Alexander Brazie

Too many legs.

Wow!

Just had an incredible first session with the new Mastering Game Mechanics cohort at the Funsmith Club.

Everyone from industry designers on concord to first-time designers who just want to level up were there!

QUD crushed the genre~

YAAAAS DANNI~~~~~ I was watching it on stream :)

Nice, looking for stuff with action game quality animation work, but not humanoid

Anyone know some other asset packs with non-humanoid monster animations in addition to ones by Protofactor?

How do great gameplay loops keep players hooked? 🎮 I chat with @xelnath.bsky.social (League of Legends, World of Warcraft) about balancing rewards and punishments to craft unforgettable gaming experiences.

🎧 Listen: bit.ly/alex-brazie-...

#GameDesign #GameplayLoops #AlexanderBrazie

Mastering Environmental Storytelling in Video Game Development A comprehensive guide to environmental storytelling in games - how to combine level design, art, and atmosphere to craft rich and immersive narrative worlds without relying on dialogue or cutscenes.

Here’s the full Environmental Storytelling guide: gamedesignskills.com/game-design/...

1. Great case studies:
The Last of Us (abandoned objects tell stories of survival)
Dark Souls (social collapse seen everywhere)
Gone Home (intimate family story told environmentally)
BioShock (visibly failed utopia)
The Witcher 3 (environmental details hint at past conflicts)

2. Use “designer hugs” (highly emotive, micro-story scenes) to create a more believable, immersive narrative by going beyond the core plot. (Ex: In Dragon Age, one corpse covers a smaller one holding a bloody teddy bear)

3. Hidden plot and historical lore fragments left for players to uncover make them feel like a detective actively participating in the story. (Ex: The hidden graffiti telling you what’s really going on in Portal)

4. Main 5 types of environmental storytelling:
Embedded (hidden stories in ruins, objects, etc.)
Emergent (stories emerge from player + system interaction)
Spatial (architectural storytelling)
Interactive (touch/examine objects to reveal story)
Atmospheric (lighting, sound, etc.)

5. Lighting, contrasting color schemes and sound cues can tell a story using the environment itself. (Ex: Silent Hill 2’s creepy fog that mirrors your character’s psychosis)

6. The goal of environmental storytelling is to help players discover the narrative by interacting with the game world directly. (Ex: Exploring a Fallout vault)

🧵My 6 main takeaways from this guide to environmental storytelling in games by Brandon Dolinski (Minecraft Legends, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Marvel’s GotG level/world designer) ⬇️

I’ve heard Amanda Overton was a pivotal force in getting the games story together - any specific examples he has of where she leveled up arcane?

I’ve never asked the internet this. Is there anything I’m missing out on?

@amirsatvat.bsky.social whoa look who’s here!

How to Apply The Three-Act Structure in Video Games This guide discusses the three-act structure, how it’s used in storytelling generally, and how to apply it to video games.

#NarrativeDesignTip

I wrote an article for GAME DESIGN SKILLS (@xelnath.bsky.social) about:

How To Apply the 3-Act Structure in Video Games

gamedesignskills.com/game-design/...

#narrativedesign #gamewriter #narrativeDesigner #gamewriting #videogames #3actstructure #writing #writingTip #writer

closely related to a key insight in one of my fav underdiscussed books, "Collaborative Circles": members of historically notable collaborative circles have tended to form especially high-trust pairs & work within these pairs to develop ideas before presenting them to the wider group

One of the best! 🤗

How to Apply The Three-Act Structure in Video Games This wiki will discuss the three-act structure, how it’s used in storytelling generally, and how it applies to video games more specifically.

People LOVE to talk about 3-act structures, but what if you're a game designer and not a hollywood script writer?

Well, @kellybender.bsky.social has you covered:
gamedesignskills.com/game-design/...

Check out this article, courtesy of www.gamedesignskills.com

#gamedev folks - I’m looking for others to share their game design expertise to the next generation. Hit me up if you’d like to write a paid knowledge base article or make a class on specializations of game design.

Skill Ceiling & Skill Floor: How to Make Your Game Easy to Learn but Hard to Master Overview of the definition of "skill ceiling" and "skill floor," how the terms apply to various game genres, and how how to approach each concept when designing a game.

Ever heard the terms skill floor and skill ceiling? What do they mean for game designers?

gamedesignskills.com/gaming/skill...

Worldbuilding (Game Writing and Game Design) Worldbuilding overview covering how to create engaging, immersive game worlds where players want to invest their time and energy.

Kelly Bender (@kellybender17) has collaborated with us to create this phenomenal guide to #worldbuilding. If you aren't sure where to start on your path to #narrativedesign skills, check this out:
gamedesignskills.com/game-design/...

Let’s do this!

I invited Justin La Torre, a Marketing Specialist and content mercenary of over 10 years, to share his thoughts and experiences.

Justin marketted for over 16 different games, including The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie and Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless.

Game Marketing Guide: How to Market a Game Effectively in a Noisy World A definitive guide on the building blocks and strategies to market games with an emphasis on video games.​

You don’t need to become a full-time marketer, but learning the basics of how to get your game in front of the right audience is crucial.

Here’s a complete game marketing guide if you want to learn more - gamedesignskills.com/game-marketi...

Game Marketing Guide: How to Market a Game Effectively in a Noisy World A definitive guide on the building blocks and strategies to market games with an emphasis on video games.​

Making a good game is only half the battle. Getting your game seen is just as important as building it.

However, for many devs, marketing and selling their game isn’t something they’re passionate about.