by Will Hindmarch | Apr 27, 2010 | Design, Video Games, Writing
In his article, “Analysis: Splinter Cell: Conviction and Moral Quandaries,” which I caught over at Gamasutra, journalist Fraser McMillan wrestles with the bloody new direction that Sam Fisher has taken in the newest Splinter Cell game. I know what...
by Will Hindmarch | Apr 13, 2010 | Design, Story, Video Games
The new Splinter Cell game hinges on a game mechanic that I expect to get a lot of flak. It’s being called “mark and execute,” and I think I love it. Here’s a bit from a GamePro interview with Maxime Beland, Creative Director at Ubisoft...
by Will Hindmarch | Apr 5, 2010 | Design, Question, RPGs
A few weeks ago, after soliciting questions to use as blog fodder, this thought-provoking message landed in my Tumblr inbox, from Gameplaywright reader Narenfel: Do you know of any examples of how extended illusion-based play has been successfully adapted to game...
by Will Hindmarch | Mar 25, 2010 | Books, Design
A book is a user interface, and game books require layout decisions that traditional just-for-reading or just-for-gleaning books do not. Here’s an example of something I learned doing d20 System books, back in the day, which came up again when doing the book...
by Will Hindmarch | Mar 23, 2010 | Design, Musing, RPGs
Right now, my head is at the intersection of the Splinter Cell: Conviction demo, the Lady Blackbird game mechanics, and the stealth-action RPG rules I’m brewing on the side. What I like about the Trait-and-Tag language is the way that it casts every character as...
by Will Hindmarch | Mar 23, 2010 | Design, RPGs, Sci Fi
This weekend, I debuted a little RPG adventure called Alien Survivor — a one-shot survival-horror scenario in the vein of Alien and Pitch Black, using variations on the rules found in the great indie adventure, Lady Blackbird. I wanted to get this thing out the door,...
