Category Archives: Game Design And Theory

Here Are Some Psychological Incentives Of Social Games That We have Observed Money is converted to “credits”, tokens, or chips for playing. This abstraction makes it harder to keep track of how much money has actually been lost. Once real … Continue reading →

Cracked.com, one of my favirote site right now, published a story last week named “The 4 Worst Thing About Writing For The Internet” .  It’s a great read, and a the same time, you could apply all of the four … Continue reading →

In his latest, and possibly greatest piece of writing, Tim Rogers explores the mystery of “Who Killed Video Games:A Ghost Story“.  It’s an awesome read, even if you already know how it turns out in the end.  It’s hard to … Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately: Will anyone play (buy) a hardcore, top-down shooter on a mobile device?  What will it take to get someone to buy it, play it, and tell their friends about it?  Should it … Continue reading →

This is one of the case-studies I wanted to talk about for a long time, but I could not because one of the games was locked behind an MMO and could be accessed without an account.  However, now that (sadly) … Continue reading →

A month or so back Google celebrated Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary by replacing the Google Doodle with a playable version of Pac-Man. (click the image to play it in its new Google home) Retrogaming Monthly has a nicely written article on … Continue reading →

Here at 8bitrocket.com we love game engines and engine reuse.  Damn, we even wrote a book about it!  It seems that we are not alone. In a post published today, Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel does a fantastic job defending his … Continue reading →

So, do you still think that using the intellectual property that belongs to someone else is not a problem?  Do you think that if you are creating a “tribute” or “fan project” that you will be left alone? Think again. … Continue reading →

This is great!  The same Bruce who is fighing off a libel lawsuit aginast makers of Evony (read: Bruce appears to be the victim in this one) has a new article called You don’t want to work in the video … Continue reading →

There are games I’d like to create, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to approach them. Many of these games have to do with true emotions that are difficult to describe in game form, however, … Continue reading →

A few years ago I hosted an all-day game design session with Chris Crawford. After the session, I took some notes and shared them with my colleagues. These notes were geared-towards “Kid’s” games, but many of them hold true for … Continue reading →

There is a sense these days that the concept of “Retro” games is disappearing. This does not mean that there are no retro inspired games being made, but it means that “retro” has been enveloped into the mainstream, and “retro” … Continue reading →

Solar Fortress Chronicles: Hours 18 – 20 Note – I am rapid (wishful thinking) prototyping a retro game in my spare time and keeping a diary of what I do each hour of the project. In the last couple weeks I … Continue reading →

How can Casual game designers use this list? In the Sunday newspaper (yes, I still get one of these ancient documents) this morning there was a list of the top 10 selling consumer products (in the USA I presume). I’m … Continue reading →

Solar Fortress Chronicles: Hours 16 – 17 Note – I am rapid (wishful thinking) prototyping a retro game in my spare time and keeping a diary of what I do each hour of the project. I have only found a … Continue reading →

Solar Fortress Chronicles: Hours 14 – 15 Note – I am rapid prototyping a retro game in my spare time and keeping a diary of what I do each hour of the project. Hours 14 and 15 were all I … Continue reading →

Solar Fortress Chronicles: Hours 10 – 13 Note – I am rapid prototyping a retro game in my spare time and keeping a diary of what I do each hour of the project. This another update on my latest mini … Continue reading →

Solar Fortress Chronicles 2: Hours 5 – 9 This is a short update on my latest mini retro remake, Solar Fortress (pronounced Star Castle). I wasted a lot of time today working on collision detection for Solar Fortress today. I … Continue reading →

Above is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorites 80′s/90′s bands, Drivin N Cryin is named "A Toy Never Played With Is Not a Toy At All". I found myself humming this song to myself a couple … Continue reading →