1,001 levels of candy crush
I reached level 1,001 of Candy Crush this weekend. At this point, you stare at me incredulously, without even trying to conceal your ridicule, and ask the burning question, “Why?” You’re not the first person to ask this question. When…
virtual reality is a platform for art and museums
Before Saturday, the last time I visited a museum was eight months ago. It was the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York during a brief visit. Although I live in a city with state-of-the-art public museums, I never seem…
we are addicted to progress: designing progression in games
On a car ride in the passenger seat, my friend handed me his phone and asked me to help him hatch some chickens while he was driving. He was talking about Egg, Inc., this game where you tap a red…
joking hazard: judgment and card games
Joke card games have become a genre unto themselves in the last few years. Games like Joking Hazard take this genre, lean into a certain type of humour, and run with it. In this post, I review and discuss Joking Hazard…
cmu carnival “game night” booths
CMU’s annual spring carnival is a big deal, so when we found out the theme for the booths this year was “Game Night”, Julian, Amy and I decided to go check them out and pass judgment. The booths ranged in…
designing social games where points don’t matter
When trying to define what a game is, one of the more common answers is that games require “winning” and “losing” states. This is one of the distinctions between games and things like puzzles or interactive media. However, in some…
the dating game
Of all the rites of passage in our lives, the one that strikes me as most like a game is dating. Nowadays, dating apps and websites have taken advantage of this and help us play the so-called dating game. Lessons…
we can never escape race in video games
Among the topics in how games relate to society and the real world, you hear about sex, gender and violence a whole lot, but hardly ever about race. This is a discussion I think we need to have, however, because…
advice on why you shouldn’t game jam
For game designers just starting out, a common piece of advice is to participate in game jams. Game jams give developers of all disciplines practice in several things that are crucial to the game creation process. In the short time…
