Archive for the 'Game Design' Category

22
Jun

Dungeons and Dragons embraces the new millennium

By Drew 0 Comments
Categories: Fantasy, Board Games and Game Design

The last time there was a major update of D&D Bill Clinton was still president of the United States, Everquest was still the number one online multiplayer game, and a whole lot of other things hadn’t happened yet.

image They released 3rd edition of the game back in 2000. This was a major revamp of the system, taking a stand by recreating the game after the muddy depths of the previous had taken the game even farther into muddy realms of arcane rules where only the mightiest nerds might find their way out to fun.

Reading those books back I was struck by how strange it had all become. The game didn’t seem to be about anything. Well… that’s not technically true.: It was still about Dungeons and Dragons. But it was no longer about much else. This was a roleplaying game simulating a roleplaying game.

The game worked, but it didn’t interest me much. The barrier to entry was too high, and it was still vulnerable to the kind of munchkin behavior that turns what is supposed to be a friendly social interaction into a war of rules, and keeps everyone but the hardcore out.  I’d tried it out a few times, but found it to be a fundamentally unsatisfying experience. As a player there was always that vague unease that somehow you had made a mistake when creating you character. That rather than being on the path to godhood you were doomed before you had even started.

All the best tabletop games share one thing in common, that is that their rules are simple, but the gameplay is deep. You discover the complexities of the system by playing the game, not by reading the rules. 3rd edition failed that test, and I stayed away.

image A few weeks ago the 4th edition of D&D was released. The new system still the three beast with three books that it has always been; Players Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. But it’s been revised and streamlined. This is a simpler, smarter game. One that seems to have more roads to fun than it does to ruin.

Having now had a chance to play the game as both the Game Master and the Player, it’s clearly not totally “fixed”. But in the end that seems to be broken in the right way. In a world filled with computers that handle everything seamlessly, it’s fun to still have a game where you can gather around a table with a bunch of your friends, make a bunch of mistakes, screw up the rules and still have fun. It’s a game where even when it’s going wrong it feels like there’s always another opportunity to try out a new strategy, or pull victory out of the toothy, acid-spewing jaws of defeat.

11
Jun

Gina the Concept Car

By Drew 0 Comments
Categories: Science Fiction and Think Like a Designer

Sometimes Science Fiction doesn’t have to be a story.

Sometimes it can just be an object:

10
Mar

Christopher Nolan maintains his indie vision inside of a $180,000,000 movie.

By Drew 0 Comments
Categories: Big Ideas, Film, Comics and Think Like a Designer

Far more shocking to me than a failed blockbuster, is the idea that anything with that many people working on it, and that much attention, could ever be creatively cohesive and successful. Like a military campaign, it takes a unique kind of leadership to not only have the vision, but to execute it in a way that makes sure that a team of incredibly talented people are all working together to bring the dream into reality.

This New York Times article on the making of The Dark Night Returns, is an interesting one.  Spoiler free, it focuses on the method to the madness, and provides what I think is some genuine insight into the film-making process.

But if Mr. Nolan was feeling any stress on the set in Chicago last year, his easygoing reserve concealed it. Dressed, as always, in his own somewhat formal uniform — dark blazer, waistcoat, French cuffs; a thermos of tea in hand; a wireless video monitor around his neck — he also seemed a bit of a throwback. While many filmmakers watch in seclusion on television screens, he stood next to the camera, always on his feet unless he was kneeling to whisper in someone’s ear. “Acting is such a vulnerable thing, you don’t want to be told in front of others that you’ve made a mistake, or ‘Try this,’ ” said Aaron Eckhart, who plays Harvey Dent, a district attorney. “Chris understands that.”

This is one film that I’m definitely looking forward to. Good superhero stuff is always about echoing the characters internal conflicts into giant external conflicts, and I thought the first film did a great job of that.

08
Mar

Entering a video game means leaving the real world behind.

By Drew 0 Comments
Categories: Film, Video Games and Game Design

Watching Gangs of New York last night, I was struck just by how much our fiction is primarily about superhuman characters.  Like ancient mythology, we need larger than life heroes who can completely heal from terrible mutilation, or overcome any obstacle if it lies in the way of their dramatic goals.  And certainly there’s no amount of branding that can be done to the pretty face of Leonardo Di Caprio that he won’t be able to shrug off in a matter of minutes of screen time.  Even the “terrible scars” from his brutal childhood are rather pretty and cinematic.

And I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing. But when the video game industry constantly gets dinged for being too based around fantastic themes, and placing the characters into unrealistic situations it really is the pot calling the kettle black.  Just like the characters in film, video game heroes they don’t really get those powers and abilities until they’ve become part of some great quest or event.

They’re formed by their circumstances, and their powers remain for as long as they stay in that world of quest and vision.

27
Jan

Simplicity is obvious. Duh!

By Drew 0 Comments
Categories: Big Ideas and Think Like a Designer

Hanging out in dorm room, listening to Dark Side of the Moon is a rite of passage, or at least it used to be. It was easy to get lost in those psychedelic riffs, spacey hooks, and mind-blowing jams while doing nothing more than chilling out and starting at a tie-died sheet on the ceiling. And while his name and face are gone forever I can still remember the dude who harshed my mellow, “Man, that’s totally easy to play! I could do that on my guitar!”

Often in life you’ll miss the opportunity to say the perfect thing at the right time, but this wasn’t one of those moments. The words came out of my mouth almost instantly, “Yeah, but did you do it first?”

People have a bad habit of using words like “obvious” or “simple” as a way to put something down. But if you can come up with an idea that’s so simple and straightforward that people’s first reaction is “I could have thought of that myself,” it’s usually a good thing. Creating something that people can “get” instantly is hard to do, and making something that feels so perfect that it’s part of the natural order of the universe is even harder.

Ideas like that can turn the world on it’s head, and if you look at what makes a big hit big there’s usually an underlying simplicity to the idea. Steve Jobs is the master of the “obvious idea” (usually coupled with incredible product design). He’s managed to sell society the simple over and over again. How about Harry Potter? A “Wizard’s School” seems like a good concept no matter how you slice it.

Sure there’s more work to be done once the concept has been discovered, but just because something is obvious doesn’t mean that it isn’t time to make some money.

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