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Recent Podcasts
Podcast #1: Whittling vs. Puttering Mechanics
There are two different concepts in gameplay that often get conflated: whittling vs. puttering. There’s a certain zen to repetitive motions and patterns. There have…
Recent Blog Posts
Storify on being a game designer
Prompted my a news story back in September that Halfbrick had laid off the last of its designers, I chatted on Twitter about some of…
Example of FSM Building: Combat
A past side project included building Wizardry-style combat. That’s a very specific kind of turn-based combat, best displayed in Wizardry VI and Wizardry VII. I call…
Segmenting (and not repeating) FSMs
I’ve been talking a lot on Twitter lately about creating my solo game, and I’m going to start saving them here as well. Today, I…
Use broad strokes to define basic ideas
I usually start my UI layout with blocks of color. The blocks are named in the PSD file so I can tell by browsing what…
Don’t get stuck on copy
Staring at an empty dialog window? Trying to mock up UI? It sounds absurd, but I’ve seen many designers get hung up on placeholder text.…
Overcoming game dev resistance
Over the years, I’ve developed what I call the “We’re Guessing” voice. It’s this little whisper in my head, when I’m hip-deep in theory or debate…