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May 19, 2021

Game Design: Love for the MDA Framework

Let’s talk about the MDA framework, and why it should be part of your game design world. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research is an academic paper written by Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek in 2001. It puts forth an analytical model that breaks a game’s design…

Game Design

5 min read

Game Design: Love for the MDA Framework
Game Design: Love for the MDA Framework

Aug 22, 2019

Reminder: Why You Joined Game Development

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but there’s a reason you make games. Sharing Joy You like making people happy, and games are built to entertain. Great chefs are driven to share flavors, and architects inspire others with space. You appreciate the power of interactivity, and love when others can…

Game Development

3 min read

Reminder: Why You Joined Game Development
Reminder: Why You Joined Game Development

Jul 6, 2019

WTF is a Classic Game?

What makes a game “classic?” I think about this a lot as I’m playing games, hitting them with my own litmus tests to determine their worth in the grand scheme. As game makers we do this because we want to build something great. …

Gaming

7 min read

WTF is a Classic Game?
WTF is a Classic Game?

Sep 19, 2018

The Order/Chaos Spectrum in Game Design

Many, many video games can be seen as the interplay between order and chaos. Some games are all about creating order from a chaotic play field, while others center on wreaking destructive chaos on an ordered world. Players understand this inherently, and I think we even expect it. …

Games

6 min read

The Order/Chaos Spectrum in Game Design
The Order/Chaos Spectrum in Game Design

Jul 6, 2018

Retro Games as a Revivalist Movement

We love making and playing “retro” games — those titles that harken back to an earlier, simpler time full of chunky pixels and chiptune audio. While video games have evolved at a lightning pace since their inception in the late 50’s, the past decade has revealed a desire to linger…

Game Design

9 min read

Retro Games as a Revivalist Movement
Retro Games as a Revivalist Movement

Feb 22, 2017

3 Areas a Game Designer Needs

A colleague of mine recently posted a job opening for a Lead Game Designer. He’s a founder of a small indie game studio, and is understandably keen to hire the right person to guide the team’s design process. As he put together a design test for prospective candidates, he asked…

Game Design

5 min read

3 Areas a Game Designer Needs
3 Areas a Game Designer Needs
John Nelson Rose

John Nelson Rose

GAME + DESIGNER + ENGINEER

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