The Complete Guide to Game Monetisation
Most “complete guide to monetisation” articles I find online are written by people who have never actually had to look a player in the eye—metaphorically speaking—after stripping a piece of content behind a paywall. They talk about “maximizing LTV” and “optimizing conversion funnels” like they’re managing a hedge fund rather than a living, breathing community.…
The Complete Guide to Progression Systems
Most “experts” will hand you a complete guide to progression systems that looks like a spreadsheet vomited onto a page, filled with math formulas and “optimal” leveling curves. They’ll talk about retention metrics and dopamine loops like they’re anything other than a way to trick you into staying online. But I’ve spent too many nights…
The Complete Guide to Designing Game Economies
Most people think a “complete guide to game economies” is going to be some massive spreadsheet-heavy lecture on inflation rates and supply-demand curves. They’ll tell you that if you just balance the math perfectly, your players will stay engaged. That’s a lie. I spent years watching guild forums melt down because a “perfectly balanced” loot…
The Complete Guide to Balancing a Game
Most people will tell you that a “complete guide to game balance” involves a massive spreadsheet, a PhD in mathematics, and a prayer to the gods of RNG. They’ll talk about standard deviations and complex combat formulas like they’re some kind of holy scripture. But I’ve spent too many late nights staring at my own…
The Complete Guide to Playtesting
If you’re looking for a “complete guide to playtesting” that involves expensive focus groups, massive QA departments, and some high-level academic theory about player psychology, you can close this tab right now. Most guides treat playtesting like a sterile laboratory experiment where you observe rats in a maze, but that’s a lie. In reality, playtesting…
The Complete Guide to Prototyping
Most “complete guide to prototyping” articles I find online feel like they were written by people who have never actually had to ship a build. They talk about “iterative cycles” and “resource optimization” as if you’re managing a skyscraper construction site rather than trying to figure out if a single jumping mechanic feels like a…
The Complete Guide to Game Design Fundamentals
Most “complete guide to game design fundamentals” articles you’ll find online are just collections of buzzwords designed to make you feel like you need a PhD to build a fun loop. They’ll talk about “player agency” and “emergent gameplay” in these lofty, academic ways, but they never tell you what happens when your math is…
The Complete Guide to Making a Game Alone
If you search for a “complete guide to solo game development” right now, you’re going to find a thousand tutorials telling you to master Unreal Engine, buy a high-end drawing tablet, or learn how to optimize shaders. It’s all noise. Most of those “guides” are just marketing for tools or ways to make you feel…
The Complete Guide to Starting in Game Development
Most “complete guide to starting game development” tutorials online are just glorified sales pitches for expensive engine plugins or math textbooks that assume you want to spend your weekends calculating vector trajectories instead of actually making a game. They treat development like a linear climb up a mountain, but if my time moderating guild forums…