Best of GamesIndustry.biz — June 2024

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   GamesIndustry.biz·2y

   'Singles, not albums': A guide to making smaller games | GI Sprint

   Tony Gowland, managing director of UK studio Ant Workshop, shares his insights on the benefits and practices of creating smaller, more focused games instead of large projects. After investing significant time and money into a game that failed to reach a wide audience, the studio decided to adopt a more agile approach, releasing 'singles' instead of 'albums.' These smaller games, developed on tighter budgets and schedules, allow for more experimentation and quicker feedback from players. Gowland emphasizes simplicity in game design, flexibility in the development process, and the importance of early player feedback.

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   GamesIndustry.biz·2y

   Little Kitty, Big City: The former Half-Life dev's cat game for his kids that became an overnight success

   Little Kitty, Big City, developed by Double Dagger Studio under Matt T. Wood, is a surprise hit focusing on a cat's adventure to find its way home. Released on May 9, the game has sold over 100,000 units in 48 hours and garnered over a million plays on Game Pass. Wood, a former Valve developer, created the game with his kids in mind, avoiding elements of danger to focus on fun, exploration, and cat-like behaviors. The game has been praised for its natural animations and joyful experience, contributing to its widespread success and appeal across various age groups.

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   GamesIndustry.biz·2y

   Ex-Riot devs Believer seeks "a better way to develop video games" with open-source tool Friendshipper

   The Believer Company, founded by ex-Riot Games developers, has released its internal development tool Friendshipper as an open-source project. Friendshipper aims to improve the efficiency of game development by quickly making changes to the code, doing builds, and getting changes out to testers. The studio is sharing this technology with other developers because they believe there is a better way to develop video games. Friendshipper is just one potential solution to the problems game developers face. The studio wants to build a community around these tools and ideas to learn and grow from the experiences of others in the industry.

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