The Perfect Woman

Mass Effect 2 introduces the player to the perfect woman. Her name is Miranda Lawson. The back story of Miranda Lawson is this. She was genetically engineered by her father to become the perfect woman. Everything about her is designed, but as we shall discover, Miranda’s perfection is not everything it’s hyped up to be.... Continue Reading →

Bye Bye BioWare

I wrote this on a flight from Edmonton to Amsterdam. I was on my way to a new job, back home to Sweden again. I’m leaving BioWare behind. There are reasons for this, and there’s no real reason why I can’t explain what happened and how it happened, but for now, I am choosing not... Continue Reading →

The Privilege Paradox

For anyone following this blog, you’ll know that I analyze games, and primarily I analyze games that I really enjoy playing. Mass Effect is one of those games. I’ll use Mass Effect as an example, but the truth is that I’ve seen these tendencies in many games and across many companies. If you have followed... Continue Reading →

Dysfunctional Companies

I did some digging lately into both project management and company management. One of the things I found that were seriously problematic, but also emblematic for the games industry is dysfunctional companies and dysfunctional teams. The hallmark of a dysfunctional company/ team are the following five traits. They’re a theory created by Patrick Lencioni. Lack... Continue Reading →

Know Your Limits

This post is mainly about knowing yourself and knowing when to stay and when to leave a bad situation. One of the things I’ve learned in my 20 years in game development is that having convictions and a strong sense of justice will cost you. Pair that with expertise and an unwillingness to sugarcoat and... Continue Reading →

Tales from the Trenches – Use states

This will probably be a short one, but it is nonetheless important. Here's a heartfelt request from someone working with UX and therefore also get to work on UIs. Use states in your game. As in have a combat state, an exploration state or whatever states you need in order to clearly differentiate between combat,... Continue Reading →

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