I made 2023 my year to prototype games in Unity, with a goal of completing 12 prototypes. I completed that goal with less than a week to spare. They’re not all available, but here’s what I published online (Warning: these are all protoypes, with high levels of jankiness. You’ve been warned.) I mentioned in my […]
Category Archives: Game Design
On being ‘strategically creative’
When is the last time you really thought about why you have the creative hobbies you have? No, this isn’t about monetizing your every waking moment – it’s the opposite, quite honestly. I’ve been thinking about goals lately, and what they have to do with creativity outside of our day jobs. Why did I set […]
2023: My Year of Unity
I play a lot of games. A LOT of them. (Seriously, I created 2 video game UX explorations for fun – #1, #2, and did a whole series of JRPG soccer kits.) I think they’re excellent examples of how UX can be (or should have been) considered in complex interactive environments and differing physical and […]
Conflict resolution, take 3
After taking some time off and considering the previous entries in the system, this are my latest thoughts around conflict resolution for an RPG system. To summarize my previous goals: The system should allow to strategy and semi-predictable outcomes. It should be neither totally random (dice rolls) or totally predictable). If the order of play […]
Game Design – 4 Eras
Each of the 4 pre-defined eras (and any custom eras) starts with understanding the time period, state of the world, and the location of the story. What is the defining event that begins this era – whether it’s a deviation from our own history, or a future timeline? What is scarce, exciting, and new? What […]
Game Design – The World
The gameplay in an RPG is shaped by the system, which is shaped by the world. A high fantasy world doesn’t involve computer hacking, and an alternate-present sci-fi adventure doesn’t take well to magic spells (or at least needs some interesting hand-waving). Personally, I’m tired of ‘standard’ fantasy settings (think anything Tolkien or D&D inspired). […]
RPG Character Creation, Part 1
D&D is probably the best known modern RPG system, and it’s character creation system is fairly well known. Select a race and class, apply your randomly generated stats, and add the appropriate bonuses. This approach tends to lead to gaming the system for stat boosts, considering the nature of the game lies in modifying an […]
Conflict Resolution: Wrap Up
I’m not sure, right now, which conflict resolution system is better. Likely, I’ll want to do some beta testing to see what actually works best. On the surface, both options should work for their intended purposes of allowing informed, strategic decision making without being totally predictable. One unintended side effect is that individual rounds of […]
Conflict Resolution, Part 4: Poker-ish
The other system I sketched out to use cards as the resolution mechanism is based off ‘Stud’ poker. It’s definitely not poker, but it borrows some elements of the risk/reward system. Otherwise, I still like the basic success/mixed/failure model of the last iteration, though there are tweaks that could be made. Stealing from Poker The […]
Conflict Resolution, Part 3: Blackjack
Let’s revisit the parts of our system. First, we set the initiative – the order of play (if it can’t be determined purely by storytelling). Next, we resolve the action – determining the outcome and judging if there’s any modifier at play from character based skill or another player helping (or hindering). Ideally the player […]