#speldesign

The Revolution of Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade was released in the middle of the most goth period of all time, the early 90’s, meaning that monsters were most definitely in vogue and that vampires in particular were interesting. We had left the “vampire as a monster” concept behind and started to look at vampires as something else, something desirable, not just to meet, but to become. What could be more interesting…

One of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on was Oriboo for Movinto Fun. Oriboo is a console created for girls and teens intended to encourage movement and dancing. Jin Moen, who came up with the concept wanted to use choreography and dancing and integrating that into a console, and so Oriboo was born. I came onboard when the platform was constructed but there was still a need for a designer…

In some cases constraints can feel limiting. When I look at my career and see how I’ve been limited by my gender, I get frustrated. At the same time I’ve been trying to work around it. I’ve battled outside limitations others have placed on me. The things I’ve learned while combatting those restraints include recognizing manipulative rhetoric, gaslighting and scapegoating. The way some companies…

Since I started my habit of reading 10 pages a day from a book that wasn’t exactly screaming “read me”, I’ve read eleven books about games or players. Thee are actually worth reading, the rest is mostly men talking about games and in doing so rehashes the insufferable stereotypization of “men only” being players. The implicit bias is firmly locked in place, and in some cases so is the explicit…

This December I exchanged Christmas calendars with quite a few friends. In one of them there was a button with Princess Leia on it. It stated “we are the resistance”. Translating it to my hobbies and my profession, the games I’ve loved since I was barely a teenager of course indicate that we – us – marginalized groups in gaming – are the rebels opposed to the Empire and their evil ways. It…

A Few Thoughts on Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design

As I may have pointed out, I’m currently plowing through a bunch of my game design literature, primarily because these books have ended up in the “nice to have, I might use them as references but then end up never referencing them” part of my bookshelf. Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design is such a book. I figured I’d make a few notes on it here in case someone would be interested in knowing if…

The Witcher 3 – First Impressions

This is a first impressions post about The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. You should know that I’m not playing The Witcher for pleasure. I play because I want to expand my game knowledge. The issue with The Witcher, for me, is that the game contains one of those stubbly, grupp McGrumpypants men that I can’t bear to play. I’m not impressed by Geralt, and thus I have no interest whatsoever to take on…

Let’s Build a Portfolio – Part 1

Because I’ve been invited to speak at Sweden Game Conference in October, I have also been trying to figure out a topic to talk about. I ended up taking on the topic of my work process. I’m hoping it will suit the audience at SGC, it being mostly students and small companies. The UX literacy of most games companies is in addition to that pretty bad, so maybe even the larger companies will get…