GMTK Insider (August 2017) (Patreon)

I decided to rename the newsletter. I used to talk about the games I’ve been playing, but this month I realised that it will all be covered in Game Maker’s Playlist or separate articles. 

So instead, this monthly update will be all behind the scenes type stuff on GMTK. How I made stuff, what I’m working on, what ideas I have, and a chance for you to get involved with future episodes. 

Unfortunately, my new video isn’t quite ready! It’s a real beast - lots of research, a huge script, loads of games, and lots of motion graphics. So I need a few more days. I’ll do some extra thoughts on that video after its out.

Boss Keys

I’m getting very close to the end of Boss Keys, now. I’m mostly just pleased that I’ll be seeing the project through to the end. It’s not uncommon for a YouTube series like this to fizzle out, but my silly 13 episode, year-long project will be finished!

A Link Between Worlds gave me a chance to talk about the Zelda overworlds, and how they have changed. And I’m also pleased with the way I’ve been able to split the dungeons into three groups. It makes it much easier to understand how Zelda changed, and for people to get what they love about Zelda.

Personally, I love the puzzle box dungeons the most and my thinking right now is that the episode of GMTK (Boss Keys was supposed to be a research project for an eventual episode of the main show) will be about how those are designed. But we’ll see. 

I’ve got some thoughts for what I’ll be doing with Boss Keys after Zelda. I’m thinking maybe I’ll do some one-off episodes about individual games with non-linear level design, before starting Season 2 with another franchise. Almost certainly Metroid. 

I’ve learned a lot from the Zelda series so I’ll hit the ground running with this one. Main takeaways: don’t just wing it episode to episode, plan ahead! Focus more on the research than the personal opinions! Avoid repeating oneself from episode to episode! Define a visual language from episode 1 and stick to it!

Streaming

A quick note to note that I’m doing more streaming. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done so far (technical issues not withstanding). The current plan is to stream on Tuesday evenings, live on YouTube. I’ll also maybe make a stream archive somewhere for those who can’t watch at the time. 

Streaming is important for me because it lets me show my personality in a way that doesn’t really come across in the main videos. And I also get to show and talk about new games, which I don’t do as much on GMTK. 

Why? Well, I generally like to let a game sit for a while. I’m not into hype culture and I think we can all get a bit too excited about a game the moment it comes out. It’s often better to come back in a few months, after the honeymoon period, to really see how the game holds up.

Plus, everyone is already doing it. If I made a video about Sonic Mania or Hellblade right now, it would be competing with loads of similar videos. And while I trust that you’d all watch mine too, I’d rather just be the one guy making a video on, I dunno, No One Lives Forever while everyone else is busy with the brand new stuff.

Sneak Peek: How It Changed

I really enjoyed doing my Dead Space videos, where I looked at how a franchise changed over time. I’d like to do it more often with different gaming series, perhaps under a new title. Thinking “How It Changed”, but open to ideas. 

So I’m currently working on one for another “dead” game, Dead Rising. This is a series that also went through a lot of changes over time and while the story is kinda similar to Dead Space (devs ripped out what made the game’s special to appeal to a wider audience), the specifics are different. 

Dead Rising 1 is a strange game. It’s a goofy comedy about killing zombies with skateboards while wearing a sharp suit and a horse head. And yet it’s also a gruelling task with timers, save restrictions, and repetition. 

I think this side of the game is really interesting, though. The timer leads to difficult decisions (do I have enough time to save another survivor before this case expires) and rewards thorough understanding of the mall. 

But the sorta-permadeath (in that you choose when you permadie, and you carry over your experience points) doesn’t really work if you ask me. Repeating content is kinda fun in that you get more efficient each time, but it’s still a bore. And (from my experience) because you repeat the early game a lot and then do the second half straight through, it feels more like a quick attempt to fix bad balancing than anything. 

For Dead Rising 2, which I’m playing now, it seems like they’ve stuck to the same formula but papered over the cracks (small quality of life improvements, multiple save slots, the game’s generally easier) instead of fundamentally fixing this perfectly salvageable element.

Anyway, this series will take infinitely long to make each episode because I don’t want to it impact other videos too much. Instead, I’ll be playing the games in my leisure time - which means the process will be slow. But we’ll see what people think when the first ep is out!

More Sneak Peeks

Okay, so I didn’t do the episode on skill trees but I’ve still got that in my back pocket. Other thoughts for September are:

A look at Dishonored 2’s level design. With the Death of the Outsider DLC out soon this felt like a good time to return to Dishonored and see how the game’s best levels work. 

Metroid 2 vs Metroid 2 vs Metroid 2. That’s the original Game Boy game, the fan remake AM2R, and the official remake Samus Returns. How did Nintendo/Mercury Steam and some super fan approach this same task? Keen to find out!

How games encourage behaviour. It seems like “encourage” is one of the most frequently used words in design talk. Game designers can encourage players to see their game in the best light, and discourage them from taking the fun out of a game. How? Why? Where? When? Bueller?

For now though

Thank you so much for your support. I can’t ever thank you all enough for what you have done. Your kindness and generosity has allowed me to turn a passion into a full time gig and I couldn’t be happier to be committing myself to such a fun, evolving, and rewarding thing. Ta!