I know a lot about guns. I’ve never held a gun. I’ve seen guns only on store walls and on the hips of officers. I’m not interested in guns. Still, I know a lot about guns because guns play a big role in many of the videogames I love. As a game designer specializing in […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
Some Background A few years ago I stumbled upon the amazing advertising for OmegaMart. It produced a sense of the uncanny which I found both funny and intriguing. I quickly became obsessed and learned all I could about OmegaMart and Meow Wolf, its creators. As a person who loves and seeks truly original and artistic […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
The first chapter of Glenn Parsons’ “The Philosophy of Design” is dedicated to the definition of the word ‘design’.* Parsons goes through many iterations, finally arriving at “Design is the intentional solution of a problem by the creation of plans for a new sort of thing…” I liked this definition at first, but began to […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
Allow me to start by saying that I mean no disrespect to Dialogue Trees. I don’t think dialogue trees can or should be replaced. They are an art form of their own — a perfect compromise among the competing forces game developers require from such a system: Easy to predict, to implement, to hook into other […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
First off, I acknowledge that this is the wrong question to ask. The better question is: “How can I determine how many mechanics my game should have?” This essay gives my own opinion on that question. However, just so we’re all on the same page, this is the definition of “game mechanic” I’m thinking of. […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
This post was inspired by several talks Jenova Chen has given over the years, all dealing with evoking deep emotion through games. Jenova thinks this is one of the biggest obstacles in the way of mainstream acceptance of games as an art form. I would tend to agree. Further, I think there is a ranking […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
This post is a response to this article here. You should read it, and then return. Done? Good. Now I’m going to tell you why all of that is hogwash. Here is the part of the article I agree most with. It’s a quote, so the author can’t even take credit: “As noted by MIT’s […] Source| Bobby Lockhart
‘Games that teach players how to code’ is becoming a genre of game all its own. I made this little flowchart to show where I think “Codemancer” fits within the ecosystem of games (and other software) that teach programming. Feel free to share widely. Enjoy! Source| Bobby Lockhart
There's a reason video games build what's called a 'vertical slice'. If you're not familiar, a vertical slice is a single playable area, with all mechanics, fin| Bobby Lockhart