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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The Bottom Feeder

MARCH 5, 2024

I've been writing indie (aka shareware) games as the nearly sole source of my family's income for 30 years. During those decades, I've written a ton about the indie business, for money and on my blog. My most popular article , written wayyy back in 2013, was about the creation of the Indie Bubble. And indie games!

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PreMortem.Games

JUNE 29, 2023

A game trailer (especially for indie games) is part story and part instructional video. Fine line between flashy and simple editing I think one of the biggest mistakes a lot of indie games make is to chase the editing style of AAA games or Hollywood movies in hopes of looking like a ‘real’ or ‘legitimate’ trailer.

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Radiator Blog

OCTOBER 13, 2022

This isn't a big apocalyptic video game betrayal cutscene where a villain reveals himself and destroys a castle, instead it's a smaller deeper betrayal that instantly brought me back to being a teenager. You talk but they don't listen. Maybe you'll just stop talking to them altogether? Fine, be that way, see if I care!"

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PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 29, 2024

More and more South-Korean indie game developers take aim at the PC and console market. Set in a New York office building in the 1990’s, the game plays out as a action-filled mini series, including cutscenes that unravel the plot. “To Plus, various Korean indie games that launched on Steam have experienced considerable success.

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The Bottom Feeder

DECEMBER 15, 2021

If you've played a decent indie game in the last five year, It Takes Two probably has you play a superior version of that game for 10 minutes. It's really sharp and well-observed, and it isn't a cutscene. Fellow indie devs have privately, harshly turned on me for saying this, but it is true. The gameplay is infinitely varied.

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Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

It's probably not worth the hassle for a solo indie. This is a convenient diegetic way of locking the player in-place for a cutscene, while also priming the player for an extended cutscene. Sit and listen. Whenever an NPC is about to dump backstory and exposition on you, they'll ask you to take a seat. Expendable companions.

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