The Appeal of Push-Your-Luck
Push-your-luck mechanics present players with the dilemma of whether to stop or keep going. Each time you keep going, your rewards increase, but you might lose everything. This simple choice is
Foreshadowing
Unpleasant surprises can make gameplay feel arbitrary and unfair. Warning players in advance about events that may negatively impact them reduces frustration and restores player agency.
Prediction Is A Form of Agency
We normally think of agency as something that requires action. You have agency in a game because you can affect the outcome of events in the game. But there is another form of
Threats in Cooperative Games Should Compound
At the heart of any cooperative tabletop game is its challenge system. In the absence of a human opponent, players expect the game to offer a challenge appropriate to their skill level. Challenge
Foreshadowing and the Paradox of Agency
Players want two contradictory things in games: to feel in control of the outcome and to be surprised by it. Surprise normally contradicts agency because players feel helpless to predict the future, but
The Logic Behind Metroidvania Backtracking
In lock-and-key puzzles, it is generally better to show the lock before the key. But what happens when that key is an ability? Unlike a key item, which can be consumed