Where does this comes from? Eames interview A few days ago, I was reading âWhat Is Your Definition Of Design, Monsieur Eames?â, a Q&A session in which designer and architect Charles Eames succinctly answers a series of questions about design, art and life. I highly recommend you to go and read the Q&A whenever you […]
(Game) Design Is Not Art, But It Can Be Read More »
Introduction This blog post was inspired by the research and analysis that I did of Disco Elysium for my latest video for Game Design Thinking. In this blog, I will go a little deeper into the most important part of the video, namely, the description and explanation of why Disco Elysiumâs system is so unique and compelling. We
Disco Elysium RPG System Analysis Read More »
What is The Leftovers “The Leftovers: A Game About Production” is a Resource Management game with elements of idle games that explores the concept of involuntary creation of liabilities. This is achieved adding leftovers and pollution each time a useful resource is added to the system. This poses a set of questions and dilemmas that
The Leftovers: Devlog and Systems Analysis Read More »
What is Relatedness Millions of users visit the Google landing page each day and I think that we gamers and game designers alike were pleased when we started to play Doodle Champion Island, a game that was surprisingly presented in the landing page of Google. The game is cute, fun and is full of exploration
Motivating Players through Relatedness Read More »
Introduction – WHy Before We Leave? There are games that you want to play because there is an innovative mechanic that draws your attention to it and you want to check what it is all about and analyze it from the design point of view. There are other games that just caught your eye at
Before We Leave – Economy Analysis Read More »
Abstract NOTE: This is a translation from an article that I wrote and was published by Ludology, the first Chilean magazine about game design, publishing articles by the likes of Marc Albinet (Assassinâs Creed) and Richard Bartle (MUD1, âDesigning Virtual Worldsâ). The following text aims to analyze the influence of real-world systems on videogames and
Replicating Real World Systems Read More »
FEEDBACK LOOPS When connections form feedback loops there are two patterns that can emerge: Balancing feedback loops and Reinforcing feedback loops. Balancing feedback loops tend to take the system to a balance point. The classic example is to look at the operation of an air-conditioner machine. You set the number matching the temperature that you
Almost a Hero – Crafting experiences using Feedback Loops Pt.2 Read More »
PART 1 The article consists of two parts. In this first part, we will understand the basics of systems, to understand what are their composing parts. In part 2 we will understand how Feedback Loops form different engines in order to craft experiences for the players. WHY âALMOST A HEROâ? âAlmost a Heroâ is an
Almost a Hero – Crafting experiences using Feedback Loops Pt.1 Read More »
This essay is a compendium of a talk I gave (Spanish) in October 1st, 2019, in the context of Gamedev Planet, a monthly gathering in Santiago, Chile, where gamemakers give talks and show demos of their in-development games. This talk focused on the decision-making process from the players and how to analyze and create compelling
Decisions as the Focus of Interactivity Read More »
A few weeks ago I was invited as Game Design mentor at Game Jam+. It was a fun event that lasts 48 hours and that had a scientific theme, about water conservation and the impact of humans in the marine ecosystem, an important topic in a country with 4300 km of coast and only 180
Considerations on Game Design for a game jam (with Downwell examples) Read More »