Medium

Tomas Nyx Garrett

Pinned

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Apr 8

The Villain Is Easy. The Institution Is Hard.

Every game has a villain. Almost none of them have an antagonist.

The Villain Is Easy. The Institution Is Hard.

Pinned

In

Screenwriting & Storytelling

by

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Apr 20

A Game That Can’t Survive Its Own Silence Never Built a World

The space between encounters is where a player starts living in your world. Most games fill it with content because they don’t trust the…

A Game That Can’t Survive Its Own Silence Never Built a World

Pinned

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Feb 24

The Soup Has to Make Sense: Food as a Worldbuilding Tool

I’ve been thinking a lot about food in worldbuilding lately, mostly because I keep noticing how often games treat it like decoration.

The Soup Has to Make Sense: Food as a Worldbuilding Tool

In

Babel

by

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Oct 8

Your Karma Meter Is the Only Witness

A morality system judges who you are. A reputation holds what people think happened. Most games build the first and let the world read it.

Your Karma Meter Is the Only Witness

In

Writelicious

by

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Sep 21

Who Told the Guards?

There is a question I want to be able to ask when a game reacts to something I have done: how did you find out? If a guard catches me…

Who Told the Guards?

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Sep 11

The Same Disaster Should Tell Different Stories

Who controls the food, who has the authority to act, and what happens when their interests collide.

The Same Disaster Should Tell Different Stories

In

Babel

by

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Aug 22

Your Factions Need Something They Refuse To Do

A want tells you what a group does when they're winning. They're almost never winning.

Your Factions Need Something They Refuse To Do

In

Babel

by

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Jul 28

Fast Travel Is a Map of Everywhere You Failed

Hey everyone. Sorry for the break in the posts, last one was July 10th. Work’s been eating most of my hours lately.

Fast Travel Is a Map of Everywhere You Failed

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Jul 10

An Open World Should Refuse You

Count the goals in your current playthrough that the world gave you unasked: a rank you lack, a reputation you haven’t earned, a door that…

An Open World Should Refuse You

Tomas Nyx Garrett

·

Jun 29

Your Factions Have Lore Pages and Identical Swords

Games spend years on class identity and give every faction the same sword

Your Factions Have Lore Pages and Identical Swords

Tomas Nyx Garrett

Tomas Nyx Garrett

Narrative systems designer. Building a dark fantasy RPG that reacts instead of scripts. Writing about the design craft behind living worlds

Following

Help

Status

About

Careers

Press

Blog

Store

Privacy

Rules

Terms

Text to speech