Author: theworm

A little slice of reality

A little slice of reality

Like 2/3 of PC or XBOX 360 owners, I'm playing BioShock at the moment. I'm not going to review it or anything, other than to say I'm having fantastic fun apart from the occasional...

“Explicit” games

“Explicit” games

The player moves carefully through the undergrowth, but there seem to be no enemies nearby. Suddenly the sky lights up a ghastly green as a bright globule of light pierces the evening sky. A...

The Carnival is in town!

The Carnival is in town!

The First Carnival of Game Production over at Gameproducer.net has been published, with eight articles being picked, including one of mine! Go have a look, the other articles are: How one man made an...

Control… interrupted.

Control… interrupted.

Been evaluating a game recently and it really makes you realise how important the little things are. Also makes you realise that it is almost impossible to think of everything in one go –...

Carnival of game production

Carnival of game production

From one of my favourite blogs at GameProducer.net. They're holding a Carniveal of game production where you can enter your blog articles on anything related to game production/design etc. See the link below for...

Learn to love your level designers!

Learn to love your level designers!

There is no element that goes into creating a game that is so dependant on the people doing it as level design. Yes the programmers have to make the game work as you intend...

Theory of Fun

Theory of Fun

If there is one book on games design or games theory you must read it is “A Theory of Fun for games design” by Raph Koster. I got the final one from Amazon last...

“Save me!”

“Save me!”

Saves in games can be a thorny issue. If implemented well, no-one notices them. If implemented badly or even (forbid!) incorrectly then the whole internet explodes in your face. And not in a pleasant...

When is a spike not a spike?

When is a spike not a spike?

It's often impossible to predict whether a set of variables (player max health, highest available weapon level damage etc.) at a specific point in a game mission will be enough to get past a...