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Tag: insight

Market shifts when we move, not when we pay for it to move

Published by Paolo on 02/09/2024

I am an avid listener and consumer of information on the business I love. I like to hear about market trends, data, and insight. It’s not a matter of knowing which trend to follow. I like to learn more about how the market reacts to our craft.

The issue with that is that majority of this content comes from consultants and managers. They pretend to quantify everything, and it doesn’t work like that.

Market trends influence the industry and investments because those act when informed on this data. But data cannot measure intangible things such as cognition and emotion.

Creativity evades quantification. Business people want certainty: I put X and then I will get Y.

It’s what we put out there that shapes the market. We design games for an audience, and we shouldn’t decide to read the previous spending choices for that audience. We should instead focus on what they were looking for, in exchange for their money. Our job is to read something intangible, but existent.

  • If millions of players play daily a specific game in a genre it doesn’t mean there is an actual market around that genre. They will most likely continue to play that game in that area. And they are looking for another kind of experience to complement the one they get from that game.
  • Also, mobile games have shifted in the last decade from the first long-term minded business based on brand (Rovio, King, Supercell) to the last short-term performance marketing companies (MiHoYo, Voodoo, Playrix). And the results are out there, few winners of the race to the bottom.

That’s where the art of game design truly helps. Too many times our business is led by people who prefer to make something bad but controllable instead of something good but not controllable.

And to make something spectacular, you should focus on making something good in first place.

Pawtners Case first blockout

Published by Paolo on 29/08/2024

This week I have worked intensively on my indie game, Pawtners Case. You are a police dog and you have to help your colleagues to solve cases.

The first level I am prototyping is a medium one. The goal is straightforward, you need to reunite with your colleague, Agent Quinn, and escape a warehouse. There is a bomb to dismantle, too.

This week I have implemented a lot of features, and a blockout. You can see the result here:

For the blockout, I started by looking for references and setting up a moodboard:

Then, I proceeded to create a notepad where I defined my goals, the sequence, and so on. Later I created a map:

Then, in Unreal Engine I set up the level, iterating on the concept. I have to say that I find Unreal Engine versatile for a game designer. It has integrated a gameplay framework that makes things easier. I am happy with my choice!

Inspired work to earn trust

Published by Paolo on 27/08/2024

Reading and watching the latest releases in video games I arrive to a thought.

You need inspiration to make a good game, no matter the level of experience you have in this sense. If you want to earn the players’ trust, you have to deliver something novel. Not something new, but a product that works and has unexpected elements that surprise people.

People are great at understanding the personality of what we deliver. They understand when there is a derivative choice or something that comes from the truth of our craft. In some platforms, they can decide to close an eye.

  • Whales of f2p mobile games know that the game is designed to grab their cash, and they decide that it’s fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHtNcTA8t6A
  • People playing Helldivers 2 understand when a new upgrade on weapons is made to sell them a season pass.

On compromise and experience

Published by Paolo on 26/08/2024

“I sit here
drunk now.
I am
a series of
small victories
and large defeats
and I am as
amazed
as any other
that
I have gotten
from there to
here
without committing murder
or being
murdered;
without
having ended up in the
madhouse.

as I drink alone
again tonight
my soul despite all the past
agony
thanks all the gods
who were not
there
for me
then.”


― Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers at Last

The Concord game is out and it looks like a failure. People have worked for 8 years to something that will be shut down in the next few months. 8 years ago, the Overwatch fever brought many companies to invest in this new genre. We are seeing new games with Marvel and Star Wars IPs coming out these days.

The developers have accumulated experience and developed a compromise towards their colleagues over the past 8 years. They made something beautiful. The game is great, but its personality is not in line with the market right now. You can still see beauty, experience, and design.

Can we consider that their job has gone down the drain? It depends on how you see your work. If you are in the “American dream” of making lots of money and success in a few time, maybe yes. Maybe you just lost your time with a failure.

They have worked for 8 years together with other experts. They are more savvy now. Next projects will be benefit from all this. Maybe someone will go and build something different, something new.

The time we invest into our craft is never lost.

Lessons from Black Myth Wukong

Published by Paolo on 23/08/2024

Everyone is talking about the monkey, a breath of fresh air during those challenging times. I am watching the game intro over and over, it is probably one of the best I have ever seen.

  • Character: he’s brave, he’s not humble, he is imperfect. He is relatable with Goku also for non-Asian audiences. That cloud flight scene is pure genius.
  • Combat: it starts from the best thing of the game, fighting bosses. You cannot lose here, and you have everything unlocked it’s on you to discover.
  • System: it shows you a possible evolution of your character
  • Promise: the theme is well set at the end of the prologue. It’s about rising again.

But wait, why did the semi-god fall off? It’s not clear and I am not the only one that wants to know why…

Regarding the development, the team had experience in live service games and they decided to steer off completely learning Unreal Engine from scratch.

Great things happen when you have motivation and true experience but in lateral sectors! Black Myth Wukong is another proof of this.

LLMs and critical thinking

Published by Paolo on 22/08/2024

One of my duties as a game designer working in a team is to give feedback. Usually, I give it to other designers, artists, and writers. Giving feedback is hard, because when we’re asked for it we tend to look for the defects. Or, at least, I do.

The same is true when I am on the other side. I ask for feedback and I already know that 80% or more of that will be some critical opinion. I accept it, because I know how it is when I am on the other side of the table.

I have developed this interrogation to LLMs that helps me a lot with my designs. I provide the machine with my design goals and elements and ask it to do my job. The result is wrong, and average. I criticize it and find solutions.

The dialogue with a dummy entity helps with my critical thinking.

Pawtners Case

Published by Paolo on 21/08/2024

Today I have completed a set of new mechanics which will be useful for the very first prototype of my game. You can watch here:

I have also changed the name of the game, after listening to the first feedback on a Discord server. The game will be called Pawtners Case, I am studying also layouts for a possible capsule. This is what I got so far:

I am impressed by Unreal Engine. I don’t know why I didn’t use it until now. It has a whole gameplay framework already implemented, you can set things up very easily. And placing object in the level is fairly simple. It doesn’t have the huge community that Unity has, but it’s a powerful tool.

Now I need to focus on the level for the first prototype, and double check which mechanics I am missing.

Snifferson & Solvito: Paws on the case

Published by Paolo on 19/08/2024

I discovered that AEVI, a local association that helps game developers in Spain, activated a help plan for independent developers. They help you financially with the development of a prototype.

My first solo dev game in Unreal Engine is taking shape! I am excited, and I am willing to keep things very small and doable. I want to make a complete game in 6 months, and I can add 2 more for QA and debugging but that’s it.

My intention is to keep things fairly simple:

  • You control a police dog and your goal is to help your human companion solve a case
  • No dialogues, just emojis to express emotions. I want to avoid too many terms to translate. You can develop a relationship with your human colleague which will help you during levels
  • As a dog, you can find valuable items (+$) but also damage the environments (-$) and this will influence the economy of the central station
  • Everytime you perform some action you will learn more abilities during the level which can be useful to solve the case, so you decide
  • No violence, PEGI 12, E10+ game. Explosions and shots will be funny using ragdolls and silly animations

Podcasts and analysis paralysis

Published by Paolo on 14/08/2024

I am an avid podcast consumer. I love them, they are a bridge to knowledge that is hard to get otherwise. Through podcasts, I can listen the words of true experts. And for FREE.

As with everything in life, it comes with a cost. When I work on a project, I have clear references to consider. Often, those are words from experts that I got through a podcast. And, most of the time, those are words that stop some creative impulse.

It’s because podcasts are about things that already exist. Often, things that failed and why they failed. Sometimes, experts are not actual doers, but just analysts.

Discernment is a great quality to have for your creativity.

Reasons to go F2P

Published by Paolo on 13/08/2024

I am following a couple of projects lately that are tackling F2P that in my humble opinion is completely wrong. I won’t name the projects, because it’s not meaningful for this short conversation.

The first project makes the mistake of designing the game for addiction. They seem to be designing a shop, not a game. Well, while some early metrics could show promising that will be not the case for the long term. A F2P game is a game and the Player wants to get out something. It’s not a gambling game, but a true game. Some Player may experience addiction, but you shouldn’t design for that. I mean it’s also bad for the business.

The second project makes the mistake of designing the game F2P because its competitors are doing so. “Why should the Players want our game if it has a price and the other one is free?”. Well, in that case, I am sorry, but you are not really believe in your game. Players may choose to play your game instead of that other because they love it! Having a premium game against a service based one can be also an advantage according to the kind of audience.

When to go F2P?

You should think in F2P like a luxury service. You give your game for free to a mass of people because you create another layer for the wealthier part of your audience. You need to think in red carpets, VIP treatment.

If your service permit EVERYONE to have fun and a small part to be treated like Kings (including by winning), you can create a good F2P service. Otherwise it will be simply a race to the bottom.