01 Feb

The Maxis Game Club Letters 2019, #5

The Maxis Game Club letters are a short series of letters I wrote back and forth with fellow designer Matt Yang about our video game experiences in 2019. Read the previous letter here.

Dear Matt,

I was thinking about the absolutely wild number of games released on Steam in 2019 that you pointed out, and I think it reflects on the real evolution of the democratization of game-making. It’s interesting to consider that early games were developed by a single designer/engineer only to have the industry create mega-studios to dominate the space, which then caused creative burnout and the rise of the indie game.

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25 Jan

The Maxis Game Club Letters 2019, #4

The Maxis Game Club letters are a short series of letters I wrote back and forth with fellow designer Matt Yang about our video game experiences in 2019. Read the previous letter here.

Dearest Scott,

If there’s one major takeaway for me of the last 10 years of gaming (and media as a whole), it’s the absolute explosion of the number of titles, both large and small. In 2010, there were 276 games released on steam… for the entire year. In 2018, it was over 9000. That is INSANE. It’s literally impossible for me to keep up (although, I don’t think I need to play most of those).

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25 Jan

The Maxis Game Club Letters 2019, #3

The Maxis Game Club letters are a short series of letters I wrote back and forth with fellow designer Matt Yang about our video game experiences in 2019. Read the previous letter here.

Dear Matt,

Is it even possible these days to not feel overwhelmed by the amount of “good” media that we are supposed to consume? With so many outlets and recommendations, I often feel like spending too much time with one game hampers my ability to experience all the great games that I’m not currently playing! Perhaps that’s why, over the past few years, I’ve noticed that I tend to gravitate toward games that allow for satisfying short sessions and have eased away from games that have a long, steep learning curve.

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25 Jan

The Maxis Game Club Letters 2019, #2

The Maxis Game Club letters are a short series of letters I wrote back and forth with fellow designer Matt Yang about our video game experiences in 2019. Read the previous letter here.

Dear Scott,

2020 is here and I am terrified (for a multitude of reasons that are boring and not-game-related so I will spare you). 2019 was also crazy but some cool games came out so let’s talk about that.

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25 Jan

The Maxis Game Club Letters 2019, #1

The Maxis Game Club letters are a short series of letters I wrote back and forth with fellow designer Matt Yang about our video game experiences in 2019.

Dear Matt,

Happy 2020! This is the start of an experiment to see if having more than one person write about their experiences and feelings with games ends up being more interesting than limiting the blathering to the babbling hum of my singular mind attempting to figure out what I liked or didn’t like about playing video games this past year.

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25 Jan

The Roll the Dai 2019 Definitive Games of the Year List

Is it 2020 already? It is, isn’t it. I suppose I owe y’all some sort of top ten list of games and I’ve been slow to deliver so you’re here to make sure our transaction comes to a satisfactory end.

Well, set yourself down. I ain’t one to renege on deals I’ve made, not while my good name is the only true asset I may have left to barter with. I’m sure I have that list o’ games somewhere ’round here. Just give me a shake of a lamb’s tail to clear out some of this mess and find it.

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07 Jan

The Roll the Dai 2018 Definitive Games of the Year List

Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Looking a bit worse for the wear, ain’t ya? No worries, mate, cuz I got plenty of stew and no one to share it with. Wait a jot now, you look familiar. Do we know each other? I don’t mean to get all mystical on you, but haven’t we done this before?

No? Right. What precisely are you looking for then? Advice? Life lessons? Oooooh, video game recommendations, is it? That I’ve got, friend. That I’ve got. Settle in and know me better through these titles that found their way into my life in 2018.

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04 Jan

The Roll the Dai 2017 Definitive Games of the Year List

Hello fellow travelers! I’m glad to see you that you made it to the year 2018. Before we continue further down this road – for who knows what darkness lies ahead? – let us pause and glance back at the year behind us.

What games are those that helped us along our path? Look carefully! Do you see them? Do you see how each is a meaningful part of the journey – this journey that we call life? Perhaps we had better camp here tonight. As you prepare the fire, let me warm you with stories of the games that touched my heart in 2017.

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18 Jan

The Roll the Dai 2016 Definitive Games of the Year List

“So…what are you playing these days?”

I get that a lot. I know, I know, I’m a game designer. I should have a ready list of games to recommend, but it’s hard. Every player is different and something that may blow one mind may glance off another harmlessly. Neither player is wrong. Neither player is right.

Which is all a long way of saying: game of the year lists are not meant to be objective judgments of quality. They are not meant to be arbiters of perfection. Heck, I didn’t even play some rather popular 2016 releases, including XCOM 2, Far Cry Primal, The Division, and The Last Guardian (just to name a few). This list is just the 10 games from 2016 that connected with me.

If you want some bonus commentary about games that didn’t release in 2016 or somehow otherwise were pushed off the list for some reason, stick around after the list for some Premium Content (assuming you’re a Premium Member).

All right, future heroes. Let’s do this. Read More →

12 Jan

The Roll the Dai 2015 Definitive Games of the Year List

This is perhaps as far from random as I can get. This post – this comeback post, this reemergence, this magnificent Girl-On-Fire entrance into the Capital post – is instead a very intentional though somewhat sloppily judged list of what I consider my top games of the year.

What is a game of the year? It’s a game that came out in 2015, which is both limiting (because I play lots of random games that are a few years old) and unclear (because lots of games are released before they’re released now), but I’ve tried to keep it relatively tight. Stick around after the Definitive Ten for some bonus content if you’re a Roll the Dai Premium Member.

I want to make clear a few things before we start. First: this list is it. You don’t need to go read any other game of the year lists, because game of the year lists are dumb and subjective and you should just enjoy the games that you enjoy. Also, because this list is the best and only correct game of the year list.

Also, I didn’t play a bunch of new games this year. For example, I didn’t even touch The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Pillars of Eternity, Assassin’s Creed London Bridge, or Halo 5. I didn’t play the following games enough to feel like I could include them: Life is Strange, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and COD: Black Ops 3. So, forget those games.

All right, all right, all right. Here are my top 10 games of the year. Read More →