Brand Game Development

APRIL 7, 2017

I’m trying something different on the Dev Diary. My hope with the Dev Diary series is that by being really direct and transparent about my own development experiences, you’ll see how I respond to real problems. We’re in this together, game devs. My brother and I ended up liking the drafting mechanic.

Mechanics

PreMortem.Games

MAY 19, 2023

Drawing inspiration from their own experiences in bouldering, the team sought to incorporate the exhilarating mechanics of climbing into the game. But we probed and playtested, and we pulled through without changing course to a climbing-inspired arcade game”, says Boogaard. It is great to see that it’s working out so far.”

Indy

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 25, 2021

I’ve written before about the usefulness of documenting your playtesting. It contains both pragmatic advice and a primer to the mindset I want you to take into playtesting. Now your game is ready for blind playtesting. Send your game to new blind playtesters. Need help on your board game? Don’t interfere.

Playtesting

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 17, 2025

I didn’t want to continue working on these AAA titles where violence was often the main mechanic,” he recalls of his time freelancing on the Hitman series. After Please, Touch The Artwork 1 & 2, he just announced his next game Please, Watch The Artwork at the Day of the Devs stream. Why did you become a solo developer?

Dev

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

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. There are many lessons!

Dev

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Cogmind generally has fewer such direct escape options, but teleport mechanics are out there, if an advanced tech not usually available until the late game. How about we add one, maybe using this new type of charging mechanism (described towards the end). Controlled Teleporting?

Mechanics

Brand Game Development

JUNE 3, 2019

This type of journey mapping, from a mechanics perspective, is extremely helpful when understanding the feelings and emotions the players may go through during the game. You can further pare down journey maps and empathy maps to very specific scenarios and instances which create many playtesting questions.

UX

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

As I said last week , “rules regulate the way mechanics are implemented. A mechanic is the concept behind the game and the rule is the way that it’s handled to ensure balance.” Playtest a Ton. Rules are how we implement game mechanics. I have some guidelines. 14 Rules for Board Game Rules.

Balance

Brand Game Development

JUNE 20, 2019

The reason is that Cover Your Assets’ core mechanic is deceptively quite compelling. The core mechanic of stealing and defending sets of cards that increase in value is essentially the whole game. Wide audiences find the core mechanic of Cover Your Assets really compelling. Two Stacks Per Player.

Asset

Brand Game Development

APRIL 27, 2020

Two groups that come to mind are the Tabletop Game Playtesters Guild and Card & Board Game Designers Guild. The post 6 Ways to Find Play-Testers for Your New Board Game appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. There are large groups of people who absolutely love play-testing, even though it is often hard work.

Demo

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

one place I’ve encouraged surprise is the facedown card mechanic. If you hate the game you’re playtesting, do something different. Don’t just playtest it and refine the mechanics. If you can give your game a story, you build a whole world of context that draws patterns in the mechanics and the theme.

Game Design

Brand Game Development

MARCH 9, 2020

I think I said it best in 2016 when I first wrote about Monopoly : Despite letting leaders run away and providing inadequate catch-up mechanics, Monopoly is not a fast game. Watch your playtesters’ reactions. With so many issues, it seems unlikely that Monopoly was thoroughly playtested.

Game Designer

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

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.

Art

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. 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.

Playtesting

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

There are mechanics in there that nobody’s ever seen!” They could be manufacturers, retailers, designers, or playtesters. The post Why Board Game Publishers Like Some Games and Don’t Like Others appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. “Why wasn’t my [insert original idea] run with? So they get the axe.

Games

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

You do the game development and playtesting. Publishers have all sorts of vetting mechanisms in place that keep you from going to market with a bad game. appeared first on Brandon the Game Dev. If you self-publish, there will be enormous demands on your time. This is true for solo developers and small groups.

Games

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 21, 2024

.’ 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. “Hacking is a central mechanic in the new game,” James explained.

Game Developer

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

Grid Sage Games

JULY 17, 2022

I’m reminded of Beta 11’s spicing up the main complex with Heavies and Cargo Convoys , though in this case it’s not just adding one or two new mechanics but instead about turning Garrisons into proper branch maps in terms of content distribution… Encounter Architecture. …alert level xD. That’s a problem.

Beta

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

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.

Prototyping

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

It is true that games speak to players through gameplay – the core engine, mechanics, and rules. Playtesting storytelling. Dylan: For example, the hipster customers in Seize the Bean have a simple, understandable mechanic that is directly tied to the theme and story: they make you raise your hype.

Art

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 22, 2023

In previous years I’ve opened the review with a collage of dev images of varying themes and content, but approaching the end of this year we have one major theme that stands out, and that I’ll be writing more about below, so let’s hear it for the interface mockups! The first three years there are Alpha, followed by Beta.

Beta

Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Playtesting is crucial at this point. That’s interesting and new gameplay for Among Us” There were plenty more features and mechanics the team considered adding. And many of the regular tricks that devs use to save on rendering costs are lost when building VR games. “It We added a light, but it didn’t help.

Dev

Astral Clock Tower Studios

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

We're so happy you're joining us for another epically magical installment of the Kristala Dev Blog! This is the place where we break down all aspects of development for 3D Dark Fantasy ARPG Kristala—an indie game in developed by the wildly talented dev team behind women-owned indie games studio, Astral Clocktower Studios.

Dev

Game Global

JULY 12, 2021

Their job is to choose the clearest, highest-quality words they can assemble, and (usually) give them to other devs to be put into the game. We must understand (and preferably help create and document) the game as a whole: from core mechanics to level design to cinematics, and everything in between. Championing the vision.

Cutscenes

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 11, 2024

Frustrated with the traditional rewarding of slaughter in games, she developed a unique resource management mechanic that discourages unnecessary killing. ” Initially conceived as a portfolio piece, the game evolved over a decade with content-heavy, story-driven mechanics. She used it both as a marketing and playtesting tool.

Development

Brand Game Development

JULY 20, 2020

Garret is a sharp guy and a good game dev. ” It’ll be aimed at letting first-time game devs know what they’re getting into with self-publishing. Even if you take out vacation, that’s 9 months – I feel like that’s a surprisingly long time frame to a lot of first time devs.

Prototyping

Brand Game Development

JULY 15, 2019

Particularly when hard choices come from simple mechanics. I knew I needed a mechanic that gave players a choice of one adventurer from several options. When selecting a game mechanic, it is the most familiar solution. This was a warning that I might be taking the path of least resistance when picking a mechanic.

Tile

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 14, 2024

It was right at the beginning of the pandemic, in early 2020, when Austrian indie dev Dominik Hackl started working on Summit , a 2D mountain-climbing Metroidvania. Without much game dev experience he relied on YouTube dev vlogs to help him along. Take enough time off for non-game dev related hobbies.

Dev

Brand Game Development

JULY 22, 2019

In each of the design diaries that I have written so far, I have focused on a specific game mechanic or isolated portion of the game. However, in hindsight, the decision trivialized the “crown” mechanic that I had included to determine the drafting order. In playtesting, the time between turns has rarely been an issue.

Tile

Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

L loss or often worse, since cops can exploit the same chain reaction mechanic as the player. 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. So for example, instead of redeeming two men for a +3.0

Code