Q&A Part 3 - The future and identity of Game Maker’s Toolkit (Patreon)

This week marks the three year anniversary of Game Maker’s Toolkit.

It’s been a wild ride! I have released 59 videos, as well as 11 episodes of Boss Keys, and 3 bonus videos. I’ve run a game jam, given talks at events and universities, received wonderful messages from incredibly talented people, quit my job, received an award from YouTube (above), met new friends, and created a lovely community on Discord. 

But this is also a good time to take a moment to reflect. And, recently, I’ve been asking myself: “What sort of videos should I be making?”

I feel it’s important to make the most of the opportunity I have been given (by all of you), and should focus my efforts on videos that will be most worthwhile. And when considering what sort of video that is, I thought about the feedback I’ve been given over the last three years.

And, really, the greatest feeling with GMTK is for people to tell me that the videos have been helpful in some way. Here are just a few comments, emails, tweets, and messages I’ve received recently:

“[Your channel] helped me look at a lot of my designs from new and different perspectives. The Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze video in particular really helped me cement a lot of ideas for levels I've been building lately.”

“As a game design teacher, i find this video amazingly helpful! “

“I found your Boss Keys videos really helpful when coming up with the puzzles for my game. Thank you!”

“Watched ur Mario vids a bunch. Really helped give perspective on the design at work here.”

“Your video on Doom was an inspiration for our combat and health system.  Rather than having regenerating health or health pickups, the player in [our game] earns health (and nitro) from engaging in combat.  In this way, the player is encouraged to play aggressively.”

“Predictability, intent, all that kind of stuff though went into the design. I was watching a lot of Toolkit videos while making the game. So, thanks for making them.“

I’ve also had people tell me that the episodes have been shown in university and school classes, or used as part of the curriculum. That’s crazy! 

And these aren’t all comments from game designers and teachers. The Mario comment comes from someone who just likes playing games, but watches the videos to gain a deeper understanding of the media they enjoy. 

So my strongest videos are those provide practical lessons for game designers, and help players see games from a new perspective. This includes videos on AI, mechanic design, difficulty, encouraging play-styles, and level design.

They’re kinda like chapters in a big book on game design.

But my, perhaps, weaker videos, are those are that more akin to traditional gaming criticism (a common criticism I get is “this felt more like a review…”). A video like my recent one on Metroid 2’s remakes is mostly just my opinion on some video games.

And that’s not a bad thing. But this sort of gaming criticism is not exactly in short supply on YouTube. Brilliant channels like Errant Signal, Raycevick, Joseph Anderson, Noah Caldwell-Gervais, and KingK are already doing this with style and speed. I can do something different. 

So while I will still do those sorts of videos from time to time, (my new video, coming later today, could arguably fall into this category), they will be less frequent in nature. I may even give them a different name, in future, to establish a clearer divide. We'll see.

But as I start year four of Game Maker’s Toolkit, I think it’s important to really focus on what the channel does best, and what I should be spending time and resources on.

Thoughts will be appreciated, as always!

While I’m here, talking about the future and identity of GMTK, I thought I should answer a few relevant questions from my Q&A from a few weeks ago. 

Let’s jump in…

Sam Jacobsen - 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?

I think that the Valve developer commentaries, on games like Portal and Half Life, really opened my eyes to the magic of game design. When these designers talked about building levels to guide your eye, teach you mechanics, tell stories, and more, I became obsessed with learning about this sort of stuff and looking for it in the games I play.

I started to explore this in my traditional games journalism, but found the perfect home for it on YouTube.

Thomas Bowyer - 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.

I think one of my strengths is my ability to express a large amount of information in a short amount of time. I do a tremendous amount of research for these videos - enough to make a video that could last an hour - but then try to condense it down to a bitesize video through writing, and motion graphics and video clips that can speak for themselves. 

So I think short videos will be my focus, but I won’t say never, if there’s a topic that really deserves it!

Jakub Pander - Will you attend any more industry events to give talks and lectures?

Yeah, I will. If people ask and the event sounds good, I’ll be happy to go. These events are good because I get to meet and talk to more game creators and find out more about how and why they make stuff.

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?

I guess there’s an element of both. The videos are (hopefully) educational, but I’m using journalistic methods (playing games with a critical eye, reading about and talking to developers) to get the information.

The place where this gets tricky is in taking into account my subjective thoughts on things. This came to ahead in my video series on the Zelda dungeons where I clearly established my preference for non-linear puzzle box dungeons, and this went against the more analytical nature that some were expecting.

And I’m still not sure how to deal with that. Because I have preferences and that will always taint the way I make videos. If I made a video on, say, collectibles in games I would not use the feathers in Assassin’s Creed as a positive example because I don’t like them. And I wouldn’t make a (positive) video about clickers because I think they’re dumb, but lots of people do like them!

So juggling my personal opinions with more objective, analytical approach is tough and something I’m always thinking about.

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.

Another GameJam is on the cards. I’d like to do more stuff with reaching out to developers - perhaps a podcast, or maybe just more to get more quotes to use in the episodes. I’ll hopefully do another series like Boss Keys. But who knows! 

KC Dejos - How have your goals for your channel changed since starting it, if at all? 

At the beginning, I guess my main goals were to get more eyes on the channel. More viewers, subscribers, Patrons etc. 

Now that I’m happy with my place on YouTube, my goals have changed to more about improving the discourse surrounding games, championing good games and good design, helping new devs and students get access to design stuff, things like that. 

Twila27 - 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?

Yes, I think and worry about this a lot. But ultimately, it comes down to always using existing games as examples. I don’t (often) say “you should make games like this…” but say “this is how Mario games are made, maybe you could learn from that”. I also use developer quotes, and try to back up statements that I make. 

Thankfully, this is more of a personal worry than an actual criticism that I get.

Michael Cafe-y - 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? 

Phil Strahl a.k.a. Pixel Prophecy - Hi Mark. Ever thought about making a game yourself? If yes, what would it be about?

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

I would like to try this one day. Maybe it will be something to do next year.

I think the game would be made using the design philosophies of Nintendo and Jonathan Blow (prototype a whole bunch to discover some cool individual mechanic, then find all the possible extensions, variations, and twists on that central premise). Likely a platformer or a puzzle game.

That’s sort of a practical goal. A dream game would be something that either focuses on exploration and curiosity (ala The Witness, Zelda 1), or cool traversal mechanics (like classic Tomb Raider, Grow Home, Frog Climbers).

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

I think the Mario Maker video is still the one that perfectly encapsulates what GMTK is all about. I look at existing games, learn from them, and apply those lessons in a game (well, level) of my own. 

More generally, I am proud of the videos that talk about lots and lots of different games when exploring a central point, such as my videos on AI, sub genres, and controllers.

Erik (mit k) - What‘s your average workday/workweek like?

A typical GMTK video takes about two weeks. So week one will be research and writing, with lots of reading, watching talks, playing games, and writing the script. Then, the next week, I’ll record the script, gather more footage, and edit everything together.

Some videos are quick to make, others are very long.

I work a pretty typical schedule - 9-5 every week day. Previously I had worked a normal job and made videos in the evenings and weekends, so it’s been nice to get that leisure time back! But I’m also flexible, where I’ll maybe take a Thursday afternoon off for myself, or perhaps work on a script on a Sunday. 

Ceceron44 - Are you interested in doing something about RTS/TBS games? Maybe cRPGs?

Sean A Lovely Ramsey - 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.

Ian Peters - 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.

Nick Grugin - You ever thought about making a video about games "on-rails"?

Fadhel - 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 

Andy Latham - Would you consider doing a series like Boss Keys that looks at the similarities and differences between the approaches taken between the LucasArts games, along with their rivals like Sierra?

These are all questions that come down to “would you ever do a video on…” and the answer is ultimately, “maybe!”. I don’t like to promise anything or rule anything out, but I read and appreciate all suggestions and request so please keep them coming!

Thanks for reading. Got a few more questions which I'll get to in the near future.