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JikGuard
Scope: Choose A Target! Focus! Shoot!
This is the first of a series of articles about Scope, where I try to pass on some of my knowledge on the topic and some mechanisms that help control it. It is presumably helpful for any kind of game developers.
Aug. 11, 2020
JikGuard
Three nasty netcode bugs we fixed around Blightbound's launch
Netcode bugs can be very hard to find, but they can also be quite intriguing once you've figured them out. This post discusses 3 of the more interesting bugs I've seen in the past few years, explaining some important netcode principles along the way.
Aug. 11, 2020
JikGuard
CREATING A CASUAL GAME PROGRESSION CURVE
Inappropriate progression is often seen on a stage of the soft launch. The goal of the article is to show a general approach to the progression curve fitting based on simulations that can be undertaken on a stage of the economy design prior to launch.
Aug. 10, 2020
JikGuard
China Cracks Down on Unlicensed Mobile Games: How to Navigate the Chinese Game Approval Process
With 685 million gamers, China is the largest mobile game market in the world. This article provides background concerning why Apple has removed thousands of mobile games and guidance for navigating the Chinese video game approval process.
Aug. 7, 2020
JikGuard
The Value Trap of Free to Play Design
Free to Play Design has attracted many gamers and developers to it for its low cost of entry. But for today, we're going to talk about the cost that keeps people playing them to the point of manipulation.
Aug. 6, 2020
JikGuard
Five Secrets of Game Art Direction
Getting the Art of your game right is a big part of making a successful game, but it takes some doing. In this post, I reveal five hard-earned lessons I have learned from managing art teams over a period of a decade.
Aug. 6, 2020
JikGuard
How big is your game's Discord? (Not this big!)
Some of the trends in the biggest/most active video game Discord servers are super interesting, and here's a look at what I learned from checking this out. (Plus, a bunch more info on discoverability!)
Aug. 6, 2020
JikGuard
Samsung bringing Xbox to its smartphones strengthens Microsoft's cloud gaming ambitions
At its Galaxy Unpacked event today, Samsung deepened its collaboration with Microsoft over its xCloud game streaming platform. Omdia's games analyst provides his insight into this development.
Aug. 5, 2020
JikGuard
Neurocracy: Using Wikipedia as an Interactive Narrative Device
An examination of how using Wikipedia as a narrative medium can provide novel approaches to interactivity and non-linearity.
Aug. 5, 2020
JikGuard
Practical Tips: Maximizing Your Unity Game's Performance [Part-2]
Practical tips on increasing game performance in Unity - Part 2
Aug. 3, 2020
JikGuard
How that game sold on Steam, using the 'NB number' 2
We would love to know roughly how many copies of games are sold on Steam. That data is not public. But the number of player reviews is public. Enter.. the 'NB number'.
Aug. 3, 2020
JikGuard
How a game was developed about a theme that is usually silenced!
How did I end up making a game about such a controversial and complex topic like suicide? Is it really that difficult? What is the connection between collecting bottles and my game? What mistakes did I make while developing and what was done right?
July 31, 2020