Balancing creativity and deadlines in game development
Game Developer
SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
The article offers a framework for managers to balance creativity and deadlines, ensuring the timely delivery of a great game.
The art of balance in community management
Game Developer
DECEMBER 2, 2024
Midjiwan's community manager explains how studios can strike a balance between fan input and preserving the team's creative vision.
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The art of game balance: evolution
Game Developer
NOVEMBER 18, 2024
First of a three-part series on combat-focused game balance design, exploring its evolution and showcasing successful case studies.
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Digital Eclipse's retro balancing act is about courting bigger partners
Game Developer
OCTOBER 7, 2024
What exactly do Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Rita's Rewind have in common?
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Hearthstone celebrates its 10th anniversary by balancing novelty with nostalgia
Game Developer
MARCH 11, 2024
The upcoming Whizbang's Workshop expansion aims to prove that longevity is still on the cards for Hearthstone after ten years.
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Deep Dive: Balancing the genre-bending beats of God of Rock
Game Developer
MAY 11, 2023
Striking the right balance between two genres means knowing what you want before development even begins.
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Difficulty curves: how to get the right balance
Game Developer
JANUARY 24, 2024
Your difficulty curve has a major role to play in preventing players from churning in your games.
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Solo dev Josh Salley (HALbot Studios) “I believe in keeping a good work life balance”
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.” I have always been a huge gamer, but never imagined I want to actually make games. I believe in keeping a good work life balance.
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Baldur's Gate 3's item balancing went big because small stat changes are 'not cool'
Game Developer
FEBRUARY 26, 2024
'We do big numbers because that's cool,' says Larian Studios head of production David Walgrave.
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SKALD: Against the Black Priory is an old school CRPG with modern sensibilities
Game Developer
JULY 11, 2024
Developer Anders Lauridsen talks about balancing contemporary expectations with the look and feel of a retro genre.
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Solo developer Kaighen Finley: “It’s easy to lose myself in game development”
PreMortem.Games
APRIL 17, 2023
Fresh out of school Kaighen Finley started his own web & game development company Team iNtuition. Just to be on the safe side he mainly focused on web development, but his heart was not in it. Initially, I wanted to build games, but invested my eggs in web development first because I thought I was being pragmatic.
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Doug Bowser says Nintendo of America is too happy to unionize
Game Developer
OCTOBER 20, 2023
Bowser believes Nintendo of America has done such a good job of being inclusive and securing proper work/life balance a union isn't needed right now.
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The eye of the beholder: Measuring player success in photography games
Game Developer
SEPTEMBER 16, 2024
An exploration on how different photography games measure player progress, and how to balance progression metrics and artistic freedom.
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I designed economies for $150M games—here's my ultimate handbook
Game Developer
NOVEMBER 15, 2024
After 5 years designing game economies generating $150M+, I've compiled my knowledge into a detailed 7-chapter guide on game economy, balance, and monetization.
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Some Factors to Managing a Team
Game Developer
DECEMBER 4, 2023
The operation of an efficient game development team is extraordinarily difficult to balance. These are a few key factors I have found influence the operations the most.
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Love Letter: Elegantly Balancing a Game
Brand Game Development
JANUARY 13, 2017
It’s the sort of game you can get your arms around in five minutes and understand the deeper elements of in twenty. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. The eight types of cards are elegantly balanced by short-term vs. long-term value.
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Deep Dive: Designing a new dwarf race in The Last Spell
Game Developer
JUNE 27, 2024
Introducing a new race in Dwarves of Runenberg meant paying careful attention to balance and putting weight in community feedback.
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Deep Dive: How TMNT Shredder’s Revenge was built on nostalgia and new ideas
Game Developer
FEBRUARY 7, 2023
Reviving a class series is a careful balance of appealing to players both new and old. Here's how Tribute Games approached it.
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Jussi Kemppainen is exploring AI-assisted game development with Echoes of Somewhere
PreMortem.Games
AUGUST 30, 2023
With the discussions over the use of AI in game development raging on, Jussi-Petteri Kemppainen , Lead VFX Artist at Mainframe Industries and founder of Dinosaurs Are Better , spends his spare time to see what all the fuss really is about. ” He envisions a future where all game development is AI-assisted.
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Remedy calls 2023 financially 'challenging', despite Alan Wake II's success
Game Developer
MARCH 20, 2024
Alan Wake II's strong sales balanced out declining quarterly and annual revenue in a "challenging yet remarkable" 2023 for Remedy.
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How ‘Lies of P’ Music Was Made
Game Developer
DECEMBER 8, 2023
When creating the music for Lies of P, I focused on balancing the musical elements to not be overly flashy or excessively dull. Instead, I delicately crafted the music to allow players to navigate subtle emotional nuances effectively.
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The Art of the Spiral: Failure Cascades in Simulation Games
Game Developer
APRIL 30, 2024
Exploring how failure cascades shape gameplay in simulation games like Songs of Syx and Rimworld, balancing dramatic stories with player recovery opportunities.
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Deep Dive: Balancing the authentic culinary experience with Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
Game Developer
APRIL 18, 2023
The cooking game genre has sort of an uncanny valley: to be real, or not to be real. Here's how one studio approached it.
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5 Levels of Communication through Game Development
Brand Game Development
JULY 17, 2017
When it comes to games, there are a handful of truths that are very important to realize. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. That’s why I developed a theory which I refer to as the Five Levels of Communication through Game Development.
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THQ Nordic planning "strictly limited" physical run for PC games
Game Developer
JUNE 26, 2023
THQ Nordic tries to find a balance in making its games accessible to everyone while also letting the physical PC releases feel like events unto themselves.
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Diablo 3 's final season will give it a full single-player experience
Game Developer
AUGUST 15, 2023
With the new Solo Self Mode, Blizzard finds a balance between Diablo III's inherent always-online nature and the wants of those who want to play it truly alone.
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Africa Games Week’s Event Director Alexandra Pattison “It’s a balancing act”
PreMortem.Games
SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
Unconventional professions At first, her family expressed concerns about her future in the events industry, which mirrors the reservations aspiring game developers often face. When children say, ‘I want to be a game developer’, parents usually reply that there’s no job or future in that.
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How ‘Lies of P’ Music Was Made
Game Developer
DECEMBER 7, 2023
When creating the music for Lies of P, I focused on balancing the musical elements to not be overly flashy or excessively dull. Instead, I delicately crafted the music to allow players to navigate subtle emotional nuances effectively.
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How to Balance Time, Resources, and Costs in Mobile Game Development?
Big Games
JANUARY 7, 2024
Embarking on the ambitious journey of mobile game development is akin to setting sail on uncharted waters. The path is fraught with multifaceted challenges for any game development company or mobile game development services provider. How to Start Mobile Game Development?
AWS for Games debuts Guide to Generative AI for Game Developers, and more at GDC 2024
AWS Games
MARCH 27, 2024
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, a seismic shift that was certainly felt at the 2024 Game Developer Conference (GDC) held last week in San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center. Check it out , and follow the recap below for a full rundown of AWS for Games activities at GDC 2024.
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Board Game Fulfillment & Why it Matters on Day 1 of Game Development
Brand Game Development
FEBRUARY 25, 2019
In fact, fulfillment often determines how big games are and how many components can be included. Many game developers think about fulfillment only after their project is complete – and you can certainly get away with it! Need help on your board game? It’s a tough balancing act!
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Deep Dive: Cultivating randomness in the peculiar branching narrative of Astronaut: The Best
Game Developer
AUGUST 15, 2023
Balancing structure and randomized story elements isn't hard if you plan for it.
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188 How Dome Keeper focuses on systems that feed into one another
Game Developer
MARCH 13, 2023
Dome Keeper tasks players balancing their time between mining for ore and defending their fragile planetary base from creatures that don't want them there.
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Shadow Gambit developer Mimimi Games is shutting down
Game Developer
AUGUST 29, 2023
The 15-year-old Mimimi Games is choosing to shut down as its founders recognize the growing scope of its games were leading to an improper work/life balance.
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Balancing In-House and Augmented Teams in Game Development
Juego Studio
JANUARY 18, 2024
Game development is a highly specialized and profitable niche. The advent of technology in this industry enables the making of high-quality and variety of video games.
The making of a Hearthstone card in 2022
Game Developer
DECEMBER 20, 2022
Designing and balancing new cards eight years into Hearthstone 's life cycle is no mean feat. We chatted with designer Leo Robles Gonzalez and VFX Lead artist Dominic Camuglia at Blizzard on the blood, sweat and.corpse effects that go into new expansions.
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In Pirofauna by Polish indie studio Petums, fire is the hero of the forest
PreMortem.Games
JUNE 7, 2024
“I’ve never seen a game world where fire is portrayed positively,” says Tomasz Ostafin. Therefore, for balance, I create such a positive image of fire. Pirofauna is the second game by tiny indie studio Petums. The first game Papetura was successful enough for Ostafin to make game development his full-time occupation.
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Balancing Level Design and Performance in a Family-Friendly VR Game: A Deeper Look Into Sugar Mess
Game Developer
MAY 29, 2024
How do you make a VR game fun for the whole family?
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Behind the Veil: The Complexities of Game Development and Market Reception
Game Dev Unchained
MAY 17, 2023
In the expansive and rapidly evolving world of video games, the stakes have never been higher. The rise of increasingly intricate and expensive game schemes has not only upped the ante for game developers but also heightened the expectations of an ever-demanding audience. “Game schemes are expensive. .
AI game development legal issues, explained
Game Daily
MAY 12, 2023
I spoke to Moreira about his work, and the current state of AI in game development, and I learned a lot about a complicated issue. I’d say they are working towards a balance between workforce replacement and AI usage. Governments around the world have yet to encode the use of AI into their legal frameworks.
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Creating Sustainable Game Economies: Leveraging Game Analytics for Balance and Stability
iXie gaming
APRIL 16, 2024
Establishing a sustainable and balanced game economy is crucial to the success of any game, as it helps drive player satisfaction and engagement. However, the gaming world has been evolving constantly. Creating a sustainable game economy using game analytics can be challenging. But worry not!
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Ethical Considerations in Game Analytics: Balancing Data and Privacy
iXie gaming
MAY 24, 2024
As game analytics advances and data collection becomes more pervasive, the need to strike a balance between leveraging data and respecting player privacy becomes more crucial. In this article, we dive into the ethical considerations developers must consider in-game analytics to ensure a balance between data usage and player privacy.
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Wrapping up 2023 • Celebrating the life and works of solo developers
PreMortem.Games
DECEMBER 22, 2023
And it takes a special kind of developer that wants to fly solo. This year we featured over 20 brave game creators in our solo developers-series and we like to share some highlights. It took solo game developer Graham Reid great effort to finish his game. “I A point of interest in the indie game sea.”
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