This gallery contains 5 photos.
I went in to Heavy Rain hoping two things: 1) that Quantic Dreams could sell the game crowd on a good drama. 2) That their “every choice matters,” actually, you know, mattered. For hope one, I came away sorely disappointed. … Continue reading
This gallery contains 3 photos.
(Update: It looks like Brian Fargo of inXile Entertainment has something similar to say: use alternative methods to get rid of the reliance on publishers.) In the world of games, the “AAA” moniker is a vague term used differently in … Continue reading
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Not to be redundant with my first blog post, but in a discussion where I stated games can be art, and the argument is mostly meaningless, I was asked to explain why. A fair question. I typed up a lengthy … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
“Emergence” is, very simply, some effect unpredictably coming out of a combination of causes. While having uses in many different fields* the unpredictable nature is common. As applied to games, the idea of emergence is mostly related to seemingly unpredictable … Continue reading
I just realized that the WordPress theme I’m using removes HTML from image captions. This has made it very hard to credit where I found the image. I’m going to be trying to get all the citations back in-place and … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
“That’s stupid, when I make a game, I’d never let the player do that.” Assume “that” means any sort of counterproductive behavior that is most irrelevant to the game’s intended challenges: i.e. killing a quest giver, or jumping off a … Continue reading
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Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 Controls: And so finally: the interaction between controls and immersion. Control schemes range the complexity gamut from the very simplistic (Pong,) to the overly complicated (some combos in the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 5 Gameplay: Gameplay has come a long way since Pong, however that does not mean games today have better and more immersive gameplay than the ubiquitous 1972 title. That claim … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 4 – Part 5 Level Design: Level Design is one facet of game design that has very rapidly split into two distinct areas: linear, self-contained levels and open worlds. If experience has shown … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Part 1 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 (Addendum at the bottom of the post.) Diegesis: The idea of having a story tied to a game is not a new concept. Even Shatranj, the game credited with … Continue reading
