Brand Game Development

JUNE 1, 2020

Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Like many board games, Imhotep has a lot to teach board game designers. It’s all pretty straightforward euro fare at this point, but one mechanic stands out to me as being incredibly profound.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Build 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 28, 2019

Chance elements are valuable in game design because they keep games from being “solved” in the same way that chess – a perfect information, zero luck game – ultimately was. Take note, aspiring game designers! This is arguably one of the worst feelings that a game can give you.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Point and Click Games 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 7, 2019

The least intuitive mechanic is probably the robber who steals resource cards from other players when you roll a 7, and to be honest, you remember it when the number is rolled simply because 7 does not appear anywhere on the board. Resist simple zero-sum mechanics to create a more interesting game. The point is: cut the fluff.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Terrain Mechanics 130

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

BitCake Studio , an indie game development studio based in Brazil, is celebrating its 10th year in the industry. Eduardo Lamhut, the company’s main Game Designer and Creative Director of the upcoming game Atomic Picnic , explains how the company started. There was a bunch of things she wanted in the game.

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Studios Playtesting Concepts Games 129

Logic Simplified

AUGUST 1, 2023

Have you ever designed a game? If yes, then what game design fundamentals do you prioritize in your own designs? Game design is incredibly complex and fascinating, with countless nuances and techniques to master. In this article, we'll explore some key building blocks of game design fundamentals.

Game Design 87

Game Design Game Designer UX Mechanics 87

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 27, 2020

Aspiring board game designers should take note of how the name and the theme tear down barriers that would otherwise keep would-be-gamers out of gaming. Not everybody is into this kind of mechanic and many find it to be unsatisfying. Mitigate push-your-luck with a good catch-up mechanic. Final Thoughts.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Mechanics Games 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 9, 2020

.” Besides, when we – as gamers and game developers – put aside our frustration for a moment, we can actually see Monopoly for what it is: a solid concept with bad execution. There are a lot of questionable game design decisions that, if corrected, could have made for a fantastic game.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Playtesting Games 130

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

If you can use an algorithm to solve your game like a Rubik’s cube, you need more surprise. one place I’ve encouraged surprise is the facedown card mechanic. Tasty Humans is about monsters fighting humans instead of the other way around, which gets a sick laugh out of everybody who sees the game. In War Co. ,

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Tile Games 130

Logic Simplified

AUGUST 14, 2023

It is one of the best ways to improve the game quality by focusing on real player behaviour and learning what players really think about particular aspects of your game. Designers use this method to test different game versions frequently to find faults and provide input for improvements. Let’s find out.

Playtesting 88

Playtesting Game Design Game Designer Games 88

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 28, 2019

There is a reason this mechanic is present in many BGG Top 100 Games such as Viticulture , Caverna , A Feast for Odin , and Agricola. Sometime around 2018, I did a major poll asking people what their favorite themes and mechanics were. 3-D components are a gimmick, but they helped the game draw attention.

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Fantasy Mechanics 130

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the third of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Game mechanics are how we bring the core engine of a game to life.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Game Design Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 13, 2020

The default mode for most board games competitive. Sure, cooperative play is not exactly some exotic unseen mechanic too. You have Pandemic , the Forbidden games, Mysterium , Elder Sign , and many other great games. Lastly, the variable player powers are balanced in such a way that the game stays fresh for a long time!

Game Design 130

Game Design Game Designer Games Balance 130

Logic Simplified

AUGUST 8, 2023

Since most of us are unaware of the process of creating a game, we usually confuse game design and game art as being the same. In this blog, we will discuss the difference between game art vs game design and how each plays a unique role in game development. Who is a Game Designer?

Game Design 81

Game Design Game Designer Art Prop 81

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

“Theme-first or mechanics-first” might be the most asked “big question” in the board game community. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Theme and mechanics are inseparable parts of board games as a whole.

Mechanics 100

Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Game Design 100

Logic Simplified

JULY 31, 2023

There is one area every game designer must focus on to ensure that their games are captivating enough to entertain and provide an impactful experience to the user: game mechanics. When creating a new game, video game mechanics are often considered the most important factor.

Mechanics 90

Mechanics Puzzle Games Balance 90

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Cocoon, the intricate puzzle adventure by Jeppe Carlsen , known as the lead gameplay designer of Limbo and Inside, launched to raving reviews after 6.5 The game immerses players in a captivating odyssey across worlds within worlds, beckoning them to master the art of world-leaping mechanics to uncover a cosmic mystery.

Puzzle 257

Puzzle Prototyping Art Communications 257

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 27, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the fourth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? This guide comes in three parts: How do you test game mechanics?

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Games Development Balance 130

Juego Studio

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Every successful video game features a few common elements- clear goals, surprise elements, a clean core loop, good graphics and sound, and so on. In short, they feature the major game design elements. Game designers follow a combination of certain basic elements to make it memorable.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Mechanics Games 52

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

. “I try my best to accept that I may not be the most talented or brilliant game developer in the world, but that I am capable of making something fun and beautiful.” Years ago, I became a solo developer initially because I wanted to make games, plain and simple. ” Why did you become a solo developer?

Simulation 118

Simulation Dev Mechanics Development 118

iXie gaming

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

Generative AI has experienced increasing usage in game design as it accelerates and streamlines different aspects of game development. Generative AI in game design refers to the use of AI techniques, particularly generative models, to develop and improve different video game aspects.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer AI Technology 52

GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 28, 2024

Everyone has a favourite video game tutorial. Maybe it's the first hour of Fallout 3, which quite literally treats you as a baby, teaching you new mechanics at different stages of growth? Perhaps it's Half-Life 2's iconic tutorial that packs everything you need to know into four words and one empty can of soda? Read more

Mechanics 139

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Development 139

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 3, 2024

Anima Flux , the latest game by studio Anima Flux, is exploring new territories in gaming. According to Andrey Songraf, Game Designer and Product Owner, this makes them pioneers of sorts. “This achievement stands out because we are pioneers in this approach.”

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Co-op Cutscenes Communications Animation 239

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. I tend to use the word game development as a catch-all term for everything that is associated with making a game – that includes game design, product development, marketing, promotion, Kickstarter/crowdfunding, fulfillment, and selling.

Game Developer 130

Game Developer Game Development Development Game Design 130

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 28, 2024

The control mechanics are integral to the gameplay, allowing players to operate Kazimir and his staff both together and independently. The way you control the old man and the magical staff at the same time is a neat mechanic that I am proud of,” Khoroshavin says.

Prototyping 104

Prototyping Indy Games Concepts 104

Big Games

JANUARY 30, 2024

Game design software does play a pivotal role in bringing the digital world to life, which allows game developers and designers to create immersive and engaging experiences. The world of game design is a captivating landscape brimming with possibilities.

Software 52

Software Game Design Game Designer Cross platform 52

GamesIndustry.biz

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

While tools have improved dramatically, allowing smaller teams to produce more graphically and mechanically complex games than ever before, producing equivalent experiences to AAA mega-studios is still prohibitively expensive. Thrilling as a solo ten-hour-long campaign can be, linear content is expensive to produce.

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AAA Mechanics Studios Game Design 135

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

According to Carlos Casals , 3D Artist and Co-founder of Ticking Clock Games, “We were throwing around all sorts of mechanics and game genres, but we kept coming back to one image; a flying ship.” The seed for Void Sails was planted during one of the team’s early brainstorming sessions.

Point and Click 104

Point and Click Games Feature Balance 104

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Today, I have a challenge for you as a board game designer. I want to see you make a board game in 28 days. That’s why I’ve provided a 28-day game design challenge for you. This 28-day challenge is intended to give you the structure needed to get into the habit of board game design.

Dev 130

Dev Writing Game Design Game Designer 130

The Knights of Unity

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

In the previous part of the post, we’ve introduced you to the most important reasons to create a game design document in your project, using three examples: personal project, internal project, and commission work. Core game loop. Core game loop is a base of your game’s mechanics, that will be repeated by the player.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Games Mechanics 52

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 6, 2017

This article is the first of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. The basic idea is that board games are a means of communication that facilitate gameplay. That’s no accident.

Engineering 130

Engineering Engine Mechanics Games 130

Brand Game Development

JUNE 3, 2019

For that reason, I’ve brought in Sean Fallon, Founder & CEO of Smunchy Games and User Experience (UX) Designer extraordinaire. By looking at game design from this new angle, we hope to help you understand why board games are so playable and what that means for other aspects of our lives. What’s the point?

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UX Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 130

Grid Sage Games

MAY 8, 2022

That’s just the core mechanic, and about the smallest vision you can have (which is actually what I recommend when starting to build a roguelike ), though even then my vision included an immersive interface and using sensor data to help navigate a living world occupied by both hostile and non-hostile robots. Difficulty.

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 52

PreMortem.Games

JULY 4, 2023

Released back in 2022, the game takes its inspiration from the widely popular Piano Tiles series by Umoni Games. The gameplay uses a simple time-sensitive touch mechanic where a user needs to activate 2D tiles to match the beat of various music tracks being played.

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Tile Racing Pixel Games 252

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the sixth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Rules provide directions on how to execute activities within a game.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Writing Concepts Games 130

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 24, 2024

The game started as a demo shown on Reddit, but picked up momentum when Badland art director Juhana Myllys offered to mix and match his distinct artwork with the gameplay. I thought that the core mechanic in this 2D game was extraordinary, so I contacted the developers. He’s also planning the overall game design.

Pixel 145

Pixel Art Mechanics Demo 145

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

This week while working on my current board game design, a lot of things have come into focus. Now it’s time to start tweaking board game rules. This is where board game design often becomes very tricky. Need help on your board game? 14 Rules for Board Game Rules. Playtest a Ton.

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Balance Games Communications Mechanics 130

Played with Fire

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

1⃣ Short Play Sessions Limit Deep Narratives Most VR players engage in 30-60 minute sessions , much shorter than traditional gaming. 2⃣ Mechanics Over Story in VR Games VR game design prioritizes motion controls, physics, and realism , often at the expense of narrative.

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Cutscenes AI Games Media 52