The act of going to a karaoke bar is filled with more dramatic tension than you might think. The sheer amount of questions in play at any given time is intense: What will the next person sing? Will they do …
Every video game, from World of Warcraft to Tic Tac Toe, has one thing in common: they are incredibly complex orchestrations of data. Even the simplest of games, when analyzed objectively, involve intricate sequences of logic and math in order …
Game Development: Chemistry Set of the Internet Age Read more »
Every video game you’ve ever played is about control. If something is even to qualify as a video game as opposed to machinima or animation, there needs to be at least one player, and there needs to be an input …
At first glance, computers and video games seem to be a perfect match. Computers allow games to have absurdly complex rule sets that nobody has to remember, they can create real-time simulations that would be impossible to do otherwise, and …
Mind Games: Offloading Cycles to the Player’s IPU (Imagination Processing Unit) Read more »
Joe Kowalski is no stranger to the games industry. Best known for designing the logos for Guitar Hero and Rock Band as well as the innovative menus for Brutal Legend, Kowalski made the decision in 2011 to move from San …
From Double Fine to the D Train: The Making of Third Rail Read more »
The great thing about numbers is that they go up. For the most part, people love it when their own numbers start to rise: the amount of money in your bank account, the number of possessions you own, the number …
Just Make My Numbers Go Up: Breaking Our Addiction to Points Read more »
Making people care about things in games is hard. Not to say it’s impossible – but when most decisions boil down to ‘save the hostage’ or ‘restart the level,’ it doesn’t exactly fill the player with overwhelming empathy. So it …
Your helicopter touches down on the deck. You’ve arrived at the outskirts of a magnificent city of the future – gleaming skyscrapers pierce distant clouds, flying robots of all kinds swerve in airborne traffic patterns, and a sunset so real …
Nothing says “videogame” quite like a controller. For those of us raised on the early consoles, holding a game controller evokes memories of getting lost in some elaborate fantasy world, made even more wondrous by our young imaginations. With controller …
