teamfight tactics feels like a solved puzzle, so why am i still playing it?
When Teamfight Tactics came out a year ago, it was the latest in a 2019 fad of “auto battlers” or “auto chess” games. This craze started with a Dota mod called Dota Auto Chess that came out in January, which…
batman’s helping hand: indirect control in arkham asylum
It’s been eleven years since Batman: Arkham Asylum was released. Yet, with my recent playthrough during lockdown, the definitive Batman video game still remains peerless in my mind. It’s actually more impressive, all these years later, that a 2009 game…
the thrill of narrow wins in slay the spire and mario kart
You know that moment in a movie when the hero is certainly doomed but pulls himself through at the very last second? From Indiana Jones’ evasion of a rolling boulder to Jack Sparrow’s escape from the gallows, some of the…
why we don’t play “rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock”
If you’ve seen The Big Bang Theory, you’ve heard of a game called “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”. The TV show popularised Sam Kass and Karen Bryla’s expanded version of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, which included two more hand gestures, “Lizard” and…
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,…
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…
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…
