PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Chaosmonger Studios , based in Tallinn, Estonia, is a multimedia production company specializing in everything from documentaries, science fiction films and animations to music video, graphic design and video games. His latest game Three Minutes to Eight is a real tour de force, both in storytelling and visual flair.

Pixel 210

Pixel Studios Development Film 210

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

Last month, game industry documentary makers 2 Player Productions debuted a massive 32-part YouTube game dev doc series Double Fine PsychOdyssey , chronicling the development of Psychonauts 2 from its earliest glimmers of pre-production in 2015 to its final release in 2021.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the sixth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

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Mechanics Concepts Writing Games 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 29, 2021

From time to time, I see board game creators on social media who have been working on the same design day-in, day-out for years on end. The first are people making a board game as a labor of love, who know they’re taking their sweet time on it, and they’re OK with it. Need help on your board game?

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Playtesting 130

Grid Sage Games

MAY 8, 2022

Recently a player asked me a question regarding my game balance philosophy, and while I can often respond to queries by pointing to some previous article, despite all my writing and no doubt occasionally touching on related topics, I had yet to explicitly do any sort of summary of the philosophy behind my gamedev work. Difficulty.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 17, 2017

After spending a lot of time last week talking about how to make games, let’s talk about how to make them well. When it comes to games, there are a handful of truths that are very important to realize. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

Communications 130

Communications Game Developer Game Development Development 130

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 24, 2023

Riding the Wave of Tech Evolution In an era defined by rapid innovation and evolution, the game development industry continually grapples with the pressure to remain on the cutting edge. Dino Patti and Tadej Gregorcic , both co-founders of Coherence , a platform aiming to democratize multiplayer game development.

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Game Developer Game Development Build Development 94

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

The quickest way to turn a brilliant game into a mediocre game is by botching the rule book. The game itself may not be ruined, but the experiences of the players will be dramatically altered for the worse. At first, the purpose of a rule book may seem deceptively clear: it’s supposed to teach players how to play the game.

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Balance Concepts Mechanics Render 130

Ask a Game Dev

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Specifically, it was about how to go about making interesting cards for a cooperative deck building game. I want to expand on that because I thought that it would make for a good central design concept post - what does it mean for a player to make a choice that is interesting? Controlled randomization of outcome (e.g.

Dev 52

Dev Balance Concepts Build 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the third of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 29, 2018

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the thirteenth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. This week, I want to zero in on the subject of making the perfect board game rule book.

Writing 130

Writing Games Mechanics Balance 130

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Board game fulfillment is really complex. In fact, fulfillment often determines how big games are and how many components can be included. Many game developers think about fulfillment only after their project is complete – and you can certainly get away with it! Need help on your board game? So let’s dive right in.

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Game Developer Game Development Development Games 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

One of the hallmarks of good board game design is being able to create hard choices. Let’s talk about how you can create hard choices in your board game. He, after all, created the pattern building game that we call Tasty Humans , so it makes for a great case study! Need help on your board game?

Tile 130

Tile Mechanics Games Puzzle 130

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 1, 2023

Adnan Chaumette initially entered the gaming industry as a 3D artist before shifting to a more technical role. In the interview, Chaumette discussed how AI has been influencing the gaming industry for years, citing the early work of Andrew Maximoff, founder of Promethean AI, in 2018.

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AI Technology Content Art 96

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 11, 2017

Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. It took me a long time to get this game ready for blind play-testing.

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Point and Click Art Games Communications 100

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? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

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Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Cogmind began its life as a 7DRL , and a portion of items designed back when the game was overall a very different environment didn’t evolve at the same pace. That would be bad :P. It made sense to wait as long as possible to carry out this process, but the wait is finally over! Alien Artifacts.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Tom Francis

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

So what I’m interested in is: what needs fixing to make it a game I enjoy? The parts of the game’s strategy that sound interesting only really kick in if both players are at roughly the same move-crunching ability tier. The early game is slow and boring. The pawn is a shitshow of clumsy balance changes.

Concepts 100

Concepts Game Design Game Designer Tile 100

Brand Game Development

JULY 1, 2019

Creating a great scoring system in a board game can be a difficult process. Once you craft the basic concepts of your game and find the right mechanics to express them , you have to set rules. Scoring rules are among the most important, particularly in euro games. Need help on your board game? So how do you do it?

Tile 130

Tile Games Mechanics Build 130

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Cogmind generally has fewer such direct escape options, but teleport mechanics are out there, if an advanced tech not usually available until the late game. As a general concept teleportation technology exists in quite a few varieties throughout the world of Cogmind, though the player only has access to some of them.

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Mechanics Concepts Balance Terrain 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Today’s breakdown is for Pandemic , one of my favorite board games of all time. In fact, this is the one for me – the one that opened my eyes to the larger board game community. It is the one that broke me out of the prison of Monopoly , Yahtzee , and other games that many hardcore board gamers love to hate with an irrational vigor.

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Fighting Balance Communications Concepts 130

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Anyway, to the issue at hand, hopefully with a larger map view Cogmind will be able to appeal to enough additional people who are otherwise okay with the rest of the game--I know there are some out there, and it’ll be better for revenue going forward! It must be done. It will be done :) It’s time to experiment! But it did work!

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Render Engine Engineering FPS 52

Game Dev Unchained

AUGUST 24, 2023

This episode is sponsored by [link] ⁠ 56% off subscription 20% for one-time purchases with my code GAMEDEV20 In the ever-evolving landscape of game development, the pandemic has stirred an unexpected debate about working conditions and what the future holds for those in the industry. Does this make the ambitions of Gen Z any more audacious?

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Media Balance Platformer Game Developer 86

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 8, 2024

Why does this game matter? Well, Supercell hasn't launched a new game since Brawl Stars in 2018, so Mini becoming a hit would have an impact on the trend of the whole company. And it’s the only game soft-launched to date from Supercell’s Shanghai Studio, which was opened 5 years ago. It was not. Source: data.ai

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Tile Mechanics Balance Content 69

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

The world of gaming is always on the brink of something new, something vast, something that promises to change how we play and interact in virtual spaces. I sat down with John Krajewski , the man behind the unique and forward-thinking game, Eco. ” The allure of video games has always been about escapism and achievement. .

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Indy AAA Platformer Educational 105

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

The gaming world is filled with intriguing tales of passion, dedication, and transformation. I recently spoke to Eric and chronicled his mesmerizing journey from architecture’s rigidity to the fluidity of game development. Delving further, he shared, “It’s a love letter to my childhood gaming experiences.”

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Indy Pixel AAA Art 64

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Showing your game to strangers for the first time can be a little nerve wracking. After months of toiling in a secluded attic, the last weeks of which were particularly grueling, we finally took Second Hand to its first public showings: first to Dev-Play in Bucharest and shortly thereafter to Clujotronic in our very own Cluj.

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Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

In the time since Garrisons were added, however, a combination of relevant changes to the game started putting pressure on their original design: Many more full branch maps were added, along with factions, each with their own enticing reasons to visit them compared to the weaker incentives for entering a Garrison.

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Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

SPOILER WARNING: This post spoils what happens in my new game That Lonesome Valley. It's mostly "safe for work" even if the actual game is not. That Lonesome Valley is a short gay cowboy romance game about walking, sheepherding, and kissing. My sex games are often romantic, but they're not romances.

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Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 13, 2022

TWiG #212 - Apple's New Price Points / Game Genre Taxonomy pt 2 / Nintendo's Mobile Strategy ? Predicting the Future of Supercell’s Brand New Studio A year ago, Supercell announced their intention to open a studio in North America with the mission of developing games for PC and Console. ✉️ Received this email from a friend?

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Studios Mobile Mobile Console 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2022

Xsolla has dedicated tools that will help you create your own online commerce platform, improve your performance marketing and discoverability, and expand your game business on mobile and PC. Clash Mini is one of the three Clash games Supercell announced in April of 2021. As expected from Supercell, Clash Quest is a polished game.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Point and Click Mobile 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge. Not that you should ever talk to a game dev.

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Here we’re primarily talking about the player revisiting earlier floors on their journey, rather than backtracking within a single map (though I’ll cover that topic a bit separately at the end), and our discussion focuses on roguelikes of the dungeon delving variety, since open world games generally allow backtracking by default.

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Point and Click Mechanics Open World Feature 52

Sirlin

JULY 3, 2016

Dear Jeff Kaplan and the Overwatch team, I think your game is great and it's not lightly that I rate it a 10 out of 10. While this post by Kaplan is excellent about sharing thoughts from the dev perspective, I'm concerned about the specific thoughts laid out there. Kaplan You should not consider adding draws to the game.

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Concepts Dev Graphics Beta 40

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

Zugzwang by Robert Yang This post details my process and intent for making my new release Zugzwang (pronounced in German like /ts'OOK-ts'VAHng/ ) a tactical sex dungeon roguelike cum ritual game. SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils what happens in the game. So this game too is set in a dungeon -- a divine sex maze dungeon.

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