This was the week we finally got to play God. EA released the creature creator for Spore and, in a flash, the world was covered in cute dinosaurs, movie monsters and walking penises. The creature creator is intuitive, amazingly flexible and has, on its own, revived a lot of interest and excitement for the game. […]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Can a Great Toy become a Great Game?
June 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Design, Electronic Arts, Maxis
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Slideshow Tutorials
June 18th, 2008 · 6 Comments · Design
I just started playing a new strategy game for review, Supreme Ruler 2020. It’s one of those five hundred button, two thousand menu monstrosities that appeals to my inner min/maxer, but also comes close to pushing the limits of my ability to retain information. As a reviewer, I always play tutorials. Even if I know […]
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The State of Strategy Gaming
May 14th, 2008 · 7 Comments · Design, Industry, Maxis
I’m pretty far behind in my podcast listening. I haven’t listened to the PC Gamer podcast or the Games for Windows ‘cast in a while. The Gamers With Jobs podcast is still a weekly listen, though. And this week’s broadcast deals specifically with strategy gaming. Maxis’ Soren Johnson sits in and talks about Civ IV, […]
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Nobody Likes You When You’re Strange
May 2nd, 2008 · 8 Comments · Big Huge Games, Crispy Gamer, Design, RTS
RTS evangelist Tom Chick devoted his most recent column to a celebration of Rise of Legend‘s second anniversary. He talked to Big Huge Games head honcho Brian Reynolds about the game – why it worked and why it wasn’t the huge success it deserved to be. This exchange capsulizes the prevailing thinking on why the […]
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No King But Caesar – An Epilogue
April 30th, 2008 · 20 Comments · Ancients, Design, Feature:Anc
I wish I had time to dwell on all the dud Roman themed games that have passed in front of me. The half finished Pax Romana and Great Invasions, the laughable Legions, the boring Hannibal: Master of the Beast, Haemimont’s Roman city builders, Haemimont’s RTSes. Most of these games aren’t very interesting as reflections on […]
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Now That’s Just Mean
March 28th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Design
In the life sim Kudos, your perpetually broke tosser had the option to buy a lottery ticket. My characters rarely had enough scratch to do it, but every now and then they’d drop a few bucks on the ticket. I didn’t expect game breaking piles of money, but an extra fifty pounds here or there […]
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