Back in the mid-90s when I was publishing the journal of games design and criticism Interactive Fantasy, Greg Costikyan wrote us a paper called ‘I Have No Words And I Must Design’. It’s a great piece of work, much referenced and republished since, but there’s one footnote in it that is generally overlooked by all [...]
Filed under: game philosophy, typography and layout on January 29th, 2007 | 8 Comments »
I’ve been working on quite a lot, thanks for asking. My current major project is publicity for the forthcoming Crime Scene game for the Office of Criminal Justice Reform. I designed the game last year, and it’s due to go live in early March. Right now I am writing five blogs for five in-game characters, [...]
Filed under: Second Person, online games, personal, storytelling on January 24th, 2007 | 4 Comments »
In all the hubbub and furore about the commercial success of the Wii, its strengths as a games machine and its viability against the PS3, one thing’s been missed. Nintendo is about to snatch a huge crown out from under the noses of Sony and Microsoft. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 fight it out [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized, console, information use, internet, wii on January 24th, 2007 | No Comments »
I’ve learned a lot from video games, but ‘cope’ is the best lesson: basic, profound and absolutely to the point. My schooling came from Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991), the original, not just a classic but a masterpiece of every element of game design. For those who have never played it, the game starts with a race through the [...]
Filed under: game philosophy, retro on January 24th, 2007 | 3 Comments »