News

JikGuard
The attempts to bring "AAA quality" games to mobile - and why they are failing
After my first post about the tech arms race in the AAA space, I ponder why the same mindset isn't prevailing in mobile games.
Oct. 19, 2016
JikGuard
On Designing Levels for Moveless Chess — Part I
This is the first post of a series about designing levels for Moveless Chess, an innovative new puzzle game by Beavl.
Oct. 19, 2016
JikGuard
Probability Problems in Game Design
Probability can be a double-edged sword for making games unpredictable, and today's post looks at how lady luck can change a game's design.
Oct. 19, 2016
JikGuard
Enlighten VR Development Diary - Prototyping
This development diary takes a look at the behind-the-scenes of an Enlighten demo development process, describing what goes into creating a VR showcase. Starting with the essential first phase of prototyping.
Oct. 19, 2016
JikGuard
Bending Unity to Carry Spherical Voxel Planets in Planet Nomads
Can Unity handle procedurally generated planets of Earth-like qualities with multiple biomes and advanced physics? Planet Nomads demonstrates it can. Specific technical challenges like multithreading are covered inside this post.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
5 tips to make your game animations better
I'm the maker of Spryke, a deeply crafted platformer about a deep sea cyberfish who discovers the joys of dry land. One of Spryke's highlights its highly detailed animation style, and I'm sharing 5 animation tips with you that I've learnt over the years.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
Postmortem: Phosphorus Dating
A quick postmortem of Phosphorus Dating, an awarded dating simulation game created for JS13K competition.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
Concealed Intent Release Postmortem
Concealed Intent was released in August after a time in Steam's Early Access. Here are some stats collected on sales (vs costs), promotional keys & marketing.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
Music Game Plan: Tactics for the Video Game Composer (Part Two)
Game music composer Winifred Phillips breaks down the popular horizontal re-sequencing technique, with music examples and a video tutorial showcasing techniques from one of her projects (The Spore Hero video game from Electronic Arts).
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
PlayStation VR launch - VR headset launches in the media
With the 3rd main VR headset now out and available to all, I had a look at each of the launches media coverage.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
The 5 Stages of Greenlight: How to Know When It's Time to Launch Your Game
How do game developers decide which games to launch? And how do they know when those games are truly ready? At Hothead Games, we’ve developed a “Green Light Process” to guide such decisions. Here’s how you can implement a similar process in your studio.
Oct. 18, 2016
JikGuard
Video Game Deep Cuts: Emotional AI Self-Destructs
The latest Video Game Deep Cuts, picking the smartest longform video game articles and videos of the week, looks at the 'strange future of emotional AI', a mysterious self-destructing game, & more.
Oct. 17, 2016