3 Bit Design

Tristan and Oliver grab onto their walkies as they go bit-spotting in the Wyoming forests of Campo Santo’s gorgeous hit Firewatch - specifically these three bits:

1. Open World Metroidvania & environmental breadcrumbs - lifting the lid on the reactive open world and its systems.

2. First Person Characterisation - Defying the generic blank slate player character trope most first person games resort to and creating an immersive emotional attachment to a character players can’t see.

3. The Passing of Time - One of the game’s biggest themes; how it was handled and convincingly represented to the player largely through environmental storytelling.

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Some references:

Realism in Games: What Makes Firewatch Feel Personal - Randen Banuelos, Game Developer (article)

Firewatch critical analysis - Andrew Haining, Game Developer (article)

Critical Play: Firewatch - Kaleb Morris, Game Design Fundamentals (article)

Tristan and Oliver venture down deep into the underworld of Supergiant Games’ renowned roguelike Hades as they nimbly dash through these three bits:

1. Repetitive Fun - Putting the ‘fun’ in death and making each run feel fresh in this “narrative roguelike”

2. Encouraging Experimentation & Variety - How the game drives exploration and nudges players towards trying new things.

3. Feel like a god - Why does it just feel so damn good to play?

Find us on twitter at:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Some references:

Developing Hell - NoClip (docuseries)

Supergiant's fourth outing Hades introduces a more mature, organized dev process - Bryant Francis, Game Developer (article)

The Good and Bad of Hades: Looking at Game Design - Gloria the Animator, Indie Hive (article)

Hades Game Designer Gives A Behind-The-Scenes Look At Its Development - Jon Bitner, The Gamer (article)

Roguelikes And Narrative Design With Hades Creative Director Greg Kasavin - Kris Graft & Alissa McAloon (GDC podcast)

Breathing Life into Greek Myth: The Dialogue of 'Hades' - Darren Korb & Greg Kasavin (GDC talk)

The System Behind Hades' Astounding Dialogue - People Make Games (video essay)

Hades is a roguelike for roguelike haters - Polygon (video essay)

How Gameplay Loops Keep You Playing - Architect of Games (video essay)

Tristan and Oliver take on a bird's eye view in Adamgryu’s A Short Hike as they explore these three bits:

1. Living in the moment - How the game creates a world of explorative freedom of exploration and anti-completionism.

2. Meta-awareness by design - Looking at the game’s witty writing and how it self-awaredly pokes fun at modern day video game conventions

3. Battling mental health - Connecting with players through relatable scenarios of everyday mental health and how the subject is tackled in a positive lighthearted way.

Find us on twitter at:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Some references:

Crafting A Tiny Open World: A Short Hike Postmortem - Adam Robinson-Yu (GDC talk)

Crafting a tiny open world: A look behind the scenes at the creation of A Short Hike - Adam Robinson-Yu, Playstation Blog (article)

Road to the IGF: Adam Robinson-Yu's A Short Hike - Joel Couture, Game Developer (article)

How adamgryu overcame writer’s block and creative burnout in the development of a Short Hike - Chris Wallace, MCV Develop (article)

Tristan and Oliver work together as they lovingly pull apart Hazelight’s It Takes Two into these three bits:

1. A game to get into games - Why It Takes Two makes the perfect starter pack for any newcomer to videogames.

2. The discordant storytelling - Questioning the narrative composition as well as ‘elephant trauma’.

3. It really does take two - Contemplating the decision to make it co-op exclusive.

Find us on twitter at:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Josef Fares reveals why ‘It Takes Two’ is a “f**cked up” game - Just Lunning & Giovanni Colantonio (Inverse article)

The Importance of Local Multiplayer, Seeing Eye-to-Eye - Extra credits (video essay)

The Tragic Disappearance of Couch Co-op - Heather Hale, Game developer (article)

Five indispensable rules for designing local multiplayer games - MCV Develop (article)

In this episode, Tristan and Oliver dive deep into the world of Rapture to break down Ken Levine’s Irrational Games’ seminal title Bioshock into these three bits:

1. The engrossing worldbuilding

2. The anatomical control scheme

3. The player’s choice

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Some references:

In this episode Tristan and Oliver break down gaming's creepiest little gem, Tarsier Studios' Little Nightmares, into these three bits:

1. The sense of scale

2. The eerie pacing

3. The environmental storytelling

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Some references:

In this pilot episode game designers Tristan and Oliver break down Thatgamecompany's ground-breaking game Journey into these three bits:

Find us on Twitter:

Some references: