Balatro dev gives look at first prototype, Joker Poker
Game Developer
MAY 29, 2024
LocalThunk shows how 2024's breakout deckbuilder evolved in the course of its three-year development.
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Oscar Salandin, developer of BOTSU Ridicuous Robots: “Solo dev can be lonely”
PreMortem.Games
JULY 29, 2024
Oscar Salandin , known as Peculiar Pixels, received a major validation for his debut game, BOTSU Ridiculous Robots , by being named the Overall Winner at the Develop Indie Showcase Awards 2024. The English solo developer began his journey right after the Pandemic. Why did you become a solo developer? “I
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Solo dev Tuomas Auronen (Redbeak Games) “Hardest part is financial uncertainty”
PreMortem.Games
MARCH 20, 2024
Solo dev Tuomas Auronen , operating under the name Redbeak Games , looks pretty relieved three days after the launch of his game Mortal Glory 2. When his last game, that he spent 17 months working on, flopped, Auronen felt the pressure to make enough money to support his family. Why did you become a solo developer? “I
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Solo dev Jason Larabie of Rodent Games works after hours on Artificer’s Tower “I live a dual life”
PreMortem.Games
MARCH 13, 2024
When the allure of game development clashes with the necessity of a traditional job, the only choice is to juggle both endeavors simultaneously. I simply couldn’t shake off my passion for making games”, says Larabie. “So, So, I ended up living a dual life, working my day job and moonlighting as a developer.”
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Board Game Development – Wait Like a Champ by Using Downtime Wisely
Brand Game Development
JUNE 30, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Last week in the Dev Diary, I talked about how board game development is a long, ongoing process with a lot of different stages. Need help on your board game?
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What are game development jobs that most people have not heard of?
Ask a Game Dev
JULY 6, 2023
Prototype Artist - an art generalist who specializes in putting together usable art for a game prototype. They know the quick and dirty hacks and key knowledge to get what’s needed into the game and working, rather than focusing on finishing out production quality assets.
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How to Diagnose Failure & Move Forward as a Board Game Developer
Brand Game Development
MAY 14, 2018
Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Failure can involve missed deadlines, lost clients, scrapped prototypes, controversial public statements, or no-show events. Were there physical issues that made the game difficult to play?
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Makhoba Kamogelo: “Don’t let fear stop you from reinventing yourself”
PreMortem.Games
NOVEMBER 13, 2023
Now, she’s navigating the world of game development, where each day brings new challenges and exciting discoveries. Let’s take a trip back memory lane and find out when the seed of game development was planted and how each part of Kamo’s past adds up. This knowledge helps me create architectural designs in games.
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Two engineers build the physics-driven engineering parody The Enjenir
PreMortem.Games
OCTOBER 9, 2023
They are both well aware of the irony of two engineers developing a parody engineering game, but that hasn’t stopped Cillín Farrell and Neil Mackenzie from devoting the majority of their spare time doing just that. We effectively combined our love for gaming, our skills in the Unreal Engine, with our engineering profession.
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Godot Engine receives $120,000 grant from game development studio Kefir
Mircosoft Game Dev
FEBRUARY 10, 2021
We are delighted to announce that the game development studio Kefir is giving the Godot Engine project a USD 120,000 grant to fund further development of the engine. Thank you Kefir for supporting our free and open source game engine! Many thanks to the Godot team for their incredible contribution to game development.
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Addendum to cut content: people find remnants of cut content in game files often enough. So/but is there any even rough estimate you could give of cut content that’s dug up versus cut stuff that could never be found?
Ask a Game Dev
APRIL 10, 2024
The games with the most cut content are often those that manage to make it out of development hell, the kind of games that are lucky to get released at all. Some cut content never goes beyond existence in documents, let alone a prototype. The other thing is that cut content often comes in various degrees of completion.
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In regard to the vertical slice. Do studios work on/produce it to pitch a game or is it used as a milestone to reassure the money people that the game is progressing? (or both)?
Ask a Game Dev
MARCH 27, 2024
The vertical slice is a big milestone in a game's development because it shows the entire game coming together in a cohesive play experience. Since it shows all of the major systems in the game working together, it naturally answers most questions about how the game will play. Call of Duty, Pokemon, Madden, etc.).
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Board Game Designer vs. Developer vs. Publisher
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 17, 2018
Let’s start with three roles: board game designer, developer, and publisher. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. The first thing you need to know about designer, developer, and publisher roles is simple. The lines are blurry.
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You Are Not Alone: Common Pains for Game Devs & How to Overcome Them
Brand Game Development
MAY 15, 2017
Whenever I saw a complaint from a game dev pop up on my Twitter feed, I recorded it in Excel. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. So many of the struggles that we deal with in game development are shared by others in the industry.
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5 Lessons I Learned at a Play-Testing Convention (Protospiel Atlanta)
Brand Game Development
OCTOBER 27, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Last Saturday and Sunday, I attended my first board gaming convention – Protospiel in Atlanta. Prototype of a beach volleyball game by Julio Nazario. Need help on your board game?
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From Music to Games: Dominique Gawlowski’s journey to shaping Free Lives’ culture
PreMortem.Games
AUGUST 2, 2024
This warmth is a hallmark of Free Lives, the South African indie game development studio behind Playtopia. Playtopia Festival 2023 Makers Massive provides a space with computers for aspiring game developers to work on their projects, engage in talks, and meet like-minded individuals.
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Dean Gichukie’s studio Kunta Content delivers authentic African stories
PreMortem.Games
OCTOBER 30, 2023
One of the stories I wrote was a game. That game is now Hiru.” ” As a result, Kunta Content’s title ‘Hiru’ has been in development for a decade, but it wasn’t until 2020 that Dean and his team actively began developing this story-driven game. It’s a long one.
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The One Thing That Can Sink Sales for Board Games
Brand Game Development
OCTOBER 13, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. This week, I posted A Crash Course on Selling Board Games , which is my way of helping demystify that which terrifies many first-time game developers. Need help on your board game?
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Rami Ismail • Find your USP by describing the game in one or two sentences
PreMortem.Games
APRIL 15, 2024
This article is part of the game-dev advice newsletter Levelling the Playing Field by Rami Ismail. If you want to know more about the art, craft and science of game development, subscribe here. Actionables For three of your most favorite games, think of how you would recommend them to a friend if you forgot the title.
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You have talked about certain things young designers can do that will set them up for failure, namely not studying in college, not prototyping ideas, and trying to burn themselves out by working to hard at the beginning and then slowing down later. What are other common early mistakes that will make a game developers job harder?
Ask a Game Dev
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
One common mistake I see with young devs is that they invest too much of their identities into what they do for work. I was the game dev. I worked on famous games that most people had played, or at least heard of. I would caution young devs to avoid this. The game doesn't sell well and there's layoffs.
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When it comes to copy writing (for press and pitches) forget the fluff and start to BLUF
PreMortem.Games
FEBRUARY 19, 2024
This article is part of the game-dev advice newsletter Levelling the Playing Field by Rami Ismail. If you want to know more about the art, craft and science of game development, subscribe here. The newsletter is free but you can support the existence of LTPF with a small subscription fee.
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How to Play a Lot of Board Games with Little Time and Little Money
Brand Game Development
SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. This week with Highways & Byways , I’ve been making little improvements to the game to make it more usable and easy-to-understand. Need help on your board game? Click here.
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How Many Blind Play-Tests Does Your Board Game *Really* Need?
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 22, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. I even blind play-tested it at a game design convention. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.
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Godot Showcase - Primal Light developer interview
Mircosoft Game Dev
MARCH 4, 2021
Welcome to the fourth developer interview following the introduction of the Godot Showcase page ! This week, we are interviewing the studio Fat Gem about their first game Primal Light. My friend Jeff Nixon and I make games together under the name Fat Gem. Introduce your studio in a few sentences. Hi, I’m Shane Sicienski.
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How to build successful VR games as a solo developer
Game Analytics
JANUARY 3, 2023
So to get his advice and learn his secrets, we sat down to hear his story and journey as a solo-game developer. I always wanted to make games – I even did small projects when I was a teen and carried on while studying computer science. Having a full-time job ate into Sergio’s personal dev time. Here’s what he had to say.
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Godot Showcase - Lumencraft developer talks about his experience
Mircosoft Game Dev
APRIL 13, 2022
Do you have prior experience with other game engines? I have years of random experience in development with my first games made way back for Commodore 64. I used the most known game engines there were, and some of my obscure games were made in Pascal, and even Matlab. We got the game working on Mac as well.
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The Art of the Paper Test: Catching Accessibility Issues Early
Brand Game Development
MAY 19, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. prior to and during its Kickstarter campaign, but it is also my favorite rapid prototyping tool. Still, Tabletop Simulator is just one form of digital play testing for board games.
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5 Alternatives to Kickstarter for Your Board Game
Brand Game Development
MARCH 22, 2021
Yet I want to make it absolutely clear that Kickstarter is not the only, or even necessarily the best, way for indie board game developers to self-publish their work. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.
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Godot Showcase - Hive Time developer Cheeseness talks about his experience
Mircosoft Game Dev
FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Welcome to the third developer interview following the introduction of the Godot Showcase page ! My name is Cheese, and I'm an Australian independent game developer/Linux porter/freelance generalist based in the small island of Tasmania. I've been making games in some form or another for over thirty years now.
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4 Clever Ways to Market Your Board Game Online for $30.00
Brand Game Development
SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. The post 4 Clever Ways to Market Your Board Game Online for $30.00
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What’s the point of board game reviews?
Brand Game Development
MAY 1, 2017
One of the most jarring experiences for new game developers is the process of getting their game reviewed. Drama aside, it truly is difficult at first because you have to identify reviewers, send prototypes, make sure your game is ready enough, cross your fingers, and hope they like it. You can keep a dev diary.
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Talking Without Words
Brand Game Development
JULY 21, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. This week, in Start to Finish: Publish and Sell Your First Board Game , I released Five Levels of Communication through Game Development. Need help on your board game?
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Mordhau on consoles: “A lot of smoke and mirrors go into making things hit”
PreMortem.Games
JULY 17, 2023
The brutal and bloody combat game from Slovenian developer Triternion has already been very successful for the last 4 years on PC. To make everything working smoothly during the massive online battles requires some very specific skills from the developers.
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How to Get Started with Board Game Conventions as a Board Game Creator, Part 1
Brand Game Development
JUNE 11, 2018
As such, board game developers often find their own interest in conventions piqued. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. I’m a solo game designer/developer of strategy games on both analog and digital platforms!
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How to Tell When Play-Testing Feedback is Useful or Not
Brand Game Development
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Play-testing is so critical in board game development that I’ve dedicated several articles to the subject. ” Need help on your board game? Click here.
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How We Printed the Tasty Humans Board Game Kickstarter
Brand Game Development
FEBRUARY 24, 2020
It’s been an extraordinary privilege of mine to work with Ryan Langewisch, the designer of the game as well as Tyson Mertlich, the developer who helped make the magic happen so early on. They were the creative force behind the game, and really, the soul of it. Need help on your board game? But my role?
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Tell Your Artist What You Want – Making Good Art Specs
Brand Game Development
JUNE 2, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. Great art is one of the most critical parts of a board game. As game developers, we have only a handful of tools at our disposal to help teach players what a game is about and how to play it.
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The Final 100 Play-Tests: How to Put Final Touches on a Board Game
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 8, 2017
Dev Diary posts are made to teach game development through specific examples from my latest project: Highways & Byways. This is a process I follow to ensure a game’s quality. This method may not be appropriate for every developer, every team, or every game, but it is one I like. Click here.
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Godot Showcase - Friday Night Funkin' VR developer talks about his experience
Mircosoft Game Dev
JANUARY 22, 2022
Welcome to a Godot showcase developer interview! This week, we interviewed Ben Kurtin about his experience developing and releasing a VR recreation of the hit rhythm game Friday Night Funkin'. In fact, I know a few professional software developers who have been using Godot for their game projects for the same reason: it's easy!
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War Stories: Endless Eight
Ask a Game Dev
MAY 22, 2023
This is a story about one of my forays into development hell. My employer assigned me to a small team that was building a new game out of an existing, though decommissioned, game base. The game had many constraints - minimal budget for new art assets and almost no tribal knowledge from the original team remained.
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How to Work in a Team in the Board Game Industry
Brand Game Development
OCTOBER 23, 2017
I’ve talked about the benefits and challenges of working alone in the board game industry. Yet I’m a bit of an odd beast in the board game development world since most people prefer to work in teams. Need help on your board game? I’m a designer, and I do development and social media outreach.
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Solo dev Jason Nicot on his new project Sanctua “A more mature party game”
PreMortem.Games
MAY 24, 2024
Jason Nicot , a French solo game developer operating under the name Choose Red , recently announced his latest game Sanctua. In this co-op multiplayer game a group of players have to work together to escape a cursed tomb. He went into transportation management, but game development never really left his mind.
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An Inside Look at the Board Game Review Process
Brand Game Development
JULY 2, 2018
Much of the anxiety that new game developers experience when sending their games off to reviewers comes from the opaqueness of the process. That’s why I’ve brought in Dez Maggs of goto.game to talk about what goes into the board game review process. Need help on your board game? What do reviews involve?
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Choose Your Own Adventure: Self-Publish Board Games or Not?
Brand Game Development
MARCH 16, 2020
To get the Start to Finish series going, I’ve spent some time discussing games, game development, and the amount of careful messaging that is needed to create and sell a great game. At this point, you may be beginning to have some healthy doubts about the benefits and drawbacks of self-publishing a game.
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