DIFFICULTY CURVES

Game designer JOHN DENNIS explains how to get difficulty balancing right

Luke Kemp

THE UNSUNG HEROES OF DEVELOPMENT Before entering game development, John Dennis was “an art teacher who really didn’t enjoy teaching!” as he puts it. A friend who was working at Team 17 encouraged him to apply for a game designer job there, which, after some hesitation, he did. “I was the first game designer they’d had.” Though at the beginning he wasn’t sure precisely what a game designer did, he was clearly a quick learner. He stayed at Team 17 for 15 years, and had advanced to the level of head of design, leading a team of 14, by the time he left. After a few years at Activision, he moved on to working with New Star Games and Five Aces, where he’s been for the past ten years. The game he worked…

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PC Powerplay (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 303

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