Thoughts on games and game development
2014 feels like it’s actually been 5 years crammed into one. So much has happened! I was skimming over a list of game releases for this year and kept thinking “wait, wait that only came out THIS YEAR??”
Anyway, once again my usual caveat: these aren’t necessarily games I think were THE best games of the year, just ones that happened to consume me personally in a special way. And on that note, this is games that I played for the first time this year. On we go…
2014 has been the year of many game jams (for me, relatively), and one consistent trend has been that each jam gets more and more chill than the last. LD31 is probably the most low-key, easy-going jam I’ve done to date. All the same, I’m quite pleased with our game, One Does Not Simply Walk Into More Doors.
Looking back on why this jam felt so relaxed, I think most of it came down to experience and attitude and how that shaped our process. Also, figuring out a jam workflow between two designers who have different game-making tool preferences ended up being really efficient…
Continue reading LD31 Post Mortem – One Does Not Simply Walk into More Doors
On a visit back to Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, I speak to students on my personal trials in figuring out what the hell to do with my life, in hopes that it might be useful to some of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZDerMnKSE
Original post on 7dfps site here
I don’t think this jam could have gone any better for me than it did, and that’s mostly because of sharpened scope management and some good timing.
Sunset Overdrive is out in the wilds! And I feel…surprisingly good! I have talked before how I easily fall victim to post-creation depression. It’s always happened to me – in art, in the theater, in games – there’s this moment when the creation goes out into the world and leaves a big ole void in your heart. Generally I get very depressed, but this time feels different.
Continue reading Streaming as the Cure for Post-Creation Depression
This was my third Ludum Dare, and although I did Afterlife Dance Party within 48 hours and mostly solo, I decided on the last day to switch to the jam so I could have someone help me with music (John Fio to the rescue!) Now, goals and lessons learned and stuff…
Continue reading Afterlife Dance Party: Ludum Dare 30 Post Mortem
After some twitter musings the other night, I got several requests for my list of “books that aren’t about game design that I think game designers should read.” Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many wonderful texts on game design and game development in general with all sorts of useful information. However, I am fond of supplementing these reads with books from unrelated fields that still have something to teach about game design. I think it is because you have to forge your own connections when you read them, and when you do your own digging and have the insights yourself without them being presented to you, I find it tends to make the insights a little stickier. Basically it makes for good learnin’, so here we go!
Continue reading Non-Game Design Books that Game Designers Should Read
A talk I gave at Glitch City Demo Night about level design. OR IS IT?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc36cGaIr3Q
I’ve been playing lots of Ludum Dare games! If you’d like to play the game I made with Will, you can do so here. Meanwhile, here are a few of my favorites so far, so be sure to play them! The theme for what wins my heart seems to be very mechanics-focused in most cases, but that’s not surprising.
A game design student asks “Do you have a favorite area/subject of game design?”
In the past I’d probably be quick to respond “all areas all the time all the knowledge omnomnomnom!” But after doing this for around 5 years, I have to admit I’ve developed my preferences. Or perhaps I’ve just developed a way to articulate my preferences.
