Extra Credits

Since audio is so important to communicate critical information, it needs to be designed neatly. Cluttered audio is confusing to players. We look at examples of audio in Counterstrike and Overwatch to learn about this.

Video games provide catharsis in a very unusual way from film and literature, and understanding how they do that is important for creating deep emotional experiences.

Most of the time in game development, the game isn't actually in a polished and/or playable state until very close to the release date, which is why many studios are reluctant to release early builds or demos even at major marketing events like E3. Learn about the role of the build engineer!

Bandersnatch wasn't the first interactive film on Netflix, but it attracted a lot of views from its association with Black Mirror and meta-narrative attempts. What kind of commentary does it make about *us* as players and viewers?

Ironically, many of the marketing promises of Destiny ended up being a great advertisement for Warframe. Although not without its flaws, Warframe has overall delivered a stronger gameplay experience and tonally consistent atmosphere than Destiny did.

Good character design should successfully capture the fantasy of *being* a particular character. Even with mechanical constraints on gameplay possibilities, compelling characters are still achievable via techniques like ludonarrative resonance.

Today we finally delve into tabletop RPGs you might not have tried, with the help of RPG designer Eddy Webb.

We discovered a fascinating, feel-good story about Tim Sweeney (the founder of Epic Games) and how his love for the forests of North Carolina got him into game development!

The famous folks who made the games of our childhood, such as the Legend of Zelda series, were inspired by their own life experiences, rather than referencing previously created games. So why is it so common for young developers to almost entirely rely on these games as their sole templates, rather than designing from a wide variety of real-life inspirations? The rise of “lifestyle games” contributes to this imbalance in how a designer spends their time. Design students should remember to seek out experiences in all their forms, if they want to truly be a crafter of experiences. It’s also a huge part of why Extra Credits often talks about subjects “seemingly” unrelated to game design--they actually do matter in the big picture of a design education. Thanks to Samuel Dassler for guest-writing this episode!

As a GM, one of the coolest things you can do for your players is to pay attention to what they spend their stat points and how they build their characters, so you can create more gameplay moments that match what they're looking for (even if they don't consciously realize it!). Thanks to Eddy Webb for guest-writing this episode!

We bet you REALLY haven't tried some of these undercover hidden gems of the gaming world!

Announced at GDC 2019, Stadia is potentially an incredible game-streaming technology that will dramatically increase convenient access to games to people all over the world and from all income levels, but will it actually stick? What barriers and hurdles does it face from ISPs and content creators?

You can de-emphasize a story without completely removing a narrative from a game. From the Super Mario games to Portal, there are many opportunities for narrative elements to enhance the gameplay and give the player a reason to, well, keep playing!

Technical debt is what happens when problems caused early on in development aren’t dealt with until later, causing them to be significantly more difficult or expensive to address. They can affect any part of the production pipeline--what do producers need to know in order to correct these project management issues?

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice offers some great examples of how to address mental illness respectfully in games, but we found some other examples in media as well as recommendations by actual psychologists. Many thanks to Heidi McDonald and Dr. Kelli Dunlap for their research and writing for this episode!

Many times, the "game celebrities" we think of are the names of studios and publishers themselves, or just a small handful of historically notable names--but even these names aren't often well known outside of the gaming world. This can result in a general perception of game devs as nameless and unimportant, reinforcing power from the studio heads.

Having mutual trust at the table means we can use tabletop RPGs to explore ideas that are uncomfortable for us. When the game is run safely, we can use these experiences to help us understand how we would confront these things in the real world, and it can give us an experience to share with others when we leave the role-playing world.

The Kuleshov Effect first came from the world of film, but it has fascinating applications in video games when players interact with non-playable characters. Context, juxtaposition, and emotions can be used in gameplay to create psychological fidelity in addition to the technical fidelity of mocap, voice acting, and artistic design.

Doom (2016) and Dragon Quest XI were successful sequels/reboots with their fans because they focused on modernizing the already loved and proven atmosphere and mechanics of their original games. You don't necessarily need to add in new elements just because other games use them--find what works for your game and for your intended audience.

Let's talk about how game saving works, the different types of saved-game systems, and which types of game designs encourage the practice of "save scumming"--which we don't think is inherently a bad thing, but it can feel frustrating to players if they feel like that's their only guaranteed chance of success at a difficult gameplay situation.

"Bleed" describes one type of emotional impact games can have on players, where empathy is high and the barrier breaks down a bit between who you are and who you're playing as. We discuss different game narrative techniques to encourage emotional bleed.

Historical and current political context matters in game design. Don't treat Nazis and terrorists like they are just one of several morally equivalent character skins for players to try on. Rainbow Six Siege is just one example of a game that includes thrilling PvP mechanics without normalizing morally wrong ideologies.

By keeping a consistent tone with the gameplay, tying up all loose plot and character threads, and balancing the emotional payoff with the emotional buildup, games can have amazingly powerful endings that leave us wanting more. We look at some well-done examples like Super Mario Odyssey, Portal, and Silent Hill 2, as well as some weaker examples like the endings of Psychonauts and Assassin's Creed 1.

We're kicking off a mini-series called "Learning to Play Magic" over the next few weeks to teach you how to play... with a cat! But for today, we're just talking about the design lessons you can learn from playing MTG.

Games can teach us to keep a good perspective on life, both when it comes to planning for the future, and when it comes to seeing the current (stressful, struggling) moment in context of its real long-term impact.

Beautiful visuals and spell-binding stories can be found in games even without photorealistic, over-wrought intensity. We look at examples like Undertale, Dark Souls, and even Overwatch as examples of how "imagination gaps" can be intentionally designed as a jumping-off point to engage the player even more than if everything was laid out at the start.

Today, we dig into the lore, personality, and philosophy of all the different Magic colors, as a prelude to strategy.

Tabletop roleplaying games don't have an overall "win" or "loss" condition, but they do have individual moments of wins and losses that can be exaggerated and customized for more engaging gameplay.

What makes a good UI and a good HUD? Can you make narratively immersive UI that doesn't end up distracting or confusing the player? Is it okay to just make "boring" UI?

Why is cooperation so difficult? Why do people make choices that seem to be worse for everyone involved, including themselves? Welcome to The Prisoner's Dilemma.

We discuss the various design considerations that go into running a digital games storefront, from functionality to relevancy, and shed some light on the game certification process for consoles in particular.

Games teach us that it's okay to make mistakes, that we'll inevitably mess up in the game just like we mess up in real life. How does one pick themselves back up after an unexpected disappointment, crisis, or failure in achieving their creative goals?

We've talked about specific core loops of games before, but there's a core loop that every game shares: The Real Core Loop. Very creative name, I know. But understanding this loop can help reveal what kind of game you're creating & how to minimize frustration on the player's end.

Ah, the infamous Kobayashi Maru. The no-win Star Trek scenario is actually more common in video games than you might think. When games employ random elements, you increase the odds of creating a scenario where before the player even touches the controller, they have already lost. That must be a huge game design mistake, right? Well... It's not always so simple.

With whole new worlds open for exploring, game designers ran into a quick problem: how do you make sure new players don't run into a difficulty brick wall, and experienced players don't have to wade through trash mobs? Games like Oblivion and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey tried to fix this problem by simply scaling enemy difficulty to grow along with the player. But is that really the best solution? Or does level scaling doom open worlds to a same-y slog?

Welcome back to our guest writer Eddy Webb! After his last episode, Eddy's been doing some thinking about failure in tabletop RPGs. More specifically, how failure can bring everyone at the table closer together. How? Through the principle of reciprocity. Letting yourself fail can help let another player shine and just by offering the spotlight to someone else, you can build a better play experience for everyone.

For All Hallow's Eve, we're reviving an old episode from the dead: How to make a proper horror protagonist! It's been six years since we've talked about horror protagonists and the games industry has given us more examples of prime horror examples. So let's talk about the main points you should follow to write up a great horror protagonist.

The Hallway by Ellie Samson Momentary by Zack Contest to Suggest by SRPent & OutOfCharacters Obolus, Please by Lei Into the Bullet Hell by Hot Girls with Broken Legs Moving Makes You Smaller by Moldoveanu Florin Doods: Radical Passage by Vandervas Generator 80 Days by Evan S.

If you want to get a job in the games industry (or most any creative industry for that matter), then you’re going to need a portfolio. Why? Because they’re the second step towards getting you an interview. So we're going to teach you some of the basics when it comes to putting together that amazing portfolio for the dream job!

It's important to give credit where credit is due, but doing so might be trickier than some people might realize. Games take a long time to create and people may come and go on a project or be moved around to different departments. And the lead artist in one studio might not do the same tasks as a lead artist in another studio. This all makes credits very complicated! But that doesn't mean we can give up on credits either. Credits should not be "extra".

Nothing is more frustrating than a game crashing behind a loading screen, or the game grinding to a halt as you have to travel in-between areas. Even as tech gets stronger, our games get bigger, so it doesn't look like loading screens are disappearing anytime soon. But do they have to kill the pacing of the game and bore your player to death? We don't think so! We talk about a few examples of loading screens done right and how to engage your player during the waiting game.

Imposter Syndrome is the psychological phenomena of thinking that you're less capable or deserving of your achievements that you are, leading you to think that you must have "fooled" your way into your position or success. And it is SUPER common in creative fields, including the game industry. Where does this phenomena come from, why is it so harmful, and how can we prevent it?

J.J. was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 7. The hospital can be a scary place for a child, but it was in C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital that J.J. was introduced to video games. An activity therapist named Jerry Reed presented J.J. with Pitfall. Video games impacted J.J.'s life so profoundly to the positive, J.J. became a Certified Child Life Specialist at the very same hospital, 20 years later.

Victoria was always a curious child, but an undiagnosed anxiety disorder and ADHD gave her a rough start. It was difficult to make friends and at school she was known as the weird kid. After she was diagnosed, medication helped! But she still struggled socially. But after her parents read about Game to Grow, they decided to give it a shot. D&D allows kids like Victoria to explore social situations in a structured, no-risk environment and soon, Victoria was breaking out of her shell.

Our final story also comes from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital ( https://victors.us/streamformott ) Jacob was born with primary ciliary dyskinesia which means spending an hour every day receiving treatment to help prevent lung infections. During those treatments, Jacob was able to help pass the time by playing games. But when a tumor was found in Jacob's kidney, he had to stay at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. The week leading up to surgery was long, boring, and isolating. But the Child Life Specialists at the hospital changed all of that by visiting with toys and games. Games that gave Jacob something to look forward to and helped give Jacob hope.