Brand Game Development

APRIL 27, 2020

Play-testing is the most important part of board game design. It’s how you turn rough, raw ideas into polished, ready-to-play games. ” Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Visit your local game store.

Demo 130

Demo Playtesting Simulation Advertising 130

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. Need help on your board game?

Games 130

Games Playtesting Prototyping Dev 130

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

When I was a neophyte game developer, I found an excellent article by Wizards of the Coast, creators of Magic: the Gathering , called Ten Things Every Game Needs. No matter what type of game you’re making, these 10 elements are critical to making a good game. Need help on your board game? Constraints.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Tile Games 130

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. Not games writing mind you, but copy writing – for pitches, store pages, press releases, & everything else.

Writing 104

Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

This week while working on my current board game design, a lot of things have come into focus. Now it’s time to start tweaking board game rules. This is where board game design often becomes very tricky. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

Balance 130

Balance Games Communications Mechanics 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 29, 2021

From time to time, I see board game creators on social media who have been working on the same design day-in, day-out for years on end. The first are people making a board game as a labor of love, who know they’re taking their sweet time on it, and they’re OK with it. Need help on your board game?

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Playtesting 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

It’s no secret that board game publishers like to reduce risks. Most publishers have a system in place to help them filter marketable game ideas from unmarketable game ideas. Yet the process, so heavy on rejection, has left many game designers heartbroken. Need help on your board game?

Retail 130

Retail Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

MAY 18, 2020

As the coronavirus lockdown continues, a lot of people are having a hard time getting their board game fix. The ability to play board games online, however, has never been easier. That’s because it’s easy to make board games in Tabletop Simulator, an inexpensive board game simulation tool available on the Steam store.

Simulation 130

Simulation Games Demo Playtesting 130

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? How long have you been making games? What games have you worked on?

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

“Theme-first or mechanics-first” might be the most asked “big question” in the board game community. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Theme and mechanics are inseparable parts of board games as a whole. It’s a bit of silly question.

Mechanics 100

Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Art 100

Brand Game Development

JUNE 3, 2019

The concept is simple: through gamification, you take the elements we associate with games – point scoring, competition, rules – and apply them to something else. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Gamification is a fantastic tool.

UX 130

UX Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 130

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.

Games 130

Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

JUNE 11, 2018

Board game conventions have a certain mystique to them. 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. The truth is a little more complicated than that.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Localization Demo 130

AWS Games

JULY 26, 2022

Session-based multiplayer games are a popular form of online game, as they provide players with a quick, engaging experience that they can jump into at any time. However, building a scalable and reliable session-based online multiplayer game is not easy, since there are many components that need to be developed.

Build 64

Build Console Code Games 64

Game Dev Unchained

JULY 5, 2023

Pham and Max delved deep into the world of indie game development, discussing everything from the inception of the game to its surprising success. Max Fink, originally from a modding background, joined the Battle Bit team a year after its formation, bringing his extensive experience in vehicle development to the team.

Indy 105

Indy Game Developer Game Development Development 105

Brand Game Development

APRIL 20, 2020

A couple of weeks ago, I asked the readers of this blog to send in answers to the question “ what confuses you most about board game development ?” Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. ” And, wow, did you all deliver!

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Writing Game Developer Game Development 130

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

For some, the idea of developing a game alone is daunting. Yet, for indie dev Almar, it offered an escape from the corporate rat race he felt trapped in. Sadly, the reality of the business showed me that the type of games that pay the rent weren’t the type of experiences I wanted to create”, he says.

Dev 156

Dev Playtesting Art Games 156

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

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 9, 2019

When you’re making your first board game, retail distribution is probably not top of mind. Many creators choose to focus on making a brilliant game, well play-tested, with great art, and good Kickstarter potential. Molly's latest game, The Million Dollar Doodle, is live on Kickstarter! First a book, then a board game.

Retail 130

Retail Games Writing Indy 130

SOVEREIGN MOON

OCTOBER 12, 2020

In this introductory tutorial series, we’ll teach beginners how to use the basic controls within Gogot’s game engine. Godot is a free and open source game development software that game devs can use to make beautiful 2D and 3D games. . A Crash Course Into The Basics of Godot’s Game Engine.

Asset 52

Asset Editing Scripting Code 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Game development is iterative. Making a great game requires soliciting and intelligently processing feedback. Write down what people say, update your game, and save a new copy. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Who played?

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Data Communications Writing 130

Mircosoft Game Dev

OCTOBER 7, 2018

The organizers of the Game Industry Conference (which is also in Poznań just after GodotCon) are letting us use their great venue, and it will be a great opportunity to get together with Godot users and core developers (our lead dev Juan Linietsky is coming from Argentina). All core devs as tutors.

Demo 52

Demo Simulation Shaders Engine 52

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Showing your game to strangers for the first time can be a little nerve wracking. After months of toiling in a secluded attic, the last weeks of which were particularly grueling, we finally took Second Hand to its first public showings: first to Dev-Play in Bucharest and shortly thereafter to Clujotronic in our very own Cluj.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 25, 2021

It’s no secret that if you want to make a great board game, you’re going to have to test it a bunch. Games are complex systems. That’s why it’s important to learn how to identify and fix problems with your board game. I’ve written before about the usefulness of documenting your playtesting.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Mechanics Editing 130

Mircosoft Game Dev

JULY 2, 2018

After three days of intensive game development and two weeks of playtesting and rating (over 3,500 ratings!), we now have the results for our June 2018 Godot Community Game Jam ! 110 participants developed games with Godot Engine on the theme TEMPERATURE. All games can be downloaded from the itch.io

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Animation Animation Writing 52

Game Global

JULY 12, 2021

Do you want to make people laugh at the silly things the game’s troops say if you click on them enough times? If so, you probably want to be a game writer. You should concentrate on building up your writing portfolio and getting regular game writing work. And that’s valid! What technical pitfalls await the unwary?

Cutscenes 52

Cutscenes Writing Scripting Localization 52

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the ninth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Games are more than just what’s in the box. Who is Carla?

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

With Solium Infernum, Australian game developer League of Geeks has revived Vic Davis’ PC cult classic from 2009. A strategy game of politics, intrigue, and betrayal in which players take on the role of a powerful fallen Archfiend and do everything in their power to conquer the Throne of Hell.

Studios 141

Studios Concepts Playtesting Development 141

Ask a Game Dev

JANUARY 23, 2024

Whenever I do solo dev work, the feature that always takes the longest and tends to require the most work to get something playable by actual players is the UI. Whenever I build support into a game for different characters, cars, tracks, loadouts, etc.

Dev 52

Dev Build Content Feature 52

Brand Game Development

JUNE 20, 2019

In fact, I’ve even said: “ don’t build a board game, build a business.” Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Allow me to introduce you to Jeff Beck of Grandpa Beck’s Games. Check it out and see what you think!

Asset 130

Asset Mechanics Games Balance 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the eighth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Playtesting storytelling.

Art 130

Art Mechanics Games Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 20, 2020

Over the last four articles of Start to Finish: Publish and Sell Your First Board Game , I’ve talked about a lot of things that are more complicated than you’d think. That includes the unexpected depth of the board game industry as well as the surprising variety of responsibilities which a self-publishing developer must handle.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Playtesting Dev 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 22, 2019

Perfect board game pacing is one of the most underrated aspects of board game design. Somewhere between overwhelm and ennui, there lies a middle ground where a game is perfectly paced. A great board game feels challenging and interesting throughout. Need help on your board game? But how do you do that?

Tile 130

Tile Games Playtesting Balance 130

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

One of the hallmarks of good board game design is being able to create hard choices. Let’s talk about how you can create hard choices in your board game. He, after all, created the pattern building game that we call Tasty Humans , so it makes for a great case study! Need help on your board game?

Tile 130

Tile Mechanics Games Puzzle 130

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

Zugzwang by Robert Yang This post details my process and intent for making my new release Zugzwang (pronounced in German like /ts'OOK-ts'VAHng/ ) a tactical sex dungeon roguelike cum ritual game. SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils what happens in the game. So this game too is set in a dungeon -- a divine sex maze dungeon.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52