Game Design

The Challenge Developing and publishing Leon’s Mahjong was, and continues to be, a challenge in many aspects. But there was one particular challenge I didn’t see coming: how much “retro” to incorporate into the retro software we create? The more faithful it is to its original versions from 20 or 30 years ago, the more it clashes with current user experience practices and modern devices. The Mahjong solitaire that Leon’s Mahjong is based on dates back to the late 80s. Back then, there were no mobile devices with touchscreens, computer screens only existed in 4:3 aspect ratio, and color palettes were generally restricted. ...

Archon was a great videogame from the 1980s that perfectly balanced the strategy of chess with the skill and simplicity of arcade games. On a 9 x 9 board, light and dark forces faced off in one of the best games Electronic Arts has ever published—in a different era, when EA cared a bit more about making good products than just increasing revenue. Additionally, there was a piece in Archon that caught my attention: the Shapeshifter, a piece that belonged to the Dark side and behaved differently from the rest. The Shapeshifter would take on the form and behavior of its enemy. In Archon, when two pieces confronted each other, a battle arena would open where both fought using different abilities such as speed and projectile type. But the genius of the Shapeshifter was that it transformed into its opponent. So if it fought against a powerful piece, it became a powerful piece. If it fought a basic piece, it became basic. A kind of Zelig -like character. It could be used to attack powerful Light unicorns, but at the same time, the Light player could attack it with a pawn and defeat it in hand-to-hand combat. ...