14 items tagged with cross-game analysis
Numbers Getting Even Bigger: The Growing Appeal of Incremental Games
https://code.tutsplus.com/numbers-getting-even-bigger--cms-26854a
idle incremental cross-game analysis
A look at the growth of incremental games over time; the shift to mobile; innovation and experimentation; and media inattention. Incremental games are exploding in different directions over time, as humans enjoy optimizing arbitrary systems. They represent a minimalism in games.
Numbers Getting Bigger: What Are Incremental Games, and Why Are They Fun?
idle incremental cross-game analysis
An introduction to idle and incremental games: what core features make up an incremental game, the psychology behind increasing numbers, genre origins, recent incremental games, and a discussion about whether idle games are games at all.
Why We Love Metroid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r6pAiZTEA8
metroid growth subtlety respect cross-game analysis
What makes Metroid games unique and special and stand out from others? Most of the games in the series so far focus on three themes: growth (gaining in power and abilities over time, which makes past challenges trivial); subtlety (environmental story telling and scant details that the player discovers organically), and respect (leaving the player to discover where to go and how to progress through introspection and intuition)
Game Design: Taxonomy of Fishing Mini-games
https://www.davideaversa.it/blog/game-design-taxonomy-fishing-mini-games/
A discussion of the emotional goals of fishing games, and a taxonomy that breaks fishing games into three aspects: approach, bite, and catch; with a look at how each of these affect the player experience, and options (such as button-mashing vs. instant catch) and their trade-offs.
How Do You Improve Turn Based Combat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktogjiX3eI4
turn-based combat RPG JRPG Disgaea Persona 5 Paper Mario Pokemon Super Mario RPG Dragons Quest Fire Emblem cross-game analysis oil
Turn-based combat is often slow and grindy. How can you improve it? Speed up actions, intros, and attack animations; use quick-time events so attacking and defending are interactive; streamline menu navigation; integrate turn economy (add, cancel, speed up, and slow down turns); reward players with new moves, interesting tactical choices, and story bits between battles; make interesting, unique monsters; use fights sparingly; grant small rewards like skill-points.
Building Better Crafting Systems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7EaryBgak
crafting cross-game analysis oil theory mechanics balance
An in-depth look at the three components of crafting systems: collection, crafting, and usage - and how to make them shine; mistakes to avoid that make crafting laborious; how to make simple crafting meaningful; and when your game should and include crafting: to give players control over the way they play, and an organic way to interact with the mechanics.
What Makes a Good RPG Town?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXleufh2mY0
towns RPG JRPG cross-game analysis
What makes a great town? A check-point and safe space between danger; a health/resource refiller (if battles are about resource depletion); a break from intense combat with things like secrets, lore, or mini-games; a place to complete quests for rewards; hints about future dangers or optional quests; a source of environmental storytelling
The Complete Evolution of Ultimate Weapons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P56OH7RQy8
Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Evolutions JRPG cross-game analysis
A quick look at how ultimate weapons changed, starting with Final Fantasy 1 and up to Final Fantasy 15. Common themes, including trade-offs: ultimate vs. second-tier best, ultimate per character vs. ultimate per class type or category, ultimates with special effects, and ultimates that require powering up to reach their full potential.
Final Fantasy Evolutions: Blue Mage Job Class (Final Fantasy V - Final Fantasy XIV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvg7ta05BGk
Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Evolutions cross-game analysis JRPG
Final Fantasy 5 introduced the Blue Mage class. How did the design of this class change through to Final Fantasy 14? From aesthetics to mechanics. Blue magic is sometimes character or materia specific, and often shared with class members. Characters either need to win the battle, see the spell, or be hit by it. Often it's a utility class, and sometimes a special move; and sometimes, it erodes your soul.
Side Quests - How To Make A Good Detour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTJ_RjfhGVQ
side quests game analysis cross-game analysis Yakuza Bug Fables Paper Mario Mass Effect Cross Code
How can you make amazing side quests? With a few ingredients: start by making it easy to accept and track side-quests. Side quests can advance and supplement story, provide a variety of gameplay in mini-games, require different elaborate usage of game systems, or provide extreme difficulty with a super-boss or secret dungeon. Rewards should be appropriate and worth the effort, they can keep players ahead or keep them from falling behind.
Guide to all the different Anti-Grind Mechanics that JRPG developers have made over the years
https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/m5u2we/guide_to_all_the_different_antigrind_mechanics/
JRPG balance dynamic difficulty cross-game analysis
Many JRPGs created interesting designs that don't require or allow players to grind, such as scaling enemies, reducing or eliminating XP, level caps, not respawning monsters, and penalizing the player; this thread lists pros and cons, too.
Complexity and Emergent Gameplay
https://www.gamesprecipice.com/complexity-emergent-gameplay/
emergent gameplay depth complexity mechanics scoring cross-game analysis
Complexity, depth, and the ratio between them determines emergent gameplay. A look at some board games that create depth out of simple mechanics, and how rules, scoring, and social elements can increase depth without increasing complexity. (Looks at board games, but directly applicable to video games.)
How to Crack the Match 3 Code?- Part 2
https://www.gamerefinery.com/how-to-crack-the-match-3-code-part-2/
match-3 mobile cross-game analysis consumables
An in-depth analysis at what makes Candy Crush Saga and other meta match-3 games successful. Topics covered include currencies, boosters, rarity, collapse vs. swiping, IP, demographics, narration, and meta systems.
How to crack the Match 3 code - Part 1
https://www.uxreviewer.com/home/2020/5/9/how-to-crack-the-match-3-code-part-1
match-3 mobile core loop cross-game analysis
Analysis of what makes Match 3 games so successful - simplified core loop, low player effort, short sessions - and how players now expect collapse-type mechanics, meta mechanics, in-game currency, and story in their match-3 games.