Tom Smith
@thegamedesigndad.bsky.social
Game designer at Roblox (ex-Disney, ex-Zynga, etc.)
Author of Anatomy of Game Design (https://a.co/d/5NQZAuK)
Opinions are my own, not any corporation's.
Author of Anatomy of Game Design (https://a.co/d/5NQZAuK)
Opinions are my own, not any corporation's.
Reposted by Tom Smith
If they want to slow down the Trump administration, Democrats should begin promising this *now*
We're gonna need a truth and reconciliation commission and Nuremberg style trials to reckon with all of this evil, and any Dem candidate for office who shies away from a full reckoning in the name of "moving forward as a nation" can get well and truly fucked
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
If they want to slow down the Trump administration, Democrats should begin promising this *now*
I’m thankful to live in a world with so many wonderful games, and to be lucky enough to have the time and resources to be able to play them. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I’m thankful to live in a world with so many wonderful games, and to be lucky enough to have the time and resources to be able to play them. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
Part of my mission is finding connections between seemingly unrelated games. Megabonk and Grow a Garden and Adventure Capitalist come from different places but are united in interesting ways. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
November 26, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Part of my mission is finding connections between seemingly unrelated games. Megabonk and Grow a Garden and Adventure Capitalist come from different places but are united in interesting ways. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
Reposted by Tom Smith
Really wild situation here: a celebrated and well-regarded indie dev and publisher is facing shutdown because Valve banned their game from Steam and won't talk to them about it, at all.
www.ign.com/articles/uns...
www.ign.com/articles/uns...
Unsettling Horror Game Horses Banned From Steam, Leaving Studio With 'High Risk' of Closure - IGN
Indie horror game Horses is preparing to launch on December 2, on the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store. But one place it won't be is on Steam, because Steam has banned the game for...
www.ign.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Really wild situation here: a celebrated and well-regarded indie dev and publisher is facing shutdown because Valve banned their game from Steam and won't talk to them about it, at all.
www.ign.com/articles/uns...
www.ign.com/articles/uns...
Personally, I bought the game because I want to be a skeleton on a skateboard. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Personally, I bought the game because I want to be a skeleton on a skateboard. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
Vedinad, the creator of Megabonk, recently withdrew from a Best Debut Indie nomination at The Game Awards, noting that he’s been an indie dev for a while and this is not his debut game. Respect. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Vedinad, the creator of Megabonk, recently withdrew from a Best Debut Indie nomination at The Game Awards, noting that he’s been an indie dev for a while and this is not his debut game. Respect. #gaming #gamedesign #megabonk
There are many many reasons why playtesting isn’t just a good idea, it’s the only way to know if your game idea works. #gaming #gamedesign
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
There are many many reasons why playtesting isn’t just a good idea, it’s the only way to know if your game idea works. #gaming #gamedesign
Reposted by Tom Smith
Hey, I bet you didn't hear that Zork 1, 2, and 3 were open-sourced today!
…Oh, you have heard. Yeah. Way ahead of me. :)
Here's my comments, and some details that you might not have seen.
blog.zarfhome.com/2025/11/zork...
…Oh, you have heard. Yeah. Way ahead of me. :)
Here's my comments, and some details that you might not have seen.
blog.zarfhome.com/2025/11/zork...
Zork is now open source
Two years ago, I wrote: Microsoft-the-company does not care about Infocom. But a lot of people in Microsoft must care. Microsoft is heavily populated by greying GenX nerds just like me. Folks who grew...
blog.zarfhome.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Hey, I bet you didn't hear that Zork 1, 2, and 3 were open-sourced today!
…Oh, you have heard. Yeah. Way ahead of me. :)
Here's my comments, and some details that you might not have seen.
blog.zarfhome.com/2025/11/zork...
…Oh, you have heard. Yeah. Way ahead of me. :)
Here's my comments, and some details that you might not have seen.
blog.zarfhome.com/2025/11/zork...
Reposted by Tom Smith
So in Arc Raiders there is a door glitch. You don't need to know what it is, just that the gamers are brainstorming all the "easy" ways to "fix" the doors and it's simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. My two favorite solutions are "add a kill volume" and "put a second door behind the door".
November 21, 2025 at 4:26 AM
So in Arc Raiders there is a door glitch. You don't need to know what it is, just that the gamers are brainstorming all the "easy" ways to "fix" the doors and it's simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. My two favorite solutions are "add a kill volume" and "put a second door behind the door".
As always, you can’t understand a commercial game without understanding its business model. #gaming #gamedesign
November 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
As always, you can’t understand a commercial game without understanding its business model. #gaming #gamedesign
Understand how much variety your core game loop can handle. In some cases, it’s not a lot. In other cases, variety is key to keeping the game loop alive. Both work, they’re just different designs. #gaming #gamedesign
November 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Understand how much variety your core game loop can handle. In some cases, it’s not a lot. In other cases, variety is key to keeping the game loop alive. Both work, they’re just different designs. #gaming #gamedesign
There are plenty of wildly successful games that you can’t win. World of Warcraft. Dungeons and Dragons. Most classic arcade games. So it’s not an insurmountable design flaw, but it is something to think about when designing. #gaming #gamedesign
November 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
There are plenty of wildly successful games that you can’t win. World of Warcraft. Dungeons and Dragons. Most classic arcade games. So it’s not an insurmountable design flaw, but it is something to think about when designing. #gaming #gamedesign
Reposted by Tom Smith
there are a lot of good metroidvanias but every time a game doesn't reveal an entire upside-down copy of itself in the last act, I'm a little disappointed
November 17, 2025 at 6:42 PM
there are a lot of good metroidvanias but every time a game doesn't reveal an entire upside-down copy of itself in the last act, I'm a little disappointed
Reposted by Tom Smith
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
November 17, 2025 at 5:52 PM
In gamedev, if you're using a placeholder asset, best practices involve marking it as placeholder so garishly and offensively clearly PLACEHOLDER that you can't possibly miss it. Also flagging that asset in the dev process so it can be identified quickly before the final build.
When I was at Disney, I pitched a simple mobile game inspired by Bop It. Rapid prompts for simple touch controls. At some level, it’s the same game as this with different graphics. Still one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t get that one released in 2013. #gaming #gamedesign
November 17, 2025 at 5:09 PM
When I was at Disney, I pitched a simple mobile game inspired by Bop It. Rapid prompts for simple touch controls. At some level, it’s the same game as this with different graphics. Still one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t get that one released in 2013. #gaming #gamedesign
Reposted by Tom Smith
When you're writing a tabletop roleplaying game, the mechanics should evoke the atmosphere you want in your story.
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
November 16, 2025 at 9:13 PM
When you're writing a tabletop roleplaying game, the mechanics should evoke the atmosphere you want in your story.
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
Reposted by Tom Smith
The US fertility rate is 1.6 children per couple. Fertility has been below the replacement rate (of 2.1) since the 70s. Yet our population has increased from ~200m to >300m since then. Why? Immigration -- and continued immigration is the only possible way for us to keep pace with global rivals.
November 16, 2025 at 2:48 AM
The US fertility rate is 1.6 children per couple. Fertility has been below the replacement rate (of 2.1) since the 70s. Yet our population has increased from ~200m to >300m since then. Why? Immigration -- and continued immigration is the only possible way for us to keep pace with global rivals.
Reposted by Tom Smith
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
Reposted by Tom Smith
I’ve been working through The Game Designer’s Workbook by Bobby Lockhart & Erik Lang, and it’s been a blast digging into genres and design styles I wouldn’t normally touch.
It’s pushing me to think way outside my usual lanes and honestly, that kind of creative shake-up feels real good.
#gamedesign
It’s pushing me to think way outside my usual lanes and honestly, that kind of creative shake-up feels real good.
#gamedesign
November 14, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I’ve been working through The Game Designer’s Workbook by Bobby Lockhart & Erik Lang, and it’s been a blast digging into genres and design styles I wouldn’t normally touch.
It’s pushing me to think way outside my usual lanes and honestly, that kind of creative shake-up feels real good.
#gamedesign
It’s pushing me to think way outside my usual lanes and honestly, that kind of creative shake-up feels real good.
#gamedesign
Leisure Suit Larry and Dispatch are very different styles of humor and writing and gameplay, but that’s part of my point - games can encompass many things and should experiment with more types of stories to find more audiences. #gamedesign #dispatch
November 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Leisure Suit Larry and Dispatch are very different styles of humor and writing and gameplay, but that’s part of my point - games can encompass many things and should experiment with more types of stories to find more audiences. #gamedesign #dispatch
If you’re interested in this type of character-assignment gameplay but with replayable procedurally generated missions, try the Rebuild series. It’s zombies instead of superheroes, but it’s well done gameplay that scratches some of the same itch in a slightly different way. #gamedesign #dispatch
November 13, 2025 at 5:10 PM
If you’re interested in this type of character-assignment gameplay but with replayable procedurally generated missions, try the Rebuild series. It’s zombies instead of superheroes, but it’s well done gameplay that scratches some of the same itch in a slightly different way. #gamedesign #dispatch
Reposted by Tom Smith
Super Mario World has an extremely eclectic art style whereby many enemies are drawn in completely different ways. Development files reveal Mario went through many stylistic changes; it is possible that all the enemies were made to fit Mario, but at different points in time.
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Super Mario World has an extremely eclectic art style whereby many enemies are drawn in completely different ways. Development files reveal Mario went through many stylistic changes; it is possible that all the enemies were made to fit Mario, but at different points in time.
Setting players up to fail on a story beat is always a challenge and has to be handled carefully. Players often come to games to feel successful, so managing player expectations and emotions around downturns is tough. #gamedesign #dispatch
November 12, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Setting players up to fail on a story beat is always a challenge and has to be handled carefully. Players often come to games to feel successful, so managing player expectations and emotions around downturns is tough. #gamedesign #dispatch
This game is good at understanding that not all players are coming into a narrative choice with the same goals - dialog options allow players to express different desires and interests, even if the real consequences of those actions are minimal. #gamedesign #dispatch
November 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This game is good at understanding that not all players are coming into a narrative choice with the same goals - dialog options allow players to express different desires and interests, even if the real consequences of those actions are minimal. #gamedesign #dispatch
Reposted by Tom Smith
anyway if dems think I'm gonna forget this shit in 5 months, they're wrong. if they think I'm gonna forget it in 5 years, they're wrong. they have fully convinced me that purging the party of these inept losers in the senate is more important than retaking the senate in the next election cycle
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
anyway if dems think I'm gonna forget this shit in 5 months, they're wrong. if they think I'm gonna forget it in 5 years, they're wrong. they have fully convinced me that purging the party of these inept losers in the senate is more important than retaking the senate in the next election cycle