arcane’s silco is not league of legends champion material
The success of the League of Legends animated series Arcane has a lot to do with its characters. Namely, villain-turned-father-figure Silco became a standout favourite of the series. For Riot, one might imagine that this television property would serve as a goldmine for…
figment: a mind full of incoherent video game design
For a game that’s set inside a human mind, Figment doesn’t make a lot of sense. Released in 2017 by Bedtime Digital Games, Figment is a single-player action-adventure game including platforming, puzzles, and boss battles where the boss sings an elaborately…
best travel video games for explorers, adventurers and experts
2020 has been a year of lockdowns, quarantines and social distancing. For travel enthusiasts, or even those of us who were looking forward to a drive away for the weekend or a trip home for the holidays, it’s been difficult. …
why i’m playing zelda: breath of the wild during the covid-19 pandemic
I’ve wanted to write about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for a long time, because of the profound impact it had on my life and the lightbulbs it lit up in my game design brain. In fact,…
a shady trick for designing distinct video game characters
When I was playing Red Dead Redemption 2 the other night, I realized that I was having trouble recognizing the characters. Now, I don’t mean that the art wasn’t good – RDR2 is beautiful, with detailed character animations and cinematic…
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…
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…
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…
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…
