My approach to game design

On the 1st of March, Danc (Daniel Cook) posted a very interesting entry in his Lost Garden-blog about game design styles. He lists a number of different styles he has observed in game designers, then describes his own definitions of what each style consists of and what shortcomings/limitations it may have.

The styles he listed:
Copycat: make a game like another game that is interesting.
Experience: Make a distinct moment of game play that looks and feels interesting.
Narrative: Make a story that is interesting
World: Make a place or world that is interesting
Systems: Make systems and objects that are interesting.
Player Skills: Make verbs for the player that are interesting.

He ends his article with a couple of questions, one of which I’ll tackle here:
What style of game designer are you? Do you fit into one of these approaches?

On the 1st of March, Danc (aka Daniel Cook) posted a very interesting entry in his Lost Garden-blog about game design styles. He lists a number of different styles he has observed in game designers, then describes his own definitions of what each style consists of and what shortcomings/limitations it may have.

The styles he listed:

  • Copycat: make a game like another game that is interesting.
  • Experience: Make a distinct moment of game play that looks and feels interesting.
  • Narrative: Make a story that is interesting
  • World: Make a place or world that is interesting
  • Systems: Make systems and objects that are interesting.
  • Player Skills: Make verbs for the player that are interesting.

He ends his article with a couple of questions, one of which I’ll tackle here:

  • What style of game designer are you? Do you fit into one of these approaches?

Continue reading “My approach to game design”

World Builder – the movie

Woah. I just finished watching World Builder, a short film about a man building a realistic-looking virtual world using holographic tools from inside a “holodeck” of sorts.

World Builder by Bruce BranitWoah. I just finished watching World Builder, a short film about a man building a realistic-looking virtual world using holographic tools from inside a “holodeck” of sorts.

You should watch the entire thing; not only is it a quality production from start to finish, with an innovative approach to how world-building can happen in the (hopefully near) future, it also tells a surprisingly good and emotion-stirring story despite only lasting for 9 minutes and 15 seconds.

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(World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.)

It was created by digital effects artist Bruce Branit, who co-created one of the first short films (405) to get distributed widely on the Internet back in 2000 and has since had a finger (or ten) in visual effects everywhere from movies like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sin city and Serenity to TV-series like Moonlight, Lost and Pushing Daisies. Watch a reel of his work here.

One to watch, most definitely!

About the Laws of Online World Design – Part I

This is the first installment in a series of posts I’ll be making about Raph Koster’s The Laws of Online World Design, as explained in this introductory post. I will start at the top of the list, and work my way down until I’ve poked and prodded every law in the list, not skipping any unless I really feel like it.

In this, Part I of the series, I’ll concentrate on the following law:
Design Rules

This is the first installment in a series of posts I’ll be making about Raph Koster‘s The Laws of Online World Design, as explained in this introductory post. I will start at the top of the list, and work my way down until I’ve poked and prodded every law in the list, not skipping any unless I really feel like it.

In this, Part I of the series, I’ll concentrate on the following law:

  • Design Rules

Continue reading “About the Laws of Online World Design – Part I”