Dev Diaries Should Become The Norm For Game Studios

We are living in a brave new world, where video games are becoming more and more community-driven. As a result, it’s becoming more important than ever for development studios to engage with their communities and fans. Not just to source reactions and feedback quickly, but to let potential and current customers know how development is going and how their highly-anticipated game is shaping up.

And honestly? The best possible way of doing this is through the magic of developer diaries. Several studios, such as Gameloft preceding the release of mobile arcade racer Asphalt 8: Airborne, gave the fans and potential players a first-hand look at the development of their magnum opus, as well as openly talking about the ups and downs, the effort, the love and the work that goes into making the experience of the new game as good as it possibly can be, and fans of the received immediately responded positively, asking for more and more videos of the same caliber.

It just goes to show how much transparency and engagement with fans can positively contribute to the player-base’s impression of the studio and, in turn, make them want to play the game even more, therefore attracting even more potential players.

It’s really a shame that there aren’t that many video game developers out there that host dev diaries, and engage with their fanbase and playerbase with such transparency and openness. While it’s not mandatory, keeping things secretive is not always the best way to go, as players can sometimes be like cats; they are very curious and want to explore the world, in this case their “world” being the development of their beloved video game series.

Dev diaries should definitely start becoming more common, as more and more video games are becoming community-driven efforts. And if players are going to be more involved, a dev diary is the best possible way for the studio to engage with the player-base so they can know what is going on in the offices of the studio, what the development looks like, and what they should be expecting from the final product.