Tag: game design
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Vibes
We were watching a cinematic sequence that wasn’t hitting. Everyone in the room understood what it was trying to communicate — the intent was clear, the performances were there, the edit was technically fine. But something was off. It didn’t feel right. It felt like it was moving too fast, too sharp, cutting through moments…
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The Pillars Will See You Now (Part 2)
In Part 1 we talked about what game pillars actually are — rules to test decisions against, not directives or mood boards — and the three traps that tend to make them useless: too many, too obvious, and too vague. If you haven’t read it, it’s worth starting there. This is the part where we…
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What Do You Even Mean By Branching Narrative?
There’s a conversation I’ve had more times than I can count, and it usually starts the same way. Someone — a writer, a designer, sometimes an executive — says they want a “branching narrative” for their game. Everyone in the room nods. Everyone thinks they understand what that means. And then, about three meetings later,…
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Applying Vonnegut To Gaming Pt. 2
(Blogtober Day 10) So picking up from yesterday’s Blogtober entry applying some creative writing tips from the late author Kurt Vonnegut and seeing if I can apply them to game development… “Start as close to the end as possible.” This is an interesting one to try to apply to game development as there can be…