Open source gaming

[Erebus the Black]

Now how about this: The Game Designer Who Won’t Call Himself a Game Designer .

 

It is just awe inspiring to think he might actually reach 300 someday. It's a pity however that the comic will never reach a conclusion.

 

-Swen the moose who is not a llama.

[Alorael at Large]

I actually first discovered A Modest Destiny from some mocking remakes by a Spidwebber. (Alec, and technically in his Desperance capacity, for those of a historical bent.) The original run's a pretty good comic. The sequels fell into intertwined schedule problems, Cerebus syndrome, and overambition, but I'm also hoping for a strong conclusion eventually.

 

That said, I'm with Sean Howard on the designations. He's not a game designer. He's coming up with little mechanics that would be cool, and most of them are really ideally suited for casual games, not serious efforts. Some are intriguing, many are not, and most are minor variations on a theme.

 

—Alorael, who thinks the biggest problem is that good ideas are, in fact, cheap. And easy. The similarities among major developers isn't because they're creatively sterile, it's because creativity is steamrolled by marketing concerns. Add to that the fact that finishing, polishing, and producing a design is much, much harder than spitting out the elevator pitch version, and Sean Howard's game chops are really not so impressive.