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Q&A! Ask me questions! (Patreon)

Published:
2017-09-18 11:39:19
Imported:
2020-07

Content

Hello. It's been a while since we last chatted!

So I finished the detective video and then dove straight into another huge project: this big Metroid 2 / AM2R / Samus Returns video. Which has involved playing the games multiple times, making maps, lots of research and so on.

And then I was ill for a whole week! It sucked! And I'm still not that great. It still sucks! But it has been nice to have a bit of a break at least and has given me some time to think more about the direction of the channel and what GMTK's purpose in life is. More on that later.

Anyway, enough yabbering. I promised a Q&A when I hit 2000 Patrons and I kept delaying it but NO MORE! Send me questions in the comments, if you'd be so kind, and I will answer them all in a video as soon as this Metroid nonsense is done.

Cheers for your support. See you soon. 

Mark

Files

Comments

Anonymous

How are you today?

Anonymous

What do you feel you've learned from your own research into the varying spectrum of game design?

Anonymous

Is there a Genre you generally enjoy most? And if yes, which one?

Anonymous

What color is your tooth brush.

Anonymous

What do you feel is your favourite/most gratifying puzzle in a video game? What's your least favorite?

Anonymous

Will you attend any more industry events to give talks and lectures? What is your "origin" story? When and why did you start to critically analyze games?

Anonymous

You know a lot of things about game design and mechanics. Do you easily get immersed into games or do you keep pulled back because you are looking at the game design?

Anonymous

Could you see yourself talking about a topic in a more 'long form' video (i.e. longer than half an hour), or do you prefer exclusively sticking to shorter videos that don't outstay their welcome and require less development time?

Mathew Dyason

You've had experience as a writer and editor with Pocket Gamer, and now your own videos have incredibly well-written, tight scripts. Do you have any writing advice to give, specifically in regards to editing your own words?

Anonymous

What games do you think handle 'pet' taming and interaction in the most engaging and enjoyable way? Still playing through Breath of hte Wild and I feel as though it hasn't hit the mark when it comes to taming and bonding with your horse. Sneaking up behind and button mashing to tame it doesn't feel super engaging, and though there are plenty of ways to bond with your horse - soothing at the right time, riding them and feeding them - I personally don't feel as though it is a very rewarding experience. MGSV allowed you to unlock new abilities with your buddy which made me more inclined to actually want to bond with them and go out of my way to do so, however in BotW I feel as though I'm mindlessly bonding and irritably spamming the soothe button every so often for the sole sake of having my horse obey me. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter of pet taming/interaction as a whole in video games, and where you feel developers could improve and give more engaging incentives to interact with a pet outside of just having them obey you, which basically means they won't randomly inconvenience you every so often. Keep up the great work!

Anonymous

How did you learn to create videos with such beautiful animations and cuts? All by yourself or did you attend classes?

Anonymous

Hey Mark! Love all of your videos to death and I've been watching since your Far Cry 2 vs Far Cry 4 mechanics video. What is your absolute favorite video game soundtrack of all time, and why?

Anonymous

What is you expectation to the coming Tokyo Game Show? I myself really want Fromsoftware to announce something new.

OSW Review

Hey Mark! Will u talk about your background in games journalism and the creation of GMTK? A winner is you!

Philip Kelly

What are your 2018 plans for GMTK? I'm curious if you're happy to keep it business as usual or are there plans to expand? The recent game jam stuff has been really interesting. That was a few questions but they're connected! Love the work you're putting out.

Anonymous

Hi Mark! Thanks for the great channel. As an indie game developer, while pitching our game GUTS (playguts.net) to traditional publishers I have realized some very high barriers they have for new games: - The genre is too risky or niche - The genre is too though to develop, technically - The studio is new and/or does not have a strong background - The game is too controversial - The game is for Mature audiences Those were the main things I've heard when being rejected by companies such as Bandai Namco, Sony, Microsoft, EA, and many others. My question is: Is it the role of indie game developers to take the risks publishers don't? Will publishers miss market opportunities by playing it safe or is it just that their business is so developed that they just don't need that? Or something else entirely? What is your opinion on the role of innovation in games when opposing AAA studios and big Publishers against Indie Developers?

Anonymous

One of the things I struggle with often as a game developer is loving thinking over all these about game design topics, vs actually making games about the takeaways. For example, discussing game music, AI, or detective games when it isn't my discipline or genre of game I make. I have been told it takes credibility out of what I write/say about game design (also doesn't really help that I work as a programmer, not [at least primarily] as a designer). I'm always curious how brilliant design discussion channels like yours feel about that discussion vs practice, especially after hearing you reflected on the purpose of the channel. Is there still merit to talking the talk of game design if you aren't walking the walk? Or is it different when you have a player-reviewer's point of view, versus that of a player-developer?

Anonymous

How long were you working within/actively doing games criticism and journalism before you felt confident and comfortable enough to begin GMTK? Given that it's such an important area of this particular landscape and so well put-together, I'd imagine that it'd take a fair while to hone your skills. Or does it come naturally and easily?

Anonymous

Hi Mark, my favourite kind of games are the LucasArts-style point-and-click adventures like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. Observing you enjoyment of puzzles, I'd imagine you're pretty familiar with them yourself. Would you consider doing a series like Boss Keys that looks at the similarities and differences between the approaches taken ibetween the LucasArts games, along with their rivals like Sierra? I'd love to see someone delve into these games because they're fascinating, what with their humour (in many cases), their combination of puzzles and story and their ancestors that were text adventures, and I think the deserve a thorough analysis. Cheers!

Anonymous

What are some game mechanics you like, but are unlikely to put in a future video?

Anonymous

Topic - Games as Art: Musical theater (or theatre) can convey and elicit powerful emotions through words, music, set, and motion. My wife and I have been talking about how video games have been changing, especially recently, to push into more emotion laden areas. What do you think it would take to bring the depth of "Dear Evan Hansen" or "Fun Home" or "Hamilton" into video games?

Anonymous

Hey Mark, You're living my dream right now. I have a great passion for games but no outlet to share this. How did you get started in video game journalism/video game theory?

Anonymous

What are the sources of your research that you find to be most fruitful? By which I mean essays/interviews/academic papers etc rather than the games themselves.

Anonymous

Hi, Mark. We all have a game that changed our lives and made us enjoy playing games. Sometimes it's not so good - it can even be pretty bad -, but it's still important and we kind of praise it. What's yours? Mine's Commander Keen.

Anonymous

Hey Mark! I've always wondered how you make and edit your videos, as well as how you make these gorgeous animations (for example, the water wheel for Majora's Mask Boss Keys). Could you do a behind the scenes sort of video where you talk through the process of making your videos?

Anonymous
>>7277460

Had a think about this in the shower. Realized it's actually got a lot to do with your approach relying on games that are known to work well, direct developer quotes, and focusing on whether it feels good to you from a player-experience angle (e.g. how you refer to preferring find-the-path over follow-the-line dungeons in Boss Keys). So I wonder if you ever get the "but you're not a developer / you're not making that kind of game" criticism at all, then, since you do such a good job of using these techniques to build GMTK's authority/credibility?

Anonymous

What do you think about parser-IF adventure games? I feel like they've got a ridiculous ceiling on interesting mechanics, because things don't need to be visually portrayable so you can get things like interaction with abstract concepts... do you think there's a way to get that sort of thing in a less obtuse form?

Anonymous

Hey Mark! One thing I've always thought about your videos is how they have such high "production value" for just a one-man job. Fonts, images and editing quirks all seem to be consistent and well thought out. I know you've said that people have helped you with 3D-rendering in that past, but even without that your videos have been very well made from the getgo. Did you just sit down and start video editing when you made your first GMTK video or did you have some previous experience?

Anonymous

Good morning, Mark! I wanted to say: I love your content. It's really helped me look at not only games, but more broadly at many things in my life to analyze how they tick. It's always wonderful food for a critical mind. I do have a question though: What mechanic in games do you feel is most often mouses by inexperienced devs, and what spin would you put on it to make it work? Thanks a lot for doing this, and all your vids!

Anonymous

Hey Mark! What's the game that inspired you to be a video-game journalist/reviewer?

Anonymous

You have a background in games journalism, now you get to play a bunch of games for GMTK and really analyse the design, have you ever had thoughts of applying that knowledge and creating a game of your own? Even eventually, further into the future. If so what would current Mark want to make a game about?

Matt MML Lucas

Do you consider what you do to be more akin to journalism or education? Do you think that distinction needs to be made? Why or why not?

Anonymous

Random question: Do you have siblings?

Anonymous

So Mark, since you are not a game dev, why have you decided to devote yourself towards making really good and in depth analysis of the mechanics of games and what makes them fun? What inspired you to explore that, specifically?

Anonymous

first of all, congratulations for finishing your detective games video! i know that was your white whale as you put it, so props to you for that, really good work. Ok so my question is: what kinds of games would you like to see more of? you can be as specific as you want. Thank you!

Anonymous

Hi Mark. Ever thought about making a game yourself? If yes, what would it be about?

Anonymous

Hey Mark, thanks for doing this! I have two questions. Firstly, what are some examples of your "go to" games, some games you might play when you want to just unwind/relax, and not think too much, and just have fun? The second is, given that from your videos, it seems like you're quite a fan of Nintendo, do you think the Switch is living up to it's full potential right now? And what would you like to see in the future of the system?

Reutermo

Is there one video that you have made that you are especially proud of?

Anonymous

Hi, Mark! I have a couple. How have your goals for your channel changed since starting it, if at all? Do you ever come to a point where analyzing a game (or any piece of media for that matter) goes too far and takes the fun out of the thing itself? If so, how do you handle it? Could you recommend any non-gaming/media critique channels you enjoy?

Anonymous

Hi Mark! I love the bit that you talked about the overworld in your Link Between Worlds episode of Boss Keys. Would you consider diving into that a bit further once the series is finished? Since Boss Keys is supposed to be a lead-up to a GMTK about Zelda dungeons, I'd also be interested in an episode on the various overworlds of the series.

Anonymous

Hi Mark, How do you keep up with all of the articles and videos you use as reference material? Moreover, how do you handle any backlog? I’ve been meaning to read more but with college work I have troubles even starting my design books, let alone an infinite bombardment of articles, interviews, and videos. Is there anything you do to help get through so much content? Regards, Raphael

Anonymous

What‘s your average workday/workweek like?

Anonymous

Hi Mark! You probably have already answered this question a lot of times, but still. Are you interested in doing something about RTS/TBS games? Maybe cRPGs? Wasn't able to find a lot of information about designing in those genres :/

Anonymous

Hey Mark. Great job on detective games. Really helped me re-examine some AAA games where the clues are literally popping out at the player and the game figures the mystery out for you aka Witcher 3. Speaking of mystery, since you're a puzzle nut ever think of doing a video on Myst? Myst was renown for blowing the door open for games on the CD-ROM. People were buying computers to play this game. While some puzzles are quite arbitrary, the player is piecing together everything that's happened on the island, much like a detective game. Although it is pretty obvious who the liers and truth-tellers are in this game.

Anonymous

Did you have a specific AHA!-moment were you thought that games can be more than pure entertainment? Maybe a certain game or insight? I know that as a kid I viewed videogames (BTW: video games or videogames?) differently than I do today.

Anonymous

What is the game in which you have spent more time? Regarding mechanics and design elements, what are, in your opinion the best ones for story telling purposes? (I'm thinking for example in the mechanic of using each joystick of the gamepad in "Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons" or searching by keyword in "Her Story") What is your opinion in the evolution of design ideas in the past years, it is constant, slowing, speeding up? What game world would you like to live in :) ?

Anonymous

Do you think we will ever move from game mechanics centred on violence/combat dominating the industry? Can you think of any great games which don't focus their main mechanics on combat?

Anonymous

Hey Mark! Do you have any recommendations for the person who a. loves to buy (not necessarily read) books and b. wants to think about games more than is probably healthy?

Nick Grugin

You ever thought about making a video about games "on-rails"? it seems to be a dirty phrase when talking about game design but Call of Juarez : Gunslinger was sorta on-rails and a blast, and I've seen people who've played Until Dawn : Rush of Blood and it looks fun. Is on-rails such a bad thing if the overall experience = fun.

Anonymous

Any thoughts on VR? Does it make games truly better? Or does it only work for certain genres?

Anonymous

Hey Mark, I think that game designers and makers should start innovating more with mechanics that are interesting and new (and I think your video on dual-purpose design is a good step forward in thinking outside of the box for mechanics). Focusing on innovation in realism or graphics is nice, but each game still ends up feeling the same. Do you agree with this? Obviously innovation from scratch is much more difficult than iterating over an existing game, so how should designers approach innovation or experimentation? What is the point when experimentation becomes too much and isn't fun any more to the players? Would it still be useful to explore "too far" in experimentation? Thanks! Andy

Anonymous

What tools do you use to make your videos? What do you edit with, make titles, capture game footage, audio etc? Also what kind of microphone and other audio equipment do you use?

Anonymous

Hey Mark, I have a few questions: At what point, if ever, do you think that game design knowledge will be a prominent factor in game reviews? (not just saying "level design = good/bad" but really talking about the specific design choices that a game makes that put it on that next level.) Do you think that the current genre system we have for video games is fundamentally flawed and needs to be rebuilt or be completely innovated? Do you think that there are some areas of game design that are completely subjective and have no right/wrong answer as to what makes them good/bad? Conversely, do you think that there are any objective truths in game design? Thanks! -Daniel

Anonymous

If you had the chance to design a game of your own, what would it be?

Anonymous

Do you have a "so bad it's good" game you play? Some how I have a sweet spot for Quest 64.

Anonymous

Food for thought, but about the effect of save systems on the game experience? It's timely that you'll be talking about Metroid: Samus Returns, as while I liked the game, I disliked the integration of a checkpoint based system, as I feel much of the game balance was made to lean on that, and that enemies were made to deal more damage to Samus as a result. I have a soft spot myself for restrictive or even punishing save systems, from the escalating cost of saving in the Sega CD Lunar 2, to the temporary/quick-save style save points that Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter used. I even rather liked the way the first Dead Rising handled its saves, which I think was unfairly maligned owing to flaws with the A.I. and so forth rather than the system itself being an inherent ill. I think harsh systems can be a net positive for how we experience a game and the risks involved, but it feels like such creative approaches are often watered down to avoid making the customer feel inconvenienced. I tend to dislike the inclusion of auto-save/checkpoint based systems in most games, as a result. Thoughts?

TheSandromatic
>>7288698

If you'd ask me, a game can be difficult without wasting your time. Travelling back to your last save 10 minutes ago will waste a whole 10 minutes of your life. Instead, let me try just the part that I'm having trouble with for 10 minutes. then I'll feel like my time's not being wasted.

Anonymous

Hey Mark, thanks for your incredible series and amazing work. I would love to hear your opinion on other games that try to build on top of the zelda franchise, especially games in the 2d realm. I would love to see if there are games around that offers an evolution/twist on the different areas zelda shined. From dungeon design, to area item lock to combat system, story. Your series focused a lot on what zelda dungeon are, and how they are built, but maybe had less focus on how the game as a whole was putted together. I would love to see more development on this direction, compared also to other games that try to improve the series. Thanks for your time :D

Anonymous

1) What is the next Boss Key Topic ? Will we see a "Boss key- like" analysis on Final Fantasy? It would take decades to replay but I think it is important for mankind to learn from you the secrets of a good RPG ^^

Parachuting Turtle

Would you rather fight a horse-sized... nah, let's do this right. What are some topics you're planning to (or would at some point like to) make videos on, if you don't mind sharing? (Not looking for spoilers of course, just teasers.)

Anonymous

How do you manage all the footage you capture? Do you keep all of it to reuse in future videos?

Daddy Dilkers

What do you (or did you) do for a living? You're so well versed in game design and mechanics that I'd think you were involved in game design, but when watching your videos I notice the scripts are well written and you speak very eloquently so I could also see you having been a writer or journalist of some kind.

Anonymous

How did you get your start at video editing, and what helped you improve your efficiency/skill set the most in the early days?

Anonymous

What would you say are some irrelevant points to make when speaking for the quality of games that often gets made? Personally, I hate when my friends use how long the game took to make as a point when discussing which game is the best in a series (stating that because a game took less time to make it's flaws can be ignored when rating them), what're your thoughts on that argument aswell?

Anonymous

What is your "guilty pleasure" game?

Mitch Makurat

What is your most hated video game mechanic?

Anonymous

Can you elaborate on your note taking skills? When playing a game how do you know when to pause a hot something down? What are you actively thinking/asking yourself when you play?

Anonymous
>>7359826

This. I wanted to take notes for the games I play but pausing and taking notes breaks the... 'immersion', I guess? So, I started recording my play-throughs (private, of course) and speaking my thoughts throughout the game as I play them. Not the best idea but I find it better than pausing and taking notes. I believe there's a better way though.

Anonymous

What is your opinion on the current state of mobile games? Do you think the platform is capable of evolving past one tap arcade games and inferior ports of PC games? It’s a huge market that I feel isn’t really getting the carefully crafted experiences many indie PC or console games are getting. The limits and benefits of the platform are so unique and many developers aren’t fully taking advantage of this. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Anonymous

Howdy! Some time back I heard you make a comment that you highly recommend playing Zelda BOTW with something turned off. I want to say it was something like map hints or marked destinations on the map. I searched but haven't been able to find it. What was it?

GameMakersToolkit
>>7445440

I’ll answer this one here - i’d Reccomend using the pro mode HUD. Also, disable the quests to turn off the markers on your map. Don’t need em -just go for a wander.