This is the vault for gaming design, titles released in the past that are still relevant today for design or plot choices.
What do Zeus and Zombies have in common? Well, beside the letter Z, not very much one would say, but Lucasarts would beg to differ, especially Mike Ebert and Dean Sharpe. The two designers worked on two Lucasarts console releases, Zombies Ate my Neighbors and Herc’s Adventures. The two titles stand apart from the usual…
Created by Stan Sakai as an homage to japanese culture and cinema, Usagi Yojimbo sits among the cult comic books of the 80s. Still being published today, the episodic comics revolve around the adventures of an antromoporphic samurai rabbit, with a mature and serious approach to japanese folk legends and classic Kurosawa movies. Because of…
How does on go about making a sequel to one of the most famous arcade maze games, basically the defining maze game, fourteen years later? But, weren’t there already sequels to the original game? Well, apparently not as such. Ms. Pac-man was considered a spin-off, Pac-mania was a “reimagining”, Pac-land seemed to be another spin-off,…
Since I’ve recently written at length about Will Wright’s crazy helicopter sim that managed to save Maxis from bankruptcy (at least for a while), I’d say it makes sense to take a look at another one of the designer’s helicopter titles. Why all these games featuring helicopters? Well, apparently Will took a trip on an…
While the overall narrative on the importance of the release of SimCity 2000 might be a bit less impactful nowadays, it was a gamechanger, perhaps even more so than the original title. After its resounding success, Maxis seemed to be struggling to find a market for the remainder of their software library. Their line of…
Combining elements from different genres is – arguably – the basis for many modern indie gaming titles, especially ones with a social message or a complex narrative that consistently accompanies the gameplay. Going back to the early eighties, there was no overall definitions of genres, except for broad strokes such as “arcade” or “adventure”. Innovation…
During all my childhood years I could never get into Japanese RPGs, no matter how hard I tried. I remember saying to myself and others how I couldn’t stand the genre. The more people talked about it, the more that reinforced my intentions of never playing a Final Fantasy title or anything similar. Yes, I…
How many Pac-man inspired titles (or clones) have existed since 1982? Well, one possible answer would be: probably as many Space Invaders and Arkanoid ones. The arcade classics were considered the basic steps for anyone looking to develop anything that would function. They were (deceptively) simple titles to program, along with being instantly recognizable by…
The Bitmap Brothers were one of the more (in)famous British developers of the early 90s. Their games instantly recognizable by the in-your-face “cyberpunk” style punctuated by aggressive techno beats. Unfortunately, with that style being outdated by 1994, they never managed to escape the “cyberniche” they dug for themselves with titles like The Chaos Engine. Nevertheless,…
Remember those miserable times when, as a small child, one had to suffer long school hours without nary a videogame in sight to pass the time? What better friend in misery than the thought of a computer/console waiting at home, ready to be fired up with that awesome looking game you bought yesterday and barely…