Building Games That Can Be Understood at a Glance

In this 2018 GDC session, developer Zach Gage explains how to make games desirable to someone looking over a player's shoulder on the subway, sitting next to...

Docprof Says: Zach Gage takes a look at how to make games so readable that someone looking over your shoulder on the subway as you play on your phone can tell what's going on and get excited to download the game themselves. The key is the principle of The Three Reads, an approach which ensures that useful information is prominent at the right time and in the right order - first the core of the experience that draws people in, then the key details that convey the high-level rules, then the contextual information that conveys less-central rules.

Detroit: Become Human - The Review (2018) [No Spoilers]

Honestly, I had such low expectations for this, but it completely blew me away. It's such an amazing experience, and its greatness is only unveiled through c...

Docprof Says: While I haven't yet played Detroit: Become Human myself, I'm always excited when someone talks sense about David Cage. Here, Skill Up takes a fair look at Quantic Dream's latest, acknowledging its flaws but illuminating how it's the most successful realization yet of Cage's vision for what games can be.

Nintendo Labo and Theories of Edutainment

Further readings: Architect Edwin Heathcote connects dots between the toys architects play with as children and the buildings they design as adults: https://...

Docprof Says: A lot of non-parent, non-child gamers seem nonplussed by Nintendo Labo. Super Bunnyhop takes an in-depth look at why Labo is really exciting for the children lucky enough to grow up with it.

Naughty Dog and Nonlinearity

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.

Why Dragon Quest Builders is a better building game than Minecraft

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.

Still Logged In: What AR and VR Can Learn from MMOs

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.

The Untold History of EA's Long (and Rich) Pay-2-Win Love Affair

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.

Sequelitis - YouTube

Egoraptor analyses the intricacies of video games and their sequels, and also hopefully makes you bust a gut laughing.

Docprof Says: Arin Hanson's short but brilliant series on design evolution in game sequels. His insights are valuable and delivered entertainingly - in particular, he provides the definitive examination of the finely-crafted opening level of Mega Man X.