I recently discovered this hilarious phenomenon. Basically, a flash mob is like a very brief, highly specific, and totally impersonal LARP: a large group of people (the more the better, I surmise) perform some predetermined act in the same public space simultaneously just for the hell of it and then disperse quickly. The videos to […]
The other day I finally completed my hard-fought, bloody conquest of the planet Kronus. While victory was always certain—merely a matter of time, and a question of in which order my enemies would perish—it was nonetheless a lengthy campaign and a fight worthy of the Emperor’s Finest. But by the time I had purged the […]
Introduction: A prudent player is always one who calculates the odds and takes advantage of temporary fortune, but there’s always a calculated risk. As any poker player will say, you can’t play it safe all the time. In Fysigunkus, discipline and keen perception will take the day as players wrestle with their innate curiosity and […]
From GDC ‘08 Game Studies Download 3.0 (Jane McGonigal, Mia Consalvo, Ian Bogost), points #9 and #10 (thanks to Raph Koster for posting a summary on his blog; visit there to read his description):
#10: The best content understands exactly how the player likes to play and then makes it slightly harder.
#9: Breaking the immersive spell […]
Much can be said about the indie scene in today’s industry: it’s hip, it’s sexy, it’s big business and getting bigger, it’s the guardian of innovation, it’s the future… I believe these are all true. The indie scene is certainly my pick for the right path both for individual developers and the industry as a […]
From a recent post on Greg Costikyan’s blog referencing a pair of posts on Sean Ryan’s blog regarding his experience and presentation from Casual Connect AMS 2008: the casual game development scene is starting to re-enter the atmosphere. As Greg puts it, “it’s not a landrush any more.” Casual game makers have made bank thus […]
Introduction: They say “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In Quisquilian, you take this to heart, competing for prime pickings of that most uncommon yet everpresent of treasures… the trash. Players race to complete their collections by looting the cards they need and burying those sought by their opponents while sifting through an ever […]
I occasionally leave off writing the “How It Was Made” portion of my game designs until some time after their original posting. I did that with the most recent project, Parachute, because I was tired and wanted to go to bed However, I’ve written and posted it now, and I’d be interested in people’s […]
This evening I got an incredible phone call—Vic DeLeon, environment artist at Bungie and my mentor from GDC 2007, when I was an IGDA Scholar. Winning the scholarship was amazing enough, but you can scarcely imagine my astonishment that someone with this kind of status and reputation was going to take me around the conference. […]
Introduction: When you leap out of a plane, you can’t delay in opening that chute or you’ll find it’s too late when you do! Players work together to spread the deck across the table as fast as possible before their score dwindles to nothing. This is a game about active cooperation. Much like a communal […]