Tristan and Oliver hop on their brooms and ready their wands together with self-proclaimed Slytherin narrative designer Sophie Walker as they cast Revelio on Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy, revealing these three bits:

• Big Robes to Fill - Threading the fine line between originality and nostalgia to build a compelling narrative and characters in an adaptation
• Expelliarmus! - Wand-based combat and versatile spell design
• Charting the Wizarding World - Bringing previously isolated iconic locations together into living breathing open world

Let us know what you think:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Leave us a review!

Some references:

An Inside Look at Hogwarts Legacy Unreal Engine Extensions | GDC 2024 - Unreal Engine, GDC Talk (video)

Why Avalanche worked to deliver a Hogwarts game with soul - Brian Crecente, Unreal Engine (article)

Level Design Lessons I Learned the Hard Way — And How Hogwarts Legacy Got Them Right - John Chasoulidis Abela, Medium (article)

Hogwarts Legacy Game design deconstruction - Irina Kurkina, Medium (article)

The art and making of Hogwarts Legacy - Jodi Revenson and Michael Owen (book)

In between seasons, Oliver takes the chance to reflect on some of the games we have discussed previously (Slay the Spire, Inscryption, and Balatro) to break down the genre of Roguelike Deckbuilders into three recurring bits:

• Building on Familiarity - Pick up and play simplicity, minimal onboarding, and complexity layering
• Meaningful Choices - Risk VS reward and the power of full information transparency
• Oozing Personality - Successfully translating the slow tactile form of playing cards to the audio-visual medium of videogames

Let us know what you think:

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Leave us a review!

Tristan and Oliver pledge allegiance to mother nature and reclaim the polluted earth in Free Lives’ reverse city builder Terra Nil, cultivating it into these three bits:

• Tree Act Structure - Unpacking the three stages of the core loop and having clear objectives to a simulation game
• Leave No Trace - Subverting player expectations by relinquishing your creation to nature and recycling your structures
• Take It All In - The absence of pressure, threading the line between a game and a meditative experience

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

Developing 'Terra Nil': A Strategy Game About Nature, Not Expansion - Sam Alfred, GDC 2024 (talk)

Terra Nil Lead Designer On Lessons from Broforce & Designing Strategy Games - Shacknews Interviews (video)

Why a recycling mechanic saved Terra Nil's climate cleanup design - Bryant Francis, Game Developer (article)

Terra Nil: techno-fixes, nature for nature, and the importance of feeling ecological vibes - Joost Vervoort, Medium (article)

This Video Game Prioritizes Restoring An Ecosystem Over Profits - Science Friday (podcast)

FIRESIDE CHAT | Terra Nil - Sam Alfred, Jonathan Hau-Yoon, John Faciane, & Dominique Gawaloski - Games for Change (video)

Tristan and Oliver are joined by guest Marta Durand as they take on the role of the new director and unravel the surreal mysteries of the Oldest House in Remedy's mind-bending Control, locking it down into these three bits:

• Oldest House - Metroidvania storytelling housed in brutalist architecture
• The Force - The ultimate telekinetic power fantasy and progression in the combat system
• Business as Usual - Grounding the supernatural through mundane corporate activity

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

Control: A Masterpiece in Game Design - Faye Seidler, Medium (article)

The Secret Sauce of Remedy's Map Design - Game Design with Michael (video essay)

Control freak: Inside the narrative design of Remedy's least linear game - Diego Arguello, Game Developer (article)

Exploring the world-driven game design of Control - Bryant Francis, Game Developer (article)

Tristan and Oliver abandon this timeline and rethink tactics for the next, in Subset Games' mech vs kaiju showdown Into the Breach, breaking it down into these three bits:

• Strategic Simplicity - Making a turn based strategy game feel approachable
• Collateral Damage - Subverting player expectations by making them disposable and not the top priority
• Actions and Reactions - Designing the perfect balance of having all the information available to you but still getting caught off guard

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

Reimagining failure in strategy game design in Into the Breach - Alex Wiltshire, Game Developer (article)

Analyzing the Design of Into the Breach; or, Why Can’t I Stop Playing this Game? - Ian, Adventure Rules (blog)

Into the Breach Design Postmortem - Matthew Davis, GDC (talk)

The Secret of Into the Breach's AI: Power in Simplicity | AI and Games #72 - Dr. Tommy Thompson, AI and Games (video essay)

The Design of FTL & Into The Breach - /noclip (documentary)

Does Into The Breach Really Have Perfect Information? Why RNG Matters - Adam Millar, The Architect of Games (video essay)

Tristan and Oliver are joined by Kieran Reid as they inherit too much responsibility for their own good, and try to manage chaos in Colossal Order's hit sim Cities Skylines, planning it out in these three zones:

• Traffic as Emerging Puzzles - Breaking down the brilliant traffic systems and how they develop engaging challenges to the player throughout
• City Identity Through Roleplay - Looking at the little details and customisation tools the game offers that bring life and purpose to your city
• Hard to Learn, Easy to Master - Reviewing the daunting first time user experience, the delayed core loop hook, and the role of the community

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

Game Design Deep Dive: Traffic systems in Cities: Skylines - Antti Lehto and Damien Morello and Karoliina Korppoo, Game Developer (article)

Cities: Skylines dev: Don't punish your players; teach them - Alex Wawro, Game Developer (article)

Tristan and Oliver take an emotional journey through the watercolour wonders of Nomada Studio's spellbinding Gris, painting it in these three bits:

• Colour Theory - Emotive storytelling through colour
• Embodiment of Grief - Stages of grief interwoven into tangible mechanics and abilities
• Guiding Through Motion - Driving interactivity and tone through movement

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!

3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

How Gris Made You Cry With Its Colors - Daryl Talks Games (video essay)

GRIS — Aesthetics First, Humanity Later (Or Never) - Kat (Pixel a Day), Medium (article)

Behind the Schemes: GRIS with Nomada Studio - Devolver Digital (video)

[Game Theory] Beauty and Melancholy in Gris - Nicole Lamerichs (article)

Gris mirrors the stages of grief through art, sound and design - Ashley Oh, Polygon (article)

Tristan and Oliver are joined by Jon Keevy as they emulate their minds into their new digital bodies to board the Eye in Jump Over the Age's modern classic Citizen Sleeper, tapping into these three threads:

• Cycles - The passing of time and how it makes the dynamic narrative tick
• Risk Assessment - Deep dive into the dice mechanics and other resource management
• Moral Ambiguity - How the game manages to deliver genuinely impactful choices by withholding information and avoiding judgement

Let us know what you think:

Leave us a review!3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign

Oliver - @oliverwauters

Tristan - @theatrewalker

Or email - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

Some references:

• Citizen Sleeper 2's narrative tools and "no-code" approach - Creator Spotlight - Unity (interview)
• Citizen Sleeper: How precarity and minimum viable design created this dystopian RPG | BAFTA - BAFTA (presentation)
• How Citizen Sleeper was inspired by tabletop RPGs and gig work - Joel Couture, Game Developer (article)
• "Game development is more accessible than ever": how Citizen Sleeper 2 was created without coding - Lewis Packwood, Creative Bloq (article)