PreMortem.Games

MAY 1, 2023

BitCake Studio , an indie game development studio based in Brazil, is celebrating its 10th year in the industry. Eduardo Lamhut, the company’s main Game Designer and Creative Director of the upcoming game Atomic Picnic , explains how the company started. She drew a lot of the first concept art for the main characters.

Studios 104

Studios Build Playtesting Concepts 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

This article is part of the game-dev advice newsletter Levelling the Playing Field by Rami Ismail. If you want to know more about the art, craft and science of game development, subscribe here. The newsletter is free but you can support the existence of LTPF with a small subscription fee.

Writing 104

Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

I like variety in my work (art, coding, animation, marketing); it keeps things interesting and I also love seeing my own progress over the weeks, months and years.” I play games (old and new) to get inspiration and bounce ideas off my wife and friends. How do you stay motivated through (years of) development? “As

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Dev Build Playtesting Demo 136

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2023

White Star Studio, a small and ambitious game development studio based in Shenzen, China, has captured the essence of ancient China in their game Thriving City. The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. But it took some tweaking to get the right balance.

Studios 104

Studios Balance Content Playtesting 104

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Theme and mechanics are inseparable parts of board games as a whole. Then you can start developing mechanics. Through playtesting, you can answer the question “do the mechanics suit the theme?”.

Mechanics 100

Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Art 100

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

With Solium Infernum, Australian game developer League of Geeks has revived Vic Davis’ PC cult classic from 2009. A strategy game of politics, intrigue, and betrayal in which players take on the role of a powerful fallen Archfiend and do everything in their power to conquer the Throne of Hell.

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Studios Concepts Playtesting Development 143

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

When I was a neophyte game developer, I found an excellent article by Wizards of the Coast, creators of Magic: the Gathering , called Ten Things Every Game Needs. No matter what type of game you’re making, these 10 elements are critical to making a good game. Need help on your board game? is the art.

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Game Design Game Designer Tile Games 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the ninth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Games are more than just what’s in the box. Who is Carla?

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Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

To get the Start to Finish series going, I’ve spent some time discussing games, game development, and the amount of careful messaging that is needed to create and sell a great game. At this point, you may be beginning to have some healthy doubts about the benefits and drawbacks of self-publishing a game.

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Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

MAY 1, 2017

One of the most jarring experiences for new game developers is the process of getting their game reviewed. Drama aside, it truly is difficult at first because you have to identify reviewers, send prototypes, make sure your game is ready enough, cross your fingers, and hope they like it. You can give it gorgeous art.

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Games Playtesting Prototyping Dev 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 20, 2020

I’ve written about the five levels of communication game developers must master. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Game development is a lot harder than you’d expect. How long does board game development take?

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Prototyping Games Playtesting Dev 130

Game Dev Unchained

JULY 5, 2023

This episode is sponsored by [link] ⁠ 56% off subscription 20% for one-time purchases with my code GAMEDEV20 Introducing a special guest Max Fink, one of the developers behind the steam sensation, Battle Bit Remastered. Community-Driven Game Development Max spoke candidly about their journey.

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Indy Game Developer Game Development Development 103

Brand Game Development

MARCH 29, 2021

Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. If you don’t consistently work to improve, you won’t make the game you want to make. Now look, some parts of game design – like playtesting or accessibility testing – can be tedious.

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Game Design Game Designer Games Playtesting 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the eighth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Playtesting storytelling. Art and storytelling.

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Art Mechanics Games Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

I’ve talked about the benefits and challenges of working alone in the board game industry. Yet I’m a bit of an odd beast in the board game development world since most people prefer to work in teams. Need help on your board game? I’m a designer, and I do development and social media outreach.

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Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

Each level also had unique mechanics and art styles that all tied into a cohesive whole. Other mascot platformers like Mario, Sonic, or Crash, might've had more complex platforming, but Psychonauts told an actual story with memorable characters and human warmth that's still rarely matched in games today.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Mircosoft Game Dev

JULY 2, 2018

After three days of intensive game development and two weeks of playtesting and rating (over 3,500 ratings!), we now have the results for our June 2018 Godot Community Game Jam ! 110 participants developed games with Godot Engine on the theme TEMPERATURE. Fire and Fondness.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Animation Animation Writing 52

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Ovidiu Mantoc – Level Design, 3D Art. Gabriel Tanko – Concept and 2D Art. Cosmin Coroiu – 3D Art. Dragos Geomolean – Additional 3D Art. Fix the problems we identified during the playtest. Paint a picture of the final game. I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing some more playtests in the near future.

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Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 9, 2019

When you’re making your first board game, retail distribution is probably not top of mind. Many creators choose to focus on making a brilliant game, well play-tested, with great art, and good Kickstarter potential. Molly's latest game, The Million Dollar Doodle, is live on Kickstarter! And that’s fine!

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Retail Games Writing Indy 130

Sirlin

JUNE 13, 2015

During Pandante development, I posted dozens of versions of the game board, cards, rules, etc. Patrons helped playtest and also just point out errors or give suggestions how to improve things. Right now, in addition to my podcasts, I have three main game development projects in the works.

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Fighting Fantasy Art Build 52

Game Global

JULY 12, 2021

A junior narrative designer will need to learn how to write clear, concise technical documentation of game features, always with the document’s audience in mind (it is a truism, for example, that artists don’t like to read a lot of text). What does the Art Team need to know about this quest or level? Localization.

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Cutscenes Writing Scripting Localization 52

Sirlin

JULY 22, 2015

We could certainly add more to our controls scheme if we need to, but so far it's gone over fantastically in playtesting exactly how it is.) Patreon If you'd like to support my game development and podcasts, you can become a patron at patreon.com/sirlin. There will be a new build there next week with a second character.

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Fighting Fantasy Games Build 52

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

The stunning Cruising Pavilion installation at the 2018 Venice Biennale My previous cruising game The Tearoom focused on the emotional and psychological aspects of cruising, and eventually went on tour with the fantastic group art exhibition Cruising Pavilion. I recommend Tusks , though I've been an Alexander fan since The Loch ).

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Code Educational Education Prototyping 52

Tom Francis

AUGUST 20, 2019

If you’re going to charge for it, maybe think about if there’s something you’d like to add to the game. Could just be theme/art/flash, or perhaps a mechanics change? I’d also suggest not calling it just ‘Gridcannon’, but it’s fine to use that word in the title.

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Games Playtesting Prototyping Concepts 52