Hey there! I am knee deep in game development right now, trying to get this darn game finished. But I still found some time to watch great YouTube videos and read fascinating game design and development articles. Here are 30+ I reckon you’ll like.
Design
[Read] What might the ultimate character creator look like?...
2024-02-23 08:05:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
Yesterday I released a new episode in my GMTK Mini series - which is a series I’ve really been enjoying making. These are short and scrappy videos that I can make in a day or two - designed so that I can comment on timely events in the game design discourse.
The idea came around when God of War Ragnarok came out, and people were talking about how the NPC companions spoiled the puzzles. I wanted to talk about this and share my own view - but I didn’t really know ho...
2024-02-02 10:33:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
I'm hard at work on Mind Over Magnet right now, so GMTK is taking a back seat. But I was inspired to make a super quick video on Spec Ops: The Line, to mark its removal from online storefronts. I wanted to explain why this game was important, and outline the context surrounding its release.
I quite enjoy doing these GMTK Minis - they take a day or two to make, and let me comment on timely and newsworthy stuff in the realm of games and game design...
2024-02-01 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
For your bonus video this month, I've returned to the fun vlog-style videos to talk about retiring as a YouTuber.
This month saw a number of high profile YouTube creators announcing that they were going to quit or retire - most notably Tom Scott and MatPat (of Game Theory fame).
As a YouTuber myself, it was interested to hear them explain why they're moving on. Because I've certainly thought about these things and have worked hard to make sure they're no...
2024-01-30 12:42:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy new year! It’s probably a bit late to say that - but hey, it’s the first reading list of 2024.
As always, this is a carefully curated list of articles, videos, podcasts, and more - all stuff that I recommend you check out. And it’s exclusively for people who back GMTK and help support me in my mission to make free, high quality game design information.
This month I’ve got stuff on that excellent new Prince of Persia Metroidvania, some leftover articles about last yea...
2024-01-23 09:06:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I got into a bit of a Mario kick over the Xmas break - I finished Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, and some of the New Super Mario Bros. games. And I realised that they were all doing slightly different takes on the same idea - giving players the tools to decide just how hard or easy they want the game to be.
So I kept going and played every mainline Mario game since 1985 - 30-odd games, in total! All to see how Nintendo has explored this concept in its 2D and 3D ...
2024-01-18 11:20:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! It’s Mark here with my annual “year in review” post, where I look back at my last 12 months of work to figure out what happened, and what I can learn for the next year.
Channel Stats
Let’s start with the big overview stats. I’m going to compare this year’s performance to the previous five years.
Subscribers first. GMTK received an additional...
2023-12-30 08:32:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I am cutting it close this year. I like to take a big break for Xmas but in 2023... I've ended up working on videos right up until December 22nd. But it's done!
As always, my final video is a look at the "most innovative" game of the year. It's always interesting to see the games that people guess will be in the video - this time, absolutely no one guessed right! I'll soon find out if that's a good thing or not.
Apologies for the lack of early access on this o...
2023-12-22 16:08:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! I’m winding down for Christmas and New Year celebrations. And what better way to kick back and relax than with a hand-picked collection of excellent articles and videos?
Thanks for your support in 2023. If you’ve been subscribed all year, then you have been recommended over 350 articles and videos! Here’s another 35 to peruse - and here’s to another year of excellent writing on game design, development, history, and culture.
Mark
The Design of Games 2023-12-15 09:13:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
It’s that time of year again. Time to look at this year’s massive crop of new games, and pick out my 10 favourites. As always, I can’t play every game that comes out, so there may be a few things missing. And this is just my personal opinion.
Hope you dig it! Let’s jump in. As always, you can watch this as a video above, or read it as an article below.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
2023-12-14 16:08:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hey Patrons! I’m back with another devlog.
So you hopefully caught the last episode of Developing. A quick catchup: I had made a rough draft of the entire game. And now I’m going through it, world by world, and polishing everything up to completion.
In the video I showed what I did for world 1: level design, art pass, sound effects, UI, and meta-level systems like progression saving and a hint ...
2023-12-13 08:07:24 +0000 UTC View Post
In this episode, I take the rough draft developing in the previous episode, and add bucket loads of polish.
You can watch it on YouTube or Nebula - or read it on 2023-12-07 19:04:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
I'm still going strong with Mind Over Magnet. So here's a new episode of Developing to show off what I've been working on. Graphics, sounds, cutscenes, UI, and polish!
Patreon and Nebula versions will be uploaded tomorrow (but this YouTube version is ad free until then, anyway!). I'll also give out the link for the latest demo build and a form for any composers watching who want to get in touch.
Thanks - speak soon
Mark
2023-12-06 14:47:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey GMTK Patrons
I'm busy busy busy with game dev at the mo, so here's a quick bonus video. Let's go through the game awards and pick my favourite games in each category.
Thanks so much
Mark
2023-11-30 08:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons! Me again, with the second Mind Over Magnet update post.
In the last post I showed the game’s new options menu and UI. There was some great feedback in the Patreon comments which I’ve implemented. And I also just spent a lot of time testing that it all works properly. Hours and hours of pressing buttons and doing stuff in a weird order to try and find bugs and awkward interactions.
The next thing I wanted to improve was the pause screen.
So I really like this...
2023-11-28 08:25:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all! Welcome back to the Reading List.
I’m calling this one ‘the bummer list’ - it’s hard not to notice that while 2023 has delivered some incredible games, it has come at the frankly unsustainable cost of game developers (and members of the media). With so many layoffs and company closures, it makes you wonder how this industry will stay afloat in the future.
Read all about it - and lots of other, much more fun stuff - below.
Mark
The Design of Gam...
2023-11-24 08:31:29 +0000 UTC View PostHello Patrons!
As discussed before, I'm currently focusing my time and effort on game development. But one way that I can reward you for continuing to support GMTK on Patreon is to provide some devlogs, updating you on what I've been up to.
So on Tuesday (Nov 14th), I released the new episode of Developing on YouTube. And then on Wednesday I got started on some important stuff from... The Plan!
Right now a new build is with a bunch of playtesters, so I can't change any level...
2023-11-20 07:38:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
Thanks to all who have stuck around after yesterday's post. I really appreciate your support and patience.
Episode 11 is here! Watch it ad free above, or on YouTube, or on Nebula.
In the episode I figure out a way to finish my game - by setting a schedule, the scope, and a plan. I al...
2023-11-14 16:10:42 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons!
As discussed in that recent episode - Developing is back, and I'm not stopping until this game is done! You can watch the next episode on Patreon above, or on YouTube here. Will be on Nebula tomorrow.
You can also add the game to your Steam wishlist here!
2023-11-13 16:43:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
If you’re on the $5 tier, you’ll soon have early access to the new episode of Developing. Everyone else will get it tomorrow. In this one I discuss my plan to finish the game, some level design wins, the final name of the game, and a behind the scenes look at getting the game on Steam!
But I also talk about something else… a plan to change the GMTK schedule a little, going forward.
I mention this briefly in the video, but as it affects you - the Patr...
2023-11-13 15:39:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons! For your bonus video this month... a tier list, all about Mario. Let's talk plumbers, turtles, pipes, and coins.
2023-10-31 11:20:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Yo, yo, yo. Mark here with your reading list for October.
I’ve got stuff on this month’s big games: Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Super Mario Wonder. (We’ll have to wait a bit for Alan Wake 2 critiques). But also videos and articles about all sorts of design and development topics I think you’ll dig.
Enjoy!
Oh yeah - Patreon now has a handy "Collections" system, so you can find every Reading List - going all the way back to 2016 - 2023-10-27 09:43:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey GMTK Patrons!
I'm still working on game dev currently, but wanted to take a moment to shout out another Weekender pick. This, if you don't know, is my new series where I recommend innovative and short indie titles.
This time: Mosa Lina. Check out the video to learn more. As before, the video above is the ad free version for Patrons. But you can also watch on YouTube and 2023-10-23 16:21:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I am still working hard on Untitled Magnet Game. Mostly level design and playtesting as I move towards the final version. I'll have a new episode of Developing... at some point before Christmas.
In the mean time, here's another video I made back in September to keep the YouTube channel ticking along in my stead: a short look at the Ultrahand mechanic in Tears of the Kingdom, and how Nintendo made it.
You can watch it above, natively on Patreon, completel...
2023-10-17 14:01:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey! I'm hard at work on game development this month, but I've actually got two videos up my sleeve to keep the channel alive throughout October. Here's the first: a Boss Keys breakdown of the Banjo-Kazooie games on N64.
You can watch it on YouTube or Nebula, or read the script on 2023-10-04 14:57:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
Throughout October I'll be working exclusively on my Magnet game, with the aim of bringing it to a close in the next few months. But that doesn't mean no GMTK videos!
I actually worked super hard in September to make four videos - the 2D camera one, the Chants of Senaar one, and two more... which are to be released in October.
Here's the first: a bumper Boss Keys episode on the Banjo Kazooie duo on N64. Hope you dig it! It will go out to the world later this wee...
2023-10-03 08:34:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
For your bonus video this month, let's talk about my experiences doing video game consulting. Hopefully I won't end up in awful legal trouble for talking about this stuff!
Mark
2023-09-29 15:03:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all!
September was the month of exploring space (turns out it's mostly just procedurally generated deserts), getting mad at Unity, and seeing how many remakes Nintendo could fit into a single announcement.
Here's a bunch of articles and videos I enjoyed this month.
It's Full of Stars
[Watch | CC | 9 mins] The Bethesda Intro Problem Is Getting Wo...
2023-09-28 15:12:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Thanks to tireless campaigning from across the game development scene, Unity has massively backpedaled on its controversial new pricing model.
The new version (read it here) fixes the main issues with the original announcement:
The threshold has been increased to only impact games that see at least one million downloads and $1 million revenue (from the last 12 months), so truly only the most successful games...
2023-09-25 05:12:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons!
It's a shame that I only really get a chance to recommend cool indie games at the very end of the year, in my annual "Most Innovative Game" video. So I want to fix that.
This is a new series called Weekender where, every now and again, I'll shout out a new indie game that's fun, inventive, and can be finished in a weekend.
The first game is the excellent Chants of Sennaar, a puzzle game about deciphering language.
Thanks!
Next video is a new en...
2023-09-21 15:39:38 +0000 UTC View Post