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 it to: movement systems, combat systems,…
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 week (sorry) and read it in…
“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 way. I'm not going to get…
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 certain obstacle. As the lead designer…
Chibi-Robo loves you!
Just want to plug a great little game that does something quite different to anything else I've played. In Chibi-Robo on the GameCube you play the little robot of the title and it's your goal to make the family who…
Don’t punish the player
One of my pet design hates is when a game deliberately punishes you, either for doing well or for something as innocent as picking up some health. The main focus of this particular rant is the FPS games Doom and…
Disappearing Games
I'm concerned about our videogame heritage. There are dedicated centres whose role it is to preserve works of art, film, literature, important buildings and artefacts. But for videogames the situation is similar to times gone by where only avid independant…
A little less random please…
I do enjoy RPGs, and I've played a good mix of Western and Japanese over the years. But the two things that puts me off most JRPGs are the “Random Battle” mechanic and the turn-based battling. The first RPG I…
Getting manuals wrong
Manuals nowadays are (with few exceptions) rubbish and are symptomatic of how so many people are getting game design wrong. There are three main problems I have with manuals: 1. Insert tab A into slot B then… I do realise…
Unique is overrated
Inside the games industry I feel there is far too much focus on Unique Selling Points (USP). So much so that a lot of larger developers and publishers require a game design to have at least one USP before they…