Occasionally I feel the desire to spend a week playing a Diablo style ARPG, have some fun, and then hit a wall that keeps me from enjoying the game further. This mostly has to do with how Diablo style ARPGs have not changed much in the last 20 years. The majority of improvements are related …
Building a Tactics Game Influenced by Miniature Games: Pirate Oath
I built a prototype of a tactics game within the past few months. I wanted to see what I could accomplish and learn about Unity while developing a tactics game that emulates the mechanics of tabletop games. It’s a little buggy due to limited time, but the basic gameplay is functional. If you’d like to …
Psychographic Profiling Miniature Game Players
Magic the Gathering has a system and established vocabulary for the types of players it designs towards to sell their game. To simplify psychographic profiling, it’s basically why the player is interested in their game and what motivates them. Every gaming company does this (or should if they don’t) but the lead magic designer, Mark …
Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate
4x games have been around a long time now and the genre has not changed from its core tenets of gameplay. On the surface level, 4x games are great. They give players a fascinating puzzle to solve with layers of mechanics built on top of the 4x design. The problems start showing up when players …
Balancing Malifaux 3rd Edition post Gaining Grounds 1
The game is in a reasonable place but not perfect after the release of GG1. I have played around 400 games since 3rd edition came out and have played in multiple tournaments, leagues, and international leagues. There are certain problems with the game I have noticed over time with particular crews and mechanics. I will …
Improving Magic the Gathering’s Resource System
I remember some of the first games of Magic the Gathering I played in middle school outside on the bare and hot cement with some friends. Later on dirty lunch tables in highschool and finally years playing in competitive events with carefully sleeved cards. What hasn’t really changed is the game itself. Sure there’s some …