Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

I sat down with John Krajewski , the man behind the unique and forward-thinking game, Eco. The conversation shifted from the nuances of game development to the larger, looming concept of the “metaverse.” “The community’s voice is invaluable; it helps shape the game,” he remarked.

Indy 105

Indy AAA Platformer Educational 105

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Some roguelikes don’t strive for balance, but maintaining balance has always been important to me for Cogmind, since it fits better with my vision for this type of game, heavy on tough, complex, and consequential decision-making at multiple strategic and tactical levels. Alien Artifacts. Exiles Prototypes.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Grid Sage Games

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Moria’s descendant Angband also included ego items ( over 100 properties), but expanded the concept of randomized items even further by adding the option to activate “Randomly Generated Artifacts,” abbreviated “randarts.” The first roadblock actually has nothing to do with game design at all, but architecture.

Data 52

Data Terrain Balance Mechanics 52

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

Rampant terrain destruction is awesome, by the way ;). and not be compatible with many of the encounters anyway, since knowing which direction the player will enter from is often an important part of their design. I wrote about this factor in my recent article on game design philosophy.

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

In a game setting, though, this can be quite an annoyance from a design perspective (harder to balance!) and is likely to either become a player crutch or lead to tedious optimal play (a topic I covered in my game design philosophy article ). Architecture. But we can sorta do something about that if we want to!

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Mechanics Open World Feature 52

Game Design Advice

JUNE 5, 2016

Deep games require knowledge, explanation, creativity, and cleverness. Such a model could also inform our discussions about game design, suggesting directions for design exploration and expanding our palette of analytical tools and techniques. Modeling depth may help us better understand how to think about these things.

Feature 40

Feature Terrain Baking Games 40

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

You can place this game in a tradition of walkie-talkie games like Firewatch or Wheels of Aurelia. 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.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52