Brand Game Development

JANUARY 25, 2021

I’ve written before about the usefulness of documenting your playtesting. It contains both pragmatic advice and a primer to the mindset I want you to take into playtesting. Now your game is ready for blind playtesting. Send your game to new blind playtesters. Need help on your board game? Don’t interfere.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Mechanics Editing 130

Brand Game Development

APRIL 7, 2017

Perfect the core engine – the bare minimum mix of mechanics it takes for your game to qualify as a game. I used a rudimentary card drafting mechanic to decide the destinations. My brother and I ended up liking the drafting mechanic. My goal for State Route 2 is to test a handful of mechanics. Just get it playable.

Mechanics 130

Mechanics Dev Simulation Games 130

PreMortem.Games

JANUARY 8, 2024

While I get feedback from friends and playtesters, it doesn’t compare to the iteration you get from working with someone who is equally as invested in the project as you are. Sometimes I have to make a bet that a feature will be fun only to end up cutting later after playtest feedback.” What’s your creative process? “I

Dev 160

Dev Playtesting AAA Indy 160

PreMortem.Games

MAY 1, 2023

Everyone must be online from 14h to 18h on Discord because this is ‘when things get done’ and we can all do brainstorms, playtests and all that.” Mechanical Hand The studio’s upcoming game, Atomic Picnic, is the brainchild of the company’s CEO, Camilla Slotfeldt. There was a bunch of things she wanted in the game.

Studios 104

Studios Build Playtesting Concepts 104

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Playtesting is a major and frequent part of our development process so we had confidence throughout that we had a really good experience on our hands. Oh yes, our big takeaway was definitely playtesting. Being in charge of our own schedule meant we could have as much playtesting as we felt necessary.”

Playtesting 118

Playtesting Rigging Horror Prototyping 118

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 30, 2023

We had three very different games that we spent around two weeks on each, developing them up to a point where we could playtest them with other people”, says Mason. A few different mechanics For a game about fishing stuff out of the water, Dredge is surprisingly light on fishing mechanics. Even with no tutorial. seconds.

Playtesting 104

Playtesting Prototyping Games Mechanics 104

PreMortem.Games

MARCH 20, 2023

We had three very different games that we spent around two weeks on each, developing them up to a point where we could playtest them with other people”, says Mason. A few different mechanics For a game about fishing stuff out of the water, Dredge is surprisingly light on fishing mechanics. Even with no tutorial. seconds.

Playtesting 104

Playtesting Prototyping Mechanics Games 104

PreMortem.Games

MAY 19, 2023

Drawing inspiration from their own experiences in bouldering, the team sought to incorporate the exhilarating mechanics of climbing into the game. But we probed and playtested, and we pulled through without changing course to a climbing-inspired arcade game”, says Boogaard.

Indy 104

Indy Dev Studios Playtesting 104

Brand Game Development

JUNE 3, 2019

This type of journey mapping, from a mechanics perspective, is extremely helpful when understanding the feelings and emotions the players may go through during the game. You can further pare down journey maps and empathy maps to very specific scenarios and instances which create many playtesting questions.

UX 130

UX Playtesting Game Designer Game Design 130

Brand Game Development

JUNE 20, 2019

The reason is that Cover Your Assets’ core mechanic is deceptively quite compelling. The core mechanic of stealing and defending sets of cards that increase in value is essentially the whole game. Wide audiences find the core mechanic of Cover Your Assets really compelling. Two Stacks Per Player.

Asset 130

Asset Mechanics Games Balance 130

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

Combining these elements with sim mechanics meant we could come up with some exciting, innovative gameplay.” The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. The more complex a mechanic is, the more guidance players will need. But it took some tweaking to get the right balance.

Studios 104

Studios Content Balance Mechanics 104

Brand Game Development

APRIL 27, 2020

Two groups that come to mind are the Tabletop Game Playtesters Guild and Card & Board Game Designers Guild. There are large groups of people who absolutely love play-testing, even though it is often hard work. Reaching out to these enthusiasts is often the best way to find play-testers. Visit your local game store.

Demo 130

Demo Playtesting Simulation Advertising 130

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

But the process doesn’t end there, and usually I keep discovering things that make me go back and forth and iterate, playtest, iterate, refine, playtest, iterate… I definitely recommend getting feedback from external playtesters at each step.” “I

Dev 160

Dev Playtesting Art Games 160

Brand Game Development

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

one place I’ve encouraged surprise is the facedown card mechanic. If you hate the game you’re playtesting, do something different. Don’t just playtest it and refine the mechanics. If you can give your game a story, you build a whole world of context that draws patterns in the mechanics and the theme.

Game Designer 130

Game Designer Game Design Tile Games 130

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

As I said last week , “rules regulate the way mechanics are implemented. A mechanic is the concept behind the game and the rule is the way that it’s handled to ensure balance.” Playtest a Ton. Rules are how we implement game mechanics. I have some guidelines. 14 Rules for Board Game Rules.

Balance 130

Balance Games Communications Mechanics 130

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2023

Combining these elements with sim mechanics meant we could come up with some exciting, innovative gameplay.” The team of White Star Studios closely monitored the results of early playtest sessions. The more complex a mechanic is, the more guidance players will need. But it took some tweaking to get the right balance.

Studios 104

Studios Content Balance Playtesting 104

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Sarah: It was also in 2013 that we met Ben and were playtesters for his game Tower , which he launched on Kickstarter early in 2014. Along with handling all the business, Ben has playtested and helped develop our designs. Sarah: I’m the one who makes the early prototypes and I’m in charge of the playtesting.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Playtesting Game Designer 130

Brand Game Development

MARCH 9, 2020

I think I said it best in 2016 when I first wrote about Monopoly : Despite letting leaders run away and providing inadequate catch-up mechanics, Monopoly is not a fast game. Watch your playtesters’ reactions. With so many issues, it seems unlikely that Monopoly was thoroughly playtested.

Game Designer 130

Game Designer Game Design Playtesting Games 130

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

With various other developers, I’ve talked about all the different parts that go into making a board game: the core engine , the mechanics , rules , and storytelling / internal narrative. Whenever I demo or playtest, I make sure to get the email address of the person, so I can inform them when the Kickstarter starts.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 16, 2023

While the gameplay mechanics reflect the search for historical accuracy, the team of Gorilla Softworks didn’t try to go for realism in the visual presentation. In our team everyone has different roles in coding, design and testing, but at the end of the day we comment on each other’s work in playtests.”

Technology 104

Technology Indy Games Playtesting 104

PreMortem.Games

JULY 1, 2024

Evan Anthony: “Alternating between two timelines with such different visual designs, mechanics, and stories has been a real brain puzzle for us. This time around we’re putting a lot more time and resources into playtesting and catching problems early.” Our first game, Genesis Noir, released with its fair share of bugs.

Art 138

Art Games Graphics Puzzle 138

Logic Simplified

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

Level design is a part of video game design that focuses specifically on designing game levels (an area or stage a player must complete before moving on to the next one) while keeping in mind the architecture, layout, video game mechanics , and pace to keep the players invested in the game. Define the gameplay mechanics.

Mechanics 65

Mechanics Games Playtesting Concepts 65

Raph Koster

JULY 31, 2024

The point of this little exercise is to clarify what the fantasy that you are trying to fulfill in your game narrative is, clarify what the mechanics in your game point towards, and see whether they line up well. What is the player’s goal (in the experience)?

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Fantasy Mechanics Games 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

It is true that games speak to players through gameplay – the core engine, mechanics, and rules. Playtesting storytelling. Dylan: For example, the hipster customers in Seize the Bean have a simple, understandable mechanic that is directly tied to the theme and story: they make you raise your hype.

Art 130

Art Games Mechanics Game Developer 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

There are mechanics in there that nobody’s ever seen!” They could be manufacturers, retailers, designers, or playtesters. Companies have limited resources and can only spend their time developing the best of the best. The heartbreak comes from the seemingly arbitrary nature of what is accepted and what is not.

Games 130

Games Retail Game Designer Game Design 130

Interesting Choices

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Also wanted to give a quick update on my various boardgame designs: City Draft - This 7 Wonders inspired drafting game is consistently liked in playtests and has been improving slowly and steadily. I thought I was onto something here after I hit a design breakthrough a few weeks ago but I'm getting discouraged again based on recent playtests.

Game Designer 40

Game Designer Game Design Playtesting Tile 40

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 21, 2024

.’ Through our discussion, I gained a profound appreciation for the delicate balance required to honor the original’s spirit while introducing innovative gameplay mechanics that captivate a new generation of gamers. “Hacking is a central mechanic in the new game,” James explained.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Balance 52

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 22, 2023

This new batch of items in particular is composed of quite a few belonging to the mechanics-heavy very interesting category, so in that regard this spike is quite meaningful. Just this week I streamed the first playtest of that feature, and was pleasantly surprised. The first three years there are Alpha, followed by Beta.

Beta 105

Beta Alpha Mechanics Build 105

Game Analytics

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Playtesting is crucial at this point. That’s interesting and new gameplay for Among Us” There were plenty more features and mechanics the team considered adding. When we asked Schell Games what they’re using, they recommended User Testing for their playtesting, and GameAnalytics for collecting quantitative data.

Dev 91

Dev Playtesting Fantasy Render 91

PreMortem.Games

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

All this before there’s ever any playtesting done. But I think the main lesson is to test more, test sooner, test elaborately and don’t only test for the game’s mechanics. “Having full control over the entire project and its creative direction counts as a pitfall too. When working in a team ideas bounce around, feedback is given etc.

Dev 104

Dev Puzzle Prototyping Development 104

iXie gaming

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

This will help you shape the gameplay art style, mechanics, and general experience. Upon establishing your audience, brainstorm unique features and game mechanics. Therefore, you should consider integrating mechanics that enable players to gather, evolve, trade, and customize their NFT-based assets. Develop smart contracts.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Asset 52

Brand Game Development

MARCH 16, 2020

You do the game development and playtesting. Publishers have all sorts of vetting mechanisms in place that keep you from going to market with a bad game. It takes a lot of time to learn and it’s an entirely separate discipline from game development or any other responsibility that you will handle on a regular basis.

Games 130

Games Quality Assurance Art Game Developer 130

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 4, 2023

For month after month, I tried fixing them with different supporting mechanisms, different ways that cards were obtained, different ways damage was dealt, and a lot more, but nothing really fixed the fundamental problem. Once I realized that we were going to have to ditch the core mechanism, that kind of meant something like starting over.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Game Designer Game Design Playtesting 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Beta 11 was a huge milestone in Cogmind development, having completed a comprehensive review of all items and their stats and mechanics in order to rebalance where necessary, a process I wrote about in detail last year. As part of this drive, for months I’ve been creating over 100 new items, most of them including new mechanics.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Alpha 52

Interesting Choices

AUGUST 17, 2011

Of course, many games have also managed to solve this problem, either intentionally or as a side effect of another mechanic. Initial playtesting has been good, and I'm confident that all players will be able to contribute throughout the game. Now to fine tune the rest of the mechanics.

Communications 52

Communications Co-op Mechanics Playtesting 52

Grid Sage Games

MARCH 10, 2022

Mechanics that are never quite worth taking advantage of, items that haven’t lived up to their potential, or were later superseded by other options but remained unchanged, or even long-term experiments that were included at some point but never updated/expanded/removed.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Prototyping 52

iXie gaming

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

In doing so, TestComplete expedites bug detection, allowing developers to allocate more resources and time to refining gameplay mechanics. PlaytestCloud PlaytestCloud enables you to playtest any video game on any platform, including iOS and Android. This tool focuses on gathering user feedback and playtesting.

Quality Assurance 52

Quality Assurance Bug Cross platform Games 52