Values of Game Design

Last week with Ken heading out to PAX, I was left co-host-less. But fortunately game designer Jon Shafer was kind enough to fill in for a talk about trying to put a value on game design and updating us on his current project — At the Gates.

We first talked about Jon’s time at GDC this year and the horrors we’ve endured flying around. Then we had a fascinating discussion on the argument of game value and how the design of a game and its cost may not always be equal.

Jon’s recent play of Rogue Legacy framed a discussion on rogue-like design and why he and I prefer Spelunky and the balance between skill and in game progression when it comes to motivating someone to keep playing. That led into my talk about the expansion for Don’t Starve: Reign of Giants and why it’s not hooking me.

Finally we spoke a bit more about At The Gates and Jon’s recent work on it. I also asked Jon about his thoughts on UI and tutorial design which he was all too happy to talk about.

• Here is the first cast I had with Jon Shafer where we talked a lot about At The Gate’s design
• The article from USgamer where Doublefine talked about Indie pricing
• I completely forget his name during the cast, but here is my podcast with eRepublik Labs game designer Iain Compton about strategy design
• My post where I talked more about the pricing tiers of games in 2013
• Jon’s blog site and the official site for At The Gates

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