Learguy

Barriers Tumbling: AI and the Future of Game Development

My stepfather is one of the smartest people I know – an engineer and a mathematician, a polyglot descendent of a Scottish poet, and a whiz with computers long before they were in every household. I’ve written before about how he first introduced me to games; to no small extent, I owe my career to …

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Good Game Development: Thou Wouldst Be Great

In the last two weeks, a Baldur’s Gate 3 “controversy” was sparked by a July 8 Twitter thread written by the head of Strange Scaffold, Xalavier Nelson Jr.  In the thread, he expressed concern about players expecting Baldur’s Gate 3 to set a new standard for RPGs. The suggestion, somewhat clumsily stated, was that Larian …

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Fumbling Toward Fun: Game Design and the Great Unknown

A while back, my dad sent me a quote that I immediately stuck on the wall next to my desk. It’s applicable to his long career in geotechnical engineering, but it’s attributed to A. R. Dykes, who was talking about structural engineering: “Engineering is the art of molding materials we do not wholly understand into …

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Stayin’ Alive: Self-Employment and Healthcare

In the difficult days following a game studio’s shutdown or a round of layoffs, ex-employees often feel overwhelmed. Besides figuring out their next career step, the uniquely American employer-funded healthcare system means they’re forced to cope with the additional stressor of ensuring their families stay healthy while job-hunting. Thousands of think pieces have been written …

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Friction Reduction: Better than Fun

Over the years, I’ve taken feedback notes for a LOT of playtest sessions. Several studios I’ve worked for, notably Ensemble, relied heavily on an iterative process. Team playtesting was a factor in decision-making and identifying the next steps. It was an “agile” process (small-A) before there was Agile. While the weekly sessions could sometimes get …

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