Behind the curtain on games
First of all, I really enjoyed this post, Games don't have to be 50+ hours long by Emma at GLHF Club - because I am always saying this. Sometimes I just want to do a story, not run around in a vast expanse.
This week I wrote about The Difference Between Working on Games and Loving Games because I think it's something that happens to a lot of people lucky enough to work in a field they grew up passionate about.
As a player, you experience games as a whole. You feel the pacing, the tension, the excitement. You notice when something is fun or frustrating but you don’t necessarily break down why. The experience is immediate and emotional. You are responding to what is in front of you.
Working on games changes that. You start to see systems instead of moments. You notice loops, economies, retention mechanics. You begin to understand how things are constructed and once you see it it’s difficult to unsee it. Looking behind the curtain to see not an all-powerful wizard but just some guy pulling levers.
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