Time to pick my personal games of the year again! As usual, only considering full releases (no "early access"). First things first, here's a list of contenders. Not by any means all the new games I played this year, but the top 30 that were "in the running".

GOTY top 5 below! 🏆 🏆 Backpack Hero by @thejaspel1 🏆
Safe to say this title opened up lots of design space (looking at you @TweetFurcifer), but it's also a great game in its own right with tons of creative mechanics and, more recently, a story mode featuring a Tarkov-like risk vs. reward metagame.

So many of the #gameDesign thoughts I've talked about over the years come together to form something truly beautiful in @wombatstuff's Mosa Lina.

Examples and relevant articles below! 🧵 Mosa Lina focuses 100% on movement. Almost no numbers to think about. Just find ways to use your random tools to traverse space. Touch the fruit, get back to the portal. Very simple, very elegant, but also emergently quite complex!

📜 Article: gamedeveloper.com/design/spatial…

Here's a #gameDesign thought: a #roguelike (run-based game with no meta power progression) emphasizes the competence gain of the player, while a #roguelite (run-based game with meta power progression) emphasizes the competence gain of the avatar.

1/10
More context below! 👇 2/10
Research based on self-determination theory has previously linked our innate need for competence to the "fun" of playing games.

Here's an article from back in the day (based on the work of @richardmryan3, @csrigby, @ShuhBillSkee): gamedeveloper.com/design/why-do-…

With many recent Vampire-Survivors-likes relying on emptiness, simple enemy behaviors ("walk towards player") and stats, I feel I should reiterate my stance on "spatiality" in #GameDesign.

Don't just "have space" (instead of flat math), but MEANINGFUL SPACE! 🗺️

⬇️ Examples ⬇️





Heat Signature (@Pentadact): Everything revolves around movement. Gadgets swap positions, wind through connected space, teleport, key-clone or disable in a straight-lined shape, slow-down time etc. No number crunching, no "health points" or "damage" or "stats". Voilà, Emergence!

Today I'll talk about my personal #GameDesign and #IndieDev philosophy, specifically these principles: fischergamedesign.com/design-philoso…

I will add example games as screenshots (game names and more details in the alt text if you're interested).

Thread! 🧵👇 Games I value are all about interactivity. 🎮

I want mechanical challenge (either in a systemic / strategic way or reflex-based) or experiential narrative (i.e. a story you *feel* via mechanics, not one that is told to you). In either case: No wannabe movies!

Some have called 2022 the year of "microgames". In the wake of @poncle_vampire a host of ~$2 games were created mostly by solo developers or tiny #IndieDev teams in the span of a few months.
Let's talk game dev experimentalism!
🧵👇 1/9 2/9
The reception, surrounding many of these titles is open, forgiving and appreciative. Turns out if players didn't spend $60 and didn't get hyped up for years of dev time by a faceless corporation, the human side of #GameDev actually shines through sometimes, even on Steam.

Always nice to find support for one's #GameDesign thoughts in academia!

This great piece by @dingstweets, @Marc_M_Andersen, @JulianKiverste1 and @PredictiveLife connects to @raphkoster's Theory of Fun and some of my own musings: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

Details below! 🧵

1/10 One of the core findings is concerned with players not being as much after success as they are after improvement, i.e. reducing failure or "expected error" or, simply, learning. The more of this they get (per time played), the better.

2/10

Here's another attempt at explaining the strengths and weaknesses of certain #roguelike metagame / difficulty systems!

(These are broad buckets. At this point there are many combinations and variants. Let me know about your favorites!)

👇 #GameDesign Thread 🧵
1/6 Roguelikes with one single difficulty have the advantage of the whole community discussing "THE" game. However, they often scare away new players depending on how difficult they start out, and bore veterans by having them repeat sections they already mastered over and over.
2/6

"If indie games are underreported, mobile games must be invisible" gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-…

If the paragraph below is an example of the press picking up on mobile games, I'd rather they stay invisible tbh.

That being said, here's a bunch of actually good mobile games! 🧵 1/10 ==ACTUALLY GOOD MOBILE GAMES== 2/10

Auro by @DinofarmGames is a super-tight tactical roguelike you can play for years (I've been playing it for about 9 and still counting).

A lot to learn from POINPY about #GameDesign! Time for a thread! 🧵

1/9
TL;DR @OjiroFumoto builds on Downwell to create near-perfect fundamentals for a mobile game.
Kudos to the team @2nd_error403, @CalumBowen, @AShellinthePit, @jujuadams; and to @devolverdigital & @Netflix! 2/9
The core game builds on Downwell's combo system. You chain jumping on enemies, bouncing off walls and collecting fruit. Though in this one you have multiple jumps and time slows down when you aim. Much more accessible and more about thinking on your feet rather than reflexes.

1/10 Been thinking about #GameDesign reasons that make me return to @TeamWoodGames' #SuperAutoPets more than to other (match-based, vaguely roguelike-ish) games. To me it's all about how the game is systemically built to be playable "whenever" and "forever".

Let me explain! 🧵 2/10 With its asynchronous format (at least with its front-and-center "Arena" mode), the game sacrifices elements of counter-play other auto-battlers offer. You can't adapt to a specific opponent, because you don't have one. You just go up against a random sample team each round.

#GameOfTheYear thread! 🏆

#GOTY 1/11
Super Auto Pets by @TeamWoodGames is a simple, yet surprisingly deep auto-battler. Its true genius lies in its laid-back asynchronous format. You can play a full run in 10 minutes without ever waiting for anyone, but also take breaks anytime. #GOTY 2/11
Roguebook (@PlayRoguebook) is the best #roguelike deck-builder of 2021 for me. It didn't really break genre conventions, but did enough to stand on its own (such as heroes switching positions all the time for special effects, or the overworld map exploration part).