Breaking Open the Black Box

The Secrets and Stories of Game Design

Pages

[mc4wp_form]

A Touch of Values

by

I’ve recently been inspired by the words of a highly observant man to reflect upon myself and what I do what I do.  His name is Simon Sinek and if you haven’t seen his TED talk, if you are person who believes in deeply understanding what connects you to your players, it will be worth the 10 minutes of your time to see his free talk at the end of this post.

My Values

Why

I believe that life experiences are meant to be shared, if humanity is to grow. 
I believe that the best games to be created have yet to be crafted. 
I believe that to have a future rich in experiences I can enjoy, I need to share the lessons that have gotten me this far. 
I believe that you are a person of patience, insight and reflection who can grow faster if you reflect on my mistakes. 

How

By openly accepting my mistakes and by expressing my feelings – be them proud, humble or erratic, I will become better at sharing who I am with the many people who’ve intersected with my life. 
By breaking down and reflecting upon past lessons, I will more thoroughly understand what I’ve actually done. 
By praising the others who’ve taught me lessons, I will remember how vital the little guiding nudges of a good working environment can transform a life. 
By discussing the stories that helped me become who I am, I will help shatter the myth that good game design is a product of magic, not hard work and forgiven mistakes.

What

I happen to be writing blog posts and making video games. Care to check them out?
http://alexanderbrazie.blogspot.com
http://www.leagueoflegends.com

Simon Sinek

What are your own values?

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Autopsy & Analysis: All My Post-Mortems

by

This is an index of all of my potential post-mortem talks and is basically an index of all of the major visible work I did back on World of Warcraft.

The List

  1. Attumen the Huntsman – Karazhan
  2. The Orc and His Dragon – Hellfire Ramparts
  3. Underbog
    1. Let’s do the Mushroom Dance – Hungarfen
    2. Swamplord Musel’ik and Ghaz’an
    3. The Black Stalker
  4. Run Away! The Big Bad Wolf – Karazhan
  5. Bone Cold Steve Dragon, Nightbane – Karazhan
  6. I’m No Simple Jester! Shade of Aran – Karazhan
  7. Dance, dance, portal solution. Netherspite – Karazhan
  8. Wolf to Bishop, The Chess Event – Karazhan
  9. Spawning the Outlands
  10. The Ring of Blood
  11. The Druid Questline & Anzu
  12. Helping Out – High Astromancer Solarian
  13. Fly Away, Little Birds – Akil’zon
  14. The Illidari Council
  15. Death Knights, Talents and Timing
  16. Northrend – World Events
  17. Wintergrasp – Aka, Where Not to Stick It
  18. The Amphitheatre of Anguish
  19. Northrend Battleground – What was it called again?
  20. Vehicle Technology – Unifying Fractured Ideas
  21. Flame Leviathan & The Gauntlet
  22. XT-002 Deconstructor
  23. Lord Marrowgar
  24. Trick, Traps and Tape – Spawning Icecrown
  25. The Crucible of Carnage
  26. Murozond – End Time
  27. Mage Legendary Quest – Return to the Nexus
  28. Lord Rhyolith
  29. Morchok
  30. Hagara the Stormbinder
  31. Mists of Pandaria
  32. Overhauling Warlocks
  33. Priming Pet Battles

Requested Topics?

by


  1. Interested to hear your thoughts on differences between enemy(boss) design and player design(Warlock/LoL champs)
  2. I’d personally really enjoy hearing about the transition from boss designer to whatever it is exactly you do at Riot (as far as Game Systems Designer goes it leaves a lot to be explained, more so when you consider that Riot has a track record that lets their employees help in other areas)