I remember when I first played SimCity. Will Wright’s masterwork was a breath of fresh air – a playable simulation of real-world urban planning, a topic that sounded like a terrible idea for a game on paper but was incredibly compelling in reality. Like Civilization and other 4X games, SimCity and its descendants weave an […]
Ant Farms: Three of the Quirkiest City-Builders Around Read More »
95% of the time, this blog is about games, game development, and game design. I had the usual sort of article half-written yesterday – a design dissection of why CD Projekt RED’s masterful games, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk, are so great on a second and third playthrough despite replayability not being a primary game
The Calm Before the Storm: Hurricanes and Elections Collide Read More »
Useless biographical tidbit: I have a law degree. I don’t talk about it much, I don’t use it for anything, and I never passed the bar exam so I’m not an attorney. It was a waste of thousands of dollars, though I did pick up a few techniques on how to really annoy people in
Past Lessons: Innovations and Flaws in Ara: History Untold Read More »
Like many gamers, I’ve always got a “game of the moment” going – something I’m playing in my off-time, sometimes a board game, and sometimes a video game. Games have been the passion of my professional life and my hobby for as long as I can remember, back to when my mom let me drop
Decision Tree: Picking a New Game to Play Read More »
Ages ago, my industry friends and I had a running joke about young designers who viewed themselves as the “idea guy.” The framing stems from an uninformed view of how games are made – the concept that there’s a lonely genius on a team somewhere, possibly with a fancy title like Creative Director, who comes
Idea Guy: The Myths and Realities of Game Inception Read More »
It’s Photo Album Week here on the blog. I mentioned in passing a few weeks ago that one of the small but nice things about working in games was all the free swag that flows your way. Developer t-shirts are a mainstay, but over the years I’ve collected a veritable mountain of cups, clothing, and
Swag Collection: Physical Memories from a Game Career Read More »
In between consulting work, I’m plugging away on a solo project. While I’m not ready to talk about the details of the game itself, the process to date has been educational. Regardless of when I finally deliver it, I’m happy with the approach I’ve taken. The last time I worked on a solo project, just
First Steps: Lessons from Indie Game Prototyping Read More »
Ages ago, when I was a kid growing up in New Hampshire and Maryland, summer stretched out to Labor Day. It wasn’t until September that I’d wearily trudge back to the bus stop with a backpack full of fresh notebooks and pencils. Not so for my son in Texas, who starts his school year in
Dog Days: Hobbies from a Game Developer’s Summer Read More »
It’s no secret that the last couple of years in the game industry have been rough. Tragic layoffs continue, though the pace has slowed compared to last year’s bloodbath. Though the indie scene is still vibrant, triple-A studios are struggling creatively. As I wrote about last week, developers have responded to the tough times with
Magic Moments: Great Things About Making Games Read More »
Unlike my typical lengthy discourses on the joys of niche games, this week’s blog is a brief one. I couldn’t let a week go by without commenting on a couple of recent industry headlines. The first stunner was word that Microsoft recognized a union formed by the staff at several Bethesda studios. The second, following
Slice of the Pie: The Game Industry Gets Organized Read More »