Archive for the 'Game Design' Category
PR 101: Managing the expectations of your customers. In the case of video games, this usually refers to the temptation to describe key game features which are not yet set in stone or even close to being implemented.
To the surprise of many, NCSoft has brazenly ignored this cornerstone of public relations with the release of [...]
Filed under: Community Management, Game Design | 2 Comments
Tags: Aion, Community Managment, NCSoft, Sebastian Streiffert, Vision
Jeff Strain (ex Blizzard/ArenaNet/NCSoft) made some waves last night, with the announcement of his new MMO studio ‘Undead Labs’. As the name implies, Undead Labs will be focusing on a zombie apocalypse survival MMO for consoles.
“The Seattle, Washington-based studio is “on a mission to take online gaming in bold new directions”, beginning with it’s in [...]
Filed under: Game Design, Industry | 4 Comments
Tags: Apocalypse, Jeff Strain, Undead Labs, Zombies
Dragon Age: Origins – Final Word
Finally got finished last night.
Filed under: Game Design, Personal | 1 Comment
Tags: Dragon Age: Origins, review
Dragon Age: Origins – AI Woes
There’s no other way to put this: The AI of your companions is absolutely abysmal. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been trying to wing it through an easy fight, only to flip through my team-mates and see none of their skills are recharging. A game of this caliber having AI so poor [...]
Filed under: Game Design, Personal | 8 Comments
Tags: AI, DA:O, Dragon Age: Origins
Time to report in after a weekend spent hacking and slashing my way through the kingdom of Ferelden.
Filed under: Game Design, Personal | 2 Comments
Tags: Baldur's Gate, Bioware, D&D, DA:O, Dragon Age: Origins, Immersion
The Death Of Traditional MMORPGs
So right now there is an interesting debate going on between Tobold and syncaine, on whether the next Blizzard MMO has a shot at getting over one million subscriptions. Syncaine thinks it doesn’t, because WoW’s success is largely down to timing and the sheer amount of work put into it over the years. Tobold does, [...]
Filed under: Game Design, Industry | Leave a Comment
Tags: elephant statue, Hardcore Casual, MMO, MMORPG, syncaine, Tobold, WoW
Valve Skeptical of Natal
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who isn’t all that pumped about Natal just yet.
You have to ask yourself exactly how many gamers want to get up off the couch and dance around like an idiot when they play a game? Not too many, I’ll wager…
Filed under: Game Design, Industry | Leave a Comment
Tags: Natal, Valve
Recently (as covered in a previous entry) I picked up a copy of Planescape: Torment, the best game you probably never played.
I’ve probably sunk around 22–26 hours into it so far, and the deeper I get into the game the more astounded I am by how ambitious Black Isle were.
Filed under: Game Design, Personal | Leave a Comment
Tags: Game Design, Planescape Torment
iPhone Games
Over the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting with the available iPhone games, getting an idea for the capabilities and constraints of the platform. Having spent some time with the best looking games on the app store I thought I’d put up some mini-reviews of my favorites so far:
Fieldrunners
Tower Defense Strategy from Subatomic Studios, LLC.
Fieldrunners [...]
Filed under: Game Design, Industry | 1 Comment
Tags: Assassin's Creed, Fieldrunners, Game Design, Hero of Sparta, iPhone, ZENONIA
