Game design pointers don’t get any better than when they come from Jordan Mechner, the man who designed Prince of Persia, The Last Express, and one of the main reasons I became a game designer, the elegant and stylish Karateka. Here’s his blog on story-based game design. Today I’m giving props to design tip #6: […]
Tag Archives: game designer
A Game Job: Not for Everyone
Do You Want a Job in the Game Industry? Game jobs aren’t easy to land, and we get pretty regular inquiries about how to do just that for game writer, game designer, and other game industry jobs. The game industry is small, insular, and fiercely competitive. There are a lot of very smart people who […]
Game Designer Hopefuls, Read This
Game Design Competition at SWSW 2010 Game designer wannabes, this is your opportunity, but you’ve only got a few more hours. The Screenburn at SXSW Game Design Competition deadline is today. This is a two-phase game design contest in which you file an entry first, and then a followup presentation if you’re picked as a […]
A Game Hero Should Be Voiceless: Part Two
The Rude Game Hero The voiceless game hero? He’s an ass. Well, inadvertently. Have you ever noticed how a voiceless game hero fails to respond to mid-mission communications? I recently finished Resistance on the PS3, and the game’s avatar, Nathan Hale, is a classic, cliche game hero with little to say and a lot to […]
Brain Design Central: TED Talk on Brain Manipulation
Brain designer seems like a less interesting job than game designer, but it does have a certain ring to it. And let’s face it, your work is more likely to be described as “mind-blowing,” which is how I’d describe this TED talk from Rebecca Saxe, who studies the brain at the eponymous Saxelab at MIT. […]
Game artist: caught clipping
A game artist goofup A game artist has a hard life. You spend years – nay, a lifetime – honing your skills and craft. You sketch incessantly, driven by your passion for visual expression. You paint, you sculpt, you design, you draft. After your traditional art training, you pick up the digital tools of creation. […]
Game design innovation… in today’s market?
I guess a few game designers were paying attention The game design plaint that I most routinely dispense is doubtlessly one you’re familiar with. Game design is a dying craft. Publishers have forgotten what makes great games. Sequels are the spawn of Satan. But maybe I was wrong. A few fresh game design ideas are […]
Do good.
JJ Abrams’ Lost Thoughts on Creativity
JJ Abrams’ Lost Thoughts, get it? Ha ha… sorry. Anyhow, a friend recently turned me on to TED.com, a site where you can view talks from the cognoscenti from all sorts of incredible fields and backgrounds. On TED, I recently found this entertaining and thoughtful lecture by JJ Abrams, the creative guy behind Lost, Cloverfield, […]
Game design: Call of Juarez
Game design case study of the Xbox 360’s Call of Juarez I played a decent chunk of this shoot-em-up – “the only Western first-person shooter experience on Xbox 360” – the other evening. I’m curious as to what other Westher shooter experiences there might be in the game universe. I’m offering $25, public accolades, and […]