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How do you go about setting time limits when relevant? Does someone just play through the section and set it? Playtesting? Do you put together some formula?

Ask a Game Dev

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.

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7 Lessons from Monopoly for Aspiring Board Game Designers

Brand Game Development

.” Besides, when we – as gamers and game developers – put aside our frustration for a moment, we can actually see Monopoly for what it is: a solid concept with bad execution. There are a lot of questionable game design decisions that, if corrected, could have made for a fantastic game.

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10 Elements of Good Game Design

Brand Game Development

If you hate the game you’re playtesting, do something different. Tasty Humans is about monsters fighting humans instead of the other way around, which gets a sick laugh out of everybody who sees the game. If you want your game to be great, it can’t simply be a technical masterpiece. Make it feel unique.

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She Got Game on cultivating a thriving environment for female game developers

PreMortem.Games

I was working at a tech incubator in Zambia, surrounded by programmers, and it never crossed my mind that we could make our own games. Then someone told me about a game developer in our community who had developed a fighting game based on their comic. They created videos, and I could see them playing the game.

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Spellstorm’s Breakthrough Rule

Keith Burgun

I had a playtest with a friend of mine one day, and he noted that we have a lot of resources and they are all kind of “similar” We had gold, mana, health, storm shards, and blast tokens, and they all kind of felt the same in how they moved throughout the game. +1 Anyway, onto the breakthrough. Huge upset!

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How to Make Board Game Rules

Brand Game Development

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? Playtest a Ton. I have some guidelines.

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First look at SPELLSTORM!

Keith Burgun

Over the last 10-11 months, and over 100 different numbered versions of the game, the game has evolved into… really, its own thing, and that’s why the title no longer reflects its Dragon Bridge origins. I’ve also gotten graphic design help from the amazing pro graphic designer Jenny Bee.