As you are developing your game it is extremely easy to forget just how much familiarity you have with your own game. You've been developing your game for hundreds or thousands of hours and everything seems so straightforward, but if you make the mistake of assuming players will have that same familiarity, you will have a lot of sad and frustrated players.

One developer wrote an interesting report on everything that happened once players go their hands on their game. Thankfully they were streamers which meant the developer got to see how they were actually playing their game, and how many things they missed.

The streamers did not interact with various mechanics in the game, probably because they never knew they existed. They spent hours on foot while forgetting the game includes a car (I've done this on some games myself lol), only one used Fast Travel, no one used the Zoom mechanic.

So remember how you as the developer have a completely different vision of the game compared to someone playing it for the very first time. Do NOT assume anything is just obvious because it isn't.

The best practical advice is to intentionally do what this developer did unintentionally. Playtesting is key! Get players to play your game, and if possible WATCH them play it. That way you will quickly see how so many things need more explanation or more flashing lights. Your tutorial needs to be almost TOO obvious in order to just barely work, remember this to avoid frustrated players.

Finally we have a new Unity Tools HumbleBundle! It’s been a while since we had one of these, and this one is great!

It includes Megafiers which is a great tool for manipulating meshes in weird unique ways. It also includes a 3D Book tool, a Sails tool, Wire tool, Plasma and more!

Get it HERE for 97% OFF!

The Publisher of the Week this time is AD Sounds, audio publisher with lots of music and sound effects packs.

Get the FREE Monster Sounds - Volume II which includes over 200 monster sounds, perfect for a horror game.

Get it HERE and use coupon ADSOUNDS at checkout to get it for FREE!

Yet another awesome HumbleBundle is currently ongoing, this one is all about Low Poly visuals. It’s by Animpic who makes a lot of awesome stuff, you can find environments, props, characters, on all sorts of themes. The bundle contains a ton of stuff and you can get it all for just 15 bucks.

Get it HERE for 99% OFF!

A while ago I saw Steam Marketer Chris Zukowski make an AMA and I thought to myself "Maybe I should try doing an AMA as well, could be fun!" so this Wednesday I did just that, and yup it was fun!

I had no idea what to expect but it went quite well! The post got over 100k views and I answered over 170 questions! It was tough to type non-stop for 9 hours straight but I really liked it.

Lots of interesting questions asking me what has changed since the Flash Days, how to find Playtesters, how to think about AI and whether it's still worth it to learn game dev and programming, how to find motivation, and tons more.

Maybe you have similar questions yourself, check out the full post to see all the answers.

Yes another nice event just happened, PlayStation's State of Play!

This was actually a pretty great event, lots of unexpected surprises. God of War Trilogy Remake is in the works! Although still very early development. But if you want God of War right now you've got the sidescroller God of War Sons of Sparta which is out today! For more 2D action you also have Castlevania Belmont's Curse which looks excellent.

007: First Light is still looking awesome, I hope it's great. Beast of Reincarnation is the one-person one-dog action RPG launching in August,

There is an upcoming John Wick game! Not much gameplay shown but I love gun-kata so I hope it's good! And if you liked Kena there is a sequel incoming.

Plus we saw more from Control Resonant, Death Stranding 2 is coming to PC and Ghost of Yotei Legends is the co-op update coming in March 10.

Nowadays we have email and all forms of instant communication, but if you want you can still have a Homing Pigeon transport the message for you! There's a website pigeongram.com that provides that service.

You can pay between $10 and $50 to have an actual real Pigeon fly with your letter on its leg. It can include pictures or video of the pigeon doing its job.

The pigeon doesn't actually land on the recipients home, it goes to the pigeon center and then it is mailed using normal US mail. But still, fun!