Intelligent Design – Magicka (Part 1 and 2)
Intelligent Design continues as we dig into Magicka. It’s great to be on vacation. I get all this time to look at awesome games.
Author: Dan Felder
Dan Felder here. I'm a Game Designer and Game Director, formerly working at many different studios including Riot, Blizzard, and EA. I specialize in system design, narrative, RPGs, card-games and turn-based strategy titles.
Vacation Time
It’s been a fantastic launch. Faeria’s been cruising at great ratings on steam and players have been creating awesome content that I’ve gotten to read and watch. You designers out there know how great that feels. Now I’m taking my first vacation in about 2 years. Time for a refueling. Going to be playing as […]
The GM’s Guide 13 – Puzzles and Traps
Episode 13 is up and you can listen to it here. Or on iTunes if that’s your jam. Traps have an incredible history in RPGs and they’re a MOUNTAIN of missed opportunities in most campaigns. It’s one of my favorite topics, I love designing a wicked trap. Let’s dive in. Hopefully we’re not diving into acid.
The GM’s Guide 12 – Adventure Deep Dive
The GM’s Guide 12 is up and you can listen to it here. Or on iTunes. That works too. This week we take apart some of my earliest adventures to show how they work. They’re also an examples of how Climactic Event Structure and Four Act Adventure Structure work in practice. Feel free to take any of these […]
Hostile Takeover – Prototype Release!
Its finally ready! The first of our new year “one side-project released each month” resolution is officially available. Hostile Takeover is a 2 player 20-30 minute card game, where YOU are the balancing factor. Bid on auctioned cards to assemble your strategy while in an incredible test of skill. Steal bargains out from under your competitors that don’t […]
Intelligent Design – Braid (Finale!)
The epic finale! This level shows both the epic brilliance of the core puzzle design formulae, as well as the somewhat out of place and inconsistent hardcore enemy platforming. There’s a lot to learn from in both cases.
The GM’s Guide 11 – Dungeon Design
You can check out the episode here. I love making Dungeons. They’re one of my greatest joys as a GM. However, for a long time, I found it difficult to keep the roleplay-focused gamers around my table engaged during them. Players that enjoy intrigue and character exploration can often feel uninvolved in a standard dungeon. […]
A Sample Dan Adventure
After my 10th GM’s Guide Podcast, I’ve gotten some people asking for examples of how I combine the Climactic Event Structure I talked about in episode 9 with the Four Act Event Structure I talked about in episode 10. I mentioned that you should put the two of them together after all. So here it […]
Braid – Intelligent Design (Part 2)
We run through the rest of world 1 in Jonathan Blow’s landmark masterpiece. We also discover my favorite puzzle in any puzzle game ever.
Dan Felder 