Sometimes you have to let your head drive. I’ve claimed in this talk that your rational brain is a feeble instrument and cannot handle the volume of input associated with balancing a multiplayer game. This is true, but that is not an excuse for presenting your design decisions as inexplicable black magic guided solely by … Continue reading
Rorschach Tests Look at this picture. What do you see? Hermann Rorschach devised the technique of using random ink blots to probe the subconscious mind, based on the idea that patients would be prone to seeing images that were more important or relevant to their mental state. They would project their internal preoccupations onto the otherwise … Continue reading
If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it. – Yogi Bhajan Successful designers are those that have the discipline to edit their work. Generating gameplay ideas is exciting and easy; discerning those with potential and removing the … Continue reading
Without anyone getting kicked in the face… You always need to listen when people don’t like something. You are too close to the game; You probably already fixed all the things you didn’t like, so you should value a fresh perspective. Keep in mind that you can always trust someone’s emotional reactions, they are always authentic … Continue reading
Role The features, mechanics, situation and purpose which define an element’s function in a game According to Aristotle, we can claim to have knowledge of something only when we have understood its causes. These causes come in four types: the material cause – the matter of which the thing is made, the formal cause – … Continue reading
If you were disciplined in writing your paper design, and stayed firm while doing setting up the rough balance, this stage should be very rewarding and exciting. If not, it is going to be disappointing and frustrating. The timing for this stage is tricky. If you start too early, your balance changes will be swallowed … Continue reading
The last few months of a game’s development is a magical time. Ideally, everything is coming together, the team is firing on all cylinders, and the experience is getting better by the hour. Bugs are getting fixed, the build is more stable and performs better, the art is looking polished, and playtest results begin to … Continue reading
Certain things about the Sniper Rifle make it strong. (Here are a few of them, for reference.) Just like with the Fun Knobs, you want to know what makes something strong, so you can avoid backtracking. Once you move on to the polish stage, resist changing the strength of an element. (At least without admitting … Continue reading
“We practice iterative design” You hear it in virtually every studio profile, every GDC design lecture, and it’s a buzzword game journalists equate with exceptional game design and a high level of polish. Apparently there is a magic formula for making good games, and it goes something like this. Start with a fun game Make … Continue reading
Notice that these guys are getting stronger and stronger as we go? I actually got this bug. Not only is it balance feedback presented with the authority of a bug report, it’s so incredibly early in the process, there is no way to know if the Sniper Rifle was balanced or not, since most of … Continue reading
