Richard Foge’s Post

📚🎮 Player Mechanics x Systems^2 This equation in simplest form means: Player Mechanics are standalone elements that require Systems in order to be engaging long-term. Well designed Systems are multiplied by one another to create depth and complexity that maintains player retention for the long-term. The common pitfall for nearly all new game developers (especially students) is they fall into the trap of making several Player Mechanics, and their game ends up having no substance or depth because Systems are nonexistent. There is nothing new to look forward to, nothing intriguing that they want to try. #PlayerMechanics can be thought of as actions the player can perform directly from pressing buttons on the controller. Player Mechanic Examples: 🔸️ Attacks 🔸️ Traversal 🔸️ Navigation 🔸️ Abilities 🔸️ Player actions 🔸️ Etc. #Systems can be thought of as content, enhancements and forcing the player to use Player Mechanics in new strategic ways. Systems Examples: 🔹️ Progression 🔹️ Power-ups 🔹️ Upgrades 🔹️ Level-ups 🔹️ New Weapons/Tools 🔹️ Content (quests, events, rewards, items) 🔹️ Environmental Interacts 🔹️ Environmental Puzzles 🔹️ Unique Enemy Interactions/Behaviors 🔹️ Timed Events 🔹️ Etc. Have you ever scrolled on LinkedIn, seen a really awesome looking combat game being made by a solo developer?...and the gameplay is just the player attacking mindless enemies that don't really fight back? Yeah, those combat games look visually awesome, but if you got your hands on it and actually played it, you'd be bored within 5 minutes. That's not diminishing the accomplishment of those combat games (those are still highly impressive), it's calling out that the player retention of those games will be nearly non-existent because the lack of systems. Systems are difficult to commit to, because they require you to expand on your Player Mechanics in ways you never planned for. Systems can be a pain, but you have so much to gain from the hassle of setting them up. 🚗 Remember: Player Mechanics is The Car Systems is The Gas Content is The Destinations It is almost always better to create one Player Mechanic and multiply that by compounding Systems, rather than creating several Player Mechanics with little to no systems at all. You have The Car (Player Mechanics), but a car is pretty useless if you don't have The Gas (Systems) to get anywhere. Once you've figure out how to multiply and stretch that one Player Mechanic with Systems -- THEN add another player mechanic to the mix that will enhance the overall experience. This doesn't strictly mean wait for the first Player Mechanic to be done before starting the next, but instead truly consider expanding with Systems before committing full force to another Player Mechanic. That's the lesson. 📚🎮 Player Mechanics x Systems^2 You'll get better results focusing on multiple systems rather than multiple player mechanics. (Share if you learned something new. Follow for more content) ⚡️🫡

I am looking for additional freelance or contract sound design work. I have over ten years of experience and have worked on games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3. You can find some of my work here: https://lnkd.in/dazHHgQf https://lnkd.in/dzNwwaAK https://lnkd.in/d8_nEMFm Any contact or help would be appreciated.

excited to announce our Series A investment in k-ID, a first-of-its-kind global compliance engine simplifying online safety & privacy management for game developers, parents, & youths! this $45M round marks our 3rd investment in k-ID since we led the initial preseed round, as we support the company in its mission to define a new industry standard for digital youth safety the time is now - the regulatory landscape for data privacy & digital safety has never been more complex. for developers, k-ID's engine enables compliance with the ever-changing patchwork of regulations, while providing an easy-to-use, instant sign-on experience for parents & youths Troy Kirwin and I first invested in k-ID thru our accelerator A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN 8 months ago and had the privilege to watch founders Kieran Donovan, Julian Corbett execute up-close. they've hired a world-class team, built a best-in-class product, and signed many of the top game publishers & app developers from around the world. developers, parents, & the ESRB all love k-id, with the customer pipeline immense and growing quickly the k-id team has unique founder-market fit. CEO Kieran is a former attorney at Latham who advised tech & gaming clients on global privacy compliance, and built k-ID as the solution his clients always wanted. he's joined by an all-star founding team of Julian Corbett (ex Take-Two / Voodoo), Timothy M. (former head of international privacy at Tencent), & Jeff Wu (former trust & safety at Meta / Google). best of all, the team is hiring now! 🔥 we're thrilled to team up this round with our friends at Lightspeed, Konvoy, Okta, Z Venture Capital, TIRTA Ventures as well as an amazing group of angels including former Unity CEO John Riccitiello, former Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak, former Markforged CEO Gregory Mark, film producer Lauren S., Joe Brumm the creator of Bluey, & more for more on our investment, see our A16Z GAMES blog below: https://lnkd.in/gVTjTxBW

One More Game’s studio name is a double entendre of sorts. It’s meant to evoke the kind of games we try to make: the kind that get us to say, “okay, just one more game!” after the 10th match in a row. But it also describes our appetite as developers to keep building new experiences (some of us have been making games for over 30 years). When our first game wasn’t striking the chord we’d hoped for, we found ourselves at a crossroads. About a year ago, we started working on our second game. It’s called SWAP/MEAT, and it’s an outlandish, co-op, roguelite third-person shooter. It’s been in development for less than a year, and if you’re interested in learning how we decided to make this specific bizarre game, check out our blog post. Links to the blog, our Steam page, socials, etc. in the comments. Looking forward to hearing what y’all think!

An announcement from our team. Please feel free to reshare! At Fang & Claw, we've been hard at work on Project Tanaka – a new game where giant Kaiju sports megastars smack a giant ball around a city-arena. We've had a blast! We found the fun early and the daily play sessions in our multiplayer prototype have had an equal mix of iteration, innovation, laughter, and good-natured ribbing. Our team of AAA veterans (from iconic titles like Guild Wars, Halo, Diablo, and Ghost of Tsushima) is incredibly passionate about Tanaka! But we're unfortunately also nearing the end of our runway and are seeking investors or a publishing partner to help us bring this innovative and super fun experience to gamers every where. If you're interested, get in touch, come join us for a play session, and experience it for yourself! (and check out a little gameplay clip in the comments)

An adventure years in the making! We’re so excited to finally introduce you to Concord, our new 5v5 character-driven FPS coming to PS5 and PC on August 23, 2024. Check out the gameplay reveal trailer: https://lnkd.in/gD3ZZDSn

We're hiring again at Rascal Games, this time for a Senior Engineer focused on gameplay & 3C (UE5). Wanna build dope co-op 3rd person combat and movement mechanics? DM me or apply here: