Are modern games such as Destiny more than just a gazillion polygons worth of Mario? Join host Chris ‘Wombat’ Crowell as special guests Patrick Holleman and Mike Breault present The Evolution of Videogame Design. The webinar reveals that games grew through gradual evolution as well as through breakthrough ideas by designers like Shigeru Miyamoto. The history breaks down into three major periods in the history of game design: the arcade era, the composite era, and the set piece era. We’ll even look at how design ideas creep in on goblin feet from outside videogames from such sources as Dungeons & Dragons, changing the landscape of videogame design. As Spock says “Fascinating”.

About Mike Breault

Mike has been in the games industry since 1984. He started out in paper/board games with TSR and designed and edited/developed over 100 products there. His first computer games credit was as a co-designer of “Pool of Radiance” in 1988. He transitioned full-time into computer/video games in 1989, contracting for companies like Nintendo, Sega, Broderbund, Spectrum Holobyte, Electronic Arts, and others. Since 1999, he’s worked in-house for Volition, Raven Software, Ubisoft, 38 Studios, and Zenimax Online.

About Patrick Holleman

Patrick works as a creative producer for the indie studio Synaptic Swtich. From day to day he is a designer, writer, producer composer, sound engineer and whatever else the team needs. He is also a scholar of videogame design history, having written three books and numerous articles about the historical development of videogame design. You can find his books online at http://thegamedesignforum.com, his compositions at https://soundcloud.com/pat-holleman, and the game he has worked on at synapticswitch.com.