PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 3, 2023

Josh Salley has always been a big fan of gaming, but thought that game development was out of his reach. “I I just assumed game development involved writing code all day.” He now works under the name of HALbot Studios on not one, but two first person survival horror games, House of Lies and The Nightmare Escape.

Balance 195

Balance Studios Horror Dev 195

The Bottom Feeder

MAY 1, 2024

It's making decent money. The video game business is in a weird, scary, contracting, almost recessionary place right now. So this is a quick game release post-mortem. So this is a quick game release post-mortem. How did we fund, develop, and market this game? Do what it takes to get the game out, dude!

Indy 106

Indy Build Writing Software 106

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 5, 2024

Nielsen is a self-taught game developer, with many of the necessary skills ‘accidentally’ acquired over the years. Nielsen worked as a comic writer and artist for over ten years before transitioning to game development. Nielsen worked as a comic writer and artist for over ten years before transitioning to game development.

Game Developer 89

Game Developer Game Development Development Games 89

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Mind Diver is an intriguing detective game where you travel in time to fix broken memories from a relationship, investigate the events of one fateful night and unravel the case of a lost loved one. Mind Diver is our first commercial game together, but we have worked on everything from tiny experimental solo games to The Division 2.”

Puzzle 240

Puzzle Games Asset Educational 240

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 25, 2024

With Age of Empires 4 pleasing fans on PC and Xbox, Microsoft is making another attempt to attract smartphone audiences with the upcoming Age of Empires Mobile. Development for the title began in 2021, but it currently does not have a planned release schedule. Read more

Mobile 101

Mobile Mobile Studios Console 101

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

In his working life Justin Berenbaum, VP Strategic Planning at Xsolla & GM Xsolla Funding Club, has read thousands of pitch decks and seen thousands more pitches in person. He has helped numerous developers close deals and accumulated a ton of invaluable experience in the world of game publishing and funding. Absolutely chicken!

Demo 227

Demo Indy Cross platform Build 227

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 18, 2023

Solo game developer Graham Reid has just released his latest game Super Space Club on Xbox and PC. The game blends the frenzied chaos of an arcade space shooter with the soothing sounds of lofi hip hop and jazz. I started Super Space Club as a side project and I never really had a solid plan. And the biggest pitfalls?

Dev 104

Dev Indy Development Localization 104

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Jordan Mochi has been working on his debut game Conscript for 6 years under the name of Catchweight Studio. I feel like I was put on Earth to make this game”, he says. “I’ve I’ve sacrificed a lot of my 20’s to make this game, and so I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that wasn’t in vain.”

Dev 176

Dev Development Horror Balance 176

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

He started his career in advertising, but the world of video games always held his real interest. Making games was something that seemed very far from reality”, he says. Yet, with help from the internet and some classes in college, he realized that he too could create games. Why did you become a solo developer? “I’ve

Dev 160

Dev Advertising Internet Development 160

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Twenty years ago Rohan Nowell made a game for a high school project and it was then that the seed was planted. However, it took another 15 years for his debut game Swoopy Boi to come out. The mobile game about a Magpie that swoops down and attacks pedestrians was successful enough for Nowell to keep developing games. “I

Build 134

Build Dev Playtesting Demo 134

Ask a Game Dev

MAY 20, 2024

If we're making changes after the fact, of course they're super expensive. If accessibility options are a production goal that we plan for, they're much cheaper because we don't have to redo work - we do it with accessibility in mind in the first place. Furthermore, we make resource allocation choices based on our goals.

57

57

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

The visual style definitely took us a while to decide on, as we weren’t sure if we had the capability to go for realism on the Quest platform”, says Frans Overman, one of the two brothers that make up the dev team. The game utilizes a complex water system that slowly fills up the hallways and cabins on the ship.

Horror 115

Horror Asset Puzzle Games 115

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 13, 2024

When the allure of game development clashes with the necessity of a traditional job, the only choice is to juggle both endeavors simultaneously. Operating under the name RodentGames, Larabie has taught himself the necessary skills to create his upcoming game Artificer’s Tower, a happy mix of base building, management sim and boss battles. “I

Dev 125

Dev Prototyping Art Games 125

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 17, 2024

My first encounter with Cassie Simpson was during the inaugural Xbox Game Studios Game Camp Africa in 2023. She earned her place and represented South Africa at prestigious programs like the Epic Games Women Creator Program and the Women in Games International (WIGI) Mentorship Program. She was a very honest person.

Pixel 156

Pixel Art Animation Animation 156

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Never really comfortable in the education system, she dropped out of college twice before embarking on her debut game, Spilled! Her upcoming game, Spilled! , Making an eco-conscious game just really made sense to me.” However, once the engine of her boat is restored, she plans on traveling around. “I

Dev 152

Dev Games Indy Educational 152

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 8, 2024

Top image: four of KAYAK’s hypercasual games. There has been a lot of talk about the future of Hypercasual games: how the market has been in stagnation, making studios slowly but steadily look for opportunities in the fraternal Hybridcasual. Let’s take a look at their games portfolio and performance.

Games 104

Games Content Development Media 104

Ask a Game Dev

APRIL 12, 2024

The cost of making changes entirely depends on how expensive the individual changes are to make. That is generally dependent on how many people are needed to do the work to make those changes. Today, for an in-game cinematic, a lot of the things are done in real time so we can swap things out as needed.

Cutscenes 62

Cutscenes Cinematics Asset Render 62

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 11, 2024

When the Kickstarter campaign ended, cozy adventure game Mika and the Witch’s Mountain by Spanish indie developer Chibig didn’t just achieve its goal. The team had asked for a modest €40,000 to complete the game’s development, but managed to raise a whopping €1,300,368. It pulverised it!

Indy 104

Indy Mechanics Art Open World 104

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Dutch indie game developer Abbey Games has been on quite the journey since the release of their breakout hit, Reus , a decade ago. Now, after a long wait, Abbey Games is back in action with the sequel Reus 2. We no longer chased a common goal like we did with Reus nor did we have a specific plan for the company.”

Demo 104

Demo Games Simulation Development 104

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 12, 2023

There are plenty of city building games around but Fabledom adds a fairytale twist to the genre. Set in a storybook kingdom filled with magical creatures, kings and castles, the game gives players the opportunity to build their own kingdom and find their true love. He never worked on a ‘real’ game either. Making games is hard!”

Games 185

Games Build Studios Shaders 185

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 19, 2024

Pretty impressive for a largely solo-developed game. “At At this stage the game is more like a cross between Factorio and Cosmoteer ”, explains Ryding. “One Hence the premise of the game is that you are a Von Neumann probe, sent to consume all the resources in the Universe and build the ultimate (final) factory.

Playtesting 125

Playtesting Games Mobile Mobile 125

PreMortem.Games

MAY 10, 2023

Canadian indie game development studio Excellent Rectangle just launched their debut title Tape to Tape on Steam Early Access. Combining the world of ice hockey with a roguelite may seem like an odd match, but for game designer Hugo Julien and his fellow co-founders Jean-Nicolas and Mathieu Fortin, it was a natural choice.

Animation 227

Animation Animation Sprite Fantasy 227

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 8, 2024

During the day he works as a Senior Software Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment, creating games like Hearthstone, together with a large group of specialized professionals. This game represents me as a developer”, he says. “I With the game now announced for a 2024-release, the part time solo dev is motivated to finish the game.

Dev 156

Dev Playtesting AAA Indy 156

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 3, 2024

Although she enjoyed her time in Turkey and her engineering studies, she decided to leave both behind to pursue her passion for game development. Today she works at Maliyo Games, based in Lagos, Nigeria. She’d introduce unique challenges to make them even more enjoyable. My favorite is Kenya at 50.

Engine 147

Engine Engineering Game Developer Game Development 147

Raph Koster

MARCH 28, 2024

The talk mostly covers objections and concerns people have had with the original book, a discussion of some of the newer science and ways in which is updates or makes obsolete parts of the original, and a hefty section on how to apply the principles in the book in a practical way.

Editing 83

Editing Feature Games 83

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 9, 2023

They are both well aware of the irony of two engineers developing a parody engineering game, but that hasn’t stopped Cillín Farrell and Neil Mackenzie from devoting the majority of their spare time doing just that. With the game’s 100% physics-based building system, players can solve each mission in infinite ways. As long as it works.

Engine 125

Engine Engineering Build Mechanics 125

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 19, 2023

One of the biggest breakout hits of 2023 was the haunting fishing adventure Dredge by New Zealand-based indie developer Black Salt Games. Much to the delight (and surprise) of the four-person crew, their debut game sold 100.000 copies in the first 24 hours after launch, smashing the goal for the whole year.

Playtesting 115

Playtesting Rigging Horror Prototyping 115

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 24, 2024

Physics-based 2D platformer Bionic Bay is a collaboration between the Finnish one-man-studio Mureena and Taiwanese indie game company Psychoflow Studio. The game started as a demo shown on Reddit, but picked up momentum when Badland art director Juhana Myllys offered to mix and match his distinct artwork with the gameplay.

Pixel 141

Pixel Art Mechanics Demo 141

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

But becoming a video game developer wasn't really the plan. I thought I would be making movies. Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox In 1997, a young and eager Patrice Désilets had just graduated from film school and was looking for a job. I studied movies and theater. Read more

Film 98

Film Game Developer Game Development Development 98

iXie gaming

APRIL 16, 2024

Game testing involves assessing and evaluating video games to ensure they meet specific quality standards before launching them to the public. Testers must take a comprehensive testing approach to ensure the game is thoroughly tested and free from bugs, glitches, and other performance issues that may affect the end-user experience.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Bug Games Development 52

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 31, 2024

The hottest game these weeks is Palworld by Japanese developer Pocketpair. It’s an open-world survival craft game where you tame monsters and put them to work. But the game stands out for a few reasons beyond its initial monetary success. The similarities are so strong that it has earned the game the moniker ‘Pokémon with guns.’

Open World 104

Open World Mechanics Concepts Development 104

The Bottom Feeder

MARCH 27, 2024

It's a remaster of Geneforge 2, one of our most popular games. This blog is free, and selling games is how we keep the lights on. Even now, all these years later, these games still have qualities that are all their own (like being able to reach any ending with a pure pacifist route). (iPad version coming soon.) Hope you like it!

Indy 107

Indy Writing Content AI 107

Game Wisdom

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

Ways To Make Your Next Layover Or Flight Delay More Enjoyable Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com Traveling by air can be fun and exciting. There’s the planning and anticipation about where you will visit and what you will experience when you land at your destination.

Games 52

Games 52

Game Daily

MAY 15, 2023

Launched last month, Meta World: My City from Netmarble N2 is a blockchain real estate digital board game with additional virtual real estate building and trading as well as social metaverse activities. Netmarble N2’s previous work includes the similarly Monopoly-like game Let’s Get Rich.

Content 96

Content Games Game Design Game Designer 96

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

IndieGameBusiness has just released its updated directory with over 500 video game publishers. Besides the fact that it has 500 game publishers in alphabetical order with links and the platforms they primarily release on? Game consultant Jay Powell is the driving force behind IndieGameBusiness. The best thing about it?

Games 104

Games Indy Development Platformer 104

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 29, 2023

Electronic Arts today announced that it will be laying off approximately 6% of its staff as part of a restructuring plan that also includes optimizing its real estate portfolio and re-focusing its efforts around growth opportunities.

Electronics 104

Electronics Art Build Games 104

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. To make everything working smoothly during the massive online battles requires some very specific skills from the developers. So, we had to be smart and make everything dynamic.

Console 104

Console First person PC Mesh 104