2019 in review (Patreon)

Hi everyone! Mark here.

So, at the end of each year I like to share with you some thoughts and statistics about my last 12 months’ worth of work.

I think it’s really important to regularly take a step back and see what’s working and what’s not - and use that to help shape the future direction of what I’m doing.

So I hope you’ll come with me and enjoy this peek behind the scenes of the GMTK empire!

Now, 2019 was one of those years where January simultaneously feels like it was last week, and also a decade ago. I still don’t feel like I’ve really got a grip on the year yet - but, also, I want this damn thing to end. 

In personal terms, 2019 was a very… busy year for me. 

In April, I got engaged - and started planning a wedding. In August, I bought a house - and started renovating it. But also this year, three of my family members have been taken to hospital in an ambulance. My fiancé had to quit her job because of health issues. And also our house is full of mice.

There have been lots of amazing things this year, but also some serious challenges. I’m doing okay (and all my family members are, at least, alive, if not okay). And the mice should be munching on little bags of super strong poison as I write this - not from my own office, but from my future mother-in-law’s kitchen table.

All of which is to say that I’ve been a tad distracted this year. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, all the commotion has affected my output somewhat. 

Having a job where you work from home, and set your own hours is great - but it also means it’s easy to get distracted when a family member falls ill, or you have to leave home for a few days because there are mouse turds by your bed, or you want to go visit some potential wedding venues, or paint the walls in your new office. 

So while I always try to make 24 videos a year (an average of two a month), this year I only managed 23. And while I try to keep up with all the new releases, I just haven’t had time and I’ve fallen behind the cultural conversation on things like Pokemon Sword and Death Stranding. Things like the GameClub on Discord, and my live streaming, have also fallen by the wayside.

However! It hasn’t been all bad: this year I’ve made some of the videos I’m most proud of. I made a humongous 40 minute episode of Boss Keys. I overcame some fears and started interviewing devs over Skype to get them in the videos. I finished Boss Keys and Designing for Disability. Crashed Itch.io with the Game Jam. Hit huge milestones for subscribers and views. Travelled around the world. And more. 

So let’s get into it.

The Big Numbers

This year I received 23.5 million new views (taking the total to 63 million) and 175,000 new subscribers (taking me past 600,000 in April, and past 700,00 in November). 

How does that compare to previous years?

• 2019 - 23.5 million views, 175,000 subscribers
• 2018 - 19.7 million views, 180,000 subscribers
• 2017 - 16.5 million views, 205,000 subscribers
• 2016 - 5.1 million views, 113,000 subscribers
• 2015 - 1.2 million views, 31,000 subscribers

I guess it makes sense that subscribers are dropping (there’s only a finite number of people who would subscribe to a game design channel, so perhaps most of them have already found me?). But still something to keep an eye on. It’s good to see views are always growing, at least.

Those views are from legacy content (i.e. people watching videos from 2017 in 2019), and brand new content. How does it look when we just look at the videos made in that year?

• 2019 videos in 2019 - 8.2 million views
• 2018 videos In 2018 - 6.9 million views
• 2017 videos in 2017 - 8.2 million views
• 2016 videos in 2016 - 2.9 million views
• 2015 videos in 2015 - 1.0 million views

Hey! Pleased with that. Better than last year, and the same as 2017, which was quite the juggernaut. (As of today, 8 of the top 20 most viewed GMTK videos were made in 2017 - the most of any year).

This year’s videos

As I said, this year I made 23 videos - or 24 if you include the 5 year anniversary video, which I will possibly remove from the channel at some point. Here they are in release order.

Compared to other years, that’s:

• 2014 - 2
• 2015 - 22
• 2016 - 27
• 2017 - 28
• 2018 - 24
• 2019 - 23

So, a little disappointed. But quality over quantity and all that. And looking at other similar video essay channels, GMTK is definitely on the higher end in terms of number of videos released in 2019.

Views

Let’s begin by talking numbers. Starting with views. My top six most successful videos were:

• Why Metro Exodus is 2019’s Most Immersive Open World Game (848,000)
• Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play? (668,000)
• The Best Games from GMTK Game Jam 2019 (545,000)
• How Games Get Balanced (512,000)
• The World Design of Hollow Knight (431,000)
• The Tragedy of Halo 3: ODST (425,000)

Wow, that Metro Exodus video really took off! As I always say, talking about brand new games can be really hit or miss (videos on other 2019 games like Super Mario Maker 2 and Slay the Spire didn’t perform nearly as well). 

I’m really pleased with the response to the Celeste video - that’s one of my best in a long while. And it’s great that the GMTK Game Jam wrap-up is so popular. Really makes “winning” the jam worthwhile.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t super fair as older videos will have had more time to gain views than more recent videos. So if we look at how each video did in their first eight days, it’s a slightly different story:

• Why Metro Exodus is 2019’s Most Immersive Open World Game (342,000)
• Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play? (323,000)
• The World Design of Hollow Knight (284,000)
• How Baba Is You Works (280,000)
• Can We Make Talking as Much Fun as Shooting? (274,000)
• The Tragedy of Halo 3: ODST (268,000)

The Baba Is You video is interesting. I launched it until the semi click-baity title "The Most Innovative Game of 2019", which forced people to watch the video to see what game I picked. This was a good choice for getting traffic, but not a tactic I'd want to employ often! It's just a bit tacky...

Subscribers

How about the videos that lead to new subscribers? Here’s the top six. 

• Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play? (7,500 subs)
• Why Metro Exodus is 2019’s Most Immersive Open World Game (4,700 subs)
• The Best Games from GMTK Game Jam 2019 (2,800 subs)
• The World Design of Hollow Knight (2,000 subs)
• How Games Get Balanced (1,700 subs)
• How To Make An Indie Game Trailer (1,700 subs)

As I saw in my 5 years of stats article, only the really high quality stuff (good research and insight, high production values, extra effort like developer interviews) gets loads of subs. Once again proving that aiming for quality is a worthwhile mission on YouTube.

Patrons

One final thing to look at is Patrons. Which videos led people to actually pledge money towards GMTK and join you fine folk on this website? 

Now this is really hard to track because there’s no way to see why people sign up. But I was able to look at how many new Patrons joined in the three days after I released a new video, and used that as a hazy indicator of what was drawing people to pledge.

Two videos can’t be counted though: Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play? and The World Design of Hollow Knight were released around the start / end of a month, which is when a huge number of Patrons stop pledging. This makes it impossible to see the impact of that video and they’ll need to be ignored in the following top six:

• Game Maker’s Toolkit Turns 5 
• Space Invaders | Design Icons 
• Making Games Better for Players with Cognitive Disabilities 
• Why Metro Exodus is 2019’s Most Immersive Game
• The Making of Hitman 2’s Miami Level 
• How Accessible Were This Year’s Games? 

What! This is such a crazy list. Videos that were disappointing in terms of views (like Design Icons) actually lead to the most new Patrons. And while stuff about accessibility doesn’t always translate to YouTube success, it’s definitely well received on Patreon.

That’s probably the most wholesome and heart warming thing I’ve discovered in these stats. That people genuinely want to see content on this sort of stuff and are willing to back it is wonderful. Thank you!

And that’s also a bit confusing for me. For reasons I’ll come back to, after I talk about the kinds of content I made this year.

The kind of content I made

So we can break the 23 videos down into the following sub categories:

• Game Maker’s Toolkit - 15 videos
• Boss Keys - 4 videos
• Designing for Disability - 1 videos
• Design Icons - 2 videos
• Game Jam - 1 videos

In terms of GMTK, there was a pretty even split between single-game analysis videos (like those on Mario Maker 2, Metro Exodus, and Halo ODST) and more general topic videos (like roguelikes, clockwork games, and cameras).

But something I’ve lacked this year is broad, widely applicable, educational content - like with previous videos on AI, puzzle design, systemic design, and health systems. The video on balance was close, but I need to do more of those next year. Plans are afoot.

Now, in terms of sub-series - well GMTK has certainly changed a fair bit. In 2015 it was just all Game Maker’s Toolkit videos, but now the channel has split into a bunch of different spin-offs and sub series. We can see the change, here:

As I talked about in the 5 year recap, some series do better than others. GMTK videos are my most popular, in terms of views - followed by the game jam and Boss Keys. But Designing for Disability and Design Icons are much less popular.

Just going by those numbers alone, it would make sense to focus almost exclusively on GMTK videos But now with this information that spin-off series like Designing for Disability can lead to lots of new Patrons - it’s suddenly not so clear cut. 

Ultimately, I think a good balance between the two is what’s needed. And that’s what I didn’t always achieve in 2019.

I released the Celeste video on July 31st. Then I focused on the Game Jam in August, and released new Design Icons and Boss Keys episodes in September. It wasn’t until October 3rd that viewers got another GMTK video (Clockwork Games and Time Loops). 

Then there was another Design Icons, another Boss Keys, and an update video before the next GMTK video (How Accessible Were This Year’s Games? - which could arguably be counted as Designing for Disability rather than GMTK).

That means viewers are having to wait months between the real bread and butter GMTK videos.

This might be because I’ve been busy (see above) and something like Design Icons (which doesn’t require me to play lots of different games) is easy to make. Or because I’ve committed to a series like Boss Keys and need to make the next episode. Or just poor planning.

Whatever the case, the lesson I need to learn is clear: GMTK should be the clear and defining series on my channel. Spin-off episodes should be infrequent and not overly distracting from the main content. I hope to achieve this balance in 2020.

What games did I talk about?

I want to cover a broad spectrum of games on GMTK. And I did a pretty good job this year. 

On the GMTK videos alone, I showed about 300 unique games - from 1980’s Rogue to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Plus unreleased and in early access games.

I also didn’t spend too much time talking about the same ol’ games again and again. I only mentioned Spelunky and Dark Souls once each, somehow, and showed Far Cry 2 and Metal Gear Solid V twice each. I don’t think I mentioned XCOM all year, if my notes are correct.

These are the franchises I mentioned most:

I also talked about card games and multiplayer games - which is a little different from my usual single-player, character driven action/adventure games. So, I’m branching out a little!

In terms of covering 2019’s games: well, I did a bit. I did videos on Slay the Spire, Metro Exodus, Super Mario Maker 2, Outer Wilds, and Baba Is You. 

There’s lots of really interesting games I could have talked about in depth this year, such as Death Stranding, Disco Elysium, Untitled Goose Game, Sekiro, Devil May Cry 5, and more. But I’m really not fussed about this at this stage: I’d rather talk about games when I’m ready to, not when they’re in the headlines. 

Being “timely” is no guarantee of success, after all, and I’d rather do things right. I was recently in conversation with Yacht Club Games, for example, to do a video on the new Shovel Knight DLC and ultimately decided that I’d rather wait and get it right, than rush something out just so it’s on YouTube in time for release.

Successes and Challenges

I want to talk a little more about the videos themselves. Starting with the ones I found most difficult.

I started the year with a mistake. 

I made a video about roguelikes that focused way too heavily on my own personal preferences and playstyle. I was so unhappy with the result and the feedback that I actually remade the video to be more even-handed. 

It was a good lesson, though: I do want to share my own opinions on GMTK, but the most important thing is to try and present information in a balanced way.

So: the wrong way is to say “roguelikes should be like this because that’s the way I like them”. The better way is to say: “there are two ways to do roguelikes. Here are the pros and cons of each approach. By the way, I prefer this type”. 

That’s the sort of video I’m going to try and make in the future.

In the spring, I tried to make a series of videos about balancing multiplayer games. It didn’t go the way I wanted. I ultimately realised that I just don’t know enough about this topic - I don’t play many multiplayer games and the theory for multiplayer is often completely different to single player.

I ultimately decided to release it as a single video (How Games Get Balanced), and it was extremely difficult to make: I had to talk to lots of experts to make sure I wasn’t talking nonsense, and the whole thing went through loads of different versions (at one point it was going to focus exclusively on rock-paper-scissors, at another point it was to be two videos, at one point it was to be scrapped entirely).

I’m actually quite happy with the end result. It’s a little basic and introductory but it’s still packed with info and I certainly learned a lot while making it. It just took about twice as long to make as a usual episode and wasn’t at all what I was planning to make! 

I was also a little disappointed with the traffic for Metroid Prime 2 and 3 Boss Keys. And Design Icons - though, as we’ve discussed before, it’s early days and Space Invaders and Pac-Man aren’t exactly the most... exciting games to click on.

In terms of successes: well, I actually made some of the videos I’m most genuinely proud of in 2019. Starting with the Hitman 2 Miami video.

For starters, the video just looks really cool. I used cheats and a no-clip camera mode to get really unique and cool-looking shots of the level that go beyond basic video capture. There are also maps, diagrams, and other effects.

Also, this was the first GMTK episode that included a video interview with a game developer. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now, but I struggle with social anxiety and have found it difficult to reach out. 

Turns out it wasn’t so scary: the guys at IO were lovely and they even talked about watching my previous Hitman video! It worked out great and I repeated the effect in my Celeste video, which features a video interview with creators Noel and Matt. 

(I also tried to get a video interview for Hollow Knight, but timings didn’t quite work out so Team Cherry gave me answers over email instead).

The video on Celeste’s physics was also fun - it had an interview, as I said. And I liked doing the graphs and animations for the different characters across a range of platforms. I think that video should prove genuinely useful.

I’m really proud of the Hollow Knight Boss Keys episode. There’s so much packed in there: like maps with animated arrows, developer quotes, charts, custom art, and panoramic shots of Hallownest that were created using debug (pun not intended!) tools. 

I’m also super proud of the pacing. It’s 40 minutes long but I got so much feedback from people saying that it didn’t feel like it. The information is packed in super densely and it all flows together nicely, leading you on a nice gentle journey up until the end.

I also like the Design Icons videos: I’m learning a lot about old games while doing them, and hopefully sharing them with an audience. And they’ve got their own, distinct look.

The video on “How Accessible Were This Year’s Games?” was, I think, quite important - and also quite bonkers. No one else on YouTube is trawling through 50 of the year’s top games for one video!

I also liked the video about trailers, which is outside of my usual remit - I think it shows that my skills are about researching and presenting information, and not just about talking about game design. And it was fun to surprise my subscribers with a video topic they really weren’t expecting.

Talks and trips

So… I might have gone a bit overboard on doing talks this year. I ended up doing seven of these things: three in the UK and four around the world.

I went to Vancouver (Canada) in January to talk to a bunch of EA game designers. Then to universities in London (UK) in February and Manchester (UK) in March to talk to design students. And Sheffield (UK) in April to present in front of Sumo Digital.

I spent a few days in Malmo (Sweden) in May to talk to students and developers, and hit up Cologne (Germany) in June for another university thing. I then had a big break, before visiting Essen (Germany) at the end of November for Next Level Festival.

I really do love this aspect of the job! I get to meet loads of amazing people, and spend time with those in the industry and those who are just now learning about how games are made. 

Plus, I get to visit loads of interesting places… for free! This year I went up a mountain in Canada, visited a castle in Malmo, walked up to the top of Cologne cathedral, and visited an authentic German Christmas Market in Essen.

But I do have to be aware of how much time this stuff takes away from my day job. 

There’s the actual visit (UK events only ever take one day, but anything overseas requires at least one night in a hotel), writing the talk (I do reuse talks, but not always), and all the logistical stuff like communicating with the organisers, getting visas, and submitting invoices.

So I’m going to try and be a bit more fussy in 2020 - I’d never want to give this up entirely (and I’m already talking to people about events next year!) but I want to spread them out a bit, and only do stuff that sounds really cool. Let’s aim for 5 talks, max, next year.

The Game Jam

Once again, the Game Jam was a brilliant success. It was well received, had thousands of entries, and even crashed the itch.io servers for a good few hours. 

Here’s how it’s changed over time.

• 2017 - 2,857 joined. 745 entries
• 2018 - 3,313 joined. 1,034 entries
• 2019 - 7,591 joined. 2,624 entries

Wow! All three GMTK jams are in the top 5 most popular jams on itch.io, and while the Community Game Jam (one organised by a bunch of game dev YouTubers, such as Brackeys and Blackthorn Prod) came close - GMTK still holds the crown. Good to have some strong competition, mind you!

The jam has become easier to organise now as I know how things work and what to expect. And thanks to an army of Discord moderators who helped answer questions and keep people in line.

The main thing that went wrong, though, was the voting process. A public vote was, predictably, open to abuse and also meant jammers had to spend more time promoting their game than actually making it. This is the main thing to fix in 2020 - which will involve work and clever thinking both from myself, and the people who run itch. 

I would also like to add in some kind of prize in 2020. I’m not sure what would be best? I can easily secure a cash prize through someone like Audible or Skillshare, but would jammers prefer something like a Unity dev license or a console dev kit? Lemme know!

And I’d also like to maybe get some more judges to help me whittle down the top 100. Past jam winners, perhaps!

Ultimately, the GMTK Game Jam does take up a lot of time. The entirety of August was pretty much dominated by the jam. But I’m okay with that - the resulting video got over half a million views, and it’s a really important part of the channel’s identity now. I’m happy to sacrifice one month a year for it.

As for when it will be in 2020 - I’m not sure yet. I usually run the thing in the summer but I’m getting married in July so… maybe a September jam?

What else happened?

So a really exciting thing about buying a house was that I could make a dedicated GMTK office, with exactly the sort of layout and decorations that I want!

So I took one of the downstairs rooms and turned it into a home office - complete with an acoustically treated sound booth. It’s the first time I’ve ever completely renovated a room from scratch and I’m really pleased with the result! Still a few bits to finish, mind you... (including a proper chair).

There were also some things this year that didn’t quite happen. I was nominated for an h100 award, but didn’t win. And I talked to a literary agent about a book deal, but it didn’t work out. Nevermind!

2018’s plans, today

At the end of 2018 I made a (now unlisted) video where I talked about my plans for 2019. How did I get on? Let’s find out.

First, I talked about a series on multiplayer games. As I said earlier, this ended up turning into a single video. Though, I do have some plans for more multiplayer stuff in the future - like map design in shooters.

Next up, I talked about a series about player characters. Again, this kinda crunched down into a single video (on Celeste), but there’s room to do more like that in future.

I then talked about doing a series on influential games. And that one, I actually did do! Design Icons is two episodes down and while it might be a little slow going in 2020, I will keep going.

I also talked about Boss Keys (skipped Castlevania’s handheld games and Axiom Verge, but did the others), Designing for Disability (finished), and the Game Jam.

And in terms of the videos I said I might do on GMTK - enemy design, information in strategy games and stealth games, user interfaces, missions in open world games, and the death of the game over screen - I didn’t do any of them. Whoops!

2020’s plans

Which is why I don’t want to make too many promises about 2020. I just don’t work that way: I like to get an idea, get excited about it, and then make a video in a wild haze of excitement and creativity. I just can’t plan things out - it’s boring. 

That’s also why I’m going to move away from sub-series a bit, too. I don’t like to be hemmed into doing certain things, or have to live up to expectations of covering certain games or whatever. I want to be free to do what I want!

So all I can promise for 2020 is:

• Back to basics: Broad, widely-applicable, educational content on game design topics.
• A better balance: Mostly GMTK episodes on a regular basis. But with other stuff scattered in here and there.
• Game Jam: Can we make 2020’s even bigger than 2019?
• Fewer talks: Still explore the world, just a little more responsibly. 

And most of all, I hope that 2020 is a bit calmer. I talked last year about how I finally had a good work/life balance - but now it’s tipped the other way (too much life) and not for reasons I wanted or intended!

But things should be getting back to normal now and I desperately want to get back to work in the new year!

So thanks once again for indulging me. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll see you in 2020!

Mark