Krystian Majewski
Website: http://www.krystian.de
Hotel Dusk: Play Session Analysis
The last time I was talking about Hotel Dusk, I complained how it uses invisible causality to link the player’s actions to the story dramatically instead of relying on logic. This causes a lot of problems and it is a major design fault. However, the game redeems itself by showing how it’s designers clearly identified [...]
Critique: The Chemistry of Game Design
Recently, Daniel Cook aka Danc from Lost Garden wrote another essay on Gamasutra. It is very interesting. Danc compares Game Design to alchemy and urges to develop a more systematic approach akin to chemistry. I certainly agree that we need to work on a theory of game design. However I am a bit concerned that [...]
Sprout
Yet, another indie game. This one is very short and quite nice. It is called Sprout and made by Jeff Nusz. It is about the journey of a seed. Quite creative!
I’m fond of all the little sound effects and the parallax scrolling. Gameplay-wise I like how you even get new abilities and how effectively it enriches [...]
Gran Turismo 4: Cognitive Dissonance
Recently, some game design unrelated research brought me to a certain concept I already knew. After some thinking I finally realized that this special concept is the missing puzzle piece to explain a great game design feature of a game I am very fond of.“Yay, I won! I am the best! But…wait a minute, what [...]
Sword of Mana: Bad Customization
I have already written about Sword of Mana and how bad it is when compared to Mystic Quest (aka Final Fantasy Adveture), the game it is supposed to be a remake of. I have written how Sword of Mana spoils the story through foreshadowing and how it has an inferior world design. Today I finish [...]
Gesundheit!
Recently, I start looking at indie games to prepare myself for my diploma. Here is a nice one I’ve stumbled upon. It’s called “Gesundheit!” and it is made by Matt Hammill. The gameplay is solid – it’s sneaking with a nice (and funny) twist. The thing that strikes me is the amazing quality of the artwork. It [...]
Brian Moriarty
Recently, I’ve visited the website of Jonathan Blow, an indie game designer who was mentioned by one of my heroes, Eric Zimmerman. Jonathan mentioned the presentations of Brian Moriarty.
Brian is the game designer of many games. For example, he did Loom, which I like very much. Anyway, here are the presentations:
The Secret of Psalm 46This seems to [...]
Sword of Mana: World Design
Recently, I was talking about how bad Sword of Mana is because it foreshadows scripted events. This time I would focus on another curious and fatal difference to predecessor Mystic Quest:Click here to see the world of Mystic Quest in full resolution.
Mystic Quest is like the NES Zelda: it has no scrolling. The world is divided [...]
Three Hundred Mechanics
Recently, I’ve stumbled over this page:http://www.squidi.net
A guy called Sean Howard decided to come up with 300 new, unique game ideas. He posts one game idea every day so he will be finished in less then a year. As we speak, he reached game number 46. I like his approach. It’s a strategy I often use [...]
Third Generation
What’s wrong with you guys? How we have a quick and dirty Blog and still dead trousers (for all non-germans, this doesn’t make any sense but I couldn’t resist). Go on an Blog already!
I just saw this on Kotaku. Someone is writing a “Game Journal” of the Zelda Series. He is blogging exactly what happens as [...]
