News

What is Live Support and how does it fit into the ever-evolving video game industry?
What is Live Support and how does it fit into the ever-evolving video game industry?
Customer Support, Quality Assurance and Community can work together with the right tools to provide a customer-centric approach to live support. Yes, it works for GaaS and unique titles supporting ongoing DLCs. This model can work without a PTR.
May 2, 2019
Stop teaching the player. Let him teach the game.
Stop teaching the player. Let him teach the game.
An article about how games should approach the player's choices and how they should deliver a moral message.
April 29, 2019
A vivisection of Plague Inc: The Board Game's sales data and commercial performance
A vivisection of Plague Inc: The Board Game's sales data and commercial performance
I’m the creator of Plague Inc. (and Rebel Inc.) Here is some data from the first few years of selling Plague Inc: The Board Game, the physical adaptation of the digital game, in case it helps future designers inform their decisions.
April 29, 2019
Video Game Deep Cuts: Gone for Days, Leaked ROMs for Fortnites 2
Video Game Deep Cuts: Gone for Days, Leaked ROMs for Fortnites 2
This week's roundup includes a look at Days Gone from multiple perspectives, a unique story of an Atari arcade game 'leaked' in an odd way, Fortnite's unpalatable developer crunch, parallax in games, Mortal Kombat 11's grindy glories, & lots more.
April 29, 2019
Portfolio-Scale Machine Learning at Zynga
Portfolio-Scale Machine Learning at Zynga
Automating predictive modeling across dozens of Zynga games with PySpark.
April 26, 2019
Event SuperVision PART 2
Event SuperVision PART 2
In PART 2 the variety of Game Event types are discussed, including what's unique, repeatible, and conditional. Supporting ideas like when they appear and what motiviation does it scratch are factored in.
April 25, 2019
Unboxing BOXBOY! - A Character Controller Cover
Unboxing BOXBOY! - A Character Controller Cover
An in depth look at what makes the character controller tick in HAL Laboratory's BOXBOY! This was done by "Covering" the game - a terrific game development exercise for finding hidden design, honing you craft, and expanding your toolset.
April 24, 2019
Quick Tips: 10 important Kickstarter hacks from an expert
Quick Tips: 10 important Kickstarter hacks from an expert
A quick checklist of expert hacks that will help you create a successful Kickstarter campaign.
April 23, 2019
Video Game Deep Cuts: The Panzer At Heaven's Vault 2
Video Game Deep Cuts: The Panzer At Heaven's Vault 2
This week's roundup includes a classic postmortem of Sega's seminal Panzer Dragoon series, impressions of the eagerly awaited Heaven's Vault, as well as secret MMO servers, homebrew Game Boy Games, the return of D&D, and much more besides.
April 22, 2019
Postmortem: Skirmish Line
Postmortem: Skirmish Line
Roughly 3 years in the making, Skirmish Line was a first project, indie "success" story. Here's what I've learned making my first game, and how new and old indies can get some pointers for their own projects.
April 22, 2019
Evolving Difficulty Modes in Survival Horror - Resident Evil 2
Evolving Difficulty Modes in Survival Horror - Resident Evil 2
What can Hardcore Mode in Resident Evil 2 offer beyond tougher enemies and scarcer bullets? A look at how content-based difficulty rewards survival horror fans.
April 22, 2019
The Morality of Anti-Heroes in Video Games: Why it's Fun to be the 'Bad Guy'
The Morality of Anti-Heroes in Video Games: Why it's Fun to be the 'Bad Guy'
Video game heroes are bastions of virtue admired by players far and wide - but what about villains? Why are some of us drawn to nefarious characters, and what does that say about us?
April 19, 2019