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Lars Doucet's Expert Blogs
RPGs, challenge, and grinding  |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:00:00 EDT in
Design,
Console/PC,
Indie
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| Expanding the audience of games by rethinking how we look at challenging. Also, can grinding be a good thing? |
| Read More... | 14 Comments |
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CellCraft Game now Open Source! |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Mon, 30 May 2011 01:42:00 EDT in
Design,
Serious
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| CellCraft, a real time strategy game about cellular biology that I worked on, has just been released under an open source license. |
| Read More... | 1 Comments |
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RPGs and Suckage |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:00 EDT in
Design
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| What makes games, and RPG's in particular, suck?
I explain suckage as the reaction to unmet expectations, and discuss how RPG's are a minefield of high passion and conflicting player opinions, and what we as designers can do about it. |
| Read More... | 76 Comments |
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Upgrades, Equipment, and Skill Trees |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:06:00 EDT in
Design
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| Many games feature upgrade systems. I explore equipment systems and skill trees and how they can create interesting choices for the player. I also discuss how we implemented these systems in our upcoming game, Defender's Quest. |
| Read More... | 7 Comments |
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Don't mess with RPGs |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:26:00 EST in
Design
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| In response to the great feedback from the last article, I talk about how story and battle systems work together in RPG's, and how an otherwise great game can be weighed down and ruined by a bad central mechanic. |
| Read More... | 19 Comments |
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Rebooting the RPG |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:11:00 EST in
Design
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| RPG's are among the most beloved game genres, yet are burdened by outdated design principles. This article analyzes the original "thinking man's video game" and my own attempt at recapturing the childlike joy the genre evokes in our hearts. |
| Read More... | 41 Comments |
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Practical Game Design : The Rule of Threes |
| Posted by Lars Doucet on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:00:00 EST in
Design
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| The first article in a series I'm calling Practical Game Design.
I examine a technique for introducing new challenges to the player derived from the original Super Mario Bros, which I call the "Rule of Threes." |
| Read More... | 11 Comments |
[Previous Lars Doucet Blogs]
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