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Ravenwood Fair Postmortem
May 01 2012 07:56 PM | Posted By YetiZen in Game Design
San Francisco Game Developer's Workshop presents John Romero and Brenda Brathwaite giving a postmortem lecture on their game Ravenwood Fair, a Facebook title created during their time at Lolapps
Raw Meat: Game Design Tips from Team Meat's Edmund McMillen
Jan 31 2012 11:12 AM | Posted By Pat Flannery in Game Design
The No Twinkie Database!
Jan 24 2012 08:40 PM | Posted By Ernest W. Adams in Game Design
designersnotebook.com —
The "No Twinky" database is an extensive list of commonly occurring design mistakes seen in video-games, and provides a reference for designing good games by explaining what not to do.
The Tao of Game Design
Jan 24 2012 08:37 PM | Posted By Ernest W. Adams in Game Design
designersnotebook.com —
In this piece, veteran designer Ernest Adams shares some basic precepts for game design.
Grand Theft Auto Design Document
Jan 17 2012 07:08 PM | Posted By DMA Design Ltd in Game Design
scribd.com —
This document from 1995 shows a scanned copy of the Race'n'Chase game, which later became known as Grand Theft Auto.
The Chemistry Of Game Design
Jan 10 2012 06:45 PM | Posted By Daniel Cook in Game Design
gamasutra.com —
In this article, Lost Garden author and successful video-game designer Daniel Cook describes a system of developing "skill atoms" and linking them together into "skill chains" to better describe and measure the experience players will have during a session of play. This technique can help to measure whether or not new skills are introduced at an appropriate pace, and where more...
What actitivies can be turned into games? (Lost Garden)
Jan 10 2012 06:42 PM | Posted By Daniel Cook in Game Design
lostgarden.com —
In this short piece, Lost Garden author and successful game designer Daniel Cook takes a look at what activities are suitable for turning into games.
Game Pitch - Bioshock
Jul 19 2011 04:00 AM | Posted By Irrational Games in Game Design
You've seen AAA game design docs posted online and have learned how to design your game on paper. Now how about securing that funding? Learn again from the pros by seeing how they pitched their games!
How Can We Solve the "Pacing Problem"?
Mar 23 2011 07:00 AM | Posted By Tristan Pendergrass in Game Design
The Strategy Game Designer's Constitution
Jan 14 2011 05:00 AM | Posted By leiavoia in Game Design
This article aims to help strategy game designers create games with more strategic depth and rigger while being alerted to conceptual design problems. It contains some "golden rules" for design, interesting game mechanics to consider for your games, and a thought-provoking list of potential victory and ending conditions that you may have completely overlooked. After reading this article...
Some Game Playing Styles, and How Games Match One Style or Another
Jan 25 2010 11:17 AM | Posted By Lewis Pulsipher in Game Design
A big obstacle for beginning game designers is the common assumption that everyone likes the same kinds of games, and plays the same way, that they do. Sometimes the nature of the traditional video game obscures all the different things games can be. The author relies on 50 years of playing games of all kinds to describe several quite different points of view
Book Excerpt: Mastering Unreal Technology Volume 1: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3
Sep 21 2009 01:28 PM | Posted By Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, and Jeff Wilson in Game Design
This excerpt is taken from Chapter 9: Introduction to Kismet
Game Design Round Table 3
Sep 17 2009 06:01 AM | Posted By Trent Polack in Game Design
Observing Open Worlds: This round table discusses both the narrative and gameplay benefits of the open world game structure
Game Design Round Table 2
Jun 09 2009 05:34 PM | Posted By Trent Polack in Game Design
Achievement Unlocked: This forum round table discussed the use of achievements in game design. Overview of the discussion inside, and link to the complete thread
Game Design Round Table 1
May 25 2009 01:22 PM | Posted By Trent Polack in Game Design
The Death of Death: This forum round table discussed the pros and cons of failure cases in games and how it relates to challenge. Overview of the discussion inside, and link to the complete thread
Game Design Round Table 0
Apr 22 2009 05:32 PM | Posted By Trent Polack in Game Design
No More Health: This forum round table discussed the impact of regenerative health and such questions as: does this mechanic simplify action games in a good way? Is the reduction in manageable health resources a boon or detriment to players? The full discussion is summarized within.
Space War Commander: Re-Thinking Real-Time Strategy
Apr 07 2009 11:40 AM | Posted By Alex Kutsenok in Game Design
This article on game design discusses the ways in which the real-time-strategy genre can be improved, using a recently published RTS as a case-study in novel development. Specifically, the paper argues against traditional resource gathering in favor of true diversification of that experience. Furthermore, this article discusses the benefits of removing base-building and puts forth some valid re...
Rage of the Elements Postmortem
Jul 23 2008 09:00 AM | Posted By Lori Cerchio in Game Design
The producer of a student team from Bloomfield College in New Jersey goes over what went wrong and what went right on the year-long project for their degree's coursework.
MAME Mine: Wacky Sports
Jul 01 2008 09:11 AM | Posted By Ben Garney and Eric Hartman in Game Design
Ben and Eric take another foray through hundreds of MAME games to see what makes the genre of wacky sports tick and come away with some key designs to keep in mind
Postmortem: “Orient: A Hero’s Heritage”
Apr 08 2008 01:05 PM | Posted By Babak Kaveh in Game Design
When a project goes bad, there's a lot that you can learn. When a project goes bad in Iran, there's even more lessons to pick up. Learn from the lead developer about developing games in Iran and how it affected the demise of the promising "Orient: A Hero's Heritage"
Learning From The 3000 "Classics"
Apr 01 2008 04:14 AM | Posted By Ben Garney and Eric Hartman in Game Design
A few key design lessons gleaned from the 3000 games available for play on MAME that are still relevant in today's market
Magic Stones Postmortem
Dec 05 2007 09:21 PM | Posted By Celso Riva in Game Design
A look at some of the good and bad for the game by Winter Wolves's principal developer
10 Tips for Better Playtests
Nov 22 2007 11:39 AM | Posted By Bruno Urbain in Game Design
Learn 10 ways to make the experience of play testing your game better for the people involved, both game players and team members alike
Everybody Conga! Well maybe not everybody...
Aug 07 2007 10:10 PM | Posted By Dave Astle in Game Design
A reminder that not everyone has the physical and cognitive abilities to play everyday games, and some thought into working accessibility into your games from a legal standpoint
How To Build a Game In A Week From Scratch With No Budget
Jul 06 2005 02:18 PM | Posted By Jay Barnson in Game Design
