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

PreMortem.Games

MAY 19, 2023

Wikkl Works , a Netherlands-based game studio, is working hard on the climbing game New Heights. By using photogrammetry the game offers real life locations like famous rock faces or even well known landmarks. Then we got the idea to scan real world cliffs and mountains into the game using photogrammetry.

Indy 104

Indy Dev Studios Playtesting 104

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

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

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

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

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

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. Game reviews build trust.

Games 130

Games Playtesting Prototyping Dev 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

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

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Last week in Istanbul, Google and Deconstructor of Fun brought together a thousand-strong group of high-level mobile game execs to talk about the future of the business. His data and insights were based on US data as a proxy for the western market, and focused on platform privacy, or the “Apple global mobile game recession”.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

A decade of development into a huge project is almost unavoidably going to accumulate some amount of cruft. Cogmind began its life as a 7DRL , and a portion of items designed back when the game was overall a very different environment didn’t evolve at the same pace. That would be bad :P. Categorical Approach.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 4, 2023

Back in September, I introduced people to my upcoming card game, Spellstorm. Let me quickly explain how the game worked in broad strokes, and then I can explain the main problem. ” A lot of the basic MOVE/BUMP dynamics were inherited from my 2019 card game, Dragon Bridge. What Spellstorm Was. The Problems.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Playtesting 52

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

Tom Francis

AUGUST 20, 2019

I thought it would be an interesting game design challenge to come up with a single player game you can play with a regular deck of playing cards. In the video I both explain it and play a full game. In the video I both explain it and play a full game. This is just a quick prototype, it has lots room for improvement.

Games 52

Games Playtesting Prototyping Concepts 52

Sirlin

JULY 22, 2015

"Former Street Fighter designer / Evolution staff member / writer of competitive gaming guide is working on a new fighting game focusing on easy execution, great online play, and will be free to play." Which game is it though: Fantasy Strike or Rising Thunder? As great as it is, it isn't literally a fighting game though.

Fighting 52

Fighting Fantasy Games Build 52

Interesting Choices

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

I've been fascinated by board games that revolve around drafting for years now, and in early 2011 I wrote a post on the pillars that make these games click. I've created an online prototype for playtesting that has seen almost 2000 games completed with at least a dozen players clocking in at over 100 games apiece.

Build 40

Build Tile Point and Click Games 40

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. I first prototyped it back in 2019, but I didn't really know how to finish it. SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils what happens in the game.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Written by Enrico D'Angelo Enrico was VP of Product at Activision Publishing running the Free to Play game portfolio and is currently a VP of Product at Roblox. The game was developed by Raven, one of the historical CoD mainline studios, and Activision Shanghai, a local team assembled for the project.

Content 52

Content FPS Mobile Mobile 52