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** SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME YET. Gamedesign isn't a destination, it's a journey and this was one of the stops along the way. There are some fun puzzles in here but they all were cut for a reason, mostly pacing but sometimes because it wasn't as interesting as we thought.
We spoke with Bernard Immole of Sometimes Y Games to discuss how the game’s face-altering puzzle elements affected character design and the work that goes into creating a gamedesigned to make the player laugh.
Chatting with a gamedesigner friend the other day and we were bemoaning the state of adventure gamepuzzles and it got us talking. So I was wondering what is your favorite puzzle in Thimbleweed Park, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island or any other classic point-and-click game? What makes a puzzle good?
Escape Rooms will make you a better board gamedesigner. This is partly because Escape Rooms are everything that board games aspire to be – complex problem-solving games that appeal to a wide audience and provide a remarkable physical experience. Board games often run the risk of having themes that feel pasted-on.
Certainly, board gamedesigners can learn a lot from well-designed escape rooms. Exit Games by Kosmos are the closest we can get to the authentic in-person experience right now. I’ve wanted to write about Exit Games for a while, but it’s tricky! The game is full of mysteries, riddles, and puzzles.
In part 1 of 1 in my series of articles on gamesdesign, let's delve into one of the (if not THE) most useful tool for designing adventure games: The Puzzle Dependency Chart. Gary and I didn't have Puzzle Dependency Charts for Maniac Mansion, and in a lot of ways it really shows. It's Sunday.
It is fundamentally a pretty simple game, but it has a lot of really endearing qualities. The dice are bright and pretty, as are the puzzle boards on which you build stained glass arrangements of dice. Yet adding an element of chance haphazardly can make the game feel like it’s playing you instead of the other way around.
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.
In part 1 of 1 in my series of articles on gamesdesign, let’s delve into one of the (if not THE) most useful tool for designing adventure games: The Puzzle Dependency Chart. Gary and I didn’t have Puzzle Dependency Charts for Maniac Mansion, and in a lot of ways it really shows.
** SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED THE GAME YET Gamedesign isn’t a destination, it’s a journey and this was one of the stops along the way. There are some fun puzzles in here but they all were cut for a reason, mostly pacing but sometimes because it wasn’t as interesting as we thought.
The mere threat is usually enough to keep the game going. On the other hand, playing Tasty Humans has short turns, which helps the game stay snappy even though it’s a brain-burny puzzlegame. Predictability is the bane of games. You don’t want your game to feel predictable.
Chatting with a gamedesigner friend the other day and we were bemoaning the state of adventure gamepuzzles and it got us talking. So I was wondering what is your favorite puzzle in Thimbleweed Park, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island or any other classic point-and-click game? What makes a puzzle good?
Since most of us are unaware of the process of creating a game, we usually confuse gamedesign and game art as being the same. In this blog, we will discuss the difference between game art vs gamedesign and how each plays a unique role in game development. Who is a GameDesigner?
Azul has taken the board game world by storm. Like Sagrada , it’s a gorgeous and approachable puzzlegame with emergent complexity that becomes ever more apparent with more plays. It’s also, somehow, always trending on social media and Board Game Geek.
Part of 2024's cohort is Rafif Kalantan, an emerging narrative and gamedesigner from Saudi Arabia who spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about her journey from studying computer science to winning the 2023 Yugo BAFTA Student Award for her puzzlegame Eros Xavier's Love Solutions. Read more
Mairi Nolan, lead gamedesigner at Eleven Puzzles, shares the importance of verbal interaction and how the team built communication into the studio’s latest release Unsolved Case.
AI affects gamedesign The project’s trajectory shifted with the integration of AI tools. “To produce a point and click game, and to document the creation of a partly AI-generated game.” Next, I start generating assets for the game with AI, like locations, character designs etc.”
Written by Ahmetcan Demirel , the maestro of product management and a podcast host ( Game Dev Diary ) from Germany! With a knack for puzzles, arcades, and simulation games. The world of mobile gaming has grown incredibly diverse, with subgenres branching out and becoming increasingly specialized.
In the upcoming Sci-Fi Action-Puzzle FPS IHAS , from Ukrainian solo developer Vladyslav Pidiashenko , players wake up aboard a giant, desolate spaceship swarming with hostile robots. At first, I was planning to make a walking simulator-horror game. It’s used to both fight enemies and solve puzzles. Playtest early.
I think it could be patched into being acceptably fun, but maybe one bad game just makes the collection more diverse. games are hugely varied. Even an idle game. I'm not going to list what games I liked or didn't like. I found an article that reviewed all the games, and I think it's an excellent overview.
Hearst Newspapers has acquired puzzlegames hub Puzzmo. Developed by gamedesigner Zach Gage and engineer Orta Therox, Puzzmo is a platform for original daily newspaper games and puzzles, such as SpellTower, Typeshift, Flipart, and Cross|Word.
Or try to make a gamedesigned to be loved by every person in the world. ChatGPT Tomasz Kaye had prior game development experience, with credits on Ibb & Obb and Chalo Chalo , but this time he went solo for his latest creation Axe Ghost. I started to work on the game in January 2022, a month before the war started.
Gary and I were trying to make sense of the mansion and how the puzzles flowed together. It wouldn't be until Monkey Island that the "puzzle dependency chart" would solve most of our adventure gamedesign issues. More design flow and ideas. A really early brainstorm of puzzle ideas. We had 320K.
Gary and I were trying to make sense of the mansion and how the puzzles flowed together. It wouldn’t be until Monkey Island that the “puzzle dependency chart” would solve most of our adventure gamedesign issues. More design flow and ideas. A really early brainstorm of puzzle ideas.
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.
Some people will tell you that Adventure Games aren't really dead, they have just morphed into other forms, or that other genres have absorbed Adventure Games. A great number of people in this business secretly (and not so secretly) wish they were making movies, not writing video games. It's an advanced puzzle, I was told.
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. Kazimir’s staff is more than just a weapon, it’s a dynamic tool that players can use to solve puzzles, combat enemies, and cleanse the Miasma.
Ideas for the game’s content were inspired mainly from movies and TV shows, while the gamedesigns came from the games the team loves to play, like Everquest for the open world concept and The Vanishing Hitchhiker for the atmosphere. Some started from a puzzle standpoint. Others started with a theme.
These titles earned – and keep – respect in the hobby gaming community. Like with all things in board gamedesign, there is no linear path. You meander through the gamedesign process, iterating and tweaking your work until you’re happy with it. There are many, many more as well.
These design choices would make the AI players feel more like human players to play against by embracing human foibles as their own driving directives. If you take a step back, you're looking at the basis for all of gamedesign. Similarly, such directives also give the AI weaknesses that a player can observe and exploit to win.
There is one area every gamedesigner 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. What are game mechanics?
GameDesignerGamedesign is a math-intensive career. From creating realistic physics simulations to designing engaging game mechanics, math plays a crucial role in crafting immersive experiences. Opportunities in the growing gaming and entertainment industries.
Some people will tell you that Adventure Games aren’t really dead, they have just morphed into other forms, or that other genres have absorbed Adventure Games. ” A great number of people in this business secretly (and not so secretly) wish they were making movies, not writing video games. Knock it off! I disagree.
I thought it would be interesting to contrast this to Word Dad , a puzzlegame made by my friend, master gamedesigner John Cutter. A brief aside on puzzles All three of these are more correctly called puzzles, of course. Sudoku is a machine; a given Sudoku layout is an individual puzzle.
Now, with the new game A Void Hope coming up on almost 3 years of development, Forslind finds himself juggling his roles as both CEO and GameDesigner of his company called Elden Pixels. A Void Hope is an atmospheric puzzle platforming adventure set in a world teetering on the edge of collapse.
About a year and a little more ago, as I began designing the uber-awesome DeathSpank , I played all the way through The Secret of Monkey Island to refresh myself on the puzzles and dialog. No point in having to solve the same puzzle over and over. Never be afraid to edit you game down if it needs it.
Compelling puzzles And so the team built the game around the story. The gameplay mechanics and puzzles all came from the question ‘what fun things could we mess with inside a phone’. We ended up kind of struggling to really create a sense of progression and compelling puzzles.” Absolutely! Lucie then added them.”
I had worked at Lucasfilm for 8 years and learned a lot, not just about gamedesign and programming, but also marketing, PR, and production and I felt like I needed to try it all for myself. I also had the idea of making adventure games for kids. I floated it by Lucasfilm Games and they weren't interested.
This analysis is written by Taras Koshelev (Lead GameDesigner at My.Games Venture Capital) who focused on game mechanics and loops and Michail Katkoff (Founder of Savage Game Studios) who covered the market and marketability. Playrix released Puzzle Breakers into soft-launch in late 2019. Puzzle RPGs on Mobile.
About a year and a little more ago, as I began designing the uber-awesome DeathSpank , I played all the way through The Secret of Monkey Island to refresh myself on the puzzles and dialog. No point in having to solve the same puzzle over and over. Never be afraid to edit you game down if it needs it.
I had worked at Lucasfilm for 8 years and learned a lot, not just about gamedesign and programming, but also marketing, PR, and production and I felt like I needed to try it all for myself. I also had the idea of making adventure games for kids. I floated it by Lucasfilm Games and they weren’t interested.
It allows players to instantly swap places with any physics based object which allows for some clever puzzling through the relentless levels. “We ” It also inspired him to come up with a setting for the game. “We He’s also planning the overall gamedesign. We are very excited about it”, says Myllys. “It’s
Flash Duel is a simple and fast card game that in high level play ended up being bogged down by lengthy calculations. We talk about the design changes that address this as well as at least one tricky balance puzzle we faced. At the time of this post, Flash Duel is on kickstarter right now. Please support it if you can.
And that’s what game development is to him at the moment, a hobby. While he enjoys the freedom of developing games by himself at his own pace, Splenbit wouldn’t mind working in a team. “I’m not good with story telling or puzzledesign, so combining some expertise would be nice.”
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