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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
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How to Design the Mechanics of Your Board Game

Brand Game Development

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. Game mechanics are how we bring the core engine of a game to life. What are game mechanics?

Mechanics 130
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Do you have any tips on making enemy factions feel different to fight against, without spending too much designer and programmer time making full sets of different abilities for each faction? For context, I’m working on a cyberpunk brawler with 3 major enemy factions (corp, gang, cop).

Ask a Game Dev

Starcraft, for example, had all Zerg units regenerate, all Protoss have a combination of shields and health, and Terrans have a mix of organic (healable) units and mechanical (repairable) units. To do this, think about what makes a Corp and try to capture that in gameplay mechanics. Your faction abilities should be similar.

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How to Fight “Tired Mode” as a Game Dev

Brand Game Development

How to Fight Tired Mode. Speaking of avoidance, the best way to fight Tired Mode is to never fight it at all. Every game mechanic, every piece of art, and every marketing endeavor ultimately comes down to your decisions. It is really, really hard to do a lot of mental work and keep your head on straight. Prioritize sleep.

Fighting 130
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Spirit Quest - 0.4.41 is Available

Indie DB

SNES Zelda inspired indie has added new mechanics to boss fights, audio behavior and other improvements.

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Magic Hazard's Journey: Bringing a story-driven shooter to life with Xsolla Accelerator

GamesIndustry.biz

Set in the dystopian cyberpunk-inspired metropolis of Detraxis, it’s a top-down action shooter where you play as an AI, the Neural Network, implanted into the body of an assassin robot who’s fighting for their freedom and destiny.

Fighting 126
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Ill Tower - Hybrid Dungeon Crawler

Indie DB

Ill Tower is a dungeon-crawler / platformer with some roguelite mechanics. Climb, slide, fight the Tower’s guardians and try to recover your stolen soul.