Data Coherence
When I worked at EA (1987-2008), one thing that was always intriguing, and yet exciting was the learning coming from the growth of the complexity…
Category: Maxis
Game design Toolbox – Overview
“Things Well Understood Are Explained Well” The number one thing I learned from my years in engineering school is that “Things well understood are explained…
Replacement Rules – SimCity 3000
Building the road networks in SimCity 3000 In 1997 I started to work at Maxis, as General Manager. Our key product to release was SimCity…
Game design Toolbox – Stairs of Productivity
Different goals at different scales, the “plateaus” graph The game is requiring the player to have different goals. Often the player is expected to be…
Game design Toolbox – The Game State Landscape
Game State Landscape Another tool to think about the game that I learned from Will Wright: Project the state of the game onto two dimensions…