Game Realm: Introduction

 Welcome to Game Realm, the label I'm giving to game reviews and articles about game design. They'll release on Tuesdays, with one releasing the first Tuesday of the month. If I feel inspired, I'll release articles more frequently.

These articles are all going to be colored by my point of view, so I want to present what that is to give context to what I'll be writing. I also understand that my point of view isn't a be-all-end-all. That said, it is important to understand other people's points of view, because it can help increase our own scope of understanding.

So, what do I look for in games? I'm most concerned about core mechanics, with the things that will occupy the majority of my time or have the greatest impact on my play experience. I'm not always looking for fun, I'm looking for engagement. Something that grips me. I enjoy nice graphics, I love excellent music, a good story is wonderful, but none of those things are the primary focus for me. A game could have all of those in spades, and the combination of them might be enough to compel me to finish it, but they won't likely be able to keep me playing it if the core mechanics aren't engaging enough.

The following games, listed in chronological order, are ones that have had a particularly powerful impact on me:

• StarCraft: Brood War
• Guild Wars 1 (all four games, as they are pretty well connected)
• Dark Souls

While there are many other games I've quite enjoyed, these ones really stand out to me. I should also note that I'm a fan of Magic: The Gathering, and Mark Rosewater's articles have had a strong impact on me. However, I intend for these articles to focus on video games, and my experience with Magic has been mostly playing with the physical cards.

The question presents itself; why those three games? I'm not going to go too indepth here, as, aside from Starcraft, those games deserve their own articles. (I don't currently have much I want to say about the design of Starcraft.)

• StarCraft: Brood War: The main reason why this game is part of this list is because I got into the modding scene. I had a lot of fun modding it, back when Warboards.org was a website, and I prefer to play with one of my mods than play the standard game. I don't have much to say about why the design compelled me due to the nature of this engagement. While modding is a great way to enjoy a game, it generally has little to do with the original design.
• Guild Wars 1: This is probably the video game I have sunk the most hours into. The core design of the build system is largely responsible for that, as I had great fun experimenting with and exploring it. While I also enjoyed the social aspects of the game -- back when the community I was in was active -- they were always secondary to this enjoyment of the core build system, as demonstrated by the fact that I kept playing the game long after much of my guild had left.
• Dark Souls: This game has one of the best combat systems I have ever experienced, and, on top of that, FromSoft made other fantastic design decisions with it. There is also room for experimentation with builds – stats, weapon choice, etcetera. That said, the combat is really what keeps me engaged.

This article has, if successful, given you a glimpse into what to expect, and what sort of gamer I am. I'm looking forward to writing more articles; it's something I've been meaning to do for some time now. I hope that they give you something to think about and ponder. Thank you for reading.