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Video: Crafting emergent tragedies in Kitfox's The Shrouded Isle

In this 2019 GDC session, Kitfox Games' Jongwoo Kim presents a design postmortem of The Shrouded Isle and examines three techniques that designers can use to create emergent tragedies.

September 17, 2019

1 Min Read
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In this 2019 GDC session, Kitfox Games' Jongwoo Kim presents a design postmortem of The Shrouded Isle and examines three techniques that designers can use to create emergent tragedies.

According to Kim, conventional management game mechanics were thematically imcompatible with The Shrouded Isle's focus on telling the story of a dwindling, self-destructive sect, so the game instead revolves around systems that intentionally subvert players' expectations and drive them to cause their own downfall.

It was a fascinating talk, and now you can watch it yourself for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page

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