shahaan

@shahaan.me

🎮 game designer @ electronic arts ⚙️ building game systems [and overthinking why they work] 🚿 offering shower thoughts and photos of squirrels, both unsolicited 🍁 toronto, canada

woke up with a sore neck, a bad knee and an ankle injury sleeping remains the most dangerous activity of my day

as a #gamedev I really envy the songwriting medium songs don't need a plot or characters, they convey an emotion in < 5 minutes with a few looping lyrics I wonder if we can replicate that in games 💭 a short experience with no objectives or resolution - just focused on conveying a single feeling

prices for AAA video games over the last 30 years (inflation adjusted) ps1: $50 -> $110 ps2: $50 -> $97 ps3: $60 -> $103 ps4: $60 -> $86 ps5: $70 -> $90 prices went down but average #gamedev costs exploded (1/9)

i've been learning a lot about camera lenses and an interesting lens trait i've come across is its "personality" - which describes how the optical flaws of the lens create an interesting aesthetic (1/6)

I wrote a thing then got AI to make its own version of the thing without context of my thing and it wrote a thing that's almost the same thing as my thing does that mean the robot is as smart as me or am I as dumb as the robot?

we are programmed to hope for things but that puts us in a constant state of grief would we be happier if we didn't dream?

suddenly extremely sympathetic to quebec language laws because why does that new cafe have a "restroom" who is resting in there. it’s a washroom. we need a federal mandate. #canada

we all grow up thinking we’ll do things differently than the generations before us after all it's human nature to be a little self-centered it takes real humility to learn from past mistakes, because first, you have to admit that you aren't so different, and you're prone to the exact same faults

history is littered with brilliant people who switch fields expecting the same success, only to be humbled greatly - steve jobs ignored doctors - bill gates ignored educators - elon musk ignored PR advisors moral of the story: listen to the experts in your life 🤓

sometimes I watch a whole video on a dead interest just because I'm touched the algorithm remembered and I don't want it to feel bad

there's something really cinematic about Carney delivering the eulogy for the American Empire the betrayed best-friend steps out of the giant's shadow to lead the rebellion it doesn't feel petty, and it's not about vengeance it's an underdog story, and it's about justice 10/10 character arc

if you are a people-pleaser, DO NOT work in AAA #gamedev when you aim for mass appeal, you'll be stuck considering fans of the franchise vs. fans of the genre lean into one, you alienate the other try to balance both, now everyone's pissed off it's a lose-lose folks, don't do it ✋

#HotTake: moving to another country because your money is worth more there is the IRL equivalent of smurfing I may be broke but at least I have my honour ✊🥲

for me the tension created by pvp in #ArcRaiders is its best quality and a result of "the fear of the unknown" encouraging pvp makes it expected / removing pvp kills the suspense some villain players are essential to the #gamedesign bc if everyone is guaranteed to be friendly, the tension vanishes

IGN@ign.com · 7mo ago

Arc Raiders boss Patrick Söderlund has made his position clear when it comes to the debate about players who focus on the PvP, and said he doesn’t want to “foster” that type of gameplay. https://bit.ly/49JoKqf

"The Game Isn't About Shooting Other Players" — Arc Raiders Dev Explains Why It Won't Add Additional PvP Mechanics Like Leaderboards

the point of a movie is not to be done watching it. the point of a song is not to be done listening to it. the gamers' obsession with completion as the only motivator to play a game has directly led to the medium's worst traits. "AI gaming ghost" is a reflection of the lack of willingness to engage

Eurogamer@eurogamer.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Sony has patented an AI gaming ghost that will play PlayStation games for you when you get stuck www.eurogamer.net/sony-has-pat...

Screenshot from Horizon Forbidden West showing Aloy firing an arrow at a large snake-like machine

#HotTake: modern games die quickly because the #gamedesign caters to extrinsically motivated players who sprint to a finish line the titans of the past (CS, Dota, LoL) catered to intrinsic mastery and that's why they are immortal you can finish a battle pass, but you can't "finish" getting better

it's worth mentioning that both of these categories are really just forms of literacy reading an analog clock is intuitive for an adult, but a gen-alpha kid would likely struggle when assessing whether a mechanic is intuitive, ask "does our audience have the required literacy for this convention?"

Boghog@boghogstg.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I think usage of "intuitive" in game design discussions would be a lot more productive if people separated it into 2 categories - intuitive in accordance to real world experiences and intuitive from past exposure to similar games & existing conventions

the best lesson on grief I've learned came from playing #ArcRaiders: "it's not your loot, it's just your turn with it" nothing in life is yours to keep, everything is temporary the victory isn't keeping your loot, it's having the courage to press "play again" after losing everything 10/10 game