3 Bit Design

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 - [email protected]

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 - [email protected]
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 - [email protected]

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 - [email protected]

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 - [email protected]

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)