What is Memory Card?

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The Archive

2026

• Clip By Clip – Memory Card #73
• Time to Talk - Memory Card #72
• Anne and Akira – Memory Card #71
• Crappy Drafts and Cheap Highlighters - Memory Card #70

2025

• Canning Ragnarök – Memory Card #69
• Old Ideas – Memory Card #68
• Self-Induced Limbo – Memory Card #67
• A Year-ish Later – Memory Card #66
• Languished Hesitation – Memory Card #65
• Hiding in Bright Falls – Memory Card #64
• Searching Ragnarök – Memory Card #63
• Two Essays, One Book – Memory Card #62
• Prime Packaging – Memory Card #61
• To Meme or Not to Meme – Memory Card #60
• Flip Flopped – Memory Card #59
• How Astro Bot Breaks the Fourth Wall – Memory Card #58
• The Warm Glow – Memory Card #57
• Too Many Systems – Memory Card #56
• Corrupted Desks – Memory Card #55
• Mellow Runway – Memory Card #54
• Integral Shenanigans – Memory Card #53
• My HDMI Gremlin – Memory Card #52
• A Clarifying Visitation – Memory Card #51
• Broken Glass – Memory Card #50
• And the Next Essay is... – Memory Card #49
• Fuzzy Search – Memory Card #48
• Japanese Jazz Think Sessions – Memory Card #47
• Deadlines Work – Memory Card #46
• Momentum Killers – Memory Card #45
• What Came First? The Video or the Thumbnail? – Memory Card #44
• Getting Dull – Memory Card #43
• Staying Sharp – Memory Card #42
• Chip Gains – Memory Card #41
• Facing Ragnarök – Memory Card #40
• Cabin in the Woods – Memory Card #39
• The Quote from Elsewhere – Memory Card #38
• Intermixing Linearity – Memory Card #37
• The Spirit of Super Mario Galaxy – Memory Card #36
• Phhhhewwwewewewwwwww – Memory Card #35
• We Did It – Memory Card #34
• Annoying the Algorithm – Memory Card #33
• It's Happening! – Memory Card #32
• Star Bit by Star Bit – Memory Card #31
• Hiding Amongst the Stars – Memory Card #30
• Intentional Tools – Memory Card #29
• Script "Complete" – Memory Card #28
• Questioning FOMO – Memory Card #27
• Flu Media Diet – Memory Card #26
• Five Years – Memory Card #25

2024

• Bedridden – Memory Card #24
• Morning Ritual at Sea – Memory Card #23
• Foggy Skies – Memory Card #22
• Forced – Memory Card #21
• Race to the FINish – Memory Card #20
• Splattershot – Memory Card #19
• Hitting the Trail – Memory Card #18
• Call of Duty: Palette Cleanser 6 – Memory Card #17
• Diving Deep Beneath the Ink – Memory Card #16
• Simmering Deadlines – Memory Card #15
• A Shorts Fuse – Memory Card #14
• Flow Found – Memory Card #13
• Everybody's Got a...Yak? – Memory Card #12
• The Doozy™ – Memory Card #11
• Finding Joy in Music and Thumbnails – Memory Card #10
• A Reminder to Make Make Make – Memory Card #9
• Researching Plagiarism Goldmines – Memory Card #8
• The Spurring of Ideas – Memory Card #7
• The Mash Up I Never Expected – Memory Card #6
• The Journey to Find Spirit – Memory Card #5
• Tangential Permission Granted – Memory Card #4
• Questioning A Box Garden Galaxy Essay – Memory Card #3
• To the Beat of My Own (Bongo) Drum – Memory Card #2
• Who Knows What I'll Call This Thing, but Here I Go – Memory Card #1

What is Memory Card?

Memory Card is a real-ish time, raw, drip feed newsletter of my creative process for telling stories. It’s how The Thing™ gets made.

I am a huge lover and believer in sharing the creative process. After each major project and at the end of the year, I write big behind-the-scenes and retrospective posts. Memory Card is a regular, raw drip feed of my creative process and where I am currently at. It's how The Thing™ gets made. The big breakdowns will still happen, Memory Card is a more personal real-ish time version of those.

In the past, I would have tweeted these things out; just tossed them onto the never-ending fire of social scrolling. It would have meant nothing. Writing it down and sharing the thoughts, decisions, and having a form of dialogue on a platform that I own empowers me and respects the reader. Instead of amping up the noise, I am strengthening the signal.

So why a newsletter? Why not just a blog post? I say, why not both? There feels like there is a correspondence. I suppose that is inherent in the name "newsletter." I am writing to people that are curious. I make these things to satiate my own curiosity. This dynamic feels natural for newsletters. I wrote about a part of the inspiration in my first letter...

The format is heavily inspired by Craig Mod's Nightingalingale — 21 Days; A Diary of Book-Making, which has gone on for...263 issues for the past few years...

This letter is for his members only and it is a real time journey through his creative process of making the book Things Become Other Things. From the research and walking to the writing to the edits upon edits upon edits upon edits upon edits upon edits upon edits. I think you get the idea. I find this openness about the creative process uplifting. I try to channel that into my own creative works.

I thought this approach would work well with video essays. I have a slew of ideas. I've entered a phase of working on a couple at the same time and think this sort of newsletter/diary could be advantageous to tracing my creativity. It has the benefits of keeping me honest, better documenting BtS posts, keeps me writing semi-regularly, and more. Most of all, it is an exploration of my ideas, motivation, and energy toward a these essays—whether they come out of not.

And like Craig's Nightingalingale, there's no committed schedule or length. It can be a few sentences or paragraphs. It can be whatever I want it to be. To me, that's liberating.

If this sounds like a cool newsletter you want to get in your inbox, go ahead and subscribe or check out the archive.

Memory Card Newsletter

This letter is one block from the newsletterMemory Card by Max Roberts. Thoughts? Send me an email at max@maxfrequency.net.

Max is the writer and producer behind Max Frequency, a place where he cultivates and curates curiosity—both for himself and for others—by delighting in the details and growing greatness from small beginnings.

He's written a rich history and dive on the making of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II, celebrated the 15th anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the voice behind its hype, and examined how Zelda "stole" Fortnite's best mechanic.

Memory Card is a real-ish time, raw, drip feed newsletter of his creative process for telling these stories. It’s how The Thing™ gets made. You can sign up below. (Look down)

It's all powered by Max Frequency and patrons.

Wanna see The Thing™? Check it out on YouTube. Read it on The Blog.