Game Developer

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Game developers weigh in on the "utter perfection" of giant mechanical robots.

Game Development 344

Game Development Game Developer Development Mechanics 344

Game Developer

MARCH 13, 2023

For anyone with an interest in game design, Polaris' developer summit has different articles covering various aspects of design development.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Dev Game Design Game Designer 246

Game Developer

AUGUST 12, 2024

Claire Kwong, creator of experimental video game installation Between, shares her findings after exploring the idea of physical touch as a game mechanic.

Mechanics 333

Mechanics Games 333

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.

Studios 129

Studios Playtesting Concepts Games 129

Game Developer

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

"The player is an agent of chaos. Lock them up."

Mechanics 229

Mechanics Agent Games 229

Game Developer

MARCH 21, 2023

Obsidian senior area designer Evan Hill took to the stage at GDC 2023 to plot a heist.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Mirthwood , the debut title from Bad Ridge Games , merges genres like RPGs, life sims, and farm sims into a medieval sandbox experience. Fast forward a bit and we thought we’d try something we had been talking about for a few years; making a game. Learning to draw specifically for the game, he refined the style over time.

Sandbox 145

Sandbox Mechanics Pixel Games 145

Game Developer

AUGUST 29, 2024

The studio is making its Early Access game into a premium title when it hits 1.0 due to a lack of time and effort to dedicate into monetization.

Mechanics 271

Mechanics Studios Games 271

Game Developer

AUGUST 19, 2024

Join us for a discussion on the modes and mechanics that define an emerging genre.

Mechanics 306

Mechanics Games 306

Game Developer

APRIL 7, 2023

Environmental strategy game Terra Nil needed to do what no other citybuilding game had done before to cross the finish line.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

Juego Studio

DECEMBER 30, 2024

Game design is a fascinating blend of strategy and art. But this fascination comes to a halt, when a debate on game design fundamentals begins what comes first, the theme or the mechanics? This is the question that comes to all the game designers at the very first step when starting to create a game.

Game Designer 121

Game Designer Game Design Mechanics Art 121

Game Developer

AUGUST 22, 2023

Mimimi Games needed a touch of magic to make save scumming feel like a natural part of gameplay.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

Game Developer

JULY 15, 2024

The beta for Firewalk Games' Concord shows off a surprisingly rich deckbuilding-inspired game mechanic.

Beta 324

Beta Mechanics Dev Games 324

Game Developer

MARCH 12, 2024

The directors of RAM: Random Access Mayhem talk about how difficulties doing well while playing challenging roguelike games would spark a compelling idea for a roguelike of their own.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

Game Developer

OCTOBER 3, 2024

The Game Bakers creative director Emeric Thoa explains why the studio built a limb-by-limb climbing mechanic from scratch.

Mechanics 319

Mechanics Studios Games 319

Game Refinery

MAY 4, 2023

We’ve been writing about the growth of ‘hybrid’ mobile games – when a title merges two or more genres to create an entirely new gameplay experience – since 2020, but hybrid games have evolved a lot since then, especially when it comes to the game genres that are being merged together.

Mobile Gaming 252

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Mechanics 252

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 3, 2023

Great game and great trailer ! How many times do you need to show a hooky idea or game mechanic in a trailer for people to understand it? Also, when watching a game trailer I think people first look for how the game works, and then CONFIRMATION they were correct. Top image: Dead Cells by Motion Twin.

Mechanics 238

Mechanics Games Editing Animation 238

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. What are game mechanics?

Mechanics 95

Mechanics Puzzle Games Game Design 95

Game Developer

JANUARY 31, 2024

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has a simple-but-brilliant mechanic to help players remember hidden locations on the game's massive map.

Mechanics 344

Mechanics Games 344

Game Developer

JANUARY 18, 2023

Europe's Parliament plans on regulating loot boxes in video games and ensuring that the controversial mechanic doesn't take advantage of young players.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

Belgian developer Cyborn has introduced a fresh perspective on mixed-reality gaming with the release of Wall Town Wonders , a game that transforms living spaces into bustling miniature towns built right on the wall. Eighteen months later, the game is here,” he says. But I’m happy we put it in already.”

Games 118

Games Mechanics Prototyping Build 118

Game Developer

MAY 21, 2024

The developers at Humble Reeds talk about how they wove conservationism into the game's mechanics without bogging the them down in the complexities of environmental care.

Mechanics 304

Mechanics Development Games 304

Game Refinery

APRIL 27, 2023

Mobile games and gacha mechanics have been closely aligned for a significant time. Regardless of the genre, most gamers playing titles on a mobile device will inevitably encounter gacha mechanics in some shape or form, whether that’s a box gacha, sugoroku gacha, timed gacha, or one of many others.

Mobile Gaming 227

Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Mechanics 227

Game Developer

MARCH 21, 2024

Phil Crifo talks about the desire and utility of setting a game in their homeland of New Caledonia, as well as how that would shape its mechanics and play.

Mechanics 297

Mechanics Games 297

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Polish indie studio Eleven Puzzles has been making a name for themselves as the creators of some fine cooperative puzzle games, like Unsolved Case and Unboxing the Cryptic Killer. “The initial idea was very simple and primitive, we just wanted to make a game set in a laboratory. We love the freedom that comes with remote work.

Puzzle 138

Puzzle Mechanics Communications Studios 138

Game Developer

MARCH 31, 2023

Ubisoft Toronto's Brandon Hennessy spoke at GDC 2023 about the narrative work that went into Watch Dogs: Legion , and how the game's Play as Anyone mechanic required changes to the narrative team's pipeline.

Mechanics 304

Mechanics Games 304

Game Developer

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

We had a lot of fun making this game, with a clear scope and framework to start from, and a lot of room for iteration both mechanically and in adding secrets and surprises.

Mechanics 304

Mechanics Games 304

Game Developer

JANUARY 3, 2024

There is no need to implement mechanics and parameters that are not capable of creating interesting situations even theoretically.

Mechanics 246

Mechanics Games 246

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

Disclosure: This article has been written as a part of a paid cooperation with Xsolla Game demos are as important to a successful game marketing strategy as trailers and advertising. A game demo is more than a condensed snapshot of your game. What kind of demo do you need? The most commonly used form is a prologue.

Demo 239

Demo Mechanics Games Bug 239

Indie DB

AUGUST 14, 2023

The game includes various action sequences, including fistfights. I've been working on implementing this gameplay mechanic in a test trial for a few days.

Mechanics 98

Mechanics Games 98

Game Developer

JANUARY 12, 2023

"When we set out to make the next installment in the series, we knew we had to nail the economy aspect, making it both believable as a real-world historical model and compelling as a game mechanic."

Mechanics 274

Mechanics Games 274

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 27, 2024

They're similar to, for example, randomly-determined critical hits that deal additional damage or dizzying your opponent in fighting games. Statistically speaking, the killstreak rewards are designed so they won't greatly affect overall game results, but they're really cool to activate and the players engaging with them have a lot of fun.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Dev Fighting Balance 52

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

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. In the ever-evolving landscape of the gaming industry, it's no secret that games often draw inspiration from one another.

Feature 98

Feature Art Mechanics Balance 98

Game Developer

JUNE 20, 2023

Square Enix's 2022 game Chocobo GP has been updated to completely cut out its microtransactions and free-to-play mechanics.

Mechanics 254

Mechanics Games 254

Game Errors

JANUARY 31, 2023

Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 is available on Steam and it seems that the game encounters a lot of errors. In this 2018 version, Car Mechanic Simulator seems to be poorly optimized and players reported launching issues, black screen, crashes, low frame rates, drops of fps, and freezes.

Mechanics 96

Mechanics Simulation PC FPS 96

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

First-time Swedish developer Far Out Games has meticulously crafted a neon-drenched Americana, complete with pink motels, sun-soaked suburbs and classic diners, all ready to be obliterated by you and your unstoppable delivery truck. We think it brings a certain atmosphere to the game that ties everything together in a nice way.”

Open World 104

Open World Games Studios Development 104

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.

Prototyping 104

Prototyping Indy Games Concepts 104