Keith Burgun

NOVEMBER 25, 2023

What I’ve been playing SCARLET NEXUS – Extremely polished, simple but fun combat. Bad level design. It’s this and Octopath Traveler 2 I’m most excited to play next. Turn based (I think it’s made with RPG maker but they do a good job of not making it feel like it).

Fighting 59

Fighting Fantasy Balance Software 59

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

If you like weird, retro indie games or RPGs, it’s worth a look.) Video games function best as power fantasies. Whether the word "fun" has meaning. Yet, relentlessly, through it all, the most popular and beloved games are almost universally about the exercise of power. What This Article Is Not. It VANISHES.

Fantasy 83

Fantasy Games Art Puzzle 83

iXie gaming

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

But what does it take to get the best out of PlayStation game testing? What is the Role of a PlayStation Game Tester? This means one must be skilled enough to identify issues often affecting PlayStation game performance, gameplay, and more. But what does a PlayStation game tester do? Replicating issues.

Quality Assurance 52

Quality Assurance Games Console Communications 52

Grid Sage Games

JANUARY 1, 2024

This marks the beginning of what will be the most significant undertaking in Cogmind’s UI development history: making everything bigger. Back then I couldn’t nail down what would be the most extreme (but still acceptable) options. A long time in coming, but here we go! It had to wait.

Tile 52

Tile Feature Console Content 52

Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

It’s about allowing players to lose themselves in more than just a game, but a new world. For VR, you want to make the player feel like they’re actually in the world you’ve created. With that in mind, here’s what Charlie had to say. VR players generally want to experience things as close to reality as possible.”

Dev 91

Dev Playtesting Fantasy Render 91

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 9, 2023

the editor’s note: Why should you care about Dream Games? What these companies have in common is that they’ve carved out an area of expertise and are attempting to find a new angle to dominate and expand, usually with an audience that has some affinity for their existing portfolio. Back to the original question: what’s next?

Puzzle 69

Puzzle Mechanics Feature Build 69

Brand Game Development

JULY 3, 2017

In it, I’ll be guiding you through every step of the process of creating board games: core concepts, ideas, design, development, manufacturing, crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter, selling, and marketing. What is a game? In absence of a formal definition, I’ll give you one that’s served me well.

Games 130

Games Media Game Developer Game Development 130

Jaunty Bear Games

OCTOBER 9, 2022

The real question is, what’s driving these trends and why are so many people taking notice? Why are retro games popular? Of course, there are numerous reasons why retro games are popular again. Designing a retro game. Let’s take a look at some of them below. Retrogaming And Nostalgia. Castlevania and Metroid.

Asset 52

Asset Games Indy Code 52

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 5, 2019

It’s a puzzle-solving, tile placement board game for 1-4 players where you play as a fantasy monster who’s hungry for villagers. After canceling that campaign at around 30% of the goal, I wrote a long in-depth post about what exactly went wrong. Now I would like to share what I’ve learned with you.

Art 130

Art Games Tile Mechanics 130

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 13, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Written by Michail Katkoff , games executive and founder of Deconstructor of Fun, and Niek Tuerlings , Senior Game Designer and author of popular game development blog Ludocious.com.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Puzzle Advertising Studios 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Ever since my first design docs from Cogmind pre-alpha, written back in 2013, I always wanted a projectile deflection mechanic. At the same time, being so cool it’s likely one of those rarer abilities that ends up more suited to unique parts, and even after ten years of development had yet to find a proper home on Tau Ceti IV.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Build Feature Alpha 52

Game Refinery

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Thousands of new games and apps targeting casual and hyper-casual audiences are released every day, which means capturing the attention of new players is tough, but keeping them engaged for weeks and months to come is even trickier. So, what can mobile game developers do to increase the chances of their games performing well?

Build 52

Build Mechanics Mobile Gaming Puzzle 52

Game Refinery

JANUARY 5, 2023

They say imitation is a form of flattery, and there’s no shortage of mobile games that share a striking similarity with other popular titles in the PC, console and mobile markets. And that’s exactly the case with the chart toppers Stumble Guys and Eggy Party, two mobile clones of the 60-player knock-out party game, Fall Guys.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Mechanics Racing 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JULY 17, 2022

Although many whitepapers mentioned sustainability, the previous gold rush meant that for most players and crypto investors, it was just another promise to fuel the hype. For example, pretty much all Web3 games are in the red these days for reasons that are outside their control: Because the market is red, players don’t trade.

Asset 59

Asset Games Content Concepts 59

Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

This is a convenient diegetic way of locking the player in-place for a cutscene, while also priming the player for an extended cutscene. It also sets the tone for some social contexts -- sitting at a big tavern table to share a meal, or sitting in front of a powerful person's desk. there's a tropical biome!) Sit and listen.

Open World 52

Open World NPC Cutscenes Terrain 52

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

Last month, game industry documentary makers 2 Player Productions debuted a massive 32-part YouTube game dev doc series Double Fine PsychOdyssey , chronicling the development of Psychonauts 2 from its earliest glimmers of pre-production in 2015 to its final release in 2021.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Game Design Advice

JANUARY 29, 2021

What is happening? Why is it that on every side it feels like things are slipping away, and yet at the same time it feels like we’re caught in an interminable stasis? Why is it that on every side it feels like things are slipping away, and yet at the same time it feels like we’re caught in an interminable stasis?

Horror 52

Horror Media Games Game Design 52

Keith Burgun

JUNE 7, 2022

Nobody defending the game seems to understand why the monetization is bad. But at the very least, maybe I can convince those in my own community – those who might be reading these words right now – that this s**t is highly distasteful. Governments aren’t banning this game because they care about p2w or competition.

Point and Click 40

Point and Click Mechanics Game Design Game Designer 40

Deconstructor of Fun

AUGUST 29, 2021

The game loop of the game follows the one in Hay Day closely, with one major difference: there’s no player-to-player trading. What’s new is the element of villager micromanagement, crafting stations that are shared with other players, and a research layer. This analysis is written by Javier Barnes and Michail Katkoff.

Simulation 52

Simulation Build Balance Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Access all of our previous predictions. Signup for the newsletter. billion IPO.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

SOVEREIGN MOON

OCTOBER 1, 2020

In this tutorial we’ll learn how to add triggers and switches to your game using Unity’s bolt add-on. Let’s jump in! In today’s tutorial, we take things a step further by teaching you how to use triggers and switches in order to help you create more interesting game mechanics. Read the Full Tutorial ?

Code 52

Code Clipping Point and Click Dev 52

Game Design Advice

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

Lana Polansky recently wrote a very interesting piece about how we categorize games which includes an examination of the popular MDA game design framework. In general I’m a fan of the MDA approach but I think Polansky’s essay highlights some of the most problematic aspects of it, especially around the terms themselves.

Mechanics 40

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Graphics 40

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). What makes the genre so interesting is its growth of both revenue and installs. What caused all engagement to jump through 2020 gave the entire shooting category arguably some of the strongest tailwinds.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Content FPS 52

Designer Notes

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

I gave a talk on games and meaning at GDC 2023, which is now available on YouTube: However, I fully scripted the talk ahead of time, so I decided it would be worth taking the time to post the slides online, in three parts to have mercy on your browser. So, why am I talking about DIPS? What does this mean for video games?

Simulation 73

Simulation Agent Game Design Game Designer 73

Game Designing

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Video games today are far more immersive than ever, and that isn’t simply because consoles and PCs have gotten more powerful. What Is Game Atmosphere? When we talk about a game’s ‘atmosphere’, we don’t mean things like virtual clouds. This is the power of the game atmosphere.

Games 136

Games Mechanics Fantasy Art 136

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 10, 2021

Unless otherwise specified, all the data has been provided by the powerful Sensor Tower and analyzed by the author(s). Currently in charge of systems design at Trailmix. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow and monetize their games. All revenue numbers show net revenues. Previously at King and Glu.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mobile Mobile Advertising 52

Grid Sage Games

MAY 8, 2022

Recently a player asked me a question regarding my game balance philosophy, and while I can often respond to queries by pointing to some previous article, despite all my writing and no doubt occasionally touching on related topics, I had yet to explicitly do any sort of summary of the philosophy behind my gamedev work.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 52

Designer Notes

MARCH 31, 2023

Welcome to My Elephant in the Room: An Old World Design Postmortem. 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. Here are the games that I’ve worked on.

Tile 98

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 98

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Ilkka Paananen's acknowledgment of their need to "Serve Players in a Live Game They Love, So It’s Played and Remembered Forever" has fueled a series of strategic moves. In this letter, he acknowledged that one of the key challenges that the company needed to focus on was improving how they served players in their live games.

Mechanics 59

Mechanics Content Feature Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

We normally don’t spend too much time analyzing Asian hit games as what works in their domestic markets doesn’t traditionally transfer to the Western markets. What works in those markets simply doesn’t tend to work with the Western players. Sign up for their newsletter to be informed when the latest deconstruction drops.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 12, 2021

That means players engage more as a job (often as “scholars” from developing countries who borrow in-game assets from richer “sponsors” or “managers,” who receive a cut of their earnings) than for fun. The game’s basic design is fairly straightforward and simple, but there are concerns with the sustainability of its economic model.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Balance Games Game Design 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 4, 2017

This article is the fifth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Game rules are how we regulate the mechanics of our games so that they are consistent with the messages we want to send to players. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our direct messages on Discord. What is a rule?

Point and Click 130

Point and Click Games Mechanics Writing 130

Grid Sage Games

JUNE 30, 2023

When Cogmind’s first commercial version was released in 2015 , I simultaneously opened the brand new Grid Sage Forums as the main gathering point for the community, a way to share stories, provide feedback, and generally discuss the game. The good old GSG forums!

Feature 52

Feature Content Build Dev 52

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 27, 2022

My Scorching Hot, Muy Caliente Take: It’s good. I used the most overpowered weapons and was helped by the most powerful summons. It's also hard to criticize, since From Software games tend to be mean and confusing and sadistic on purpose, so anything that makes you mad was probably put there intentionally.

Fighting 52

Fighting Writing Software Game Design 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

This article is the third of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. However, I’ve brought in Jesse Bergman, the lead designer of Battle for Sularia so that you can get two viewpoints instead of just one. I’ve spoken before about designing and testing the “Core Engine” of a game.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Game Dev Unchained

JUNE 27, 2023

Virtual Reality’s Second Surge As the first decade of commercial virtual reality (VR) draws to a close, we caught up with seasoned game developer, Alex Silkin , to discuss the twists, turns, and future of the VR and augmented reality (AR) industry. It’s a lot of questions, but I would love to kind of hear your response.”

Technology 98

Technology Concepts Games Platformer 98

Brand Game Development

MARCH 10, 2017

He’s the professorial mind behind Meeple Like Us , a board game review site with an academic focus on accessibility. Michael: Why, hello there. What do you mean it’s upside down? Oh dear, what must you think of me? Brandon: The following article is a philosophical guest post by Michael Heron.

Games 130

Games Game Design Game Designer Mechanics 130