Holden Marx
Bio
I am an aspiring writer. I prefer poetry, but enjoy all types of writing.
Stories (9)
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I will be the apocalypse.
“There weren’t always dragons in the valley. It was quiet, still, a small world. But they will come, as sure as the sun will rise, they will come on wings of black and scales of iron. Their breath will turn our castles of sand to glass, our homes to ash, our people to char. They will come because they must; heralds of the end of time, of the cycle; of death by fire and rebirth from the ashes. As it has been before, so shall it be again.”
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Fiction
The Blackbeard Problem
USPs, or Unique Selling Points, are what make a game stand out from the crowd of other games that share the same characteristics. For example; Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a hack and slash action-adventure game utilizing the counter-based combat made famous by the Arkham series. But its USP, the nemesis system, puts it head and shoulders above almost all other hack and slash games released recently in terms of both critical acclaim as well as replayability. Superhot is a minimalistic first person shooter that stands out due to its USP; time only moving when the character does, which turns a fast-paced shooter into an almost strategy-esque title. And of course, the godfather of USP’s; Portal. Portal is one of a million physics puzzle games, but is widely considered to be one of the greatest games ever made because of how its USP, the titular portals, makes for a completely unique experience relative to other games that share the genre of ‘puzzle’. All of these USPs take a core mechanic that has been done millions of times before; killing orcs, shooting people, and solving puzzles, and makes it completely unique; killing specific orcs, taking a breather from shooting people to plan your next move, and solving puzzles with portals. Even though these three games all have wildly different genres and USPs, they all share one specific quality; they are single player or co-op only. What happens when a competitive, player vs player game has a USP? And why can that get it into trouble? Let’s talk about Siege.
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Gamers
A Quiet Walk
The skyglow is eerily beautiful. The clouds that hug the horizon are tinged pink, a strange sight over the completely dark streets I walk through. Kenmore is notorious for its power outages; every fall the windstorms come and knock the power out for a few days at a time, leaving at least two or three nights every year smelling like rich wood smoke and feeling like cold sheets. I always try to take a walk when the power is out, it both helps set my mind at ease and somehow reminds me of just how large the world really is. Or perhaps it alters my perspective of these streets I have walked for nearly two decades; the same pavement, the same houses, the same trees, but seen with fresh eyes, in a light, or lack thereof, seen so rarely it becomes beautiful strictly for its scarcity.
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Fiction
The Sacred Stillness.
Home is an abstract concept; a strange way our analytical, post-monkey brain compartmentalizes our feelings about the world and our place within it. I do have a house, but break it down into its basic components and it is just some organized building materials, even in the gold-tinted memories of my childhood. Its walls stand watch over me, and its sentimental value is real to me, but those who struggle to live with a mental illness know that those safe and watchful walls can turn into a cage in the blink of an eye.
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Poets
Local supervillain distraught to learn that science and mechanical engineering are in fact, two separate fields of knowledge.
Earlier this week local supervillain Iam Evil, the internationally reviled businessman, made international headlines after kidnapping a dozen scientists for some nefarious purpose. A local reporter managed to use his press credentials to gain access to the volcanic lair where Mr. Evil was holding the scientists, and he was there to report on the evil scheme, and how the various doctors figured into it.
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Fiction
Lonely Luna
Long ago, there lived two sisters on the edge of the great forest. Lola, the elder sister, and Luna, the younger sister. They spent their days foraging in the forest, fishing in the river, or crafting pottery from clay they dug up from the earth. When night came, they were sure to be safe inside, for back then the night was pitch black. There was nothing to illuminate the forest, nothing to drive back the creatures that made their homes in the darkness. On the darkest nights they could hear the shuffling of heavy feet and the scraping of claws through the dirt. On those nights Lola and Luna huddled together beneath a blanket by the hearth. They watched the embers of their modest fire and held each other close until sleep transported them to the morning and bathed them in its merciful light.
By Holden Marx4 years ago in Fiction
Loss.
To love at all is to risk loss; to weigh the good times and memories against father time. Father time always wins, but he is not cruel. This pain, this sorrow is not etched into your soul forever. It hurts, sure, but that means that the love you felt is real and will continue to be real.
By Holden Marx5 years ago in Poets
Until we see the sky again.
I used to miss the sky. So blue and bright, stretching out forever. To my child-mind, it seemed to house endless adventures and opportunities. I thought of the concrete as evil; a cage, inescapable and constraining. But now the concrete walls and ceilings have become home. The cool, sturdy, gray concrete is now a watchful guardian that provides safety, a haven that protects us from the above.
By Holden Marx5 years ago in Fiction
