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lewpuls's blog

Two New Designs

Tue, 09/20/2016 - 20:44 — lewpuls

When I started my blog (http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/) a dozen or so years ago it was mostly a personal blog where I discussed what I was doing (in connection with game design). Gradually it became more formal, more like magazine articles at a time when magazines were disappearing (especially the paying ones). Some of the material in my book Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish, which I finish writing in 2011, first appeared in the blog. After the book I started making videos for online audiovisual classes, as well as my Game Design channel on YouTube, and I wrote less.

Why aren't computer RPGs (especially MMOs) as much FUN to play as old-time D&D?

Fri, 09/02/2016 - 10:15 — lewpuls

Note: While this is a board game designer's forum, I've decided to include this because some of what has happened in RPGs, has or can happen in board/card games.

Why aren't computer RPGs (especially MMOs) as much FUN to play as old-time D&D?

What’s it Like to be a Game Designer?

Sat, 08/20/2016 - 21:34 — lewpuls

(This was originally a response to a question on Quora.)

Because there are so many kinds of game designers, the answer to the question is the same as the answer to many questions about game design: it depends.

Consequences in Games

Sun, 06/12/2016 - 15:22 — lewpuls

You may have heard me in the past talk about the widespread displacement of consequence-based gaming by reward-based gaming. Party games, and to a lesser extent family games, have always been reward-based (you're rewarded for participation) rather than consequence-based (winning and losing is important, plus more), but hobby games were usually the latter. The change in hobby games started in the videogame world, where most single player games are puzzles rather than opposed games, and so as long as you are persistent - especially when you can use the video save games to try different things - sooner or later you'll solve the puzzle.

A spectrum of approach to game design, in simplest terms

Tue, 04/26/2016 - 13:29 — lewpuls

There are two fundamental ways to approach design of games (and of RPG adventures).

One approach is to set up an interesting situation and let the players cope with it as best they can, "write their own story", and in this case each group of players is likely to write quite a different story from the same situation.

Video (screencast): (The Nature of Games) Fundamental Game Format: Functional versus Cosmetic

Thu, 04/14/2016 - 18:44 — lewpuls

Abstract: What is the "natural" format of a game? You can program a boardgame on a computer, or vice versa, but the physical format difference is more cosmetic than real. A man dressed as a woman is still a man, a boardgame on a computer is still a boardgame.

https://youtu.be/EOCqsozJdSQ

Ruminations on Types of Games and Game Players, Arising from a Sojourn

Tue, 02/02/2016 - 08:45 — lewpuls

(When I started to write this, I had no idea it would grow to exceed 3,500 words. But I think those who are interested in game design, and in why people play, will find it useful. LP)

I have been living in Gainesville, Florida temporarily, and with the advantages of being officially retired - no set schedule - I have been attending a variety of board/card game meetings and contemplating attendance at some conventions.

Video (screencast): Confusions of Game Design: Game Design is NOT "Mind Control"

Thu, 01/14/2016 - 13:35 — lewpuls

Confusions Game Design is not mind control part 1 https://youtu.be/Yo1Dqud8Alg
Confusions Game Design is not mind control part 2 https://youtu.be/RuyF1IombSg

Here is the text of the slides. The presentation includes more, of course.

Video (screencast) Are you Designing a Game, or Throwing one Together?

Thu, 12/17/2015 - 13:29 — lewpuls

https://youtu.be/USZQipf4GLM

https://youtu.be/UOUItO3uCSk

Here is the text of the slides. The entire presentation (over 15 minutes), obviously, contains more than this text.

Are you Designing a Game, or Throwing one Together?
Dr. Lewis Pulsipher
Pulsiphergames.com
“Game Design” channel on YouTube

This is Really Important
Yes, there is creativity in game design, but it may amount to 10% of the whole
The rest is more or less engineering: identifying problems, proposing solutions, testing the results of those solutions, and so on
Scientific method is involved, more or less

11 More "Need to Knows" about Game Design

Mon, 12/08/2014 - 11:25 — lewpuls

This 12+ minute screencast is primarily for aspiring designers, not for professionals.

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by Dr. Radut