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Tag: insight

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.

On posting and social media

Published by Paolo on 08/08/2024

What’s up readers? I hope you are good. As you can see, I am still recovering from vacation catching up with everything and I am not able to post daily for now. I will get there, just the time of closing a couple of deals…

I am studying intensively Unreal Engine because I noticed there is a growth in need for tech designers and I find it a great excuse to get better at that engine.

Today I wanna talk about my conception of social media use. I don’t have a proper strategy, I use it because I find it fun. And when I don’t find them fun anymore, I leave them. That’s it.

Someone may suggest you to write at least 3 times per week on LinkedIn to boost your engagement, bla bla. It’s all bullshit, believe me.

The main way of creating leads on social media is not by posting daily but interacting to other people’s content. Write them publicly and privately. You will get to know much more people like that, compared with sharing the little you know.

I post on LinkedIn and here because I freakin’ love life and my job. I have passion for game design and I love to speak about it loudly, that’s all. No strategy, no technique. Just pure fun. And when I don’t have fun anymore, I quit!

The Action Man fantasy

Published by Paolo on 10/06/2024

What I really liked to see yesterday at Microsoft’s XBOX Showcase 2024 was the presentation of the new Call of Duty.

I am never been a COD fan, and I have never played that game too much. But I liked the developers’ interview explaining how they changed a single thing, the fantasy, to innovate meaningfully on the whole game.

The new fantasy of the “action man” led to a whole new set of features and animations. Some of them is designed for new audiences who, like me, are not experts playing that game. Refreshing!

Impressive and you can see how the game design is definitely a role shared among the whole team.

Grinding and working fantasy

Published by Paolo on 06/06/2024

One thing games and stories have in common is that, for some weird reason we love when they talk about work.

We love stories of lawyers and we love power-wash simulators. A friend of mine bought a freakin’ airplane cabin for his garden and teaches maneuvers to newbies every night on Il-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad.

We also love games with less fidelity, still on work-related stuff. Nintendogs had a tremendous success, for instance. Some DS owner just got that game and that’s it.

One of the best moments of What Remains of Edith Finch (the most memorable, to me) happens while you are cutting and cleaning fish.

These games can tell stories that we relate to deeply, and give us a different sort of escapism.

When we are kids, many of us play actual professions. I was an astronomer, I bought zines and everything: a true expert! I spent my afternoons with maps, numbers, and theories I didn’t understand.

When a game is bad or “grindy” for us we often say “I feel like I am working”, but the working fantasy has a huge narrative potential.

Games and novels can turn mundane experiences into ones that pull on our psychology of reward faster than the real world. There are sparkles, rewards, sounds, and bouncing numbers.

The working metaphor can be easily related to reality, we can feel productive in terms of that particular fantasy. A well-thought work fantasy can also intrinsically motivate players who like to feel productive and valued.

Are you holding or are you hosting?

Published by Paolo on 05/06/2024

Game design uses technology to create entertainment. Entertainment is one of the words that have been corrupted in certain contexts.

In the dopamine culture, the dream of many is to attract the attention of the “users” and trap them forever. Entertainment is read as a synonym of “holding”, which is semantically correct.

Entertainment to me has much more in common with hospitality, instead. The act of being friendly and welcoming to guests and visitors.

Also in the Bible, we can read different translations (Hebrews 13:2):

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

King James Version

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

English Standard Version

It’s your call: entertainment as trapping the people’s attention versus entertainment as showing hospitality.

Are you holding or are you hosting?

Mine is always the latter, I create entertainment for human beings (and maybe angels, who know?), not monkeys.

Taxonomy of RPGs

Published by Paolo on 28/05/2024

Today I engaged in an interesting discussion on LinkedIn on RPGs and Immersive Sims. Genre names are useful to identify an audience with its expectations and needs. Often, the market creates a term, not the developer.

The container RPG hosts four main genres: CRPGs, Survival, ARPGs, and Immersive Sims.

There are two dimensions to consider. The first is the dimension of structure versus emergence. We design CRPGs around quests and stories. The Player can feel the push to follow, and see how the story ends.

Immersive sims may have great stories, too, but the way of solving them is not always structured around getting all the pieces.

The second dimension is on motivations to play. What makes these genres popular? I have heard that for CRPGs maps are more important than the characters. I think it was the original creator of Final Fantasy who said that. I agree, in part.

The main driver of fun is the discovery of the World, in CRPGs. The same thing is valid for survival games. When the focus is more on the characters we have action RPGs on one side, and Immersive Sims on another.

Content pipelines

Published by Paolo on 24/05/2024

When I design a game the tool I use the most is a spreadsheet. I use spreadsheets for predictions, calculations, but also to define the concrete experience step-by-step. And that leads always to tasks for artists and programmers.

The things you have to produce more often have a sequence of steps to be produced. That sequence is called content pipeline. Or at least, I call it like that.

Content pipelines can make or break your game. I think in FC games from EA Sports, they managed to sell cards. Which is great for content pipeline, cards are relatively easy to produce compared with 3D models and animations.

One of my responsibilities as a designer is to find the optimal content pipeline to satisfy the product thesis. It’s a team effort, an interesting problem to solve. But design plays a big part in that, because we are usually more aware of technicalities.