Hey guess who's the new Director of Design at ArenaNet? This guy. I start in a week and a few days. The story is long and complicated. The tl;dr version is that I went out there on a lark--and then fell head-over-heels in love. Isaiah did an amazing job of setting the table... but it was all the [...]
Hello, For Honor players! It has been a while. The game has been live for three months…and I can’t tell you how proud I am. It started with a dream and an idea—and today it’s not only real, but it is in the hands of an amazing community of players—you. To see you all take to [...]
[Note: This post is all about the Engines of Play. If you are not familiar with Taste/Satisfaction Maps and their uses, the Big 5, Self-Determination Theory, etc, I highly recommend watching this video before reading the article. It will make so much more sense. Like, Oh Em Gee.] A Random Encounter With Relic I’m in San [...]
For some reason, over the past few days, I've returned to one of my oldest standby games: Gemcraft. The experience has me thinking once again about a particular dynamic that exists inside certain (rare) games, one that I find both deeply empowering as a player, and incredibly impressive as a developer. [ INFORMATIONAL ASIDE: GemCraft comes in [...]
Here's the GDC Vault recording (in the free section! yay!) of my 2017 GDC talk in San Francisco. It's called "Forging Honor: Providing a Coherent Vision for a New IP", and is all about how the heart of guiding a large team is closely related to the skill of pitching. It also includes a bunch of [...]
Here are the slides for my 2016 GDC talk, "Engines of Play". Enjoy! GDC_2016_Engines_of_Play_v1.3
The standard Big 5 includes a facet in the domain of Openness to Experience called "Imagination" (here's a link to IPIP inventory: Imagination). When people take the Big 5 test, the ones who score high on Imagination (here, ‘IM’) mark that they ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with statements like: Have a vivid imagination Love to daydream Spend [...]
The standard Big 5 includes a facet in the domain of Conscientiousness called “Self-Discipline”. When people take the Big 5 test, the ones who score high on Self-Discipline (‘SD’) mark that they ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with statements like: Get chores done right away. Am always prepared Carry out my plans Inversely, people who score low on [...]
The standard Big 5 includes a facet called “Self-Efficacy”. When people take the Big 5 test, the ones who score high on Self-Efficacy (’S-E’) mark that they ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with statements like: Complete tasks successfully Excel in what I do Know how to get things done Inversely, people who score low on S-E tend [...]
This used to be a blog - now it's sort of a repository of blogs, with a few links. We shall see what it becomes in the future! Most people coming here are looking for my 5 Domains talks / slides, or for articles I have written. The rest can be generally located through the navigation [...]