This PAX Prime was my first PAX Prime. It was incredible. We won a Drool Award from Twinfinite.net, one of only 10 they give out at the event; TotalBiscuit stopped by my booth and played a live 1-v-1 match against the AI for 30 minutes; I got to do interviews…
Read More »Back in October, you may recall me writing a bit about the challenges I’ve faced in writing female lead characters. Today, I’d like to talk a bit more about why I have chosen to have female leads–and in the process, hopefully convince some of my fellow developers to follow suit.…
Read More »“We already have The Battle for Wesnoth; what makes Telepath Tactics different?” I’ve gotten this question a few times now. The short answer is, “So many things that I would have to write an article to list them all.” And the long answer is…well, this article. Why the comparison with The…
Read More »Unpredictability makes art interesting. Twists of plot, unconventional characterizations, and surprising character development engage a reader’s imagination; unique instrumentation, sudden shifts in time signature, or an unexpected chord progression delight the ear. So is it with games. Exploration, experimentation, discovery: all of these depend upon unpredictability, on gaps in the…
Read More »I read this extremely interesting article yesterday courtesy of Erin Robinson. It is helping me to work through a particular issue I’ve been facing in writing the story for Telepath Tactics. So here’s the thing.Women are traditionally underrepresented in RPGs (and when represented, are represented in stereotypical roles where they…
Read More »When Wasteland 2 reached full funding on Kickstarter, a discussion began to brew in the RPG community about ways to improve on the original game. Among the many subjects of debate was whether (and if so, how) to improve on the skill-based character creation system employed by Wasteland (and due…
Read More »I’ve been content to stand on the sidelines of the “what is indie” debate for a number of years now, satisfied that whatever the outcome, it wouldn’t really matter. I no longer think that. When a multi-million-dollar game with a team of nearly 50, created with the backing of a…
Read More »Almost exactly one year ago, I discussed the four virtues of a good turn-based combat system and shared 12 techniques that RPGs commonly overlook for achieving those virtues. Today, after a year of contemplation and careful design work, I feel ready to expand the list. What follows are 6 additional…
Read More »Diablo 3 has been pulling a Darkspore since its release yesterday, thanks to Blizzard’s bizarre decision to prevent people from playing the game in single player mode without a constant internet connection. Even those who were able to get through to a server, like John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun,…
Read More »I was all ready to post a new Developer Rant about skill-based character creation systems. I was ready, but then John Walker changed my mind. (The writer, not the whiskey—that would be a whole ‘nother article.) Mr. Walker, for those of you who don’t know of him, is one of…
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