#design
Game design notes: mechanics, systems, and the thinking behind them.
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Unpacking vs PowerWash Simulator vs Grandma Left Me a Building
Unpacking, PowerWash Simulator, and our upcoming Grandma Left Me a Building relax you in different ways. A design comparison, honest about which one is ours.
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How We Designed the Tenants of Grandma Left Me a Building
How we built the tenants of Grandma Left Me a Building: 46 shared traits, liked and disliked lists, four social tiers, and a hand-drawn goblin family.
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Color Psychology in Game Design: How Palettes Shape Emotion
How color palettes steer player emotion: peer-reviewed research on saturation and brightness, palette reads of six games, and why our cozy sim runs warm.
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10 Most Replayable Games and What Makes Every Run Different
Ten games where no two runs match, grouped by what creates the variety: synergy math, procedural levels, emergent simulation, and player-driven goals.
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Flow State in Games: Why You Lose Track of Time
Flow is the state where hours vanish into a game. Here is the science behind it, and how games like Tetris, Hades, and Stardew Valley engineer it.
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10 Games That Tell Their Whole Story Without a Single Word
Ten games that tell complete stories with zero dialogue, and exactly where each hides its narrative: architecture, animation, objects, color, and sound.
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Why Hand-Drawn Games Are Beating AAA Graphics
Hand-drawn games like Cuphead, Hollow Knight, and Hades keep beating photorealism. The real reasons: cost, readability, identity, and art that never ages.
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Why Do We Get Attached to Game Characters?
The psychology of NPC attachment: parasocial bonds, four peer-reviewed studies, and the design levers that make players care about game characters.
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A Short History of Management Sim Games
The history of management sim games, from Utopia in 1981 and SimCity to Two Point Hospital, plus where a modern apartment sim like ours fits in.
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Deckbuilding Games for Beginners: Where to Start
The best deckbuilding games for beginners: Slay the Spire, Balatro, Marvel Snap, Monster Train and Roguebook, plus what to play first and why each is gentle.
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Cozy Games With the Best Stories
Six cozy games where the writing is the reason to play, from Spiritfarer to Venba, plus one character-driven cozy sim in development at Overbaked.
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What Makes a Good Roguelike?
A good roguelike rests on meaningful runs, real variety, and readable deaths. Here is what separates a great roguelike from a merely hard game, with examples.
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What Is a Cozy Game? A Definition and Short History
A cozy game emphasizes safety, abundance and softness over challenge: low-stakes, usually non-violent, relaxing. A clear definition, short history, examples.
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Seven Deadly Sins Games: How the Sins Become a Mechanic
How video games use the seven deadly sins, from Darksiders III's bosses to Binding of Isaac's minibosses, plus Hellmate's seven hell floors to wishlist.
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Why Are Deckbuilders So Addictive?
Deckbuilders hook you with synergy, variance, and variable reward. Here is the design and psychology behind the one-more-run loop, and where Hellmate fits.
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What Makes a Good Management Sim Fun?
What makes a management sim fun, not just busywork: meaningful tradeoffs, real stakes, characters over columns, teaching difficulty, and legible feedback.
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Why Restoration Games Are So Satisfying
Restoration games satisfy because effort becomes visible: the endowed progress effect, the reward of the changed object, and how we use the loop in our sim.
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The Weirdest and Most Lovable NPCs in Cozy Games
The weirdest video game NPCs live in cozy games: Stardew's Krobus, a clay-faced rabbit, Spiritfarer's deer, plus the odd tenants we are designing.
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What Games Get Right (and Wrong) About Being a Landlord
A fair look at what games get right and wrong about being a landlord, from The Tenants to Landlord's Super, plus how Grandma Left Me a Building handles it.
