Mastodawn

This week on Counting Stuff, a 'problem that I worry about' -> how do I know when I'm making stuff "Easier" that I haven't gone too far and just pushed friction out to some other system that will bite me in the ass later #data Also still job hunting!

https://www.counting-stuff.com/in-ux-we-keep-getting-asked-to-bring-a-frictionless-future-to-nowhere/

In UX we keep getting asked to bring a frictionless future... to nowhere

Thanks to the many people who have reached out with leads on available senior-y leveled data/ux positions or just connections to other humans! I'm working through things and starting to reach out to folks. Also, thanks to everyone who just reached out with kind words. It means a lot.

Counting Stuff

Alan Au Oct 3

I still don't think I really understand how to use mastodon. Although, I do sometimes wonder if it's a UX issue with the default client.

Alan Au Jul 23, 2025

Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I still have an account here that I really don't check often? Maybe go find me on Bluesky if you want to see what thoughts are percolating through my head on any given day.

Alan Au Dec 8, 2024

I've decided that when it comes to game design, theme and mechanics are necessary but not sufficient. Good games are about experience. Great games are about imagination. #gamedev

Alan Au Nov 23, 2024

Doing some Saturday morning #gamedev on my idea for a cooperative story-driven trick-taking game. I have an interesting choice I could make, and I think I need to just try stuff and playtest it:

- High good, low bad
- Low good, high bad
- Middle good, high/low bad
- Odd good, even bad

Alan Au Nov 2, 2024

So. Dice bonuses. There are lots of ways to modify die rolls, and they're varyingly better or worse:
- Extra die.
- Reroll one.
- Reroll all.
- Reroll any.
- +1 to a roll.
- +1 to all rolls.

The probabilities are calculable; I should run the math on these and post something about it. #gamedev

Alan Au Nov 2, 2024

Sometimes there's a scene in a movie where characters have to swim underwater, and I used to do a thing where I would try to hold my breath for the duration of the scene. That's a totally normal thing to try and do, right?

Alan Au Oct 22, 2024

More games should have unreliable narrators. (Not all of them, just more of them.) #gamedev

Alan Au Oct 17, 2024

One of the really weird things about prototyping a bunch of game designs at once is that you get to mix and match ideas from all of them. You'll think "oh, this mechanic is interesting" and them you can just borrow it for another project. #gamedev

Alan Au Oct 15, 2024

I should be sleeping. Instead, I'm thinking about whether this game design actually needs a map. If not, I could abstract it away. But I think a map could inspire different mechanics. #gamedev

- Adjacency bonuses
- Use intersections/edges
- Constrain movement

Twitter	@Alan_Au
Bluesky	@alanau.bsky.social