Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Twilight Struggle has been considered one of the best board games of all time. It’s been on the Board Game Geek Top 10 for as long as I can remember and for a while was the #1 game. No matter how you feel about it, there is a lot that new board game designers can learn from it. Need help on your board game?

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Fighting 130

Keith Burgun

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Over the last six months, I guess partially because I was doing a bit of traveling, but also partially because I got a Retroid handheld and a Steam Deck (both of which are phenomenal, game-changers for game-playing, for me at least), I’ve been on this crazy Final Fantasy kick. Let me know what you think!

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Game Design Game Designer Games 52

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 21, 2019

It’s time to talk about Pandemic – one of the greatest games ever made. Pandemic is an evergreen game with a multitude of variants and legacy games. It’s also the first cooperative game for a lot of gamers. Need help on your board game? Can you hear that coughing? You know what I’ve noticed?

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Co-op Balance 130

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 28, 2019

Last year, Everdell by Starling Games raised nearly half a million dollars on Kickstarter. It has remained a popular board game since, regularly topping out the Board Game Geek Hotness and showing up multiple times as a giveaway prize in Pangea contests. Everdell is a worker placement, tableau-building board game.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy Mechanics 130

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

“As I travel across Africa creating games, there’s something everyone seems to agree on…” says Bethlehem Anteneh , a trained architect, co-founder of SOSTLab and the moderator of the She Got Game panel at Africa Games Week (AGW). Think of a bar where 90% of the people are men.

Game Developer 141

Game Developer Game Development Development Games 141

Ask a Game Dev

AUGUST 1, 2023

What you're describing is the dissonance between having a normal human (with all of the common context that carries with it, like "people often die when they are shot at all") as the final boss and the expectation of a final boss fight being a prolonged, memorable, and epic battle that tests the things you've learned so far.

Fighting 52

Fighting FPS Dev Concepts 52

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Cocoon, the intricate puzzle adventure by Jeppe Carlsen , known as the lead gameplay designer of Limbo and Inside, launched to raving reviews after 6.5 The game immerses players in a captivating odyssey across worlds within worlds, beckoning them to master the art of world-leaping mechanics to uncover a cosmic mystery.

Puzzle 254

Puzzle Prototyping Art Communications 254

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

Ask a Game Dev

MARCH 5, 2024

When players start a fight with Corp enemies, they should have a good idea about what they should expect from Corp enemies. A lot of work needs to go into differentiating the members of each faction - what is common to those enemies and how fighting them feels different from fighting enemies from other factions.

Fighting 52

Fighting Mechanics Dev Games 52

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

A community manager and new game designer. A game filled with cute armoured babies on a brave mission to save their daycare from a goblin invasion. Now, she’s navigating the world of game development, where each day brings new challenges and exciting discoveries. One of those games was Street Fighter.

Prototyping 164

Prototyping Code Engine Engineering 164

Keith Burgun

APRIL 19, 2024

Reason #1: Beautiful, charming artwork The art in this game is by Christina Zhong , and it is full of personality and color. It’s really fun to watch this unfold throughout a battle, and it’s also neat in a game whenever there’s an interesting way to do “number of cards as a resource” like this.

Fighting 64

Fighting Game Design Game Designer Racing 64

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

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

I have a free podcast series on game design, here. In this latest Raw Game Design episode, I discuss how we might use advanced AIs in the Fantasy Strike fighting game, if we had access to some pretty great AI tech. I also have a second podcast that's just for my Patreon supporters.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy AI 40

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

PreMortem.Games

JULY 12, 2023

is one of the most striking indie games coming out this summer. With graphics that wouldn’t look out of place in a Dreamworks animated movie and sword fighting action that would make Zorro blush. It became increasingly clear that anything they tried to make that wasn’t a slapstick fencing game simply bogged the experience down.

Prototyping 104

Prototyping Games Fantasy Concepts 104

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Most of the time, we start by setting a target time we think the game experience should take for a first-time player to feel what we want them to feel, and then add about 50% to that. A long fight should feel like a protracted fight and the time limit should reflect that.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Fighting Dev Games 52

Yobob Games

AUGUST 12, 2022

No one Talks about the Stamina Bar in Farming Games. And they continue on with the game. And that’s how far most stamina bar in farming games goes. Actually, you can say that to a lot of games now, but let’s just stick with the farming genre since my game is in that genre. What the Stamina Bar Does.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer NPC Games 52

Keith Burgun

NOVEMBER 25, 2023

I say more about each game on the podcast, so make sure to check that out. Sadly, also a way overly complicated combat system and overall it has “modern videogame over-smoothed-ness” IN STARS AND TIME – Very cool game that I recommend you go check out. Here are some quick bullet points, though!

Fighting 59

Fighting Fantasy Balance Software 59

DameDev.tv

OCTOBER 21, 2022

Join Industry veterans Rick Davidson & Tim Ruswick* in a conversation about games that play themselves! Find out what that actually means, watch them play Despot’s Game and learn new game dev tips as they answer questions from the community. 0:28 - 1:22) Games that play themselves are literally just that.

Games 52

Games Dev Indy Fighting 52

Brand Game Development

JUNE 24, 2019

The latest game from Pangea Games is launching on Kickstarter. Tasty Humans is a 30-60 minute, tile-laying, pattern-building game for 1-4 players. As you and your fellow monsters toss around the village king, you attract a steady buffet of adventurers who try – poorly – to put up a fight!

Tile 130

Tile Writing Fantasy Fighting 130

iHobo

MARCH 1, 2023

Except when it comes to games, it's just not true: not every game is about winning. But if that's so, if 'winning isn't everything' in games, why does it get so much attention? On the one hand, it's an absolutely vital part of the story of games that the experience of victory is tremendously enjoyable.

Fighting 75

Fighting Build Games Development 75

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 9, 2023

The Transformative Landscape of Game Development: A Deep Dive with Willem Delventhal As a digital ecosystem thrives and transforms at a rapid pace, a recent conversation with game designer and educator Willem Delventhal offered insights into the evolving realm of game development.

Indy 98

Indy Educational Education Technology 98

Sirlin

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

We discuss "easy special moves" in fighting games. What is a game with "easy special moves" actually trying to do? Moves being easy—in and of itself—tells you nothing about whether the techniques and combos in a game are easy to do or not. What is a game with "easy special moves" actually trying to do?

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy Fighting 40

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 17, 2023

This would make a great topic for a game, he thought. Napiecek had tried to break into the games industry for a while now, but no game company wanted to hire him. So, making a game about the refugee crisis could potentially establish him as a serious game writer. Not without the relevant experience at least. “I

Scripting 209

Scripting Writing Studios Fighting 209

Keith Burgun

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Over the past year and a half I’ve been diving hard into a huge number of different RPGs: Nearly all the 1-player Final Fantasies, Dragon Quest, Trails in the Sky, the Tales games, Scarlet Nexus, a really cool Japanese GBA game called Magical Vacation, and a lot more. The working title of the game is Free Tiya Bannet!

Fantasy 119

Fantasy Pixel Art Fighting 119

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

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 8, 2022

This is mainly because of doing a huge amount of development, bug fixing, and PR for our next game, Queen's Wish 2: The Tormentor. Based on Steam achievement percentages , players are engaging with this game to an wild extent. I'll say a lot more about this once I've finished the game. I am old and bad at games.

Writing 52

Writing Games Indy Editing 52

Keith Burgun

APRIL 14, 2024

With the Kickstarter right around the corner , I’d like to talk about Spellstorm’s breakthrough rule, one that made the game significantly more fun to play, and why that is. But sometime last year, it really became the game that it is now. The story of how BLAST SCORE was marked by the game is long and interesting.

Concepts 69

Concepts Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 69

Played with Fire

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

What are VR games? Games designed for VR are different in many ways, but first of all they deliver an incomparably immersive experience in fictional 3D worlds. Today, this is possible thanks to modern virtual reality hardware and games created by VR aficionados! How VR games work? Where to buy VR games?

Games 52

Games Fighting Platformer Game Design 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

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

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

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

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

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.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Localization Demo 130

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 19, 2022

With privacy becoming more important to mobile players and the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in app advertising inventories, the quality of your creatives has never been more important to the success of your games. In order to test this hypothesis, you need to work with the tools you have, which in this case is creative.

AI 59

AI Mobile Mobile Advertising 59

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 19, 2016

Even still, ignorance is a reliable shield from the emotional strain of the trials and tribulations of starting a business or beginning game development. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. The ignorant aren’t stressed out about the “unknown unknowns.”.

Fighting 100

Fighting Game Design Game Designer Dev 100