Ryan Shields

In recent years I’ve noticed something curious about contemporary games. Only recently have I discovered it, but others have seemed to catch on sooner. I’m talking about the absence of instruction manuals and their replacement with in-game tutorials. In this…

Earlier this month my colleague Catie penned an intriguing article on episodic gaming. If readers have yet to check it out, I recommend they do so; it is well worth the time. In it, Catie concludes with some thoughts on…

Gaming isn’t my passion, philosophy is. While I enjoy a good game, I enjoy thinking about what makes games good more. But some might ask, “What does philosophy have to do with video games?” Elsewhere I’ve written on gaming’s relationship…

Deciding the Claim If readers follow my work on this site, they’ll notice an assumption threading most of my pieces together. Weaving through each article is the notion that, like literature and other forms of art, some video games play…

With the recent release of the much anticipated Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy came a recent thought on a not so recent phenomenon. Lately, it’s been popular to release games prior to completion. In other words, most games today are…

Introduction with Motives “No, no, don’t do it like that, do it like this.” “You’re wasting manna!” “You know, if you just equipped this badge, you could have done X+2 damage instead of X amount of damage.” If any of…

Every now and then, gamers gather in a certain place at a certain, expecting something. They mingle with one another. One whispers to their neighbor, “I hope they release this game.” “As do I,” replies the worried neighbor, “but is…

Intense, diverse, riotous, and democratic. All but these words escape me when describing the Sony PlayStation E3 2017 conference. Pyrotechnics, zombies, and a melodic light show combined to make quite a theatrical performance. In addition, some amazing games are on…

Breaking stuff is fun; sometimes it’s smart. When a car company develops a new car, they must break it to test its emergency and safety features. Will the airbags deploy? Will they keep the driver safe? How will the collision…

Previously on “How Games Are Made”, I defined the role of a producer and offered some creative choices producers generally make in the course of the production phase of game development. However, sometimes a producer’s choices don’t go over well…