Game Design

The Virtuosity Scale

One thing to think about when designing a game is trying to figure out what “degree of virtuosity” you want to allow. I mean this in a bit of a prescriptive way, which I’ll explain. Some games offer you a huge number of possible choices per “turn” or per “moment”. Having a high degree of …

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CGD Podcast Episode 14: Failed “Fighting Card Game” Prototypes

In this episode, I discuss some of my many spectacular game design failures! I tried about 30 times at least to create a simple yet deep 2 player “fighting card game”. Something I didn’t even get into in the podcast was the fact that the “fighting” theme is probably part of the issue. I know …

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CGD Podcast Episode 13: Videogame Consumerism

Today’s episode addresses consumerism (or hyperconsumerism) in the world of videogames. Videogames are, for the most part, the most fun they’ll ever be at the moment of purchase, or perhaps while you’re installing the game and leafing through the manual. I talk about “hype” and how being immersed in an atmosphere of advertisements affects our …

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The Clockwork Game Design Podcast: Episode 12 – Verificationism and Goals

In this episode, I really talk about three things: I wanted to address some comments I got about last episode and whether I really agreed with much of what Charles Pratt said, as I seemed to to some listeners This idea of “verificationism” Goals – what makes a good goal, and what should we avoid …

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The Clockwork Game Design Podcast: Episode 11 – Good Formalism with Charles Pratt

Today’s episode features an hour-long discussion with game designer at NYU Game Center teacher Charles Pratt. Charles and I met at the Practice conference and had some good discussions, and I think our perspectives live at that rare place where they’re not too different so that we can’t communicate, but they’re also not so similar …

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