Mobile Game Doctor Updates
Illuminating Level Creation For Free-to-Play Puzzle Games – Part 2: Needs and Goals
In the first part of this three-part series, we talked about “level creation cycles” and outlined...
Data Analysis for Product Managers: Avoiding the Most Common Pitfalls
While dashboards are useful tools to keep a high-level eye on product performance, they also tend to be built to answer fixed sets of questions. To ask deeper questions (usually why things happen rather than if they happen) generally requires data processing and analysis. A dedicated analyst can help…
The Proper Conduct of Brainstorming
This may surprise you, but game design is more than analysis and number crunching. It requires a...
New Podcast – Mastering Retention, Presented by Userwise
It is difficult to overstate the importance of retention to succeeding with a free-to-play game....
Illuminating Level Creation For Free-to-play Puzzle Games – Part 1: Building a comprehensive level creation cycle
Levels drive the core interaction in most free-to-play puzzle games. The quality of this content,...
Developing a Story for Your Game: A Practical Process in Three Parts – Part 3
Part 3 - Writing the Walkthrough & Dialog Overview This is the third entry in a three-part...
White Papers
The Four Questions
Creative Clarity Toolkit #1 – Lack of sufficient game design vision can cause a project to wander and bloat. Apply this rubric to avoid this common problem.
November, 2019 | Dave Rohrl, CEO
Five Fun Factors
Creative Clarity Toolkit #2 – Spilling over the healthy limits of a design’s natural scope creates flabby, diffuse products. Apply this rubric to treat these symptoms.
July 2020 | Dave Rohrl, CEO
One Bullet Management
Without an effective 10 word encapsulation, building momentum with non-designer stakeholders is difficult. Apply this rubric to ensure full-team support.
COMING SOON | Dave Rohrl, CEO
Videos
Why do they Buy? Key player motivations for moneitization.
Dave Rohrl | May, 2019
The Year in Mobile Games, 2019 Edition
Dave Rohrl, Steve Meretzky, Juan Gril | September 2019
The Goldbergs: Back to the 80s is LIVE
David Nixon | May, 2019
Designing for Revenue, it’s not all Fun and Games!
Dave Rohrl | October, 2017
Podcasts & Vlogs
Never, ever release a game you’re not proud of
Be proud of the work you do, play test early and often to learn those mistakes then quickly improve, and remember that every feature in the game should carry its own weight.
July 2017 | Dave Rohrl
What was it like to make games in the 80’s?
Kevin Savetz and Steve Meretzky to talk about what it was like to build games at Infocom during the 1980’s. Hear about their experiences, live from GitHub HQ in San Francisco.
April 2019 | Steve Meretzky
The Casual Game Design Process
Over the course of his career, Dave has led design or production on more than 50 games and overseen or consulted on dozens more and held senior positions at Pogo, PopCap, Zynga, and Playdom.
July 2017 | Dave Rohrl, Jordan Blackman
Adopting a Live Ops Mindset
Learn about the rise in the adoption of a LiveOps mindset in game studios as well hear Dave’s thoughts on the biggest challenges and most common mistakes developers make when adopting this mindset.
October 2019 | Dave Rohrl