Instructinator

This is about pulling the player around a level, whether it is a single player level or a multiplayer environment the basics remain the same. There are 3 main ways to lead a player through a map. Light, geometry, and pickups.
With Pickups:
Leading the player with Pickups (pac-man method) involves placing pickups in a way that [...]

Games can be broken down in many ways, you could divide the level design and the core design, when describing the application of challenge. You could further divide that core into UI, mechanics, and couple them with the level design and talk about gameplay. But before you have any of that, during the conceptual phase it is important to look at the game in lager sense.

What is a game?
Jesper Juul’s definition is: “A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels attached to the outcome, and the consequences of the activity are option and negotiable.”
I agree [...]

Black and White – Learning AI
Description: Black and White is a game in which you play a god sent to a planet to do good or evil. The path you choose shapes the land and the inhabitants. You are given a creature of your choosing to act as your visible avatar in the world. But [...]

Final Fantasy, two games in one
All of the games in the ever popular final fantasy series have a few things in common. One of the core elements that these games always share is the “Battle system”. In the beginning this was done because the most effective way to display combat and the most effective way [...]

Challenge is fun, so why are some challenges in games not fun?
One of the primary factors that lead to frustration for the player comes right down to communication. Because the player is an active participant in the medium, you need to instruct them or inform them about what is going on.

In some instances this can [...]

I finished Assassin’s Creed. I have to say the main problem with the game is indeed repetition. The game caters to the strengths of it’s core mechanics for the most part. This is what makes it feel fun to play, and why I was eventually able to finish it. The only time there was a [...]