The Bottom Feeder

AUGUST 28, 2024

The Power Of Fantasy And Make-Believe To understand why the Deck is such an iconic creation, ask this question: What is the point of fantasy? Fantasy is a human universal. Why are you so determined to have total control of a fantasy? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fantasy, even a little? No hard feelings.

Game Design 89

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy Games 89

Keith Burgun

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Over the last six months, I guess partially because I was doing a bit of traveling, but also partially because I got a Retroid handheld and a Steam Deck (both of which are phenomenal, game-changers for game-playing, for me at least), I’ve been on this crazy Final Fantasy kick. I eventually plan to beat them all!

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Game Design Game Designer Games 52

Keith Burgun

OCTOBER 23, 2024

I saw her talk at the Alt F4: Rebooting Community After Gamergate conference which was extremely impressive, and we quickly got into talking Final Fantasy between talks. We get into a bunch of topics here, such as dark patterns, games in communities, Final Fantasy games, and a lot more. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

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Fantasy Games Game Design Game Designer 113

Sirlin

JANUARY 10, 2016

There's a new episode of my Raw Game Design podcast up for my ($10+) patrons, here. That same podcast link also has links to all the other episodes of Raw Game Design too, btw. This is "raw game design" in the truest sense in that we are lost in the forest here. Thanks again to my patrons for your support!

Fighting 52

Fighting Game Design Game Designer AI 52

Sirlin

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

I have a free podcast series on game design, here. In this latest Raw Game Design episode, I discuss how we might use advanced AIs in the Fantasy Strike fighting game, if we had access to some pretty great AI tech. I also have a second podcast that's just for my Patreon supporters.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy AI 40

Sirlin

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Fantasy Strike is our new fighting game. This podcast explains what Fantasy Strike is all about. We cover the high concept about making a fighting game more accessible from top to bottom than anything else we've seen, the specific game mechanics we chose to accomplish that, and the resulting dynamics of how it plays.

Fantasy 40

Fantasy Game Design Game Designer Fighting 40

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 28, 2024

Set in a beautiful, Slavic-inspired world, Selfloss by Kazakhstan-based indie studio Goodwin Games is an adventure that explores themes of grief, healing, and resilience. Reflecting on the game’s core concept, Khoroshavin shares, “The very first idea was that I want to make a game about an old protagonist that can traverse via boat. “I

Prototyping 104

Prototyping Indy Games Concepts 104

PreMortem.Games

MAY 10, 2023

Canadian indie game development studio Excellent Rectangle just launched their debut title Tape to Tape on Steam Early Access. Combining the world of ice hockey with a roguelite may seem like an odd match, but for game designer Hugo Julien and his fellow co-founders Jean-Nicolas and Mathieu Fortin, it was a natural choice.

Animation 232

Animation Animation Sprite Fantasy 232

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 12, 2023

But I was missing a really good city builder in a fantasy setting. Once I decided that this was the general idea for the game I tried to come up with what it might actually look and feel like.” I do all the coding, game design, day to day production stuff, basically everything else.

Games 185

Games Build Studios Shaders 185

Brand Game Development

JUNE 24, 2019

The latest game from Pangea Games is launching on Kickstarter. Tasty Humans is a 30-60 minute, tile-laying, pattern-building game for 1-4 players. You are a fantasy monster trying to sate your insatiable appetite. He won Panjam, a 48-hour board game design contest that Pangea ran in 2018.

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Tile Writing Fighting Fantasy 130

Brand Game Development

JUNE 25, 2019

These titles earned – and keep – respect in the hobby gaming community. Like with all things in board game design, there is no linear path. You meander through the game design process, iterating and tweaking your work until you’re happy with it. A board game would end up being really fiddly.

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Tile Build Puzzle Fantasy 130

The Bottom Feeder

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Ideas Are Cheap I'm kind of dubious about classes that claim to teach game design. UFO50 contains both introductions to a multitude of game genres and constant examples of how an old genre can be refreshed with a simple idea. If you want to make money selling your game, is it better than 1/50 of UFO50?

Games 93

Games Puzzle Indy Console 93

Keith Burgun

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Starting somewhere in 2020, I started this huge dive into the Final Fantasy series – strangely enough, starting with the XIII trilogy. This article , in particular, from Nintendo Power, I have a distinct memory of reading and being totally transfixed by the concept of the world of Final Fantasy 1. (I A cool, fun game.

Fantasy 119

Fantasy Pixel Art Fighting 119

Radiator Blog

JUNE 2, 2023

In this sense, playing a 75% finished game is more useful than playing a 100% finished game. So this post will focus on my read of the general game design and player experience. Similarly, you can see where the core game design wanted to hit. What if vampires invaded Cape Cod (hmm, ok?

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Studios Co-op Open World Cutscenes 246

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

Yet the process, so heavy on rejection, has left many game designers heartbroken. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Board game publishers have to sort good from bad. . Explained this way, it sounds innocuous.

Games 130

Games Retail Game Design Game Designer 130

The Bottom Feeder

MARCH 12, 2025

Storytelling like this is a great way to juice your game with some nice texture, but know its limits. It tends to be really painful when modern game designers take on stories from ages past. Subscribe now Spiderweb Software creates turn-based, indie, old-school fantasy role-playing games.

Indy 71

Indy Writing Fighting Fantasy 71

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 24, 2024

So, a fantasy setting instead of everyday environments would provide the most room to be creative without being too shackled to anything too specific.” He’s also planning the overall game design. The game design process in this project mainly involved designing the rudimentary features for our level editor”, he explains.

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Pixel Art Mechanics Demo 145

Brand Game Development

APRIL 15, 2019

Understanding the emotional origin behind people’s connection with board games is very important if you’re a publisher. You’re not just trying to make the greatest worker placement fantasy game…you’re trying to make a game that satisfies the emotional needs of your customers.

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Media Internet Games Game Design 130

PreMortem.Games

MAY 15, 2024

The idea of community and consensus is fundamental in the whole story, so we needed this idea to appear in the game design as well.” Creating a narrative-driven multiplayer game that is fun both online and with some friends on the couch posed some real challenges.

Co-op 129

Co-op Fantasy Writing Studios 129

Sirlin

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Examples from Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur 5, Smash Bros (including a plea for modders to make Sirlin a mod with simpler controls for Smash), Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 4, Rising Thunder, and Fantasy Strike. Hosts: David Sirlin & Sean "MrGPhantome" Washington We discuss "easy special moves" in fighting games.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Fighting Fantasy 40

Sirlin

JULY 25, 2019

Fantasy Strike is available now on Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , and Steam (Windows / Mac / Linux). There are several notable features and innovative things about the game, so I’ll summarize them here. In Fantasy Strike, you just click on anyone in your in-game friends list to challenge them. No, you would not.

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Feature Fighting Point and Click 52

Sirlin

OCTOBER 17, 2016

While most of the episode is about Kickstarters for board games, later in the episode we cover the extra challenges of doing a Kickstarter for a video game. And we reveal that we're going a different route with our Fantasy Strike video game, which is using Patreon for crowdfunding right now.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy Games 40

Sirlin

APRIL 26, 2019

As of this writing, we’re in the 8th year of Game of Thrones seasons with only 4 episodes left, and yet there are numerous major reveals still left. By looking at the show from a game design standpoint, I think we see how a lot of it has to end up. Game of Throne is, on a casual viewing, a very complicated show.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Games Writing 40

Brand Game Development

MAY 11, 2020

There are a ton of perfectly good articles online about how to approach board game publishers. Here are a few examples: How to Pitch Your Board Game to a Publisher How to Pitch (and Not Pitch) Your Game to Stonemaier Games Board game designers are bad at pitching games to publishers. I can help.

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Games Fantasy Writing Build 130

Game Industry News

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Hey all, I’m back with a game that is a predecessor to some of my favorite games for this week’s Retro Game Friday. Plot: The plot is pretty standard Fantasy fair, rebel group against an evil corrupt government, etc. Overall: If you loved Final Fantasy Tactics , you might want to give this a try.

Fantasy 59

Fantasy Art Games Game Design 59

PreMortem.Games

MAY 21, 2024

But I was missing a really good city builder in a fantasy setting. Once I decided that this was the general idea for the game I tried to come up with what it might actually look and feel like.” I do all the coding, game design, day to day production stuff, basically everything else.

Games 104

Games Build Studios Shaders 104

The Bottom Feeder

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

We started this five game series in 1999, and Geneforge 1 came out in 2001. Dwarf Fortress is the banner Olde Game these days, but the first Geneforge game was out and selling before it was even started.) The Geneforge Saga is a fantasy-science fiction hybrid with a wildly open-ended world, story, and game system.

Fantasy 75

Fantasy Game Design Game Designer Graphics 75

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 2, 2019

If you or someone in your family is looking for a challenging board game in the $50 range, this is an excellent choice! I’ve written at length about Everdell before and why it’s a good game. Long story short, it’s got a cute fantasy theme with really well-executed worker placement mechanics. Everdell ( $54.94

Games 130

Games Fantasy Mechanics Horror 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 4, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the fifth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Paths: World of Adia , a fantasy themed tabletop RPG.

Point and Click 130

Point and Click Games Mechanics Writing 130

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 103

Writing Fantasy Editing Indy 103

Brand Game Development

AUGUST 17, 2020

While you can’t make any old game you want and make a phenomenal amount of money doing so , you can observe what’s successful already and put your own spin on it. If sci-fi and fantasy games have been successful for the last 18 months on Kickstarter, you can make your own sci-fi or fantasy game.

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Games Fantasy Simulation Media 130

The Bottom Feeder

DECEMBER 17, 2024

Will probably beat 5 or so more games and call it good.) I wrote about UFO50, that it should be the textbook for any game design class. Much of what UFO50 does is it takes existing game genres and compresses them. It offers a game in that genre that only last 2-3 hours but gives a full, satisfying experience.

AI 80

AI Indy Games Agent 80

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 10, 2023

But I was missing a really good city builder in a fantasy setting. Once I decided that this was the general idea for the game I tried to come up with what it might actually look and feel like.” I do all the coding, game design, day to day production stuff, basically everything else.

Games 104

Games Build Studios Shaders 104

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 5, 2023

But I was missing a really good city builder in a fantasy setting. Once I decided that this was the general idea for the game I tried to come up with what it might actually look and feel like.” I do all the coding, game design, day to day production stuff, basically everything else.

Games 104

Games Build Studios Shaders 104

PreMortem.Games

JULY 12, 2023

The developers of Fireplace Games made an early prototype of the game while still in school, but are now well on their way to release it as a full-fledged game. To dig a solid fantasy out of that ‘omelette’, we found ourselves essentially relying on a good ol’ helping of subtractive design. We feel like En Garde!’s

Prototyping 104

Prototyping Games Fantasy Concepts 104

Game Designing

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Both are open-world action-adventure games with fantasy elements and similar mechanics. All of this creates a more lighthearted fantasy world. We feel the desire to protect this beautiful world and the characters we meet, playing nicely with the game’s story.

Games 136

Games Mechanics Fantasy Art 136

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

In a past era of game design, we complained when combat games had obligatory stealth sections -- now we have story games with obligatory combat sections. Before you begin the zombie-filled Palace quest, the game UI helpfully advises, "if you're not a fan of action or horror gameplay, feel free to decline this quest."

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NPC Fighting Art Dev 130