My brother recently graduated from college with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics. After spending the summer with me working theater in New Hampshire, he’ll be heading to sub-Saharan Africa to teach science for the Peace Corps for two years. When he returns, he plans to enter graduate school in Edinburgh in [...]
One of the things I find most attractive about game design is the need for true multi-disciplinary thinking. A diverse mind engaged in diverse pursuits is a far more fertile designer than one that is focused, however nimble or learned that mind may be. Game designers create whole universes, and no mere education in digital [...]
Introduction: Hardly any necessary Roll your little gooey avatar around the table and try to bump your opponents as you compete to score points, but beware: your elasticity and density waxes and wanes with the dice rolls.
Players: 3+
Materials:
Several twelve-sided dice, one per player, preferably of different colors
Rulers or tape measures
A playing surface at least [...]
I have occasionally thought that pursuing an advanced degree is a bit like playing a game… a massive, cumbersome, complex game. Maybe that’s a sign I think about games too much Recently, I had a rude awakening regarding the structure of this game I’m playing: they changed the rules on me. Rather, the rules [...]
“It’s not a mistake, it’s an iteration. I’m a game designer — everything I say is a prototype.”
- Brenda Brathwaite
The other day I gave a lecture on the importance of criticism in game design, and I drew a parallel to ideas from my undergraduate study in philosophy. One of the tenets of Western philosophy is the idea of debate and defensibility as proof of merit. Simply put, philosophers debate ideas because they hold that [...]
Introduction: In the good old days of Victorian England, raising a family was a breeze. Children were assets, measured in terms of marriageability and earning potential against cost of upbringing and risk of death or disownment. Why, it was practically just a business proposition. And women? Simply the means of production. In Progeny, players get [...]
[Warning: Rant Forthcoming] The extra credit assignment I posted last week was a mysteriously unqualified failure. Not a single student submitted a ruleset. When discussing this with Brenda, we were both scratching our heads to try and understand why no one bothered even to submit a half-assed idea. All I asked for was two typed [...]
My entry for this weeks Game Design Challenge, conceived by James Portnow and hosted on the Game Career Guide. View the full description of this week’s challenge - “Design a WWII shooter.”
WWII Game – Croix de Lorraine
Selling points:
Bold new perspective on the conflict
Rich urban environments
Unique guerilla missions and level design
Strong female protagonist!
The game takes [...]
Introduction: In Starshower, players compete to cover the board with stars and patterns, but they may not always be able to call their shots. Each turn you have a chance to hit or miss, and if you miss you could find yourself ruining the very patterns you so carefully created. But even in despair there [...]