Tick Talk

Time can slip away from you, like water through your fingers.  That is how I feel when I look back and realize I have been working my way through Building Block of Tabletop Game Design  (by Geoffrey Englestein and Isaac Shalev, 2020, first edition) for almost two years.  Two. Years.

Player Elimination is an interesting concept, for many reasons. It evokes strong opinions and is used in several 'classic' games found in millions of homes. Personal feelings aside, I want to take a look at some topics of interest about this divisive mechanic.

Metroid Dread is a return to the original style of Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but some of the mechanics have evolved over the past 30+ years.  Unfortunately, parts of the game don't feel retro, so much as regressive.

The second game in this series improves over the original in some respects and retains many things that make the first game fun.  However, there are some lingering issues that make for interesting discussion of game and narrative design.

Design permeates our lives.  It is everywhere.  I was recently re-binging a Netflix show, Nailed It! , and began to think about the design of the game in the show.  

The board game Villainous is widely available at your local Big Box and on the surface seems to be another barely-a-game theme-for-dollars affair.  After playing it, I came to view it is as a very elegant and well designed game.  Today I want to discuss all the things that I find interesting as a designer.

Hollow Knight for the Nintendo Switch seems to be tried and true metroid-esque game.  However, while it does have elements of Metroid games, there is little innovation of them.  There are some design decisions that seem to actually detract from the player experience and that is what I am going to talk about today.

As I have read more rumors about a Paper Mario for the Nintendo Switch, I have continued to play Paper Mario Color Splash.  Not my favorite Paper Mario, but the last one released.  However, as I play, I am again reminded why this is only my second play through in last three years.  This game is often an exercise in repeated frustration .  Yes, I am talking about the Tangerino Grill stage.

As a huge fan of the Paper Mario franchise (mostly, discounting the out-of-theme Wii game), I was very excited to play Paper Mario Color Splash for the Wii U.  I remember it having solid game play and good continuation of theme and style.  Then I decided to replay it recently and ran into a couple of issues that seem like good talking points of bad design .