Recent content by John Scott Tynes

The Hard Problem: The New Concurrency MMOGs brag about how many people they have all playing at once, but the real king of concurrency is something completely different. Read Full Article

Great responses, folks, thanks! I agree that a market economy feature seems out of place in AC2, but given that they gave you a town and a villa and told you to upgrade it to a prosperous trading center, it's clear they're not hewing closely to the "all you do is assassinate people" idea...

Faucets, Sinks, and Markets John Scott Tynes addresses why single player economies collapse and how to fix them. Read Full Article

Thanks for all the thoughtful discussion. One question a couple of you have raised is why being overpowered relative to the missions is a problem. My feeling is that being overpowered is fun only briefly. If the game remains a cakewalk too long, I think the lack of challenge kills your...

It's a Christmas miracle!

Collection Progression Let's reinvent the old standard sidequest of action games: The hidden object collect-a-thon. Read Full Article

Fascinating responses. I haven't played The Witcher and it does sound like they're doing what I suggested. Although as I noted in the article, I'm partly joking in my recommendations since the chance of this idea catching on is approximately nil. It just seems odd to me, in the abstract, that...

Videogame Sex Let's talk about sex, baby. Read Full Article

Thanks for the comments, folks. And just to ensure there are no misunderstandings: I will, personally, be visiting each of your houses tonight, removing all of your controllers, replacing them with Atari 2600 joysticks, and installing Far Cry 2600 on your consoles. I think we'll all learn a lot...

Too Many Buttons Too many buttons on controllers makes games inaccessible, and John Scott Tynes offers a solution with Far Cry 2600. Read Full Article

Excellent discussion guys, thanks. And to be clear, I can't say that I think superhero games *should* add epic loot that are visible on your character. But it is an expectation people have from WoW and other games, and the superhero genre is kind of antithetical to it due to the costume thing...

Evolving the Superhero MMO Superhero MMOs can take a lesson out of the pages of comic books. Read Full Article

Unfinished Games John Scott Tynes discusses how to make sure no game goes unfinished. Read Full Article

Thanks for all the great discussion, folks. Except for the completely inexplicable detour into PS3 vs. Xbox 360, which I nonetheless enjoyed for its surreal quality. Should I become the fascist lord of all gaming, I assure you that I won't eliminate narrative games. The twist in Bioshock was...

The Hard Problem: Dynamic Content Developers need to stop treating games like they're virtual books and start crafting more dynamic experiences. Read Full Article