Many people tend to assume system design is about algorithms, spreadsheets, data, and math – and so it should be perfect for AI-based solutions. In reality, systems design is much more about figuring out how to present incentives to a player in an intuitive and sustainable way, identify the emergent consequences of how mechanics and […]
“If you were turning on one cheat to make your game much easier to beat, what would it be? This tells you a lot more about your game than anything else.” Heard this from a YouTuber called Surnex, and got me thinking. In reality there’s a lot of ways to cheese the idea behind this […]
A while ago, I talked about why so many games offer 3 options to players making a decision. I also wrote about when to use 4. Today I’m going to quickly cover 2, 5, and 8. 2 options is best used for thematic contrasts like good/evil or war/peace binaries – but in the context of […]
When working on Rise of Shadows at Blizzard Entertainment we had an extra slot for a mage Epic, and not much time left to experiment. I knew a lot of mage players loved playing a bunch of spells in one turn, using mage’s cost-discounting effects to turn 1-cost and 2-cost cards into free flurries of […]
Let’s talk about “Net Fun” in PvP games. If your game is only fun when you win, you have a big problem. Matchmaking can’t fix this. Given a 50% win rate, Humans still feel the impact of losses more intensely than we feel the benefit of gains (thanks “loss aversion”). I think about it like […]
I’ve thrown out “Easy to learn, but hard to master.” Goals like this are all over the industry, and they just aren’t useful. This is the kind of goal I use instead. Here’s why this is so much better: Let’s say you’ve thought of an interesting new mechanic for your Roguelike; such as letting players […]
Here’s how we solved a huge problem that led to players feeling dumb, frustrated, and mad at themselves… When they should have been mad at us. Faeria is a unique strategy cardgame where players build the board they play on each match. Most of your focus is on the cards you’re playing, but you also […]
Do you know the “Draw-Forward” Formula? It’s one of the most useful tools for helping players 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭. You can use it in almost any genre where players make build, gear, or loadout choices. It works extra-well in Roguelikes. When we make strategic choices in games, we’re looking for the best value. However, we’re bad […]
Game studios, founders, and investors, here’s how to navigate this market: 1. Stop chasing the current breakout hit genre, unless you have a VERY good reason to believe you can beat all the other trend-chasing studios to market by 6 months. Your scariest competition isn’t the breakout game itself, it’s all the other studios that […]
System design is one of the only disciplines in game development that can quietly kill a game… without anyone realizing what’s happening. I’ve seen it happen even at the highest levels in the industry, working on games at Blizzard, Riot, EA, and Sky Castle, and consulting on 26 titles… Game after game dying because their […]
Dan Felder 