Author Archives: Thomas

7 Steps for Better Achievements

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Thomas

I’ve really enjoyed putting achievements in games, and well designed ones can get a great response from players. There’s a dark art to making them both fun and compelling, rather than a forgettable chore. So, here are the lessons I … Continue reading →

Posted in Listorial, Tutorials | 4 Comments

Interview: Wild Mage

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Thomas

I saw the art of Wild Mage – Phantom Twilight, and was immediately drawn to it. It’s got a dreamy, modern twist on steampunk-like airships and floating islands, along with some interesting ideas about terrain. Lead developer Lucas McCann was kind … Continue reading →

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Flappy Bird + Tetris = ???

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Thomas

For LDJAM41 I made Flappy Blocks, a mashup of Flappy Bird and Tetris-style gameplay. You can play it in your browser here. The theme was, “Combine 2 incompatible genres.” I think I succeeded. All the strategy of Tetris, plus all … Continue reading →

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6 ways to improve 2D jumping

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Thomas

In Platformer Mixtape 2010, I parodied several games including the excellent Super Meat Boy. This meant getting the jumping physics “just so”, or the game would be crap. This is a collection of my thoughts on what makes a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on 6 ways to improve 2D jumping