Here’s a histogram of the 4,842 scores in the Attack of the Meeplings database. At first glance the data looks realitively normal - However, it’s far from it. The horizontal axis is not linear, but exponential (2^n) the data is heavily right skewed which tells us that there are some people who are just so […]

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I spent the morning creating a random name generator which will be added to the ‘create character’ section of Caverns of Underkeep.
I’ll explain how it works in a minute. But for now, here is an example list of names:

Yivha
Ilhalo
Xagloh
Pojlo
Xifei
Coxfo
Cedtiz
Digja
Emrapo
Aygoh
Omgez

So not bad, sorta could be real-made-up fantasy character names maybe. This is how the algorithm […]

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In a previous post I explained how Caverns of Underkeep will not have any classes.
Well, I lied.
I just added a character creation screen to the current build and I implemented some character classes.
However, I still claim that Caverns of Underkeep is not an RPG, so the classes represent game options rather than roleplaying options.
So far […]

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I’ve been working on algorithms for randomly generating dungeons.
My current project Caverns of Underkeep is a Roguelike, and one of the features of all roguelikes is that they are randomly generated. I’ve currently got two flavors of generation. I’ll briefly explain how they work here, but I really want to write a much longer article […]

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Its not that I’m anti-class when it comes to my RPGs. Infact I enjoy replaying games as different characters provided the game has been designed well enough to be played in different ways - And that really is key.
If I were designing a normal cRPG I’d have specialist quests for different classes, but there’s a […]

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Danc over at lost garden has just posted a very good article on “How to bootstrap your indie art needs”
If you’re a newbie, hobbiest game developer, semi-pro, or seasoned indie you should add lost garden to your RSS feed. (If you haven’t already.) Most of my RSS feeds on my list are from various […]

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I’m a big fan of reading post-mortems on game development. If that sounds somewhat morbid to you, a post-mortem is basically a post-production overview of what went right and what went wrong. And any insights gained after the product has shipped out the door. Whether your product was an amazing success or an absolute bomb, […]

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A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Ralph Koster.

I’ve recently had the pleasure of reading ‘A Theory of Fun’ by Ralph Koster. This book explores the very essence of what fun is all about. Every page of text is accompanied by an entertaining cartoon. And the topics explored in the book are on such […]

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When I was in High School a couple of friends and I set out to create a short film. We had some pretty cool high level ideas and some neat visual gags. We had good concept art and a basic plot outline etc.. but when it came time to constructing the actual script and in […]

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The other day I was asked why I had decided to make a 2d RPG and not a 3d one. Because for some reason most hardcore players think that 3d is somehow inherently superior - It is an additional dimension after all…
Note: This hasn’t go anything to do with the tired old argument of […]

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