News

The cost of games
The cost of games
Take a dataset of over 250 games, their development costs, their year of release, what they sold for and big they were. What can we learn about the trends and what it means for the industry?
Jan. 18, 2018
More Introspection, Please: Why We Should All Make Time to Not Make Things
More Introspection, Please: Why We Should All Make Time to Not Make Things
After a recent creative break, I grapple with how rest and introspection are not championed in the industry, even they can be a huge boon to creative work.
Jan. 18, 2018
Are probabilities ruining your RPG experience?
Are probabilities ruining your RPG experience?
Wouldn’t it be more fun if we hid the success probabilities of choices in an RPG? In real life, you mostly understand your chances without percentages popping up in front of your face. Here's how we think about the problem when designing Sacred Fire RPG.
Jan. 18, 2018
Six Match, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Finish the Game
Six Match, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Finish the Game
What goes into a match-3 game that takes 4 years to make? In this post I'll show you my methods and a host of games and creators that helped shape an original way to match-3.
Jan. 18, 2018
Player Relationship types in Hades’ Star
Player Relationship types in Hades’ Star
Very often in a social game, the same feature can result in significantly different player experiences, depending on the relationship between the participating players. In this post we present some examples from our own game.
Jan. 17, 2018
Phaser to iOS without PhoneGap or Cordova - First steps
Phaser to iOS without PhoneGap or Cordova - First steps
Sharing the experience of discovery as I get sprites rendering onscreen using Phaser on iOS.
Jan. 17, 2018
VR Headphones Update: Video Game Music Composers
VR Headphones Update: Video Game Music Composers
How does headphone tech impact virtual reality? Video game music composer Winifred Phillips provides updates on VR headphone prototypes and consumer products. The issue of consumer confusion regarding headphone surround sound in VR is also discussed.
Jan. 16, 2018
Behavioral Profiling: How to Build Useful Player Models
Behavioral Profiling: How to Build Useful Player Models
Behavioral profiling is among the most useful of the tools in the arsenal of a game analyst. Profiling allows a way to manage complex user data and discover patterns in behavior. This post covers the basics and presents notes on popular types of profiles.
Jan. 16, 2018
What I learned after over 200 GDC talks
What I learned after over 200 GDC talks
Hundreds of talks, one lesson to be learned.
Jan. 16, 2018
Video Game Deep Cuts: Getting Over Desert Golf's Loot Boxes
Video Game Deep Cuts: Getting Over Desert Golf's Loot Boxes
The latest Video Game Deep Cuts looks at how Bennett Foddy Got Over It, the crazy new(ish) ending for Desert Golf, and some (slightly) nicer loot box implementations.
Jan. 15, 2018
I Am Overburdened, recap and numbers
I Am Overburdened, recap and numbers
It has been a little over two months since I released I Am Overburdened, my silly indie roguelike. Here's an in-depth analysis how the overall production and final numbers turned out.
Jan. 15, 2018
A vivisection of Plague Inc: The Board Game (part 2) - Manufacturing and Design
A vivisection of Plague Inc: The Board Game (part 2) - Manufacturing and Design
I’m the creator of Plague Inc. and this is part two of a blog series detailing the lessons I learned when creating Plague Inc: The Board Game. Here I’ll focus on the manufacturing process - how I got the board game made and the company I worked with.
Jan. 15, 2018