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Doctor Professor

Doctor Professor

Alto’s Adventure and the Legacy of Canabalt

This is Alto’s Adventure. It’s an endless runner in which you snowboard down a mountain to rescue your runaway llamas, doing tricks and…

Jun 14, 2021

Alto’s Adventure and the Legacy of Canabalt

Jun 14, 2021

Doctor Professor

Actually Learning to Play: Why There Should Be Easy and Hard Modes for Game UI

Why don’t games have hard and easy modes for the UI? Different players have different needs, and one-size-fits-all solutions shrink a…

Sep 7, 2020

Sep 7, 2020

Doctor Professor

Don’t Be the Fun Police: Why Games Shouldn’t Force Playstyles

When we play games for fun, we often need a goal system to shepherd us along. This is what makes it a “game” instead of a “toy” — the…

Aug 29, 2019

Wile E. Coyote about to run into a wall with a painted-on tunnel entrance

Aug 29, 2019

Doctor Professor

Rhythm and Readability: Why Bubsy: Paws on Fire! is the Best Bit.Trip Runner

Rhythm Games are For Flow

Jun 17, 2019

Rhythm and Readability: Why Bubsy: Paws on Fire! is the Best Bit.Trip Runner

Jun 17, 2019

Doctor Professor

The Designer is Dead: Five Reasons to Go Beyond Intended Experiences

Games are designed to create particular mental and emotional states in their players. The Dark Souls games use difficulty to “give players…

Mar 18, 2019

The Designer is Dead: Five Reasons to Go Beyond Intended Experiences

Mar 18, 2019

Doctor Professor

Keep Liking What I Don’t Like: Art, Kitsch, and Video Games

Oh no! You just found out that somebody likes a thing you don’t like. What do you do?

Dec 24, 2018

Keep Liking What I Don’t Like: Art, Kitsch, and Video Games

Dec 24, 2018

Doctor Professor

How Engagement Rewards Backfire: The Overjustification Effect and the Peak-End Rule

Imagine you’re a kid at a new school deciding where to sit for lunch. Another kid sees you and offers you some candy, saying they have…

Oct 8, 2018

How Engagement Rewards Backfire: The Overjustification Effect and the Peak-End Rule

Oct 8, 2018

Doctor Professor

The Suspense is Skilling Me: Punishment, Learning, and Tension

I.

Aug 20, 2018

The Suspense is Skilling Me: Punishment, Learning, and Tension

Aug 20, 2018

Doctor Professor

Preparation, Strategy, Tactics, and Action: Phases of Challenge

Many games are tests of skill. Players succeed or fail at the game’s goals based on their physical dexterity and reaction time, general…

Jul 23, 2018

Preparation, Strategy, Tactics, and Action: Phases of Challenge

Jul 23, 2018

Doctor Professor

Why Valve Can’t Just Do the Right Thing: Moral Complexity versus Automatic Norms

Steam, owned by Valve, is the world’s biggest digital distributor of computer games. For years, it’s had frustratingly inconsistent and…

Jun 18, 2018

Jun 18, 2018

Doctor Professor

Doctor Professor

The internet’s leading authority on what Doctor Professor thinks about video games. See more at pixelpoppers.com.

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