by Design1 | Jan 8, 2015 | Uncategorized
As our first update for 2015, Paul continues where he left off in his analysis of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Paul Murray, is our Systems Designer, focused on the algorithms to make the world balanced and tactical combat challenging. He was the first engineer at SSI in the early 80s and stayed with that company well into the 90s finishing up with the extremely successful Panzer General series. We asked Paul to comment on some recent games, to help give our fans some insight in what he seeks out in play and, by extension, what items he will emphasize in Seven Dragon Saga. Seven Dragon Saga is a single player game, so we’ve focused on those aspects in this commentary. His first review is a two-parter on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Paul has already spent numerous hours on the first two games of the series. In Part 1, he shared what he liked and felt was most effective in DA:I. This is the second part of Paul Murray’s discussion of Dragon Age: Inquisition, and where he sees opportunities for Seven Dragon Saga to match or excel. Today, Paul shares his thoughts on where DA:I might improve, and how and why he’d do it a bit differently. Things I don’t like The following comments may come across as a bit harsh, as I do really enjoy this game overall. Still, the best way to improve is to study the blemishes and learn from them. Which brings me to things I don’t like. Really, really limited healing. At lower difficulty it is not too bad. But it means there are times you have...
by Design1 | Dec 30, 2014 | Game Development, TSI games
Since we last gave an update, we’ve made design changes to our art style and achieved some terrific progress. Paul Murray is our team’s Systems Designer, focused on the algorithms to make the world balanced and tactical combat challenging. He was the first engineer at SSI in the early 80s and stayed with that company well into the 90s finishing up with the extremely successful Panzer General series. We asked Paul to comment on some recent games, to help give our fans some insight in what he seeks out in play and, by extension, what items he will emphasize in Seven Dragon Saga. His first review is a two-parter on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Paul has already spent numerous hours on the first two games of the series. Here is part 1. Reflections on DAI on the PC Since all reviews are done with a bias, I will tell you a little about the kind of gaming I like. First of all I am not a dextrous player… I am not great at timing defenses and I like a game that provides me a challenge without making me go to extensive effort. Assuming I can trust the AI, I like to run mostly from my character’s perspective, with occasional pauses to give special orders to companions… I have never found an AI that I can really trust. Secondly, I play games that I like to death (and beyond). I am an incurable character tinkerer and will play the first quarter of a game about eight times as much as the rest of a game, trying out this character’s skill combinations...
by Design1 | Oct 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
The folks at RPGCodex gave us the opportunity to discuss some of our design philosophy, and we were happy to oblige. See the interview here. We talk about how we organize opponents to the party, the concept of Goals for each player character, and the relative strength of starting...
