The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 5, 2023

As I said in my last GoWR piece (which got quite a lot of reads), it's kind of futile to critique big AAA games. On one end: Video games tend to work best as a power fantasy , a source of emotional pleasure and fulfillment for the player. This game needs to be wish-fulfillment power fantasy. This is a Power Fantasy.

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Art Fantasy Writing Agent 69

iXie gaming

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Games like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions broke new ground. Games like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions are all examples of the power of the PSP 3.

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Console Games Fantasy Mobile 52

iHobo

JULY 12, 2023

Although these lines are increasingly blurred today (as AAA cRPGs will tend to draw heavily from both traditions), there is a clear historical period after the Ultima - Wizardry split that dominates more than two decades of cRPG design.

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Open World AAA Game Design Game Designer 52

The Bottom Feeder

OCTOBER 13, 2021

I'm not a great fantasy writer. When you're working on a AAA game with a $300000000 budget, all executive decisions will be aimed toward one goal: Sand down any odd edges or quirky details. For a AAA game to have a unique authorial voice, it has to have someone VERY famous or influential working on it. Now let's be clear.

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Writing Games AAA Indy 57

Moonmana

APRIL 7, 2023

Thanks to groundbreaking technology advancements, developers can now take advantage of cutting-edge software and game engines which enable them to create fantasy worlds in video games. Some say Unreal is better just because it’s a common choice for AAA studios. But is there an ultimate winner? What is Unreal?

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Engine Engineering Game Engine Asset 52

OPM Jobs

MARCH 31, 2023

We all remember the times where the focus of most AAA game studios seemed to be to fulfil the fantasies of cis men. Slowly companies started to realise they were ignoring a huge potential audience. And that audience began realising that they deserve that representation. Most of industry knows this and are ready to change.

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Games Entertainment AAA Media 87

Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

One of the best examples on the market today is Blizzard’s portable take on its dungeon-crawling RPG, Diablo Immortal , which takes players on an epic fantasy adventure set between the events of Diablo II and III. Call of Dragons features high-quality animated cutscenes that bring its fantasy world and characters to life.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 92

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 13, 2022

That makes them the closest thing in games to a rock supergroup: Maya Kylmamaa (Game Lead, Engineer) , was CEO of the now defunct Reforged Studios (a Helsinki studio focused on AAA strategy games). She previously was Technical Lead at League of Legends and a Software Engineer at several expansions of World of Warcraft , among others.

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Studios Mobile Mobile Console 52

Game Refinery

JANUARY 5, 2023

There aren’t really any other games like it on PC/console, although Fall Guys does have to compete for players’ attention whenever there’s a major AAA release on console/PC. If you enjoyed reading this post, here are a few more you should definitely check out: Tower of Fantasy – Is the Game Really a Genshin Impact With a Social Twist?

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Mobile Mobile Mechanics Racing 52

Keith Burgun

JULY 29, 2022

So what we end up with, over time, is a “tradition”, or traditions within a blanket term like “RPG” There are so-called “ARPGs” like Diablo, JRPGs like Final Fantasy, CRPGs like Ultima, tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem, and so on. Over the years, I have loved games in all of these categories.

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Fantasy AAA Concepts Cutscenes 52

Logic Simplified

AUGUST 24, 2023

The Preferred Choice for AAA games Unreal Engine is well-documented and has great tools for the game development discipline that reduce the manual and resource-intensive tasks in game development. It uses advanced rendering techniques, such as dynamic lighting, shadows, and reflections, to create a highly realistic and immersive environment.

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Engine Engineering Development Visual Scripting 56

Keith Burgun

APRIL 10, 2023

As I’ve gone through the Final Fantasy series recently , it’s notable that the games used to have secrets, and now, they pretty much don’t anymore. Final Fantasy IV In this spot in Final Fantasy IV , there are two visible rooms, and there’s a hidden passage that connects them, allowing the player to move between them.

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Fantasy Puzzle Content Cutscenes 52

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

Vampire Survivors got big at about the same time and really showed what the much bigger AAA game does wrong. It's the most Power Fantasy of genres. You're so involved you forget to go pee. (In In other words, the opposite of what God of War Ragnarok gives you. It was great timing.) Wasting tons of bozos with giant, sparkly weapons.

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Indy Balance Game Design Game Designer 81

AWS Games

JUNE 8, 2023

Creating a game at this level is the fantasy of every game developer and I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve thus far,” noted Omidi. As “Crossfar” approaches its one-year anniversary, Omidi has started scaling his team, and establishing US-based development studio Crossfar League to support the game.

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Development Indy Visual Scripting Games 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 8, 2019

The brand affinity generates engagement while answering some hard questions about player fantasy, character, world, demographic and art style. Demographic <> Genre Fit <> Brand Fantasy: Does the brand fantasy enhance and or/ match the demographic and genre fit?

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Mechanics Concepts Mobile 52

Radiator Blog

AUGUST 25, 2021

it'll happen, don't panic, might already be here.

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Writing Polygon AAA Dev 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

Final Fantasys end with god-killing because that's what changing your life requires! Even AAA has given up on immersive sim RPGs , so any dev deserves praise just for attempting this genre I think. it's going to therapy! Still, overall this was a very impressive achievement for just 3 indie developers.

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NPC Fighting Art Dev 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2022

The biggest acquisition in the sub-genre happened last year, with Applovin acquiring Machine Zone - the company that made some of the most iconic top-grossing 4X games of all time (Game of War, Modern Strike, Final Fantasy: New Empire). A true masterpiece of an ad rivaling launch trailers from AAA games.

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Cross platform Platformer Puzzle Mobile 52

Radiator Blog

JUNE 2, 2023

that a bigger US AAA or a non-US indie would've failed to capture. They could maybe pull off a No Man's Sky / Final Fantasy 14 style maneuver and reboot it as Redfall: Revamped next year, but that's probably not the complete second chance that the team wants. It's these small moments and details that stand out.

Studios 98

Studios Co-op Open World Cutscenes 98

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 13, 2021

But when you think about the AAA catalogs offered by Xbox Game Pass and Playstation Now, this just seems like a nearly impossible battle to take on for a streaming media company with little game development experience, no matter how flush with cash they are. I think the “smaller Apple Arcade” concept is a bit of a red herring.

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

unlike Outer Wilds, golden loop here is heavily hard-gated by quest progression, not a "true" information game, compromise with AAA market? I imagine Arkane debated this a lot, and over the years, had to bow to AAA approachability and clarity. sorry if your game happens to crash, or you get a dreaded UI freeze.

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Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52