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GMTK Insider (April 2018) / New Video!
🕑 Added 2018-04-25 16:00:02 +0000 UTC Hello everybody!I’m going to start this newsletter with more of a personal update. And then we’ll get to the video stuff.
So, Game Maker’s Toolkit is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m so immensely proud of what I’ve achieved, and have enjoyed almost every minute working on it. I’ve had so many successes, from hitting 400k subscribers, to making YouTube my full time job (thanks!), to getting awards, and being invited to perform talks and guest lectures.
But I also have to recognise that I’ve sacrificed other things in my life to make this all possible. When I was working at Pocket Gamer, I used every evening and weekend I could to make videos on the side. And even when I went full time, I was still overworking. I let other things slip, and put my real life on hold while I binged on my career. It wasn’t healthy, and it took me a while to admit that.
So at the start of 2018, I vowed to change things. I needed to get my own house. I need to learn how to drive and get a car. And I wanted to start looking for someone to be in a relationship with. Three life-changing goals. Run of the mill things for most people, I know, but important to me...
Well, it’s only April but things are going pretty bloody well.
I’m writing this newsletter from the sunny office in my new house. I’m renting right now (I looked into buying, but mortgages can be a pain when you’re self employed), but it was the right move in retrospect. I went from viewing the house to holding the keys in about two weeks, which suited me well.
And so I’ve been buying (and building) IKEA furniture, generally learning how to be a functioning adult, and setting up the GMTK headquarters.
It’s awesome to have a dedicated space for work. I now have a great set-up with my Mac and PC right next to each other, which is perfect for capturing footage, or streaming. I’m working on making a new audio booth, and need lots more storage space for games, consoles, VR headsets, and the like.
I’ll get some pics when it’s all set up. Right now it’s all messy cables and empty IKEA boxes.
I’m also madly in love with a woman, who I’ve been seeing this year. It’s been the best relationship of my life, and we’ve become very close, very fast. She’s also been reinventing herself, in a way, and so we’ve been supporting each other’s personal growth. All this change in my life would have been impossibly scary, but it’s just so easy (and fun!) with her by my side.
And then I’ll figure out the driving a little later in the year. I think I deserve a break from big changes. Plus, I need to focus more time on the YouTube channel! I know I’ve been a bit quiet and a bit slow, but hopefully you’ll know why now. As things settle down, I’ll be back in my usual groove.
So long story short: I worked incredibly hard on GMTK, but let some parts of my life suffer. Right now I’m working on fixing that, and I appreciate your patience and support while I do. In due course, everything will balance back out.
Okay! Now on to the real stuff.
As someone who plays a lot of games for work, I’ve often thought about why some games hold my attention better than others. I’ve found some games almost impossible to put down, while others - games I’ve been enjoying - just kinda fizzle out and end up on that infamous pile of shame.
So it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot, and wanted to sum up a bunch of different thoughts on things like pacing, foreshadowing, difficulty flow, and the like. And I’ve long wanted to talk about Uncharted 2’s wonderful movie-like pacing.
The most important thing, however, was to separate good design from the nasty psychological tricks that we seen in lots of mobile games. I only want to advocate for design practices that I think are healthy and responsible, and I’m trying to use my platform to make gaming a better place. That’s something I’ll be doing more as time goes on.
There’s lot of stuff in games that I’m not happy about. Representation. A focus on violence and combat. Toxic communities. Lootboxes and designing for addiction. I’m probably not going to make full episodes on these things (maybe the combat one…) but I will be fighting for the things I believe in. Regardless of how the comments turn out!
The World Design of Dark Souls
I really, really enjoyed making this one. It’s been one of my favourite videos to produce so far.
So, if you haven’t played it, Dark Souls 1 has a world that’s pretty close to a Metroid map or a giant Zelda dungeon. Lots of branching paths, backtracking, interconnected pathways, and secret zones. It’s pretty darn neat, and presents a huge opportunity for discussion.
Like, what are the advantages of making this sort of non-linear world. But also, what are the design challenges - and how did From Software approach them?
It was also fun to make the graphs, maps, and other images. Dark Souls is a complex game with lots of opportunities for sequence breaking and whatnot, so I had to be especially careful to get all this stuff right. Thanks to Charlie from The Gaming Brit for looking over my charts and pointing out some errors I’d made.
I’m writing this before the video is out public to the wider world, so we’ll see what people actually think I guess. But I’m pleased with how it turned out.
What’s next?
So I still want to do that cooperative design video. That’s a big topic that deserves a proper investigation. Beyond that, though, I’m really not sure! I’ve got trillions of ideas, and people put in requests every day, so I’m not worried about finding a topic. I’m just gonna let my mind wander for a while and see what idea I latch onto next.
I guess the main issue is that I normally use the game I’m currently playing to help generate ideas, but I’ve been too busy to play a lot of games lately! I’ve basically just been playing PUBG on mobile while I chat with friends, and some Yakuza 6.
I definitely need to get on that new God of War. Everyone’s going crazy for it. And I’m gonna be playing some indie stuff this week for the playlist. Like I said earlier, I just need to get back into the groove of things.
I’ve got some events and stuff coming up. I think I talked about the London and Amsterdam talks last time. I’ve also just put in my press accreditation for Gamescom, so I may see some of you in Cologne, which would be awesome!
But right now, I’m very much living in the moment and enjoying the best year of my life.
I would not be here without all of you. You’re an incredible group of people for helping some random dude in England follow his dreams. Thank you, so much, for your support. I hope to keep making it worthwhile. Normal service should be starting to resume, but your ongoing patience is massively appreciated.
See you around!
Mark
Comments
Ben Byford
Love the work, and your soothing voice as always Mark. More videos generally would be good but if your looking for ideas then other big topics (which I cant really remember if you've covered or not) might be: coach co-op (lots to say there); games and the breadth of genre, lengths, types etc (from tiny puzzle games to massive sprawling RPGs); card games, or computer game board games (very tready right now) - this leads into collecting as a thing; blockchain and new tech in games; (somewhat leading on from your video on peripherals) over digital games interactions - see line wobbler for example...... mmmm probably could think of more but will stop :)
Ian Danskin
Mark, you must realize that saying "I wanted to get in a relationship" in a post that has an image with the word ENGAGED in big, bold letters was going to throw a few people for a loop until they read thoroughly. In all seriousness, tho, congrats!
Yay! +1 for finding a balance. Keep doing inspiring work
hey there Mark. I'm very happy for you, it's awesome to hear things are going well. Keep it up, and just do whatever makes you the happiest, we'll be here to support it.
Tom Smith
Great video, Mark! I just finished Bloodborne (my first "Souls" game) and loved it. However, it was actually my second time playing. The first attempt, I defeated Vicar Amelia but then never found the path to the Bergenwyrth. Due to the games non-linear nature and obtuse storytelling, I didn't know what I was looking for or even what direction I should be heading. That's the one downside to this sort of level design - if you get stuck, there's often no good in-game option to help you advance. I've had this problem with Metroid Prime as well. I like Zelda's solution: including a single character who will reliably give you a simple clue at any point in the game should you ever get lost. Anyway, I'm very excited to play Dark Souls for the first time on Switch later this year, and looking forward to more "Boss Keys"!
Awww, it's really interesting to read about your personal/current life! I hope you will be happy and we'll all stand here behind you, supporting you whatever you do – so keep dreaming big, you beautiful, british nerd! :')
Matt Hauke
Awesome to hear, Mark. Love the video on Dark Souls! I had such a blast playing it for the first time last year, so I'm definitely going to purchase the remastered for the switch. I was thinking, I love the graphic representations for the Zelda dungeons and wondered if the same could be applied to the Dark Souls one? I've seen that 3D one you featured too but wonder if it could be a bit prettier, at least for a poster/tshirt. The Zelda one's are pretty cool and I think with a bit of work could be posterable! If that's ever something you've thought about I'd be happy to help (I am a graphic designer, not just an eager bloke).
What a great update to read. Good for you man.
Michael Forrest
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It's fantastic that you're trying to bring more balance into your life. I want folks to be able to be happy and do what they love. Also, honestly, it doesn't make me feel good to benefit from work that breaks people down and denies them dignity.
Alfredo MR
Hurray for love, hurray for personal growth, hurray for good quality content over quantity.
Mathew Dyason
This was so lovely to read! I'm so glad and proud of you for taking a step back to focus on your life and make some huge goals. Being in love is the greatest thing in the world.
Felipe Dal Molin
Hey Mark, I'm so glad things are getting in balance for you :) I look forward to watching the video on how games focus too much on combat and violence. I think it's a pretty tricky issue that has traditional game design and tension at its core. You need tension for something to be "gamey", but there's not a lot of vocabulary on tension ludemes, from an action-oriented gameplay standpoint, other than "kill or be killed". If you're interested, I wrote something on the matter from a GD perspective: <a href="https://medium.com/@lipedal/steep-watch-dogs-2-and-the-gta-with-no-guns-c6eae1f4e3c4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://medium.com/@lipedal/steep-watch-dogs-2-and-the-gta-with-no-guns-c6eae1f4e3c4</a>
Cesar Palafox
Hey Mark, as always it's great learning about a new video coming up or what kind of projects you've been working on, but hearing about all the life improvements and how happy you currently are is awesome!. Glad to know you are doing really well mate!
Jakub Pander
Glad to hear you are approaching everything in a healthy manner. I am certain it (life goals apparat from career) will make GMTK even better! Congratulations and good luck!
You deserve to spend some time to do things for you. It's a strenght to have the honesty to do that :) Thanks for all your incredible work. Can't wait to see more of your videos and articles !
Lucien Hoare
Great update! Glad everything is going splendidly! I’ll have to skip this one too until I’ve played it on the Switch.
Josh Foreman
Great news! Congrats on everything! It took me till my mid-30s to actually analyse the distribution of my time and tweak it appropriately. So good job getting there sooner!
Keep it up man! love your video's! I would love to know which francise you're doing next for boss keys to, so I can play it myself before seeing any spoilers...
Thanks for sharing your personal story. Keep your chin up and your shoulders back!
JackMagic
Glad to know things are looking up for you. Unfortunately I won't be viewing the video on Dark Souls just yet. I'm going to get the remaster on Switch in the summer and that will be my first proper dive into the game and I want to experience everything fresh. I'll be sure to check out the video right when the end credits roll.
s9menine
Congrats and keep it up! <3
Game Maker's Toolkit
Nope, just dark souls 1
The dark souls video contain spoilers to the third game? Also, love your channel.
Man, I'm sooo glad for you! Keep it up!
This post is so missing a graph... :)
Game Maker's Toolkit
It's not, sadly. It's just for the class at UAL, sorry!
Hey Mark, you mentioned in the last Insider that your London talk is for a university. Just wondering if this is something that's open to the public to attend?
Aadit Doshi
I've been putting off driving for a while now too! You've motivated me to start on that too!
Hey! I'm really happy for you! <3
Jon Cordeiro
Glad things are going well for you Mark! Keep up the great work and take all the time you need 👍
