Josh Bycer's Blog
For more than seven years, I have been researching and contributing to the field of game design. These contributions range from QA for professional game productions to writing articles for sites like Gamasutra and Quarter To Three.
With my site Game-Wisdom our goal is to create a centralized source of critical thinking about the game industry for everyone from enthusiasts, game makers and casual fans; to examine the art and science of games. I also do video plays and analysis on my Youtube channel. I have interviewed over 500 members of the game industry around the world, and I'm a two-time author on game design with "20 Essential Games to Study" and "Game Design Deep Dive Platformers."
Expert Blogs
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:48:00 EST
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We're revisiting Silent Hill for today's design post and how what many consider to be the start of the decline of the famous series still has essential lessons on horror design for modern titles.
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:49:00 EST
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Early Access has proven to be a popular and viable option to release and develop a game by for indie developers. For today, we're going to look at what it means in the current market and the steps you need to take to have a successful early access game.
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Wed, 09 Dec 2020 10:47:00 EST
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The game market continues to change and grow, and for today, I want to slow things down and talk about the three things that any developer needs to have to give their game the best chance at success.
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:12:00 EST
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Design,
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Pain Points are often the understated killer of many games, and we're going to discuss how to spot them and some common mistakes for developers to avoid.
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Fri, 20 Nov 2020 10:38:00 EST
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Design,
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Game design and videogame criticism is still not as important as one would think, but today's post looks at the role of looking critically at a game and why developers should embrace it.
Posted by
Josh Bycer
on Tue, 10 Nov 2020 05:16:00 EST
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Design,
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VR,
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Indie,
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Indie
We're taking another look at horror design in today's post, and how the genre should be embracing roguelike design, not jumpscares, if it wants to continue to grow.
Josh Bycer's Comments
Comment In:
[Blog - 01/20/2021 - 11:48]
I think it depends on ...
I think it depends on the game and the atmosphere you 're going for. I recently played the Beast Inside which did break up the horror and puzzle-solving with the main character talking to his wife about what 's going on. And there have been other examples where even if ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 08/06/2020 - 11:11]
It 's no secret that ...
It 's no secret that in most f2p games there will be another wall, and when I 've worked with some designers who weren 't so keen on f2p and reduced the requirements to reach the next wall they found that we both made less money and fewer players were ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 07/20/2020 - 10:41]
Comment In:
[Blog - 06/30/2020 - 11:03]
For instance, Magia Record is ...
For instance, Magia Record is having an event right now where you can buy a guaranteed SSR of your choice for a coupon in a pack which IIRC costs 650 gems. So if you go to the gem buying page, you will see you can get that many gems for ...
Comment In:
[News - 06/08/2020 - 01:02]
Comment In:
[Blog - 05/26/2020 - 10:17]
The very fact that the ...
The very fact that the beginning of these games is bad is especially damning. If someone is finding issues in minute one of playing, what does that say about the rest of your game Unfortunately, with my weekly indie dev showcases, I 've been exposed to this more than anybody ...
