Live blogging GDC Sid Meier: Interesting decisions

The famous interesting decisions line, Sid Google's himself too apparently. Not interesting decisions: Choices a player makes randomly or non-choices where there's really only one right answer. Not an argument that this applies to every game (rhythm/puzzle/etc.) The importance of the fun as generating "those moments" for the player (shot of Sid with his son many years ago) LEGO game design: If you recombine fun elements from other games it should be fun - not so much Better chances in the design phase to ask what kinds of decisions will I want the player to make over the course of the game. more after the jump...

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Hominid motions (post in progress)

This is a blog post that really requires a diagram, but I want to get it out now while I'm thinking about it so I'll revise it later with some images and what not. I've been considering hominid motions in games and in particular controlling human shaped charcters from the third person perspective.

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Video games are not a monolithic medium

Video games are not a monolithic medium. I've said this before and I'll probably have to keep on saying it for at least a few years. In the meantime I've been wanting to get a blog post up to point people to when any of the myriad issues that come back to this simple fact pop up. This is that post.

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IMSH 2012 micro-SBL presentation

I just got back last night from IMSH 2012 where my colleague Terry Tao and I presented work by our team here at University of Wisconsin-Extension on a system for micro-Scenario Based Learning for nurse education. We're designing the system to be usable for other content areas as well.

San Diego was fantastic as usual and the conference was great. The image above is from the current prototype of the micro-SBL system which we demoed at the conference. If you click on the image you can download a copy of the presentation as a .pdf. Needless to say, the demo is not included in the .pdf.

AC: Revelations and la vita assassino (spoilers)

Jumping from roof top to roof top, hiding in shadows or hanging patiently from ledges, uncovering the secrets of an ancient brotherhood, leading a cabal of highly skilled killers, and of course exeucting targets using a range of tools and techniques...This is the assassin lifestyle, and it is this experience that I believe Assassin's Creed: Revelations (as well as the other games in the series) aspires to grant the player...

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