PreMortem.Games

MARCH 15, 2024

In Guntouchables by Danish indie developer Game Swing , enemies randomly power up from the upgrades that a team of four players can’t lift out of the levels. This leads to some unexpected and quite frankly, explosive situations as the game progresses. Game Swing was founded in 2013 by five Danish game design students.

Co-op 138

Co-op Playtesting Balance Art 138

iXie gaming

MARCH 28, 2025

Behind every immersive world lies a meticulously crafted game art pipeline, a process where raw ideas evolve into interactive, polished assets. Game art isnt just about making things look good. Whether its a photorealistic RPG or a stylized indie game, every visual element follows a structured journey from concept to integration.

Concepts 52

Concepts Art Texture Asset 52

Big Games

MARCH 27, 2025

Unreal Engine Here’s an overview of these two dynamic mechanisms that will help you understand what they are, how they work, and the merits they offer to Android programmers: Unity It is a popular game engine renowned for its cross-platform compatibility and intuitive user interface that supports both 2D & 3D game development.

Engine 52

Engine Engineering Game Developer Game Development 52

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

I’m only being driven out of my shell by my need to push the Kickstarter for our next indie RPG, Geneforge 2 - Infestation. Let’s talk about games. There is a surprise hit indie game I really like, and breaking down that kind of thing is very much in my job description, so let's talk about Vampire Survivors.

Indy 88

Indy Balance Game Design Game Designer 88

PreMortem.Games

JULY 8, 2024

His turning point came in 2019 at Comic Con Africa, where he discovered a Game Design degree at Wits University’s stand. “I However, it still took a nudge from a dreadful experience in an Applied Mathematics class to propel him to switch from Computer Science to Game Design. It was great!

Studios 129

Studios Education Educational Point and Click 129

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

Small teams and solo developers often produce some of the most unique and personal games, and this holds true for Rablo Games, an indie studio led by founder Pablo Coma. Six months into development, Coma accepted a job at Appeal Studios as a game designer, eventually becoming a game director.

Development 104

Development Indy Mechanics Games 104

The Bottom Feeder

AUGUST 9, 2023

Way back in February, I wrote a big article about indie phenomenon Vampire Survivors. It was a fun cheap game that is still fun and cheap. It's also a charming, scruffy take on the classic Twin-Stick Shooter genre, great for mindless gaming, with a price that is effectively zero. Brotato has a great design. A great idea.

Co-op 81

Co-op Indy Games Balance 81

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

I assumed it was mostly for fans but after watching all 32 episodes (on 2x speed, skipping some parts) I've changed my mind and now I think it's essential viewing for all game designers / devs. Outside of game design, there's a growing tide against "design thinking" style methods, see "Design thinking was supposed to fix the world.

Art 147

Art Concepts Dev Studios 147

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

“The community’s voice is invaluable; it helps shape the game,” he remarked. This iterative approach to game design – release, get feedback, improve, repeat – can be a pragmatic strategy for developers to bootstrap their way through the development process, all while nurturing a passionate player base.

Indy 105

Indy Platformer AAA Education 105

The Bottom Feeder

APRIL 9, 2024

Then I can sell my games to them eventually, much as a catfish eats the scum at the bottom of a lake. It's also a great opportunity to pick apart a good game's design. If a game sells well, that means every choice it made was correct, and you should pick over the carcass for ideas to steal with all speed.

Writing 100

Writing Fantasy Editing Indy 100

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 20, 2023

Then the first wave of really successful indie games appeared on Steam, in the late 00s and early 10s. I thought if I practiced enough, I could make 2D games by myself, and so I decided to try it.” I wouldn’t feel comfortable working on a game if I had to just follow someone else’s ideas.

Dev 104

Dev Art Prototyping Development 104

The Bottom Feeder

JUNE 12, 2024

Baldur’s Gate 3 Has Mountains of Stuff Over the years, I've tended to make my game designs cleaner. One of the best articles ever written about game design is about Magic: The Gathering. Yes, spreading out all the enemies everywhere and at all the possible heights is the design standard now. Nicely done.

Fighting 96

Fighting Writing Puzzle Terrain 96

The Bottom Feeder

MAY 15, 2024

The main problem, alas, is that, while it IS a fascinating landmark for game design, it is not a good adventure. The Tomb of Horrors was an early attempt to solve a very difficult problem: How to balance a turn-based RPG once characters get very powerful. Here are the two original covers for the adventure. This sounds kinda fun.

Horror 76

Horror Fighting Game Design Game Designer 76

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 22, 2024

“So, a turn-based-tactics game based around sabotage and assassination operations felt like something fresh to us”, says Senior Game Designer Lee Brimmicombe-Wood. We wanted a past that was a little more colourful than that and balanced the visuals accordingly”, explains Brimmicombe-Wood.

Games 99

Games Concepts Film Balance 99

Played with Fire

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Difficulty and balance The level of difficulty in games for the „diehards” is something that often keeps game developers up at night. It often turns out, I should say, that the games are simply too… easy. by making the gameplay even more personal for them, and thus increasing their involvement as well.

Mechanics 72

Mechanics Games Technology Entertainment 72

Logic Simplified

OCTOBER 7, 2024

Today, with Cascadeur fully launched, I’m thrilled to have received a 2-year indie license as a reward for my early participation. While the learning curve is gentle, the software doesn't skimp on advanced features, striking a perfect balance between simplicity and power.

Animation 70

Animation Animation Rigging Beta 70

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

The principles and design tenets he acquired in architecture seamlessly blended into his game design. ” He subtly points to the age-old debate about work-life balance and the perceived differences between American and European professional cultures. They’re not locked in right out of college.”

Indy 64

Indy Pixel AAA Art 64

iXie gaming

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

These adjustments touch upon various facets such as gameplay, user interface, and overall game design. While most of the decisions are made from within the confines of the development studio itself, developers place considerable importance on a specific form of game testing to gather invaluable insights.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Games Platformer Indy 52

CG Spectrum

APRIL 3, 2023

Penny was kind enough to share her experience at GDC and why she believes it's such a valuable event for people looking to break into the games industry. GDC is an annual event that brings together programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, and business leaders from around the world.

Game Developer 98

Game Developer Game Development Development Games 98

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

And if I, a game designer, can't enjoy fun, what am I even doing here? Then the awards need to be given in a show that can maintain the delicate balance between respecting the award and the art form, and making money putting the show on. It’s more fun to like things than not like things. It's silly. But it is also fun.

Art 93

Art Balance Entertainment Indy 93

Keith Burgun

JUNE 20, 2022

I mean, part of why I can’t believe that is that for almost a full year after the launch, I was furiously updating the game: two new factions, a new game mode (arguably two), a map editor, tons and tons of balance changes, polishing, bugfixes, you name it. Not to mention porting the game to iOS, Android, Switch, and XBox.

Indy 52

Indy Point and Click Game Design Game Designer 52

The Bottom Feeder

MAY 11, 2022

It's such a big, unique, popular game that not picking it apart a bit is game-writer malpractice. Even if you hate From Software games, and many do, if you care about game design as an art, it's worth a good look. And this is all without even discussion this game’s insane speedrunning situation.

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Balance Fighting Art Software 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 23, 2019

For example, people meet you at GAMA or at another, regular board game convention, they see your game, and if they’re excited about your product they may spread the word to other retailers. A lot of the indie retailers are friends and just in general are a tightly-knit group. Louis actually recommended your store.”.

Retail 130

Retail Games Editing Writing 130

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

It was scary, thrilling, amazing and… we won the Dev-Play Indie Pitch! Alex and Ovi receiving the Indie Prize at Dev-Play. Balancing the difficulty for a wide range of players will be a b h. Meeting other indie devs is really cool. For one, we will be heading to Casual Connect in Berlin to take part in the Indie Prize.

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

(Side note: There is a new game called Brotato, one of those single-stick shooters that are hot now. These are perfectly balanced. If you're interested in systems design, it's a very interesting title.) My latest all-new game only had 57 skills, but all of them were useful sometimes. Lots of people like that.

Fighting 94

Fighting Games Balance Writing 94

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge. It would feel terrible.

Fighting 130

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 130

Game Wisdom

JULY 19, 2023

High Speed Action With OTXO Developer Interview Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" For this perceptive podcast, I spoke with Nathan Haddock from Lateralis Heavy Industries who developed the game OTXO.

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Development Balance Games Indy 40

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Kevin J Bray (Game Engineer) , another professional with years of entrepreneurship experience (CEO at now defunct Byte Canvas; Executive Director at Tonk Tonk Games), who previously was a developer and lead engineer at League of Legends (about the same time as Maya). The profiles make me think of something indie-looking.

Studios 52

Studios Mobile Mobile Console 52

iXie gaming

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Test Your Game and Deploy Performing thorough playtesting is crucial in NFT game development. Consider testing the game mechanics, overall balance, and user interactions to ensure a seamless experience for players. It helps you refine the gameplay experience.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Asset 52

Tom Francis

MARCH 11, 2017

They’re both games where you move around a grid of different tile types, and the one you’re standing on determines what you can do there. I’ve also been playing a lot of XCOM 2 lately, and dreaming up my own indie equivalent to solve its clarity problems. So I started to worry: am I less original now?

Tile 52

Tile Games Build Fighting 52

Deconstructor of Fun

JANUARY 17, 2020

This sort of elongated production process obviously has increased project cost ramifications, which only reinforces the above mentioned design evolution - more Hybridcasual! It leveraged its hypercasual core game design to center its marketing videos around, while also showcasing its more RPG elements in a light and fun way.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Platformer Studios Data 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Back in 2019 when I was making the original prototype, there were also two other gay cowboy things on my mind: Orville Peck's hit single "Dead of Night" and the gay indie romance film God's Own Country. Balancing the weight of each system was difficult. see: "CRT Simulation in Super Win the Game" ).

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Pixel Film Art Prototyping 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 29, 2018

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the thirteenth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. This week, I want to zero in on the subject of making the perfect board game rule book.

Writing 130

Writing Games Mechanics Balance 130