Boss Fights & God’s Testing
I’m not a fan of tests; they have this way of dredging up feelings of anxiety and dread. In many ways, they feel almost like a form of punishment.
A path for growth
Game Design
How rules, agency, challenge, story, and play shape the people gathered around a game.
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Game Design Gives Perspective
Games allow us to see the bigger picture by abstracting out the elements at play, modeling their dynamics, and providing a ten thousand-foot view. They give us distance and emotional separation to see with new eyes things that are too close to us to perceive.
Pathfinding in Life and Games
How do you find your way in life? In video game development, we use pathfinding algorithms and steering behaviors to move characters around. Looking at Paul’s life, it appears God uses similar techniques.
Enjoying Order
It feels good to organize and create order, whether in the real world or a game world. It seems woven into our DNA, but why do we enjoy it, and where does this desire come from?
Goals and Infinite Runners
Infinite runners are the best metaphor for my thinking on goals at the moment. I have trouble with goals because of the tension between the finite and the infinite, the concrete and the ephemeral.
Fighting Over The Controller
As a child, it wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out over the controller, and sometimes, those fights would escalate into full-blown wrestling matches. As an adult, I realize I’ve been wrestling with God over the control of my life.
Hypocrisy In Game Design
No one wants to be a hypocrite, yet everyone knows they are at times. We were made in the image of God, who is unchanging, faithful, trustworthy, and perfectly consistent. So, we expect this consistency from all our interactions.
Daddy, Will You Play This Game With Me?
Daddy, will you play this game with me is such a simple, innocent, and intimate question that I was struck with its profoundness when my friend Mitchell said he uses that question as a filter for his design process.
Allow, Incorporate, Celebrate
When thinking about the presence of an action or activity that could be considered sinful (killing, lying, stealing, etc.), I picture a continuum. On the left side is what I’m labeling Allow. In the middle, we have Incorporate; on the far right side, we have Celebrate.
An Eternal Perspective On Work
“Be fruitful” were the first words Adam heard. From that first instruction, we have understood that work is important; yet, since the arrival of sin, we’ve struggled to give it its intended place.
Are There Too Many Games?
Are there too many games? It’s an odd question when coming out the mouth of a game developer; it’s even stranger when asking a bunch of people this question at the beginning of a game jam.
Our Aversion to Loss
Human beings have an aversion to loss. We feel deep grief when something is taken away from us, and the possibility of loss can create fear and nervousness. As game designers, it’s important to understand the psychology around loss so that we can take care of our players and intentionally craft the types of experiences they desire.