01
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
How games take shape through vision-led execution or prototype-driven discovery.
The blog
Three Pillars
This blog is organized around three kinds of inquiry.
02
Field Notes
Notes from the workbench: prototypes, design problems, production lessons, and craft principles gathered through hands-on work.
03
Close Readings
Close readings of shipped games, examining mechanics, levels, systems, and design decisions with care and precision.
Start here
Welcome
Three essays types that cover the spine of what I write about. If you are new, start with the first.
Field NotesStart here
Good Emergent Gameplay
Emergence is not chaos. It is what happens when readable rules create patterns, prediction, control, chain reactions, and surprising consequences.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
The Architecture of Coherence
A strong game is not built by collecting good ideas. It becomes strong when mechanics, levels, interface, art, and meaning all point toward the same player experience.
Field Notes
Rhythm vs Pacing in Games
Pacing shapes the moment. Rhythm shapes the larger flow. Understanding this distinction is essential in game design, as confusing the two can result in an experience that breaks the flow.
Close Readings
Kishōtenketsu: The Nintendo Way of Teaching Through Play
A good level does not simply place content in front of the player. It introduces an idea, develops it, twists it, and lets the player understand what they have learned.
All notes
Browse the full archive
Every note, in order. Filter by category to focus, or scroll to wander.
Field Notes
Good Emergent Gameplay
Emergence is not chaos. It is what happens when readable rules create patterns, prediction, control, chain reactions, and surprising consequences.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
The Architecture of Coherence
A strong game is not built by collecting good ideas. It becomes strong when mechanics, levels, interface, art, and meaning all point toward the same player experience.
Field Notes
Rhythm vs Pacing in Games
Pacing shapes the moment. Rhythm shapes the larger flow. Understanding this distinction is essential in game design, as confusing the two can result in an experience that breaks the flow.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
Atomic Parameters: The DNA of a Mechanic
A toy becomes a mechanic when it can be measured in parameters, then you can challenge the players. it can be reduced into clear values, ranges, limits, and feedback the player can learn.
Close Readings
Kishōtenketsu: The Nintendo Way of Teaching Through Play
A good level does not simply place content in front of the player. It introduces an idea, develops it, twists it, and lets the player understand what they have learned.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
Rituals and rules of a game worlds
A concept does not become real because it has lore. It becomes real when the player can observe how people, places, things, rituals, beliefs, and repeated behaviors hold the world together.
Field Notes
Enemies Are Toys
A good enemy is not defined only by how smart it is. It is defined by what the player can read, feel, learn, avoid, counter, transform, or play with.
Field Notes
TEGOTAE: Designing the Moment of Contact
Game feel is not decoration. It is the sensation that the game has answered the player: with weight, timing, clarity, and life.
Teach one thing at a time.
Learning collapses when the player must decode too many ideas at once.
Book notes
Follow the book before it exists.
Early chapters, references, production notes, and launch updates arrive first.
