Trust in Games Needs Mechanical Support
Temporary alliances add a lot to a game. Working together feels great because it creates a shared sense of purpose. But being stabbed in the back by a teammate hurts a lot. To
Ananda Guneratne
The Real Problem With Output Randomness Is Unrewarded Effort
In game design circles, you will often hear "use input randomness, not output randomness." Input randomness sets choices up while output randomness resolves them; think of drawing a tile in Carcassonne
Designing Conflict That Preserves Forward Momentum
Players expect games to move forward. This creates a problem for conflict-heavy gameplay: if an attacker's goal is sabotage, their progress erases the defender's progress. But then, how
Real-Time Games Need Breaks
The big advantage of real-time games over turn-based games is that they prevent downtime by keeping players constantly engaged. Their greatest disadvantage is that they drastically reduce the budget of attention
How to Incentivize Difficulty Settings
One challenge in designing a single-player game is that players have varying skill levels. Challenging gameplay is good, but the traditional method of choosing a difficulty level is not very rewarding for