Aug 1indie bundle cruft death match seven: the reckoningyes. it’s time again. PREVIOUSLY, ON “BUNDLE CRUFT DEATH MATCH!” So, well… there you have it! That’s 30 games. Of those 30 games, we’re getting rid of 19. That’s 63%. Lower than our average of 78%, but there was some really, really good stuff here, especially Rebel Galaxy, which I…12 min read
Jun 22the one after the last one about destinySo, I wrote the last one about destiny with a kind of finality. At the time, it was because Bungie was going in a direction that meant I couldn’t stick with the game. I wanted to; believe me, I wanted to. It was Marathon that got me through living in…Destiny59 min read
May 1does art say things?“You’ve done too much original research” was the reason he gave me for not giving me a perfect score. “You have a great paper here, really interesting conclusions, but even though you hit the number of sources I asked for, you should have cited more scholars. Where are you coming…Video Games65 min read
Mar 1on the art of how to be making your players give a fuckWhat’s your favorite single moment in a video game? Like… what moment do you look back on fondly, what moment gets you to evangelize the game to everyone who will listen? When I ask people this question, without fail, each and every one tells me about their favorite story beat. …45 min read
Feb 5an introductionHi, everyone. I’m Doc Burford, and for a long time, I’ve been making, consulting on, and explaining video game design to people. Today, I’d like to let you in on a little secret: because video games are an art form, they can be understood. Over the years, as I’ve discussed…8 min read
Jan 29i shipped 1 game and finished 79 video games in 2021 and here is a list of all of themWhat a year. Instead of reflecting on it like a lot of people will and saying things like “wow, what a year,” I’m going to tell you this: I shipped a video game despite it all, alongside the fine folks at Mischief, particularly one of my best buds in the…Video Games81 min read
Jan 1In Which I Critique A Game I Have Not Played In Three Thousand, Nine Hundred And Thirty Nine Days, Give Or TakeYou’re going to have to trust me on this one. It happened at GDC. We were walking through the expo hall — I couldn’t afford a pass to the talks — and we were talking about a game. “What happened with that?” one of us asked. I won’t tell you…48 min read
Nov 20, 2021The One About The Souls GamesThis piece was originally slated for another publication a few years ago. It didn’t get published. So here it is. Republished from my now defunct Tumblr blog. Screenshots are all ones I took when playing Bloodborne. This time, I’m confident I have him. Father Gascgoine has been plaguing me for…Dark Souls11 min read
Nov 11, 2021look what i made for you: apparently, while i am not a dumbass, many cryptobros are, and i am going to address a consistent stupid takeSo! I wrote an article about why NFTs are bad for game design (please read it first). Tons of discourse, lots of really good feedback, and a handful of cryptobros in my mentions. …Crypto32 min read
Nov 7, 2021look what you made me do: a lot of people have asked me to make NFT games and I won’t because i’m not a fucking dumbass. now let me tell you why only a dumbass would get into NFT games.Right, so, you’ve probably read a bunch of great stuff from other people on why NFTs are bad, but I also know how reading things on the internet works, maybe you haven’t. So, here’s the really simple version… (but first: hey ya’ll, I’m sick! like really sick! I just had…Nft40 min read