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Initial Thoughts on Rational Design
The idea of Rational Design, born more than 10 years within the walls of Ubisoft, is still living and breathing. Here, Alexis Jolis-Desautels provides some initial thoughts on why the idea is more relevant now than ever
July 8, 2021
JikGuard
An Ode to Optimization Videogames
A subgenre of strategy games, optimization/logistics games have attracted fans to a different kind of gameplay and thinking that I wanted to talk about today.
July 7, 2021
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Despite Facebook's stumble, ads can still become a key - and positive - part of the VR ecosystem
Facebook's first attempt at VR ads on Oculus has fallen flat, but there is still room for ads to become a substantial VR monetization stream that the ecosystem badly needs. However, finding the right formats and contexts for VR ads will be crucial.
July 6, 2021
JikGuard
Nintendo Switch OLED model is a minimal upgrade that won't alter Nintendo's trajectory
Omdia's game console analyst, Matthew Bailey, assesses Nintendo's announcement of its new Switch OLED model and explains why it isn't - and never needed to be - the "Switch Pro" many were expecting.
July 6, 2021
JikGuard
What do devs really want from a game platform? 2
Sometimes, as a game’s creator and ‘the little guy’, you feel helpless in the face of ‘the big guy’. So let's talk about game platforms, and what devs need from them!
July 6, 2021
JikGuard
Getting excellent voice acting into your indie game - part 2
How to convince talented voice actors to audition for your game? In Part 2, I show you exactly how to run a casting call either through email or my new favorite - Discord!
July 2, 2021
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Game Dev Digest Issue #101 - Upgrade Your UI
Game Dev Digest Issue #101 - Upgrade Your UI. The latest from the free weekly #Unity3d/#gamedev newsletter.
July 2, 2021
JikGuard
The future of interactive characters, part 4/4: Four reasons why games need believable characters
In this final post, we discuss four reasons why games need better NPCs: 1) players want them, 2) bad character AI is a creative bottleneck, 3) better collaborative NPCs can make games more inclusive, 4) they're a necessary part of our 3D & XR future.
July 2, 2021
JikGuard
SNKRX: anatomy of a sleeper hit 2
It’s time for a deeper dive into the sleeper success of SNKRX, the "arcade shooter roguelite where you control a snake of heroes that automatically attack nearby enemies."
July 1, 2021
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The future of interactive characters, part 3/4: Do players even care about better characters?
Developers and players agree that innovation in character AI has largely come to a halt. In this third post we discuss data and research which confirm that players really want non-player characters to be more believable and meaningful.
July 1, 2021
JikGuard
The Back Half Problems of Horror Design
Horror is one of the trickiest genres to design a game around and the pacing of a game is often the hardest part. For this post, I want to talk about how most horror games tend to run out of steam before the end, and where things can be improved.
July 1, 2021
JikGuard
The future of interactive characters, part 2/4: What makes behavior "believable"?
Developers and players agree that innovation in character AI has largely come to a halt. In this second post we suggest that developers should should strive to create NPCs that are "believable", and discuss psychological research that backs up our claim.
June 30, 2021