3 Bit Design

Tristan and Oliver strap on their Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device and bask in the rays of Nintendo’s Super Mario Sunshine , refracting it into these three bits: Swimming in Secrets - How the game drives innate player curiosity through its Shine, level, and Coin placement; FLUDD - Breaking down the splashy mechanics provided by Mario’s unique AI sidekick; Stages of Insanity - Diving into the...

Tristan and Oliver put on their comically oversized toques and tuck their legs in as they scramble for tips in Ghost Town Games’s Overcooked , finely chopping it into these three bits: The Art of Readability - Exploring the game’s purposefully chunky art style and bold colours Well-orchestrated Nonsense - Breaking down how the game naturally encourages cooperation through the evolving level design...

Tristan and Oliver pair up, side-by-side, for their first ever in-person recording to venture deep into the land of giants in Starbreeze Studios’ Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons , as they break it down into these three bits: Two Perspectives - How the two characters react to the world differently and the implications it has on puzzle design Your Other Half - The mechanics of controlling two character...

Tristan and Oliver are joined by special guest game designer Ioana-Iulia Cazacu to ponder on the leisurely farm life of Eric ‘Concernedape’ Barone’s masterful Stardew Valley , as they harvest these three bits: A Fresh Start - Joja Mart’s corporate capitalism versus the leisurely pace of village community life Casual Pressure - The yearning for a peaceful life, the idealisation of a pastoral life a...

Tristan and Oliver link up like two materia in a pod coming down with an Avalanche of thoughts as they break down Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake into these three bits: Redefining Remakes - How FFVII set a new bar of what a remake can be, from visual overhaul to larger gameplay and narrative changes. Best of Both Worlds - The evolution of Final Fantasy combat and how past learnings coalesce...

Tristan and Oliver slick back their hair and put on their hat made of loose Jenga pieces, as they lock in to beat the following three bits out of Bandai Namco’s seventh (main) instalment of the iconic fighting game Tekken : Judging By Looks - Discussing the diverse character roster compared to other fighting games and how the game builds character depth with mystery. A Fighting Chance - Rage arts,...

Tristan and Oliver strap into their jetpacks and hope they don’t run out of fuel, as they hack Relic Entertainment’s sci-fi epic Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine into these three bits: Hordes of Fun - Fun in numbers; the joy of ploughing through enemy hordes and how the game capitalises on this; Takedown Heal - The execution mechanic and the game’s health design; Fictional World - The strong focus o...

Tristan and Oliver put on their warmest parkas and their creepiest clown mask as they head up to the snowy Washington Lodge, ready to slice Supermassive Games’ blockbuster, choice-driven, survival horror Until Dawn up into these three bits: The Lodge - Evaluating the level design of the game’s most iconic and recurring central space; Boom, Butterfly Effect - Discussing characters, narrative, repla...

On tonight’s episode of Night Springs… Tristan and Oliver gather their thermoses and prepare to aim down hard on their beaming flashlights, as they unravel Remedy’s multilayered, narrative-action-adventure Alan Wake into these three bits: Follow The Light - Everything light and darkness; narratively, thematically, and mechanically; Multimedia Madness - Discussing the layering of storytelling mediu...

Tristan and Oliver huddle up to dive deep into Playdead’s masterful narrative platformer Inside , defining it through these three bits: Learning By Ear - The game’s unique audio driven design, often telling before showing. Impactful Minimalism - Less is more, one button controls and guiding the player through subtlety. Interpretive Narrative - The elements that made this compelling world of myster...

Tristan and Oliver meet up with Professor Oak and face the ultimate discussion, as they lay out the classic generations of Game Freak’s global sensation Pokémon into these three elements: Gotta Gacha 'Em All - Catching, collecting, and pioneering the gacha games we know today. Becoming a Pokemon Master - The micro decisions that offer a personalised journey despite minimal customisation and li...

Tristan and Oliver have chosen, or been chosen, to embody free men as they break down Valve’s industry defining title Half-Life 2 into these three bits: Situational Variety - The sandbox-like combat created through the game’s physics, objects, and weapons. Full, Continuous Control - The narrative devices deployed to tell a compelling story while always maintaining full player control. Diegetic Way...

Tristan and Oliver get caught in a web of intrigue as they string together Insomniac Games’ PS5 launch title Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales into these three bits: Feeling Like Spiderman - all things web swinging and open world parkour traversal Brawling With Agility  - Looking at Spidey’s combat design and how the character creates a unique opportunity for brawling in large, open levels. Livin...

Tristan and Oliver passionately channel Lucio’s ultimate as they break down Blizzard’s hero shooter phenomenon Overwatch 2 into these three bits: Teamwork By Design - Naturally enforcing team play through the classes system and other defining in-game features Asymmetric Level Design  - Lifting the curtain on the compelling attack/defend dynamics and how they are enabled through the level design Ze...

Tristan and Oliver tap and swipe through their emotions, frantically trying to hold the podcast together as they break down Mountains’s mobile hit Florence into these three bits: 1. Designing For The Medium - Using natural intuition over complex tutorialisation 2. Small Changes, Big Differences - Conveying story through the power of returning mechanics & repetition 3. Emotions Through Colour -...

Tristan and Oliver voyage beyond life and death as they pick up the blade and slice Leonard Menchiari & Flying Wild Hog’s Trek To Yomi into these three bits: 1. Situational Awareness - distinguishing action from exploration and the side-scrolling combat design 2. Player As Spectator - framing the player as a bystander and other influences from the silver screen 3. The Ultimate Dilemma - projec...

Tristan and Oliver are joined by guest game designer Amy Goodenough to guide them through the vast expanses of Tyria, as we break down ArenaNet’s MMORPG Guild Wars 2 into these three bits: 1. Encouraging community - how the game nurtures a positive collaborative community and surprising design choices that have contributed to it 2. Dynamic events - questing in a living breathing world; linear vs e...

Tristan and Oliver tune into the frequency of Night School Studio’s cult classic, Oxenfree , as they interrupt your broadcast with these three bits: 1. Communication as the main mechanic - Tackling all the items of a traditional adventure game with a single mechanic 2. Walking and Talking - Narrative pacing and the dynamic dialogue system 3. 3D interactivity in a 2D environment - How Night School...

Tristan and Oliver team up to wreak havoc in Pandora as they blast open Gearbox Software’s iconic FPS Borderlands 2 into these three bits: 1. Co-op RPG Shooter - How Gearbox tackles this mashup of genres throughout the different aspects of the game. 2. Procedurally Generated Loot - Weighing up the benefits of generating millions of unique guns. 3. A Feast For The Eyes - Discussing the HUD elements...

Tristan and Oliver seek to play their cards right or face permadeath as they break down MegaCrit’s seminal roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire into these three bits: 1. Risk VS Reward - How the game masterfully goes about presenting truly meaningful choices to players. 2. Class Variety - The curation of playable characters and how they make a punishing, almost traditional, roguelike exciting to r...

Tristan and Oliver canoe down to the magical realms of Midgard as they chop up Santa Monica’s epic God of War (2018) into these three bits: 1. The Hub World - Breaking down the central Lake of Nine hub area and the key role it plays in the structure of the game. 2. One Shot Take - The framing, fluid movements, and seamless transitions that make up the game’s third person camera. 3. Boy! - A deep d...

Tristan and Oliver grab onto their walkies as they go bit-spotting in the Wyoming forests of Campo Santo’s gorgeous hit Firewatch - specifically these three bits: 1. Open World Metroidvania & environmental breadcrumbs - lifting the lid on the reactive open world and its systems. 2. First Person Characterisation - Defying the generic blank slate player character trope most first person games re...

Tristan and Oliver venture down deep into the underworld of Supergiant Games’ renowned roguelike Hades as they nimbly dash through these three bits: 1. Repetitive Fun - Putting the ‘fun’ in death and making each run feel fresh in this “narrative roguelike” 2. Encouraging Experimentation & Variety - How the game drives exploration and nudges players towards trying new things. 3. Feel like a god...

Tristan and Oliver take on a bird's eye view in Adamgryu’s A Short Hike as they explore these three bits: 1. Living in the moment - How the game creates a world of explorative freedom of exploration and anti-completionism. 2. Meta-awareness by design - Looking at the game’s witty writing and how it self-awaredly pokes fun at modern day video game conventions 3. Battling mental health - Connecting...

Tristan and Oliver work together as they lovingly pull apart Hazelight’s It Takes Two into these three bits: 1. A game to get into games - Why It Takes Two makes the perfect starter pack for any newcomer to videogames. 2. The discordant storytelling - Questioning the narrative composition as well as ‘elephant trauma’. 3. It really does take two - Contemplating the decision to make it co-op exclusi...