Welcome to the website for the second edition of Quests, Game Magic: A Game Designer’s Guide to Magic Systems, as well as my ongoing game project (Arcana).
Game Magic Cover
Game Magic is grimoire or cookbook containing recipes for making more immersive and engaging magic systems.
Here is the order link on Amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/gamemagic
Schools of magic
You can follow the development of the Toolset both on this blog and on this YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVy9k2gYFgw
I am Dr. Jeff Howard: Ludomancer, Technomage, and Occult Game Designer. I am Senior Lecturer in Games at Falmouth University. I was formerly Associate Professor of Game Development and Design at Dakota State University, where I played a key role leading the narrative focus area in the Computer Game Design program. I am the author of Game Magic: A Game Designer’s Guide to Constructing Magic Systems (2014) and Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives (2008). I have spoken at GDC on heavy metal and games, GDC Online on “Occult Game Design: An Initiation into Secrets and Mysteries” and the Singapore-M.I.T. Gambit Game Lab on “Magic Systems in Theory and Practice,” as well as giving talks at the East Coast Games Conference. I was the program committee chair for the Workshop on Integrated Design in Games (IDIG), an annual conference that has hosted such eminent speakers as Ken Rolston, Richard Dansky, Matt Forbeck, and Chris Pruett.
Currently listening to the interview on Expanding Mind podcast and I’m really digging it and planning on buying the Game Magic book. The podcast was posted on the Reddit subreddit /r/gamearcane/ which is for relating and interpreting video games from an occult view and your book is right on the mark. Check it out, your book will definitely be included for recommended reading material. Can’t wait to read the book!
Thanks so much! (And sorry for the late reply. I’ve been doing development work on my game all summer and not blogging much). I’m glad to hear about the r/arcane subrredit, and I appreciate you including my book on your list of recommended reading. Please keep in touch! It’s great to talk to people with common interests.
is this an online game or a real school of magic if its a real school of magic how to enroll in this school?
Hi, Jomari. Thanks for your inquiry. The website is my personal site. I teach game design at Dakota State University, I wrote a book on magic systems in games called Game Magic, and I am making a ritual magic simulator called Arcana. I do not operate a school of occult magic. Rather, I practice game design in ways that are influenced by the occult.