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 […]
Want to know why games like Clash Royale offer 4 choices at a time, when 3 appears to be a standard? Last time I talked about why Slay the Spire, Hades, and many more games offer only 3 options at a time and got a great response, so I’m back for more. I explained how […]
Want to know why so many games offer just 3 choices at a time? Slay the Spire with card picks, Hades with its boons, and many more default to just 3 options to pick from. Why? Here’s why: It’s baked into our brain chemistry. There’s also specific reasons to use 2, 4, 5, or 8. […]
Among the game devs that I mentor, it’s never the seniors that ask me the headache-causing questions. It’s the college students. Often they’re sending me some thought-provoking article or paper on the “nature of games as a medium”. These pieces get so far away from how I view design in general and art as a […]
When you’re interviewing for a dream job, remember this: everyone interviewing you has broken a live build or made some similar epic screwup in the past. Some of the people interviewing you are worried about their next performance review. They’re not a different species because they work at some company you’ve put on a pedestal. […]
Having great ideas is nice, it just doesn’t matter unless you can sell them to the decision-makers. As you gain skills as a designer, you’re more likely to know better than the people you report to. Often you’ll be reporting to someone who hasn’t thought deeply about your problem space, or isn’t a designer at […]
Here’s a design principle that I’ve known most of my career yet still find myself writing on whiteboards because it’s that important: “Never give a player a problem when you can give them an opportunity.” Quest based on clearing out a local ogre camp? Chore. Map to the evil wizard’s secret library filled with their […]
Dan Felder 