Bonoboblogs

July 29, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/starcraft-ii-first-impressions/

Starcraft II – First Impressions

Don’t have much time. I need to edit the podcast, work on TRAUMA and meanwhile, StarCraft II is rocking my world. So far I have to say: StarCraft II is AMAZING. I was in the beta, no surprises there. It was a solid game where I got repeatedly hammered by superior opponents. But this was [...]

July 27, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/its-about-time/

It’s About Time

The Story of Starcraft II takes place 4 years after the events of the first Starcraft game. In real life, it has been 12 years. In most cases there is a time lapse so that stories that span longer periods of time can be enjoyed quickly. This time it’s the other way around. Of course [...]

July 26, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/grief-and-evilness/

Grief and Evilness

I recently saw the Saw movies. Yeah, I know they are horrible. The first movie was just silly. The first sequels were embarrassing. But as the series nowadays consists of 6 (!!!) parts and gathered a solid fanbase, it’s hard to deny that they are doing something right. And indeed all the movies in the [...]


http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/grief-and-evilness/

Grief and Evilness

I recently saw the Saw movies. Yeah, I know they are horrible. The first movie was just silly. The first sequels were embarrassing. But as the series nowadays consists of 6 (!!!) parts and gathered a solid fanbase, it’s hard to deny that they are doing something right. And indeed all the movies in the [...]


http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/grief-and-evilness/

Grief and Evilness

I recently saw the Saw movies. Yeah, I know they are horrible. The first movie was just silly. The first sequels were embarrassing. But as the series nowadays consists of 6 (!!!) parts and gathered a solid fanbase, it’s hard to deny that they are doing something right. And indeed all the movies in the [...]


http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/grief-and-evilness/

Grief and Evilness

I recently saw the Saw movies. Yeah, I know they are horrible. The first movie was just silly. The first sequels were embarrassing. But as the series nowadays consists of 6 (!!!) parts and gathered a solid fanbase, it’s hard to deny that they are doing something right. And indeed all the movies in the [...]

July 25, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/im-not-iron-man/

I’m Not Iron Man

Since there is not much going on, here is a short update on my general well-being. Due to massive heat waves in Germany, my recent training was somewhat reduced. I still managed to go running and to go the studio at least once a week. I don’t think the reduction had any impact on my [...]

July 24, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/quitting-in-trauma/

Quitting in TRAUMA

No, I’m not quitting TRAUMA. On the contrary, I just added another feature I kept postponing for way too long. It is now possible to quit a level before completing it. You know, in case you get stuck for example. It was another tricky interface design problem, too. I’m still not 100% sure about my solution. As [...]

July 23, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/the-dwindling-of-couch-multi-player/

The Dwindling of Couch Multi-Player

I had a small gaming evening with 3 friends recently. We started searching for games that could be played with 4 players on one screen. It is a little bit shocking to see how small the selection turned out to be. Granted, we had only the Wii and a non-XBLA enabled Xbox 360. We ended [...]

July 22, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/monster-hunter-podcast/

Monster Hunter Podcast

The Game Design Review Podcast has been awfully irregular recently. It has become increasingly difficult to get the gang together. I decided to do a smaller, different podcast in-between to keep my podcasting skills fresh. It’s a podcast about Monster Hunter and it doesn’t really have much to do with game design. But if you enjoy Monster [...]

July 21, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/im-big-on-lutetia/

I’m Big on Lutetia

Here is a cool bit of space stuff I just stumbled over. You might remember Lutetia, the biggest asteroid visited by a spacecraft. You might also remember this pic I did, where Lutetia doesn’t look that big actually. I’m swear! It’s way bigger. It was just so cold when the picture was taken. Well, it always depends on what [...]


http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/anticipating-inception/

Anticipating Inception

The movie of the now is obviously Inception. It’s not out yet in Germany but being such a sucker for Christopher Nolan, I decided to watch in anyway. I leave it up it your imagination how that’s possible. I can tell you that it was about as cinematic as having the movie conveyed to you [...]

July 19, 2010
http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/choice-in-narratives/

Choice in Narratives

Here is an interesting article. It basically describes and compares two different solutions for combining gameplay and narrative. In a nutshell it compares Mass Effect with Fallout 3. I especially like this quote By closing off the game and opening up the story, BioWare games give me agency where I do not require it, and remove my [...]


http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/choice-in-narratives/

Choice in Narratives

Here is an interesting article. It basically describes and compares two different solutions for combining gameplay and narrative. In a nutshell it compares Mass Effect with Fallout 3. I especially like this quote By closing off the game and opening up the story, BioWare games give me agency where I do not require it, and remove my [...]