These are all entries bearing the tag game design.
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It's Just a Flesh Wound
Dungeons & Dragons 4E came out about two weeks ago, and I've had a few chances to look at the sourcebooks. I notice that scrolls of resurrection are still in the game—and no wonder. They're a staple, and after a while, you might really need them. It reminded me of something I've always wanted to talk a little about: times when narrative and gameplay collide.
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It's Just a Jump to the Left
One of the many side projects I have going is a MUD written in Python. I want to incorporate some sort of semi-realistic concept of time into this game; activities, like crafting, should take time, billboards and announcements in the game world should expire after some time, time-limited festivals should be held, etc. However, having in-game time correspond exactly to real life time would be undesirable. So, we have a problem.
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Safety Net
Posted on March 10 2008 — game design — 2 comments
Deep in the warlock's dungeon, your band of adventurers trudge onward, harried but still in relatively good spirits. A perilous quest it has been so far, fraught with danger, but they have always come out on top. Before them now lies a strange gate, barred with mystic runes bearing a warning: "Do not enter, ye of little courage," it forebodes. With a shrug, you head bravely through, remembering to hit the quicksave button before doing so, knowing that regardless of whether you will triumph over whatever may lie beyond or not, you can always load the game back up and try again.
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Unlock This
Posted on January 10 2008 — games, game design, unlockables, konami, castlevania, smash bros — 0 comments
A common feature of newer games, especially games that feature "optional content" that needs to be explored, is the concept of the unlockable. In the Soul Calibur games (as well as many other fighting games), they take the form of new weapons and costumes for the characters as well as a few new characters. The EA Lord of the Rings games lets you unlock cinematics, concept art and other such trivia as you progress through the game. Sometimes, entire games can be unlockable—Metroid: Zero Mission for instance, has the original Metroid available after you finish the game.
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Meeting Expectations
A pet project of mine (which I barely have time for, really) is a little MUD engine written in Python. I was thinking about implementing a “multi-handed” system for it; in other words, a way to let players and mobs have more than two anatomical hands. Actually, these “hands” could be anything; a prehensile tail, tentacles, a telekinetic “hand”, etc. In the end I sort of decided against it due to its complexity, but it made me think of something else, namely how players' expectations vary based on what you implement.
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Persistent Worlds, User-Created Content and the Failure of Second Life
I'm a great fan of persistent world games. Some would call them "MMORPGs" or "MMOs", but I'd like to avoid some of the unnecessary connotations of that term (what exactly makes a game "massively multiplayer"?) and call them persistent world games (PWGs; I have a sneaking suspicion that Raph Koster may have been advocating this very same term independently), sticking to the element that unites them: They take place in a dynamic world that stays even when no players are playing.
Today, we're going to talk about something that both excites and dismays me: User-created content. What does it mean, how do you do it, and why do I think it's partly a failure?
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The Thesis Log
Monkeyblah has a new section, which may not be all that interesting to most of you. As some of you know, I am currently writing my Master's thesis in computer science at Chalmers University of Technology, on the topic of Computer-generated video game narratives.
Well, as it turns out, my discipline isn't the greatest in the world, a woe well-known to anyone who's been a student for any length of time. Work is simply not getting done at the pace I need it to. Taking a cue from my good friend Jolle, I've decided to keep a log of my daily activities on the thesis, and that's what the new section is for. In reality, it's just a listing of posts bearing the thesis-log tag, but it's good enough. Posts bearing this tag are not shown on the front page or in date listings; you have to look for the tag specifically to see any such entries.
The purpose of this log is twofold; for one, to document my work, but more importantly to keep me motivated. Public visibility and accountability makes for a powerful motivator. For the rest of you, hey, maybe it'll interest some of you.
Edit: Here's the first entry, for today.