript I’m working on, gently titled “The Stone Marches.”

This week, we’re dropping DARK SOULS and going a bit lighter: the soul-crushing gothic vampire existentialist masterpiece that is the LEGACY OF KAIN series.

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Categories: Deadgirl, Inspiration, Riven, Video Games, writing | Tags: b.c. johnson, books, fantasy, fiction, gamers, games, gaming, Inspiration, kain, legacy of kain, raziel, soul reaver, writer, writing, writing inspiration | 2 Comments

The Games That Inspire My Writing (Part 1)

Posted on July 9, 2025 by B.C. Johnson

Good writers read, the same way good directors watch movies and good chefs eat. Also chefs would kick it if they don’t eat, so it’s doubly important for them. Obscure indie author Stephen King said: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” He called it “the great commandment.” And he was right.

But storytellers of all mediums can be inspired by any story. I’ve always been a voracious reader, true. But I’m as much a gamer of games, and there’s no shortage of wonderful stories that come out of a cartridge, a spinning disc, or through the cosmic strings of the interwebular infonet.

I suspect a lot of writers my age have found inspiration on the other end of a DualShock, a mouse, or a Duke.

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Categories: Inspiration, Video Games, writing | Tags: b.c. johnson, bloodborne, books, dark souls, fiction, from software, gamers, games, gaming, Inspiration, writer, writing, writing inspiration | Leave a comment

Leaked: Next Patch for “Evil Dead the Game”

Posted on June 20, 2022 by B.C. Johnson

Balancing Change List

Survivors

General

Hunters Stamina Regeneration changed from 20 stamina points per second to 12 stamina points per minute
Survivors “Bleeding Out” state removed, replaced with the “Pwned” state.
- In the Pwned state, survivor’s body lays on the ground helpless as an Elite Skeleton rubs its grimy, loam-caked pubic bone on survivor face for the duration of the match. Survivor cannot be revived from this state.
Boss headshot damage now heals boss units.
Survivor spawn points now visible on Demon map as golden smiley faces.
Supply chests have 10% chance to boot survivor and uninstall game.

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Categories: Video Games | Tags: army of darkness, ash vs evil dead, evil dead, evil dead 2, evil dead patch, evil dead the game, game patch, satire | Leave a comment

Fan-Fiction is Fun: The Yellow Pike

Posted on December 2, 2021 by B.C. Johnson

This hilarious exchange on Reddit — where someone discovered that their childhood memory of Stephen King’s book IT was actually an IT/Criminal Mind fanfic — reminded me of my own forays into fan-fiction.

Most of them are happily lost to time (*cough*DragonBallZ*cough*), but I remembered that I wrote one a few years back that still exists (that I don’t hate).

I wrote this Destiny fan-fiction when I was really into the game. I then posted it on Reddit, because, I don’t know, I’m a huge fucking dork. Please enjoy this short story about friendship, sacrifice, and invulnerable space ghosts. And yes, the Titan “Stella” was my Destiny character.

Obviously, I don’t own any of this shit and it’s for parody or whatever is the most legal.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story . . .

“The Yellow Pike”

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