An Introduction to Experience Points

Writing about games is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time, but I’ve always shied away from it in fear of having nothing insightful, original or just downright interesting to say. I’ve always enjoyed hearing journalists, game devs and content creators discuss games as an art form and always had plenty of my own thoughts in response, sometimes aligning with the popular opinion and sometimes not. Every now and again I’ll share some of these thoughts via twitter, but as I’ve started on a game design journey of my own, I figured now was as good a time as any to start really digging into why I love certain games.

There’s been a trend online in recent years where discussion on games and game design has become increasingly hyperbolic, negative and sometimes just completely toxic. It’s in the nature of social media itself, for sure, but there’s something about game criticism that brings out the worst toxicity of fandom. The stone cold truth is that gamers just love to complain about anything and everything, to an alarming extent.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not starting this project with the intent to forever change the landscape of online game discussion- I’m just a regular guy who’s barely even knocking at the door of the game industry and I’m not expecting to suddenly have worldwide readership overnight. But I love games, I love talking about them and I’ve played them all of my life! I grew up with Pokemon and Zelda, made a terrible RPG Maker game at the age of 10, have cried at many Final Fantasy orchestral concerts, and now here I am learning to craft my own games. I just think games are cool as hell.

So here’s “Experience Points”! A fun little project that I’ve had in mind for a while that I’m finally attempting to bring to life. I want to position myself somewhere at the intersection of review, video essay, and bite sized “oh-look-here’s-a-cool-thing” Twitter thread, sometimes dipping in and out of each. At the core of what I want to write about is the idea that game design is all in service of creating an experience. Most people are very open to the idea that visual art and music help create an experience, but I feel like game mechanics aren’t always included in the same conversation.

There are 3 core aims that I’ll be keeping in mind when writing for Experience Points:

• To connect game design and the experience a game creates
• To bring attention to game mechanics and small bits of game feel that I think are cool
• To learn something from the games I play for my own personal design journey

I’m not expecting to write something groundbreaking that forever changes the culture around games. But if I can create something enjoyable and learn something for myself in the process, then Experience Points will have been a success in my eyes.

I have a few ideas for things I’d love to explore about some of my favourite games- Final Fantasy XIV, Honkai Star Rail and Super Mario 64 to name a few- and I’d love to have a regular enough output that I have something to say about most of the games I play this year. In 2023, I finished 24 games in total so no doubt I’ll have plenty to talk about moving forward.

Much love to anyone who drops by to read this. I can’t wait to share more in the next week or two!

Max