Site Redesign

I completely redesigned sirlin.net. As you can see, it now has a much different and simpler graphic design. I used Blivand Design and Subtractive Design principles.

Here's a progression of how my site has looked over the last 15 years:

My old site is archived at oldsite.sirlin.net. (And here, if the first link is broken.)

Articles

I added new content about game design and I revised and rewrote a lot of old articles. It's all cleaned up and a lot more presentable now. There's also a nice looking page listing all my articles.

  • Solvability. A new article about making competitive games more difficult for experts to solve.
  • Writing Well, Part 4: Trolling. A new light-hearted article about using language in unfair ways.
  • Street Fighter HD Remix articles. These 20 articles are now reformatted and slightly fixed up here and there. They have a much better looking landing page.
  • Playing to Win. My book is reformatted and still free. There is now a Playing to Win: Overview article which is a rewritten, modernized version of my old Playing to Win: Part 1 article as well as a revised Playing to Win: Mailbag article.
  • Designing Yomi. This article was so out of date before that it used the character Ken as an example, who does not even appear in the game. Now revised for modern times.
  • Game Balance and Yomi. So many people liked this blog post that I made it into an article.
  • Blivand Design. I extended my earlier posts about this graphic design style into an article.
  • I revised my four part series on balancing multiplayer competitive games. Part 3: Fairness has the most updates, including a section about how more customization means FEWER real options.
  • The Secret of Donkey Kong Country 2. This article has always been a fan favorite. It's back and revised to be more to the point, now including a spoiler video.
  • Pacing For Impact. This article appeared in Game Developer Magazine years ago, but I never actually put it on my previous site.
  • Save Game Systems. This article also appeared in Game Developer Magazine and was also not on the previous version of sirlin.net.
  • Designing Defensively: Guilty Gear. Totally rewritten to be more to the point. The thesis moved to the top, a little more text to support the main idea added, and lots of Guilty Gear mechanics that are unrelated to the point were removed.
  • The Sheathed Sword in Software Development. A very old article of mine about how working smart is usually better than working hard. Revised and back by popular demand.
  • Most other articles are revised as well.

Graphic Design

In addition to revamping the graphic design of this site, I also created a set of galleries that show the graphic design I've done for my games. Also, every article has new pictures which are generally more aesthetically sophisticated than before.

Here's a comparison of my old list of articles looks like, compared to the new:

And here's a comparison of my old collection of Street Fighter articles, compared to the new:

Forums

There's now new forums for my site. These are semi-private forums about game design and development. Think of it like "Sirlin's house." It's for friends, colleagues, and friendly contributors. There's discussion about game design topics that's above a remedial level because everyone there already understands the basics. It's open for the public to read, but new members have to be approved by the staff.

The Fantasy Strike forums are much different. Those are public forums and anyone can join. If you're a fan of Sirlin Games, join there and connect with other fans to discuss strategies, rules questions, organize tournaments, and whatever else.

RSS

Make sure to set your RSS to this link if that's how you follow sirlin.net.

SirlinGames.com

There's now a gallery showing the latest versions of all Yomi cards, including each character's stat reference cards and EX Powerup cards.

This has been up for a while, but in case you missed it, there's also a page showing all 20 Fantasy Strike characters story goals, likes, dislikes, friends, rivals, and a cool picture for each.

Enjoy the new Sirlin.net! I hope you find it a good resource of game design knowledge.