Published inPerspectives in Game Design·May 29, 2022Territory Control in Pokemon GoAn Analysis and Design Concept For a geolocated game created by the company that pioneered location-based territory control, Pokemon Go has a notably underdeveloped system. In their first game, Ingress, Niantic focused heavily on territory control, more so than I liked, but it formed the core of their gameplay. So it was a surprise to…Pokémon Go11 min readPokémon Go11 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·May 24, 2022Lessons from Theme Park Design: Part 5In the previous articles in this series I have discussed texturing, lighting and decoration. These techniques often come together to convey a specific narrative in two distinct ways. Embedded Narrative When something is placed in the environment to intentionally tell a story that can be considered an embedded narrative. The archetypical example…Disney World4 min readDisney World4 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·May 23, 2022The Game Design Behind the Most Magical Place on Earth — DecorationI want to talk a little about something that I haven’t seen explicitly discussed in the game design texts I have read, or by my fellow designers, though I see it done in many games. Decoration In a previous article, I talked about textures, and in the next one I will…Disney World5 min readDisney World5 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·May 21, 2022The Game Design Behind the Most Magical Place on Earth — TexturesContinuing the discussion of game design techniques visible in the theme park design of Disney World today I will discuss textures. Textures In the real world, everything is made out of something, we have intrinsic materiality and that gives everything that exists texture. In games, everything is made out of polygons…Disney World6 min readDisney World6 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·May 19, 2022The Game Design Behind the Most Magical Place on Earth — Part 2Continuing the discussion of game design techniques visible in the theme park design of Disney World today I will discuss lighting. Lighting Light in a game scene can be used for a lot more than making sure the space is visible to the player of course. In broad strokes the color…Disney World5 min readDisney World5 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·Updated May 17, 2022Game Design Lessons from Theme Park Design: Part 1As a game design professor at Northeastern University, I have been teaching a course on ‘Level Design and Game Architecture’ for undergrads. (The same course is called Spatial and Temporal Design when I teach it to grad students who are paying for fancier words ;) ) One of the units…Game Design4 min readGame Design4 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·Dec 10, 2021Connecting Design Patterns to the Games that Use ThemI have discussed the idea of a Pattern Language before and discussed the importance of connecting patterns together. Today I want to talk a bit more about how we can connect patterns to the existing games that use them and the benefits of doing so. Using the techniques introduced in…3 min read3 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·Oct 25, 2021Peer-Reviewed Game Design Patterns Paper Published!The Process of writing an academic paper turns out to be a bit different than posting here or even completing a textbook. In the end, it was a rewarding effort and resulted in driving my research forward in useful ways. I was invited to contribute to a special issue of…Pedagogy2 min readPedagogy2 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·Dec 31, 2020Member-onlySample Course Using Pattern Language for Game DesignThis is the syllabus that I use to teach both the undergraduate Level Design and Game Architecture and the graduate version, Spatial and Temporal Design. There are some minor differences between the courses in terms of assignments and grading, but the content is shared. This syllabus shows the application of…Game Design6 min readGame Design6 min read
Published inPerspectives in Game Design·Dec 31, 2020Member-onlyTeaching with PatternsApplying Pattern Language for Game Design to the Classroom — I developed the ideas in Pattern Language for Game Design in part through teaching the above courses at Northeastern University so it seems fitting to go into some detail about how I use the book in those classes. …Game Design3 min readGame Design3 min read