Daryl Talks Games

What exactly about the Mah Eliya shrine in Breath of the Wild makes it one of the most refreshing dungeons of the entire game? In this episode of Forging the Level, I’ll talk about how Secret Stairway incorporates the psychology of divergent thinking. If you haven’t played it yet, or are struggling to complete it, perhaps this will give you some inspiration on how to clear it!

What can we learn from 2017's game of the year? As you can imagine, this game is as full of wisdom as it is fun. Get comfortable a be prepared to be motivated and entertained!

Mario's 2017 comeback is packed full of great lessons that we can all be encouraged by. The colorful antics are just just the beginning of what this game has to offer. Be prepared to be motivated and entertained!

Tests and exams are a real pain, but what if they were as easy as your favorite game? In this episode of thought burst, I'll explore how the psychology of the generation effect can help you become a better student and give you more confidence heading into exams.

The Mirror Temple in the mountain climbing platformer Celeste is an fantastic example of how a game can tell a story through its gameplay. It's easy to create cut-scenes and direct a game like you would a movie, but the brilliant part of video games is that they are a medium to experience the story, not just watch it. The mirror temple illustrates this brilliantly, and its the topic of today's episode of Forging the Level.

Bosses are often the final test of skill at the end of a level, but I think Koloktos from Skyward Sword serves as something different. Instead of a hearty challenge, he gives the player a change to unwind from the critical thinking needed to complete the Ancient Cistern. What do you think?

Auto-Scrolling is one of the most divisive mechanics in all of gaming. Some love the challenge it provides, and others see it as little more than an annoyance. Regardless of where you stand, since 1983 Nintendo has seen it as a dynamic way to spice up their platforming design, and continue to use it today. But in 3D platformers, it's much more difficult to implement. In this video I'll explore how autoscrolling has evolved and how Nintendo could take it to the next level by taking a page out of Fortnite: Battle Royale.

It's often said that if you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. There is psychological research that suggests there is a lot of ground to this cliche. In this episode, I'll explore what functional fixedness is, why it matters in video game design, and how overcoming it empowered Long Hat House to craft 2018's Dandara.

What gives a game “good pacing”? How do you make moments in a game “memorable”? When is less information, actually more? These questions are all something that video game developers should be asking, and I would recommend looking to the psychology of primacy and recency for the answers. The human mind has a natural desire to process the stimulation in front of it, and in this episode of Psych of Play, I’ll take a swing at explaining how you can play with levels of color and sound to make your video game memorable.

Ah E3, possibly the most emotionally charged event of the year for gamers. During the weeks leading up to it, we as people absorb a lot of information to prepare for it. Expectations are high, hype trains are loaded, and subreddits are salty. But what makes people behave the way they do during this event? And why is it both incredibly fun and heartbreaking? Today, I’ll be talking about how priming, social psych, and developmental psych all influence our thoughts and actions during E3. Thanks for joining me on this Special Edition of Psych of Play!

Since the early days of console platformers, run and guns, and arcade fighters, most games have operated on a 2d axis for the sake of visual perception. Its easy to judge distance on a flat image when that image is on that 2d plane. However when games make that transition to 3d, suddenly visual perception gets a little more tricky. Today on Forging the Level, we will be taking a look at the fighting game, how its made the transition to 3d and 3rd person, what is lost and gained in this change, and some creative ways to create new fighting game experiences.

That skin crawling feeling of being under a microscope or being observed can make even the most hardened gamers feel uneasy. Disembodied eyes, masks, and disfigured faces all give us the creeps. But what exactly makes these things..weird? And how can game developers use the perception of being watched to add challenges and atmosphere to their games?

Super Mario Odyssey gave us the chance to experience a vast lineup of captures, but none stood out to me quite as much as Pokio. This little guy's mechanic is one of the most fun ways to move around in a game I have experienced in a long time. But what is going on psychologically when we use him or any of the other satisfying mechanics in gaming? In this episode, we'll spend some time breaking down Pokio and what makes him so special.

Adaptive music in video games is one of the greatest innovations to come to the industry, and its use is far reaching. But what exactly makes dynamic music effective? Why do some sound effects and soundtracks seem to “fit” any given moment in a game? It turns out, musical frequency has quite a significant effect on that “fit”, and if used well, can actively play a part in shaping the player’s thought. In this video, I’ll dive into psychological research on the frequency of music, and how its utility in marketing can make games a much deeper experience.

What do elite pianists, world record speedrunners, and Tiger Woods all have in common? Performing their craft is completely second nature to them. Zoning out and allowing muscle memory to take over helps them make incredible performances look easy. In this episode of Psych of Play, featuring interviews from Mario Odyssey speedrunner Nicroeda and Celeste runner Msushi, we'll take a deeper look at the psychological phenomena known as automaticity.

If you haven’t seen it already, the Tetris Effect Trailer that Playstation dropped back in June is one of the most moving advertisements in a long time. It mentions a study about amnesiacs who can’t form new memories, and how they dreamed of playing Tetris hours and even days later. So today on Psych of Play, were going to take a look at that study and what is actually going on.

The goal of pro wrestling, if you happen to run a wrestling promotion, is to create something called “the pop”, a moment when the crowd loses their minds and gets excited all at once. And although wrestling is fake, it manages to do that on a consistent basis. But what factors go into creating those spectacular moments? How can you hold the audience in the palm of your hand like that? Pro wrestling is good at making those moments, but so is Super Smash Bros. The anticipation, the history, the buildup, the timing; these are just a few things that make smash reveals so special and how Smash bros makes a few pops of their own, just like pro wrestling. This, is the smash effect.