Game Designing

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Lesson 7: Randomness Summary In this lesson, we explore the role of randomness in games, distinguishing between input and output randomness. Lesson 7 Transcript So what I want to talk to you about in this design talk is randomness in games. It’s more interesting and that way the game is more fun to play over and over.

Sprite 52

Sprite Mechanics Game Design Game Designer 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

This analysis is written by Taras Koshelev (Lead Game Designer at My.Games Venture Capital) who focused on game mechanics and loops and Michail Katkoff (Founder of Savage Game Studios) who covered the market and marketability. Playrix released Puzzle Breakers into soft-launch in late 2019. Puzzle RPGs on Mobile.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics Build 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

On March 16th, in the midst of a global pandemic, Supercell dropped a new game: Hay Day Pop (HDP). The minute a supercell game is released, a thousand slack notifications go off. Mobile developers look up their fake AppStore accounts and download with excitement wondering what the new game could be.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mechanics Content Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 13, 2021

Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow, and monetize their games. Special thanks for the Hybridcasual design insights to Abhimanyu Kumar , founder of Naavik consulting. Over 2020, YoY downloads for Hypercasual games went from 7.8B

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Puzzle Advertising Studios 52

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

This post is written by Sophie Vo who’s building a kick-ass game team at Voodoo Berlin. I am Sophie, a creative Game Lead working at Voodoo. I joined Voodoo in Berlin with the goal to open a new studio that would develop new types of games (i.e. What games to make? Do I just want to make another hit game?”

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 13, 2022

TWiG #212 - Apple's New Price Points / Game Genre Taxonomy pt 2 / Nintendo's Mobile Strategy ? Predicting the Future of Supercell’s Brand New Studio A year ago, Supercell announced their intention to open a studio in North America with the mission of developing games for PC and Console. ✉️ Received this email from a friend?

Studios 52

Studios Mobile Mobile Console 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 24, 2023

Today, we dive into the critical components of game markets needed to make them fun, and applicable in web 3.0 How to Plan and Nurture Your Career in Games - with Sophie Vo and Mishka Katkoff (Rise & Play podcast) ✉️ Received this email from a friend? Designing Game Markets to be Fun Markets are increasingly a component of games.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Asset Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Last week in Istanbul, Google and Deconstructor of Fun brought together a thousand-strong group of high-level mobile game execs to talk about the future of the business. His data and insights were based on US data as a proxy for the western market, and focused on platform privacy, or the “Apple global mobile game recession”.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Guest post by Alexander Devyaterikov , Producer at Belka Games In today's gaming world, it's not enough to just have a good game. Here in the screenshot, you can see how our position in the Top100 US App Store grossing games has changed from 2017 to 2020, according to data.ai. The schedule is filled.

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Content Puzzle Mobile Gaming 98

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

It's an OK game. 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. Standard Disclaimer This game is a huge success in every way, and I am an ant. Though God help any foolish reviewer who tries to give an AAA game less than 9/10.)

Fighting 90

Fighting Games Balance Writing 90

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

This post is written by the fantastic Game Bakery substack team of Chase, Zixuan, Haiyin, Caitou, Fish, Amy, Chow, Jing, Wanzi and edited by Caitou, Rob. From our sponsor: Do you need funds to finish, release, or promote your game? Your game gets screened internally by our industry experts within two weeks. Create an account 2.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 19, 2021

Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow, and monetize their games. Role-Playing Games on Mobile The RPG market is a high risk, high reward genre walled by a robust entry barrier. Small Giant did it with Puzzle and Empires.

Cross platform 52

Cross platform Mobile Mobile Platformer 52

Designer Notes

MARCH 31, 2023

Welcome to My Elephant in the Room: An Old World Design Postmortem. Here are the games that I’ve worked on. Spoiler alert: Civilization 3 and 4 are going to come up a lot in the presentation… I also do a podcast where I interview game designers about why they make games, so check it out if you have time for 4-hour interviews.

Tile 98

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 98

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 6, 2022

But they’ve long since stopped being exclusive to mid-core, cosmetic-driven games and nowadays are present in a constantly growing amount of genres and games. The fact that Battle Passes have been successful on audiences so alien to each other like MOBAs and Match-3 Puzzle fans shows how versatile its design can be.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Balance Mobile 52

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 27, 2022

Really, how hard a game can it be? I used every possible advantage the game gave me. This game is a phenomenon, with the wild sales, huge engagement, and memes to prove it. 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

JANUARY 21, 2021

This analysis is written by my friend, Buğrahan Göker who focused on 4X games, and Yours Truly. Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow, and monetize their games. Strategy games also represent nearly a half of all Mid-Core revenues.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Cross platform Puzzle 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge.

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

Here are the three things you need to know about ironSource: #1: They’re developing the most robust, data-driven growth engine for mobile games. #2: In this second post we discuss Arcade games, which we see as a genre in the Casual category. The State of Arcade Games While the Arcade genre only accounts for 7.5%

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

In the time since Garrisons were added, however, a combination of relevant changes to the game started putting pressure on their original design: Many more full branch maps were added, along with factions, each with their own enticing reasons to visit them compared to the weaker incentives for entering a Garrison.

Beta 52

Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Game Design Advice

JUNE 5, 2016

Last month I attended a conference on computational modeling in games in Banff. The question, in a nutshell – can we discover a well-defined property of game systems that corresponds, roughly, to what designers and players mean by “depth”? We are only looking at the very focused domain of game-as-problem.

Feature 40

Feature Terrain Baking Games 40

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

A 10-year gaming industry veteran, leading game development teams focused on free-to-play titles across mobile and PC. Summary Warcraft Rumble is an action-strategy game akin to Clash Royale but with a focus on single-player tower offense. Written by Christopher Brousseau. The Arclight Booster pack, available for $19.99

Mobile 113

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 113

Deconstructor of Fun

AUGUST 27, 2019

This post is sponsored by Lab Cave , a Mobile Growth Company that provides App Store Optimization and Mediation services for mobile Apps and Games. This deconstruct is written by Eva Grillova (Game Designer at Smirk Game Studios) and Abhimanyu Kumar (Mobile Games Consultant). And for good reason.

Balance 52

Balance Content Mechanics Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

A 10-year gaming industry veteran, leading game development teams focussed on free-to-play titles across mobile and PC. Summary Warcraft Rumble, is an action-strategy game akin to Clash Royale but with a focus on single-player tower offense. Written by Christopher Brousseau. The Arclight Booster pack, available for $19.99

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 22, 2019

Perfect board game pacing is one of the most underrated aspects of board game design. Somewhere between overwhelm and ennui, there lies a middle ground where a game is perfectly paced. A great board game feels challenging and interesting throughout. Need help on your board game? But how do you do that?

Tile 130

Tile Games Playtesting Balance 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

One of the hallmarks of good board game design is being able to create hard choices. Sounds easy enough to do, but it’s actually really tough from the designer’s perspective! Let’s talk about how you can create hard choices in your board game. Need help on your board game?

Tile 130

Tile Mechanics Games Puzzle 130

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

Zugzwang by Robert Yang This post details my process and intent for making my new release Zugzwang (pronounced in German like /ts'OOK-ts'VAHng/ ) a tactical sex dungeon roguelike cum ritual game. SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils what happens in the game. A dense randomized mini-chess puzzle where everything matters.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52