Fabian Fischer's Blog
I fill various roles throughout the games industry and media:
- Game Designer by passion and trade (portfolio)
- Co-founder & CEO of Crimson Company
- Author for various gaming websites and magazines
- Blogger on design, ludology and the industry (blog)
- Consultant for fellow game designers
- Researcher in the field of game-based learning
- Moderator of the r/gamedesign subreddit
fischergamedesign(at)googlemail.com
Member Blogs
Having a limited amount of real-life seconds to make a move can feel strangely disconnected from the rest of the gameplay experience. However, there's a different kind of timer out there. One that's intrinsic to the game world, or in short: diegetic.
A strong focus on spatiality can lead to a large variety of interesting situations, incentivize intuitive decision-making and foster depth and emergence. This article describes a few outstanding examples of spatial gameplay design.
Match-based single-player games have an inherent efficiency advantage over more linear formats. However, this advantage is threatened by a specific design problem that frequently occurs in those kinds of games and yet is rarely talked about explicitly.
Crimson Company is a competitive card game without decks, hands and private collections. Through the introduction of "board drafting", it aims to combine the strengths of the best card battlers, while also tackling some of their central design problems.
There are games that seem deep and full of meaningful interactivity when they actually offer neither, or at least not to the level they are suggesting. Let's take a closer look at some of the tricks games use to create this "phantom depth".
Story and game. A troubled marriage full of problems and misunderstandings. But what if instead of trying to mash "great narrative" and "great system" together time and again, we actually try to cautiously and deliberately support one with the other?
Fabian Fischer's Comments
Comment In:
[Blog - 05/09/2019 - 10:07]
Hey Geese, thank you for ...
Hey Geese, thank you for reading and commenting It 's true that I focused on single-player solutions in my text, because to me they seem to be much more contentious when it comes to timers, whereas multiplayer games get away with having them for practical reasons. r n r nHowever, ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 07/16/2018 - 12:56]
While I agree with your ...
While I agree with your premise of making a clear distinction between games driven by gameplay and narrative, I differ slightly in my conclusion. I don 't think the tension between the two is resolvable. To create an unconflicted piece of art, you have to clearly focus on one of ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 03/14/2018 - 10:19]
I feel you man With ...
I feel you man With my articles I 'm trying to provide a point of view that 's, I hope, more akin to talking about e.g. the craft and elegance of bridge-building , rather than personal experience or nostalgia. It 's just that finding a significant audience for these things ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 08/10/2017 - 10:02]
Thanks for the kind words, ...
Thanks for the kind words, Adam r n r nAbsolutely, if you know all the possible outcomes and odds, randomness, as part of the ruleset, can be completely transparent. r n r nI know what you mean about soccer management sims. I 've played them for hundreds of hours in ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 05/11/2017 - 10:51]
For the record, I answered ...
For the record, I answered this exact comment on r/gamedesign: r nhttps://www.reddit.com/r/gamedesign/comments/6akwgu/narrative gameplay how games should not tell/dhfgkct/ context 3
Comment In:
[Blog - 04/12/2017 - 10:00]
Thanks a lot for your ...
Thanks a lot for your thoughtful comment r n r nI think you 're making some very valid points there, but I 'm not sure they really apply to the article. The article is actually not about exclusive authority or universal prescriptions at all. It 's also not concened with ...
