This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Still, Nowell strives to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Financial success Solo dev Tuomas Auronen , operating under the name Redbeak Games , looks pretty relieved three days after the launch of his game Mortal Glory 2. The game is developed by Californian solo dev Michael Cosio, working under the name of Tainted Pact.
No amount of playtesting is ever enough,” he says. “I No amount of playtesting is ever enough. I tried to ensure I heard all the players’ opinions and did many playtests with thousands of players, but there were still flaws at release.” The toll on your mental health can be quite high for a solo dev.
And of course, balancing everything like coding, art, marketing, and playtesting can be exhausting. Playtesting is a huge part of the process, but also biased if you find yourself asking the same individuals for help. The toll on mental health can be quite high for solo devs. Motivation can also be tricky.
Intricate mechanics The dev team faced two major challenges when translating the physical act of climbing to gameplay mechanics: replicating the intricate mechanics of grip, support, weight, and motion, and ensuring user-friendliness. Of these, the climbing system proved to be the most demanding task.
He took some online courses on programming and he was in business, as a solo dev operating under the name of Frambosa , only six months later. So, his solo debut game Billy Bumbum might be the first and last game he made as a one-man-dev-team. All this before there’s ever any playtesting done.
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. Plus, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is the most important thing you can do as a game dev.
A mechanic is the concept behind the game and the rule is the way that it’s handled to ensure balance.” ” Rules are really tricky to do right because you have to serve two purposes: balance the game and communicate clearly. Making Balanced & Clear Rules. Playtest a Ton. Rules vs. Rulebooks.
Last month, game industry documentary makers 2 Player Productions debuted a massive 32-part YouTube game dev doc series Double Fine PsychOdyssey , chronicling the development of Psychonauts 2 from its earliest glimmers of pre-production in 2015 to its final release in 2021.
Playtesting is crucial at this point. And many of the regular tricks that devs use to save on rendering costs are lost when building VR games. “It As a multiplayer PvP (player versus player) game, it’s critical to get the balance right between crewmates and imposters. We added a light, but it didn’t help.
I’ve split it into five sections for your convenience: How Ben, Sarah, and Will Got Started How Working in a Team Feels The Downsides of Teamwork Communication in a Team Advice for New Game Devs. 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.
Finding the balance is difficult, and I think many creatives lean too much into the former category. Now look, some parts of game design – like playtesting or accessibility testing – can be tedious. The post 3 Signs It’s Time to Quit Working a Board Game Design Idea appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev.
After several months of brainstorming and playtesting, we settled on the mechanics of Cover Your Kingdom. This also increased emotional response and provided some balancing mechanisms that prevented the formation of massive piles. We added, balanced, and optimized new mechanics one by one. Action Cards. Two Actions Per Turn.
’ Through our discussion, I gained a profound appreciation for the delicate balance required to honor the original’s spirit while introducing innovative gameplay mechanics that captivate a new generation of gamers. This balance was achieved through a combination of careful planning and creative experimentation.
After months of toiling in a secluded attic, the last weeks of which were particularly grueling, we finally took Second Hand to its first public showings: first to Dev-Play in Bucharest and shortly thereafter to Clujotronic in our very own Cluj. It was scary, thrilling, amazing and… we won the Dev-Play Indie Pitch! Color me excited!
Some roguelikes don’t strive for balance, but maintaining balance has always been important to me for Cogmind, since it fits better with my vision for this type of game, heavy on tough, complex, and consequential decision-making at multiple strategic and tactical levels. Alien Artifacts. Exiles Prototypes.
However, once the game attracts more players, we may want to modify our matchmaking to provide our players with a more balanced and fun play experience. Then, use “ MegaFrogRace ” for the game name and use the existing “ GameDeployment-MegaFrogRace ” role for the Dev stage, then select Create. The import may take a minute to complete.
First a little relevant dev note: When creating new item-based mechanics, internally I’ll generally use more generic names for effects. Now just while you’re thinking you got off easy, time to hit you with the drawbacks (no, silly, simply needing to charge the PT is not a massive drawback compared to what you get!).
In playtesting so far this (among other benefits we’ll get to later) is already clearly tempting players who would otherwise always prefer regular branches over infiltrating a Garrison. The above samples show encounters added to a variety of Garrison layouts, highlighted with a dev visualization overlay.
So often, when we’re balancing our designs , it’s because we’re trying to nail down board game pacing. Acquiring more Leader tiles gives the player more to try to balance. In playtesting, the time between turns has rarely been an issue. 5) appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. But how do you do that?
Not to mention it organically balances the game by attaching a cost to tiles that are strictly better. At this point, I have playtested Tasty Humans over fifty times. 4) appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. Is it worth taking that better tile at the expense of picking last next round? That is an interesting decision.
For balance purposes, I limit the number of voyeurs in the maze, otherwise it can enter a deadlock where there's only voyeurs but no one for them to watch. In my playtests, it felt like the best tactic is to try to trap the cop in the corner with your body while the AIs coordinate a big orgy that gives you a huge payout.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content