Designer Notes

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

I argued then that we need to stop assuming that a game’s theme or SETTING determines its meaning and, instead, that meaning comes from the mechanics themselves. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about games which do a good job of constructing meaning from their mechanics and also about ones which do it poorly.

Mechanics 80

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Build 80

The Bottom Feeder

OCTOBER 18, 2023

The trick is making sure the fighting part is engaging. Restrictive terrain. Unless actually fighting a boss fight. A thousand hours of looter shooter game can't rely on story, so the player must be made to feel good with the game mechanics. That's the loop. Which means it has to have variety. No suspense.

Games 75

Games Fantasy Art Fighting 75

Keith Burgun

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

And basically EVERY SINGLE FIGHT is: dodge roll their moves, then counter attack with all your stuff. But it really doesn’t matter much what skills you take, it changes almost nothing, because there just isn’t much mechanical terrain in this game. That’s it. That’s about it!

Fantasy 105

Fantasy Fighting Terrain Art 105

Radiator Blog

AUGUST 12, 2022

So I divided the bumpy terrain into quadrants, with big tree roots gating each section. To unlock each root gate to the next section, the player must fight their way into a little fort and press a big obvious flashing red button. It helps supplement the stealth fantasy in a game with basically no stealth mechanics.

Prototyping 52

Prototyping Fantasy Fighting Terrain 52

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Being able to backtrack is generally going to be more realistic in the RPG sense--of course your character should be able to go back and pick up that item they left behind, or fight that enemy that scared you away before. Not universally so, to be sure, but grind tends to be more of a roguelite thing.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Mechanics Feature Open World 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 3, 2019

This deconstruction will cover: The game’s core loop Why having chosen a basic match-3 mechanic was a safe bet What other games have tried The game’s features and to which kinds of players it caters How time-limited offers and events are run successfully. Making a puzzle game doesn’t mean you can make the mechanics themselves a puzzle.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Feature Build Balance 52