An opinion on how designers botched the latest edition of Dungeon & Dragons. That’s what I promised. The last post focused on external factors that played into its decline as a paper game: technology and convenience. I won’t wax poetic with social commentary on shorter attention spans, less free time, and the problems with kids’ …
Category Archives: Game Design
Limited Resources and PowerUp Design
The world is running out of oil. Clean water. Topsoil. Ozone. These represent serious resource problems about which I know … little. Do your research, and then shop or vote appropriately. On the other hand, a certain problem of digital limited resources has consumed much of my time of late. First, let me refine my topic. I’m …
Like Call of Duty? You’ll Love FarmVille
So, you’re a gamer. This seems a reasonable assumption given the website you’ve chosen to read. That means that you’ve likely played Call of Duty, judging by the sales of Black Ops and its two immediate predecessors. You may even have spent two hundred hours earning its many weapons, unlocks, and badges. Congratulations, you’ve killed …
Watching a “Non-Gamer” Game
During the recent holiday, a Christmas gift exchange provided a chance to learn something. Being me, I embraced expectations of what a geek and a game designer considers a good gift, and I delivered a 360 copy of Red Dead Redemption to someone who is a bit of a gamer, but not much of a …