Astral Clock Tower Studios

AUGUST 5, 2020

Hello, and welcome back to another issue of the Kristala game dev blog! Stay tuned at the end of this dev blog to get a peek at all the progress we've made on Kristala in the last 12 months. But first, let's dive into what the dev team has been up to over the course of the last sprint. 3D Asset Design. Check it out! Programming.

Dev 52

Dev Clipping Texture Concepts 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Game rules are how we regulate the mechanics of our games so that they are consistent with the messages we want to send to players. Short-term mechanic testing. Brandon: At the short-term mechanic testing stages, you’re really just using rules to help underlying mechanics manifest themselves! Private testing.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Concepts Writing Games 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 17, 2017

The following excerpt is from Games Speak through Mechanics, Not Rules (Dev Diary: 04/28/17). If you strip out all the mechanics that put obstacles in your players’ path, what’s left? The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics you need to have a functioning game. That’s a mechanic. Chess tells a story.

Communications 130

Communications Game Developer Game Development Development 130

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

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

I extensively use examples to explain the trickiest concepts. rule book, I use visual examples to explain how the energy mechanic works. It’s a tough balance. Yet if you strike this balance, the reward is precious: you can prime a player’s experience. appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.

Balance 130

Balance Concepts Mechanics Render 130

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed. Categorical Approach. Alien Artifacts.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

Particularly when hard choices come from simple mechanics. I knew I needed a mechanic that gave players a choice of one adventurer from several options. When selecting a game mechanic, it is the most familiar solution. This was a warning that I might be taking the path of least resistance when picking a mechanic.

Tile 130

Tile Mechanics Games Puzzle 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

JANUARY 29, 2018

I also work with indie dev companies on a more casual level discussing challenges, goals and brainstorming solutions. There may even be some storytelling to convey the reason or meaning behind a particular series rules and mechanics. The gameplay section should focus on round mechanics. Brandon: I definitely agree with that.

Writing 130

Writing Games Mechanics Balance 130

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 8, 2024

Cosmetics have included multiple new collection mechanisms that grant rewards when acquiring enough of a specific type. There may be something true to those statements which, I guess, is the reason why now devs have allowed the Hero to move once per match. Source: data.ai

Tile 69

Tile Mechanics Balance Content 69

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 11, 2017

Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Self-testing was my primary form of testing in the first and second versions of the game, when I wasn’t even sure if some of the core concepts would work. Just here for Highway s & Byways updates?

Point and Click 100

Point and Click Art Games Communications 100

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

I’ve split it into five sections for your convenience: How Ben, Sarah, and Will Got Started How Working in a Team Feels The Downsides of Teamwork Communication in a Team Advice for New Game Devs. This is unusual for most game devs, I think. Brandon: How I imagine teams as a solo dev. Advice for New Game Devs.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2022

One of the main problems in Clash Mini is the strong similarity with Clash Royale , the other Supercell auto battler whose gameplay and unit mechanics are very similar. This is an existential threat to Clash Mini since the lack of innovation in-unit mechanics was among the top reasons why Rush Wars failed to captivate players.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Point and Click Mobile 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 1, 2019

Once you craft the basic concepts of your game and find the right mechanics to express them , you have to set rules. In my first Designer Diary post for Tasty Humans , I talked about the mechanics of dropping shapes (which represent the titular “Tasty Humans”) in order to fill up the stomach of the each player’s monster.

Tile 130

Tile Games Mechanics Build 130

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 1, 2023

AI in Art: Balancing Creativity and Ethics In the realm of digital art, AI technology is stirring up a mix of excitement and controversy. On one hand, AI-generated content can free up designers to focus on other aspects of game development, such as refining gameplay mechanics or creating more intricate and emotionally resonant narratives.

AI 98

AI Technology Content Art 98

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

I’m reminded of Beta 11’s spicing up the main complex with Heavies and Cargo Convoys , though in this case it’s not just adding one or two new mechanics but instead about turning Garrisons into proper branch maps in terms of content distribution… Encounter Architecture. Some concepts: More enemies could show up?

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

The conversation shifted from the nuances of game development to the larger, looming concept of the “metaverse.” But, beyond gameplay mechanics, Eco speaks to a much larger industry trend: the emergence of the metaverse. With it comes the challenging balance between financial backing and creative control.

Indy 105

Indy AAA Platformer Educational 105

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Some roguelikes don’t go heavy on realism, in which case backtracking for this reason can be considered a non-issue and solely a decision to be made within the greater mechanical design, though this does mean progress ends up feeling gamier overall. Design Control.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Mechanics Open World Feature 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Here my walking mechanic borrows some sensibility from Death Stranding, where terrain can seriously slow down the player's speed, so a skilled player should micro-optimize their route a little and avoid water / hills / obstacles. Balancing the weight of each system was difficult. It already feels so fraught to me.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Perfect for pretending to have played Deathloop if you find yourself talking to a game dev. Not that you should ever talk to a game dev. This fighting game health mechanic is too fussy and unreliable for a busy shooter. and I think this balance tuning is intentional. no mind control) only 5 powers (+1 PvP only power).

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

For balance purposes, I limit the number of voyeurs in the maze, otherwise it can enter a deadlock where there's only voyeurs but no one for them to watch. Violence is usually the first thing to prototype in an action game, but here it surprised me how much work it took to hack violence into an existing system that had no concept of it.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52