Moon's Game Design Diaries

By Drachen Manen

A Podcast and Blog following my studies in Game Design as I prepare myself for a career in Game Development, pour yourself some tea and join me for some Video Game Design microessays.

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Breath of The Wild's weapon durability system is good, actually. (Entry 7)

Moon's Game Design DiariesAug 28, 2021

00:00

04:21

Radical Rabbit Stew Part Three: Earning the Challenge (Entry 18)

Part three of my three part look at Radical Rabbit Stew, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Dec 18, 202203:43

Radical Rabbit Stew Part Two: Nostalgia-Informed Presentation (Entry 16)

Part two of my three part look at Radical Rabbit Stew, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Dec 05, 202202:49

Radical Rabbit Stew Part One: Frantic Arcade Brilliance (Entry 15)

Part one of my three part look at Radical Rabbit Stew, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Nov 19, 202203:37

F-Zero Part Three: Conjuring a Sense of Speed from Sight and Sound. (Entry 12)

Part three of my three part look at F-Zero, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Nov 04, 202204:27

F-Zero Part Two: Well-Aged Fun (Entry 11)

Part two of my three part blind retrospective on F-Zero, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Oct 21, 202203:10

F-Zero Part One: Communicating Intensity Through Gameplay (Entry 10)

Part one of my three part blind retrospective on F-Zero, Originally wrote this for class, but decided to also use it for the show.

Oct 07, 202203:25

Kirby Needs to Be Harder (AF 2022)

Happy April Fools lol.

Apr 01, 202208:39

My Fear of Mediocrity (Entry 9)

Just a quick musing about my fears about making something Good, Bad, or Mediocre.

Mar 26, 202203:16

The Innovation Problem, or Why New ain't always Good (Entry 8)

Sometimes "Innovation" is a vain pursuit that only ends in a game or product coming out flat, disappointing or even just bad.

Feb 05, 202203:58

Breath of The Wild's weapon durability system is good, actually. (Entry 7)

I hear a lot of people expressing their distaste for one of my favorite mechanics of 2017's Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. Basically the title says it all.

Aug 28, 202104:21

Tetris: The Endless Puzzle (Entry 6)

Alexey Pajitnov changed puzzle games forever with a game so simple it can be played on a watch.

http://designdiary.mrmoon.cf/

Jun 21, 202103:55

Kirbyism, My Favorite Design Philosophy (Entry 5)

Kirbyism is a design philosophy for games that helps makes games fun for everyone :)

Jun 05, 202103:24

Uninked 1 (Moon Goes Off about archiving game stuff and art preservation)

Dont have time to make a full essay so I made something that takes a bit less time for me to make, just this week, normal stuff next week lol.

May 29, 202109:09

Good Ideas, Bad Execution (Entry 4)

Sometimes works seem to be terrible because we know the potential they hold...

May 22, 202103:27

Try, Try Again Souls (Entry 3)

Maybe the real Demon's Souls were the friends we made along the way...

May 16, 202105:23

Open Ended Design Courtesy of 1974 (Entry 2)

The most open ended game of all time was published way back in 1974, and I am sure you've played it.

Apr 02, 202104:58

Communicative Level Design in Mario World 1-1 (Entry 1)

Recently I've been fascinated by how effective the design of Super Mario Brother's first level is in teaching the player how to play the game without having to tell the player anything.

Music Credit and Attribution:

Claude Debussy - Etude XI. Pour les arpeges composes

Performer - Kimiko Ishizaka (Piano)

Publisher Info. - Kimiko Ishizaka

License:

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0

Notes - Recorded live in 2008, Bonn, Germany

Feb 14, 202104:06

February 13, 2021

Feb 13, 202100:53