Tom Francis

MARCH 11, 2017

They’re both games where you move around a grid of different tile types, and the one you’re standing on determines what you can do there. At this point you live or die by what tiles happen to be between you and it – if they all do 1 blue damage and the enemy has 4 blue health, you are dead.

Tile 52

Tile Games Build Fighting 52

Tom Francis

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

All your good pieces are trapped behind a wall of bad pieces, so you both have to spend a bunch of turns moving the bad pieces out of the way so the good pieces can fight. The pawn is a shitshow of clumsy balance changes. Stalemate is a wildly stupid concept. The early game is slow and boring. That’s not it!

Concepts 100

Concepts Game Design Game Designer Tile 100

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics and concepts you need to have a functioning (but not necessarily fun) game. I’ve listened to so many designers describe how through play-testing, a game came out dramatically different then their initial concept because the new version was more fun. Smash Bros.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

One could even make an argument that the less puzzling cores such as bubble shooter or tile blasting are not as good of a fit for an audience like this. After carefully composing a balanced team of fighters, the player takes their party of stalwart heroes into battle. This speaks of the importance of the core gameplay. Core Gameplay.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics Build 52