Category Archives: Game design

Several months ago, LJ user fadethecat posted a request for help identifying a dimly-remembered video game. In passing, she mentioned that Unfortunately, all the games I’ve found with that scale of “now direct your dudes to go chop down trees” … Continue reading →

Here we go with another entry in the occasional series of reviews of games that everyone has already played (because I refuse to pay more than US$20 for a game, and new releases cost $60 these days). This time, it’s … Continue reading →

Many RPGs have some basic notion of fatigue penalties, but they lack color. On the more cyberpunk end of the spectrum, you got to figure the PCs are regularly sneaking around late at night. It’s harder to stay awake for … Continue reading →

Over the past few weeks there has been what I can only describe as an epic flame war on LJ and elsewhere. I am not going to link to any of it or try to summarize. Suffice to say that … Continue reading →

We’re playing God of War again and have gotten Kratos killed, oh, at least fifty times now, by falling off the rafters that you have to thread your way through while avoiding the rotating knife arms. In the Challenge of … Continue reading →

queenpam and I have been playing some old (or not-so-old) PS2 games: we’re totally done with Kingdom Hearts 2, are going back through Ratchet and Clank to pick up all the skill points (optional mini-challenges), we’re about half done with … Continue reading →

I really like Leonard’s suggestion of consistently applying the notion that one gets better at what one practices. I am wondering whether it is practical to do away with character attributes as well as levels, and rely exclusively on skills, … Continue reading →

Basic flavor elements: magic is wild; somewhat unpredictable, from the heart as well as the head The High Elves were Not Nice. I’m thinking more like Pratchett’s depiction than e.g. Michael Moorcock’s. Also, they’re all dead. from Earthdawn: putting back … Continue reading →

As mentioned in the first of these posts, one of the biggest things I’d like to experiment with in a new roguelike is the setting and plot. In particular I don’t want the plot to be a big MacGuffin hunt. … Continue reading →

Leonard linked to You Only Live Once. I have not tried it, despite the “only about an hour of gameplay” label; I want to call attention to one element of the blurb.Extremely tactical combat. There is no randomness in combat. … Continue reading →