Skip to Content
 

lewpuls's blog

Six words about the role of inspiration in game design

Mon, 03/25/2013 - 14:06 — lewpuls

According to tweetdeck, one of the trending:worldwide topics on twitter last year was 6 word stories. Since then I've asked people to say 6 words about game design, programming, wargames, stories in games, casual games, zombie games, chance/randomness in games, innovation and plagiarism in games, social networking games, game sequels, and "If I could give a present to the game industry this Christmas". Contributions are sometimes amusing, sometimes serious, sometimes worth remembering.

This time the challenge is this: say six words the role of inspiration in game design.

PrezCon 2013

Wed, 03/06/2013 - 15:47 — lewpuls

Once again I attended PrezCon in Charlottesville Virginia near the end of February. This was the 10th year since I started going although I haven’t attended every year. It was the 20th year for the convention.

PrezCon is a strictly board and card game convention that works much like the World Wargaming Championships (WBC).

March 2013 Miscellany

Fri, 03/01/2013 - 14:08 — lewpuls

Thoughts about some game-related topics that are not long enough for separate blog posts.

February 2013 Miscellany

Sun, 02/10/2013 - 22:41 — lewpuls

Thoughts about some game-related topics that are not long enough for separate blog posts.

**
BGDF readers might want to look at "What's in a Name (especially trademarks) http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2013/02/whats-in-name.html For various reasons I haven't wanted to post it here.
**

I expect to be at PrezCon in Charlottesville, VA on the last weekend of Feburary, and at WBC in Lancaster PA. Remains to be seen whether I'll be at Origins or GenCon.

Trying to define “the board”

Thu, 01/24/2013 - 09:19 — lewpuls
Britannia board connectivity diagram

On LinkedIn someone asked if there were industry definitions and names for the various aspects of a game board. There aren’t any that I know of, but it’s worth trying to analyze what we actually have in a “game board”.

Triptych 1 (well, kinda): Familiarity, Killing Time, Fail Fast

Sun, 01/06/2013 - 20:23 — lewpuls

Here are three items that are fairly long, but not long enough for blog posts in themselves:

Familiarity

Six words about a Christmas present for the game industry?

Wed, 12/19/2012 - 11:06 — lewpuls

According to tweetdeck, one of the trending:worldwide topics on twitter not so long ago was 6 word stories. In the past few months I've asked people to say 6 words about game design, programming, wargames, stories in games, casual games, zombie games, chance/randomness in games, innovation and plagiarism in games, game sequels, and role-playing games.

This time the challenge is to say something about: "If I could give any present to the game industry this Christmas".

Pulsipher's Game Designer Survey 2012

Tue, 12/18/2012 - 10:31 — lewpuls

This is a short (10 question) survey for people who call themselves game designers, video or tabletop (which is as good a way to define who game designers are as any other). Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PJJQHP8

December 2012 Miscellany

Sun, 12/09/2012 - 19:13 — lewpuls

Thoughts about some game-related topics that are not long enough for separate blog posts.

**

I said in my book Game Design that I thought video and tabletop games are converging, but sometimes I'm not so sure when I look at games like Farmville on one hand, and worse, the all-rewards-all-the-time games like Diablo III and many others, where anything that interferes with getting direct pleasure is regarded as a "fail".

The virtues (and sins) of using dice in game designs

Tue, 12/04/2012 - 20:10 — lewpuls

In the very oldest traditional board and card games, dice are rarely used. (Backgammon and Parcheesi are the most notable exceptions.) Most of those boardgames have perfect information and the only uncertainty comes from the intentions of the other player, except where dice are used. There are always just two players. Think of checkers, go, chess, tic-tac-toe, Nine Men's Morris, mancala, and so forth.

Syndicate content


by Dr. Radut