Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 8, 2017

With enough games, outliers tend to balance each other out. This is a checklist I like to check off before I start final testing: Get the physical prototype ready. That’s a flaw in a racing game. The drafting mechanic allows for players to plan their road trips to a limited degree. All art is done.

Point and Click 130

Point and Click Dev Games Prototyping 130

Designer Notes

OCTOBER 14, 2021

Simulations can be great games, but they tend not to be a good format for turn-based games with transparent game mechanics. Hence, themed victory conditions were out for Old World , but we needed something in place, especially since we were playing MP within a few months of early prototyping.

AI 40

AI Simulation Mechanics Mobile Gaming 40

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 21, 2021

The two graphs below show that competition for supremacy of Mid-Core in the Western audience is a tight race between Supercell and FunPlus. By all accounts this genre is matured to a point where it could use a massive innovation to both the progression mechanics and social gameplay. Then Yu-Gi-Oh came along.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Cross platform Puzzle 52

Radiator Blog

JULY 6, 2021

My first prototype were sim-heavy, based on basic cellular automata , a technique popularized by Conway's Game of Life (1970) where cells (or anything, really) live or die based on crowding, However this felt too fiddly, with small shapes that changed too quickly. Capitalism, ideology, critical race theory, anything really.

Simulation 52

Simulation Art AI Internet 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

Brand Game Development

JULY 22, 2019

So often, when we’re balancing our designs , it’s because we’re trying to nail down board game pacing. In each of the design diaries that I have written so far, I have focused on a specific game mechanic or isolated portion of the game. Acquiring more Leader tiles gives the player more to try to balance.

Tile 130

Tile Games Playtesting Balance 130