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Game Design Knowledge From Our Members
A vault of knowledge from the amazing members of our community: articles, videos, deep dives, secrets... This is amazing content and I can't advise enough to check them all!
Production Pipeline: a Design Tool?
A solid production pipeline is often what separates great game from unpolished, delayed, or canceled ones. Here are all the keys you need to start your game on the right footing.
Live Games: How to Prepare for the Long Run
The industry changed drastically in the last decade, from one-shot releases to Live, game-as-a-service games. In this article, we explore what it takes to make a successful Live game, and the various pitfalls you may encounter on the way.
Interface In Gaming: Interview With Nicolas Kraj
In this interview, we discuss the difference between UX and GD, what it means to be a designer in the video game industry, and what it means to design for real players.
The Design of the Royal Game of Ur
What if we were to look at the design of the oldest board game in the world with our modern eyes: would the design still hold strong? What could it teach us? Join me in a dive through the History of games and its secrets.
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The Components of Timeless Social Games
Bridge, Mahjong, Poker, Rummy, Belote... All these games have been an inherent part of the social fabric of our societies for centuries. What made them stand the test of time? What do they have in common? What can we learn from them?
Keys to Economic Systems
Currencies, sources, sinks, inflation, economic tools, currency protections, economic pillars... In this extensive "Keys to" article we tackle everything you need to know to create your very own, efficient, and self-sustaining economic systems!
A Story of Boxes, and How Players Can’t Think Outside of It
Games are known to be very directive, sometimes to an extreme. But even if a game was truly giving freedom to players, would they embrace it?
Introduction to Players Motivation
Skinner Boxes, Carrot and Stick, Bartle's Taxonomy of Players, Self-Determination Theory, Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations... In this article, we dig into the finesse of behavioral psychology applied to games, with one focus in mind: Player's Motivation, and how it is the key to player engagement and retention.
Tips to Apply for a Game Designer Position
If you are trying to land a job as a game designer, this article will definitely help you: it goes over the biggest mistakes I have noticed in candidates as a game design recruiter in AAA companies for the past 10 years and how to avoid them.
The Organic Teaching of Exophobia: a Doors’ Story
In this article, we dive into the world of Organic Teaching and Mental Models to give you the first bricks of understanding on how to create powerful invisible tutorials. We will then apply this knowledge on the demo of Exophobia, one of the games of our community, that did a fabulous job at it.
How to Onboard Players
Making an efficient trailer, a powerful demo, or creating engaging first contact is a pretty difficult thing to do. In this article we discuss the players' first contact with a game and what are the 6 essential elements they need to understand as fast as possible for an efficient onboarding.
The Card Games UI Design of Fairtravel Battle
How to design card games User Interface? What makes the UI/UX of the best games so efficient? What can we learn from them? In this Stream and article, we dig into the world of card battlers and redesign live the UI of Fairtravel Battle, one of the games we follow on GDKeys!
Game Design Dirty Little Secrets
When game designers decide to cheat too. Let's dive into the world of hidden mechanics and rules-bending to understand how to play with our players and ultimately give them the best experience they could get!
Keys to Combat Design: Anatomy of an Attack
The first article on a series dedicated to combat design, dissecting what an attack is and identifying what creates rewarding, fair, and engaging fights.
Menus & HUD: the Temporality Perspective
A break-down article on the treatment of UI in your games through a unique personal approach: time.
Keys to Meaningful Skill Trees
In this "Keys to" article, we dig into the components and theory of a good Skill Tree. Analyzing the trees themselves but also the skills they contain, and opening on uncharted design opportunities.
Keys to Rational Enemy Design
A very rational approach to enemy design: we will talk about player abilities, challenging specific skills, player behaviors and diversity. This article will lay down the different possibilities and questions you need to ask yourself to start a new enemy design confidently.
The Unique Selling Point of Weaving Tides
In this first Dive-in, we are going to dissect the unique selling point of Weaving Tides, talking about 3Cs, design priorities, adding player friction, gameplay mastery and design by absence.
Keys to Efficient User Interfaces
In this article, I give you my thought process while designing or reviewing a game's UI: the questions I want to answer myself, the big categories of UI and why using one instead of the other, the tests I perform to challenge it, etc. At the end of this article, you will have a base of theory as well as your first keys to design and challenge your games' UI!
Keys to Signs & Feedback
In this piece, we will talk about what are Signs & Feedback, and break down the 7 categories to consider to design and iterate on your very own Signs & Feedback system, a core topic to consider and understand in video game design.