How to write a Game Design Document
Game Developer
AUGUST 15, 2023
Game Design Documents (GDD) have a long history and a different place in many designers' toolboxes. Here's how to write a useful, up-to-date GDD.
Legendary game designers John Romero and Mabel Addis honored at GDCA 2023
Game Developer
FEBRUARY 23, 2023
Mabel Addis will posthumously receive the Pioneer Award, which honors breakthrough business, tech, and game design milestones. The award-winning game designer, level designer, and programmer John Romero will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on iconic and genre-defining first-person shooters.
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What Does it Mean to Analyze Game Design?
Game Developer
JUNE 8, 2023
If there's one aspect of the game industry that is as mysterious as game design, it is game analysis. There may be hundreds, or even thousands at this point, of magazines, sites, journalists, and YouTubers, all reviewing video games, but it takes a careful eye to analyze a game.
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Ways of designing intimacy in games
Game Developer
NOVEMBER 1, 2023
Indie designers and artists discuss different ways to make sexuality and intimacy more common in game design.
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Importance of playtesting in game design
Logic Simplified
AUGUST 14, 2023
The game development process is a complex and challenging process involving ongoing iteration and improvement in order to develop an exciting and captivating final product. One vital approach used during game development is playtesting. So, what is playtesting and how is it an essential part of game development? Let’s find out.
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The Basic Fundamentals of Game Design
Logic Simplified
AUGUST 1, 2023
Have you ever designed a game? If yes, then what game design fundamentals do you prioritize in your own designs? Game design is incredibly complex and fascinating, with countless nuances and techniques to master. In this article, we'll explore some key building blocks of game design fundamentals.
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Game art vs game design: What is the difference?
Logic Simplified
AUGUST 8, 2023
Video game development is a collaborative process that involves various people with specialized skills. The two most critical roles in this process are game artists and designers. Since most of us are unaware of the process of creating a game, we usually confuse game design and game art as being the same.
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Major Game Design Elements
Juego Studio
SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
Every successful video game features a few common elements- clear goals, surprise elements, a clean core loop, good graphics and sound, and so on. In short, they feature the major game design elements. Game designers follow a combination of certain basic elements to make it memorable.
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7 Essential Game Design Principles – Every Game Designer Should Know
Juego Studio
JULY 25, 2023
Games are fun. Or to put it in this context, video games are meant to be fun. And a good game design makes sure that it stays fun throughout the entire game. When we say […] The post 7 Essential Game Design Principles – Every Game Designer Should Know appeared first on Juego Studio.
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The Evolution of Action Game Design
Game Wisdom
MARCH 23, 2023
The Evolution of Action Game Design Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" With Wo Long released, for the Key to Games cast, we’re talking action game design and specifically how the genre and its major elements have changed over 40 years of the industry.…
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What Is Iterative Game Design?
Game Designing
SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
One of the most important steps in game development is iterative game design. It’s built on the idea that games aren’t perfect after one round of development. Let’s learn more about iterative game design and what it entails. Let’s learn more about iterative game design and what it entails.
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Kind Games: Designing for Prosocial Multiplayer
Lost Garden
JULY 8, 2023
This paper was originally published here as part of the Polaris Game Design Retreat 2022 papers. WORKGROUP MEMBERS INTRODUCTION What if we proactively design our games to facilitate positive human relationships? We propose that games built on a foundation of kind aesthetics can […]
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The Clash of Choices in Game Design
Game Wisdom
MAY 25, 2023
The Clash of Choices in Game Design Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com One of the many balancing acts of game design is the act of creating cool, interesting, unique, abilities for the player to use, and then balancing said abilities within the scope and design of your game.
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Game Design 101: A Guide To Crafting Interactive And Exciting Pastimes
Game Development for Beginners
NOVEMBER 2, 2023
The art of game design is not merely the work of idle hands; it’s a complex blend of psychology, engineering, storytelling, and mathematics. Creating a game, whether a physical board game or a digital app, requires understanding the elements that capture attention, fuel excitement, and make an experience memorable.
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Think Like A Game Designer Podcast
Designer Notes
AUGUST 30, 2023
At this year’s GDC, I mentored Justin Gary on his Tabletop Summit talk on SolForge Fusion and, afterwards, he invited me onto his excellent game designer podcast Think Like A Game Designer.
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A Complete Guide of Mobile Game Design
Juego Studio
JUNE 26, 2023
In 2009, a game designer at a Finnish mobile game development company showed some of their sketches and ideas to others. It inspired others and prompted them to pursue the designer’s idea. Thus, began a […] The post A Complete Guide of Mobile Game Design appeared first on Juego Studio.
What is the Difference Between Game Art and Game Design?
Juego Studio
JUNE 19, 2023
Game development is a diverse field that incorporates multiple disciplines. Two of them are game art and game design. As many of us are not aware of the work behind the making of games, we […] The post What is the Difference Between Game Art and Game Design?
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4 Lessons from Exit Games for Aspiring Board Game Designers
Brand Game Development
JULY 13, 2020
Certainly, board game designers can learn a lot from well-designed escape rooms. Exit Games by Kosmos are the closest we can get to the authentic in-person experience right now. Exit Games by Kosmos are the closest we can get to the authentic in-person experience right now. Need help on your board game?
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A Shout-Out to The Board Game Design Course by Joe Slack
Brand Game Development
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
If you’re a long-time reader of this site, you likely know that my passion is helping people create their first board game. After all, that’s what the Start to Finish: Publish and Sell Your First Board Game series is all about. Click here to check out The Board Game Design Course.
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This Baldur's Gate 3 quest is a must-play for game designers
Game Developer
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023
The design of Baldur's Gate 3's Auntie Ethel encounter is a stellar example of open-ended quest design.
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BAFTA announces 2023 Young Game Designers competition winners
GamesIndustry.biz
JUNE 22, 2023
Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox BAFTA has unveiled the 2023 winners of its Young Game Designers (YGD) awards. In the ten to 14-year-old category, Max Whistlecraft won the Game Concept award with Polarity, a science-themed title; users can switch the polarities like a magnet to fight bosses.
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Clockwork Game Design Podcast – Episode #94 – 2022 wrap-up
Keith Burgun
JANUARY 10, 2023
Here’s some of the topics covered: A bit of navel gazing about my own theory and approach to games and how it has changed. A short essay I wrote about “speaking the language” and how building off of existing designs means a higher floor and a higher ceiling. Some stuff about 4X games and scope.
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What Does it Mean to Analyze Game Design?
Game Wisdom
JANUARY 26, 2023
What Does it Mean to Analyze Game Design? Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com If there’s one aspect of the game industry that is as mysterious as game design, it is game analysis. appeared first on Game Wisdom.
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3 Signs It’s Time to Quit Working a Board Game Design Idea
Brand Game Development
MARCH 29, 2021
From time to time, I see board game creators on social media who have been working on the same design day-in, day-out for years on end. The first are people making a board game as a labor of love, who know they’re taking their sweet time on it, and they’re OK with it. Need help on your board game?
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Growing Indigenous worlds in games
GamesIndustry.biz
OCTOBER 25, 2023
Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Among the presentations in last month's Game Devs of Color Expo was Achimostawinan Games' talk on Growing Indigenous Worlds in Games, which explored the themes of reappropriation and combating stereotypes of creative works for Indigenous people.
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4 Lessons from Imhotep for Aspiring Board Game Designers
Brand Game Development
JUNE 1, 2020
In any case, we received this game as a gift from grandmother, who apparently has a really good eye for which hobby board game to buy! Naturally, we needed to set the game up and take a few photos to send to her, if nothing else. Need help on your board game? One of the elements of great game design is interaction.
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The Influences of Car Combat Game Design
Game Wisdom
APRIL 14, 2023
The Influences of Car Combat Game Design Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" For this roundtable discussion, we focus on the genre of car combat-styled games, and how the genre has kind of disappeared over the 2010’s.
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How To Know When to Pivot on Your Board Game Design
Brand Game Development
JUNE 29, 2020
A couple of months ago, I asked the readers of this blog to send in answers to the question “ what confuses you most about board game development ?” ” I got a lot of responses, and two of them were about knowing when to pivot during a game design project. Need help on your board game? Save your old work.
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Board Game Designer vs. Developer vs. Publisher
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 17, 2018
Creating board games takes an enormous amount of time and effort. The simple fact is that there are a lot of distinct tasks that have to be handled to turn a game from an idea into reality. This is why I urge each new board game designer to share the workload , delegating tasks to a team instead of doing them all alone.
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Advanced math in game design: random walks and Markov chains in action
Game Developer
SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
In this article, we’ll analyze two mathematical concepts: Markov chains and random walks.
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Game Design For Everyone Bundle on Fanatical
Game From Scratch
FEBRUARY 7, 2023
GameFromScratch.com Game Design For Everyone Bundle on Fanatical The Game Design for Everyone bundle is currently live on Fanatical. This bundle contains nearly 10,000 assets, mostly graphics, sprites, UI elements and tilesets usable in any game engine.
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EA rejection of Alice sequel marks end of American McGee’s game dev career
Game Developer
APRIL 10, 2023
With his Alice: Asylum pitch rejected by Electronic Arts, game designer American McGee is leaving the game industry entirely behind.
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Learning About Game Design in the Classroom
Game Wisdom
FEBRUARY 13, 2023
Learning About Game Design in the Classroom Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" For this perceptive podcast, I’m talking with Jeremy Yanofsky who hosts the Engage Show to discuss what does teaching game design and using games in the classroom look like today.
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Humble Game Design Book + Pixel Art Course Bundles
Game From Scratch
MARCH 13, 2023
GameFromScratch.com Humble Game Design Book + Pixel Art Course Bundles There are a pair of Humble Bundles of interest to game developers launched today on Humble, the Game Design and AI Featuring Steve Rabin bundle and the Complete Pixel Art Online Course by Mammoth Interactive bundle.
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Game devs talk design methods, system mechanics in design summit
Game Developer
MARCH 13, 2023
For anyone with an interest in game design, Polaris' developer summit has different articles covering various aspects of design development.
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7 Lessons from Monopoly for Aspiring Board Game Designers
Brand Game Development
MARCH 9, 2020
Monopoly: it’s one of the oldest board games in the store. It’s one of the top 10 best-selling board games. It’s also a terrible board game. When board gamers need a game to mercilessly mock , they look no further than Monopoly. Need help on your board game? Monopoly has a staggeringly low 4.4
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Flash game preservation evolves with The Elephant Collection
Game Developer
MAY 9, 2023
Prominent Flash game designer (and current Armor games CEO) Jon Cooney on creating The Elephant Collection for Steam and the importance of preserving titles from a particularly creative era.
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Suda51 on 25 years of making strange masterpieces at Grasshopper Manufacture
Game Developer
NOVEMBER 27, 2023
Grasshopper Manufacture CEO and game designer Goichi “Suda51” Suda dishes on 25 years of toilet humor, ultraviolence, and his love for Takashi Miike.
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10 Elements of Good Game Design
Brand Game Development
FEBRUARY 17, 2020
When I was a neophyte game developer, I found an excellent article by Wizards of the Coast, creators of Magic: the Gathering , called Ten Things Every Game Needs. This two-part article was so influential in my initial design of War Co. This two-part article was so influential in my initial design of War Co. Constraints.
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6 Reasons Escape Rooms Will Make You a Better Board Game Designer
Brand Game Development
NOVEMBER 25, 2019
Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Escape Rooms will make you a better board game designer. With this in mind, here are six reasons I believe that Escape Rooms will make you a better board game designer.
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Game Design Fundamentals: Information Channels
Ask a Game Dev
DECEMBER 29, 2022
askagamedev : Whenever you play a game, you are constantly being fed information about the game’s state through your senses. As a designer, it’s extremely valuable to know exactly what ways information can be conveyed to the player at any given time. So what does this have to do with game design?
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4 Lessons from Santorini for Aspiring Board Game Designers
Brand Game Development
JANUARY 14, 2019
Santorini is a fantastic board game that came out about two years ago. In its heart, it’s an abstract strategy game that could have come from antiquity. It has been given the modern board game polish, though, with adorably cutesy art of Greek gods, and an incredibly photogenic set of stackable plastic components.
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Jussi Kemppainen is exploring AI-assisted game development with Echoes of Somewhere
PreMortem.Games
AUGUST 30, 2023
With the discussions over the use of AI in game development raging on, Jussi-Petteri Kemppainen , Lead VFX Artist at Mainframe Industries and founder of Dinosaurs Are Better , spends his spare time to see what all the fuss really is about. AI affects game design The project’s trajectory shifted with the integration of AI tools.
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Game Design Elements You Don't Want to Forget!
DameDev.tv
FEBRUARY 21, 2023
There are some game design elements you don't want to forget, because if you miss them, your game could lack the polish it needs. Parallax Backgrounds Parallax Backgrounds, in 2D games, give the illusion that you are in a real world. Parallax shows up, especially in side-scroller games, when a character is moving.
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