Panel
Kelly Tran - Co-founder and Game Designer at Evolved Play. Previously, Game Design Professor researching games and players at High Point University. PhD in learning and tech. Solo Twitch - Group Twitch - Website
Ian Schreiber - Senior Game Designer Oxide Games, previously Assistant Professor Rochester Institute of Technology.
Xelnath - Game Designer World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Snackpass. Founder Game Design Skill.
Brandon Dolinski - Level Designer Eidos Montreal. Previously Mass Effect Andromeda and Dragon Age.
Christopher Schmidt - Game Design Director at Bioware.
Mohamed Abdel Khalik - Head of Game Design Relations at Machinations.
Notes
Perpendicular nested loops.
Feedback the player and offer new ways for players to express themselves.
Framing is important.
Go to NPC and pay gold for armor.
Go to Forge and pay gold for armor.
Converting resource A to resource B
Ore to Iron Bar is the same as Iron Bar to sword.
Sword allows new actions that didn’t have before.
Gain access to new behavior.
Swing Sword.
Gain power to behavior.
Swing Sword does 2 damage.
Side effects to behavior.
Swing Sword to steal life, or freeze or burn.
Fantasy of being craftsman = illusion of choice of more power or more utility.
Final layer.
Cosmetics and Aesthetics.
Is that an upgrade system though?
You’re collecting things to create something.
The heart of a good crafting system is discovery.
If the player doesn’t look at the wiki of the game, they end up throwing items together and looking for patterns in the outcome.
Guess and see what sticks, focused more on exploration rather than getting an exact item.
Recipe crafting feels more like a progression bar.
Factorio - crafting is a optimization problem.
Animal Crossing - crafting is for status as you show off your island.
Crafting systems are simple progression systems.