It’s a necessary and standard mechanic. When an actor needs to be placed into an environment, the actor has to be spawned there. When I player dies, his character has to be respawned somewhere, typically a set location, a check point, a save spot, or a safe zone. You don’t want to die so that … Continue reading »
Feb
13
2009: Emphatic Experiences
A game is defined by the experience that provides the player with. Really, that’s what it comes down to and so the goal of a designer is to craft the precise experience desired for the players who will be on the other side. 2009 gave us a whole lot of good games, and I’m not … Continue reading »
Feb
10
Design Trend: The Generic Man
Over the past 12 months (that’d be mostly 2009), a lot of games were released, quite a few of them introducing new plots, new worlds, and new characters. Everyone was trying to stand out with new mechanics and design ideas and get the audience hooked on these new interesting protagonists. There was only one big … Continue reading »
Feb
04
I’m Charmed by Little King’s Story
Little King’s Story, Cing / Town Factory (XSeed Games / Marvelous Entertainment) Wii, 2009 I’m not entirely sure what the aspirations for Little King Story were, but it certainly doesn’t present itself as a AAA title. In fact, it’s not. Instead, it’s a humble title that found its way onto North American store shelves in … Continue reading »
Jan
24
Regarding the “Golden Path” in Fable II
Fable II, Lionhead Studios (Microsoft Games Studio) Xbox 360, 2008 Rather than looking at each element of games, especially ones with as much to them as Fable II, I’m going to focus on one or two particular aspects. For this post, I’m going to look at the wonderful golden dust trail presented to the player … Continue reading »