building a game about the berlin wall
When I visited Berlin, I was struck by how profoundly the city impacted me in the 2-3 days I was there. Wandering around on foot from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie to the Reichstag Building, I was surrounded by…
toy story midway mania and carnival games: fun to play vs. fun to watch
Front of mind for most game designers is making games fun to play. But there’s another side to games, too. Especially with Twitch and online streaming, it’s more and more important that games are also fun to watch. But making…
how to make board games less painful: a game of thrones case study
On a snowy evening when winter was coming, I sat down to play A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (second edition) by Fantasy Flight Games, introduced to me with much excitement by my friend Emily. And then, as with…
diablo 3 and the importance of whimsydale
I will always remember the day I discovered Whimsydale in Diablo 3. It was my birthday, and I was playing as a necromancer. I’d enjoyed Diablo 3 up until then, but finding Whimsydale was the moment that entrenched Diablo 3…
assassin’s creed’s virtual notre-dame proves the value of video games
When the devastating fire ravaged the roof and toppled the spire of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on the Monday of Holy Week (15th April 2019), I, like the rest of the world, was shocked and heartbroken. Having visited Paris…
riot games’ problematic culture for female players of league of legends
In September 2018, I attended the North American League Championship Series summer finals in Oakland, CA. Having just started playing League of Legends earlier that year and really enjoying it, I was so excited to watch professional players playing live…
puzzle game design: are you creating impossible puzzles?
I have always liked puzzles. There are few things that give me more satisfaction than putting my mind to a problem and solving it. A good description connects this to our relationship with pain. People solve puzzles because they like…
time is (micro) money: designing micro-transactions and waiting in games
Last Wednesday, I spent about three hours at the local DMV waiting to renew my driver’s license. During that time, I finished reading the book I had brought, had a lengthy conversation with my parents on the phone, and joked…
designing lightning quick game loops for replayability in video games
There’s a quote in showbiz, sometimes ascribed to P.T. Barnum, sometimes to Walt Disney: “Always leave them wanting more.” Whoever said this was probably not thinking about games, but about entertainment experiences as a whole. The Barnum and Bailey Circus…
