Critical Play: Mysteries & Escape Rooms – Owen Sample August 7, 2026 In Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery, a free game designed by Kiary Games and released for mobile platforms and PC, players step into the…
Sketchnote: Onboarding in Plants vs Zombies – Owen Sample August 4, 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/PHMFbS4MKq9m6U9V8
Critical Play: Puzzles – Owen Sample July 31, 2026 For this critical play, I enjoyed the free 25 level demo of Bart Bonte’s Factory Balls Forever to completion. Originally released named Factory Balls…
Critical Play: Worldbuilding – Owen Sample July 24, 2026 In Celeste, designed by Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry for PC and consoles in 2018, the mountain isn’t just a passive obstacle course for…
Sketchnote: Loops & Arcs – Owen Sample July 22, 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/myy4uUAPjJeuADHK9 A game I enjoy is Satisfactory, which has an arc loop sandwich, as each space elevator phase acts as an arc to unlock…
Checkpoint 1 Concept Doc Individual – Owen Sample July 21, 2026 Moodboard Playlist Directions Space Exploration Hybrid Have people explore different “levels” of space (a set of small physical boards that could have some shifting…
Critical Play: Walking Simulators – Owen Sample July 17, 2026 For this critical play, I enjoyed Adam Robinson-Yu’s A Short Hike, released in 2019, on my Steamdeck. You play as Claire, an anthropomorphic bird,…
Mindmap: Narrative Architecture – Owen Sample July 14, 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/mcYrQCzg5rrwhwBz6
Project 1: Social Mediation Game – Summit Rush – Team Gopher July 10, 2026 By: Owen Sample, Noah Leibert, Marcus Polson, Willow Azevedo (Team Gopher) Artist’s Statement Our intention for Summit Rush was to make a fun, interactive…
Critical Play: Competitive Analysis – Owen Sample July 10, 2026 Matt Leacock’s Pandemic is a staple in the world of cooperative board games. Designed for two to four players, it targets families and strategy…
Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships – Owen Sample July 7, 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/1DT6RNAw1jgSEy9LA
Critical Play – Getting Vulnerable – Owen Sample July 3, 2026 Part 1: Perception In the modern era of superficiality and perfect Instagram posts, We’re Not Really Strangers (WNRS) feels like the perfect thing to…
What Games Are and Aren’t – Owen Sample June 30, 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/EsY6XnnAXovva4cd8 for high definition.
Learning to Play Closely – Owen Sample June 27, 2026 Hit X to interact. It’s a pretty common mechanic in many games. Often, I think this is about to let me gift, talk to,…
MDA & 8 Kinds of Fun – Owen Sample – Forza Horizon 6 June 25, 2026 Forza Horizon 6 is my favorite new game, and for good reason—especially when you don’t have to pay extra for it with Game Pass….
Introduce Yourself – Owen June 25, 2026 Preferred pronouns: He/Him but Any/All if you are feeling adventurous. Favorite game of all time and why: I can’t pick so two: Minecraft, for…