A Call for Brief Imaginative Games
Many a gamer has discovered that, suddenly, he no longer has the time he did in high-school; that he cannot play an epic role-playing campaign spanning months; that he cannot commit to play every week, or for ten hours stretches. The constraints of the outside world are often the blame, but so too is the gamer’s own development: he has other things to do with his time, for fun, and cannot put up with a flabby gaming experience: every minute must count.
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Mar 19, 2010 | Filed in design
| Tagged: indie, strategy | 0 Comments
Role-Playing Structures II
In my previous essay, I introduced what I see as the two major “structures” of role-playing, mechanisms and imaginings. Here I’ll explore them further: their components, their interaction, and their use.
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Nov 03, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, indie, nouns_verbs, play, structures | 0 Comments
Role-playing Structures
I’ve often struggled with the definition of games. What is it that makes role-playing role-playing? How is it different from board-gaming or wargaming? These terms may be useful but the boundaries they set are fairly arbitrary, and they could be abandoned.
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Sep 20, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, indie, play, structures | 0 Comments
Facets of the Paradigm
This whole wave of avante-garde game-making—centered largely around The Forge—has created a new paradigm, at least for those who’ve embraced it. But this paradigm is many faceted, and I’m realizing more and more that they are separate: many of the ideas being pursued and promoted are not bound inextricably together. I’m interested in many of them, but probably not all. I also see how other people may be very put off by some of these concepts, but I hope they can still see the value in others. Perhaps by separating them out a little, and being conscious of thier independance, we can all help with that.
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Mar 28, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: indie | 0 Comments
Two Philosophies: Making Ice-Cream at the Table
After reading a lot of discussionon on this issue, I have to revise my thinking a little. It’s a somewhat hairy topic.
The first big thing to realize, I think, is that "Design What Matters" and "Design What Doesn’t Matter" are not alternate philosophies of game system design. DWDoesn’tM ignores key aspects of system and really doesn’t look at RPing at that level: it doesn’t anticipate that its product will provide system. Rather, its products provide mechanical bits…without much method for using them and certainly without rules that help players create larger "structure" or address a creative agenda.
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Mar 18, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: ice-cream, indie | 0 Comments
Two Philosophies
Wow. Read this post at Kallisti Press: RPGs, Pulleys, and Microwave Ovens (It has to do with theory, but if you are opposed or uninterested in Forge theory, you may still want to read it.)
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Mar 16, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: ice-cream, indie | 0 Comments
Ice-Cream Metaphor
It’s time for an over-wrought metaphor.
Here’s my situation. Like most people, I like ice-cream. It used to be that all I ate was chocolate. Every time I wanted ice-cream, I would eat chocolate. And I liked it. In fact, I thought chocolate was all there was. Neither I, nor anyone else I knew, ate anything called “vanilla” or “strawberry.” To me, “flavors” were things like “chocolate swirl,” or chocolate with nuts. And those seemed pretty different from regular ice-cream (i.e. chocolate ice-cream).
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Jan 31, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: ice-cream, indie | 0 Comments
The New Paradigm
There’s a new way of looking at role-playing. It turns a critical eye toward this creative “game” we play, questions a lot things we never used to, tosses them out, and builds on a base of renewed understanding. It’s been spearheaded by a few key individuals online, and probably piece-meal all over, but now is gaining wider acceptance.
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Dec 30, 2005 | Filed in design
| Tagged: indie | 0 Comments
