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Recent Posts
February Game Design Seminar
The next Game Design Seminar is set for February.
- February 7-8, from 10am to 4pm
- Regular fee is $399, $249 for students,
- $25 early bird discount if registered before January 18
- Hosted at Lighthouse Labs in Gastown Vancouver
Come learn game design with us! Click the button below to sign-up or check the full details on this page.
| Email me to Sign Up! |
Posted in Game design, Interaction design, Major, Motivation design, System design
Interactivity as a Medium
Which of narrative or gameplay should take the lead in video games? It’s very common topic that polarizes both game devs and players. I was asked my opinion on the question through youtube, so here is my opinion on the balance between interactivity and gameplay.
Posted in Creative process, Game design, Narrative design
Zero-Sum Games for Game Design
Zero-Sum games is a very important concept for game systems as well as rewards, so here is my perspective on it, as well as examples on what it means for game design.
If you want more details on how to balance games, I would point you to this article on Positive feedback by Ernest Adams, and if you are interested in Game Theory, head to my article on the topic.
Also, as we reached the 600 subscriber mark for our youtube channel, I want to thank you by letting you choose the topic of my next videos! Please write a question you want me to treat next in the comment section.
Posted in Game design, Major, Motivation design, System design
Warcraft 3 Randomness
Compared to Starcraft’s very predictible systems, Warcraft 3 and its randomness always puzzled me. Here are my conclusions on how such a random game can still be fit for competitive play.
Posted in Game design, System design
Assassin’s Creed Combat system
While working at Ubisoft Montreal, I was involved with Assassin’s Creed, and we faced a situation where we realized that the combat system was largely perfectible, but we were specifically asked to stick with a design that we felt was rather poor. It took me several years to realize that it was the best decision, and I explain in this video how sometimes bad design is best.
Posted in Creative process, Game design, Interaction design, Major, System design
Gameplay True Form
Here is a short video to introduce the concept of Gameplay True Form that I describe in more details in this article and in this conference talk.
Posted in Game design, Major
Shooting isn’t the key mechanic of Quake
After last week video where I analyzed the way Halo shapes the combat dynamic for the average players, here is a quick look at Quake’s top competitive end.
Also, some related links:
- The replay of Dreamhack Winter 2013 Quake Live grand finals
- A series of videos that goes super in-depth on competitive Quake World, a Quake I mod still being played today.
Posted in Game design, Major, System design
Halo Multiplayer Combat
As a follow-up to last week’s video on the lessons from Pac-Man design, here is how they can apply to AAA games, with a short study of Halo’s multiplayer combat.
Posted in Game design, Major, System design
Lessons from Pac Man
I studied the game systems of Pac Man as I was working on a documentation process for the designers at Ubisoft Montreal. I wanted to use a simple game to showcase that process, but as I dug in the different resources available, I realized how refined this game’s systems were. This led to understanding game design principles that still stick with me today.
In the video, for the sake of brevity (also because I don’t fully understand the game’s systems), I used rather gross approximations, and I wanted to link you to a great article that properly covers the ghost AI of Pac-Man. Here it is: Understanding Pac-Man Ghost Behaviour by Chad Birch.
Posted in Game design, Major, System design
Creating meaningful game systems
Here is another video from my design short talk series that discusses how we build experiences to convey meaning, the difference between how we relate to stories and to games, and how to build game systems that are meaningful for your player.
Posted in Game design, Narrative design, System design
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