GameDev Breakdown

In continuing our console development basics series, we look at what it takes to develop an indie game for Nintendo's latest game console, the Switch. If you like more options, we'll look at a way you can make a limited Switch game with no permission from Nintendo whatsoever. Finally, we'll take a look at the most manageable option for going old school with your own NES project. Community Events Catch Todd's Game Dev Camp 2020 presentation free via Facebook on Saturday, November 28th, 2020, 4 AM - 1 PM CST, 10 AM - 7 PM GMT. Watch the website/Facebook for speaker schedule. Show Notes Developing for Switch - https://developer.nintendo.com Main call to action is to register. Registration is free, but you'll sign an NDA right away before gaining access to the dashboard, tools, or forums. This does not include a game pitch, similar to the ID@Xbox program. Nintendo requires info about your planned project and your development background before approving a game. Listed Nintendo consoles: Switch, Wii U The Wi

There's a lot of new buzz about Microsoft's love for indie developers. Have they really made it easy to target the Xbox? In this episode, Todd looks at indie options for bringing a new or existing project to Xbox systems. If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

Pixelmatic Chief Creative Officer, Jason Lee, calls in to discuss his design contributions to legendary RTS series (Age of Empires, Company of Heroes, and Warhammer 40,000), Pixelmatic's upcoming space strategy game (Infinite Fleet), and the challenges of implementing actual cryptocurrencies both for in-game trade and to raise funds for the game's development. Jason's Links InfiniteFleet.com Infinite Fleet on YouTube Jason Lee on Twitter If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

By community request: Thoughts on the topic of motivation, both in everyday life and in indie game development. This episode came from the Patreon vault! It was recorded last year but never widely released. My book project is mentioned a number of times. That book is still forthcoming. The topic was changed to incorporate expertise from numerous people I've interviewed here on GameDev Breakdown, then we started the pandemic. The last chapter is being written and a number of transcripts are going out to interviewees for review. It's really happening! If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

Lego and Unity have teamed up to offer an educational experience set in the Lego universe, but is there more than meets the eye? We'll discuss who the new Lego microgame project is for, what you can accomplish with it, and speculate wildly about what's next. The microgame project is available at Unity's blog. Once you have the right version installed, you'll find it in the Hub in the Learn tab. BrickLink is the model-building application we mention for advanced users and all of you AFOL. You might want to grab PartDesigner while you're there. So what does the future hold? Check out the episode to hear our predictions and let us know if you agree. If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message

Weakest Link contestant Spencer Scott calls in ahead of his debut on NBC's popular game show to talk about his experience, his mindset under pressure, and the early experiences in his life that may have helped set him on his path. We also take a look at the design of The Weakest Link, what makes it compelling, and what might make for a successful video game adaptation in the modern day. Show topics: Catch our chat with Spencer ahead of his episode of Weakest Link on NBC at 9 PM Central! There's some discussion of this 2001 video game adaptation of the show If you aren't familiar with the old 1 vs. 100 game on Xbox Live, there's footage here If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/messa

By community request, we take a look at the games as a service model, its performance in the game industry, and its impact on traditional revenue models in games. As mentioned in the show, this episode uses a study on industry data collected in 2018, but you'll notice many of the trends we'll discuss are still holding strong. Thanks again to Charlie Cox for the topic! If you enjoy hearing the Patreon vault shows, let us know and we'll bring you more! If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

A major industry publisher has finally been burned in the global crackdown on loot crates. It could have been easily avoided. EA gets wrecked in Netherlands district court GamesIndustry.biz - EA fined €10m over loot boxes as Dutch court sides with gambling authority TheSixthAxis.com - EA will be fined €500K every week in the Netherlands until FIFA’s Ultimate Team Packs are removed from the game If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

Trying to leverage LinkedIn and participating in a discussion about parenting, revenue models, and publisher trust may have recently landed me deeper in enemy territory than I intended to go. Get the full story, hear a good rule of thumb for dealing with publishers, and learn a two-word phrase that lets you know to stop listening to anyone immediately. Show notes Highs and lows in leveraging LinkedIn GaryVee swears by it, but he’s popular everywhere GameDev tags are relatively quiet and full of self-promotion Too many dreamers looking for free labor Engagement/conversion is awful There are decent tips on using it professionally here Article: The £900 bill from my child’s Roblox gaming Rachel Davies - TheTimes.co.uk - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-900-bill-from-my-childs-roblox-gaming-ccjjkdmrz Most of article behind paywall, intention clear Davies is “generally against online gaming, BUT...” Several children, one or more parents working from home Let 8-year-old play Roblox with ins

A creative director at Google Stadia makes surprising comments about the relationship between streamers, studios, and publishers. The community points out it's not the first time he's gained controversial attention. Jason Schreier emerges from the Fortress of Condescension to dunk on...everyone. We look for the dividing line separating fact from fiction about Alex Hutchinson. Alex Hutchinson Active in game industry since early 2000s. Credits at EA, Ubisoft, Stadia, and others The Sims, Spore, Assassin's Creed III, Far Cry 4 Typhoon Studios was acquired by Stadia in December Japanese developers incident GamesIndustry.biz quoting Hutchison to Computer and Video Games (defunct) "I think there's a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists' side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do. I think it's condescending to do this." "Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There's no way

SEGA celebrates its 60th anniversary by releasing a cancelled Golden Axe reboot on Steam, complete with a tongue-in-cheek title sequence and apologies for its bugs and jankiness. The developer cries foul and tells the story behind its chaotic production. If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamedevbreakdown/support

An email from a familiar name illustrated a perfect example of why you should be kind to people in your content space, or failing that, at least be quiet. We’ll also discuss why a sky-high number of followers on social media isn’t exactly what you should be chasing. Topics On Wheaton's Law Wherever you are, someone is below your level. It’s usually easy to help or encourage people. It’s even easier to say nothing, if you prefer. Keep your attitude under control. Give people the benefit of the doubt when something rubs you the wrong way. If you decide to address something, go in assuming the best. Leave ample opportunities for a situation to have a positive outcome. Everyone has the power to help or hurt you, and they will often decide which based on how you treat them. Listeners, readers, and players almost directly control my business. RTs control my growth. Word of mouth can keep someone from giving me a chance. You will go through the same thing. Be good to people because it’s the right thing to do,

By community request, we look at what successful developers have to say about pricing your indie game. I'll talk about my experience, too, so you know what not to do. The pricing topic runs deep. Some platforms have pricing limitations and requirements, but most are wide open, leaving you to solve the mystery for yourself. Do you price according to your valuation of your own work? Do you focus on the competition? What about the target audience? These are the questions we seek to answer. While there's no way to deliver hard answers in a hurry, we've rounded up some compelling advice from the right people, thanks to ongoing research on the topic. This episode wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without the great work of Marie Dealessandri. Read the full article at GamesIndustry.biz. We'll also take a look at The Ultimate Guide to Pricing Strategy at HubSpot. If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follo

Do you really have time to support your own video game? If you're an indie game developer, the answer is probably no, but app and game stores expect you to provide this service for your customers. In this episode of GameDev Breakdown, we'll take a look at some strategies you can leverage to make this part of life a little easier. Here's the problem: indie developers work full-time jobs, they develop on nights and weekends, and they have to release their games for not-enough money in an attempt to capture eyeballs. Every game developer wants their players to have a positive experience, they're just short on hours in the day. That doesn't mean it's okay to leave it to 8-bit Jesus! Anything worth doing is worth doing well. This means indie games need to look their very best on launch day, and failing that, devs need to spring into action when problems arise. Most platforms require you to provide a support website, e-mail, or other contact information, and failing to address issues will do more than tank your rat

Ken Williams has released a new book, Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The rise and fall of Sierra On-Line. In the process of telling Sierra's entire story from his perspective for the first time, he reveals what was surely among the very earliest attempts at unionization within the game industry. This story apparently takes place as Sierra was leaving the scrappy start-up phase (and the wild party/questionable culture phase) and entering a period of explosive growth in which the company had to meet the demands of holiday retail. The story is told in an "interlude" chapter, so the unionization events aren't marked clearly on the book's somewhat loose timeline. There are certainly unsatisfying elements about the story (fuller write-up here) like Williams' deflection of Sierra's treatment on to "labor laws at the time." Clearly labor laws didn't bar employers from exceeding state or federally-protected minimums when compensating employees. It would have also been interesting to learn more about the speci

Cyberpunk 2077 designer Max Pears calls in to discuss his recent book, Let's Design: Combat, his podcast, Level Design Lobby, and his meteoric rise in game design, from school to Ubisoft's The Division to CD PROJEKT RED's most hotly anticipated title to date. Let's Design: Combat is fresh off the presses, offering rare access to design wisdom straight from a designer assigned to (probably) gaming's most anticipated project. We discuss what you can expect to find in the book, Max's inspiration for tackling the project, and where he hopes to take the series from here. When Max isn't blocking out levels for triple-A blockbusters, he hosts the Level Design Lobby podcast, featuring informative design segments, recommendations for other great resources, and interviews with other industry experts. While we're not able to do the in-depth discussion on Cyberpunk that we'd love to do (yet), this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into Max's world, including the traveling he's done to work in the industry, how he land

Todd appeared on Fandom Unlimited's live Facebook stream to talk about Epic and Microsoft vs. Apple and Google, then we dive into an equally troubling lawsuit between a studio and publisher that you might not have heard about. Epic (with Microsoft) vs. Apple (and seperately) Google Important concepts Microsoft xCloud - Announced at E3 2018. A service that will let you play Xbox games from a certain library they maintain and you can stream them to a bunch of devices and play them with an xbox controller. Laptops, phones, tablets, you name it. Launches September 15th and will be included with Game Pass Ultimate for $15 per month - includes Live, Game Pass, and xCloud, making it a great deal Timeline Microsoft announced xCloud at E3 2018 and suggested you'll be able to play on many devices, including smartphones  Apple came out and clarified xCloud will not be approved for iOS  After Fortnite attracted many mobile players, Tim Sweeney insisted on a special deal with Apple  Apple flatly

Well we did it. 100 episodes of GameDev Breakdown. For the big event, we rolled the webcams and just let it happen. Matt Hill joined in for a discussion about recent events, a trip down memory lane, and a quick look at what's to come. This podcast wouldn't be worth doing without our friends listening all over the world. Your emails, tweets, and reviews don't only make it worthwhile, they make it fun. Thank you for being a part of this community--this is why we continue to do it. What do you think? More video shows? Subscribe to the channel just in case! Thanks to Matt for joining in the fun. Check out his streams at Twitch and keep up with the latest happenings on our server over at Discord. We'll be back with #101 next week. If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our free game dev newsletter! Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discor

If you're into any technology from the earliest days of PC gaming to modern 3D engine development (with a dash of pilot certification in the middle), Shammi Mohamed is a great person to get to know. In this episode of GameDev Breakdown, Shammi calls in to tell us how he climbed the tech ladder, starting with his early childhood in India tinkering with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, leading to his current work in interactive entertainment engineering. Along the way, he's contributed to a load of games we all know and love while at Microsoft and Turn 10, including: The Forza Motorsport series Halo 4 Several Kinect titles and foundational technology NFL Fever 2004 NHL Rivals If that's not enough, Shammi spent time as an indie creating his own game engine and releasing Moto Wheelie, an indie title routinely found on the Apple TV ranking charts. Topics in this show include Working on cutting-edge entertainment technology Process and culture in game development at Microsoft and Turn 10 The balance betwe

KitBash3D has developed a reputation for world-class 3D assets used by some of the biggest studio and artist names in TV, Film, and triple-A games. Today, the company announced efforts to reach the rest of the game development space. In this episode of GameDev Breakdown, co-founders Banks and Maxx call in to discuss today's release of a variety of "game engine ready" asset libraries intended to make development life easier while increasing visual quality in 3D games. If you move quickly, you can download one of their asset kits for free to see if it fits your workflow. Topics include: The challenges of repurposing asset libraries for in-engine use The increasing value of world-building skills to emerging tech  The KitBash3D community, including its famed livestreams  BIG NEWS ABOUT SLEEP TIGHT?!? Building creative muscles by using new approaches to creation KitBash Links: KitBash3D.com KitBash3D on Twitter KitBash3D on Twitch If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown Sign up for our f