Ask a Game Dev

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

I don't think that we'll ever see pre-rendered cutscenes go away permanently. As in-engine rendering improves, AAA games will likely move away from pre-rendered cutscenes but AAA games are far from the only games that use cutscenes and have engines that can render high quality cinematic visuals (e.g.

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Cutscenes Render Cinematics AAA 40

Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Narrative design has always been an important part of video game development, but its significance in modern-day games continues to grow as narrative elements play an important role in player engagement and retention. Several exploration games also incorporate similar story designs.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 93

The Bottom Feeder

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

In my last post about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Z:TotK for short), a very popular game, I suggested that people would be interested in thoughtful criticism of slightly older games, once the dust has settled and people had the chance to calmly reflect about them. Most people don't actually care about deep dives into game design.

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Cutscenes Terrain Games Puzzle 81

Keith Burgun

APRIL 28, 2024

The charm of this game is off the charts and is the main thing that makes me love it. There’s just so many creative, brilliant, fun to look at, surprising situations – the dev team had a ton of fun making a lot of the game. The “story” in this game is really just… very awful, I’m sad to report.

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Fantasy Cutscenes Writing Racing 105

Radiator Blog

OCTOBER 13, 2022

SPOILER WARNING: I keep specific story spoilers vague, but I do have to talk about what happens in the games somehow. Still, you can argue that it's a stunning achievement just to be able to debate these questions in a video game. There's a Portal-like moment where you escape the puzzle. Well, I don't know anything about that.

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Indy Film Games Puzzle 52

The Bottom Feeder

DECEMBER 13, 2021

A really good, polished game that tries something different? My family just finished playing the hit co-op game It Takes Two. I played it with my wife, and our teenager who was on hand to help us out when the game got too hard. It's a very fun game with very unusual writing, and it's extremely and deservedly popular.

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Art Point and Click Games Writing 52

The Bottom Feeder

DECEMBER 15, 2021

In the first part , I went on about the lack of family in video games and the danger of paying attention to critics. Now I'll talk about the actual game. This is a really fun game. It skips from action to pvp games to puzzles to boss fights with blinding speed. TL;DR: It's really good. It's exhilarating.

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Art Writing Indy Fighting 52