What's coming to GMTK (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take a few moments to talk about the stuff that's coming to the GMTK channel over the next few months. I've got a bunch of different projects in the works, and so - a rarity for the channel - I can tell you what to expect in the near future!

First, I'm going to release the final episode of the School of Stealth today. This one is about detection, and rounds off the series quite nicely, I think. 

I'm not done with stealth forever - I'd like to talk more about Goose Game at some point, and perhaps take a look at some Dishonored level design. But for now, I want to put a pin on stealth stuff.

Next, I've been working on a new episode of Design Icons. I put the series on hold last year because the first two episodes (on Space Invaders and Pac-Man) didn't get many views. Right now, space Invaders is the worst performing episode on the channel! 

But I didn't want to give up on the series entirely - just rethink how it works. So after some consideration, I'm looking to make the episodes a bit shorter (if it was me, a 16 minute video on an ancient arcade game isn't too appealing - but I'd watch 8 minutes on anything), and i'm skewing the angle ever so slightly, with more appealing titles. 

Episode three should be out in a few weeks.

Obviously an upcoming project will be the GMTK Game Jam stuff. This one is set to be enormous (thanks, coronavirus, I guess?) with over 6,000 sign-ups already. So that's going to wipe out much of July as I host the jam, stream games, judge entries, and make the follow up video. Videos, maybe? Seems like a shame to only get one piece of content out of so much hard work. We'll see.

And then there's the big project I've been working on for a while now. I'm making a series called Commanding Shepard, which is about choice and consequence in the Mass Effect trilogy. 

I'm interested in how those game let you make decisions - and how those decisions would play out across each game, and then into its sequels. So I'll be looking at everything from morality, to romance, to the suicide mission, to the much-maligned ending. 

It's been a monstrous undertaking so far. For the last month, I've played Mass Effect 1 three times, Mass Effect 2 three times, and Mass Effect 3 twice. That's over 200 hours of play time already! I've got one more playthrough of Mass Effect 3 to do. And after that, I'll still need to go back to old save games to get more footage of different outcomes and decisions. 

All the while I've made copious notes and have written draft scripts for the first two episodes on Mass Effect 1 and 2. And, boy, these things are beasts. The Mass Effect 2 episode, for example, is almost longer than the Hollow Knight script (which turned into a 40 minute video), and that's just the first draft.

I kinda want to get the whole thing done, and then drop the videos once a week for three weeks. That's my current plan at least - I've also considered releasing them with a different video in between (like i did with School of Stealth), and squeezing them together into a 3 hour epic. Not sure if that's my style - might leave that to the Jospeh Andersons of the world. 

Anyway! Let me know what you reckon.

I've got lots of other things up my sleeve, too. I'm still playing Persona 5 Royal, and Square just sent me a code for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake - so looks like GMTK might have a bit of an RPG flavour for a while? We'll just have to wait and see.

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Before I go, I just want to talk about something important.

So from the above updates, you might have noticed that I've been extremely productive during the lockdown so far. To be honest, I think my productivity is just a coping mechanism of sorts - work is the only thing I can control right now, so I'm doubling down on it!

But I wouldn't want anyone to feel like crap if they're not as productive right now. This is a scary, worrying, isolating, and confusing time. And it's perfectly reasonable if your reaction is to hide under the duvet and watch Netflix. 

When the lockdown started, I think we all thought we'd be learning French, writing a novel, and getting super buff. But it turns out that the fear of illness, financial ruin, and the death of our friends and family isn't super conducive to being productive or creative. If all you can do right now is survive, then focus on that. And if you need someone to talk to, my Patreon DMs are always open.

Stay safe, stay awesome

Mark