article thumbnail

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
article thumbnail

Games Speak through Mechanics, Not Rules

Brand Game Development

Core Engine: If you strip out all the mechanics that put obstacles in your players’ path, what’s left? The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics you need to have a functioning game. Mechanics: Games are not very good until you have constraints that make it hard for players to achieve the objective.

Mechanics 130
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Solo dev Josh Salley (HALbot Studios) “I believe in keeping a good work life balance”

PreMortem.Games

I just assumed game development involved writing code all day.” I never enjoyed programming very much and just assumed game development involved writing code all day. Thinking about those ideas and how I could come up with my own spin or tell my own story with similar mechanics. I believe in keeping a good work life balance.

Balance 195
article thumbnail

Two brothers behind MystiveDev build bodycam survival-horror Chasmal Fear

PreMortem.Games

The collaboration extends to game mechanics and gameplay loops, where player feedback plays a crucial role in shaping the final product. ” The creative process for Chasmal Fear took a different route than their past games Mirror Forge and Alan Sharp, with a focus on establishing gameplay mechanics before delving into the narrative.

Horror 211
article thumbnail

How To Play-Test the Rules of Your Board Game

Brand Game Development

Game rules are how we regulate the mechanics of our games so that they are consistent with the messages we want to send to players. This guide comes in four parts: What are some guidelines for writing good rules? What are some guidelines for writing good rules? Brandon: What are some guidelines for writing good rules?

Mechanics 130
article thumbnail

5 Levels of Communication through Game Development

Brand Game Development

The following excerpt is from Games Speak through Mechanics, Not Rules (Dev Diary: 04/28/17). If you strip out all the mechanics that put obstacles in your players’ path, what’s left? The core engine is the bare minimum set of mechanics you need to have a functioning game. That’s a mechanic. Chess tells a story.

article thumbnail

Nuverse lets AI do all the talking and moving of NPCs in Earth: Revival

PreMortem.Games

Currently, our system is designed to address highly repetitive and mechanical content production problems, such as matching lip movements. It even helps writing the lines. Dao Si, AI Team Leader, at Nuverse is enthusiastic about the technology. He says it helps artists to free up their time and produce content more efficiently.

AI 194