Articles & Posts
Thoughts on game design, LEGO, interactive technology and the games industry. Originally published on LinkedIn.
My LEGO IDEAS Garfield project has reached 10,000 supporters, the second of my projects to hit this milestone, following the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks design. As a lifelong LEGO, cartoons and comics fan, bringing them together felt inevitable. A look at why LEGO IDEAS remains one of the best user-generated content platforms around.
Read on LinkedIn ↗I've spent thousands of hours across nearly a decade with Hitman: World of Assassination and paid roughly £100 total. That makes me a nightmare for the industry, but it also raises a serious question about what a "forever game" actually is. It's not about infinite scale. It's about enough quality engagement, consistently, to keep you coming back.
Read on LinkedIn ↗Working on interactive video with strict 30-second attention windows taught me one thing: remove friction between the player and the moment. A lot of AAA development still leans on scale to do the heavy lifting: large worlds, slow build systems, delayed reward. But players aren't measuring value in hours anymore. They're measuring it in moments.
Read on LinkedIn ↗The assumption is that established IP reduces development risk. I'm not sure that's true. The pressure around fidelity, narrative accuracy and brand alignment can slow iteration and reshape where time and effort are spent. Every asset, environment and detail has to meet exacting standards, consuming resources that could be improving core gameplay systems.
Read on LinkedIn ↗Higher budgets paired with established IP are supposed to mitigate risk. But does IP actually reduce risk, or does it just move it somewhere else? A look at systems thinking, project scope, and what players actually value, and whether the industry's shift toward established properties is as safe a bet as it appears.
Read on LinkedIn ↗Low-resolution sprites and small colour palettes invited players to participate creatively, to complete the image with their imagination. LEGO works the same way. As games moved toward photorealism, the image arrives fully formed, leaving less space for the player. The most powerful creative systems don't have to show everything. They leave just enough space for imagination to do the rest.
Read on LinkedIn ↗