GameMakersToolkit posts
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Reading List (February 2024)
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 crea...
Making a Mini
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 Go...
GMTK Mini: Why Spec Ops: The Line Mattered
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 r...
Bonus Video - Why I'm Not Retiring as a YouTuber
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...
Reading List (January 2024)
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 ...
New Episode - Super Mario's Invisible Difficulty Settings
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 ...
GMTK Year in Review for 2023
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 StatsLet’s start with the big overview stats. I’m going to compare this year’s performance to the previou...
This Year's Most Innovative Game is...
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 ...
Reading List (December 2023)
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 an...
Bonus Video: Game of the Year 2023
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 a...
Mind Over Magnet Devlog - December 13
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: le...
How I made my game look GORGEOUS
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 Substack.As a GMTK Patron, you can play the World One demo here. If you'd like to share feedback or bug reports, please join in the GMT...
24 hour sneak peek - Developing Episode 12
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...
Bonus Video - Voting for The Game Awards
Hey GMTK PatronsI'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 muchMark
Mind Over Magnet Devlog - November 28th
Hey 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 ...
Reading List (November 2023)
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 closur...
Mind Over Magnet Devlog - November 20th
Hello 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 ...
Developing 11 - The one thing you need to finish your game
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 also...
Early Access - Developing Episode 11
Hey 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!
I need a favour...
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 Stea...
Super Mario Tier List (Bonus Video)
Hey Patrons! For your bonus video this month... a tier list, all about Mario. Let's talk plumbers, turtles, pipes, and coins.
Reading List (October 2023)
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 topic...
A puzzle game where your tools are completely random
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 vid...
How Nintendo Designed Ultrahand
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 ...
The World Design of Banjo-Kazooie
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 Substac...
Early Access - The World Design of Banjo-Kazooie
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 t...
Let's Talk About... Game Consulting
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
Reading List (September 2023)
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[Wa...
The Unity update
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 on...
A puzzle game where you decipher languages
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&...
