While looking through the Steam sales over the last few days, I noticed a game I had never heard of – The Great Art Race. It was bundled with two games I *had* heard of (Patrician 3 and Darkstar One) and I can’t say that the bundle made a lot of thematic sense. A reliable […]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Three Moves Ahead Episode 67: Experimenting With RPGs at Rabbitcon
June 2nd, 2010 · 8 Comments · Board Games, Design, Podcast, RPGs, Three Moves Ahead
Oy. Troy breaks his computer and therefore sounds like he’s calling in from a submarine. But the rest of show is a long discussion about Games Masters experimenting with RPG and miniature mechanics. Julian and Rob discuss a fascinating game session before the team digresses onto iterative learning in game design and whether games […]
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Three Moves Ahead Episode 65: Tutorials and Training
May 18th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Design, Podcast, Three Moves Ahead
Tom Chick returns after a month away from the podcast to join Troy and Rob in a discussion about designing tutorials for strategy games. Is the failure of tutorial design a root of the decline in strategy gaming? Can you really integrate a tutorial into a story based campaign? What are the responsibilities of […]
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Strategy Gamers and Art (Not About Ebert)
May 1st, 2010 · 5 Comments · Design, Indie Games
Ancient Trader is a beautiful game. Tom Chick calls it one of the most beautiful games of the year and he’s probably right. The gracefully sepia-toned map and Gorey-esque characters are unforgettable. But the map isn’t just a static screen. It breathes. Clouds gently waft over undiscovered territory. Ships and sea monsters bob gently. Waves […]
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Gods at Play 1: Virtual Viceroys
April 28th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Design, Gods at Play
Today marks the debut of my strategy game design column “Gods at Play” at Game, Set, Watch. This week I talk about virtual viceroys and ceding power to the AI. I’ve often said that GSW is my favorite of the news blogs that exploded a few year ago because it is interested in things […]
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Three Moves Ahead Episode 61: Classic Game Analysis – Imperialism
April 20th, 2010 · 27 Comments · Design, Podcast, Retro, Three Moves Ahead
Troy, Tom and Bruce look at the classic Frog City/SSI games Imperialism and Imperialism 2. What makes this series one of the greatest grand strategy experiences of all time? Can a game this difficult and time intensive be made again? Bruce has a theory, Tom keeps calling Colonization the wrong name, and Troy is […]
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