Here’s my picks for my favorite games that came out this year. They’re all of pretty varying types and sizes, but I do note a distinct lack of AAA titles in there.
Read MoreI challenged myself to read 100 books this year. I surpassed it by a small bit, and still have some time left! Regardless, I thought it would be cool to put them in a list, and mark my recommendations.
Read MoreThis past Friday we had a really interesting thread going with all the Apex game designers about the collection of important games to your gaming life. I was pretty happy with the list I pulled together and the subsequent reasoning I had for each title, so I figured I’d save it here for re-sharing.
Read MoreOften in the creative design/development space we find ourselves stuck on a problem, repeating ourselves and coming up with the same half-solutions over and over. Knowing how to identify these times when we’re stuck comes pretty naturally, but having a plan for moving your design forward takes experience. Here’s a handful of thoughts I like to share with other designers to help get them out of the conceptual mud. This stuff works for me when I’m against a wall — hopefully it will do the same for you.
Read MoreI play a lot of Starcraft. I play at least 10 hours a week, sometimes more if I’m doing well. What is it about our favorite games that make them occupy so much of our brains for noticeable chunks of the day? Jane McGonigal’s new book, Reality is Broken, points to real tangible (and scientifically proven) reasons why for the past twenty-plus years, people have been gravitating into virtual worlds to get their satisfaction fix. I won’t summarize the book here, as it’s well worth your time to read it.
Read MoreAs the social revolution washes over us all online, and the traditional media types used for advertising (tv, newspapers, magazines) all evolve in new and interesting ways, brands, companies, and marketers are all looking for a way to make themselves stand out, and get more fans/users/advocates. One way often recommended lately has been termed ‘gamification’. The general concept is that if we take some of what makes games so much fun to play, and apply it to things that aren’t games, then we’ll have more fun doing those things as well and do them more often.
Read MoreMy previous post on brainstorms was intended to help get people out of their element, and generate a slew of new ideas. Ideas that hopefully help make you or your clients do things better, and help reach your goals. Idea generation however, is maybe the easiest part of this whole process. The next place many creative people stumble is in filtering those ideas down to pick winners. I’ve been working on this set of questions to help filter out the weak ideas, and pick the strong ones. To give credit where due, it should be mentioned that I’ve adapted these from the genius Jesse Schell and his awesome set of game design practices. I’ve tried to reframe them for more general application to the type of digital work that I’m involved with.
Read MoreI like to think I’m pretty decent at brainstorming. Over the years I’ve worked up this list of things that I try to keep in mind while leading a brainstorm. Regardless of leading or participating, or even just ideating to yourself, these tips have helped me out immensely.
Read MoreA big part of innovating with technology is prototyping. you need to take a nascent idea and whip up something quick & dirty that validates your thinking. this is a critical part of wrapping your technological mind around the feasibility of something. here’s a nice list of 8 tips that i try to keep in mind whenever i make a prototype.
Read MoreOccasionally people ask me how they can be more creative with technology. they are curious how i’ve made so many things, know about all sorts of random things, and what keeps me going. so i’ve tried to crystallize some of them into a set of guiding principles. so far, there’s 14 of them. enjoy!
Read More