Cocos

MARCH 25, 2024

Hey wonderful folks on the Cocos Dev Team! Also, I’ve been toying around with the animation tool’s “embedded player”… I realize it’s still experimental feature, but it got me thinking… is there a way that we can preview a spine animation in editor without having to manually playtest the game?

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Dev Animation Animation Playtesting 40

Brand Game Development

JULY 9, 2018

Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. To help us understand the nuances of Reddit, particularly board game Reddit, I’ve brought in Raf Cordero. Reddit was one of the first gaming communities I discovered while getting into the hobby.

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Dev Playtesting Games Platformer 130

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 14, 2023

The best way to get better at being a systems designer is to design game systems for games. This doesn't have to be designing systems for video games - a lot of system designers I know are extremely proficient card, board, and tabletop game designers too. What happens if each player starts the game with a monopoly?

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DameDev.tv

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Do you ever wonder how you can get better at game development? If so, keep reading for some great tips and watch the Livecast for all 12 ways to get better at game development. Rick has more than 14 years experience in the game dev industry, working on IP's that include Mario, Transformers, Captain America and Mortal Kombat.

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Game Developer Game Development Development Dev 90

Keith Burgun

APRIL 27, 2023

It’s been a few months since I wrote about Spellstorm, my new deckbuilding card game. As I wrote about a few months ago , the game took a huge turn somewhere around December, and I am so glad it did. I notice it with my playtesters that all of us are sincerely way more excited to play. Hi everyone!

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Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

It’s about allowing players to lose themselves in more than just a game, but a new world. This goal is always top-of-mind for Schell Games. In this interview, we spoke to Schell Games’ Vice President of Product, Charlie Amis, to learn their story. This isn’t as true or a high priority in PC and console games.

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Dev Playtesting Fantasy Render 91

DameDev.tv

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Industry veterans Rick Davidson & Tim Ruswick* are joined by Stephen Hubbard to understand how he got started in game dev, see what he’s been up to since we last saw him, discuss how to launch your first game and play his new game, Tilecraft. Hosting Your Game On Itch.io

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Dev Bug Games Playtesting 52

Brand Game Development

APRIL 7, 2017

I’m trying something different on the Dev Diary. I’ll be explaining my development processes for this game so that you can learn from them. I’ll be explaining my development processes for this game so that you can learn from them. We’re in this together, game devs. This is a teaching blog.

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Mechanics Dev Simulation Games 130

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.

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Brand Game Development

MARCH 9, 2020

Monopoly: it’s one of the oldest board games in the store. It’s one of the top 10 best-selling board games. It’s also a terrible board game. When board gamers need a game to mercilessly mock , they look no further than Monopoly. Need help on your board game? Monopoly has a staggeringly low 4.4

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Ask a Game Dev

MAY 5, 2023

Whenever we design a game system, we usually have some high-level macro goals for that system. This is where playtesting comes in. We typically run playtests as often as possible in order to ferret out these issues so that we can adjust them if they are too egregious. What we want to limit is unintended power creep.

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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.

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Balance Games Communications Mechanics 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? A clear objective.

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Game Design Game Designer Tile Games 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?

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Games Playtesting Prototyping Dev 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?

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Game Design Game Designer Games 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? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators.

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Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 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?

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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.

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Simulation Games Demo Playtesting 130

Astral Clock Tower Studios

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

We're so happy you're joining us for another epically magical installment of the Kristala Dev Blog! This is the place where we break down all aspects of development for 3D Dark Fantasy ARPG Kristala—an indie game in developed by the wildly talented dev team behind women-owned indie games studio, Astral Clocktower Studios.

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Dev Animation Animation Concepts 52

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.

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UX Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 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.

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Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Art 100

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.

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Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 22, 2023

In previous years I’ve opened the review with a collage of dev images of varying themes and content, but approaching the end of this year we have one major theme that stands out, and that I’ll be writing more about below, so let’s hear it for the interface mockups! Numbers go up. Its time has come.

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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.

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Build Console Code Games 64

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. Which are its verbs?

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Dev Playtesting Art Games 156

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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Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 20, 2022

It’s important to get playtesters who aren’t familiar with the puzzle to test it, especially noting any frustration points. Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr Frequent questions: The FAQ. Got a burning question you want answered?

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Puzzle Playtesting Advertising Dev 52

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. We’re giving away a copy on the Pangea Games Facebook.

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Prototyping Games Localization Demo 130

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.

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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.

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Retail Games Writing Indy 130

Grumpy Gamer

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

I use Microsoft's Azure to do cloud compiles of the c++ engine for my new game. To compile the Windows build on Azure takes between 6 and 15 minutes which is crazy since I can compile the game locally in 1-2 minutes. For me to get a new playtest or (more importantly) a dev engine build can take 15-30 minutes.

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Debug Playtesting Build Engine 40

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? Who played.

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Playtesting Data Communications Writing 130

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. People who play-test your game get a chance to win.

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Playtesting Writing Game Developer Game Development 130

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.

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Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

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. Wednesday, 10 October 2018.

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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.

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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. He was immediately drawn to the team’s ambition to create a game that could provide the same exhilarating experiences as larger games, but with the capacity to run on low-end hardware.

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