Raw Game Design, Ep15: Quest Mode in Fantasy Strike

I have a free podcast series on game design, here.

I also have a second podcast that's just for my Patreon supporters. I just wanted to mention the latest episode of that is up for patrons at the $10+ tier. (All previous episodes of the series are there too.)

In this latest Raw Game Design episode, I discuss how we might use advanced AIs in the Fantasy Strike fighting game, if we had access to some pretty great AI tech. I discuss an idea Alex Valle mentioned to me (big ups to Mr. Valle on all his work with the FGC, btw!), and we explore the problems with the idea and also the good parts to see if we can figure how to use it. This also takes us deep into the territory of matchmaking systems. I go over a lot of stuff about them that is probably counter-intuitive if you haven't really thought about it. Even my former self would be surprised to hear that maximizing 50-50 win ratios across the player base really isn't the goal of modern matchmaking systems anymore. Then we get back to the idea mentioned at the start of the episode, a "quest mode" featuring the advanced AIs I covered in episode 14 of Raw Game Design. We try to figure out how all that could work together.

This is a pretty "raw" episode in that we really are figuring out how to approach this problem over the course of the episode.

If you'd like to sign up on my Patreon, you can do that here. And if you just want the main podcast series that's free to everyone, that's fine too! The latest episode of that one about Codex is particularly interesting I think.