Hello! Here's your first Playlist video for 2019
A few changes. I'm talking about any and all games I played - so that's indie stuff, retro games, and new releases. And also I tried doing it without a script - but it's a bit meandering so I might stick to a prewritten script in the future!
Cheers
Mark
2019-01-30 16:38:01 +0000 UTC View PostHello!
Over Christmas, I spent a bit of time coming up with some new stuff for GMTK. I wanted to update the channel's branding, and come up with new templates I can use.
Branding is important, because it helps videos feel like part of a greater whole, instead of a bunch of disparate videos. And templates give me a quick way to do things that crop up again and again in every video.
Before, I would start from scratch every time I wanted to quote a websit...
2019-01-29 13:34:41 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!
So for the first time in GMTK history, I've decided to remove a video, remake it, and reupload a new version.
My original video - "Should roguelikes have persistent upgrades?" - received some negative comments about the video's approach. That doesn't usually faze me - there's always some backlash! - but this time, I found myself agreeing with those comments.
The main issue was that the o...
2019-01-28 15:02:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! Happy new year
While there have been some changes to things on Patreon, the Reading List hasn’t really changed a dot. Everyone likes it, so let’s keep it going! Expect a great bunch of articles and videos, that come recommended by me, Mark!
You know, the GMTK guy. The British guy. You know who I’m talking about.
Top Pick
Hey! One of the perks of running GMTK is I get to travel around the world to give talks and lectures. I get to pop into different cities for a few days, check out the sights, and then head home.
Right now, I’m sat in Vancouver airport - having given a talk at EA’s offices here - and I thought I’d share some snaps, memories, and recommendations from my weekend in the city.
Getting around
2019-01-23 02:08:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hello!
So, here's my video about roguelikes and progression. Hope you find it interesting - looking forward to the debates in the comments under the video!
I'm off to Canada for a bit to do a talk for a major game studio. Then I'll be back - and I'll either do the last episode of designing for disability, or crack on with a secret video - the first GMTK ep that that will feature a developer interview!
Mark
2019-01-17 14:29:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello again!
So, as I discussed before - I’m currently playing the handheld Castlevania games as part of research for a (potential?) episode of Boss Keys.
Here's what I found out when I played through the last two GBA games.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002)
Last time I talked about Castlevania Circle of the Moon. That game was made by Konami Kobe (makes of the iffy N64 Castlevania games). For the sequel, 2002’s Harmony of Dissonance,...
2019-01-10 10:44:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! So, I'm thinking about the next episode of GMTK. And something I'd like to touch on is the idea of roguelikes and persistent upgrades.
Here's the outline.
What is a roguelike?
A roguelike is a game with procedurally generated levels and permanent character death. Some people have more strict definitions, but the modern use of the word (to describe games like Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, etc) just has these two tenets.
However....
2019-01-09 11:26:50 +0000 UTC View PostHello!
So the first episode of GMTK is, as usual, based on what I played over the Christmas break. Which happened to be a few stealth games. And that left me wondering: why did the stealth genre appear in 1998? This video explores that idea.
Thanks for your feedback on the draft script. I think I'll continue to do something like this going forward as getting fresh eyes on stuff is really helpful.
See you soon!
Mark
2019-01-07 17:46:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
Welcome to the first Insider, which is the name for these behind-the-scenes posts I'll be doing for $5 Patrons (and up).
I want to start talking about episodes before they're made so I can get feedback and ideas to help make them the best they can be. So, here's what I'm thinking for the first episode of 2019.
Over Christmas, I ended up playing a bunch of stealth games. Sly Cooper, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, and Thief: The Dark Project. And when I read about them...
2019-01-02 13:16:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
So, for your final reading list of 2018 I decided to do something a tad different. I wanted to gather together the best writing and videos on the game’s stand out releases. I’ve got pieces about the music of Celeste, the last hit animation of Smash Bros Ultimate and the depiction of slavery in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Some of these pieces were on previous reading lists this year so apologies if you’ve already seen them. I just wanted to make this as complete as possible.<...
2018-12-26 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHello everybody!
As always, my final playlist video for the year is a rundown of my 10 favourite games of the last 12 months. Some will be obvious, some might be surprising, some obvious games won’t show up at all!
Without further ado, let’s jump right into the games! In no particular order…
Florence
Florence is an interactive comic book for mobile, which tells the story of Florence’s first relationship. Every meaningful, and not-so meaningful ...
2018-12-19 15:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
The year is coming to a close, which can only mean one thing: an obsessively detailed, brutally honest, statistically overloaded look at my last year’s worth of work.
Let’s jump right into it.
What did I make this year
In 2018 I made 15 episodes of Game Maker’s Toolkit. You can see them all above.
9 of the videos are “topic” videos, where...
2018-12-17 08:06:09 +0000 UTC View PostHello! Three things for you today.
One! The final episode of GMTK is here. It's about the most interesting game of the year: Return of the Obra Dinn. I really like having this alternative "game of the year" video where I don't talk about the big, obvious AAA games - but stuff that's a bit weird, a bit indie, a bit different.
Two! I've made a video about some plans for 2019. You can w...
2018-12-14 15:25:31 +0000 UTC View PostHello!
Every year, I make a video about the most interesting game of the last 12 months. 2018 is no different. I thought about lots of different games, but ultimately landed on Lucas Pope's awesome detective game, Return of the Obra Dinn.
Also - thanks for your feedback on the Patreon rewards so far. Definitely giving it a lot of thought - don't want to annoy everyone so will be making changes very carefully.
Ta
Mark
2018-12-12 14:18:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everybody!
So, I feel like 2019 would be a good opportunity to mix up the Patreon a little bit. But I wouldn’t do anything without asking for some feedback and opinions from you lot!
As always, the goal of Patreon rewards is to adequately reward people who fund the content I make on YouTube. And to make sure that those who back the most, get the coolest stuff.
One of the biggest issues with the current set-up is that the credits list at the end of the video has gotten ridic...
2018-12-12 11:27:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone!
So, every year I make a video where I talk about the design of that year’s most innovative, well designed, or interesting game. I’ve chatted about Her Story in 2015, Event[0] in 2016, and Snake Pass in 2017.
For 2018...
2018-12-09 08:14:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
So, there’s something I routinely get wrong. And it’s high time I figure out a problem to the solution and avoid making the same mistake over and over again in 2019!
(I feel like I’ve maybe talked about this before - but I still don’t have a good answer for myself so I’m saying it again).
The issue is this:
Most YouTube channels are just about the creator giving their opinion on a subject. When a YouTuber says they hate The Last Jedi or love Fallout 76, we kn...
2018-11-30 10:51:53 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!
This will probably be the last Playlist video of this kind for 2018.
I’ll likely do the December episode as a game of the year wrap-up for y’all. And then in 2019, I want to mess with the format a bit. It’s getting a bit stale, and I think I could make it more useful. So, watch this space, and any ideas are of course welcome. Chuck them in the comments below!
Anyway, without further ado. Let’s talk about some games....
2018-11-27 14:53:55 +0000 UTC View PostSkill trees, upgrade systems, ability trees - call them what you will, they've become an integral part of AAA game design, showing up in Spider-Man, Doom, Watch Dogs, God of War, and more.
And with that in mind, I wanted to look at some common pitfalls of these things, and suggest some smarter ways to handle them.
Lemme know what you think!
Mark
2018-11-26 16:09:27 +0000 UTC View Post
(Sorry! I accidentally set this to $3 and $5 Patrons. Now all backers have access to it, as promised!)
Hello everybody! Got some more articles and videos for you to check out! As ever, feel free to send me fun stuff on Twitter, Discord, Patreon comments, or wherever. Always looking to boost the ranks!
I Wrote This
Hey!
I’ve been thinking about something recently. Thoughts have been swirling around my head. And maybe they’ll develop into a full GMTK episode - but right now I just want to get my thoughts out there so you can think about them yourself, and contribute your own ideas.
So, I’ve been playing a random hodgepodge of games recently. Really new stuff like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Hitman 2, and Red Dead Redemption 2. And comparatively older stuff, like Sly Cooper and Castlevani...
2018-11-25 08:49:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
So, after finishing Symphony of the Night for Boss Keys, I was left pretty curious about the other Metroidvania games in the franchise - like the three on GBA and three on DS. I’ve dipped in and out of them in the past, but haven’t finished any. And I definitely haven’t studied their level design.
So I decided to play the first game: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for the GBA. And after sending Dracula back to the grave for the millionth time I realised that, yeah, I will p...
2018-11-23 16:52:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! I received a number of comments on my latest video, which is about the world design of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, lamenting the fact that I didn't show any graphs!
If you're not aware: I've designed a graph system that can be used to map out the structure of non-linear games. Here's a Patreon post about how they w...
2018-11-16 10:07:30 +0000 UTC View PostHello!
Sorry for the delay on this one.
I actually took a week off work. My first full week off since starting GMTK full time in 2017! I played Red Dead Redemption 2 and Return of the Obra Dinn, baked a tart, went to a fireworks show, passed my driving test, watched scary movies on Halloween, and generally had a good time.
And also, man, these Boss Keys episodes sure take a long time! I have to play the game through at least twice, capture the entire game, sum up the ex...
2018-11-14 15:11:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey there! So, I finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2. Or, there about. There’s a huge great epilogue but I think I’ve had my fill on this one. Instead, I wanted to offer up some spoiler free thoughts on the game’s design, and also see what you all thought about this one!
Ride ‘Em Cowboy
Overall, I’m left pretty disappointed by the game - and that’s largely because it feels staggeringly dated in its core design.
A lot has happened in open world games ...
2018-11-07 14:11:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! On November 4th, 2014, I posted the first ever episode of Game Maker's Toolkit.
It was about adaptive soundtracks. I wanted to tweet about the cool musical trick in Skyward Sword's bazaar, and couldn't find an appropriate video on YouTube. So thought: why don't I just make one? The scope expanded a bit, and I made it into a fully fledged video essay, inspired by stuff like Every Frame a Painting.
Four years on, GMTK is now my full time job (thanks!) and has 100 unique videos...
2018-11-04 16:56:22 +0000 UTC View PostHello Patreon peoples! I’ve got a rapid fire selection of games to talk about this month, so without further ado let’s jump straight into it and get chatting.
ELOH
ELOH is the new mobile game from Broken Rules, who made Old Man’s Journey. This is a soothing, relaxing puzzle game about bouncing balls around a grid. What makes it so mindful is that everything in the game makes a sound and as you work towards finishing the level you’ll slowly build up to making a pl...
2018-10-31 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! Here’s what I’ve been up to since we last spoke.
Videos in review
Does Spidey's Web-Swinging 'Make You Feel Like Spider-Man'?
So this one is interesting, and I wasn’t really expecting the comments that I got!
The majority of the (negative) comments basically boiled ...
2018-10-29 20:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHello! A new video, this time looking at the level design in Mega Man 11. Went a bit nuts with some of the editing in this one - hope you like it!
2018-10-23 14:58:00 +0000 UTC View Post