The Linear RPG
March 3rd, 2009
I just came across The Linear RPG by Sophie Houlden, and thought it was a brilliant example of focused gameplay design. Usually we don't post about other games, but I think this is a good way to learn about the core mechanics of RPG games. At the heart of most role-playing games are two forms of progression: leveling up ...
Overgrowth Fighting System Design Doc, 1st Draft
February 16th, 2009
Hey guys, we've been talking a lot about our fighting system recently and I wanted to provide you with a first draft of what we're planning to do in Overgrowth. These are the ideas that materialized from discussions I had with David and Phillip a few days ago. Remember that what I mention here is not set in ...
The ruins of Lugaru
February 5th, 2009
People who played Lugaru will be familiar with the ruins in that game-- often simple blocks of stone-like material, they played a critical gameplay role in many of the levels. Going into Overgrowth, I thought this was one of the more original aspects of the art direction. They seemed very mysterious and abstract, and that was my favorite thing about ...
Design Principles from Tufte
February 4th, 2009
Minoru Niijima's version of E.J. Marey's train schedule from Paris to Lyon. X-axis is time, Y-axis is space. Horizontal red lines are stations. Diagonal red lines chart out individual trains. Copied from cover graphic of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. I have recently been reading some of Edward Tufte's books on information graphics. Tufte is ...
6 Tips For Becoming A Game Developer
January 29th, 2009
After manning the meebo widget for a few months, I've been asked many times about the best way for someone to enter the realm of game development. Granted, Wolfire is a very young company, and out of all the guys on our team I'm probably the least experienced when it comes to game development. However after consulting the ...
Fighting as an end in itself
January 25th, 2009
Many games have combat, but it's usually treated as an obstacle in your path to something else. You have to kill enemies to get where you need to go, or to accumulate enough skill points. When writers make an attempt to justify it, they usually pick reasons that are unrelated to the fighting itself. Usually you're following orders ...
Game Theory Applied To Game Design
January 24th, 2009
Every modern real-time game has some form of rock, paper, scissor mechanics. As gamers we subconsciously know that such mechanics are there and that they work pretty well but no one ever explains why. With a little bit of game theory I can show you why but first I'll need to give you some brief game theory definitions. What ...