10 Game Design Rules You Must Know

10 Game Design Rules You Must Know:: 1. 🔍 Reward curiosity ↳ If players wander off the main path, make it worth their time. • Hidden treasures, story snippets, or rare items keep exploration exciting and rewarding.2. 🏆 Make victory and defeat crystal clear ↳ Avoid confusing win/lose conditions. • Players need to understand how they can succeed, and why they failed. • Visual cues like progress bars or danger symbols (e.g., red or sharp objects) help a lot.3. 🔄 Be consistent ↳ Patterns build trust. • If the “exit” button is always top-right, keep it there. • Never break the rules you’ve taught players.4. 🌟 Guide, don’t lecture ↳ Nobody likes a dull tutorial. • Help players learn through subtle hints, not drawn-out lessons. • Let them discover solutions on their own.5. ⚖️ Keep it fair ↳ Unfair moments […]

Anton Slashcev January 27

Journal

Project R.I.S.E. by Supercell

Project R.I.S.E. by Supercell had its 3rd Alpha test last weekend and we couldn't miss it 😎. This time also on Android, the dev team finally showed us some Metagame features and iterated a lot on the previous feature set. Get the latest update on this cooperative roguelite ARPG ⚔️ here: Tower upgrades 🗼 were introduced, which are powering the feature unlock progression. You still get pass points for chests, but recycling the perks points (basically discarding skills during your run) gives you a permanent upgrade to your account through these. These include stuff such as more consumable slots for revives, more perk rerolls, feature unlocks etc. Another Metagame feature added is Tower Forge 🔨 (bottom Image). This basically unlocks the skill pool of core gameplay skills on semi-random pacing as you sink soft currency into it and a random […]

Jakub Remiar January 23

Journal

Level Mechanics of Royal Kingdom

I’ve saved your time by deconstructing and categorizing ALL 50(!) Level Mechanics from Royal Kingdom 👑 This article is a MUST-Read for both Game Designers and Level Designers.You'll find:↳ Journey from PvP to PvE↳ Royal Kingdom’s key mechanics↳ Retention vs Monetization↳ Level Design & Curve Complexity (the most insightful part)Find the Article Here

Olha Semykina January 23

Journal

Analyze 1000 Games in 5 min with AI

How to analyze 1000 mobile games in 5 minutes with AI: 𝟭. 𝗚𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰: https://lnkd.in/gAtFSbiA • Use this link for temporary access to its pro features.𝟮. 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲 • Tap “TAGS.” • Choose the subgenre you’re interested in (e.g., Merge). 𝟯. 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 • Select “YEAR” for the time period. • Set the number of results to 1000. 𝟰. 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 • Download the CSV file by clicking “Download CSV.” 𝟱. 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 • Go to: https://chatgpt.com/ • Open the GPT-4 model. • Attach the CSV file. • Use this prompt: https://lnkd.in/gEUyZkwr • Enter "continue" several times. 𝟲. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 • Discover trends, revenue changes, common mechanics, popular settings, styles, and even helpful graphs. Enjoy!

Anton Slashcev January 23

Journal

Top Game Picks of the Week!

Time for another round of mobile game discoveries, where I play so you don’t have to—unless you want to, and trust me, this week, you will want to! From untangling threads (and your life?) to chainsawing fruit and smashing zombies, here are three games that had me hooked. Let’s go! 🚀---1️⃣ Thread Jam by SayGames🧵 When Threads Take Over Your Brain!Ever looked at a tangled mess of threads and thought, “I want more of this in my life”? Me neither—but Thread Jam makes it weirdly fun. SayGames delivers a beautifully chaotic puzzle where you match threads, create colorful art, and watch your sanity unravel with every level. The cute art style sucked me in, but the challenging levels kept me sweating. Fair warning: boosters and extra moves will tempt your wallet—but hey, you can’t blame them for trying!App Store: https://shorturl.at/1wvW6Google […]

Gamigion January 22

Journal

60+ Gamedev Learning Resources

60+ Gamedev Learning Resources --- CODE1. YouTube • Brackeys (https://lnkd.in/gChH3YcW) • The Cherno (https://lnkd.in/gY4tWAH6) • CodeMonkey (https://lnkd.in/ghDu7nxh) • FreeCodeCamp (https://lnkd.in/ghDu7nxh) 2. Blogs • Unity Learn (https://learn.unity.com/) • GameDev.net (https://www.gamedev.net/) • Stack Overflow [gamedev] (https://lnkd.in/ghjn2Y5M) • FreeCodeCamp News (https://lnkd.in/gfeY3RBh) 3. Courses • Codecademy (https://lnkd.in/grprAvrn) • Udemy (https://lnkd.in/gSWtv6aB) • edX CS50 (https://lnkd.in/g6mCxmH7) • Coursera: C# (https://lnkd.in/g-bDzrYk) 4. Books • Unity in Action (https://lnkd.in/g7856DEg) • Clean Code (https://lnkd.in/gjh36jum) 5. LinkedIn • Jason Lovett • Frédéric Nowak ☁ --- ART1. YouTube • ArtStation (https://lnkd.in/gRaeb__T) • Marco Bucci (https://lnkd.in/gKXrDRf8) • FZD School (https://lnkd.in/gYv8jGY6) • Cubebrush (https://lnkd.in/g6ZPdrtj) 2. Blogs • 80.lv (https://80.lv/) • Polycount (https://polycount.com/) • Concept Art World (https://lnkd.in/gJbsgZwn) • ArtStation Magazine (https://lnkd.in/g78VG2aC) 3. Courses • Schoolism (https://schoolism.com/) • Udemy (https://lnkd.in/gRUzJubR) • Coursera: Art and Concept (https://lnkd.in/gqJAsUgk) • CG Master Academy (https://lnkd.in/g98n5Dja) 4. Books • Drawing Basics Video Game Art (https://lnkd.in/gycFewTr) • How to Draw […]

Anton Slashcev January 22

Journal

Designing a Great First-Time User Experience

How to design a great First-Time User Experience Together with devtodev, we’ve compiled a list of tips for FTUE:𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸. • First impressions matter. • Grab attention with visuals, a quick story, or a fun challenge. • Highlight what makes your game unique (art, story, mechanics). 𝟮. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿. • Show players what to do immediately. • Use short, skippable instructions (e.g., tooltips, highlights). • Let actions teach—avoid long explanations. 𝟯. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. • Unveil one mechanic at a time. • Reinforce learning before adding more. • Reward players for mastering new features. • Use animations or story to connect mechanics to gameplay. 𝟰. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. • Early wins = emotional investment. • Keep first levels easy for high success rates. • Show progress with bars, collectibles, or milestones. • Celebrate with sound or visual […]

Anton Slashcev January 21

Journal

Game Economy Loop

Better game economy means better retention. Why? The best game design lesson you’ll see today: A player-focused economy strikes a fine balance:1. Room to grow and grind.2. Fun and satisfaction in spending.If you lose this balance, you lose the player.At the core of every GREAT game economy,is a main currency loop that flows.1. Players earn resources through gameplay,2. Resources feed into upgrades, and rewards,3. Currencies drain (or convert) back into gameplay.How do you perfect this loop?✦ Track player behavior: ↳ Use data to identify spending and earning points.✦Excel sheets are your best friend: ↳ Map out EVERYTHING.✦Iterate based on data, often:↳ Adjust to maintain engagement.Combine this with fun, engaging game mechanics, and you get yourself a ticket to a successful game After all, Every successful game achieves one thing:Perfect economic balance.

Gökhan Üzmez January 21

Journal

Game development isn’t just about coding.

Game development isn't just about coding. It's about beating the ultimate bosses in life and business.Here’s the breakdown of difficulty tiers:🔴 S+ Tier: Final bosses: Peak challenges• Securing funding.• Balancing team burnout.• Delivering on tight deadlines.The pressure here is immense.🟠 S Tier: Legendary: Honing the essentials• Art, animation, bizdev, game design, legal, • Game/level/sound design, localization, QA • Marketing, production, tech art, narrative This is where games become unforgettable.🟡 A Tier: Advanced: Nailing the details• Ensuring ladders are climbable.• Making doors open smoothly.• Polishing online multiplayer.Here, details shape the experience.🟢 B Tier: High Difficulty: Building core• Configurable gamepads.• Performance optimization.• Creating effective tutorials. This is where ideas begin to take form.🔵 C Tier: Hard: Good Ideas🟣 D Tier: Easy: IdeasGame dev mirrors life and business.Success hides in the small things.It’s easy to dream. Hard to execute.

Sergei Vasiuk January 21

Journal

Archero 2: Onboarding done right!

🚀 Onboarding done right! Archero 2, the sequel to the popular Archero game by Habby, has a fantastic 3-day offer for new players. It's clever because it tackles retention right from the start—once you buy the pack, you’re motivated to log in daily to claim the rewards you’ve already paid for. This helps bring players back during the critical first few days, setting strong engagement habits early on. What’s even better? The twist! They’ve added three pricing tiers, offering better rewards as you move up, ensuring value at every level. It’s a smart mix of monetization and retention.

Michael Kopelovich January 20

Journal

20 metrics all game devs should hold close.

20 metrics all game devs should hold close. (there are more, but I’ll keep it simple)First, remember 3 core pillars:1. New Players ↳ How you acquire your audience.2. Active Players ↳ How you retain your audience.3. Paying Players ↳ How you monetize your audience.Second, there’s no one-size-fits-all set ofmetrics, but here's the truth:20% of your game’s metrics drive80% of your game’s performance.Here are the 20 most important metrics:📊 Acquisition Metrics• New Daily or Monthly Active Users• CPA (Cost Per Install/Login/Battle)• Fraud Share: Invalid ad metrics• New Players Retention Rate• New Players Churn Rate• K-Factor: Viral growth📊 Retention Metrics• Daily/Monthly Active Users• 1, 7, 30 Day Retention• Session Length• Session Count• Churn Rate• Lifetime📊 Monetization metrics• LTV: Revenue over player Lifetime• ARPPU: Revenue Per Paying User• Daily/Monthly Paying Users• Average Transaction Value• ARPU: Revenue per User• Number of Transactions• Payer Retention• […]

Sergei Vasiuk January 20

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: 43

Hola Fam ☃️ Lezgo with hot stuff. Bye, TikTok. Aaand - Already back, lol. Strong reminder: Don't rely heavily on a single UA channel. Smt fun? Game of The Week: Block Blast Block Blast has created the biggest ad revenue game from a simplistic block-blasting mechanic. It's using the Tetris "likeness" to its advantage, but it still has a lot of iteration to differentiate from its predecessor. But don't be fooled, under the surface, there is a lot of hidden stuff that is the secret sauce of the game such as difficulty balancing. More? Here on YouTube & Spotify Mobile Marketing » Magic Sort Analysis: Grand Games’ New Treasure 📈 Paid campaign effect on organic traffic 🤟🏻 Evolution of Stacking Mechanics 👥 Player Segmentation to boost LTV 📱 Mobile Games Marketing Predictions 🇹🇷 Top 10 Turkish Mobile Game Publishers 👾 […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 19

#GameDev

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