visiting riot games’ lol park esports stadium in seoul
I played a lot of League of Legends last year, so it was a happy accident that I found myself at LoL Park, Riot Games’ esports stadium, during my recent travels in Seoul. Seriously, I saw a logo on the…
dissecting and designing dark escape rooms
There’s a specific group of friends I enjoy going to escape rooms with. I’ve got my puzzle enthusiasts, those who love Sudokus or a challenging level of Baba Is You. There are one or two who fancy themselves detectives and…
worlds adrift review: struggles of the skyship mmo
On May 29th, Bossa Studios announced that it would be shutting down Worlds Adrift, the sandbox MMO where you build and pilot your own skyship through a sky of player-created islands. The game, which has been in early access on…
3 multiplayer game design techniques for human interaction
The standard for fun multiplayer games was set long before anything digital existed. Playing cards around a table, shooting pool at a bar, or enjoying a board game night with friends are social activities that effectively use multiplayer design in…
death and victory on the oregon trail: card game vs. video game review
Unlike most of my friends, I never played The Oregon Trail when I was a kid. My first exposure to it was a few weeks ago, in card game format, and I was excited to see what all the fuss…
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…
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…
how arcades have become archaic
Yesterday, a group of us went to Dave and Busters to celebrate Julian and Laura’s birthdays. For me, arcades such as Dave and Busters have this dated, nostalgic feeling to them – I remember the outings I had as a…
