There is something about unclear options which make choices a lot more interesting. This post goes into the reasons behind this, and various ways of achieving it in games.
Planning – The Core Reason Why Gameplay Feels Good
In this post I dig into planning, and how it is a fundamental part of what makes a game engaging. Planning affects many aspects of what is so special about games and why we enjoy playing them. This post will go over the reasons behind this, and explains why planning is so important for narrative games.
Creations inspired by Frictional Games
Last week we announced a competition on Facebook and Twitter, asking our community to share their creations inspired by our games. We knew that there was a whole load of art, mods and just plain crazy stuff out there, and we’re really happy to have seen many of them which we might otherwise have missed.
Navigating the Space of Game Design
Designing a game spawns an endless set of ideas – ideas that need to be sorted. In order to do this, you need a method of evaluating them. The following discusses five different gameplay models – ways of thinking about game design – that can be helpful in choosing between ideas, and how they affect the final game.
David Satzinger: Art Lead
Hello, my name is David and I’m the “General Purpose Visual Design” person at Frictional Games, and Art Director on one of our new projects. I’m one of the newer members of the team, with only a bit more than 3 years at Frictional under my belt. Originally I joined as a graphic designer to make in-game logos and GUI graphics for the company. My first release with Frictional was Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, for which I made lots of 2D assets.
SOMA – One Year Later
It is now one year since we released SOMA which means it is time for an update on the current state of things.
SOMA – 6 Months Later
It is now a bit over 6 months since SOMA was released, so it feels like it’s time for an update on how everything has gone so far.
Thoughts on Until Dawn and Interactive Movies
Before starting Until Dawn my hopes for the game weren’t very high. I thought it was going to be a half-baked and campy interactive movie filled with unlikable characters and cheap jump scares. However, it turned out a lot better than I could have imagined and it now stands as one of my favorite horror games ever.
SOMA Original Soundtrack
Mikko Tarmia’s SOMA OST is now available for download and streaming through iTunes, Spotify and other online services. 24 tracks of music from SOMA, tweaked and modified to create the best possible soundtrack release.
The Voices of SOMA
SOMA has been a long journey. For roughly five years I’ve worked on Simon, Catherine, and the others who in some way inhabits the world of SOMA. The game has changed a lot over the years, not just in gameplay and plot, but in tone as well. I think one of the most grounding and solidifying aspects of creating the characters for SOMA has been giving them an actual actor’s voice.
