Ever notice how nobody ever wants to add more guesswork? The phrase is always “taking the guesswork out” of something, and lately, games are no exception. More and more games these days come loaded with overdone tutorials, excessive pop-ups and…
Blog Archives
Letting the Player Find the Fun
Tagged with: exploration, game design, Starseed Pilgrim, Super Metroid
Posted in game design, game dev tips
Posted in game design, game dev tips
The Importance of Making Players Feel Important
Everybody likes feeling important. It’s the reason why you’re more inclined to listen to someone if they address you as “Sir” or “Miss” as opposed to “Hey you” or “Listen, schmuck.” It’s the reason why older siblings often feel a…
Tagged with: game design, Half-Life, Max Payne, motivation, narrative
Posted in game design, game dev tips
Posted in game design, game dev tips
Why Are You Making Games?
Why should anybody care about your game? Ask the seasoned game designer this, and he’ll describe an enticing feature set, an innovative game mechanic or some other combination of reasons why players would be interested. Playtesting the game in question,…
Tagged with: choice, game design, Jesse Schell, motivation
Posted in business, culture, game design, game dev tips
Posted in business, culture, game design, game dev tips
Revive Your Game (And Life) with CPR Design
Game designers are among the most curious people in the world. Always on the lookout for new ways to engage players, they’re fascinated by psychological principles, behavioral science and the uncovering sources of motivation. Talking with New York graphic artist…
Three Strategies for Curing Developer’s Block
Imagine this: Your indie studio’s newest title, Dream Game, is a surprise hit! As accolades pour in, sales climb and climb, and your head seems to be wrapped in a shimmering fog of pride and disbelief. Your baby, the dream…
Tagged with: development, game design, Halo, Metal Gear
Posted in culture, game design, game dev tips
Posted in culture, game design, game dev tips
Is This Thing On: Creating Musical Conversation with SoundSelf
It’s the sci-fi writers’ fault, you know. After tantalizing us with glimpses of a glorious future replete with personal datapads (check), instantaneous communication (check) and a worldwide repository of the sum total of all human knowledge (check), we’ve still yet…
Game Jams and the Romance of the Last Minute
If creative work of any kind is an epic adventure, then the deadline is the dragon guarding the treasure at the end. No matter how disciplined your approach, there’s always that rush to get the last details just right before…
Tagged with: Double Fine, Epic, game design, game jam, grand theft auto, gta, Media Molecule, Mojang, wonder
Posted in business, game design
Posted in business, game design
Fighting Indecision (And So Much More) with Games
Games are powerful things. They can be compelling, addictive or entertaining; they can leave you with experiences that stay with you and become a part of your identity. There’s an entire subset of games focused on harnessing this power to…
Staying Creative in a Franchise World: The Darryl Principle
It’s so easy to bellyache about the lack of innovation in mainstream games, and even easier to praise the constant flow of quirky, experimental indies that try (at varying levels) to innovate with new gameplay wrinkles and ideas. For developers…
The Discomfort Zone: The Hidden Potential of Valve’s AI Director
Remember Left 4 Dead? It’s highly likely you do; its 2008 release was heralded with tons of fanfare and a $10 million marketing spend that showed Valve meant business. The push paid off – as of October 2012, the game,…
Tagged with: game design, left 4 dead, narrative, procedural, valve
Posted in game design, narrative
Posted in game design, narrative
I'm Ben Serviss. I design games for hire and write about game design, narrative and NYC developers. New posts every Thursday.