Ask a Game Dev

I make games for a living and answer your questions

Bsky:

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

I really should have said this first - my DMs are always open for anyone who needs help getting through job loss. I will do design reviews, code reviews, resume reviews, cover letter reviews, or offer general coping-with-job-loss advice to any who need it

https://t.co/ckRFhuuSIk

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

Leveling Up at Work: One on One meetings (Spoiler: Some advice I wish I had been given as a junior)

https://t.co/oSYH3mehkh

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

Do people ever bully you for nerdy interests? (Spoiler: Not anymore)

https://t.co/nWUh8gmx1T

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@GameOverThirty Absolutely. It's so difficult to get there to begin with that it isn't reproduceable, but they're also really hard to move once they've been established. It really takes many years of repeated failures to fall out of that state

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@GameOverThirty The discovery of industry exception unicorns was a really formative experience for me as a younger dev. They come and go, they shift a bit here and there, but they're all interesting case studies

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@GameOverThirty That's true! This is also another case of industry unicorns/giants being able to get away with things that the normal competitors can't. COD can do that because COD is bigger than the GDP of many countries, like how GTA and Pokemon also get special dispensations

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@GameOverThirty Even when they misstep in some way (e.g. BO7 campaign), there really aren't too many additional complaints about the other large parts of the game that ship (e.g. BO7 multiplayer, BO7 Zombies)

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@GameOverThirty The COD dev team is big enough to warrant their own user research group. They have a good idea of who their audience is and how to sample properly to obtain pretty good feedback

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

Your post on damage over time made me rethink its role in my RTS game! (Spoiler: RTS is one of the cases where it can work pretty well)

https://t.co/qVFx5z6pl0

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

If I want more of a certain kind of character, I should make more of that kind of character so the metrics pick it up, right? (Spoiler: It helps a little, but the most persuasive is getting lots of accounts to play that character to completion)

https://t.co/5fCvKDpCGa

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

How do PVP devs balance a game to give the losing side a chance while not stealing victory from the winning side? (Spoiler: We make the game swings based on execution and resources chunky enough - esp. late game - that winning is possible but difficult)

https://t.co/M9O2A1IDOt

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

It was a valuable dev lesson for me, one that I've internalized. "Just because I like it doesn't mean everyone will. I can try to get more to like it, but that's going to be limited in effectiveness"

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

Even as a dev, a lot of what I thought happened with live service games got turned upside down when I actually started working on them. The biggest misconception I had going in was "if you build more of it, the players will increase"

[RallyCarDelta Gaming @GameOverThirty]

I get the sentiment around #Destiny2. It was a game that impacted a lot of people, in one way or another. I played it off and on. I enjoyed it, for the most part (there are many components of D2 I did not enjoy).

However, the reason that content support is ending is due to the fact that most people stopped playing it. Even when Bungie released new content, people logged in for a month to check it out and then exited again.

Don't get me wrong, the video market is saturated with a plethora of options. I haven't touched Destiny 2 in years. I have no time for it.

But let's not pretend that this is some massive miscalculation on Sony's part.

You aren't playing the game. That's why content support is ending. This is exactly how the free market works. You get what you pay for, or in this case, what you don't pay for.

What did you expect to happen?

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

I didn't believe it at first, but the data were incontrovertible. The analytics team lead who taught me was extremely patient and kind about it!

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@KatDoes3D I've got a whole blog where I break this kind of thing down

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

@KatDoes3D You can approach it from both sides. One side is "What do I want the player to feel?" The other side is to build up a toolbox of tools and techniques to evoke certain feelings in players - this is good for tension, this is good for relaxation, etc

[Ask a Game Dev @askagamedev]

Thoughts on Mixtape? (Spoiler: This is a consequence of game reviews not really focusing on who the game is actually for)

https://t.co/L8sIS8IbqF