Fair warning, this post is going to be pretty heavy. Additionally, it contains spoilers for Undertale.
Docprof Says: There's something you can do in Undertale that never appealed to me, but this highly-personal essay finally makes sense of it as a powerful example of how games can help us process difficult emotions. (Spoilers for Undertale. Content warning for loss of a loved one.)
A look at the history of Naughty Dog's Action Adventure games and their different approaches to non-linear gameplay. Support: https://www.patreon.com/thegami...
Docprof Says: Charlie Cade takes a look at how Naughty Dog's approach to linearity has changed over the years, examining the tradeoffs made in each of its major franchises. To me, the most interesting point is that nonlinearity enables riskier design, as a frustrating moment is much more likely to cost you a player if the player can't try doing something else for a while.
In 1994, Jeff Vogel founded Spiderweb Software, one of the oldest continuously operating indie game companies. This is the story of the company, the tricks it used to endure and make money for decades in this brutal business, the history of indie...
Docprof Says: My favorite curmudgeonly developer Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software talks at GDC about the near-quarter-century he's been professionally developing and selling games. He offers a very useful perspective focused on long-term sustainability and how to succeed while staying small.
Civilization IV designer Soren Johnson talked to us about his new 4X game Ten Crowns and the future of 4X
Docprof Says: A quick but interesting look at the fundamentals of 4X games, how they've evolved, and how they might evolve further, with an emphasis on the Civilization series.
Open worlds and sandboxes are big, scary places for narrative designers. Whatever your mechanics may be, and however your tale is told, adhering to these four basic but essential mantras will help players better engage with and understand your story.
Docprof Says: A clear and actionable rundown of the most important rules to live by for story design in open world games.
Dragon Quest Builders succeeds where Minecraft and LEGO Worlds have failed. It's the first video game in the "building" genre to create a system of interesti...
Docprof Says: A look at how the mechanical design of Dragon Quest Builders incentivizes the act of building in ways that no other building game does.
Games are networking the world. Titles like 'PokemonGO' are showing the industry how the world can be an MMO. Hardware coming from major companies is promising…
Docprof Says: Raph Koster's fascinating and chilling GDC 2017 talk about the responsibilities of designers and maintainers of virtual and social spaces. Modern games and services from Facebook to Pokémon GO are ignoring the many lessons learned in the early days of shared online worlds, and you don't even have to be a player or user to be affected by the fallout.
I was chatting on Twitter with someone about narrative games, and What Remains of Edith Finch came up. It was my favorite game of last year, and I had written this little bit on it for a forum disc…
Docprof Says: Raph Koster explains why everyone made such a big deal about What Remains of Edith Finch - it's because it was a brilliant showcase of conveying story and emotion through gameplay.
One of my favorite things about human psychology is how a punishment can be turned into a reward just by changing the way it’s framed. A few years ago a friend of mine was serving on the boar…
Docprof Says: One of the more famous psychology lessons from World of Warcraft - framing is everything. Players hated the "rest" system when it was seen as a penalty for playing too long; they loved it when it was seen as a reward for spending time not playing.
This video started out as a review for Star Wars Battlefront II, but as I researched the commercials behind it, I began to uncover a consistent pattern from ...
Docprof Says: Skill Up illuminates the history of the loot box from its surprising origin in a side mode in a soccer game to where we are today with the Star Wars Battlefront II backlash, as well as discussion of potential legal regulation of loot boxes as a form of gambling and why this is an existential threat to EA.