Tag Archives: game design

Games Can Create Empathy… So Why Don’t They?

I just posted a new blog post on Gamasutra; in response to Roger Ebert’s latest statement in the “games as art” debate, I tackle a question implied by his definition of Great Art. Essentially: can games create empathy by communicating something real about personal experience?
You can find the full article here.
My assertion is that games [...]

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My Personal Gaming Canon

I drew this up last week and have had it sitting in a Notepad window for a couple of weeks. Thought it was time to share it, if only to be able to close that window.
Here are the games that constitute my “personal gaming canon.” Perhaps the term I should use is “ludologic canon”? That [...]

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My Super-Awesome Lego MMO Design

I’ve decided that whenever I come up with a game design that I know there’s no chance in hell will ever get made, I’ll throw that idea up here, in order to prove how awesome I am.
In this case I also get to prove what I’ve long complained about: I come up with every good [...]

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Game-ifying Google Reader, and also Everything

I just discovered “Google Reader Play.” It looks to be an interesting way of taking your Google Reader behavior and “game-ifying it”, i.e. using the reward structures and idioms of gaming to make an activity more fun and encourage certain types of behavior.

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My Resident Evil story

This is one of my favorite gaming stories, but it’s not really mine.
My brother Bradley and I were home from college, and we had rented the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil. Our friend Wesley was staying overnight at our house. They were planted in front of the TV, Bradley was “driving” the game, Wes sitting [...]

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There’s Cheese in Your Game!

Another game design blog post at Gamasutra, which they’ve again chosen as a Featured Post:
There’s Cheese in Your Game!

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“Stickiness” in MMOs… on Gamasutra

I’ve been reading Gamasutra since I was a nerdy little CS major dreaming of someday working professionally in games, and desperate to read anything published about the art, science, and business of games. Though it appears that the site has had its bumps through the years, these days I think its content and news are [...]

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How to Design RMT That Doesn’t Suck

Ars Technica reports that Battlefield Heroes has changed its business model. Previously it was “free to play, and you can buy guns in-game with real money if you want, or you could buy them with in-game money for a reasonable price.” They’ve now changed that last part to “in-game money for a ridiculously exorbitant price… [...]

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Flash Game: “Guest House”

Guest House.
I’ve seen one of these “escape the room” games (or as I call them, “mini-Myst” games) done in Flash before, but not nearly this well-done. Looks like the graphics were done in Adobe Illustrator…?
Very well-made overall, but take Leigh Alexander’s advice to heart: occasional flurries of random clicking around what you’re interested in can [...]

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