Game Designer and Silly Person
As a game designer, one of the most fun parts of my job is coalescing a new set of constraints into the beginnings of a concrete game idea. I find this is best done in groups, like a T.V. writers room, where people bounce concepts back and forth. Some ideas are assists, others are slam [ ] Source
I just got through reading Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire by Bob Thomas. Reading nonfiction usually takes me a long time (I m a daydreamer) but I absolutely sailed through this book. It s all about Roy Disney, Walt Disney s older brother and business partner. It s a touching book. [ ] Source
There s a reason video games build what s called a vertical slice . If you re not familiar, a vertical slice is a single playable area, with all mechanics, final art, vfx, sfx, music, etc. Basically, a little piece of exactly how the finished game will look and feel and play. The vertical slice is what game developers [ ] Source
I know a lot about guns. I ve never held a gun. I ve seen guns only on store walls and on the hips of officers. I m not interested in guns. Still, I know a lot about guns because guns play a big role in many of the videogames I love. As a game designer specializing in [ ] Source
Some Background A few years ago I stumbled upon the amazing advertising for OmegaMart. It produced a sense of the uncanny which I found both funny and intriguing. I quickly became obsessed and learned all I could about OmegaMart and Meow Wolf, its creators. As a person who loves and seeks truly original and artistic [ ] Source
The first chapter of Glenn Parsons The Philosophy of Design is dedicated to the definition of the word design .* Parsons goes through many iterations, finally arriving at Design is the intentional solution of a problem by the creation of plans for a new sort of thing I liked this definition at first, but began to [ ] Source
Allow me to start by saying that I mean no disrespect to Dialogue Trees. I don t think dialogue trees can or should be replaced. They are an art form of their own a perfect compromise among the competing forces game developers require from such a system: Easy to predict, to implement, to hook into other [ ] Source
First off, I acknowledge that this is the wrong question to ask. The better question is: How can I determine how many mechanics my game should have? This essay gives my own opinion on that question. However, just so we re all on the same page, this is the definition of game mechanic I m thinking of. [ ] Source
This post was inspired by several talks Jenova Chen has given over the years, all dealing with evoking deep emotion through games. Jenova thinks this is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of mainstream acceptance of games as an art form. I would tend to agree. Further, I think there is a ranking [ ] Source
This post is a response to this article here. You should read it, and then return. Done? Good. Now I m going to tell you why all of that is hogwash. Here is the part of the article I agree most with. It s a quote, so the author can t even take credit: As noted by MIT’s [ ] Source