Raph Koster

MARCH 3, 2025

We’re dropping bits of their lore into these behind the scenes posts, as well as sharing their visual evolution through art iterations and market testing. Lastly, I wanted to share some images from recent playtests, because, wow, players have dazzled us with their creations. There’s a blog post up about them as well.

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Playtesting Content Animation Animation 102

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 3, 2024

My brother Zhanko does the programming part, while my stronger side is 3D art and level design”, explains Bobby Mojsovski. “Talk with the players and do lots of playtesting. We both share the same responsibilities and brainstorm ideas together based on previous data and research on the market. Then, analyze their feedback.

Horror 211

Horror Build Playtesting Animation 211

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 18, 2021

Taufner handled the initial blockout and gameplay, while I did the art pass and tweaks. The collaboration here was ideal because I didn't feel like doing gameplay stuff, and Taufner didn't want to art pass, so we exchanged duties and took turns working on the level. My art pass also needed to punctuate Taufner's progression.

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Playtesting Art Fighting Texture 130

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 7, 2024

Our visual style is thanks to our amazing Art Director Simon Post,” says Porkoláb. We entered Steam Festivals, ran regular playtests and used social media.” “It’s a focused effort that ties the whole game’s progression together and it’s a joy to explore.” The quirky graphical style of Rebots adds much to the overall mood of the game.

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Playtesting Prototyping Development First person 265

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 15, 2024

To make sure all upgrades and weapons are properly balanced, Game Swing does playtests throughout development. “We Part of the appeal of the game is the simple, but effective art style by Art director and co-founder Lars Bindslev. “We We solve everything by keeping on testing”, says Sommer. I carry the overall direction.

Co-op 138

Co-op Playtesting Balance Art 138

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Since I was a child, I always found myself surrounded by art, because most of my family were artists (ballet dancers, painters, musicians). One day I discovered video games could be much more than just ‘entertainment products’, and fell in love with the idea of mixing all the things I loved about art in a new medium.

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Dev Playtesting Art Games 160

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

“Playtesting is key. ” The solution was the comic book art style, which not only makes the game visually engaging but also complements the detective theme. When we first started, we were collaborating with friends from Scotland. ” Testing is the final and most crucial phase.

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Puzzle Mechanics Communications Studios 138

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 8, 2024

I get to wear every hat, from 3D art to level design to marketing and everything in-between “Working on personal projects is also a great way to develop new skills that I don’t have the opportunity to develop in my day-to-day work. I get to wear every hat, from 3D art to level design to marketing and everything in-between.

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Dev Playtesting AAA Indy 160

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 30, 2024

Playtest early. On one hand, I get to do what I love to do, especially game design, storytelling, and art. It’s used to both fight enemies and solve puzzles. Finally, I tried to develop a unique, retro-futuristic style with a diegetic UI.” What’s the biggest lesson learned from this project? How do you deal with that? “

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Dev Puzzle Concepts Esports 104

PreMortem.Games

JULY 1, 2024

Their first game, Genesis Noir, was already a moving work of art. This field of visual art emphasizes abstraction and graphic design to compress storytelling into quick digestible and fun chunks.” This time around we’re putting a lot more time and resources into playtesting and catching problems early.”

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Art Games Graphics Puzzle 138

AWS Games

MARCH 13, 2025

Build distribution & playtesting: Studios can leverage Amazon GameLift Streams to remotely access and test the latest game builds instantly, without the need for complex installations or downloads.

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AI Demo Games Build 71

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Through playtesting, you can answer the question “do the mechanics suit the theme?”. Once you’ve got mechanics to suit a core theme, you can develop the theme a little more through art, story, and graphic design. Then you can start developing mechanics. The further you go, the grittier rules become.

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Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Art 100

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 30, 2023

We had three very different games that we spent around two weeks on each, developing them up to a point where we could playtest them with other people”, says Mason. According to Lead Artist Alex Ritchie the visual style was born out of necessity: “Because of the quick turnaround for prototyping all the art was simple to save time.

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Playtesting Prototyping Games Mechanics 104

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 20, 2023

We had three very different games that we spent around two weeks on each, developing them up to a point where we could playtest them with other people”, says Mason. A bit surprisingly, the contrast between the atmosphere and the simple art added another layer of uneasiness that fit perfectly, so I was careful to keep that going forward.

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Playtesting Prototyping Mechanics Games 104

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 19, 2024

One of my close friends, Ches Denison, joined me working 5-10 hours a week as a playtester, game designer, and just a general jack-of-all-trades-guy. Once playtesting began in early 2023, player feedback further refined my vision. Ideas would strike me and I’d feel compelled to implement them right away”, he says. “As

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Playtesting Games Mobile Mobile 129

Grumpy Gamer

JANUARY 18, 2018

There is a lot of Thimbleweed Park fan art (and even people selling it), and I don't have a problem as long as 1) You can't use our trademarks, 2) it's not confused with official/licensed merchandise, 3) you're not making too much. Do you cut off the whole series of the puzzles (meaning wasting time/art/effort)?

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Puzzle Point and Click Playtesting Art 130

Grumpy Gamer

JANUARY 17, 2018

There is a lot of Thimbleweed Park fan art (and even people selling it), and I don’t have a problem as long as 1) You can’t use our trademarks, 2) it’s not confused with official/licensed merchandise, 3) you’re not making too much. Do you cut off the whole series of the puzzles (meaning wasting time/art/effort)?

Puzzle 130

Puzzle Point and Click Playtesting Art 130

PreMortem.Games

MAY 1, 2023

Everyone must be online from 14h to 18h on Discord because this is ‘when things get done’ and we can all do brainstorms, playtests and all that.” She drew a lot of the first concept art for the main characters. The company started creating multiplayer games because the founding members wanted to playtest games together.

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Studios Build Playtesting Concepts 104

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

Each level also had unique mechanics and art styles that all tied into a cohesive whole. Meanwhile, VR dev continues, as artists learn Unreal 4's art pipeline and do lookdev to figure out how to update the Psychonauts art style from 2005 to 2015. It was a quirky story-first 3D platformer with jokes that were actually funny.

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Art Concepts Dev Studios 147

Radiator Blog

FEBRUARY 4, 2024

Thanks to playtesters JoyModulo and Spootnik for playtesting and feedback, and thanks to Fairweather for organizing and additional QA. With her masterful use of patterns and implication, I think Emily Dickinson would've been an excellent level designer with strong insights about competitive map balance. Blood Gulch!

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Fighting Texture Playtesting Balance 234

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

I like variety in my work (art, coding, animation, marketing); it keeps things interesting and I also love seeing my own progress over the weeks, months and years.” I also released the demo on Steam early (after invite-only playtesting) so I can gather feedback from real players. What are the biggest advantages of working solo? “I’m

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Build Dev Playtesting Development 138

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

Every iteration of each game has to be created somehow and there are A LOT of iterations – usually a new one after each playtest, especially in the beginning. Whenever I demo or playtest, I make sure to get the email address of the person, so I can inform them when the Kickstarter starts. Carla: I also do a lot of interviews!

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Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

Brand Game Development

MAY 1, 2017

You can give it gorgeous art. If something slips through your playtesting, it might very well be caught in the review stage. You can’t expect people to spend money on your game if they don’t have a reason to believe it’s going to be good. There’s a lot of ways to suggest that your game is going to be good.

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Games Playtesting Dev Prototyping 130

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

If you hate the game you’re playtesting, do something different. Don’t just playtest it and refine the mechanics. This is the art for Spectrum in War Co., is the art. This seems obvious, but never lose sight of it. was garbage in its first ten iterations. It stalled out for the next four. Make it feel unique.

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Game Designer Game Design Tile Games 130

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. Wu explains the roles of each team member: “Wu Zhihao and Xia Xiazi do gameplay design, Lan Sun art direction and Shuai Kun is the programmer.” But it took some tweaking to get the right balance.

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Studios Content Balance Mechanics 104

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

However, when people think of storytelling in games, they think of theme, story, art, components, and even box design. Art and storytelling Physical experience and storytelling Parting advice. Art and storytelling Physical experience and storytelling Parting advice. Playtesting storytelling. Art and storytelling.

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Art Mechanics Games Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Sarah: It was also in 2013 that we met Ben and were playtesters for his game Tower , which he launched on Kickstarter early in 2014. Along with handling all the business, Ben has playtested and helped develop our designs. I can’t really see so well, so art and graphic layout don’t bother me. Will is the lead designer.

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Prototyping Games Playtesting Game Designer 130

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2023

The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. Wu explains the roles of each team member: “Wu Zhihao and Xia Xiazi do gameplay design, Lan Sun art direction and Shuai Kun is the programmer.” But it took some tweaking to get the right balance.

Studios 104

Studios Balance Content Playtesting 104

Radiator Blog

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

I think I scoped it just right, and I wisely invested in some very targeted brushwork that I wantonly copy-and-pasted for some decent art coverage. Thanks to Fairweather for organizing, Yoder for playtesting, and lastly thanks to everyone in the Quake Mapping discord. You can play this map, along with 17 (!)

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Co-op Fighting Texture Puzzle 130

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

These women were part of the first She Got Game mentorship program by the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia, which aims to promote equal opportunities in the global video games scene. During the playtest, six people played at the same time, and I noticed they laughed at certain texts, which was great.

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Game Developer Game Development Development Games 145

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

If you want to know more about the art, craft and science of game development, subscribe here. “This e-mail is to open a discussion – I think we would do well to consider our options before making a call on the various clothing styles and suggestions that recently arrived from the art department.”

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Writing Communications Point and Click Prototyping 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Working closely with the community in various playtests over the years and even right now in the lead up to launch gives you a very solid idea of where your game is failing to communicate important concepts. ” “We knew that players’ comprehension of the game was always going to be the biggest challenge”, he continues. “Our

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Studios Concepts Playtesting Development 145

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

You do the game development and playtesting. You go find the art. Publishers handle the marketing, the selling, and often they cover the art, too. Of course, the cost of having a company swing the full weight of their art, marketing, and selling staff behind your idea comes with a hefty cost. You are quality assurance.

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Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 29, 2021

Now look, some parts of game design – like playtesting or accessibility testing – can be tedious. It’s a more durable goal for the future, better for your self-worth, and gives you maneuverability to make the best art you can possibly make! Of course, burnout doesn’t just happen all at once.

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Game Designer Game Design Games Playtesting 130

PreMortem.Games

JULY 8, 2024

Concept art for upcoming game Moya Sithlu and his family moved to Durban from East London when he was in grade 10. I stood up and walked across campus, all the way to the Arts faculty, and sat down with the most amazing woman there, Hamisha. Van Reenen, my high school English teacher, loved my poetry, and I enjoyed her classes.

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Studios Educational Education Point and Click 129

Radiator Blog

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

My playtesters mentioned not getting 100% kills at this point, since the monsters are just wandering all over the place and it's annoying to track them down. They also imply to the player that yes, I could've put these small busy details everywhere throughout the entire map, and I simply chose not to do so. Because brutalism.

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Texture Fighting Lightmap Render 130

Sirlin

OCTOBER 13, 2022

These are updated pretty often based on feedback and playtesting from patrons. But now it looks cleaner, has new art, new graphic design, and a lot of gameplay enhancements. There's a lot of patrons to discuss the game with in our patrons-only chat on Discord. Yomi 2 has familiar things from the old game, especially the combo system.

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Fighting Playtesting Fantasy Concepts 52