Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

And games haven't been the most value-driven industry in my opinion (referring to the abuse of addictive mechanics in games for profit, massive company layoffs to meet financial targets and the pressure on teams to deliver, leading to crunch and toxic behaviours, etc.). Industry peers asked me: “What games will you make?” “Do

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Designer Notes

MARCH 31, 2023

Welcome to My Elephant in the Room: An Old World Design Postmortem. Here are the games that I’ve worked on. Spoiler alert: Civilization 3 and 4 are going to come up a lot in the presentation… I also do a podcast where I interview game designers about why they make games, so check it out if you have time for 4-hour interviews.

Tile 98

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 98

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

The game won over millions of gamers with the adorable Cookie characters and a perfect mashup of RPG and Build & Harvest mechanics. Arts The art of Cookie Run: Kingdom is core to the game’s global success. As a mobile game, how did Cookie Run: Kingdom accomplish this through its gameplay mechanics?

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 24, 2023

A cold calculating trader would only care about the outcome, but human beings seem to love watching the outcome unfold - a puzzling topic for economists. Sports betting is probably the best example, where the outcome of a wager is a live sporting competition; the bettor’s stake makes them all the more invested to watch the game.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Asset Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 6, 2022

But they’ve long since stopped being exclusive to mid-core, cosmetic-driven games and nowadays are present in a constantly growing amount of genres and games. The fact that Battle Passes have been successful on audiences so alien to each other like MOBAs and Match-3 Puzzle fans shows how versatile its design can be.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Balance Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 18, 2023

If you liked this analysis, you’ll love: Why Rovio is Such a Juicy Catch #1 What is the rationale and Strategic interest behind Sega Sammy’s desire to acquire Rovio Entertainment Firstly, Rovio is an earnings-generating mobile gaming company with studios in Europe and Canada. So potentially, we’ll see Sega IPs adapt Puzzle+RPG bets?

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Advertising 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge.

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Grumpy Gamer

MAY 12, 2004

I wrote this article to help fellow Adventure Games designers back in 1989, but the RPG, FPS and RTS designers of 2004 could use a little of the self-proclaimed wisdom of the past. I learned a lot from Monkey Island 1 and 2, plus countless kids Adventure Games at Humongous Entertainment. Backwards Puzzles.

Puzzle 64

Puzzle Games Entertainment Graphics 64

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

It does a good job at solving the issues many of these games have, which is the One Deck Problem by forcing you to have multiple decks fully upgraded to finish the campaign. The game's complexity, especially for new players, is a significant challenge, with an overwhelming number of game mechanics introduced rapidly.

Mobile 113

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 113

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

It does a good job at solving the issues many of these games have, which is the One Deck Problem by forcing you to have multiple decks fully upgraded in order to finish the campaign. The game's complexity, especially for new players, is a significant challenge, with an overwhelming number of game mechanics introduced rapidly.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 52