iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 23h

Almost any game with three or more competing human players has a political challenge. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Underlying goals are the goals that you need to win but aren’t the checkbox you check to win. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Move, attack, and build cover the vast majority of game verbs. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A key part of polish is looking for features to improve the quality of the player’s life. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the JRPG storytelling style. I’m very gameplay biased, so I want games with lots of time spent decision-making compared to the amount of time spent watching story. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

We’re humans. We get emotionally engaged by conflict. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Verbs like to work together. Goals like to fight each other. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For anyone coming just for Fire Emblem, the idea of this feed is to use specific games to talk about concepts in game design, so don’t expect deep Fire Emblem dives. Sorry. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The first reaction to “Trash a card” is often “Why would I want to do that?” followed by a gradual realization of how powerful that can be. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The games that defined the genre were not the only good ideas.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The economy is the challenge, especially when the economy is built on uncertainty. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Layering goals doesn’t mean the goals need to be friends. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Buy is the direct verb. Analyze is the mental verb. Shuffle is the interface verb. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A very true point about making a decision, and the importance of actually making it.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

When working on a game, it’s good to understand the flavors of your own content and start to break down the types. You can’t pace things well if you haven’t defined them. #gaming #gamedesign.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The pattern of unlocks and freedom within each unlock creates a shape. A linear game will have a linear shape, while an open world game will have a more open shape. Decide what shape you want. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I like picking apart mental challenges in games and categorizing them. So many different flavors of thinking! #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

You can see the difference between this game and Heaven’s Gate, which has a similar translation verb at its heart but has more goals and additional verbs. I love Heaven’s Gate, but I also love the focus of Chants. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I make my students play a bit of Zork every semester, partially to understand how frustrating old interfaces were, but also to see the power of words. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The decision to make code solid or make it quick isn’t as easy as I present it here. In this case, solid proved to be the right choice because the game became a hit. But in a lot of cases, you don’t need to cover every future possibility on the first pass. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The version of the level you see here is one of the few sloop levels left in the game, and this one took a lot of iteration to get it to be moderately fun and consistent. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This is a good example of how “systems” need to be defined based on your needs when you’re doing the analysis. When doing a normal analysis on a normal game, terrain is just a component in the physics system. But in this game, it’s key and deserves its own section. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I like to get my hands dirty working on games. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I should note on this one that “we wrote” the physics engine is using "we" very loosely - I wasn’t very involved in Where’s My Water until after the physics was written, and I don't write code. That was a mix of talented programmers, mostly the super talented Jason Pecho. #gamedesign #gaming

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Reposted by Tom Smith

Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 04/09/2026

what the fucking fuck www.whitehouse.gov/arcade/

whitehouse.gov

Arcade

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Create different flavors of choice for the player. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

How do we make this change happen?

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Let the player know where the possibility spaces might be. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Player customization is important for more than just the artistic players. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Many game structures are proactive while this is reactive, but as a player I often prefer to let the game figure out what should happen next and I’m happy to run with it. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Feel free to call me a newb in the comments for sometimes dying. They do balance it so top players never die. That is not me. But I still love this game. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This game has so many well-crafted goals. If only I could remember to start building satellites as early as possible every time, I’d do better. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

What do you get the game that has every verb? #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Now I’m thinking about how games train your brain just by pretending to be something.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

You don’t need a progression structure to have progression, if the game has depth. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Progression is always telling a story - giving the game content a beginning, middle, and end. The question is do you give it a face and emotions? #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

How you organize your levels may seem like a small matter, but roguelikes and Candy Crush Saga are both examples where content organization led to huge success. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Which numbers are interesting together and which are just the same thing but bigger? It can be hard to tell sometimes. #gaming #gamedesign

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Players don’t need all their toys at once; sprinkle new things around to make them more special. #gaming #gamedesign

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Reposted by Tom Smith

Bat-Tali 🦇🎃 (Vancouver era ✨) @talidev3d.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

every rock you see in a video game is like 1 of 4* rocks rotated in different directions *amount of rocks may vary

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is both kinda crazy and kinda makes perfect sense.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Other players are unpredictable. Which is great when playing, but challenging when moderating. #gamedesign #gaming

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Stealing the title by adding a fishing mini-game after you’re done.

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Tom Smith @thegamedesigndad.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The interactive nature of games make them a great tool for teaching social emotional skills. #gamedesign #gaming

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