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Articles on Computer game design

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The role-playing game has sold millions of copies since its August 2023 release and is one of the highest-rated video games of all time. Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ became the surprise hit of 2023 by upending conventional wisdom about what gives video games broad appeal

For years, the biggest video game publishers have operated under the assumption that compelling stories and captivating characters don’t offer a good return on investment.
Indigenous games like ‘Honour Water’ can teach Indigenous values and ceremonial practices. Honour Water/Elizabeth LaPensée

Video games encourage Indigenous cultural expression

A strengthening movement of Indigenous designers and developers is working to show Indigenous cultures, teachings, languages and ways of knowing through video games.

No country for new games

As part of the Liberal government’s slash-and-burn budget on Tuesday night was the surprise announcement that the Australian Interactive Games Fund was to be cut, effective immediately. First announced…
Who knew? A simple flap facilitates a well-established psychological theory. shutterstock.com

Flappy Bird and the eight secrets to optimal gameplay

The deceptively simple mobile game app Flappy Bird enjoyed immense popularity when it was launched last year, before being taken down in February by its Vietnam-based creator Dong Nguyen, who said it was…
Designers can work small to produce large impact. Courtesy of the artist Anupama Kundoo

Review: CUSP – Designing into the Next Decade

Designers today are impatient for their work to expand into a larger world. They are testing their expertise in complex and non-traditional fields such as finance, conflict, health and disease; growing…
Story design considers game mechanics an expressive part of a game’s story. JD Hancock

Indie videogames are taking it to the next level of story design

This week’s Game Developers Choice Awards at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco saw some of the usual big hitters win, but also, intriguingly, smaller independents such as puzzle game…
CriticalProximity.

Games criticism as its own thing

I am currently in San Francisco to attend the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC). It’s the biggest event in the games industry, depending on what measuring stick you use. E3 in Los Angeles is the…
As games get more realistic, discrepancies become more apparent. Steven Andrew Photography

AAA ratings: when do videogames become too realistic?

Repetition is a rare phenomenon in the real world but a sense of déjà vu is common in the game world. Games made by large studios with massive budgets, often called AAA games, have become ever more detailed…
Come on old chap, let’s get you a nice cup of tea and a bourbon cream. smademedia

BAFTA wins reflect British flavour in modern gaming

As early as 2009, Keiji Inafune, then head of R&D at games company Capcom saw the writing on the wall. “Japan is over. We’re done. Our game industry is finished,” he warned. And the 2014 BAFTA Games…

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