Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

It is much better than the boring shot reverse-shot cutscene stuff going on in AAA RPGs these days, and makes Skyrim's "sit" mechanic more meaningful. Destroy the player's expectation that relationship mechanic = main cast member. Expendable companions. Unlike Skyrim, there's no need to spam 1000s of fireballs to level up.

Open World 52

Open World NPC Cutscenes Terrain 52

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed. Alien Artifacts.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Grid Sage Games

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Items in Rogue may also be cursed and therefore non-removable except via special means, though that is a tangential mechanic tied more to the identification minigame rather than item randomization itself.) Brogue’s trippy colors come from impactful terrain features like water, lava, and gases. Low on treads or armor?

Data 52

Data Terrain Balance Mechanics 52

Designer Notes

AUGUST 31, 2021

With that preamble done and due praise given, it is all the more remarkable that one bad game mechanic has been preserved from version to version, tweaked perhaps, adjusted at times, but still as clumsy, fiddly, and unnecessary in 2021 as it was in 1991 – the system of placing citizens on tiles.

Tile 40

Tile Terrain Game Design Game Designer 40

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 15, 2022

Balancing relies heavily on gear, maps are crowded with question marks, Boss fights feature repetitive mechanisms. Battle: Simplified skill point system and amazing visual effects The core of the skill system relates to balancing and mechanisms. In the later game, raid mechanisms become quite rich.

Cutscenes 52

Cutscenes Art Content Mechanics 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Cogmind generally has fewer such direct escape options, but teleport mechanics are out there, if an advanced tech not usually available until the late game. As a general concept teleportation technology exists in quite a few varieties throughout the world of Cogmind, though the player only has access to some of them. Controlled Teleporting?

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Concepts Balance Terrain 52

Radiator Blog

JULY 6, 2021

Naked simulated AI people ("peeps") arrive and flow across the terrain. So I shifted direction to something more like Claude Shannon's Theseus (1950), a mechanical mouse that "learned" how to navigate a maze by flipping magnetic switches beneath the floor. It's a zoomed out perspective, it's not immersive, it's a simulation.

Simulation 52

Simulation Art AI Internet 52