Often posts from a personal perspective are a contrite, self-promotion exercise of polishing the trumpets. They can also be an honest expression sometimes lost in t...
In a world of frameworks, simple to use engines and added layers of abstraction we are in danger of leaky abstraction, both in design and programming. While t...
Take a moment, think back, past the nostalgia and sepia dreams so we can consider old, forgotten mechanics. The thing we love about games is that they are com...
Sometimes you’re asked to design for the untestable scenario. For instance, design a system for 10,000 players to asynchrously interact in a persistent competit...
Going to take a break from my Useless Designer series to talk about a personal project which has me very excited. While judging Dare I came across a good idea which could be brilliant: using a m...
A designer does not need to be a programmer but understanding programming is key. One of the most valuable but more expensive skills for a designer to acquire is programming...
Excel is the brick and mortar tool for the designer. Through really any decent spreadsheet software will do and have most the features I list, so pardon the Excel centric explanations. With Excel you can build entire complex systems and mimic game systems. Allowing you to not only prototype systems but also balance and analyze them.
As game developers we know the importance of Feedback in our games for players, but so often we forget the importance of feedback for ourselves. Implementing...
Getting it out There. In my relatively short time in the industry I seem to have attracted a few fixer-uppers, reboots, ports and all round oh do you mind just finishing it off jobs. Some of the