Designing for streaming-friendly games

As I don't have much time any more to sit and play a lot of games on my own, what I am doing in smaller time slices that I still have on my hands, is watch someone else play games. Finding someone who plays the game you are intrigued about, have memories about, are stuck … Continue reading Designing for streaming-friendly games →

Copy protection in the good old days

I prepared an article for a German retro game magazine about the history of copy protection in games. It's quite an interesting topic that I had learned more about in the past months, working on preservation of floppies, playing with my Kryoflux and looking into protection systems of the 80s and 90s. I haven't paid … Continue reading Copy protection in the good old days →

Level reuse

I continue to play Lemmings. During the "Tricky" set of levels, occasionally, Levels start to repeat. Well, only on first sight. The level layout is the same there as in the very first level in Lemmings: While the level layout is the same, the Lemming abilities differ - while you have diggers in the first … Continue reading Level reuse →

Product elevator pitch

When you're developing a product strategy, or a new set of features for an existing product, you need to find a way to capture, and also communicate that strategy to the world. That's very important, because as you create your vision, you'll need allies, supporters and sponsors - and being able to convey the idea … Continue reading Product elevator pitch →

Annoying levels in Lemmings

Okay, I have been playing Lemmings recently - the original version on the Amiga. I uncovered a few shitty levels that I couldn't quite figure out right-away, but found they're very well designed. Look at this beginning - the goal is one screen to the right, but that's less complicated - the beginning is the … Continue reading Annoying levels in Lemmings →

Upgrading an Amiga 500, WHDload and disk trouble

With a little more time on my hands, I finally decided to plan and progress with some of my old and retro hardware and put them to meaningful and fun use. I have had two Amiga 500s for a while now, both in fair condition, and decided to keep one was pristine as possible, with … Continue reading Upgrading an Amiga 500, WHDload and disk trouble →

Character and player on a journey

When you are designing a piece of software, service or functionality, sometimes, you need to take the user on a journey with you. Especially in a new experience that users haven't engaged in before, or you need the user to complete certain steps as a means to an end, you need to keep them motivated … Continue reading Character and player on a journey →

Game disk archiving

I am collecting the hardware and software from my past to preserve and show-display them in my home office for my personal pleasure. I have grown up with an Amiga 500 and an Amiga 2000, then later a 486/60MHz and later a Pentium with 200MHz. Especially the Amiga 500 has gotten me to start playing … Continue reading Game disk archiving →

Planning collecting of telemetry for the thermostat

Over in the other blog post, we discussed the idea of introducing telemetry to measure a feature's success and inform how to move forward with the feature or solution. Ideally, we would know early on in the development process, what telemetry we'd need, to make further decisions, and ensure health and usefulness of the feature. … Continue reading Planning collecting of telemetry for the thermostat →

Playing on real retro hardware

I've asked ChatGPT what it thinks about playing games on retro/old hardware vs. emulation: Playing retro games today is super easy: for many games, there are remakes that still run on modern computers or consoles - you can find them on your favorite gaming platform, like steam, which has a "Retro" tag for search, or … Continue reading Playing on real retro hardware →