Game Development Doesn’t Have to Be So Complicated

Game coaching to help you
make a game people love

Some Games I’ve Worked With

  • Not knowing which idea is worth working on 

  • Being overwhelmed with a full plate of tasks

  • Not knowing what’s worth investing time into

  • Wondering if your high aspirations (scope) is achievable

  • Realizing a gap between the player experience and your vision

  • Having doubts about whether gamers will want your game

Can you relate with these common developer challenges?

How The Game Doctor Can Help

Avoid Roadblocks

Catch roadblocks and hurdles early in the development (ex: if a goal is replayability but your current foundation is not set up to be replayable).

Learn Fundamental Pillars

Peel away your potential blind spots and introduce a new lens in creativity through an engaging dialogue about your foundation, inspirations, and systems.

Create a More Fun Game

Make your game harder to put down through satisfying user interface, a playground of engaging mechanics, and gamer behavior psychology to make a bigger impact on release.

The Game Doctor (Esty) has been in the gaming world since he’s been in diapers…aka Level One.

In the decades since then, he’s analyzed thousands of games and launches across a range of genres and budgets.

He’s studied the elements that make or break a game, and was curious why the best practices weren’t common practice and adopted by every game developer.

At first, he thought this might just be a problem newer developers face, but after working with more seasoned developers, he realized these common pitfalls are blindspots everyone has just by the nature of being human (who would’ve thought?).

After studying the common trends , he started wondering, “Could these things be caught pre-launch, while there’s still time to do something about them?”

That has been his mission—to educate developers early on in the game development journey so they know the key practices to incorporate (and the things to stay away from) to make the best game.

The Game Doctor consults with game developers of all genres, though he has a soft spot for indie games and helping give clarity in the pre-production and prototyping phases, well before there’s even anything playable.

His lighthearted and upbeat personality stays at the core of his consultative style. “We’re talking about games here after all,” he reminds us, “the process should be fun for everyone.”

Meet The Game Doctor (Esty)

How It Works

1. Free Discovery Call

This is where we get to nerd out. It DOESN’T matter if you have something playable at this point. Let's talk about what your goals are with what you’re trying to create, what games you’re drawing inspiration from. 

2. Analysis Work

This is where I’ll check out your work. You’ll get a private video to digest with thoughtful, honest, and actionable feedback about your game mechanics and user experience. I’ll ask questions and challenge design to help you self–discover what needs to change to improve your game.

3. Coaching Magic

This is where we get to chat and create magic. After you’ve digested the analysis, we’ll talk about conventions the current market is using and where you game currently is, what it can be, and powerful, actionable ways to get there.

What other developers are saying

Pricing

The best time to get in a conversation about coaching is as early as the prototyping and ideation stages. When you get a Game Doctor analysis at these early stages, it’s that much easier to work on the foundational elements.

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YOU DO NOT WANT TO WAIT FOR YOUR PUBLIC OR PRIVATE

PLAY TESTS TO FIGURE THESE ISSUES OUT

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In fact, the later in the game development process, the harder it is to make what may be pivotal adjustments that make a massive difference to your players.

Unpublished Solo Dev

Alpha Package: $300-$500

  • The Game Doctor spends 90-minutes privately with the game and records a video diagnostic for you to review

  • Then, a 2-hour conference with The Game Doctor to respond to questions, worries, and discuss blindspots and ways to overcome them

  • Walk away with market analysis, learn the “window-shopping effect”, empower your vision, and get tangible next steps

  • Month of backboard support in discord as you work through those hurdles


Published Team

Beta Package: $500-$1,000

  • The Game Doctor spends 2 hours privately with the game and records a video diagnostic for you to review

  • Then, a 2-hour conference with The Game Doctor to respond to questions, worries, and discuss blindspots and ways to overcome them

  • Walk away with market analysis, learn the “window-shopping effect”, empower your vision, and get tangible next steps

  • Month of backboard support in discord as you work through those hurdles


High Circle Membership Space*

*Only available to devs who have previously completed the Alpha or Beta Package.

  • Apply for a seat in the High Circle: a membership group of developers an empowered space of conversation above the bar of the market.

  • Biweekly seminars with The Game Doctor

  • Weekly breakthrough videos about market discovery, new gamer insights, and gamer trends.

  • Contact for application/more information.

I get it - creating games is HARD.

Devs spend more time creating games than actually playing them: development is HARD. They’re too close to their work to keep up with growing market expectations, so they end up creating more issues they need to scramble and solve down the road.

The Game Doctor makes sure games are built with solid fundamentals to avoid future roadblocks and save valuable dev hours and funding. (This extends beyond development QA or Beta testing.)

After being in conversation with The Game Doctor, developers can rest assured they are captivating gamers and making a big splash in the market.