Logic Simplified

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Developing a rich and immersive game world is a complicated and multi-disciplinary process. To build a truly immersive gaming environment, a team of designers, developers, artists and programmers employ a combination of psychology, art and technology into video games that challenge and capture players, resulting in satisfying gameplay.

Development 52

Development Mechanics Games Game Design 52

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Compelling puzzles And so the team built the game around the story. The gameplay mechanics and puzzles all came from the question ‘what fun things could we mess with inside a phone’. We ended up kind of struggling to really create a sense of progression and compelling puzzles.” Absolutely! Lucie then added them.”

Puzzle 104

Puzzle Technology Games Code 104

Played with Fire

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

The challenge for VR game developers lies in designing mechanics that are both challenging and appealing to advanced players. In this article, we will explore the key elements to consider when designing VR games for experienced players.

Mechanics 72

Mechanics Technology Games Entertainment 72

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 10, 2021

Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow and monetize their games. Mat Baker has been making mobile games for 15 years. Currently in charge of systems design at Trailmix. And Hypercasual games would be on par with Slots games.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mobile Mobile Advertising 52

iHobo

MARCH 29, 2023

Time-constraints do make games more exciting, but they also exclude certain players who do not want to feel that stressed when they are playing games. For the most part, however, the thrill-seeking motive is something that everyone enjoys, provided the game doesn't take it too far. Yet players still have fun doing it.

Puzzle 65

Puzzle Game Design Game Designer Horror 65

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 19, 2024

And so, we quickly realised the potential to form a bit of a ‘Super Group’ by bringing Game Design and AI Tech together. And so, the duo started exploring different ways to turn talking into a puzzle. Press B to express Doubt’, for example, is a classic case of mismatch between gameplay scenario and mechanical input.

AI 127

AI First person Puzzle Scripting 127

iXie gaming

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

However, developing games has become very time-consuming and expensive. This is why game art studios have emerged over the past decade. Instead of working on the next big blockbuster title alone, game art studios help companies create their titles with minimal financial investment. What is a Game Art Studio?

Art 52

Art Game Developer Game Development Studios 52

Game Analytics

DECEMBER 5, 2022

One of the reasons why hyper-casual games are so popular is due to how quick and easy they are to make. Simple controls, artwork, and game design make it easy for any developer to pick up. There are other ways to build a game on a budget. Because choice is how you can differentiate a book from a game.

Horror 109

Horror Games Mobile Mobile 109

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 9, 2023

As if developing a game by yourself wasn’t daunting enough, Pat Naoum decided to completely handpaint his debut game The Master’s Pupil. But the end is here, the game is out now on steam. Every man and his dog has made an indie game but no one has painted a game yet. Why did you become a solo developer? “I’ve

Dev 104

Dev Art Concepts Film 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

As if developing a game by yourself wasn’t daunting enough, Pat Naoum decided to completely handpaint his debut game The Master’s Pupil. But the end is near, the game will release on steam sometime in the foreseeable future. Every man and his dog has made an indie game but no one has painted a game yet.

Dev 104

Dev Art Concepts Film 104

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This game, which combines Match-3 core with merge progression originally launched globally in the second half of 2020. Just when the market was becoming overheated with the lockdowns and merge mechanics were the all-new rage among the players. Futureplay, the developer behind Merge Garden, was acquired by Plarium in August of 2021.

Mechanics 59

Mechanics Puzzle Tile Mobile Gaming 59

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 5, 2019

After a year of development, Tasty Humans raised $20,536 on Kickstarter. 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. We could not be happier with how the campaign turned out, and the game is available for pre-order now !

Art 130

Art Games Tile Mechanics 130

Big Games

JANUARY 31, 2024

This battle royale sensation has taken the gaming world by storm, offering fast-paced action, engaging building mechanics, and a vibrant virtual world. With regular updates and a thriving community, Fortnite continues to be one of the best mobile gaming apps, delivering an adrenaline-packed experience on the go.

Console 52

Console Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile 52

iXie gaming

APRIL 3, 2023

As the mobile gaming market continues to expand, mobile game developers must find ways to make their games stand out in a crowded marketplace. All these and more are key to developing a successful game, and this article will focus mainly on tips that serve as art production solutions for developers.

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Art Mobile Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 13, 2021

Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow, and monetize their games. Special thanks for the Hybridcasual design insights to Abhimanyu Kumar , founder of Naavik consulting. They’ve paved the way in many ways. Nothing new really.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Puzzle Advertising Studios 52

Game Daily

JUNE 8, 2023

Jordan Weisman, best known for developing the likes of BattleTech and MechWarrior, recently unveiled a new project, called Adventure Forge. It’s a creativity tool that allows users to make their own story-based games, ranging from text adventures to isometric RPGs. GameDaily spoke to Weisman about his new project.

Prop 52

Prop AI Platformer Racing 52

Game Designing

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Because as humans, it’s really important for us to feel that the game is fair, which we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about fairness and what that is and how exactly to implement that in games. (03:57) If we take another 87% shot and we miss again, then we start feeling like the game is unfair.

Sprite 52

Sprite Mechanics Game Design Game Designer 52

Deconstructor of Fun

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

This analysis is written by Taras Koshelev (Lead Game Designer at My.Games Venture Capital) who focused on game mechanics and loops and Michail Katkoff (Founder of Savage Game Studios) who covered the market and marketability. Playrix released Puzzle Breakers into soft-launch in late 2019.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics Build 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 31, 2021

Our 2021 predictions have been sponsored by Facebook Gaming. Facebook Gaming helps developers and publishers to build, grow, and monetize their games. We believe this will be a trend across genres, in no small part due to the ongoing success of Playrix’s puzzle apps Homescapes , Gardenscapes , and Fishdom.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 20, 2020

The minute a supercell game is released, a thousand slack notifications go off. Mobile developers look up their fake AppStore accounts and download with excitement wondering what the new game could be. It’s like this because each new game has a history of defining a genre. The Core Game Loop.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Mechanics Content Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Events with different mechanics sometimes complement each other, but at other times they divert players' attention, resulting in reduced activity and monetization. Everyone knows about them, but not all developers pay real attention to them. Many game designers will instantly say: "How can we show the player the same thing?

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Content Puzzle Mobile Gaming 98

Deconstructor of Fun

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

I was lucky enough at the beginning of my career to have worked within existing frameworks in great studios: working on a live game with an existing player base, starting a new game as a sequel of another one or taking over an existing team. Industry peers asked me: “What games will you make?” “Do Do you have a concept in mind?”

Studios 52

Studios Build Puzzle Concepts 52

Sirlin

JUNE 13, 2015

During Pandante development, I posted dozens of versions of the game board, cards, rules, etc. Right now, in addition to my podcasts, I have three main game development projects in the works. Codex, Flowchart, and now.the Fantasy Strike fighting game (yes, really!).

Fighting 52

Fighting Fantasy Art Build 52

Brand Game Development

JUNE 25, 2019

These titles earned – and keep – respect in the hobby gaming community. Like with all things in board game design, there is no linear path. You meander through the game design process, iterating and tweaking your work until you’re happy with it. Need help on your board game?

Build 130

Build Tile Puzzle Fantasy 130

Game Designing

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Atmosphere, when done right, can turn the bundle of programming, art, and sound that we call a video game into something so much more than the sum of its parts. Though it is easily overlooked, especially for newer devs focused more on the nitty-gritty of game development, the atmosphere is a crucial component for any successful release.

Games 136

Games Mechanics Fantasy Art 136

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 18, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the seventh of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? That’s what we’re talking about today.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Art Games Puzzle 130

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 20, 2020

So without further ado… First, a quick overview of the RPG genre Role Playing Games (RPGs) have generated nearly $3Bn in in-app purchase revenues year-to-date in the Western markets. This makes RPGs the third largest genre on mobile after Strategy ($5.4Bn) and Puzzle ($4.5Bn) games. Installs are supporting the story.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Fighting Studios Art 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

In this episode of Gamecamole, we will investigate Cookie Run: Kingdom from the South Korean developer Devsister, a card battling RPG mobile game that became a cultural phenomenon in 2021. The game won over millions of gamers with the adorable Cookie characters and a perfect mashup of RPG and Build & Harvest mechanics.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 52

Ask a Game Dev

MARCH 13, 2023

You’re already working on a similar game. You probably don’t want to cannibalize the sales of the game you’re already paying to develop, and you don’t want to split the audience. You’ve already got one African Mythology-inspired Action RPG with card mechanics in development, you really don’t need a second slightly-different one.

Esports 52

Esports Games Dev Puzzle 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 20, 2019

And finally, it’s because Matchington Mansion is a game from an unknown developer that has no previous shipped titles and has only three people who have worked or are working at Firecraft Studios. Matchington Mansion is a top 5 puzzle game with raking in over $15M a month in net revenues. That’s a lot of work for so few….

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Studios Tile Mechanics 52

Keith Burgun

APRIL 10, 2023

This concept of “secret” doesn’t really make sense in a strategy game, contest, or a puzzle. It also is kind of hard to do, practically, in tabletop games (although it is possible !). So technically, it may be more like a “bad puzzle”, but in any case it shares a lot in common with secrets.

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Puzzle Content Cutscenes 52

Designer Notes

MARCH 31, 2023

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

Tile 98

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 98

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

Here are the three things you need to know about ironSource: #1: They’re developing the most robust, data-driven growth engine for mobile games. #2: 2: Their secret sauce is closing the monetization and marketing loop to help developers supercharge growth. #3: This analysis is also brought to you by ironSource.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Running through the market by genre, Kress noted that King has done quite well, but other genres had suffered badly, with strategy, RPG, match puzzle, and casino games all down double digits. Fun generates retention, he said, stating that game designers should think of their games as becoming a daily player habit.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 24, 2023

A cold calculating trader would only care about the outcome, but human beings seem to love watching the outcome unfold - a puzzling topic for economists. Sports betting is probably the best example, where the outcome of a wager is a live sporting competition; the bettor’s stake makes them all the more invested to watch the game.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Asset Balance 52

Keith Burgun

JUNE 18, 2022

The 1P videogames I’ve always dreamed of had these qualities: Mechanically deep and systemically driven – perhaps even if that means it’s got a learning curve. Indeed, one of the main starting points for the design was that it wouldn’t be a puzzle, standing in contrast to the highly puzzle-like nature of Advance Wars.

Games 52

Games Puzzle Graphics Cutscenes 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 6, 2022

But they’ve long since stopped being exclusive to mid-core, cosmetic-driven games and nowadays are present in a constantly growing amount of genres and games. The fact that Battle Passes have been successful on audiences so alien to each other like MOBAs and Match-3 Puzzle fans shows how versatile its design can be.

Content 52

Content Mechanics Balance Mobile 52