Or at least that’s what Paul Barnett would have you believe: It is important not to get carried away with the idea that players need huge lists of options, Barnett said. “People like the illusion of choice,” he explained. “They like a long menu at a restaurant despite the fact they will always order from […]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Tilted Mill Interview
August 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments · City Builder, Design, Gameshark, Interview, Tilted Mill
The first part of my very long interview with Tilted Mill is now up at Gameshark. The first half deals with Children of the Nile and independent development in general. The second half has more information about their upcoming game, Hinterland. Chris Beatrice is a great interview, by the way, because you just give him […]
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Where Do Ideas Come From?
July 25th, 2008 · 13 Comments · Design, Electronic Arts, Wargames
Last year, Irrational’s Ken Levine famously said that the problem with most game designers is that they’ve read one book (Lord of the Rings) and seen one movie (Aliens). It was typical Levine exaggeration, but the point was clear – game designers (and, I would add, games journalists) take their entertainment cues from a small […]
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More Spore
July 11th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Design, Electronic Arts, Industry
Today, Brandon Sheffield and Chris Remo interview Soren Johnson at Gamasutra. They mostly focus on Spore, but also there is some general commentary about strategy gaming, publisher expectations and designing without a core audience in mind. Some snippets: For example, we have a super-weapon system, which is something that came along maybe six months ago, […]
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Quote? Misquote? Cite?
July 7th, 2008 · 10 Comments · Blogs, Design, Industry
The best thing about the internet is that hyperlinking lets you direct readers to your sources. The worst thing about the internet is that nobody bothers pointing out their print sources. This came to mind when I finally got around to reading Chris Bateman’s critique of the Sid Meier bromide that a game is “a […]
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Ben Fritz Thinks Colonization is Bad
June 26th, 2008 · 16 Comments · Blogs, Design, History
Ben Fritz, a video game blogger at Variety has some issues with the upcoming Colonization expansion for Civ IV. But goddamit, am I the only one who think it’s morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION? It’s ironic, actually, because just a few months ago a friend sent me a link to some […]
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