GMTK Newsletter (May 2017) (Patreon)

Hey everyone. Thank you for your support this month! Here's what's been happening with me. 

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Dead Space

The Dead Space project wrapped up this month. People really liked the ending, and especially the final sentiment. The Dead Space 2 episode wasn't as well received, because some felt I was too negative about, ultimately, a pretty great game.

And also people are very passionate about lore! I didn't expect an off hand joke about Dead Space lore to get under the internet's skin! I could have explained myself better, I guess, but because it was such a throwaway line I didn't think it needed further detail. 

This was a general problem I ran into, which is that I needed to talk about all aspects of the games - even things I'm not well versed in (and generally not interested in), like the storyline. 

And at times, it felt like I was just reviewing the games - and that's not what I do on this channel. 

If I could do it again I would either focus squarely on design aspects, or perhaps just do it as a single episode with with less in-depth analysis on each game and focus more on that overarching narrative of franchises losing their soul over time, and EA trying but eventually just giving up on new IP. 

Anyway, I'm pleased with it and enjoyed the experience enough to do something like this again in the future. And I learned a lot too. The franchises I'd like to do most right now are Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia. But that's for another day...

Boss Keys

This as a big one! And a surprising one - as mentioned in the video, I dislike so much about Skyward Sword, but had forgotten just how great the dungeons can be. 

This was nice though - it gave me a chance to do loads of motion graphics, avoided the episode being yet another moan-fest about how Zelda dungeons are really simple nowadays, and somewhat stopped the Skyward Sword defence force from knocking down my door!

If you missed it, I wrote a big behind the scenes post on all the motion graphics stuff. 

I've just started playing A Link Between Worlds though, and the dungeons are not so hot. I'll have plenty to talk about with the non-linear exploration, though, so looking forward to that. 

What makes good AI?

This one just went out. Really pleased with it, and massively enjoyed making it. Good response so far! 

Sneak Peek

So, big caveat - my process for working on videos is to just to have a million things stirring in my brain until suddenly I become infatuated with one topic and must absolutely make a video about it. These are the things stirring in my brain right now, but which ones become real videos is anyone's guess. 

Okay. I'd like to talk about Prey, but would need to find a way to avoid just copying everything I said in my immersive sim video... 

I've also been thinking about Hollow Knight, simply because I've had so many requests to talk about it. I get a lot of video suggestions and requests which mostly I just file away into my brain - but perhaps I should listen to the crowd, for once!

I played a lot of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze at the weekend. For some reason I only played a few levels at launch and then put it down. What a fool I was! This game is so brilliant, and the level design is excellent. I'm really keen to do a video on it. 

I definitely don't want to step on Turbo Button's toes, who did a great video looking at one of the stages. But I have my own stuff to say, and would like to look at different ways to do platformer level design after my Mario stuff has been so well received. 

(Maybe I could follow up with videos on other platformers like Shovel Knight, Meat Boy, and Mega Man?)

I might also double back and do something on Zelda's weapon breaking thing - inspired by our chat on Transistor (these are two games that encourage combat experimentation in different ways). I'll have to suffer the abuse for doing yet more Zelda videos!

Oh, and I did a tweet about Souls-likes which got some traction. 2017 has seen so many of these games, from clear copies like The Surge and Nier to games with Souls-inspired elements like Hollow Knight and Dead Cells.

Is Dark Souls a genre? Will it become the new "doom-clone"? What even is a genre? Who am I? Where am I? Etc. 

Other things on my mind: how horror games break all the rules of design. Stealth games. More stuff about intentionality and planning. Dishonored 2's level designs. God damnit I want to make all of the videos. 

What I've been up to

I've been pretty boring this month, spending a lot of time reading research papers and interviews on AI architecture! But I did play some of the new releases.

I already told you about Prey. I also tried The Surge, which is a science fiction Souls-like where you do battle with zombies in exosuits, chop off their limbs, and attach them to your own rig. 

It has its own twists on the formula, including a system where dropped souls (or whatever they're called in this one) are on a timer so you have to quickly hunt them down. And a meter that builds during combat and lets you unleash a deadly finishing move if you can find a dazed enemy before the meter drains back down. 

Both of those encourage more speedy, less cautious play. So that's definitely interesting. But I found it hard to really get engrossed in what is, ultimately, a B-tier version of a game I've already played. 

There were also some indie games I tried, that I thought might be good for Game Maker's Playlist, but ultimately didn't enjoy. Like Strafe, which is a throwback to fast-paced FPS games of yore, but feels more punishing than those games ever actually were. 

I also had a go at Super Rude Bear Resurrection, a rock hard Meat Boy-like platformer with an interesting gimmick: every time you die - probably skewered on spikes - you leave a corpse behind, which can be used as a stepping stone on your next go.

It's kind of weird - it's not like the iPhone game Sometimes You Die, which uses this concept as a puzzle solution. It's just a way to make each run at a super hard platforming level more simplistic than the last. And so the goal becomes, I guess, to do the level with the fewest corpses to help you, which in turn invalidates the corpse mechanic? I'm not sure about it. 

There was also Tumbleseed, which drove me nuts! It's about balancing a seed on a platform, by tilting the left and right analogue sticks. The goal is to move up the screen, and manoeuvre the seed around obstacles. But it is just so fiddly and gruelling! Everything I've read says you need to really commit to the game, get past the failures, and learn it's quirks. 

I've been thinking this month about this idea of throwing yourself at a brick wall over and over again until you break through to the other side - and the absolute elation that can bring. I don't normally go for that, which is why I don't really like the bosses in Dark Souls, but Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze's bonus levels totally got me.

I spent 30 minutes on one tiny level, dying over and over again, making minescule progress each time. And boy did it feel good when I finally won. I did the same with the very-very-very last level of Super Mario Run on mobile. Maybe it's a genre thing? Maybe you've got to love and totally understand the underlying mechanics to feel like you can eventually accomplish it? I've never been the most confident Souls fighter, after all. 

There's also the positioning of this stuff. The bonus levels in Mario and Donkey Kong come after loads of normal difficulty stages - so you're ready for them. For a game to come out of the gate being super hard? Maybe that makes Tumbleseed so offputting? Then again, I love Spelunky and that game kicks your arse out of the gate.

So, uh, yeah. I don't know. Difficulty is still so fascinating to me, and something I'll come back to in the future. 

Man this reads like a total bummer. But don't forget Prey, which I really enjoyed. And a few indie games I did like, and will be in the playlist. And Donkey Kong Country, which has made me feel like, I don't care if Retro Studios announces a Metroid or a Donkey Kong at E3, I'm down for either!

See ya next month