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	June 7, 2013

		Sledgehammer Games / Activision Level Designer (Temporary)

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Hamish Todd's Blog

Game designer and journalist. Currently working on Music of the Spheres (www.musicofthespheresgame.com). You may have seen my design analyses in various places.

-Storytellers should leave the games industry.

-It should be made illegal to reward players of a game for spamming about that game.

-Anyone who values free expression should boycott Apple

If you disagree with me about any of these or are interested in my games, feel free to email me! hamish.todd1 {at} gmail.com

Member Blogs

Pac-Man Championship Edition design analysis (Jonathan Blow lecture transcript)
Posted by Hamish Todd on Mon, 03 Jun 2013 01:31:00 EDT in
In 2007 at the Montreal Design Reboot, Jonathan Blow gave a lecture about game design. It became famous for blasting the design of MMORPGs. But there were many more insights in the lecture - this section looks at "listening skills" used in Pac-Man CE.
Read More... \| 0 Comments

Against orgasmic puzzle design
Posted by Hamish Todd on Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:30:00 EDT in Design
What is the purpose of a puzzle? If video games are to communicate meaningful things, we must change the way that puzzles are valued. We must learn to "read" puzzles, instead of seeing them as simple dispensers of orgasmic solution-getting moments.
Read More... \| 13 Comments

Hamish Todd's Comments

Comment In: Against orgasmic puzzle design [Blog - 03/15/2013 - 11:30]
I see the puzzle as ... I see the puzzle as being a different thing to what you see it as being. I believe: if there are no enemies in place to give you a reason to rewind, there is no puzzle there . If we are to speak of what the engagement would look like ...

Comment In: Untold Riches: The Intricate Platforming of Tomb Raider [Feature - 03/01/2013 - 04:10]
Ah, how embarrassing that I ... Ah, how embarrassing that I forgot that paragraph Don 't worry about it, I was going to delete it since I had moved its thought somewhere else. r n r nI agree Re: 2D-3D split. It 's annoying because it 's not that hard to get a pretty challenging 3D ...

Comment In: The Anatomy of a Bad Game [Feature - 05/31/2012 - 04:40]
I use the word heterological ... I use the word heterological to describe the gameplay inconsistencies described in this article. I describe it in this kotaku article http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/04/its-the-gameplay-stupid-shadow-of-the-colossus/ under the heading Avion as a new piece of behaviour

Comment In: Report: Video game designer sentenced to death in Iran over propaganda charges [News - 01/09/2012 - 02:38]
I'm not fine with anyone ... I'm not fine with anyone having nuclear weapons. Iran has every reason to be paranoid given the US's previous activities in the middle east. Although, obviously, they're going much too far here.

Comment In: Gamasutra Best Of 2011: Top 5 Overlooked Games [News - 12/19/2011 - 12:23]
Alright. I still don't want ... Alright. I still don't want to incentivize them though, when I could be purchasing my underappreciated games of 2011 : Pitman 3DS eShop, fascinating game Snake on a Plane free These Robotic Hearts of Mine English Country Tune GOTY

Comment In: Kim Swift On Creating Quantum Conundrum [Feature - 10/12/2011 - 05:15]

@Rog We're not talking about ...
@Rog We're not talking about portalling games, we're talking about puzzle platforming FPSs. @warren Don't mention it, here's some more that popped into my head In order of recommended-ness: Antimati re http://www.indiegames.com/2011/02/browser game pick antimatire e.html I shouldn't have forgotten this one. http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld48/index.html http://ian.janasnyder.com/feign 2.html http://bartbonte.com/14locks/ And even more trailers ...

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