How It Works
Decoupled Game Benchmarking
When a scoring system consistently spits out bad data, you don't try to patch it. You build a better framework.
For decades, traditional game reviews have tried to squash a studio's engineering ambition and their final gameplay polish into a single flat review score. The result is total noise. We fix that by separating how hard a game is to build, Degree of Difficulty (DD), from how well it plays, Synthesized Game Execution (sGE).
1. Degree of Difficulty (DD): Measuring How Hard a Game Is to Build (Scale: 1.00 to 5.00)
In Olympic diving, every dive gets a fixed Degree of Difficulty score before the athlete even steps onto the board. A four-and-a-half somersault starts with a much higher difficulty value than a simple swan dive.
We measure game development the exact same way. Every game is evaluated across 8 Core Pillars, with 5 complexity tiers inside each pillar (40 total development components):
1. Core Design & World Structure
From linear levels and multi-zone hubs up to seamless open worlds and deeply simulated systemic sandboxes.
2. Post-Launch & Service Model
From standalone finite releases and DLC expansions up to evolving live-service platforms.
3. Art Direction & Visuals
From stylized low-overhead pipelines up to real-time volumetric lighting, photogrammetry, and custom rendering.
4. Narrative & Storytelling
From fixed linear scripts up to interconnected branching dialogue graphs and dynamic procedural narrative.
5. UI & User Experience (UX)
From static overlays up to live data-driven RPG interfaces, accessibility suites, and deep hardware integration.
6. Sound Design & Music
From trigger-based stereo playback up to real-time acoustic ray-tracing and procedural audio synthesis.
7. Innovation & Originality
From established genre templates up to interconnected subsystem mechanics and first-principles game design.
8. Network & Multiplayer
From offline single-player up to authoritative client-server replication, spatial graphs, and rollback netcode.
How DD Is Calculated: Verified developers rate the difficulty of each component on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale. A game's overall Degree of Difficulty (DD) is the average of its 8 selected pillar components, resulting in a score between 1.00 and 5.00. Initial baselines are published as TGM Estimates, which upgrade to Official Certified Ratings when publishers declare their official dive sheet specs.
2. Synthesized Game Execution (sGE): The 7-Judge Panel (Scale: 3.0 to 30.0)
In competitive diving, a panel of judges scores how well the athlete executed the dive. To stop individual bias from ruining the result, the highest and lowest scores are thrown out, and only the middle judges are added together.
TGM applies this exact rule to player ratings so review-bombing and blind fan hype cannot rig a game's score. First, players rate individual Game Execution (GE) across standardized gameplay criteria based on technical stability and how well the game delivers on its vision. Then, our engine forms The 7-Judge Panel to calculate Synthesized Game Execution (sGE):
3. The TGM Benchmark Score: Multiplying Ambition by Execution (Scale: up to 150.0)
A diver's final score isn't just about execution, and it isn't just about difficulty. It is the two multiplied together. A complex, high-risk dive with a small landing splash can rightfully outscore a basic dive executed cleanly.
A game's final TGM Benchmark Score is the direct product of both metrics:
Example A: Massive Open-World RPG
High technical complexity across all 8 pillars paired with strong 27.0 / 30 execution rewards the studio for pulling off a massive build.
Example B: Focused Action Roguelike
Identical 27.0 / 30 execution is recognized and celebrated, while the final benchmark honestly reflects its smaller engineering scope.
By multiplying Degree of Difficulty (DD) by Synthesized Game Execution (sGE), a focused indie game and a 150-hour open-world simulation are finally evaluated fairly on their own merits, without punishing creative risk or hiding how hard a game was to build.
The Ecosystem Roles
How Developers, Publishers, and Gamers work together within the TGM benchmark.
For Game Developers
Prove the technical complexity of your systems with hard data, not reviewer opinions.
- Put verified Degree of Difficulty (DD) metrics on your portfolio and resume
- Benchmark your features and skills against industry peers
- Participate in Developer Calibration Surveys to weight the 8 Core Pillars
- 100% Free verification for studio engineers, artists, audio, and designers
For Game Publishers
Declare your game's official production specs directly, replacing analytical estimates with verified studio data.
- Register official titles and declare 8-pillar dive sheets
- Use verified benchmark data in marketing, pitch decks, and job postings
- Track industry scope trends to guide hiring and production schedules
- Receive Verified Milestone Certification Seals from registration to launch
For Gamers
Don't review; Judge. Access behind-the-scenes industry metrics, explore visual benchmark cards, judge game execution, and explore data distributions.
- Score Game Execution (GE) and contribute to the benchmark
- Help form The 7-Judge Panel consensus to filter out hype and review bombs
- Browse the Player Hub and compare game benchmarks in the Data Lounge
- Access behind-the-scenes metrics, visual benchmark cards, and TGM Awards