article thumbnail

Spotting and Dropping Bad Mechanics

Brand Game Development

Most board game mechanics will not work as well as you intend them to. Good board game developers need to know when to drop mechanics and when to refine them. I’ve been playing with a new mechanic called “traffic.” Yes, I thought this would make a good mechanic a week ago. Click here. So it goes.

Mechanics 130
article thumbnail

How to Make Board Game Rules

Brand Game Development

As I said last week , “rules regulate the way mechanics are implemented. A mechanic is the concept behind the game and the rule is the way that it’s handled to ensure balance.” ” Rules are really tricky to do right because you have to serve two purposes: balance the game and communicate clearly.

Balance 130
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

The Rise of Hybridization in Mobile Games: How Developers are Genre Mashing Their Way to Success

Game Refinery

In the past, hybridization was mainly seen in 4X strategy games that merged with puzzle and idle RPG mechanics , but in recent months this phenomenon has spread to titles of all shapes and sizes across the market – not just the hybrid-casual genre. Mechanically, the mode is relatively similar to Blizzard’s Hearthstone.

article thumbnail

4 Lessons from Spirit Island for Aspiring Board Game Designers

Brand Game Development

You and all the other players in the game play as Spirits who fight off the Invaders – basically, people who want to colonize your island. Sure, cooperative play is not exactly some exotic unseen mechanic too. Balanced asymmetry leads to greater variety. Spirit Island flips the standard colonization theme on its head.

article thumbnail

Monetization methods in free-to-play games and their pros and cons

iXie gaming

Striking the right balance between revenue generation and player experience is essential. Cons: Potential for P2W (Pay-to-Win): If not balanced carefully, this can lead to a pay-to-win dynamic, where players who spend more have an unfair advantage. But what is the ideal way to monetize a game, if there is one?

Balance 52
article thumbnail

Iteration over Innovation? Case: Makeover Match

Deconstructor of Fun

Although the Tactile team has several titles under their portfolio, the well-known swapping mechanic is not very common among their games. Especially with their two most recent titles Lily’s Garden and Penny & Flo , Tactile has been a stronghold for story-driven puzzle games with the collapse mechanic.

Balance 52
article thumbnail

The top 22 mobile games of 2022

Game Analytics

Think of this as a hyper-casual Beyblade game with a merge mechanic mixed in the middle. What we liked about Spinner Merge is how they came about the idea of bringing in the merge mechanic. Cart Crash is an incredibly satisfying game that relies much more on timing than any other mechanic. Spinner Merge by Sunday.GG.