Game Development
Ongoing coverage on Game Development.
Latest coverage
Project Zomboid soars to a new Steam high after 19-month wait for an update, but its dev won't rush the next one
Project Zomboid has reached a new all-time peak of 105,786 concurrent players on Steam following the stable release of its massive Build 42 update. Despite the surge in popularity after a 19-month wait for the update, Design Director Christian Allen stated the team will not rush the next major update, emphasizing quality over speed.
The Sandbox Rewrites LAND Perks Ahead of Q4 2026 AI Studio Rollout
The Sandbox is updating its LAND NFT utility and creator reward system, coinciding with the Q4 2026 rollout of its AI-driven Studio tools. These changes aim to give creators stronger exposure and better monetization terms for games published on their LAND, effectively turning LAND holders into publishers who can curate experiences and set commercial requirements.
Roblox tops Nakamoto Games’ build list as Steal & Defend nears completion
Nakamoto Games is prioritizing Roblox development, with Steal & Defend nearing completion and Escape from Era in beta. The studio is also working on other Roblox titles like Roblox Run, while expanding its multi-platform strategy beyond Web3 gaming. Despite significant development progress, the NAKA token's price has not reflected these advancements.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Ends the Remake Trilogy’s Story; Any DLC Will Focus on “Untold Stories”
Square Enix director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed that the main story of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy will conclude with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, with no story DLC planned for the main narrative. Any potential future DLC would focus on "untold stories" of specific characters, similar to the Episode INTERMISSION for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is slated for a Spring 2027 release on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen is apparently polishing its tropical zone and improving performance
Visionary Realms provided an update on Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, detailing ongoing work on the Badia de Cara tropical zone, including bug fixes and visual enhancements. The developers are also focusing on improving server performance and scalability to enable new gameplay features.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book devs talk about how they benefited from Nintendo Switch 2’s hardware power
Developers for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book discussed how the Nintendo Switch 2's increased hardware power allowed them to implement features like more detailed graphics and remove limits on creature numbers. The game, which initially started development for the Nintendo Switch, benefited significantly from the performance boost, enabling the team to better realize their vision for the game's encyclopedia-like world and sheer scale.
A Mario dev burned the handmade diorama he used to pitch a Zelda game because Shigeru Miyamoto said no: "It was…
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was initially conceived as a Legend of Zelda game, with developer Shinya Hiratake even creating a handmade diorama to pitch the concept to Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto rejected the Zelda idea, believing the diorama was for a physical toy, leading Hiratake to burn the model in frustration. The concept was later adapted into bonus stages for Super Mario 3D World and eventually became the standalone game Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Steam gamers have spoken: innovative indies like Palworld continue to thrive while traditional triple-A flounders for a foothold
PC gaming on Steam in 2026 shows a strong trend of innovative indie titles like Palworld thriving, while traditional AAA games struggle to gain traction. Despite industry layoffs, unique projects from smaller teams are resonating with players, contrasting with the performance of recent AAA releases such as Halo: Campaign Evolved and Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.
"I sense immense expectations": Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's director on ending the remake trilogy and DLC
Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, discussed the possibility of DLC for the game, stating that while nothing is confirmed, the team would consider it if there is significant fan demand. He emphasized that the main story of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will conclude within the game itself, with any potential DLC acting as a spin-off focusing on specific characters' untold stories.
Saturday Postmortems/Retrospectives
This article features retrospectives on the Civilization franchise's 35th anniversary, including insights from Sid Meier and Firaxis Games regarding the future of XCOM. It also delves into Tencent's unsuccessful attempt to compete with Grand Theft Auto.
Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K RPG developer Owlcat Games on "speedrunning" its first 10 years and what comes next: "We won't be quitting the CRPG genre"
Owlcat Games, known for its Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K CRPGs, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Head of publishing Andrey Tsvetkov reflects on the studio's rapid growth, its commitment to the CRPG genre, and future projects including a third-person RPG and potential new IPs. The studio emphasizes its close relationship with fans and passion for its chosen universes as key to its success and rapid development cycle.
The games industry's 'fear of risk is currently the largest risk it faces' according to Nuclear…
The video game industry's increasing fear of risk, leading to a focus on sequels and remakes, is identified as its biggest current threat. This aversion stifles creativity and leads to homogenous, uninspiring games, according to Rami Ismail and a workgroup at the DevGAMM Madeira Games Summit. The group suggests that embracing courage in funding, publishing, and investment, and making early decisions to cut failing projects, are crucial for success.
Zelda Wind Waker 2 was in development but was scrapped for more realistic game
Eiji Aonuma revealed in a 2007 Game Developers Conference talk that a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was in development but ultimately scrapped. The project was canceled due to the reception of the original game, with the team shifting focus to a more realistic game.
Nexpace: None of MapleStory Vibe Camp’s Five Top Winners Had Made a Game Before
Nexpace has highlighted the five top winners of its MapleStory Vibe Camp, noting that none of them had prior professional game industry experience. The three-week game jam, utilizing Verse8's AI tools and official MapleStory assets, resulted in 693 submissions, with 230 games meeting the quality bar and sharing a prize pool of $59,580 in NXPC. The winning games, including Alphabet Defense and Helena Survivor, spanned various genres and were created by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including a former QA tester and a backend developer.
10 Smash Bros. characters that are probably getting redesigns in the next game
This article speculates on which characters in Super Smash Bros. are likely to receive redesigns in a future installment, considering recent visual updates in other Nintendo titles. It highlights potential changes for Fox, Falco, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Bowser, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, King Dedede, and Shulk, discussing how their appearances in games like Star Fox, Donkey Kong Country, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom might influence their next Smash Bros. iterations.
Game and Mod Development
Unity has announced dedicated engine support for Netflix Games. This partnership aims to streamline game development for Netflix's growing roster of titles.
Evening Interviews
Samantha Béart, the voice actor for Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3, discusses her involvement in Craig Mazin's TV show plans during a GDC interview. The conversation also touches on the resurgence of interest in arcade racer games.
v0.2.0 - Content Complete news - The Harbinger of the Deep
CraftedCircuitry announced that content additions for The Harbinger of the Deep are complete, with the focus now shifting to polishing the game. The v0.2 update includes all endings and route initial content, along with a new 'Power Healing' mechanic. The game is also participating in the Philippine Game Developers Expo Steam Festival and the Monochropoly Festival.
You can't buy Fallout 5 or Elder Scrolls 6 yet, but you can buy Bethesda's new $160 Nuka-Girl statue
Bethesda is celebrating its 40th anniversary by releasing a $160 Nuka-Girl statue and new merchandise, while acknowledging that Fallout 5 and The Elder Scrolls 6 are still in early development. Todd Howard has previously stated these highly anticipated titles are underway but will take time.
After a year and a half of rigorous testing, Path of Exile 2 devs finally convinced Nvidia to fix a driver bug by…
Grinding Gear Games has resolved a persistent GPU shader crash bug in Path of Exile 2 after a year and a half of development and collaboration with Nvidia. The issue, which caused intermittent freezes and crashes, was fixed by Nvidia in a recent driver update after Grinding Gear Games provided detailed steps to reproduce the problem. This resolution allows developers to focus on further optimization for the game's upcoming 1.0 launch.
