What Makes A Good Zelda Item?

If you’ve ever played a Zelda game before, you know that not every item feels like a meaningful addition to your toolkit. Rather, some items just spend most of the game collecting dust in your inventory. For every amazing item like the Hookshot, there’s another disappointing item like the Deku Nuts. What sets these items apart? What makes an item useless, and what makes an item worth using?

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Killer Queen Black: Avoiding The Lock-In Effect

The Lock-In Effect is very common in games with multiple objectives. Achieving a win condition typically requires devoting a lot of time or resources, so logically it should be difficult to have enough left over to successfully pivot to another goal. But what if you want players to adapt their strategy and change objectives throughout the game? How can you avoid the Lock-In Effect?

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