Modesty Studios

Researching For a Game Most of the research done before making a game is thinking about other games you have played before. This is the easiest and most basic form of research...it's called experience. (:D) This is actually very important in my experience trying to make a game or plan a game with a non-gamer. (Let me tell you, it was very frustrating. Mostly there was a language barrier.) System Research Diversity is important. Being familiar with many different types of game mechanics will help you in the creation of your own game. I'm not just talking about digital games, I do also mean card games, board games and social games. Think about the rules of some board games. Think about the rules of those games when they were translated to a computer game. Consider playing Monopoly with the physical board against a friend versus playing it on the computer against AI. What this should do is make you think about aspects of the game you are making. When making an RPG, think of table ...

A short dialog on balancing storytelling with gameplay. Thoughts on Interactivity, Stories and Games Often I find while playing a game, I am interested in learning what story it has to tell. I have narrative motives to my game play. But games are not really a story TELLING device, but a story PLAYING device. What I mean is that games are interactive. It should respond to player input, unlike a movie where no matter what you do the story will not change. In the Game Design Review blog , it had a section that struck me as gold ! It was comparing a remake of a game with the original. The original version of the game, you arrived with your female companion at a regular looking castle only to have your companion kidnapped during the night. It came as a surprise to a player that their companion was gone and provided motivation or guilt. In the remake, the inn was surrounded by an ominous gate and even had an NPC mention that sometimes guests go missing. The remake used a film technique of se...