Ever wondered what actually makes the gunplay, fighting and questing sections of a game actually fun? Many games rely (when you get right down to it) on the player performing a series of repetitive actions over and over again to constitute the gameplay – with MMO titles being particularly bad offenders. These games are often built around a “gameplay loop” which is what I want to talk about today. Defining a Gameplay Loop: A sequence of events or objectives in a game that is reused throughout the title. Almost every MMO uses “go to location > kill a bunch of … Continue reading Concept: Gameplay Loop

Ever felt like you had to build a certain way in games, one that you didn’t really like the feel of? The first time I encountered this was in World of Warcraft, a long, long time ago. I’d made a hunter, and I loved the idea of a customisable pet to act as my buddy – enter Polly the crab – and wanting to get the most out of Polly, I decided to go beast-master spec. Now, this worked great for soloing, but having a tank oriented companion and not using the marksmanship spec reduced my overall damage output – … Continue reading Roleplay or Effectiveness?