legends of runeterra review: player agency in card games
Riot Games’ new collectible card game Legends of Runeterra is, in a word, frustrating. This is a game with high production value – polished graphics, animations and sound design as expected from the creators of League of Legends. And yet,…
hero power creep in hearthstone’s new demon hunter class (part 2)
Last time, I talked about the game design challenges of releasing the first new class to the online card game Hearthstone. As a refresher, the Demon Hunter class was so powerful, and therefore problematic, that Hearthstone developers nerfed several new…
the rapid rise and fall of hearthstone’s new demon hunter class (part 1)
Let’s face it, Hearthstone’s new Demon Hunter class was always going to be trouble. In its biggest update since Hearthstone’s release in 2014, the popular online card game added the first new class ever to its roster of playable heroes…
loot boxes should not be banned, and video games are not evil
Loot boxes have recently become a hot topic of the gaming world. In 2018, Belgium ruled that loot boxes were in violation of their gambling laws and banned them, citing concerns with a young audience1. This made waves across big…
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…
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…
