Tag: Game Design

  • Cutting features that were “too fun” in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

    About Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a cooperative multiplayer game where one player is tasked to defuse a bomb with the help other players who have the bomb defusal manual – But there’s a catch: The players with the manual (the “Experts”) are not allowed to see the bomb…

  • Human Skills: Elements of Game & Play

    The Problem with Genres & Game Design As someone who contributes to creating games I have a difficult time understanding what other designers mean to say when they use a genre to describe a game system and its mechanics. For example, if someone says a game is a “First Person Shooter” I know that it…

  • Successful Game Jamming

    At a recent Dirty Rectangles Show and Tell, I took part in a two hour game jam. This was the second game jam that I’ve taken part in, but I have attended many over the last few years. I’ve seen a lot of successes and failures and made a number of mistakes myself, but this…

  • Game Concept: Messaging Maze

    The following is one in a series of game concepts that I thought would be good to get written down for future use or inspiration, either for myself or for anyone else who wants to take the idea further. Be sure to let me know if you make use of it – I’d love to…

  • Game Concept: Fading Opportunities

    The following is the first in a series of game concepts that I thought would be good to get written down for future use or inspiration, either for myself or for anyone else who wants to take the idea further. Be sure to let me know if you make use of it – I’d love…

  • IGDA Ottawa: Indies in the Classroom Talk

    At a recent Independent Game Developers Association meeting I was asked to talk about my experiences taking Hideout!, a project originally developed as schoolwork, to the Xbox 360 for public sale. The slides and a video of the presentation are below. As always, please pass on any feedback; it’s always much appreciated! The presentation began…

  • Hideout! Post-mortem / Retrospective

    It’s been a few moths since the Xbox 360 release of Hideout! on the Indie Games channel of Xbox Live. The sales were very low, but I was expecting that from this type of game. Regardless, with over 1200 trial downloads and only 45 sales, it would be good to look at why this game…

  • Hideout!: Designing Lasting Arcade-Style Gameplay

    When I initially designed and implemented the gameplay of Hideout! I had created a game where the best players would consistently get to about level 5 or 6, while beginners would typically achieve level 3 or 4. This wasn’t very good – I wanted experienced players to be able to get much higher up, maybe…

  • If I say a game is too short, what do I actually mean to say?

    The following text is actually a comment that I posted in response to a post by Ron Carmel of 2DBoy. In response to “If I say a game is too short, what do I actually mean to say?”: I think that many players and critics may base their definition partially off of the classic childhood…