Kotaku: Game Design

Gameplay and Story Are Exactly Like Music and Lyrics

Kirk Hamilton — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Look, okay. Let's press "pause" on the debate. You know the debate I'm talking about, right? That endless disagreement in the video game world about gameplay versus story. More »

A Multiplayer Role-Playing Game You Can Play in Swapnote

Mike Fahey — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:00:00 EST

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Savannah College of Art and Design game design student Ben "MNC Dover" Gray saw more than just a chance to draw dicks with Nintendo's free Swapnote program for the 3DS. He saw a chance to draw +4 vorpal dicks. More »

The Best Game Design Schools In North America

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST

Looking to embark on a wondrous career in game design? GamePro Media and The Princeton Review have teamed up for a second year to list the 10 best graduate and undergraduate schools for video game design in North America. More »

Luring Women Into Computer Science Through Gaming

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:00:00 EST

Computer science needs more women, and video game development could be the key to making that dream come true. A recent study finds that teenage girls take to game creation just as readily as teenage boys. More »

Sad, But True

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST

As seen on I Love Charts, via Infinite Lives. More »

In Praise Of Sticky Friction

Tim Rogers — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EDT

Army Schools to Offer Game Design Courses to Military Kids

Owen Good — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:30:00 EDT

American colleges and universities aren't the only ones who have noticed the appeal of games design courses; so has the Department of Defense, which will offer them in its vocational programs for kids of enlisted military and civilian workers. More »

Game Design as Make-Believe: Principles of Generation

Chris Bateman — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:00:00 EDT

Based upon part three of the Mimesis as Make-Believe serial. More »

Game Design as Make-Believe: Props

Chris Bateman — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:40:00 EDT

Based upon part two of the Mimesis as Make-Believe serial. More »

Game Design as Make-Believe: Imagination

Chris Bateman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EDT

Based upon part one of the Mimesis as Make-Believe serial. More »

The Limit

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:40:00 EDT

Yesterday we considered that maybe breaking the rules is the best way to play video games. Because — or despite that — game developers have to set limits. So is this Heavy Rain clip, via reader Syptel, a tolerable limit? More »

Well, You Always Need an Extra Button

Owen Good — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST

Billboard for Southern Polytechnic State University of Marietta, Ga., as seen by reader Ant just outside that city. The school, however, is not one of the top 50 game design programs recently ranked by the Princeton Review. More »

Reviewer: Mass Effect 2 Sidequests Sometimes Poignant, Often Busywork

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:00:39 EST

What makes a good video game sidequest? The optional diversions in big games like Mass Effect 2 don't always delight players. Sometimes, they even tick them off. The New York Times, reviewing ME2, seems conflicted: More »

Penny Arcade Awards $10K College Scholarship

Brian Crecente — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:40:00 EST

Video game design hopeful Kyla Gorman was awarded the 2009 Penny Arcade Scholarship, which she says she plans to use to pursue a degree in game design at the University of Southern California. More »

Oh Good, More Doritos Games For Xbox Live Arcade

Mike Fahey — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:40:00 EDT

Cheesy indie advergaming returns to the 360, as Doritos announces the return of the "Unlock Xbox" video game design competition, calling creators to capture the essence of the snack chip in video game form. More »

You (Sorta) Owe Dead Space To Aristotle

AJ Glasser — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:20:00 EDT

Some deep reading over on Gamasutra on game design and narrative (courtesy of Company of Heroes narrative designer Stephen Dinehart) could be my next graduate school adventure. More »

Bay Area Game Jam Rocks My Weekend

AJ Glasser — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:20:00 EDT

This weekend, Wild Pockets, Crispy Gamer and Microsoft are teaming up to host Bay Area Game Jam – a 24-hour game development competition at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, California. More »

Puzzling Over Adventure Game Puzzles

Maggie Greene — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:30:00 EST

There's a really nice (lengthy) article over at Adventure Classic Gaming that takes a look at puzzles in (as you can probably guess) adventure games, and how those forms have seeped into other genres. More »

Recession, Used Games, Prices, and Choices

Maggie Greene — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:30:00 EST

Gamasutra's Paul Hyman has a gloom and doom look at the used games market and why publishers are very unhappy with the situation; the comments section is surprisingly lively, and it's worth a look. More »

Minotaur China Shop Diary

Maggie Greene — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST

Played Minotaur China Shop yet? No? Missed the trailer we posted? Well, go look at that, then read the brilliantly funny Minotaur Diary at RPS, then try and resist the lure of the game. More »

'A Game Has Never Made You Cry'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:30:00 EST

Chris Bateman (of Only a Game) has a thought provoking article on his new, games only blog on whether or not a game has ever made you cry. More »

NYU To Offer Game Design Degrees

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:30:00 EST

From all accounts, New York University is a big, big college. So the fact they're about to start offering game design degrees is (kind of) a big, big deal! More »

The Megatrends of Gaming: Multiplayer Gaming

Maggie Greene — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST

We mentioned Pascal Luben's series on the 'megatrends of gaming' back when it kicked off with part one; since then, he's done a second part and is now back with part three. More »

What Our Games Need More Of: Dissonance?

Maggie Greene — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:30:00 EST

Michael Abbott of the Brainy Gamer has a post up on the issue of dissonance in games; like a lot of these things, it's more interesting if you take it alongside the comments. More »

Puzzle Quest and the 'Best of Both Worlds'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST

GameSetWatch has a nice essay up from Gregory Weir, who takes a look at why Puzzle Quest was so damn successful at creating a satisfying hybrid. More »

Pon-Pon-Pata-Pon: Hiroyuki Kotani on Patapon

Maggie Greene — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:30:00 EST

There's a wonderful interview at Gamasutra with Hiroyuki Kotani, creator of Patapon — a game that I still adore, having snuck in quite a lot of time with it on my PSP. More »

More on the Reviewer-Innovation Conundrum

Maggie Greene — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

Last week, we mentioned Keith Stuart's meditation on whether or not reviewers really get innovation; since then, several people have picked up the discourse, with N'Gai Croal weighing in on the debate. More »

Do Games Really Qualify As 'Escapist'?

Maggie Greene — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

Ian Bogost and his students have a new project underway looking at the intersection of journalism and games; their new blog is full of interesting stuff. More »

Outgrowing Games: The Rebuttal and Challenge

Maggie Greene — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

A few weeks ago, designer Brice Morrison talked about how a game designer outgrew games; since kicking off a flurry of discussion, he's returned to GameSetWatch with some in-depth answers to common questions and a challenge. More »

Tale of Tales' 'Graveyard' Postmortem

Maggie Greene — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

Gamasutra has a fabulous postmortem up — easily one of the best I've read — on Tale of Tales' The Graveyard. More »

Keiichi Yano on Lips, Innovation, and Drunken Karaoke

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:30:00 EST

There's a really fun interview up at Gamasutra with Keiichi Yano, chief creative officer of iNiS (the Ouendan series and Elite Beat Agents). The subject is ostensibly Lips, the recently released 360 karaoke title, but a lot of ground is covered in terms of game design and future potential. My favorite part of the discussion is when Yano gets into the decision not to include a fail condition, and instead allow (possibly drunk) warblers to mangle music to their hearts' content: More »

The 2D/3D Quandary

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:30:00 EST

GameSetWatch and Gamasutra have reprinted a really interesting article from Game Developer, where Soren Johnson of EA Maxis takes up the issue of 2D versus 3D in game design. Johnson maintains that while 2D is frequently seen as a relic of antiquated technology, there are plenty of places where it can make sense to utilize 2D over 3D. And, as Johnson points out, 3D graphics don't necessarily equal 3D gameplay, and 3D gameplay comes with its own challenges. 2D graphics also have their less obvious advantages: More »

The 'Gamer Guilt' and Morality of Fable 2

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST

David Nieborg has a thoughtful essay up over at Valuable Games on the subject of Fable 2 and its moral system — and the relative success (or not) of that system. As Nieborg points out, it would be entirely possible to play through the game and ignore the moral aspects, and in his view, the morality system is implemented more like a 'feature' or 'upgrade' — a nice add-on. While he finds a lot to like about the attempt to insert a morality system into the game, Nieborg does have some quibbles, especially when it comes to feedback: More »

'To Do: Finish Any Game'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST

Tom Endo has a nice essay up over the Escapist on the issue of finishing games (or not finishing games, as the case may be). "What other medium," he queries, "allows us to be so blithely indifferent to its consumption?". I certainly have a somewhat appalling stack of partially finished games, some of which have been languishing for years. Do games in their current format simply not fit comfortably into the flow of many people's lives?: More »

Disjunctive Play and Otherness: Between

Maggie Greene — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:30:00 EST

Jason Rohrer (of Passage, Gravitation, and others) has put together a very different experience in his latest, Between. Hosted by Esquire as part of their 'Best and Brightest 2008' feature, it's a two-player game with a twist. In his latest Gamasutra feature, Ian Bogost takes a look at the game and the element of disjunctive play we find — a game designed to highlight just how far apart we all are, not bring us together: More »

On Unrequited Love and Gaming

Maggie Greene — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST

Ah, unrequited love — a classic theme in all sorts of media, and gaming is no exception. There's a wonderful little post over at auntie pixelante on the issue as it relates to games — and why it is so powerful. As far as I'm concerned, the whole player-game relationship is founded on unrequited love (and at least, unrequited adoration). The article takes a look at a Wii game called Art Style: Orbient, it's a meditation on the 'so close, yet so far away' phenomenon that is all over the place in classic games and newer iterations: More »

Four Future Trends of Entertainment

Maggie Greene — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST

Jane Pinckard of game girl advance has come up with four future trends of entertainment, and they all apply to gaming — while her ideas aren't necessarily 'new,' she does really boil down some of the tensions and innovations facing the industry right now. She points to four trends — tension between immersion and transparency, asynchronous instant communication, credible advertising with integrity, and tools as the content. This last issue is one that's come up a lot, and I really like her take on it — the move from passive consumer to active user: More »

Inside Insomniac With Ted Price

Maggie Greene — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:30:00 EST

Gamasutra's Christian Nutt sat down with Insomniac CEO Ted Price at their recent community event; the discussion centered heavily on Resistance 2 and the Insomniac development process. Price has a lot to say about how Insomniac deals with requests and suggestions from the user base, both on their own community as well as elsewhere (and gives us a ringing endorsement with "Well, sure, Kotaku is a good source."). A particular challenge was and is getting a handle on how best to design for online modes, since it's a bit of a 'black hole' for developers: More »

The Dangers of Fanaticism

Maggie Greene — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST

Well, it's obvious than fandoms aren't all fun and games, but Peter Parrish warns that fanaticism could be downright dangerous for the industry at large — just imagine a world where unchecked fandom desires dictate how future games are going to play out. Using the example of the apparently large and vociferous Sonic fandom, Parrish points towards what he sees as a devolving series based on the whims of the 'fan-artist' and 'fan-author.' Oh, but it doesn't stop there: More »