Volume 2 is Out!

Here's the Table of Contents & 9 new pieces about game design by independent game designers.

Welcome to Volume 2 of After Journey’s End, a game design journal by independent game designers, on their games’ designs! Each post is a brief post that focuses in on a single aspect of one of their game’s design problems. Sometimes they even focus a ‘design bounty,’ a game they’d like to see someone else bring to light!

Here’s links to all the posts. If for some reason they don’t work you can browse the posts with the Volume 2 Tag.

John Ellis (Feverdream Johnny) - Orbo’s Odyssey (2023): Designing the “PERFECT MAN” Horror Sequence. “Exploring subverting expectations in horror.”

Stephen Gillmurphy (thecatamites) - Anthology Of The Killer (2024): Treasures of the Speech Balloon

Quinn K. - NO ME: The Future Is ours (2023): Going HOME: Dystopian World-Design through the lens of two Homes.

Lena Raine - The Narrative Voice of ESC (2018)

npckc - Showing Choices You Can’t Make in A YEAR OF SPRINGS (2021)

Linker - Elephantasy (2020): Why the Warping Worked

Xiri - HITM3 (2024): Thinking, Filming & Editing a Cutscene. “On how he showed his trio making some empanadas and love.”

Lily Valeen - Responsive Mobile Action Controls in BOSSGAME (2022)

Melos Han-Tani - Sephonie (2022): Why make a level about Sunshine City?  

If you’d like to support the journal, share it in your group chats, Discord Servers, on Twitter, Cohost, Mastodon, Bluesky, or wherever! Check out the developers’ games, too.

We also have a list of the games on Backloggd.

You could also repost any of the posts on Substack.