Keith Burgun

DECEMBER 30, 2023

One of the principles that has been important to me over the years, which I have talked about a lot, is the idea that strategy games should always be moving toward their conclusion. In a way, this extends from the basic Clockwork Game Design model. As an example, let’s think quickly about fighting games.

Fighting 59

Fighting Mechanics Games Game Design 59

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? Many of the rules in a game will come from the board, cards, etc.

Balance 130

Balance Games Communications Mechanics 130

Sirlin

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Fantasy Strike is our new fighting game. We cover the high concept about making a fighting game more accessible from top to bottom than anything else we've seen, the specific game mechanics we chose to accomplish that, and the resulting dynamics of how it plays. Fantasy Strike is our new fighting game.

Fantasy 40

Fantasy Game Design Game Designer Fighting 40

Designer Notes

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

I gave a talk on games and meaning at GDC 2023, which is now available on YouTube: However, I fully scripted the talk ahead of time, so I decided it would be worth taking the time to post the slides online, in three parts to have mercy on your browser. So, here are the standings before the final game between Barbados and Grenada.

Mechanics 79

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Build 79

PreMortem.Games

JULY 17, 2023

The brutal and bloody combat game from Slovenian developer Triternion has already been very successful for the last 4 years on PC. This is a completely different beast from a shooter.” “ Mordhau at its core has always been about melee combat”, says Jonathan Dunn, Game Designer at Triternion.

Console 104

Console First person PC Mesh 104

iXie gaming

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Games are more than just a diversion. 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.

Art 52

Art Game Developer Game Development Studios 52

Rampant Games

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

In the fiction, November 6, 2022 was the launch day for the game “ Sword Art Online ,” chronicled in the books, manga, and anime series of that name. Thanks to a crazy head engineer with a god complex, ten thousand players are now playing an ultra-realistic fantasy game in a virtual world with real-world stakes.

Art 52

Art Games Fighting Technology 52

iXie gaming

APRIL 3, 2023

Mobile gaming has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, with millions of users spending time playing games on their smartphones and tablets. As the mobile gaming market continues to expand, mobile game developers must find ways to make their games stand out in a crowded marketplace. So, let’s dive in!

Mobile Gaming 52

Mobile Gaming Art Mobile Mobile 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the third of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Game mechanics are how we bring the core engine of a game to life.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Deconstructor of Fun

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Written by Ethan Levy , who is always looking for worthy, free-to-play mobile games for the N3TWORK Platform. Ask him about a free, $10,000 UA test for your game. Early this year, when it was first suggested to me that I investigate blockchain gaming, I immediately rejected the idea. In my heart, I am a game designer.

Asset 52

Asset Fighting Games Mobile 52

Radiator Blog

OCTOBER 13, 2022

SPOILER WARNING: I keep specific story spoilers vague, but I do have to talk about what happens in the games somehow. Still, you can argue that it's a stunning achievement just to be able to debate these questions in a video game. Can't wait for the full frontal in the next game!) Well, I don't know anything about that.

Indy 52

Indy Film Games Puzzle 52

Sirlin

JUNE 13, 2015

I want to show you some of what I'm working (Codex, Flowchart, and a Fighting game) and tell you about Patreon. 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. Instead.it's fun.

Fighting 52

Fighting Fantasy Art 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. As the casinos worldwide shut down the Casino games on touchscreen devices hit the jackpot with a nearly 50% increase of IAP spend year-over-year. billion IPO.

Mobile 52

Mobile Mobile Games Feature 52

Moonmana

APRIL 7, 2023

If you’ve ever wondered what the best game engine is, we invite you to figure it out with us. Unity versus Unreal – this seems to be an ever-lasting battle in the game development world. Having been the market leaders for years, these two are the main candidates for the title of the best game engine. What is Unity?

Engine 52

Engine Engineering Game Engine Asset 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 29, 2024

Guest post by Alexander Devyaterikov , Producer at Belka Games In today's gaming world, it's not enough to just have a good game. Here in the screenshot, you can see how our position in the Top100 US App Store grossing games has changed from 2017 to 2020, according to data.ai. The schedule is filled.

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Content Puzzle Mobile Gaming 98

The Knights of Unity

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

In the previous part of the post, we’ve introduced you to the most important reasons to create a game design document in your project, using three examples: personal project, internal project, and commission work. Game overview. In our template, the section devoted to this part is called Game overview. Core game loop.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Games Mechanics 52

The Bottom Feeder

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Progress Quest taught us all how simple our brains where and how easily games could use our mental reward systems against us. At some point in the last several decades of video games, everything became a role-playing game. And the designer would say, "Yeah, it should. Designers think making an RPG is easier than it is.

Games 75

Games Fantasy Fighting Art 75

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? How can you tell stories through games? Why is storytelling important?

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Art Games Puzzle 130

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

It's an OK game. I'm a nobody on the outside, looking at a giant development monolith and trying to figure out how this game could possibly have ended up where it did. Standard Disclaimer This game is a huge success in every way, and I am an ant. Though God help any foolish reviewer who tries to give an AAA game less than 9/10.)

Fighting 90

Fighting Games Balance Writing 90

Sirlin

APRIL 26, 2019

I leave this prediction post up for reference anyway —- I’m going to give my predictions for how Game of Thrones ends up. As of this writing, we’re in the 8th year of Game of Thrones seasons with only 4 episodes left, and yet there are numerous major reveals still left. Game of Throne is, on a casual viewing, a very complicated show.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Games Writing 40

Raph Koster

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

Connections T he new daily game at the New York Times is called Connections , and I’ve seen a few people comment that they just don’t like it as much as Wordle or Spelling Bee. I thought it would be interesting to contrast this to Word Dad , a puzzle game made by my friend, master game designer John Cutter.

Puzzle 119

Puzzle Build Data Content 119

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed. That would be bad :P.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

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. mid-core 2019. mid-core 2019.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Fighting Studios Art 52

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: In this second post we discuss Arcade games, which we see as a genre in the Casual category. The State of Arcade Games While the Arcade genre only accounts for 7.5%

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Here we’re primarily talking about the player revisiting earlier floors on their journey, rather than backtracking within a single map (though I’ll cover that topic a bit separately at the end), and our discussion focuses on roguelikes of the dungeon delving variety, since open world games generally allow backtracking by default.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Mechanics Open World Feature 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge.

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Keith Burgun

JULY 29, 2022

Over the years, I have loved games in all of these categories. This is a huge one, and arguably it’s important to many kinds of games, and other forms of art as well. That kind of thing sets the brain going: what else is this game keeping track of that I don’t realize? Sense of wonder.

Fantasy 52

Fantasy AAA Concepts Cutscenes 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. Framed as almost more like a sport / abstract strategy game, and therefore light on narrative.

Games 52

Games Puzzle Cutscenes Graphics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 12, 2021

If you like it, you will love Naavik’s monthly Blockchain Games report! Executive Summary Sky Mavis’ mission is far more about spurring economic opportunity through play rather than about building an amazing game. The current game could continue to grow for a while, but its current economic policies are fundamentally unsustainable.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Balance Games Alpha 52

Sirlin

JULY 25, 2019

There are several notable features and innovative things about the game, so I’ll summarize them here. Sometimes it’s pushing forward design in a new way, or usability, or technology, or even in introducing features or ways of doing things from one genre and applying them to another when it hasn’t been done before.

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Feature Fighting Point and Click 52

Deconstructor of Fun

APRIL 25, 2022

This post is written by the fantastic Game Bakery substack team of Chase, Zixuan, Haiyin, Caitou, Fish, Amy, Chow, Jing, Wanzi and edited by Caitou, Rob. From our sponsor: Do you need funds to finish, release, or promote your game? Your game gets screened internally by our industry experts within two weeks. Create an account 2.

Baking 52

Baking Simulation Build Animation 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. Their super power is making average games stand out with unrivaled performance marketing.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Tile Mechanics 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

Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 15, 2022

This post is written by the fantastic Game Bakery substack team of Chase, Zixuan, Haiyin, Caitou, Fish, Amy, Chow, Jing, Wanzi and edited by Caitou, Rob. When we talk about MMO, many may relegate this game category to “old-school” or “niche.” Amazon Games has finally made its name after the tough launch of New World.

Cutscenes 52

Cutscenes Art Content Mechanics 52

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 27, 2023

This might have some very light spoilers, but… honestly, one of my main criticisms is that there isn’t much to spoil in this game, at least not in the 27 or so hours that I played. But the rest of the game that I saw, was not like this intro at all. It seems like maybe the problem here is how long the game is.

Writing 52

Writing Fantasy Fighting Cutscenes 52

Interesting Choices

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

To my knowledge, it isn't yet common for games to be commissioned in the way that works of art were commissioned by patrons throughout history. Hokra is a 2v2 sports game where the teams are fighting over control of a single ball. I first played the game at IndieCade and instantly fell in love.

Indy 52

Indy Game Design Game Designer Mechanics 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Instead we predicted an evolution of these games on two levels - Hypercasual meta systems will deepen to drive stronger medium term retention Hypercasual monetisation would ‘hybridise’ to rely on both Ads and IAPs Fast forward 10 months, hypercasual downloads are at an all-time high - as you’ll see in the data ahead. So, let’s go deeper. #2:

Data 52

Data Advertising Studios Mobile Gaming 52