Midwest Games’ Post

OHIO HAS PLENTY OF GAME DEV TALENT! Since graduating college, I've had the incredible opportunity to travel across Ohio, attending numerous trade shows and witnessing the vibrant indie game scene firsthand. The talent and creativity in our state are nothing short of amazing! A recent article from the Toledo Blade highlighted the inspiring work of the Central Ohio Gamedev Group (COGG) discord community. This group of dedicated developers and enthusiasts showcases the incredible potential of indie games as labors of love. Their commitment to creating unique, engaging experiences demonstrates the power of small, passionate teams. One thing that stands out to me is the impact of outstanding game programs at our universities. As new graduates step into the industry, they bring fresh ideas and skills, ensuring the talent pool continues to grow and evolve. Our future in game development looks brighter than ever! But what truly excites me is the way technology and artistry combine to allow small teams to create phenomenal games. It's no longer just about coding and making art with standard tools. Large-scale indie projects succeed because of the innovative tools and techniques developers use: -User Data & Feedback: Utilizing Discord bots to gather bug reports and feedback helps streamline the development process. - Custom Visual Scripting: Creating custom nodes can significantly reduce programming time. - AI & Tutorials: With AI and platforms like YouTube, the technical barriers are lower than ever, making advanced techniques accessible to everyone. All these tools not only enhance game development but also elevate game design, UX, and CX. When developers can focus more on creativity and user experience, they create games that are not only technically sound but also deeply engaging and enjoyable for players and the end users making the games. Community efforts like COGG are a testament to what passion, education, and technology can achieve. Ohio's indie game scene is thriving, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for indie games in our state! #GameDevelopment #IndieGames #Ohio #TechInnovation #GameDesign #UX #CX #IndieDev https://lnkd.in/e-H2cEeg

🌟 New Connections Alert! 🌟 Hey everyone! 👋 I'm thrilled to welcome all my new connections. Have you had a chance to check out my portfolio yet? 🖥️✨ If not, head over to kaan-balci.com and explore the projects I’ve been working on! 🚀 Whether it’s game development, software projects, or creative tech solutions, you’ll find a little bit of everything. 🎮💻 Let’s connect further and share ideas! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. 🚀 #portfolio #gameDevelopment #webProjects #creativeTech #innovation #design

I learned how to set goals and build systems years ago. It still didn't help me achieve my goals. I was missing something. I spend hours and hours playing and grinding video games. Without getting tired, I achieved all my goals in the games. What's the difference between games and my systems? I noticed games brought me into a state of flow. My systems didn't. So, I started applying my expertise in experience design to my systems. I turned my systems into fun and engaging experiences. This lets me crush my goal now in real life. Sign up for my weekly newsletter to read more stories on how to build a business that runs itself. Link in the bio. #GoalSetting #ExperienceDesign #FlowState #PersonalDevelopment #ProductivityHacks

Led by our brilliant CTO Joni Vähämäki, our development team is redefining the way you play mixed-reality games. 🕹️✨ Here's a sneak peek at their ways of working! 👇 🙏 They have built an open environment where everyone gets along well and any issues can be openly discussed. 💡 Exchanging ideas is emphasized because developing a game is a process that begins with a flurry of ideas and prototypes. 🧗♀️ They test ideas, gather thoughts, and decide the direction of a project collectively. 🚀 Rapid experimentation and prototyping, give the team a feeling of whether an idea could be turned into a game. 🌟 Everyone in the development team gets to participate broadly, even if they aren't directly involved in a particular project. Also, each game developer takes significant responsibility, often leading a project from start to finish at least once. Sounds good? Well, follow us to hear first about our open positions! 🤩 And now, meet the incredible minds behind our innovative mixed-reality games: Sami Pekkola, Abhishek Jaiswal, Lauri Kuusisto, Joni Vähämäki, Lauri Lehtonen, Lotta Karvonen, and Bernhard Miettinen 🌟 #ValoMotion #GameDevelopment #MoveTheFuture

Studios make a fatal mistake as their game evolves. It typically looks something like this: Ideation: Come up with ideas until we run out of time. Pre-production: Make a couple of features Production: Make a lot of features. Post-Production: Fix a ton of bugs. It's a bit cheeky, but you get the point: The phases are just glorified time-boxes without a clear MO for each one. Try this instead. Ideation: Play games, test ideas, identify key questions (and answer them). Hack together fast prototypes just enough to answer specific questions or invalidate assumptions. Outcome: A clear target audience & core game thesis you'll make a bet on. Pre-Production: Prototype core gameplay, the holistic system, AND the org. (game, back-end services, tools, live environment, team structure, etc). Outcome: Daily playtests of a complete core game loop using systems that could eventually go live. Production: Build a system that can go live. Narrow game scope down to only the highest impact features necessary to launch. Practice building, releasing, and resolving live issues (scale the playtest environment). Regular external playtests. Outcome: A live-ready, tested loop of all game systems needed for launch. Internal systems for teams, culture, and tools are live-ready. The "launch-ready" game has been validated by external players. Post-Production: Your last chance to hit the quality bar you need to hit for launch Outcome: Performance, stability, usability, and bugs at a level you feel is player-ready.

When I’m in a crowd of people I don’t know, I feel extremely uncomfortable. My instinct is to retreat to a corner. And yet, I’m going to two big events for video game developers in the coming weeks: Nordic Game in Malmö, and Develop:Brighton. Events where, most likely, I won’t know anyone. It’s a big step out of my comfort zone. I’m doing this with the aim of introducing Feature Upvote to video game teams who want a better way to handle the firehouse of player feedback. Quite surprisingly (for me, at least), Feature Upvote has become adopted by some video games teams, even though we never really marketed towards them. So now I’m finding out what happens if I actually go to where the video games developers are. My aim is to learn. If you’ll be at either of these events, let me know! Then at least I’ll know someone, and the instinct to retreat to a corner won’t be quite as strong.

Are you interested in games and the process of making them? My good mate Matt Giuca has uploaded a new video (https://lnkd.in/ggJJsXZx) where he walks through the development of Patient Zero (https://lnkd.in/gucQpTGn), developed over a span of just a few days in a game jam. Matt's video gives great insight into how experienced and talented developers break down problems. Matt makes the comment that the first day was a big day with results that seemed underwhelming, but you can see his experience shining through - Matt had built something which encapsulated the core of the game, at a small scale, proving out the idea and creating a scaffold of an implementation. From there the end goal is so much clearer, and while there were still problems to solve they were scaling problems which built on the solid foundation created on day 1. Often the early stages of projects can seem slow, but as long as you're building a strong foundation, learning, and preventing costly pivots down the track that's OK. I hope you like the video; I'm off to see if I can save the patient!

What does it take to make a game from scratch? Over the past 2 years I have been working on my very first title as a solo dev called Lo-Fi Samurai. I took it from a blank unity project to a full-fledged playable demo ready to be pitched to publishers. It is a 2D metroidvania crossed with a rhythm game where the player had to fight to the beat of the music. While I got so much positive feedback for the project from players and publishers alike, the current market is not in a place where funding a game such as this was exciting to publishers. I was able to learn so much from this opportunity though, such as how to create a pitch deck and how to sell your vision in pitch meetings. I also learned how to manage a small team and how important the business side of the industry is. So many of my friends and colleagues all ways ask me what it is like to be a solo developer working on a project. They think it must be the best job, no one above you to stifle your creativity. And if you know, you know, it is never that easy. As such, I have decided to document my journey as I develop my next game. It’s going to be a Sci-Fi adventure tactics game. I want this to be half dev vlog, half journal, showing the ups and downs on what it takes to create a game from scratch. I feel like most of the larger payers in the industry have forgotten what it means to make truly creative games that push the boundaries of our imagination. So, if you want to see what it looks like to create games that can inspire players again, Stay tuned for more.

This is how I went from Game Designer to Head of Studio in just 2 years: I got my big break as a Game Designer in 2011. I became Head of Studio in 2013. Here’s my journey and what I learned: 1. I got my big break as a Game Designer in 2011. 3. Designed a Hidden Object Game in 2011. 4. Designed a Match3 Mobile Game in 2012. 5. Designed a Turn-Based Strategy Game in 2013. 6. Transitioned to leadership due to the risk of bankruptcy. 7. 7 months later I became Head of Studio at LoadMe. 8. Led a turn-based strategy game to 1M+ installs. 9. Made old games profitable again. 10. Left LoadMe in 2017 to start UGI Studio. Reflecting on this journey: → The transition was anything but straightforward. → My life would be radically different without challenges. The games industry constantly tests you. These tests can become your ticket to lead. To lead sometimes all it takes is raising your hand! P.S Are you the hand raiser at work?

Nine Dots Studio, known for creating Outward, is expanding to publish games from other developers. This new venture is called Nine Dots Publishing. More details here: https://lnkd.in/d6AgWdPp #GameDev #Business #GameDevelopment #NineDotsPublishing #GamePublishing