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.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 52

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

I assumed it was mostly for fans but after watching all 32 episodes (on 2x speed, skipping some parts) I've changed my mind and now I think it's essential viewing for all game designers / devs. This recap post / viewing guide covers only the first half of the series (episodes 01-17) and I'll try to write-up the second half later.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

I’ll also be writing responses for Will. Sarah: It was summer of 2012 that Will had the idea to make a board game for my birthday, but didn’t know how to go about it. We started designing games together. Early in 2013, our local game store owner mentioned that there were other designers in the area.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

The Bottom Feeder

MAY 11, 2022

It's such a big, unique, popular game that not picking it apart a bit is game-writer malpractice. Even if you hate From Software games, and many do, if you care about game design as an art, it's worth a good look. And this is all without even discussion this game’s insane speedrunning situation.

Balance 52

Balance Fighting Art Software 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 14, 2017

When I talk about game design itself, I often talk about the relentless play-testing , balancing , and different levels of communication that you must master so that your game is understood and enjoyed. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

Art 130

Art Dev Mechanics Game Developer 130

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 3, 2022

I’ve also been writing more general roguelike-related articles, too, looking at game design , item randomization , and backtracking. You can now find me on Mastodon , too, where I’ll be sharing info about roguelike development, other roguelikes, and of course the occasional Cogmind update.

Beta 52

Beta Mechanics Content Art 52

iXie gaming

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Here are some fundamental activities involved in NFT game development: Creating the game concept. Design a clear game concept integrating NFTs and define gameplay mechanics. Write and deploy smart contracts defining the policies for creating, trading, and owning NFTs in your game. Develop smart contracts.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Asset 52

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 5, 2022

One of the reasons why hyper-casual games are so popular is due to how quick and easy they are to make. Simple controls, artwork, and game design make it easy for any developer to pick up. There are other ways to build a game on a budget. Lifeline by Three Minute Games. Another interactive fictional game.

Horror 109

Horror Games Mobile Mobile 109

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 9, 2024

Then I can sell my games to them eventually, much as a catfish eats the scum at the bottom of a lake. It's also a great opportunity to pick apart a good game's design. If a game sells well, that means every choice it made was correct, and you should pick over the carcass for ideas to steal with all speed.

Writing 92

Writing Fantasy Indy Editing 92

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? What are some guidelines for writing good rules?

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Concepts Writing Games 130

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 10, 2021

I should have predicted a $10 billion-a-year game if I wanted to sound like a true visionary. In my heart, I am a game designer. I spend most of my waking hours thinking about game mechanics and how they will make players feel. I know a thing or two about power creep in game economy.

Asset 52

Asset Games Fighting Mobile 52

Designer Notes

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Well, one part of the appeal of games is that they can theoretically simulate the real world and teach us about it, that we can make choices and see those choices be modelled accurately. But, to use just this one specific example, how could a game written before McCracken’s insight on pitching have any claim to accurately model baseball?

Simulation 73

Simulation Agent Game Design Game Designer 73

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

First, it's all managed between games. Third, the new characters and levels are fun and prolong how long you play the game. There's no balancing. The only thing you can learn from this is: If you write a hugely popular and addictive viral indie megahit, you can get away with whatever you want. No downsides.

Indy 81

Indy Balance Game Design Game Designer 81

Game Daily

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

. “Our goal in surfacing these insights is to support the ecosystem of game publishers and developers – specifically the marketing, monetization, and product teams – to help guide strategic thinking and decisions that can enhance game performance,” writes Mistplay CEO Jason Heller.

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Advertising 52

Tom Francis

MARCH 11, 2017

Gunpoint was derivative, but at least it was derivative of many things rather than any one game. This is not unoriginal game design, it’s playable games criticism! I used to write about where games went right or wrong, now I actually try fixing their problems and find out if I’m right!

Tile 52

Tile Games Build Fighting 52

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. Categorical Approach. Alien Artifacts.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 27, 2022

It's also hard to criticize, since From Software games tend to be mean and confusing and sadistic on purpose, so anything that makes you mad was probably put there intentionally. But since I can't resist writing about the thing, I want to start with the key question: Why do people love these games so much, despite the sadism.

Fighting 52

Fighting Writing Software Game Design 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

As an example, I used the following process to design the technical test for the artist position: Problem statement : “How can I check that the candidate has the versatile skills for the role (can define a strong art direction, can do hands-on work, understand game design)?” A team is a constant balance to maintain.

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Kudos to Neil Long of Mobilegamer.biz for joining the event and writing the notes. State of the mobile game industry Eric Kress, Gossamer Consulting Deconstructor of Fun’s “chief outrage officer” Eric Kress was up first to offer what he called a “pragmatic view of what’s going on in the market.”

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

I'm a nobody on the outside, looking at a giant development monolith and trying to figure out how this game could possibly have ended up where it did. I don't want to write a review. Side note: There is a new game called Brotato, one of those single-stick shooters that are hot now. These are perfectly balanced.

Fighting 90

Fighting Games Balance Writing 90

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 23, 2019

I’m a game designer and publisher, and Shawnta recommended your store.” Molly's latest game, The Million Dollar Doodle, is live on Kickstarter! I call it “just write three words,” that’s all you have to do, you just have to open up WordPress and you just write three words and you can adapt this to anything you do.

Retail 130

Retail Games Editing Writing 130

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 12, 2021

Sky Mavis was valued at $3B; keep in mind that Sky Mavis owns 21% of the fully diluted AXS token supply, which once fully unlocked will be worth over $7 billion based on prices at the time of this writing. That naturally makes balancing the SLP economy for long-term token sustainability even more important.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Balance Games Game Design 52

Brand Game Development

APRIL 23, 2018

In fact, at the moment I’m writing this article, it’s the third most popular website in the world, bested only by Google and YouTube. The only problem is that making board games is already expensive , and the idea of paying a super-rich company to show your game to people is pretty odious. You have strike a balance.

Dev 130

Dev Build Advertising Games 130

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 27, 2023

I thought the writing was good (great, for a videogame) but the actual combat I found to be very annoying; real time button mashy combat where the enemies have gigantic health bars resulted in my hand literally aching after beating one boss. The Good The writing starts off incredible. The opening cutscene literally made me cry.

Writing 52

Writing Fantasy Fighting Cutscenes 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

As the builder of the kingdom, players have the god like power to write the story for their cookies as a part of designing and changing the layout of the the space. System The system design of the game and the in-game stats balance demonstrate Devsisters’ high standards. Cookie Run: Kingdom is no exception.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Grid Sage Games

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

But items being static is of fundamental importance to the design, for many reasons: Familiarity -- Building familiarity with all the specific items and their capabilities across multiple runs helps immensely with planning or even just quickly putting together a balanced build from piles of scrap. Randomized Items in My Cogmind?!

Data 52

Data Terrain Balance Mechanics 52

Interesting Choices

AUGUST 5, 2011

No one was completely happy with how they worked yet, and the balancing of a new card type was proving tricky. Aaron fought bravely for it but eventually saw the writing on the wall and gave in. The set really didn't need a whole new card type for players to have to learn. The Planeswalker team needed more time. What happened?

Racing 40

Racing Mechanics Games Development 40

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

RIF Installers were already a prefab to begin with, one which (without precedent anywhere else in the game) were actually inserted via a separate hard-coded method, so let’s add it as an encounter instead. I wrote about this factor in my recent article on game design philosophy.

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Designer Notes

AUGUST 10, 2021

Tempting players to make an impulsive decision for a short-term gain but at the risk of a bigger loss later is solid game design. Unlike the rest of my writing on Old World ’s design, I’m not sure I can quite articulate why 1UPT worked better than the stacking system I had implemented. I was very pleased with myself!

Tile 40

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 40

Gamesbrief

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

As Yuval Harari writes in Homo Sapiens , our unique ability, the one that separates humans from all other animals, is our ability to weave stories that have real, tangible power , such as the stories of “the corporation” which can own assets and take actions, or “government”, or “money” So a cryptocurrency is just a currency.

Asset 52

Asset Technology Software Concepts 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

Supercell’s previous entry, Spooky Pop, had a lot of design mistakes that prevented it from competing with the Saga model. It has a solid core game design, and a meta design that builds upon the successes we’ve seen in the market. Florian Steinhoff has a great GDC talk about the balance of levels here.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mechanics Content Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 15, 2022

Lost Ark outshines other MMO games because each element mentioned above is polished to the next level. Balancing relies heavily on gear, maps are crowded with question marks, Boss fights feature repetitive mechanisms. Though, all of these foibles could be found in other games as well. Let’s use the Witch class as an example.

Cutscenes 52

Cutscenes Art Content Mechanics 52

Interesting Choices

AUGUST 14, 2011

The Astrologist - Secretly write down a number before the draft. Stone Librande had this one, and chose to write down 70. Might need a benefit to balance it out. Maybe zero should count as neither so that it's a more balanced choice. He was undefeated and seemed to have a great time. No one had this either.

Balance 52

Balance Art Writing Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Addressing the initial learning curve, introducing enticing mid-game offers, and refining unlocking progression are essential for the game’s long-term success. With Blizzard's expertise in creating compelling end-game content, Warcraft Rumble has the potential to become a major success and influence future game design trends. ?

Mobile 113

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 113

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Addressing the initial learning curve, introducing enticing mid-game offers, and refining unlocking progression are essential for the games long-term success. With Blizzard's expertise in creating compelling end-game content, Warcraft Rumble has the potential to become a major success and influence future game design trends.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 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. And basically, it's a storytelling game where you basically write a story with the A.I. I need to write that piece of code. That is kind of awesome. Ten people.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Engine Engineering 52

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