Beta is where the final touches are done on a game before release. For strategy games, many of you may know how difficult it is to balance hundreds, if not thousands, of variables. There are different sides with varying unit stats, typically, multiple resource systems, and gameplay mechanics that all need to come together to be fun. Again, there is so much value in getting fresh eyes on any game, and this is why public beta testing is so important.
Read MoreHow do we develop project teams within our overall 25-person team? There are many challenges in making and publishing a game and just as many challenges in managing a team of 25 people. This blog will give more insights on how our decentralized indie team works on both development and publishing projects. Here are some of details/challenges:
Read MoreIn Production Part 2, the topic of project management was written about in a theoretical manner with a bunch of definitions. In this blog, I will cover how we run things at Codex Worlds and why. My hope is other indies will benefit from this information.
Read MoreI think it is important to dive deeper into the concept of project management. It's not complicated: A project manager or producer manages resources and processes to optimized efficiency in development. How one goes about it is often up for debate, and being an indie developer, this further stretches the already thin resources available to manage game development.
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“What does a publishing manager do anyway?” one may ask, or, “Why should that matter for an indie company?” Those are good questions. First, here’s what a Publishing Manager does: make games successful.
To explain this, let’s start with the basics:
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Any developer who has done a project of any significant size will tell you production issues are just as important as the game design, who is on the team, and even what is the total project budget. Developing a project is lot like learning a skill or sport ... You can always get better, and often, there are new ways to do things. Game production has always fascinated me because there are so many opinions on what to do, how to do it, and why one way is better than another. I certainly have come to some conclusions in my 20 years of producing games. In this series of blogs, you'll hear about some of my experiences.
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Making a Role Playing Game (RPG)
RPGs are one of the biggest, most immersive experiences in gaming. RPGs can be compared to reading a great book; there is a lot of time put into reading one and a great deal of deep, emotional satisfaction after completing it. Making an RPG is truly a huge undertaking and is a great case study in development.
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Game Design is similar to the design process of building a car. There are many systems to be developed and many stages of development. Taking this analogy further, cars have a body shell, primary parts, like the engine, fuel system, brake system, and electrical system, not to mention the interior, tires, stereo, paint, safety features ... You get the idea. The car we drive every day takes thousands of people coordinating for years to design, develop, and manufacture a product that does all these things, hopefully well. Of course, these systems need to be designed before the engineers can develop anything or manufacturing can meet specifications for functionality and quality.
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I started out writing these design blogs to offer some tips about game design, and I decided to tie that in with what has been going on with Codex Worlds. It is also important, however, to talk about what else goes on in pre-production in addition to design. In the past two blogs, I covered some production, project management, producing, and team evaluation points. Now onto some tactical game design tips ... the whole point of this blog. :)
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