GMTK Newsletter (March 2017) (Patreon)

Post Script

So, it's not every day that your favourite developer releases a critically acclaimed game in your favourite franchise, on a brand new console. So yes, much of March was spent playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

I adore this game. Its sense of mystery and discovery, its adventurous heart, its melancholic vibe. I can pick out criticisms and nit picks, sure, but overall I just loved this game. And I was pleased to get to talk about it in a couple videos. 

An interesting thing was that I had to replay the game from the start to get some footage that I didn't capture on my first playthrough (notably some side quest stuff for the music video). Because I was rushing, I didn't get any extra hearts or anything, and went through the game with a sliver of health. 

And this was really cool! I had to play very differently - fight more defensively and stealthily, do lots of cooking, and take weird routes around enemies. By allowing the player to set their own experience, this game will be really good for second playthroughs. 

That's a very different experience to Boss Keys right now! 

The history of the Zelda franchise is Nintendo starting with incredibly non-linear play (Zelda 1 was invented to be the polar opposite of everything Super Mario stood for), and then slowly losing it - first in the overworld, and then in the dungeons - until we get to the DS games I just finished, and Skyward Sword, which I'm playing now. These are games that are so restrictive, hand-holding, and scared to challenge the player in any meaningful way, that it's extra miraculous that BOTW even exists. 

Though, to be fair, the dungeons in Skyward Sword are more interesting than I was expecting. You've got some cool ideas here, even approaching the sort of architectural puzzles that the series was dabbling in with Majora's Mask. And yet... the game just gives you all the answers. Between Fi and other hints, the player is rarely allowed to solve anything for themselves. It's a shame.

Anyway, anyway, I shouldn't be thinking about all this. While I want to play Skyward Sword now and get the script done, I'm not going to release the video until the end of April because the channel has inadvertently become hugely Zelda centric. 

Sneak Peek

So what's next?

Well, I've got a script ready for a video on Psychonauts. Playing it for GameClub reminded me why that game is so special. I'm going to do a vid explaining why it's a cult classic, for those who never played it (or those who did, but failed to see past it's crummy platforming and whatnot, and missed the clever stuff at its heart). 

I've been playing Snake Pass and I love it, and I've been thinking about a video on that game. But I might leave it for the end of the year, where I do a deep dive on the most innovative game I've played. It will certainly be a contender come December. 

I do want to do the verbs video part two. And loads of other stuff. I keep flirting with ideas and then not committing. I've got a half-finished thing on Portal that I'll need to come back to, as well. 

And now I'm thinking about other stuff! Someone on Twitter asked about Red Dead Redemption, and I reckon a video on that game would be cool seeing as a sequel is in the works. My only hesitation is that most of what makes that game special is stuff outside of the GMTK purview - graphics, atmosphere, story, music, etc. Stuff that is all super important for a game but doesn't exactly fall under design. Then again, it's been years since I played it, maybe I'll give it a go and see if I can find a suitable angle. 

And I'd like to do a video on a franchise. Most of my vids are about individual games - or a ridiculous year-long project about Zelda - but it'd be neat to do a video on a franchise to see how it changed. I was thinking of starting with something small, like Dead Space. I'd play all three games, and Extraction, and see how the series changed over time.

I also asked people on Twitter for things they'd like to see in videos. A lot of people like level design videos, so I've also got that to consider. 

Ultimately, I'm in the best possible position. When I first started this channel I was worried that I would run out of video ideas after a year. But I now have enough ideas to last me for a decade. The painful part is just deciding what to do first!

Mark's Month

As for games I played this month. Well, I finished Obduction. Loved it. And I played Horizon Zero Dawn. I've said this pithy little line before, but I wish it were made in a post-BOTW world. This is a gorgeous game with lots of inventive ideas - but it feels so hampered by that Ubisoft-style design. 

Camps, towers, repetitive side quests, a bloated economy of crap, waypoints, and so on. Instead of exploring this world with a mix of wonder and fear - I move from point to point on my map, and avoid the locations that warn they are too high level for me to explore. 

Couple other things: the melee combat sucks. I'm still trying to put my finger on it but beating a robot dinosaur with a stick should feel better than this. And also, conversations in this game are like talking to a Wikipedia article. A lot of games do this: they're so excited about their "lore" that they make every character be a terminal for learning about the background to the world. 

I've always appreciated games that have really thoughtful and inventive worlds - but the developers don't explain it all to the player. Instead, they sprinkle it into the world, giving you a place that obviously has a history and social structures and culture - but it's not all instantly explained on plaques and in conversations. That just robs the magic, if you ask me.

Okay, and someone is gonna have to tell me what is the deal with Nier Automata. My read on it, from playing for about 6 hours, is that it's got streamlined Bayonetta combat (some similar ideas, but doesn't seem to have as much depth), in a barren open world with often boring side missions. 

When the game is accelerating - when you're getting to new areas and fighting bosses - it feels great. When it's in park - when you're wandering across a huge world and fighting cannon fodder robots who you can button bash to death - it loses its luster. 

Point is, I like it, but I'm not seeing the 9/10s and 10/10s in here. I could either be missing something, or perhaps the story is going to pay off. Lemme know, I just feel confused. 

This section feels more negative than I meant it to! Like I said, I also played Snake Pass which is incredible. Hollow Knight is a lovely little Metroidvania with some good ideas and a helping of Dark Souls influence, Snipperclips is co-op puzzle heaven, and so on. Oh, but Ghost Recon Wildlands kinda blows. Sorry. 

Anyway! I want to stop this because I'm feeling kinda under the weather right now so I want to rest up. Thanks for your support this month. I'm planning to do another GameClub soon, I'll have some more Patreon reward stuff like tutorials and whatnot when I can, and as always, feel free to ask about anything.