Girls und Panzer Partnership in WoT!

We’ve just launched a collaboration with Girls und Panzer in WoT! Hooray!🌟In my personal opinion this is a great and wholesome anime for those who love tank history. And that’s why: — A lot of different vehicles made with care and respect to historic details. Tanks are also main characters of this show!— Non-violent setting! Everything is presented as a sports competition between different schools. All tanks are equipped to conduct staged battles, without real danger to the participants (it may not always be believable though).— Different schools based on references to different countries with a little flair around it. And with fitting vehicles fleets.— Lighthearted story, quite simple and rather good for such a theme. It is building the foundation for competition between different schools with extensive tank battles in it.But I admit, I may be a bit biased. […]

Sergei Zenkin June 22

Journal

Game Systems: Avoiding Post-Launch Design Pitfalls

When designing game systems, it is very important to ask yourself a question — how long will the feature exist after release? Why is it useful:With time systems may tend to work worse, and there may be upcoming problems with scaling and iterating it. This “sanity check” will make life much easier for you or for the people who would deal with the emerging problems in the end. 🛠 ———————🔖A little example from personal experience:I once designed a dynamic difficulty system for PVE content and event campaigns. It was needed so that both new players and players with high-level content could play with challenge and fun, without the feeling of unfair difficulty. To develop such a system, I relied a lot on checking on specific points of progression and content (all these - with weights) to understand how "high-end" a […]

Sergei Zenkin June 21

Journal

So, I fired up my GamePass.

Aye, I'm well into atmospheric games. Love the whole horror genre, but especially the isolation horror. When "Still Wakes the Deep" came oot, I had to gie it a go. Plus, with The Games Fund backin' some horror game devs, it felt right up my alley. So, I fired up ma GamePass.Here’s whit I think efter 5:30 to beat the game. Heads up, there might be some spoilers.The game is a stunner in 4K HDR, fully unleashed on the 4090. The settin' on a falling apart oil rig in the North Sea is class. Even though ye’re stuck in wee boxish compartments and technical rooms full of pipes, it never gets old. Every bit is well-crafted, givin' ye the best claustrophobic feel on the market. And a thalassophoby when you go get a breather on a deck. But the baddies are […]

Ilia Eremeev June 21

Journal

Great Game Designers: It’s All About Routines!

What makes a good Game Designer? A big part of it is build around a simple thing: Routines. 💪 Overall I have worked with tens of Game Designers throughout my career so far and can nowadays identify best ones quite easily. How? Seeing their routines through, which will reveal how they think, approach design and overall tackle challenges from a larger picture on top of other important factors. 💯👍Why routines? They make one always go through different questions and details, which formalizes to proper game design that really have been thought and walked through by looking into all necessary details. When used properly, even someone who would have not been a Game Designer previously, but have been in games in another role, can produce an ok outcome just by following routines through that e.g., higher positioned Game Designers follow through […]

Antti Kananen June 21

Journal

The Key to Building Great Games

The most important part in games production, on a quest to build a successful game, is getting iterative development right - yet, most don't get it right nor don't even know how to approach it right. Where someone approaches games production or project management through regular agile, lean, etc. methodologies, the biggest trap one falls is just following up processes & frameworks - and believing things will work out. I mean, it's fine, but as an outcome you end up shipping less greatness & mediocre games.How one can achieve more? The biggest truth is in the 'iterative' approach. And, specifically, in terms of iterative development, it's not really about processes nor frameworks -- it's all about: Mindset; mindset of team, leads, etc. as well as stakeholders involved in. This is the key to crack it right in the first place.Where […]

Antti Kananen June 21

Journal

10 Signs Of a Decent Game:

10 signs of a decent game: • Gameplay• Story• Sound• Replay• Setting• Controls• Graphics• Challenge• Originality• PromotionA decent game is a mix of these elements.It's about creating an enjoyable experience.It's where design meets player satisfaction.It's not about being perfect, but aboutconstantly improving.That's the true mark of a great game.And it's a standard we can all aim for.

Sergei Vasiuk June 20

Journal

Scopely Earns a Place Among the Giants

But they didn't just stumble onto the TIME100 list. How to secure your spot? Three key takeaways: 1. Innovate: Scopely's "MONOPOLY GO!" launch was a game-changer, becoming the biggest mobile game launch in the United States.2. Build Community: Gaming isn't just about play and connection. Scopely's "commitment to cultivating highly social experiences" fosters engagement across generations and geographies.3. Create Impact: TIME evaluates companies based on impact. Scopely's growth to the #1 mobile games company in the U.S. demonstrates the significance of their influence.Success comes from the ability to translate vision into reality.Scopely's recognition proves that the gaming industry is not just about entertainment.It's a platform for innovation, community building, and global impact.And remember, it's not about the destination. It's about who you become, the communities you build, and the lives you touch.So, game devs and fans, are you ready to […]

Ali Farha June 19

Journal

The line between work and passion is incredibly thin.

Sometimes the line between work and passion is incredibly thin. Especially in an industry like ours, where the "product" we create and sell is all about enjoyment and fun. The distinction often lies in timing and perspective.For instance, if I take out a box of Lego pieces and start building a castle dungeon, at age 8, it’s simply seen as playtime. Fast forward to age 28, and this same activity can be clearly recognized as level designing and pure dedication to one's work and professional growth. And if you’re a bit older, the circle closes and you may find yourself blending both worlds and using your work tools to bring a premium touch to today's session of Gloomhaven.In either case, the photo would be quite similar.To be honest, I'm a bit unreasonably proud of the upgraded experience I created in […]

Jesus Machina June 17

Journal

Trending Game: Supermarket Simulator – Round 2

NEW GAME TRENDING SUPERMARKET SIMULATOR (ROUND 2) In April, I published a post about the new trend of supermarket simulators 🛒 in the games industry.There I mentioned that this trend emerged on Steam (by Valve corporation) under the title "Supermarket Simulator", developed by Nokta Games.The trend quickly spread to the mobile market and spawned some hits, such as "Supermarket Manager Simulator" by Polish studio Digital Melody Games. 🇵🇱At that time, the games that took advantage of this trend reached around 35MM downloads and US$512k in IAP revenue.What has happened since then? 🤔Well… some gaming studios have read my post 🤣 and launched their versions of supermarket simulators.And studios that had already developed supermarket simulators, either in a different version to Nokta's game, also took advantage of the trend. 📈(This is the case with "Hypermarket 3D", a Hypercasual simlutator published by […]

Carlos Pereira June 17

Journal

Parking Lot And Cool Game Design Meetings

What Does Connect Parking Lot And Cool Game Design Meetings? 🚗 During the last Game Design Workshop, I got familiar with a project management technique Parking Lot where you ‘park’ not relevant to the meeting topics. This really helps to focus on the current goal, save time, and not to flood.It can be a hypothetical parking lot or a real one (for example, a whiteboard with stickers). We had it on the wall in the corner of the room.When you see that the current question is not directly connected to the meeting’s topic, you just stop the discussion, write down the issue, and go back to the main part.📝 After meeting you can go back to these ‘parked’ questions. Thanks, Charles Lees-Czerkawski, for explaining and making a nice replica of a real parking lot sign for the workshop!Have you ever […]

Eva Piatrushina June 17

Journal

Coming up with a game idea

Hello and welcome to our exclusive series on mastering game development and launch! Today, we delve into one of our most challenging yet enlightening topics: conceptualizing your next groundbreaking game idea. This journey is uniquely creative and iterative, where no single step overshadows another. This post tries to outline comprehensive steps and essential concepts to inspire and guide you towards creating your next big hit. Happy developing and stay inspired! Identify Your Core Expertise Genre: Understanding your strengths and preferences in game genres is vital in the highly competitive gaming market. This understanding forms the core foundation for developing a successful game. The significance of genre expertise is often reflected in the funding stages a game achieves, especially during the ideation or Beta launch phases. A prime example of the impact of genre expertise is Dream Games. Their funding journey […]

Saikat Mondal June 17