#game-design

#game-design

There was once a time when having a full-blown computer in your pocket was still a fairly novel concept, and game developers, publishers, and console-makers were all too eager to find ways to work their existing products and franchises into mobile apps. Some of these were terrible, offering cheap imitations of their big siblings and often charging exorbitant prices for microtransactions, but there were also a whole bunch that took a different approach.

After shaking up the Pokémon formula with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, its successor, Legends: Z-A, pushes things even further - and it's a very welcome change of pace. With , Nintendo and Game Freak demonstrated how much more vibrant, weird, and exciting the monster catching series could become with a few key changes to the classic formula. Arceus' historical story and open-ish world made the Pokémon universe feel like a bigger, wilder place, just as the revamped battling and catching mechanics turned the familiar process of filling out your pokédex into a completely different kind of experience.

As one of the longest-running survival horror series, has had somewhat of an identity struggle over its many years. Some entries have been more action-focused, while others prioritized the dread and horror many come to the genre for. The last entry, Resident Evil Village, arguably leaned toward the action side of the equation. But the upcoming ninth entry, Requiem, aims to double down on the series' horror elements.

The best puzzle games are ones that force you to take a moment to consider your next move, the world around you, the rules that you're being forced to operate under, and, sometimes, all of the above. They're delicately balanced experiences, carefully threading the needle between being too easy and satisfying and avoiding being too difficult and frustrating. These are experiences that ask a lot of their players, anticipating a level

You play an unnamed traveller, the latest of many, sent to gather information about a devastating outbreak that transformed the citizens of a town called New Dawn into the sort of misshapen monsters that have become the staple of sci-fi-adjacent survival horror: contorted of limb, long of fang, and ample of slobber. As you explore the stark, often beautifully devastated aftermath of the outbreak, you search for places where you can travel back through time to when all hell was breaking loose,

When Neversoft released Spider-Man on the original PlayStation on August 30, 2000, the superhero video game landscape was bleak. Licensed games were churned out as quick cash-ins with clunky controls, uninspired level design, and a general sense that superheroes couldn't have a distinct feel in a medium where plumbers and hedgehogs could be heroes, too. But Neversoft, fresh off the runaway success of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, had the pedigree, the technology, and the creative freedom to change that perception.

Speaking to VGC, Itsuno explained that he ultimately wasn't that surprised that the game wasn't universally beloved, because he designed it to not be. "I made the game not like a Nintendo one to be liked by all the people, but for a certain type of audience, so it's normal if some people outside that target audience don't like the game," Itsuno said. "However, people who enjoyed the game really loved it, appreciated the details and work. I'm very proud of it."

Borderlands 4 will include new features like teleportation between players, a streamlined lobby system, and support for split-screen co-op for up to two players.

"If you're unfamiliar with mocap, it's a complex process of capturing movements of objects of people, and then translating that onto the game's 3D models."

In Time Flies, you have exactly 76.4 seconds to live, at least if you're living in the United States. When the game begins, it asks you to select your country, and its average life expectancy turns into how many seconds you have until your fly avatar perishes.

Portal will allow players to create custom game modes, with significant improvements for Battlefield 6, enabling them to design entire maps and earn XP.

In Luto, you play a character stuck in an emotional rut and a literal loop. Waking to a smashed bathroom mirror, protagonist Sam exits into an L-shaped hallway, passes some locked doors, heads down the stairs, and out the front door.

A recent report indicates that the number of games on Steam disclosing the use of generative AI has skyrocketed by 700% within a year, increasing from around 1,000 to nearly 8,000.

"The indie game market is projected to reach $4.85bn in 2025 and $9.55bn by 2030, with mobile games accounting for half of all revenue."

In D&D 3.5e, character building was notably complex, requiring numerous prerequisites, such as specific skills, feats, and alignment, making character customization extensive yet cumbersome.

"I hate words," she tells me. "I'm so bad at expressing myself through words, and I want to get a lot better at it because I'm making TikToks right now, and I've realised I'm not good at figuring out what to say on the fly consistently. So I think a lot about communicating things in pictures or storyboards."

Paper Mario: The Origami King celebrates its five-year anniversary today, reflecting a complex legacy that mixes platforming joy with RPG storytelling elegance and humor.

The Crash Bandicoot remake got almost everything right. Except the most important 30 milliseconds. Vicarious Visions completely botched how jumping works.

Overall, we've made a few changes to the game so we could cast skating in a more positive light. Our old Canadian friend is not gone, he has just learned some much-needed bladder control. There is even a pro goal where you can help him hydrate.

Playing Blue Prince alone can feel overwhelming due to the vast amount of information required for solving puzzles, making note-taking essential and time-consuming.

From a traditional dating sim standpoint, you usually choose one route, one lover, and you go with that. This is a game that celebrates polyamory by definition—you are dating everything.