PreMortem.Games

APRIL 19, 2024

One of my close friends, Ches Denison, joined me working 5-10 hours a week as a playtester, game designer, and just a general jack-of-all-trades-guy. Once playtesting began in early 2023, player feedback further refined my vision. Plus, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is the most important thing you can do as a game dev.

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Brand Game Development

JULY 9, 2018

/r/tabletopgamedesign and /r/boardgameindustry are good for connecting with other designers and developers, getting feedback on a design, or even organizing playtests. Many developers choose to create their own subreddits for playtesting. The post How to Use Reddit as a Board Game Dev appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.

Dev 130

Dev Playtesting Games Platformer 130

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Then playtest your changes and see how things feel. Then gather some friends, playtest the game, and see if it feels good. Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr Frequent Questions: The FAQ How does the game experience change if you halve the price of every property?

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Playtesting Dev Build Game Design 52

Keith Burgun

APRIL 27, 2023

I notice it with my playtesters that all of us are sincerely way more excited to play. I’m doing a bunch of playtesting recently on all eight characters because I want them to be as awesome as possible for the launch of the Kickstarter in a few months. By contrast, this version consistently gets way more positive reactions.

Dev 52

Dev Playtesting Games Development 52

Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Playtesting is crucial at this point. And many of the regular tricks that devs use to save on rendering costs are lost when building VR games. “It When we asked Schell Games what they’re using, they recommended User Testing for their playtesting, and GameAnalytics for collecting quantitative data. You may have to get creative.

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Dev Playtesting Fantasy Render 91

Ask a Game Dev

MAY 5, 2023

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. Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr Frequent Questions: The FAQ What is the FANTa project?

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DameDev.tv

DECEMBER 12, 2022

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. Until next time, happy dev'ing! He's done it all, from Game Designer, Producer, Creative Director and Executive Producer to GameDev.tv's

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Game Developer Game Development Development Dev 90

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. Level Design.

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Dev Animation Animation Concepts 52

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. for people to playtest and provide feedback. that it really stuck!

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Dev Bug Games Playtesting 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Through playtesting, you can answer the question “do the mechanics suit the theme?”. Figure out the theme you want to capture, try building it through mechanics, then playtest and tweak until you successfully captured your desired theme. The post Theme vs. Mechanics appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.

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Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Art 100

Brand Game Development

APRIL 7, 2017

I’m trying something different on the Dev Diary. My hope with the Dev Diary series is that by being really direct and transparent about my own development experiences, you’ll see how I respond to real problems. We’re in this together, game devs. Key Takeaways for Game Devs. This is a teaching blog.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Dev Simulation Games 130

Brand Game Development

JUNE 3, 2019

You can further pare down journey maps and empathy maps to very specific scenarios and instances which create many playtesting questions. Playtesting in this stage of game design is related to user research in UX design. The post Why Gamification Makes Everything Else More Fun appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.

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UX Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

APRIL 27, 2020

Two groups that come to mind are the Tabletop Game Playtesters Guild and Card & Board Game Designers Guild. The post 6 Ways to Find Play-Testers for Your New Board Game appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. Remember: they’re doing you a huge favor! Finally, go in prepared. Visit your local game store.

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Demo Playtesting Simulation Advertising 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 9, 2020

Watch your playtesters’ reactions. With so many issues, it seems unlikely that Monopoly was thoroughly playtested. At the very least, it wasn’t playtested to modern standards. The post 7 Lessons from Monopoly for Aspiring Board Game Designers appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.

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Game Design Game Designer Playtesting Games 130

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

This article is part of the game-dev advice newsletter Levelling the Playing Field by Rami Ismail. ” does not give them same context as “In playtests we found that a turn-based paradigm fits the prototype best, which answers questions raised about the prototype’s gameplay last week.”

Writing 104

Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

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

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! Its time has come.

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Beta Alpha Mechanics Build 105

Brand Game Development

MAY 1, 2017

You can keep a dev diary. If something slips through your playtesting, it might very well be caught in the review stage. appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. There’s a lot of ways to suggest that your game is going to be good. You can release a free PNP version. You can give it gorgeous art.

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Games Playtesting Prototyping Dev 130

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

I’ve split it into five sections for your convenience: How Ben, Sarah, and Will Got Started How Working in a Team Feels The Downsides of Teamwork Communication in a Team Advice for New Game Devs. Sarah: It was also in 2013 that we met Ben and were playtesters for his game Tower , which he launched on Kickstarter early in 2014.

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Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Yet, for indie dev Almar, it offered an escape from the corporate rat race he felt trapped in. I definitely recommend getting feedback from external playtesters at each step “On each one of those steps I end up having one or more concrete ‘products’. The toll on your mental health can be quite high for solo devs.

Dev 156

Dev Playtesting Art Games 156

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

When you playtest a game, alone or with other people, you’re going to be creating a lot of data. Log every single playtest with the game and make sure your playtest matches with a game version number. First, I discourage the use of BoardGameGeek for playtest record keeping. Who played? What was the outcome?

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Playtesting Data Communications Writing 130

Grumpy Gamer

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

For me to get a new playtest or (more importantly) a dev engine build can take 15-30 minutes. 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. Same with the Mac build.

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Debug Playtesting Build Engine 40

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Playtest a Ton. The post How to Make Board Game Rules appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. With all this said, how does one create rules that fulfill the twin purposes of balancing the game and communicating clearly? I have some guidelines. This is non-exhaustive and it just includes what’s on my mind this week.

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Balance Games Communications Mechanics 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.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Brand Game Development

MARCH 29, 2021

Now look, some parts of game design – like playtesting or accessibility testing – can be tedious. The post 3 Signs It’s Time to Quit Working a Board Game Design Idea appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. Of course, burnout doesn’t just happen all at once. It sneaks up on you and gives you warnings.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Playtesting 130

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

If you hate the game you’re playtesting, do something different. Don’t just playtest it and refine the mechanics. The post 10 Elements of Good Game Design appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. This seems obvious, but never lose sight of it. was garbage in its first ten iterations. It stalled out for the next four.

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Game Design Game Designer Tile Games 130

Brand Game Development

MAY 18, 2020

Tabletop Simulator doesn’t just let people play before pledging, it’s also a great place to design and playtest games. Blind playtesting of your games is very valuable when it comes to helping refine your rules and making sure your game is easily approachable. The Unheard-of Benefits of Tabletop Simulator.

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Simulation Games Demo Playtesting 130

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

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. It was scary, thrilling, amazing and… we won the Dev-Play Indie Pitch! Color me excited!

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

They could be manufacturers, retailers, designers, or playtesters. The post Why Board Game Publishers Like Some Games and Don’t Like Others appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. So they get the axe. Most publishers have friends in the business. You’re the captain of a boat on a bigger sea.

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Retail Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

APRIL 20, 2020

Now circling back to what Matt had asked about finding playtesters, here’s how you might apply these principles. The post How to Turn Your Ideas Into Reality appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

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Playtesting Writing Game Developer Game Development 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. Thursday, 11 October 2018.

Demo 52

Demo Simulation Shaders Engine 52

SOVEREIGN MOON

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Godot is a free and open source game development software that game devs can use to make beautiful 2D and 3D games. . Further over to the right we’ll see the playtest buttons which allow us to play, pause or stop our game. Our NoCode game development course teaches indie game devs how to build breathtaking games from scratch. .

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Asset Editing Scripting Code 52

AWS Games

JULY 26, 2022

Then, use “ MegaFrogRace ” for the game name and use the existing “ GameDeployment-MegaFrogRace ” role for the Dev stage, then select Create. To set up the GameSparks game backend by importing a snapshot JSON file, navigate to the game’s “Dev” stage. Setting up the game backend by importing the snapshot JSON. Select Create message.

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Build Console Code Games 64

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

You do the game development and playtesting. appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. It takes a lot of time to learn and it’s an entirely separate discipline from game development or any other responsibility that you will handle on a regular basis. If you self-publish, there will be enormous demands on your time.

Games 130

Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 25, 2021

I’ve written before about the usefulness of documenting your playtesting. It contains both pragmatic advice and a primer to the mindset I want you to take into playtesting. Now your game is ready for blind playtesting. Send your game to new blind playtesters. Need help on your board game? Don’t interfere.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Mechanics Editing 130

Game Dev Unchained

JULY 5, 2023

It forced them to reassess their development approach and switch to a steam playtesting model, allowing more players to access the game. It was a moment of realization, both exhilarating and nerve-wracking, as they saw their servers, which used to host two games at best, suddenly flooded with 600 players.

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Indy Game Developer Game Development Development 105

Brand Game Development

JUNE 11, 2018

There might be a room for playtesting prototypes at some cons, but they are often small and not very well attended. The post How to Get Started with Board Game Conventions as a Board Game Creator, Part 1 appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. Emelie: First, having something worth showing is the first step and can depend on the con.

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Prototyping Games Localization Demo 130