Right now there’s an excellent series of interviews on Rock Paper Shotgun about the rise and fall of this particular school of design and its continuing legacy. Smart people talking game design philosophy. Great great stuff.

This week, Gothic.

I suggested recently that games could show skill progression in the movement of the player, making the animation more elegant as you level up, but some games are already doing this, Piranha Bytes’ action-RPG among them. Set in a medieval prison colony; the player picks up skills from various allies.

As in most RPGs you start out pretty helpless and your general incompetence is reflected in how you hold and swing a blade. Get some training though and you start showing a little more control in your movements, different slashing moves are unlocked and you can now use timing to your advantage…

The player becomes visibly more skilled.

It’s worth noting the animation doesn’t have to be perfect, as long it is effective and communicates clearly. All the better if it also looks cool, of course.

These are some exceptions…

Let’s start with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

It has been much lauded for its use of animation and there’s definitely a few interesting things going on in-game. Nathan Drake adapts to his surroundings by layering together different contextual animations like shielding himself from fire, clutching a gunshot wound, losing balance, taking cover and so on.

Of particular interest is the game’s use of what I’m going to call “contextual anticipation”…

When Drake is climbing around he will extend his free hand towards reachable areas, indicating to the player it’s safe to jump as well as where this will take him.

A more subtle example is when you’re hiding behind cover and a guard comes around the corner. There is a short window of time where Drake can surprise the guard and disable him without making a noise. At just the right moment (the window within which the player can stealth-attack), Drake ducks down, arms ready, anticipating the grabbing action. The sudden change of posture (1:00) communicates that now is the time to strike, and it’s all you need.

We spend much of our time staring at our avatars in 3rd person games. Not a bad place to put your gameplay feedback…

The psychology of avatar customization,

Patrick Redding on co-op narrative and NPC interaction,

intriguing insight into Valve’s design process,

and a cool new animation blog and podcast.

Enjoy responsibly.

Graphics are placeholder. Haven’t decided what to do for visuals yet…

The first is also available in English.

Prince, LBA and Flashback are still among my fondest gaming memories and it’s a treat to read about their creators’ thoughtful and eclectic approach to design.

“Don’t dissipate the energy and passion of the original idea by becoming your own critic too early in the process. (…) start taking the necessary steps to turn your idea into reality, while you still feel the clarity and strong desire of that first inspiration” Jordan Mechner

“Story prolongs the enjoyment of the player, but it does not create it.”
Frédérick Raynal

Edmund McMillen’s has tips on indie game development,

and Adam Saltsman advocates accessibility.

Charlie Brooker makes a compelling case for games as a medium,

Bioware has tips for those looking to break into the industry,

Gausswerks rethinks some games that could have been great,

and here’s a nifty open-source tool for analyzing video reference!