article thumbnail

Games Speak through Mechanics, Not Rules

Brand Game Development

Core Engine: If you strip out all the mechanics that put obstacles in your players’ path, what’s left? The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics you need to have a functioning game. Mechanics: Games are not very good until you have constraints that make it hard for players to achieve the objective.

Mechanics 130
article thumbnail

Building a City Driving Game with the Untold Engine - Part I

Harold Serrano

As stated in my previous post , my goal is to improve the robustness of the Untold Engine by focusing on developing various games. I then wrote a simple script to export the control points into an array that the Untold Engine can use as waypoints. For example, the engine does not have any culling mechanism.

Engine 63
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Spotting and Dropping Bad Mechanics

Brand Game Development

Most board game mechanics will not work as well as you intend them to. Good board game developers need to know when to drop mechanics and when to refine them. I’ve been playing with a new mechanic called “traffic.” Yes, I thought this would make a good mechanic a week ago. Click here. So it goes.

Mechanics 130
article thumbnail

BitCake Studio built online multiplayer game Atomic Picnic completely remote

PreMortem.Games

Mechanical Hand The studio’s upcoming game, Atomic Picnic, is the brainchild of the company’s CEO, Camilla Slotfeldt. Like a mechanical hand and survival aspects inspired by the ‘ Roadside Picnic ’ novel.” “Silly way to make the most impactful decision of your studio’s life, but I remember us talking about it in that way!”,

Studios 129
article thumbnail

How to Design the Mechanics of Your Board Game

Brand Game Development

I’ve spoken before about designing and testing the “Core Engine” of a game. The core engine is what’s left when you strip a game of mechanics and obstacles. The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics and concepts you need to have a functioning (but not necessarily fun) game.

Mechanics 130
article thumbnail

Two engineers build the physics-driven engineering parody The Enjenir

PreMortem.Games

They are both well aware of the irony of two engineers developing a parody engineering game, but that hasn’t stopped Cillín Farrell and Neil Mackenzie from devoting the majority of their spare time doing just that. We’re working normal 9-5 civil engineering jobs”, says Cillín Farrell. “So So we’re doing this in our spare time.

Engine 129
article thumbnail

How to Design the Core Engine of Your Board Game

Brand Game Development

This communication happens on five levels: the core engine of the game, mechanics, rules, the internal narrative or “theme”, and the external narrative or “community and marketing.” ” This guide comes in three parts: What’s the core engine of a game? What’s the core engine of a game?

Engine 130