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Documents
Jonas Tyroller18 min
How I Handle Playtesting
Effective playtesting is essential for indie game development, serving as a vital mechanism to bridge the gap between a developer’s internal perspective and the actual player experience.
- Triangulate feedback by combining qualitative survey data with quantitative game analytics to distinguish between isolated player opinions and systemic design issues.
- Use objective game analytics—such as tracking level starts, death counts, and completion rates—to identify and smooth out unintended difficulty spikes.
- Gather qualitative insights by asking playtesters to write hypothetical Steam reviews, providing a realistic preview of how the market will perceive the game before final release.
Jonas TyrollerDec 2019
Game Dev Unchained5 min
In the Valley of Gods Canceled?! | Games ReCAP
The development of In the Valley of Gods, the highly anticipated project from the former Campo Santo team, has been officially placed on indefinite hold following the studio's acquisition by Valve.
- The development of Campo Santo’s 'In the Valley of Gods' has been placed on indefinite hold following the studio's acquisition by Valve.
- Former Campo Santo staff have been reassigned to internal Valve projects, including 'Half-Life: Alyx', 'Dota Underlords', and Steam platform development.
- The project's original creative momentum has been dismantled due to the departure of key personnel, including contract writers who held significant institutional knowledge.
Game Dev UnchainedDec 2019
Game Developers Conference58 min
From Shore to Horizon: Creating a Practical Tessellation Based Solution
Eidos Montreal’s internal research and development division focuses on creating scalable technical solutions that facilitate cross-studio collaboration and enhance visual fidelity across major titles.
- To maintain rasterizer efficiency, the ocean mesh uses tessellation factors that avoid triangles smaller than 16 pixels in screen area, as recommended by AMD GNC architecture guidelines.
- The system utilizes a radial ocean mesh divided into 100-meter by 100-meter patches, which are displaced using vector displacement rather than simple height maps to properly simulate water churn and lateral movement.
- Open water motion is generated by mixing eight Gerstner waves in descending order of frequency, where smaller waves are deformed by larger ones to increase realism and reduce crest pinching.
Game Developers ConferenceDec 2019
Game Developers Conference57 min
GDC Plays Superliminal with Pillow Castle Games' Albert Shih
Superliminal centers on a unique perspective-based mechanic where the scale of objects is determined by the player’s forced perspective.
- Superliminal’s core mechanic uses raycasting and depth-aware projection to manipulate object scale based on forced perspective, challenging traditional spatial reasoning.
- The game’s design philosophy prioritizes 'epiphany-driven' gameplay, focusing on sudden player realizations rather than requiring high-level mechanical skill.
- The six-year development cycle necessitated rigorous playtesting to manage player expectations and mitigate frustration caused by the game's unconventional mechanics.
Game Developers ConferenceDec 2019
Game Developers Conference58 min
Addressing Exploit Abuse in EVE Online with Customer Care
EVE Online operates as a complex, player-driven economy where character progression is intrinsically linked to real-time skill training and the conversion of skill points into in-game currency.
- The 'ghost training' exploit in EVE Online allowed players to bypass free-to-play restrictions and generate massive amounts of skill points, which were then converted into in-game currency (ISK) via skill injectors, threatening both the game's economy and its business model.
- CCP Games identified that the exploit stemmed from a backend calculation error where skill progress was only recorded upon login, allowing players to trigger training for Omega-level skills on Alpha (free) accounts.
- Following a public disclosure of the exploit on Reddit in May 2017, CCP Games investigated 6,036 characters across 119 individuals, resulting in the permanent banning of 796 accounts belonging to 23 primary offenders.
Game Developers ConferenceDec 2019
Jonas Tyroller19 min
How To Make Sound Effects For Games
This tutorial provides a foundational guide for indie game developers on creating custom sound effects using accessible tools.
- High-quality game audio can be produced using accessible, low-cost tools like Audacity and standard recording hardware such as smartphones or USB microphones.
- Sound design serves as a critical functional component of game development by providing essential player feedback and establishing the overall project immersion.
- The core technical workflow for creating assets involves noise reduction, volume shaping via the envelope tool, and isolating segments using clip boundaries.
Jonas TyrollerNov 2019
Game Developers Conference32 min
No Time, No Budget, No Problem: Finishing The First Tree
Solo game development requires a disciplined, high-impact strategy to overcome the inherent constraints of limited time and budget.
- David Wehle developed 'The First Tree' over 18 months while working a full-time job and raising two children, completing the project with approximately 1,000 hours of work and a $10,000 budget.
- The game generated $150,000 in revenue during its first year on Steam, demonstrating that a low-budget, hobbyist project can achieve commercial success through focused, high-impact strategies.
- To save roughly 600 hours of development time, Wehle utilized licensed, publicly available assets and prototypes, revising them to add a unique creative twist rather than building every element from scratch.
Game Developers ConferenceNov 2019
Game Dev Unchained4 min
Half Life: Alyx VR's Killer App? | Games ReCAP
The announcement of Half-Life: Alyx marks a significant strategic pivot for Valve, signaling a return to high-budget, flagship game development.
- Valve is utilizing Half-Life: Alyx as a strategic flagship title to drive hardware adoption and establish VR as a viable platform for serious, core gaming experiences.
- The project serves as a major investment to revitalize the VR medium, which has historically struggled to maintain engagement beyond casual rhythm-based software.
- Valve’s dominant control over the Steam storefront provides the financial stability and creative autonomy required to absorb the high risks associated with premium VR development.
Game Dev UnchainedNov 2019
Jonas Tyroller9 min
Watch This Before Making Your Next Indie Game!
The primary objective of this guidance is to provide a methodical framework for solo developers aiming to create commercially successful indie games.
- Validate game mechanics and visual appeal early by prototyping directly in-engine rather than relying on paper-based design.
- Identify a unique selling point (USP) through market research of similar titles and community feedback, then focus design efforts heavily on that specific feature.
- Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) rapidly and maintain a 'finished' state throughout the production cycle to simplify iteration and enable early releases.
Jonas TyrollerNov 2019
How To Market A Game12 min
Patch Notes 1.20 Return of the Zombie King
Patch 1.20 for Return of the Zombie King introduces a comprehensive suite of technical refinements and gameplay adjustments driven primarily by community feedback.
- Patch 1.20 resolves critical stability issues, specifically fixing crashes triggered by the first-hit bonus mechanic and rapid in-game purchases.
- Gameplay balance was adjusted to address difficulty spikes, including the removal of unpredictable, shotgun-like patterns in plant-shooting mechanics.
- The update eliminates a coin-farming exploit that allowed players to repeatedly reset levels to gain bonus currency.
How To Market A GameNov 2019
Thomas Brush18 min
2D Character Design Tutorial (if Half-Life was 2D!)
This tutorial outlines the process of translating a complex 3D character design into a functional 2D format suitable for game development in Unity.
- Effective 2D character design prioritizes simplicity and abstract readability, ensuring characters remain recognizable at small scales or low resolutions.
- Designers should construct characters using basic geometric shapes, such as rectangles with rounded corners, to maintain visual consistency.
- The 'abstract testing' method—zooming out or squinting at the design—is essential to confirm that the character's silhouette remains distinct without relying on excessive detail.
Thomas BrushNov 2019
Game Developers Conference30 min
Creating League of Legends Champions: Our Production Framework Revealed
The production of champions for League of Legends relies on a rigorous, multi-phase framework designed to balance creative innovation with operational scalability.
- Riot Games manages the creative chaos of champion development by implementing a structured production framework that prioritizes clarity, scalability, and flexibility to prevent creative energy from being wasted on process-related confusion.
- The development process is divided into distinct phases—Ideation, Pre-production, Production, and Sustain—each with clearly defined deliverables to ensure the team knows exactly when a project is ready to advance.
- During the Ideation phase, the team utilizes a 'pattern lock' deliverable, which requires identifying the champion's strategic identity and finalizing three of their five core abilities to prove the character's viability.
Game Developers ConferenceNov 2019