Game development process of designing the content and rules of a game
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Friendslop Games sind ein kurioses Phänomen: Spiele, die mit wenig Aufwand und noch weniger Budget innerhalb weniger Monate verkaufsfertig über den Tresen gehen - und immer wieder ein Millionenpublikum erreichen. Die oft ziemlich trashig wirkenden Spiele gehören seit der Corona-Pandemie regelmäßig zu den Topsellern und richten sich vor allem an Mulitplayer-Freunde. Lethal Company, Repo, Meccha Chamaleon und Content Warning führen die Liste der erfolgreichsten Friendslop-Spiele an und machen vor, was das Genre auszeichnet: abstruse Situationskomik, Koop-Spaß und nur grob polierte Grafik. Auch in Deutschland gibt es Friendslop-Entwickler - und Mateo Covic könnte von ihnen der erfolgreichste sein. Mit "Paddle Paddle Paddle" (ein kooperatives Paddel-Spiel) knackte er in Rekordzeit die 100.000 Verkäufe, ein Autospiel mit Schrei-Steuerung soll an den Erfolg nun anknüpfen. Nebenbei unterrichtet Mateo andere Entwickler in Game Design, kann auf mehrere DCP- und DEP-Nominierungen zurückblicken und wurde vom Forbes-Magazin für seine Arbeit gewürdigt - und all das mit nicht mal 25 Jahren. Dom hat Fragen, Mateo hat die Antworten.
In this podcast, I sit down with Yoni Skolnik, the lead set designer for Reality Fracture, to talk about the set's design.
This is the start of a new series I'll do from time to time called "What Went Wrong?" In it, I examine something we made that didn't work out. I'll explain why we made it and examine the problems it had. I begin by discussing March of the Machine: The Aftermath.
Century Games has found a 4X creative direction nobody else is using yet, and the crew is betting the whole category copies it within a month.Matej Lančarič, Jakub Remiar, and Felix Braberg run September's creatives. They retire Golden Goblins from the top slot (with the sharp lesson from Idle Zombie Miner: copy a dying game's creatives and you die with it), pass through the Idle Lumber studio's gross-but-working Top Tycoon fish-sushi concepts, SayGames' Tower War and its new Pocket Sort, the Pantheon clones everywhere, XP Hero's continued "steal the 4X creatives back" campaign (Last Asylum's, King Shot's "no ads," feeding crocodiles, even Smash Fest), and Butcher Hero's peak (grindy, no new content, and every second Reddit post is how to hack the APK).Century's Top Force runs civilization-style mass-battle creatives — armies, numbers, control-the-troops, a Lords Mobile flashback upgraded with toy-soldier visuals — that look nothing like the industry's hunting-bears template, and Century got there by testing ~500 unique concepts. The crew also covers Last Beacon (the renamed Endless Sea, pre-registration, trying every concept ever made), Cube Land's creative glow-up (200 new, revenue up), the Wool Crush wildcard (yarn + arrows + bus jam + save-the-cat in one, 2,000 creatives on an old game)Two conclusions: it's now hard to find a creative that isn't AI (the show is splitting into two AI episodes and one "normal" per cycle), and watch whether Top Force's mass-battle concept spreads. The crew's bet: it willThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
Zedge removed banners from an app with 721 million installs — half as a joke, to be consistent in a refresh-rate test. Impressions fell 38%. Revenue went up 1%. Their North Star metric rose 1.77%. Then they ran it in reverse to make sure, and got the same result. Banners might genuinely be dead.Felix Braberg goes solo for an ad-monetization interview with Ignas Danielius, Head of Ad Monetization at Zedge (the personalization company behind the 721M-install, 4.7-rated wallpaper and ringtone app, plus Emojipedia, GuruShots, and the new Dataseats AI-training-data business). They cover how ad-mon has evolved (from painful waterfalls to bidding and, ironically, back to user-value-segmented waterfalls), why banners went from Zedge's main revenue driver to a stale unit (the format is functionally unchanged since the late '90s while interstitials and rewarded have been through a conversion arms race; 5-second refresh rates kill advertiser value; misclicks and unfixable redirects), and the experiment itself: a refresh-rate test (15/20/30 seconds) with a "for a laugh" variant that removed banners entirely — run from December 8 through January, spanning the best and worst ad-ops months, with the no-banner group outperforming control for the entire duration. Ignas explains the mechanism (advertisers bid on the user, and a fast-refreshing banner is the cheapest impression to "buy" them on — remove it and later-session interstitials, numbers four through six, see fill rates explode), why the first interstitial didn't change, why Google likely drove the biggest effect, the conditions under which other publishers can reproduce it (top networks, up to 15 bidders on interstitials, low latency, a full format mix — and frequency of use matters)The takeaway: "the banner always contributes" was a status quo nobody tested. Zedge tested it. It didn't hold.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Meet Ignas — ad monetization at Zedge05:15 How ad-mon evolved — and why waterfalls are back06:05 The banner's slow decline: a unit that never innovated09:55 5-second refreshes, misclicks & redirects — how banners kill themselves11:40 The experiment — refresh rates, and "for a laugh, remove it"14:50 The result — 38% fewer impressions, +1% revenue, +1.77% North Star17:10 Why it works — advertisers buy your user cheap on the banner21:40 Should you turn off banners? The checklist---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA
A job-search app shipped a Flappy Bird playable that ends with "there's a relevant job for you." Two years ago that would have made zero sense. This month it's the trend: non-gaming apps are flooding the playable space, most of them vibe-coded with AI in an afternoon.Matej Lančarič and Ondrej Mosberger are joined again by Robin Kuyer (Unity PlayWorks) for the "everyone brings playables" format — with the bold creative twist of reversing the order. https://lancaric.substack.com/p/h1-2026-brutally-honest-ua-report?r=7qqafMatej's Brutally Honest UA report puts playables at 40-60% of creative spend, up from 30-40% a year ago, as AppLovin, Mintegral, and the SDK networks keep growing. Robin brings the "Frankenstein" playable (Wool Crush: arrows + yarn mechanics + save-the-cat, every popular concept stacked into one ad — plus his spreadsheet method for engineering ideas from what's trending), the non-gaming wave Ondrej closes with a Fumb Games playable vibe-coded in Playable Maker (30 iterations and the next version does it in three) and a clean memory-game hidden-object playable that respects the player's intelligence.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Playables are 40-60% of creative spend — the Brutally Honest data06:25 Wool Crush — the Frankenstein playable and the spreadsheet method11:20 Non-gaming apps take over — Indeed's Flappy Bird, finance, cleaners19:40 Hero Wars — the open-roam level playable and how to iterate it25:05 Supercell's playable — lost seven times, should a playable let you lose?29:40 Sunday City — GTA timing, Grove Street, and the double-hook debate38:30 Cozy Florist's AI merge & the cats-with-guns wildcard44:50 Vibe-coded in Playable Maker + the memory-game playable that trusts youThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investorsFor an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SAMatej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiarPlease share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
X-Men Origins : Wolverine a beau être adapté d'un film terriblement mauvais, il a une très bonne répution ! C'est un gigantesque défouloir sanguinaire qui a su capter l'essence du héros culte de Marvel. Jusqu'ici, jamais Logan n'était apparu de façon si bestiale. Grâce à ce débordement de violence, c'est un jeu qui est régulièrement cité parmi les meilleures adaptations de super-héros en jeux vidéo. Mais est-il vraiment à la hauteur de ces éloges ? » SOMMAIRE (00:00:00) Introduction (00:10:53) Développement : Débuts de Raven Software (00:17:11) Développement : Un studio Activision (00:26:02) Développement : Wolverine Origins (00:32:17) Développement : Sortie et futur de Raven Software (00:36:33) Scénario : Point sur le film (00:49:22) Scénario : Écriture du jeu (00:56:56) Scénario : Que vaut l'adaptation ? (01:03:53) Gameplay et Game Design (01:25:02) Direction Artistique (01:29:35) Musique (01:36:36) Conclusion
Back in December of 2023, I handed off the vision design for Reality Fracture. I recorded this for you to hear my thoughts at the time of handoff.
This podcast is the history of one of Magic's hungriest creature types, one I had a huge hand in designing.
Game discussed in the video - One Mage Army: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eyaegmoranm.onemagearmy A solo developer messaged Jakub at Gamesforum to say the podcast helped him grow his game from zero to $25K a month, now heading to $50K. This video is for exactly that person: one game, no creative team, no UA department — and a launch that needs to happen anyway.Matej Lančarič goes solo for the first episode of his dev journey, launching his own game, One Mage Army (Android now, iOS in a couple of weeks), in the least ideal conditions: the build was done, Singular and ad monetization were in, but every motion designer and playable person was busy on client work, there was no gameplay footage anywhere online, and all he had was the store page. He walks the whole setup in order: wiring the network connectors (Unity, Google, Mintegral, Meta, Moloco, and more), the Singular events he needed before anything could run (ad impressions, purchases, level victories, hero unlocks — the first-session events), then the creative problem. With nothing to work from, he fed Layer.ai the store link and one brief — 59-second, story-driven, "one mage vs. a horde," keep the store's art style — and had ten AI videos in about 90 minutes, no gameplay at all. They're not perfect, and he says so: any client would reject them. They're also his best performers on Facebook and Apple. Add Playable Maker playables (plus playables built in Layer from the game's own sprites, seven more in the back pocket), and the campaigns: on Facebook, an ad-impression campaign to get any data ($0.18 CPI, ~200 installs), then a level-5 achieve campaign that started producing purchasers on its own (10-13 IPM, ~$0.90 CPI on tier 1, Germany best), then tier-1 purchase campaigns (~€3 CPI, US ~$4.50). On AppLovin, blended-ROAS worldwide (the game is ~40% IAP / 60% ads): a brutal $60 CPI on day one, $30, then $7, now $3.60 and heading toward $2 — and the discipline of not panicking when it's your own money.The lesson, stated plainly: volume and diversity beat polish. Ten imperfect videos beat one perfect one. Get data in first, ladder the campaigns, iterate the winner. Next up: Firebase, Google Ads, and hybrid ROAS.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.substack.com & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask Matej AI - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai
A hide-and-seek game where you paint yourself to blend into the map, made by two people in two months, just made $60 million. That's the winner of this quarter's Steam Scanner — and it's the one idea on the list mobile genuinely can't clone.The closing caveat matters: it's survivorship bias — 20K+ games hit Steam a year — and Steam's discovery means a Mecha Chameleon never gets brute-forced by three Voodoo clones in a month. That's the whole difference between the two platforms.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 The Steam Scanner is back — Q2, smallest to biggest04:20 Taskbar Hero — an idle RPG in your taskbar (and the widget hint)08:00 Supermarket Chaos & Oaken Tower — the tidy-up trend and an idle PvP tower12:00 Idle gacha, Solarpunk & the evolve-into-a-crab roguelite18:20 Librarian & Rome's Dead — high-budget cleaning and Roman survivor-slop22:10 Vampire Crawlers, Paralives & the co-op casino-debt game27:20 The winner — Mecha Chameleon, $60M by two people35:30 Survivorship bias and why Steam can't be brute-forcedThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.substack.com & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask Matej AI - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai
Crowdfunding Nerds: Kickstarter Marketing For Board Games & Beyond!
What actually makes a tabletop game successful? According to Roll for Combat publisher Stephen Glicker, creating a great game is only one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Sean sits down with Stephen to unpack nearly five decades of gaming experience and the lessons he's learned building Roll for Combat and Battlezoo into major third-party publishers for Pathfinder, D&D, Shadowdark, and now Deathbringer. Stephen shares how his background in publishing, advertising, video games, and even studying casino psychology shaped the way he approaches game design and marketing. They also dig into the realities of running a tabletop publishing business—from printers, fulfillment, NDAs, and structured playtesting to the growing challenge of proving artwork wasn't AI-generated. Stephen explains why understanding the mechanics behind a game matters more than simply playing hundreds of games, and why designers need to learn how to deconstruct what makes games work. Guest Bio: Stephen Glicker is the publisher of Roll for Combat and the creator behind the Battlezoo line of tabletop roleplaying products. Roll for Combat publishes material across multiple systems, including Pathfinder, D&D 5E, Shadowdark, and Deathbringer. Stephen has been playing tabletop RPGs since 1977 and brings decades of experience across gaming, publishing, design, and marketing. Before working full-time in tabletop publishing, he ran Skyscraper Studios, producing websites and interactive projects for Fortune 500 companies, and studied print publication and design at Carnegie Mellon. Roll for Combat originally began as an actual-play podcast before Stephen experimented with publishing his first Battlezoo Bestiary. When COVID disrupted his original plans to sell the book at conventions, he took it to Kickstarter instead—where the first campaign raised more than $300,000. Today, Stephen works alongside game designers and creators on products including Battlezoo Bestiary, Eldamon, Battlezoo ancestries, adventures, dragon-focused products, and Deathbringer with Professor Dungeon Master. He also co-hosts Roll for Combat's weekly show, discussing tabletop game design, publishing, crowdfunding, fulfillment, and the business behind the industry. Connect with Crowdfunding Nerds: Website: https://crowdfundingnerds.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crowdfundingnerds/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@crowdfundingnerdspodcast
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Find the Cat 2 — now in color02:40 Cat-as-ornament hiding and 70-cat hard levels04:20 Shorter levels, more interstitials — the pacing change08:15 The meow is the whole game13:00 Rewarded ads, 260-second Google formats & the Mintegral fix18:00 The numbers — 125K downloads/day, 350K DAU, vs Find the Cat 124:40 Felix's ad-scaling thresholds and the banner decoy28:30 The creatives — AI doctors, 17 playables & find the IP infringementThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.substack.com & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask Matej AI - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai
This is the final part of a seven-part series based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later get banned or restricted.
One of the important parts of doing Magic design is coming up with things players haven't seen before, but how much innovation is the right amount? In this podcast, I talk all about that issue.
Newzoo says the global games market hits $213.9B in 2026, with mobile the largest platform at $121.1B and — for the first time in a while — the fastest-growing one. And that mobile number is still missing the $10-15B earned off-platform that the trackers can't see. Three stories this Friday, plus the weather.Felix Braberg flies solo for the Friday news. First, Newzoo's 2026 Global Games Market forecast (via Michiel Buijsman, August 25): $213.9B total, up 6.1%, with growth across all platforms and regions; mobile at $121.1B (+6.8%) ahead of console ($46.9B, +5.1%, anchored by GTA 6's November launch) and PC ($45.9B, +5%, moderating after a record 12% in 2025). The mobile growth is coming from deeper spending per player, Chinese publishers gaining share abroad, and expanding D2C — and Felix layers on the off-platform caveat from the recent FastSpring/Chip episode, meaning mobile's true size is meaningfully larger than reported. The player-side forecast is the strategic one: 3.7B players in 2026 (+4.4%) but growth slowing to ~3.2% through 2029 as penetration flattens at ~62% of the online population — so future growth depends on retaining and monetizing existing audiences, not adding new ones. Second, Makers Fund closed its $250M Fund IV (bringing AUM to $1.5B), the San Francisco games-VC behind Dream Games and Voldex — exactly the kind of capital the industry needs flowing to the next generation of studios. Third, AppsFlyer secured a $400M credit line from Bank Leumi on top of a June transaction that valued it at $2.7B (Google, Meta, Unity, and Moloco as minority investors, and liquidity for long-time backers like General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs). Felix's finance read: they bought out investors who wanted out after the IPO failed, came up short on cash, and took on debt to fund growth toward being big enough to go public.Then the weather: Smash Fest leads US iOS free downloads, Meow Doku is #2 (and #1 on Google Play, beating Roblox), Block Out and Magic Sort (both Grand Games) follow, and Royal Smash vs Smash Fest is now a live fight for the biggest smash game.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Three stories and the weather — Friday news00:40 Newzoo 2026 — $214B market, mobile $121B and growing fastest02:30 The off-platform asterisk — mobile's real size03:30 Player growth is slowing — retention is the new growth05:10 Makers Fund closes $250M Fund IV06:20 AppsFlyer's $400M credit line — the post-IPO read08:00 The weather — Smash Fest, Meow Doku, and the smash-game fight---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
In this episode, your nice hosts welcome Heather Flowers into the clubhouse to talk about math and probability, while Heather insists they should be on Evil Games Club instead. The group reflects on art and the interpretation of art.Chance MechanicsGame DesignHeather Flowers GamesUnfair Flips - Heather Flowers, Steam500 Finger Fillet - Heather Flowers, SteamUnderstanding Systems Suspense - Cat Manning, Jason Grinblat, Max Kreminski, Graeme Lennon, Alexsei Pepers, Lauren Scott, Polaris Game Design RetreatOther mentionsBuckshot Roulette - WikipediaArchane Kids Manife$toNumber Gotcha - itch.io
OOC is marketed as "playable anime." There's almost no anime in it. It's a wall of text — an AI-powered dungeon master running an interactive story you steer with your own prompts. And it's doing an estimated $100K a day, 74% of it from the US, on pure AI-generated text. Welcome to the weirdest, most future-facing app the crew has covered.We break down OOC by New AI Entertainment (a subsidiary of Korean AI company VRTN) — and use it as a window into the fast-scaling "AI companion" / LLM-driven-content category. We walk the actual experience (a micro-drama-style menu of isekai and anime scenarios, but instead of scripted choices you type free-text prompts, and the LLM improvises the world like a Dungeons & Dragons game master — Jakub compares it directly to 1970s multi-user dungeons, the text-only RPGs that existed before graphics), why the generative freedom is both the magic and the flaw (you can break the story like the genie-with-infinite-wishes paradox, and the AI has to scramble to hold it together), and the token economy (you burn ~90 tokens per response on the good model, run dry in a handful of replies, and get pushed to refill — with 30% off on web). Then the numbers and the category: OOC at ~$100K/day since a June launch with sky-high US IAP conversion, sitting alongside PolyBuzz, Tipsy / Live Your Story (~$500K/day), Status, and others - all LLM-driven content apps that barely existed two years ago. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 "Playable anime" — and why there's no anime03:20 How it actually plays — you write the prompts08:00 It's a 1970s text MUD with an AI dungeon master12:00 The genie problem — breaking the story13:40 The token economy — pay for the good model20:40 The numbers — $100K/day, 74% US, and the category35:00 Why it's not on AppLovin (and the missed playable play)This episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100-PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investorsFor an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricMatej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiarPlease share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
Send us Fan MailWelcome to you heard it hear last where we talk about news, you've already heard.Paizo is in the news again. But this time it sounds like good newshttps://www.enworld.org/threads/paizo-may-finally-get-its-inventory-back-from-bankrupt-diamond.720248/It seems that Paizo and Diamond Comics Distributors have reached an agreement to release millions of dollars of Paizo inventory they have held since January of 2025. Diamond Comics originally intended to sell the stock to pay their bills, but a flurry of legal activity brought that to an end. This agreement is a big deal for Paizo.I attended the Paizo address at GenCon and was very critical of the way it was structured. It was clear to me that Paizo built a wall to avoid having to talk about any of their financial troubles, but after this announcement it is clear that they couldn't because of this legal settlement.Mike, what does this news mean for Paizo going forward?[Kick to Mike]Christina, Will Paizo bounce back right away or will it take some time to get their stride back?[Kick to Christina]Up next is as they say, something completely different, and I think that is pretty cool.https://www.enworld.org/threads/classic-horror-dark-conspiracy-rpg-returns-using-traveller-rules.720279/The classic dark horror urban fantasy game Dark Conspiracy's is back and this time with a different rules system. Dark Conspiracy was originally printed by Games Designer's Workshop in 1991 and the setting was post-apocalyptic where the players were demon hunters facing off against an incursion of monsters in a near future world. The game has had three editions by three different companies, but the new version is being published by Mongoose and will be using the Traveller rules. That might be a first for me. I don't think I have seen the Traveller rules used to play anything other then Sci-Fi. I love Traveller so I think this is pretty cool. I only hope they keep the lifepath system.Mike, What do you make of this?[Kick to Mike]Christina, what about you, does this interest you?[Kick to Christina]And there you have it, all the news, you've already heard.
Back at it again with more incredible resources to help you all learn & grow as developers! I have found some incredible game dev info whcih I want to share with you all, so sit back, relax and let us get educated! join the Mailing List: https://bit.ly/4eNPm8X ---------- Resources ---------- The Art of Game Design: https://bit.ly/45ZTUas The Game Narrative Toolbox: https://bit.ly/4zNjIEf Level Design Kit: https://bit.ly/4gYaJ9d Build a Second Brain: https://bit.ly/3V5AHSd Silent Hill Townfall: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/how-silent-hill-townfall-gets-deep-into-its-protagonist-s-headspace ---------------------- Let's Design Books ----------------------- Ebook - https://bit.ly/39BakJD Physical Books - https://bit.ly/3mfOsbS ----------------------- Contact Me ----------------------- Website: https://www.maxpears.com/ Email: leveldesignlobby@gmail.com
Almost every game that tried the Backpack Hero setup on mobile failed. Overgeared Hero didn't — it's the strongest adaptation the crew has seen; it's doing ~$100K a day, and it pulled off the thing most Asian-developed RPGs can't: it cracked the US.We break down Overgeared Hero by Craft (Korea) — a mid-core RPG built on a Hobby/RPG chassis (gacha, energy, idle expedition, gear-merge, endless tower, pet dungeons) but with a genuinely novel core: inventory-Tetris roguelite runs where you arrange, merge, and position gear in a backpack, and adjacency bonuses (place items near the right weapon or armor) turn it into more than just Tetris. The standout mechanic Jakub unpacks: your upgradeable starting gear sits outside the recipe book, so meta-progression makes you stronger at the start of each run — a roguelite spend-depth lever that lets them keep raising enemy stats and keep you spending. They cover the numbers (~$100K/day since a June launch, ~20K downloads/day, and crucially 24% of revenue from the US, then Japan at 23% and Korea at 13% — rare US strength for an Asian mid-core), the deliberately simple ad setup (12 rewarded placements, all unlocked at once after floor-one round-six, ~15% ad revenue / ~$19K/day, with LINE in the stack for Japan), and why this audience (hardcore PC-pixel, Castlevania/Shovel Knight/Balatro-adjacent, the players who check a tier list before they play) doesn't want aggressive interstitials and can't be scaled on cheap high-volume traffic. Then the UA: ~2,700 creatives, heavy AI, Hobby-style explanatory/altered-gameplay hooks, a channel mix that finally diversified from Facebook/Unity/AdMob into AppLovin This episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investorsFor an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SAMatej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
In Slay the Spire, Ascension mode is all about beating harder and harder fights until you crash out entirely. Guildrun, a super popular demo, seems to take things a different way, emphasizing very difficult encounters but trying to make a win streak happen. PLUS: Special after action for a cool encounter in Ripples in the Sand! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Want to watch these episodes live? Check us out at https://www.youtube.com/@somederpsplaygames or twitch.tv/somederpsplaygames Check out the podcast on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/somederpstalkaboutgames Want to tell us something? Email us at podcast@somederpsplaygames.com Like our Facebook page too! www.facebook.com/SomeDerpsPlayGames/ We have a Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/somederpsplaygames Rate us on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/some-derps-talk-about-games/id1048899720 Follow us on Twitter! SDPG: twitter.com/somederps Buddy: twitter.com/thatbuddysola Mango: twitter.com/theonetruemango Intro and Outro courtesy of twitter.com/VinceRolin
Overview of processor, assembler, and emulators for the Atari 2600. Creating Atari 2600 game files from 6502 assembly with DASM. Running created games using the Z26 Atari emulator. Example of displaying KNOX in Morse Code on the Atari 2600. How to use an Asymmetric playfield to display KNOX graphically on the screen. Helper tool for … Continue reading Atari 2600 – Knox Game Design, August 2026 →
This is the part six of a seven-part series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam where I discussed the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later get banned or restricted.
Once we print Magic cards, how do we get them to you, the players? This podcast talks about the various ways we do that.
From outlawing the L3 and R3 buttons to combat-oriented games with bad platforming sections, our listeners have submitted 12 more possible game design crimes for Room 101...sorry, Room 64 (double copyright infringement!). Our returning guest, actual game designer Jamie Smith, helps us judge the innocent and guilty.Want to submit a game design crime for a future episode? Head here to the relevant Discord channel, or ping us at backpagegames@gmail.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In today's episode we talk about how to deal with inconsistent game schedules. How do you handle long breaks between games? How do you refocus and help your players after these breaks? Is there anything you can do to prevent schedule issues? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.
Soft Launch Sonar is where we dig through the millions of games brewing in soft launch to find the patterns before anyone else. This time: Century's not-so-secret second account, Supercent cloning Smash Fest twice in a week, Miniclip taking a swing at Forex, and a Smash Fest clone count that's hit 123 with the honest verdict that almost none of it contains a single new idea.Supercent's two near-identical Smash Fest clones (Wackstack and Smashdown) shipped in one week, part of a clone wave Felix now counts at 123 — the Pixel-Flow-sold-for-a-billion gold rush in full swing, with everyone piling in despite zero genre expertise. Combo Games brings a puzzle spread (a promising arrows-with-holes ball game, a bubble-associations game, and the obligatory Cube Land clone "Cube Smash"), Miniclip surfaces a mysterious Forex entry (a Chinese-owned British studio going the other way), Match Villains' UA chart is flatlined (pivoting to LiveOps and profitability), and the crew heaps genuine praise on Total Battle for a slow-and-steady hockey stick that's now doing record revenue by owning its "gate" niche. Plus InnoGames, Say Games, and Gamespark — rumored to be RiverGames trying to wrestle back 4X share with a one-to-one Last War template in King Shot visuals.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Soft Launch Sonar returns — millions of games, one crew02:20 Century's secret "Innovation" account — merge + Forex only06:40 Top Force Commander — Century's King Shot clone13:00 Supercent's two Smash Fest clones and the 123-clone wave18:20 Combo Games' puzzle spread and the Cube Land clone24:00 Miniclip does Forex + Total Battle's slow-and-steady miracle31:40 Gamespark — the rumored RiverGames comeback playThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricMatej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
Send us Fan MailNormally we'd all be sitting around the microphones, arguing over games, movies, roleplaying, and whatever other rabbit hole we decide to wander down. But this week... well... life got in the way in the best possible fashion.We went to Gen Con.You know, there are some places that just have an energy all their own. A baseball stadium on Opening Day. Walking into Disney for the first time. Maybe your favorite band's concert before the lights go down.Gen Con has that same feeling.But for many of us our favorite time isn't actually when the convention is packed.It's setup day.You walk through those giant convention center doors and everything is buzzing. Forklifts are backing up. Pallets of games are everywhere. Booths are half-built. Someone is hanging banners thirty feet in the air while somebody else is frantically looking for a roll of duct tape they swore they packed.The halls are busy...But they're not crowded.Not yet.That's the strange part.You've been here before. You know exactly what these halls are going to look like in less than twenty-four hours. Right now you can actually see the floors.Tomorrow...You won't.Tomorrow every aisle will be shoulder to shoulder with gamers, collectors, cosplayers, families, creators, publishers, artists, dice goblins, card sharks, miniature painters, and people carrying bags that somehow weigh more than they do.You know it's coming.And everyone setting up knows it's coming too.That's what makes setup day so fascinating.Every booth tells a story.Somebody spent years making the game sitting on that table.Someone mortgaged vacation time, emptied a savings account, drove across three states, or spent months designing artwork just hoping people will stop, smile, and say..."Tell me about your game."That's where we are this year.Over at the Oddfish Games booth we've got a whole table full of products we're proud of. Adventure Scents. How to RPG With Your Cat. Cooking with Dice. Radiance.And this year...Leviathan Rising.It's Christina Stiso's brand-new roleplaying game, and we've poured an incredible amount of time, creativity, testing, rewriting, and plain old worrying into getting it ready for people to experience.And that's the thing about Gen Con.Hope.Every publisher hopes people stop at their booth.Every game designer hopes someone sits down to play.Every artist hopes somebody notices their work.Every creator wonders..."Did we make something people are going to love?"You don't really know.You can playtest for months.You can have friends tell you it's great.You can polish every page until you're convinced you've found every typo.But none of that answers the only question that really matters.Will complete strangers care?That answer doesn't arrive until Thursday morning.Ten o'clock.The doors open.And then...It happens.Thousands...and I mean thousands...of gamers surge into the exhibit hall.They actually have a nickname for it.The Running of the Nerds.And I say that with absolute affection.It's glorious.People aren't running because they're escaping danger.They're running toward games.Toward their favorite publishers.Toward limited editions.Toward demos they've been waiting all year to play.Toward that one booth they've had circled on their map for six months.It's one of the happiest stampedes you'll ever witness.There's nothing quite like it.Because for four days, Indianapolis becomes the center of the gaming universe.Now, because Gen Con has a funny way of consuming every waking hour we had planned for recording, we didn't have time to put together a traditional episode this week.So instead...I grabbed a couple of microphones.I wandered the convention.I cornered my co-hosts.I talked with friends.I chatted with designers.I may have accidentally eavesdropped on a few conversations that were just too good not to share.What you're about to hear is Gen Con as it really happens.Not polished.Not scripted.Just real people experiencing one of the greatest gaming conventions on Earth.We're going behind the scenes.We're getting first impressions.We're talking to people while the excitement is still fresh.And that's where we're going to begin.Our first guest is someone pretty special to us.He had just finished playing one of the very first public games of Leviathan Rising.The dice had barely stopped rolling.The adrenaline was still there.The story was still unfolding in his mind.Before he had time to overthink anything, we handed him a microphone and simply asked..."So... what did you think?"Here's his immediate reaction, recorded just moments after the game ended.
In this episode, hosts Dirk Knemeyer and David Heron dive into a complex listener question regarding the incentives and ethics of Games as a Service (GaaS). They explore the fundamental difference between designing a "boxed" product intended to be finished and a service designed to retain players indefinitely. The discussion challenges the common narrative around "dark patterns," suggesting that what looks like malice is often economic necessity or design incompetence driven by the staggering costs of modern game development—such as a single raid boss costing $9 million to produce. David provides a unique perspective on value perception, comparing high-tier game spending to the difference between a home-cooked steak and a $1,000 professional tasting menu.
In episode 148 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with Jason Wong, the designer of PocketParks, a set-collecting card game featuring all 63 US National Parks, with gameplay inspired by Chinese Mahjong. Jason has visited all 63 US National Parks (he has a water bottle full of stickers to prove it), and featured his own […]
What if students didn't simply complete an assessment—but designed an experience for someone else? In this episode of Shifting Schools, Tricia Friedman pitches Jeff Utecht a new approach to assessment for the AI era: invite students to become game designers. Games are memorable, social, challenging, and full of consequential choices. Designing one asks students to think about systems, understand an audience, establish meaningful constraints, gather feedback, solve problems, and defend the decisions they make. Those may be precisely the capabilities that matter most when AI can help produce a polished final product. Tricia introduces the GAMES learning-design framework: • Goal: What should players understand, practise, or accomplish? • Audience: Who is the game being designed for? • Mechanics: What rules, choices, and constraints make it work? • Engagement: When do players experience agency, challenge, or frustration? • Show It: How did testing and revision improve the game? Check it out: https://shifting-schools-games.netlify.app/ Jeff and Tricia also explore how teachers and students can intentionally decide where AI belongs in the design process—and where the thinking should remain entirely human. Along the way, they discuss centaur chess, systems thinking, authentic audiences, collaborative games, playtesting, vibe coding, and why assessment should increasingly examine a learner's judgment and reasoning rather than only the finished product. You'll also hear about Bark Park, Tricia's AI-assisted dog-park simulator, where limited budgets, overflowing bins, rainy weather, unhappy visitors, and a neighbouring pickleball court turn one small public space into a surprisingly complex systems challenge. In this episode: • Why games often remain in our memories longer than individual lessons • How game design develops systems thinking and executive function • Why creating for a real audience builds empathy • How playtesting makes feedback, failure, and revision feel natural • What human-only and AI-supported stages might look like • Why students need to explain and defend their design choices • How AI can expand what students are capable of creating • Why play may bring greater joy and meaning to assessment Explore the GAMES framework, student design kit, research, standards connections, printable resources, and Bark Park through the links accompanying this episode. We would love your feedback. Could this approach work in your classroom, course, or curriculum? Better yet, send us the unit you believe could never become a game. We would love to test the framework at its edges. Thank you to our show sponsor: Unfurl Learn more with Unfurl: https://unfurl.sh/ Connect with us: Tricia Friedman: tricia@shiftingschools.com General inquiries: info@shiftingschools.com
We break down XP Hero by Supercent: an idle RPG built on the same Alien Invasion core as Butcher Hero, but with far better onboarding and vastly more ads. They walk the deep feature set (a growing hero, monetized cargo capacity and return tickets, boss raids that force you to upgrade a whole team, Legend of Slime-style blessings, gacha chests from the Habby template, a PvP intrusion system, an endless tower, and map-spawning chests), the ad monetization (Felix's counted 47 rewarded placements, an interstitial on a 60-90 second cooldown tied to rewarded views, 53% ad revenue versus Butcher Hero's 32%, landing ~$85K/day in ads on possibly-undercounted DAU — so plausibly $200K and maybe $400K/day total),Then the UA masterclass: Supercent runs a fake-out "no ads / idle lumber / tower-defense" playable that has nothing to do with the game, This is genius, not lazy, because 4X originally stole those concepts from idle RPGs - so Supercent, having finally built the actual idle RPG everyone's been imitating, is just stealing it back. ~1,300 creatives in three days (700 new), heavy AI, AppLovin + Mintegral led, all channels running.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 XP Hero — Butcher Hero with better onboarding (and way more ads)04:00 The monetized-cargo mechanic and forced backtracking06:00 The interstitial-every-60-seconds cooldown trick08:10 The deep feature set — boss raids, blessings, gacha, tower14:00 47 rewarded placements — Felix reads the whole list18:45 The numbers — 53% ad revenue, ~$200-400K/day22:45 The "no ads" lie and the fake-out playable27:00 Stealing 4X creatives back — the UA masterclassThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investorsFor an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej LancaricJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultanthttps://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultanthttps://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultanthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
My family took a vacation to Boston, so I talk about my trip and Boston's history with Magic.
This is part five of a new series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam, where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later be banned or restricted.
In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot. The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt A Fistful Of Spells. We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off. Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.
Send us Fan MailYHIHL S4E17Let's start off with some news that made me give an audible “Ohhh!”Renegade Games Studios has announced they will be launching Ann Rice's Immortal Universe Roleplaying Game later this year through Backerkit.https://www.enworld.org/threads/anne-rices-supernatural-world-is-coming-to-a-ttrpg-near-you.719998/That was one of those announcements that had me at hello.I am a huge fan of the Ann Rice novels. I'm typically not a fan of sparkly vampires, but when I first picked up a copy of Interview with a Vampire in college, I was hooked. I dove into The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief and then really enjoyed the Mayfair Witches. I pretty much trailed off after that; I have always had a soft spot for those books. This is one of the IPs that I never really thought of, but as soon as I read it, I realized it was just spec written for modern roleplaying.Christina, I know you are a big fan of the urban fantasy, vampire stuff. What's your take on this announcement?Kick to ChristinaMike, Vampire the Masquerade is a game you love, does this announcement tickly your fancy?Kick to MikeIn another interesting bit of news, Chaosium just unveiled a new source book for Call of Cthulhu. Innsmouth. Innsmouth is the definitive guide to the rotting seaport town—one of the most iconic settings for Call of Cthulhu. And the most exciting part…it's available right now!https://www.enworld.org/threads/chaosiums-new-book-on-lovecrafts-innsmouth-is-the-definitive-guide.720001/No Backerkit. No Kickstarter. No wait.By the time listeners here this I will have my grubby hand on it.Christina, what do you think about this release?Kick to ChristinaMike, Will you want to play our Halloween game in Innsmouth this year?Kick to MikeAn there you have it, all the news you've already heard.
Star Trek Fleet Command's M94: Cause and Effect is bringing some potentially massive changes to the monthly Battle Pass, and tonight we break down everything we know! The 20-day Battle Pass returns alongside FREE rare officer sourcing, Elite epic officer unlocks, new artifact choices, ship blueprint and upgrade-part sourcing, FKR ship part choice tokens, expanded building materials and much more. Most importantly, Scopely is experimenting with giving players far more control over what rewards they actually want instead of locking progression behind predetermined milestone rewards. DJz, Griffin and the Talking Trek community dig through the details, answer questions directly from players, reveal additional clarification from STFC HQ, and look at what these changes could mean for F2P, light spenders and late-game commanders. We also tackle the G7 economy, ship-part sourcing, Scopely's technology and engineering challenges, upcoming Galactic Anomalies, Forbidden Tech and whether M94 represents a genuine change in direction for STFC. The framework looks promising... but as always, the math will decide everything. 00:02 – Griffin Arrives & Immediate Audio Chaos 03:18 – Setting Up Tonight's M94 Preview 07:32 – Battle Pass Hype & Community Giveaways 13:27 – No Math Yet, But We Have the Mechanics 18:04 – G6 Surge Research & the Vengeance 23:16 – Five Battle Passes, a $100 Pack & Into the Main Show 25:05 – M94 “Cause and Effect” Preview Begins 26:44 – The New Battle Pass Philosophy: Player Choice 27:24 – The 20-Day Battle Pass Returns 27:36 – FREE Rare Officer Unlock Opportunity 28:24 – Choice Tokens & the New Exchange System 28:51 – New Artifact Exchange Explained 29:33 – Massive Starship Exchange & Expanded Ship Sourcing 31:20 – Materials, Resources & FKR Ship Part Choice Tokens 46:27 – Officer Rewards by Generation & Ops Level 48:17 – Artifact Exchange Deep Dive 49:41 – Free Rare vs. Elite Epic Artifact Unlocks 1:01:08 – Artifact Upgrades, IAPs & Future Seasons Sourcing 1:02:03 – Starship Exchange Deep Dive 1:03:11 – Can You Save M94 Tokens? Nope. Spend 'Em. 1:22:55 – Event Stores as Catch-Up Mechanics 1:23:49 – Supply Exchange & FKR Part Choice Clarification 1:42:32 – Temporary Boosts & Final Battle Pass Breakdown 1:43:12 – How Many Choice Currencies Are There, Really? 1:56:32 – $20 Value, Microtransactions & Moving Beyond Whales 1:58:05 – Scopely's “Regular Player” Engagement KPI 2:01:04 – Great Economy Changes, But Tech Still Matters 2:02:21 – Bugs, Lag & What Engineering Needs From Players 2:07:42 – Spam PMs, Chat Problems & a Possible Chat Rework 2:11:06 – Tech Stability, Version Control & the Rough Week 2:13:11 – Progress Is Real, But This Isn't Mission Accomplished 2:14:08 – Galactic Anomalies & M94 Teases 2:14:44 – Community Q&A Begins 2:15:01 – “Content Pause” vs. Slowing New Content Development 2:19:17 – Customer Support, Bug Triage & Engineering Escalation 2:22:49 – Forbidden Tech Level 60: What's Actually Holding It Up? 2:23:19 – Engineering, Game Design & Tackling the Tech Backlog 2:35:58 – Upcoming Streams & Thursday Arc Launch Plans 2:36:12 – Thursday's Galactic Anomalies & Reaver Additions 2:36:45 – Farewell to the Podcast Audience 2:37:46 – End of Show
This is part four of a new series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam, where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later be banned or restricted.
In this episode, I talk about my trip to the latest San Diego Comic-Con.
Talking Trek is LIVE from Dublin, Ireland! Griffin joins DJz straight from the European Content Creator Summit at Digit/Scopely with an enormous behind-the-scenes report on the future of Star Trek Fleet Command. We dig into what happened inside the studio following the Alliance Tournament launch disaster, how STFC engineering responds to a “Code Red,” why communication failed players, and the major internal culture changes Griffin says he witnessed firsthand. We also discuss Scopely's new willingness to delay content rather than ship something unfinished, closer cooperation between Game Design, LiveOps, Engineering and Narrative, and a new relationship forming between Scopely and the community developers building many of the tools players use every day. And then there's the Guilded Shackle. After testing from Jules Verne, Lightbull, DJz and the Talking Trek Lab demonstrated that the Shackle wasn't operating the way its description suggested, Griffin carried the data directly to Dublin. The response? Scopely intends to honor the advertised functionality and “unshackle the Shackle.” Griffin explains why that decision became a major test of Cameron Stewart's “player first” philosophy and why it could represent something much larger than a single Grade 7 artifact. But after years of broken launches, questionable economic decisions and damaged player trust, is this actual change or another temporary burst of optimism? DJz and Griffin tackle that debate head-on, including skeptical reactions from the community, the Ra'ul Reaver redesign, upcoming roadmap delays, direct creator access to decision makers, and what Scopely must do next if it expects players to believe again. This isn't a victory lap. It's a report from inside the room. And now we get to see what happens next. 00:00 – Opening & Satellite Telemetry From Dublin 03:17 – LIVE From Dublin With Griffin at 3AM 06:02 – GoWheel Updates & $2,000 STFC Giveaway 08:46 – Inside the European Content Creator Summit 14:36 – Breaking Update for Server 11 20:00 – Inside an STFC “Code Red” With Engineering 27:44 – A Dramatic Culture Shift at Digit/Scopely 29:57 – Why Alliance Tournaments Are Running During Anthology 31:10 – Major Content Could Be Delayed to Get It Right 37:39 – Alliance Tournament Failure: What Changed Overnight 39:33 – Promotion/Relegation Disabled, Store Extended & Rewards Boosted 44:03 – Engineering's Live Alliance Tournament Fix 51:29 – Breaking Down STFC's Internal Development Silos 55:34 – The Gilded Shackle Problem 57:49 – “UNSHACKLE THE SHACKLE!” 58:33 – Scopely Makes the Player-First Decision 1:05:17 – Three Hours of Silence: Alliance Tournament Comms Critiqued 1:15:59 – Creators Challenging Decisions Face-to-Face 1:21:49 – Digit Wants Player Feedback Like Never Before 1:29:11 – Third-Party Tools, Narrative Debt & Working With Scopely 1:36:13 – Is This Real Change or Just More Talk? 1:43:00 – Why Creator Access to Scopely Matters 1:49:07 – Can STFC Actually Recover Player Trust? 1:50:24 – Griffin's Final Report From Dublin & The Neelix Surprise
In episode 147 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with the designer of Lava Run, Louie Loops, whom listeners may also recognize as the professional crocheter and content creator behind the YouTube channel “Louie's Loops” and Club Crochet. Louie shares how childhood game-making and a creative challenge called “New Game” sparked his interest in design, […]
I interviewed Navid Khonsari & Vassiliki Khonsari about LILI on Sunday, August 31, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy. Here is the story synopsis for LILI: "In an Iranian city, Lili, the lonely wife of a militia commander, plots a murder to secure her husband's rise within a corrupt regime. But when the killing unhinges the order of things, she is drawn into a network of deep web hackers — modern-day witches — who weaponise hidden truth. This stylised neo-noir game adaptation of Macbeth unfolds through smartphones, computer screens, and deep-state surveillance, immersing players as hackers in the oppressive surveillance state." Here are the contextual domains that are explored: Embody Hacker within the Surveillance State [12] context of an athoritarian government [10] as you watch someone in their home [4], and you're doing this through a computer and communications technology device [3]. Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity: 1st Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: A screen life thriller with computer screen-based Interactions, operate computer2nd Center of Gravity of Water Element / Emotional Presence: Cut scenes of the Lady MacBeth character unfold, which are gated by you solving little interactive puzzles3rd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Site-specific installation, and lots of theatrical staging. It's not VR, and so you are primarly interfacing with a computer screen within the context of a hacker-like space. You're watching various action unfold over surveillance footage, but you also are primarily interfacing with a computer screen.4th Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Possibility spaces of choices to make. There are some different endings, or at least a follow-up QR code to learn more about the identity of either being a rebel or enforcing the authoritarian rule. The primary mode of instruction comes via a chat window as you get clues for various puzzles that you have to solve. You face some mental friction with each puzzle, but then are rewarded with the progression of the story. There's also the symbolic connections and parallels to Shakespeare's MacBeth to add additional contextualization for how this story might adapt to the context of the authoritarian regime within Iran Archetypal Themes and Character Explored: Authoritarian tendancies as well as control "challenges them to question power, control, and complicity." Power, but bringing up questions of Justice. Artist Statement: "A bold reimagining of Macbeth set in present-day Iran, Lili centers on Lady Macbeth in a screen life thriller that embodies the kind of boundary-pushing work we champion at iNK Stories. Fusing film, theatre, and game design, it confronts rising surveillance and authoritarianism. Blending classic storytelling with AI and interactivity, Lili breaks cinematic convention — inviting audiences to step inside the narrative, make choices, and face consequences in a layered experience that challenges them to question power, control, and complicity." This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
In this episode, I talk about my trip to Amsterdam for the latest MagicCon.
This is part three of a new series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam, where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later be banned or restricted.
Brian Crick is in the clubhouse to talk about how he intertwines narrative and puzzles in his game Tinselfly. We talk about character motivation, player buy-in, and where you even start with a project like this. And if you also are late to playing Myst, you'll learn you are not alone. Just... don't bring Mark the red pages...Narrative-Driven PuzzlesGame DesignNarrativeTinselfly - SteamGorogoa - SteamThe Longest Journey - Steam
In this episode, I sit down with Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™ Set Design Lead Annie Sardelis to talk about the making of the set.
This is part two of a new series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam, where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later be banned or restricted.
There comes a time for many players where the game changes in such a way that it moves away from what they loved most about it. I talk about this phenomenon and detail my own personal "dark night of the soul" experience.
This is the start of a new series, based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Amsterdam, where I talk about the design of all the cards I had a major hand in that would later be banned or restricted.
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