One of the most important foundational elements of the design of many game genres is a clear definition of the player’s goals. When players understand the game’s goals, it adds context to the mechanics and gives purpose to the actions they’ll take during play. The best rulebooks for the myriad of board games on my …
Neverending Stories: Designing Games Without Goals Read More »
The Game of the Moment, the one people in my circle have been talking about for the last week – both positively and negatively – is Dragon’s Dogma 2. A sequel to Capcom’s RPG cult classic, the game is currently hovering at a 57% Mixed rating on Steam. Customers have plenty of valid complaints. At …
Rub the Right Way: Applying Friction in Game Design Read More »
Helldivers 2 continues to impress. Between the constantly changing events in the dynamic live war, the friendly community, and the engaging core gameplay, it feels like a game built to last. Helldivers 2 innovates in several areas, but the setting is not one of them. Like the original Helldivers, it’s a thinly veiled riff on …
Trope or Nope: Innovation and Familiarity in Game Design Read More »
In 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman forces of Sultan Mehmed II. The end of the long siege marked the final chapter of the Byzantine Empire. But the writing had been on the wall for the Byzantines for at least a couple of centuries prior – ever since the devastating plundering of …
Shadows of the Past: Great Games with Historical Themes Read More »
Best practices for marketing games have changed dramatically in the last few years. Avoiding coverage of tentpole triple-A titles is impossible during the run-up to their launch, but in an overcrowded marketplace, smaller games have to catch a viral wave to stand out from the pack. There’s an art to improving the chances of a …
When you curl up with a good novel, you expect the writer to take you on a journey. If the author’s any good, you won’t anticipate every plot beat. You’ll be surprised by the twists and turns of the story, and characters will do and say things you couldn’t have anticipated on page 1. The …
Roads Not Taken: Building Better Narratives for Games, Part Two Read More »
I’m keeping it short this week. As the New Year began, I mentioned wanting to write less often about the industry’s problems. Last year was exhausting and I was determined to kick off 2024 with a more hopeful outlook. I still feel good about the long-term future of the game industry. A decade or two …
Winter of our Discontent: The Game Industry’s Churn Continues Read More »
Regardless of the genre, playing games is fundamentally about making decisions. Good decisions in game design involve both choice and consequence. The more players see and feel the results of their decisions, the more engaging a game will be. In a shooter, choices and their consequences are immediate and clear – which enemy to target …
Eating Well: Strategy Game Design and the Feast of Choice Read More »
Game design was a less specialized vocation when I first entered the industry. Teams were smaller and most designers wore all the hats – systems, content, and narrative. Still, my previous experience as a writer and editor meant I often got tapped for narrative work. My first contract job was creating single-player campaign story content …
Hand in Hand: Building Better Narratives for Games Read More »
In 1997, as the Blade Runner game at Westwood was winding down and getting ready to ship, the core team was tired. The project had been a long haul, with many ups and downs. We were proud of the final product, but none of us relished the idea of starting on a sequel – and …
Nautical by Nature: Breaking the Curse of the Pirate Game Read More »