Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Will: I know for me personally, projects are a big concept. You help balance out each others’ weaknesses. Sarah: I’m the one who makes the early prototypes and I’m in charge of the playtesting. When designing the game itself, it’s more important to marry yourself to the experience than it is the mechanics of the game.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 4, 2023

For month after month, I tried fixing them with different supporting mechanisms, different ways that cards were obtained, different ways damage was dealt, and a lot more, but nothing really fixed the fundamental problem. Once I realized that we were going to have to ditch the core mechanism, that kind of meant something like starting over.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Playtesting 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Back in 2019 I made an unfinished prototype for a Gay Western game jam to contemplate the anniversary of influential gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain (2005). Balancing the weight of each system was difficult. Like many game prototypes, my initial sheepherding test began as something much grander and more complicated.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Designer Notes

AUGUST 10, 2021

The big change that always gets mentioned when going from Civ 4 to Civ 5 is one-unit-per-tile (1UPT), which is interesting as 1UPT is purely a mechanical – as opposed to thematic – change. 1UPT, on the other hand, helps balance some of the extremities of the Orders system by making it more difficult to kill a unit via stacking.

Tile 40

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 40

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 22, 2021

Royal Match Royal Match is a perfect example of finding success through improvements - not step-change innovation - cherry-picking the strongest mechanics from the best games to create a new top game. Even though Candy Crush Saga had roaring success with the match-3 switcher, King was not the first company to create the mechanic.

Puzzle 69

Puzzle Mobile Mobile Mechanics 69

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

I first prototyped it back in 2019, but I didn't really know how to finish it. Originally this was prototyped as "Saugzwang" and I made it for the 7 Day Broughlike Jam back in 2019. 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.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 17, 2022

The only examples of F2P shooters at scale were Korean (Crossfire) and Chinese (Assault Fire/Ni-Zhan), both focused on pay-to-win mechanics. It was not uncommon to assume that a better designed map or finely balanced mode that took three times as long as competition would eventually win the day.

Content 52

Content FPS Mobile Mobile 52

Radiator Blog

JULY 6, 2021

In her excellent book Narrative As Virtual Reality , Marie-Laure Ryan outlines some common understandings of virtual: virtual as "digital": inspired by computer concepts like virtual memory. The word "virtual" does a lot of work, so much that we rarely question what we even mean by "virtual." So should police exist in this garden?

Simulation 52

Simulation Art AI Internet 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

So this is this tough balance between being really super fast and building something really small and iterative and getting data soon and deciding what to do. They get to a prototype level. Now it's moved to concepting. You're dictating that everything below them is going to be mediocre at best in your company.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Engine Engineering 52