You can purchase the Early Access version of Escape the Omnochronom! now on itch.io! Tell your friends! Technically speaking, I started working on the project that eventually became Escape the Omnochronom! back in 2015, although it has had at least four different names since that time. Someday I’ll have to run you all through the … Continue reading "Escape the Omnochronom! now available on itch.io!"
Read MoreCategory: Game Design
Three types of bad randomness, and one good one
A few years ago, I wrote an article about randomness in games. It was far from my first time taking a stab at the subject, but it is the most recent big, singular effort at describing the relationship between randomness and game design, as I see it. In this article, I’m going to talk a … Continue reading "Three types of bad randomness, and one good one"
Read MoreAgainst Tactics and the Connect-Four CCG
How did you become a game designer? What was the path you took, going all the way back to your childhood, that lead you to want to design games? I expect that most of us can at least loosely define some “stages” of our game-design-development, and while we all have our differences, I think it’s … Continue reading "Against Tactics and the Connect-Four CCG"
Read MoreDesigning Strategy: Rushdown, Economy, and Defense
Hey everyone! Today I have a good-old-fashioned formalist-ish game design article. It’s been a little while since I’ve really done one of those, unless it was attached to Push the Lane. This article is also a little bit different than a lot of my other work because I usually talk about rulesets: what the actual … Continue reading "Designing Strategy: Rushdown, Economy, and Defense"
Read MorePush the Lane: Loot in a Strategy Game?
Since Push the Lane entered this latest phase back in mid-2017 (basically after the failed Kickstarter version, which was much more puzzle-game-like), it has become much more videogamey. By that, I mean, it has focused a lot more on fighting, monsters, items, special abilities, moving around a big map and such. I have been thinking … Continue reading "Push the Lane: Loot in a Strategy Game?"
Read MoreArt is People Too
In this episode, I struggle with, and mostly reject, a lot of the formalist ideas I previously held about art. Art – whether it’s games, music, movies, or anything else – is largely about connecting with other people. When you like something, it’s largely because of a lot of subconscious processes that are largely informed … Continue reading "Art is People Too"
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