Game Refinery

APRIL 6, 2023

Publishers and studios are constantly looking for new ways to improve these, whether it’s with more powerful ad creative to boost UA or by adding new gameplay mechanics and features to improve player retention. They’re a great way of boosting engagement by providing players with new and exciting ways of enjoying an existing game.

Mechanics 81

Mechanics Puzzle Mobile Mobile 81

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

You have to spend money making a nice prototype for publishers, sure, but you don’t have to get deep into the behind-the-scenes business processes. Publishers have all sorts of vetting mechanisms in place that keep you from going to market with a bad game. ” They take care of the grittiest work for you.

Games 130

Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 1, 2024

As we were prototyping there was still a feeling the game needed more action. Thus I make an effort to use purchased art assets only as a starting point to then be modified into something more unique and fitting of the aesthetic.” “We built a prototype in our spare time and saw the potential. But that’s not all.

Studios 104

Studios Prototyping Visual Scripting Art 104

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

It shows the everyday work of medium-scale commercial game dev in unprecedented detail: the creative high of successful collaboration as well as the ugly prototypes, grueling bug fixes, and painful miscommunication. Each level also had unique mechanics and art styles that all tied into a cohesive whole.

Art 59

Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Game Designing

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Game Designer A game designer is someone who brainstorms ideas and concepts, builds prototypes, and develops the game’s mechanisms. They write and translate codes across operating systems to ensure the design is fully implemented and functional. Game designer, programmer, and tester are just three of the possibilities.

Technology 52

Technology Games Graphics Game Design 52

Moonmana

APRIL 7, 2023

In Unity, you write code using the C# language, while in Unreal, you use C++. When working with Unreal, users don’t require deep knowledge of codes or even a basic understanding of how to write them. The easy-to-learn and write C# coding language and the overall workspace layout make the difference. Superior rendering technique.

Engine 52

Engine Engineering Game Engine Asset 52

Interesting Choices

NOVEMBER 30, 2018

And while overall I've been overjoyed with the response, I've seen a few comments from people who dislike the inclusion of the disaster tiles in the game, and I realized that I haven't ever sat down to write out my thoughts for why I included the mechanic despite knowing that those tiles would be controversial.

Tile 52

Tile Prototyping Build Games 52

Cocos

APRIL 27, 2023

In my previous post, I mentioned that I would be write a series of articles on Cocos Cyberpunk. After understanding some of the future plans from the game team, I decided to start over and create a guide from the perspective of code-writing and logic mechanisms.

Code 52

Code Data Animation Animation 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Game rules are how we regulate the mechanics of our games so that they are consistent with the messages we want to send to players. This guide comes in four parts: What are some guidelines for writing good rules? What are some guidelines for writing good rules? Brandon: What are some guidelines for writing good rules?

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Concepts Writing Games 130

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. Categorical Approach.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Then I write down everything I consider relevant into spreadsheets to compare them all. This finally leads me to prototyping and validation. I do sometimes have ‘flashes’ -or dreams- of cool ideas like a gameplay mechanic, other times a whole story or environment. This could be something like ‘Who is the protagonist?

Dev 156

Dev Playtesting Art Games 156

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 30, 2019

If you’re the kind of creator who has a few prototype board games in your closet somewhere, consider playing one of them with a few game designers. Order a professional physical prototype of one of your board games. Experiment with a theme or mechanics you’ve never used. Card games count, too! My first game, War Co.

Dev 130

Dev Prototyping Games Game Design 130

Tom Francis

JUNE 22, 2016

I got an e-mail today from a developer who’s having trouble making any of their prototypes fun. This developer was writing because they liked Gunpoint, so that’s why all my examples are from that. Don’t judge one prototype mechanic against a whole finished game.

Prototyping 40

Prototyping Mechanics Animation Animation 40

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 18, 2017

It is true that games speak to players through gameplay – the core engine, mechanics, and rules. The Seize the Bean prototype has little sugar cube pieces to tell its story. Dylan: This was our challenge in trying to flesh out appropriate mechanics for Seize the Bean’s wild and almost untame-able theme. Do not eat!

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Art Games Puzzle 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

With various other developers, I’ve talked about all the different parts that go into making a board game: the core engine , the mechanics , rules , and storytelling / internal narrative. I sometimes use blank cards or write on prototypes if I need to iterate quickly, but that typically only happens at conventions.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

Mnenad

APRIL 9, 2018

We rather think of an ideal or prototype bird like this one over here from a kid's science book. He writes about how players must be able to determine if a creature is a friend or enemy just by its shape and from long distance. I'm looking forward to share the mechanic and story behind of the game in the upcoming post.

Terrain 52

Terrain Concepts Art Mesh 52

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

It involves a mix of searching, managing, and writing good requirements. If you’re a designer seeking a publisher, you will essentially need a solid prototype, a great sales sheet, and an awesome pitch. Your theme is that critical in order to nail down some concepts first, before diving into game mechanics.

Art 130

Art Games Development Prototyping 130

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 12, 2023

But before you continue, I’d like to make a disclaimer: As you know, I always try to offer an exhaustive and impartial assessment of the games I write about. This consumable item mechanic is the same in Squad Busters, which speaks of knowledge sharing between the teams. But in my opinion, many of its issues are at prototype level.

Beta 52

Beta Fighting Build Mobile 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 14, 2023

Kudos to Neil Long of Mobilegamer.biz for joining the event and writing the notes. Hofree said that she was excited by AI for prototyping, brainstorming and personalising the experience for every player, and Haussila said he was interested in using AI tools to speed up some developer processes.

Games 59

Games Cross platform Mobile Mobile 59

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 11, 2019

While writing this post, this news article went live. More recently, and while writing this post, Voodoo also announced a new Montreal studio that wants to build games “beyond hypercasual”. Archero had a soft-launch period of 2-3 months, and probably the same amount of time before that for prototyping and design iteration.

Data 52

Data Advertising Studios Mobile Gaming 52

Designer Notes

AUGUST 10, 2021

The big change that always gets mentioned when going from Civ 4 to Civ 5 is one-unit-per-tile (1UPT), which is interesting as 1UPT is purely a mechanical – as opposed to thematic – change. The game, a historical 4X set in classical antiquity, released on July 1, 2021, and is available for purchase here.

Tile 40

Tile Point and Click AI Mechanics 40

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

They get to a prototype level. And, and so, you know, only at that near the near-death experience do you get the guts to make big changes to really make that tough decision to take out part of the game mechanic and replace it with something else to take out something that you really thought is going to work and try something else.

Games 52

Games Point and Click Engine Engineering 52

Deconstructor of Fun

MARCH 22, 2021

Royal Match Royal Match is a perfect example of finding success through improvements - not step-change innovation - cherry-picking the strongest mechanics from the best games to create a new top game. Even though Candy Crush Saga had roaring success with the match-3 switcher, King was not the first company to create the mechanic.

Puzzle 69

Puzzle Mobile Mobile Mechanics 69

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Back in 2019 I made an unfinished prototype for a Gay Western game jam to contemplate the anniversary of influential gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain (2005). Like many game prototypes, my initial sheepherding test began as something much grander and more complicated. It's mostly "safe for work" even if the actual game is not.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Tom Francis

AUGUST 20, 2019

I’ll write the rules here, but they’ll make more sense when you see it played: If you’re following closely, you might notice I slip up and fail to kill the king of clubs when he should have died, but I re-kill him with the next play so it’s fine. Could just be theme/art/flash, or perhaps a mechanics change?

Games 52

Games Playtesting Prototyping Concepts 52

Brand Game Development

JULY 20, 2020

That’s why I hit him up on Discord with the following message: I’m going to be writing a post soon called “Let’s Set Expectations: Time, Money, Effort.” months between the moment that your final gold-copy prototypes arrive at your door, and your backers receive them in your mailbox.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Playtesting Dev 130

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

I first prototyped it back in 2019, but I didn't really know how to finish it. Originally this was prototyped as "Saugzwang" and I made it for the 7 Day Broughlike Jam back in 2019. L loss or often worse, since cops can exploit the same chain reaction mechanic as the player. Their victim's mood or consent is irrelevant.

Code 52

Code Educational Education Prototyping 52