A viewer on our youtube channel sent me an interesting question: Hey guys, first off, I really appreciate the videos for the insight they give about professional game development. I have been wondering however, how did you guys get into developing videogames? Not necessarily into the industry (although I’d find that interesting as well, I…
Category: Game Design
Podcast: Developer Commentary Episode 3 is live
In this episode we go over the inspector bot segment of level 2 and talk about all the things I did wrong back then. We also have fun on spherical worlds and in space combat. Of course, we still make lots of jokes, so it’s not all serious and crazy. Check it out on our…
Games ask Questions
Disclaimers: First off, I want to apologize in case this article (and any others that follow it) doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about game design and the more I’ve thought about it, the more it seems to me that there are some underlying principles that tie all the…
When I’m designing a level…
People ask me sometimes where my ideas come from. Well, that’s not exactly true, nobody asks me that, but all kinds of famous people say people ask them that so I figured I’d jump on the bandwagon. But if they DID ask me, this is what I’d say (at least as far as level design)….
Thinking about Procedural Design
I made another trip up to Vancouver this week to give my encounter design talk to another developer we’re working with and once again it went very well. As in the past, though, once I get thinking about this topic it’s hard to stop. This time, my ponderings have inspired me to do some related-fields…
Games as Questions
One of the really neat things about my job is that I get a lot of time to dissect things that I know intuitively. When I go to help other developers, my job is generally to try to explain why the changes I’m suggesting will make a game better. It’s one thing to intuitively know…
Gamasutra Boss Battles Article Published
I wrote another article! This time its about Boss Battles. Check it out, if you’re into that kinda thing. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6132/boss_battle_design_and_structure.php
Guest Post: Colin Munson – “Challenging Challenges for Thinking People”
My friend and fellow designer Colin Munson asked if he could write a guest post for my blog, and my answer was “HELLS YEAH!” Colin and I worked together for 5 years at Insomniac, and he’s one of my favorite Game Designers in the industry. I found the following editorial fascinating, and I’m proud to…
Idea: Dynamic Easy Mode
I had an idea that I’d like to explore some more when I get some free time. I’ve noticed a trend lately in games’ easy modes (I tend to always play games on easy mode. I’m so hardcore it hurts sometimes) where, in addition to making it easier to avoid death, the game has made…
My First Gamasutra Article
The industry website gamasutra.com has published an article of mine! It’s on the troubleshooting techniques I use when I find a game mechanic I’ve designed isn’t coming out deep enough: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5901/evaluating_game_mechanics_for_depth.php Check it out and let me know what you think!