Author Archives: Tynan Sylvester

Skill Ceiling

People talk about the depth of games a lot, but it’s tricky to figure out exactly what that means. I’ve been thinking about a new way to measure the depth of games. It’s the Skill Ceiling. The skill ceiling is basically the answer to the question: How much can a player theoretically improve their skill [...]

A New Word for Game

The word “game” is starting to get outdated. It doesn’t fit us any more, to the point where it is holding us back. When people started calling them games, that’s what they were. Simple sets of action-reaction rules and mechanics. You’d take your action and the system would apply the rules and respond. There were [...]

Best Game Ever

It’s even better than Close Range. It is The Daibjin. All you need to know: it’s about a giant bikini-clad woman attacking a city. In other news, sorry I haven’t been posting much recently. I’m sure both my readers have been disappointed. I’ve been pouring my writing efforts into a project larger in scope, so [...]

Achron: Meta-Time Strategy Game

Achron is a new meta-time strategy game. Watch the videos. Wow. My brain hurts so nicely watching this stuff. I really want to try this game. I haven’t seen something this mechanically original in a long time. And it looks like it might actually work. Their solutions to the classic time paradoxes are beautiful. From [...]