Game Design Digest, from the Dinofarm Forums

A few months ago, I posted a thread on /r/gamedesign about how we should make 2017 a year with more game design blogging. Since then, a few Dinofarm Forums members have talked about starting up a game design writing career (or re-starting one). The last few days have had a huge uptick in interesting, quality articles on game design. I may be biased, because these are people who hover near my circles, but I find these to be some of the best articles on game design I’ve read in many years. (Here’s the good news: if you’re a reader of my work, you may also have the same biases!)

Here are some of the users over at the Dinofarm Forums (and the Discord!) who have been writing stuff recently. Follow these blogs!

Evizaer – Some of my long-term fans might remember Evizaer from an appearance he made on my old podcast years ago. He recently has started up a new blog and has a new article up about analogy (sort of like theme) that I think is quite good!

Elliot George – A newcomer to the Dinofarm community, Elliot produced this great piece, which is easily one of the most thoughtful pieces on strategy game design I’ve read in years.

Hopenager – Has started a completely brand new blog on game design. I have a few issues with the opening setup, but based on the last paragraph, I’m really excited to see where it goes.

Brett Lowey – This one doesn’t entirely count, because Brett is an established game developer, but I just really appreciated that he wrote this great piece on his “game design commandments”. I think this is something every game designer should do. (Also: his commandments are great!)

Disquisitor Sam – Started his new blog last year (I think) but it has recently gotten a facelift. His article on Auro I particularly recommend!

 

Already, 2017 is looking like it might be better than the last three years of game design writing combined. I should mention that a lot of these have happened in the last 36 hours. There are also rumblings on the forum of other people who are also starting blogs. Like I said in that reddit thread: if you’ve been thinking about writing about game design, do it! Ping me anywhere you can, and I’ll share your work. I want to do whatever I can to help foster a community of thought on game design.