 |
|
|
|
Neil Sorens's Blog
|
|
|
|
Owner of Dancing Robot Studios, a provider of contract game design and other related services. I work with developers and publishers worldwide on all major console platforms, primarily on downloadable titles. I've been designing professionally for 7 years (and much longer as a hobby) and couldn't imagine myself doing anything else.
Although most of my clients hire me to work on safe, ordinary games, I have an endless fascination with gaming's unexplored possibilities. Much of my writing on this site is about taking advantage of unexploited (or under-exploited) game design opportunities. The toughest part of game design is not giving players what they ask for (sequel to GameX), but figuring out what they want and don't yet realize.
|
Expert Blogs
|
Beyond Spore: Ideas for Connective Games (Part 2) |
| Posted by Neil Sorens on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:46:00 EDT in
Game Design
|
| Continuing a discussion on ideas for connective games, Part 2 discusses uses for distributed computing. |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
Beyond Spore: Ideas for Connective Games (Part 1)  |
| Posted by Neil Sorens on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:06:00 EDT in
Game Design
|
| Using network connectivity for more than multiplayer gaming. |
| Read More... | 3 Comments |
|
Introduction |
| Posted by Neil Sorens on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:22:00 EDT in
|
| An author's introduction to my Gamasutra weblog. |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
Neil Sorens's Comments
|
Comment In: Analysis: Examining Massively Single Player Online Games [News - 06/09/2009 - 05:02]
|
Agree with the above. These ... Agree with the above. These social networking games are definitely designed around multiplayer interactions. I don't know about massive, though. You can certainly interact with many different players, just not in the immediate, direct manner you can in traditional MMOs. These games are the door games of the 21st century. ... |
|
Comment In: Choices: Not Just For Players Any More! [Blog - 04/10/2009 - 10:36]
|
I agree that heuristic challenges ... I agree that heuristic challenges generally appeal to a larger crowd than logical/mathematical ones. A bit odd to quote Meier. The gameplay of his flagship title, Civilization, is scantily-clad mathematical optimization. I think the difference between imperfection and unpredictability needs to be emphasized. Predictably imperfect agents are no more useful ... |
|
Comment In: Games Shouldn't Be Anything [Blog - 04/07/2009 - 09:00]
|
Well, my conception of art--and ... Well, my conception of art--and there are many other valid ones--is the realization of a creative vision. Bioshock isn't that. It's a product designed to consumer specifications. But the point is not to quibble ad nauseum about the definition of art, which can be as narrow or as broad as ... |
|
Comment In: Beyond Spore: Ideas for Connective Games (Part 1) [Blog - 04/06/2009 - 03:06]
|
Hi Bart, Thanks for the ... Hi Bart, Thanks for the comments. I wonder if creating content though gameplay decisions necessarily generates content more granular than content created explicitly within an editor. While a typical editing tool certainly allows for manipulation of fine details, content generated through thousands of gameplay actions as well as through the ... |
|
Comment In: Gamasutra's Best of 2008: The 5 Most Significant MMO Trends [News - 12/24/2008 - 05:11]
|
The first item on the ... The first item on the list is absolutely, 100 wrong. Why do you think Age of Conan sold a million copies simply on the promise of being a little different Why did so many people drop everything and rush to try out Warhammer Online And why did people quit in ... |
|
Comment In: Valve's Faliszek: Playtesters Aren't Idiots, It's You [News - 08/07/2008 - 03:04]
|
I think there's a fine ... I think there's a fine line between making changes to improve the quality of the game and sacrificing your creative vision in favor of more commercial appeal. The latter is, in my opinion, what makes games a commodity rather than art. |
[More Neil Sorens Comments]
|
|
