24 Comments
User's avatar
bels 🌷's avatar

this was really fun to read!!! the way you talked about the game gives me so much admiration towards the game designers. and you ask a really great question!

not my thoughts, per se, but i do find myself using comic sans when i shit post on my instagram close friends. for the more “aesthetic” shots i use one of the fancier ones (not really sure what font family it belongs to but it’s named ‘literature’ on insta). kinda loving the idea that the fonts we use can say a lot about us!

bels 🌷's avatar

comic sans is overhated!! i used to be one of those people but ive grown quite fond of her. would pay to see that guy’s face!

Rebekah King's avatar

Thanks bels! I’m quite pleased that loads of people still enjoy comic sans, it gets so much hate but you can’t deny its impact. I remember once when I was at uni some of my computer-savvy friends hacked a guy’s laptop and asked me for prank ideas. I suggested they make his computer display all the text in cap locked comic sans. It was a thing of beauty…

Sheila (of Ephemera)'s avatar

How awesome is this?? I would play this game!

I got a massive hardcover book of all of Ray Bradbury's DC comics (stories by and inspired by him), and I am realizing while reading it (slowly, it's very heavy) that my own writing STYLE (not font) is basically comic books! Lots of exclamation points!

The more Gothic the letters, the better for me!

Rebekah King's avatar

Yes!! Comic books are a great example of a place where speech bubble styles can be messed around with to help tell the story. I’ve seen some great examples of speech bubbles behaving strangely to help express a more complex inner state…

Architectonic's avatar

Ooh I've actually heard about this but I cannot for the life of me remember how I know about it...

I choose not to choose a font. Usually my decision is "something Word is NOT trying to force me to use" because it is currently very keen that I use Aptos for everything. Change font size? Insert some text somewhere? Start a new paragraph? Surprise, you're using Aptos now _and it doesn't matter what my settings are_. Clippy (who was actually called Clippit, I recently (re)learned) is having his revenge.

Rebekah King's avatar

Wait…Clippy wasn’t called Clippy? Is that why he was so passive aggressive with us all those years, because we were getting his name wrong?

Architectonic's avatar

Apparently! There was an article I read here on Substack which rated all the Office Assistants, and can I find it now? I cannot.

Rebekah King's avatar

I remember there being a dog one that I quite liked

Anthony Pollock's avatar

For the record...

loved this.

Rebekah King's avatar

Thank you so much, Anthony!!

Amy Wilke's avatar

Brilliant! I've got to play this!

Rebekah King's avatar

Thanks Amy! I hope you enjoy it.

Ella's avatar

This is my favourite game maybe EVER and I literally never stop thinking about it. It’s got such a tender love for history and its people! (I also waxed lyrical in a Substack article because I just could not get it out of my head!)

Rebekah King's avatar

It’s so good! I keep noticing new details I love. I’ll have to find your article, Ella

M.O.Stewart Writes Dark Stuff's avatar

I’ve had this game bookmarked for so long — this may be my sign to finally play. As for my thoughts, I tend to actually see words written out in my head. I think they’re either TNR or maybe a standard Arial. Weirdly enough, I’ve never payed too much attention. But they are typed, not my handwriting (usually). I wonder if it’s subtly changed over time, especially since as a young kid I didn’t have the spelling or regular usage of a word processor…

Rebekah King's avatar

My spelling is atrocious and I blame word processors! Arial is a good solid choice. Nice and clear, you can’t go wrong with it. Let me know what you think of the game if you do end up playing it!

John's avatar

Well I never would have guessed that this existed. Intriguing.

Rebekah King's avatar

It's a great little game! It doesn't take too long to play either.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Absolutely adore Pentiment and am thrilled to see you cover it. Hugely underrated and under-spoken-about game, with remarkable visuals and a wonderful story too.

Rebekah King's avatar

100% agree. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it sooner, it's the perfect game for me!

Matt Kelland's avatar

Oooh, there's a PS4 version! (Yes, my gaming platform is ancient, like me. I hardly ever play games these days, so I've had very little incentive to upgrade.) I may have to grab that.

My personal font would depend on my mood. Some days it would be a nice copperplate. Other days, particularly at work, it would be a simple, clean sans-serif such as Tahoma. Most of the time, though, it would probably be Garamond or Book Antiqua. (That was a fun diversion - thanks, Rebekah!)

Rebekah King's avatar

I love the idea of adjusting our typeface like we adjust our faces in different situations! Those are all great choices, I have a soft spot for Garamond, I've definitely used that in the past.

Matt Kelland's avatar

Yeah, if I ever speak in Comic Sans, you know I'm being facetious.