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 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics Build 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

At first glance, it was clear what type of game they were emulating. A bold move for Supercell, going against giants that continue to rule the casual puzzle space. It has a solid core game design, and a meta design that builds upon the successes we’ve seen in the market. The Core Game Loop.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mechanics Content Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Events with different mechanics sometimes complement each other, but at other times they divert players' attention, resulting in reduced activity and monetization. Many game designers will instantly say: "How can we show the player the same thing? Plan content looping during the feature design phase.

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Content Puzzle Mobile Gaming 98

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

And games haven't been the most value-driven industry in my opinion (referring to the abuse of addictive mechanics in games for profit, massive company layoffs to meet financial targets and the pressure on teams to deliver, leading to crunch and toxic behaviours, etc.). Industry peers asked me: “What games will you make?” “Do

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

The game won over millions of gamers with the adorable Cookie characters and a perfect mashup of RPG and Build & Harvest mechanics. Arts The art of Cookie Run: Kingdom is core to the game’s global success. As a mobile game, how did Cookie Run: Kingdom accomplish this through its gameplay mechanics?

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

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

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

JANUARY 24, 2023

A cold calculating trader would only care about the outcome, but human beings seem to love watching the outcome unfold - a puzzling topic for economists. Sports betting is probably the best example, where the outcome of a wager is a live sporting competition; the bettor’s stake makes them all the more invested to watch the game.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Asset Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Running through the market by genre, Kress noted that King has done quite well, but other genres had suffered badly, with strategy, RPG, match puzzle, and casino games all down double digits. He stressed that games should hold true to the brand’s values, citing Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes as a perfect product-market fit.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

Over the past year, Hypercasual saw massive diversification in terms of core mechanic design. On looking deeper, it was found that this was driven by two things - 30-35% of the growth was driven by increased IAP integration in various hypercasual mini-genres, most notably Puzzle.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

When making a game like this, there should be lots of debate. Is that new mechanic fun? Side note: There is a new game called Brotato, one of those single-stick shooters that are hot now. These are perfectly balanced. If you're interested in systems design, it's a very interesting title.) Does this system work?

Fighting 90

Fighting Games Balance Writing 90

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

I’m reminded of Beta 11’s spicing up the main complex with Heavies and Cargo Convoys , though in this case it’s not just adding one or two new mechanics but instead about turning Garrisons into proper branch maps in terms of content distribution… Encounter Architecture. …alert level xD.

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Beta Content Balance Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 21, 2021

This analysis will give you a full overview of the Strategy games genre, which is the second-largest genre in the Western markets after puzzle. This makes the genre second largest on mobile in (outside key Asian markets) after Puzzle 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

AUGUST 27, 2019

This deconstruct is written by Eva Grillova (Game Designer at Smirk Game Studios) and Abhimanyu Kumar (Mobile Games Consultant). Further, it has been relatively successful in both the East and the West - something that not too many games are easily able to achieve. the second piece of the puzzle.

Balance 52

Balance Content Mechanics Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

It does a good job at solving the issues many of these games have, which is the One Deck Problem by forcing you to have multiple decks fully upgraded to finish the campaign. The game's complexity, especially for new players, is a significant challenge, with an overwhelming number of game mechanics introduced rapidly.

Mobile 113

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 113

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

It does a good job at solving the issues many of these games have, which is the One Deck Problem by forcing you to have multiple decks fully upgraded in order to finish the campaign. The game's complexity, especially for new players, is a significant challenge, with an overwhelming number of game mechanics introduced rapidly.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mobile Gaming Concepts 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

One of the hallmarks of good board game design is being able to create hard choices. Particularly when hard choices come from simple mechanics. 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.

Tile 130

Tile Mechanics Games Puzzle 130

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. Now I want to zoom out a bit and look at the design as a whole.

Tile 130

Tile Games Playtesting Balance 130

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

A broughlike is a variation on a roguelike named after designer Michael Brough , who has spoken before on his design patterns like square tiles, orthogonal movement, turn parity, glitching, limited info, simple maze designs, minimal resources. A dense randomized mini-chess puzzle where everything matters.

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Code Educational Education Prototyping 52