Difficulty in games – and how Breath of the wild does it well

Designing your game for the right difficulty level is a challenge. We've all been at the point where we've played a game that was either too easy or too difficult. And especially in the beginning, when we don't know what to expect from a game and when we haven't grasped all the dynamics and mechanics … Continue reading Difficulty in games – and how Breath of the wild does it well →

Savegames III – Zelda

If we are looking at games and how they implement the savegame mechanic to support their immersion and their creation of the game world, we need to talk about the first part in the Zelda series that was released on the NES console. In 1986, the first Zelda game was released on the then Famicom … Continue reading Savegames III – Zelda →

The savegame mechanic in Resident Evil

In the earlier blog post about how the save game mechanic and influences the immersion and the gameplay, we had dissected various save game implementations. If we are looking at the Resident Evil implementation of saving and loading games, we will realize that the development team found a very interesting way of incorporating the save … Continue reading The savegame mechanic in Resident Evil →

Modernizing retro game scenes with AI

Over at one of my favorite Retro Game Forums stayforever.de, there's a thread about turning retro game art and scenes into realistic photos, leveraging generative AI like ChatGPT or Copilot and the like. What a fantastic experiment that is - I tried it out myself and enjoyed a good two hours, converting a number of … Continue reading Modernizing retro game scenes with AI →

Larry and the telemetry treasure

I am looking into how feedback and quality control happened in our beloved games in the 80s and 90s and came across something I learned that I want to share. As I research the subject space, it becomes apparent that especially in the 80s, structured testing and feedback gathering wasn't necessarily a very structured task … Continue reading Larry and the telemetry treasure →

Achievements – how did that start?

I recently finished Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - what a fantastic game! I finished the main story and some side quests - in the game they're called "Field work". I managed to get most field work and the main story done in some 35 hours of game play - but returned to the … Continue reading Achievements – how did that start? →

Savegames as a game mechanic

Underrated game mechanic: savegames. There: I said it. It's one of these things in game design that, if you're doing it right, no one knows it's there, if you're doing it wrong, it gets in everybody's face and it's the thing that ruins your game play experience. They're done right, if they're not intrusive. In … Continue reading Savegames as a game mechanic →

Learning about the CD32

I found an offer for a Commodore Amiga CD32 that I could not refuse. I have never owned a CD32 in my childhood, but my curiosity now and what I'd read so far made me accept the offer, and explore. It's finally here and it's in fantastic shape: I connected it to my projector, because … Continue reading Learning about the CD32 →

Hotseat playing

I have been chatting with a friend about how fun the good old days were when we played games, sitting in front of a (home) computer. Where have these days gone, when you played a game with your friends, and you'd pass the keyboard and mouse along after your turn, waiting for everybody to finish … Continue reading Hotseat playing →

Creating Amiga HD images

I have a few real Amigas here with me, that I play with and enjoy - and that I run experiments on. If you have a lucky hand like myself, you find yourself from time to time … breaking stuff. Software-wise, of course. Over time, the real spindle HDDs failed on me, and I decided … Continue reading Creating Amiga HD images →