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GMTK Insider (March 2018)
🕑 Added 2018-03-28 09:46:31 +0000 UTC Hey everyone. Hope everything’s going well.Looks like March will be a one episode month. Sorry about that - next video is underway but taking a bit longer than I wanted for lots of boring personal reasons. Luckily, the episode I did this month was a big one:
What makes a good puzzle?
So this was a really tricky video to make, as I really had very little understanding of what made good puzzles. It wasn’t something I could grasp intuitively, and there was very little information out there on the subject.
A lot of the advice you’ll read is vague and generalised, like “don’t use red herrings” or “keep it simple” or “teach the mechanics early”. But actual design theory is hard to come by.
So this one really involved getting stuck into various puzzle games, playing them until I hit a puzzle, and then figuring out what made it work. How was it set up? How did I try and solve it in the first place? (Recording my playthrough was important for getting an objective replay of what I tried). How many steps did it involve? And so on.
Scrapped thumbnail
One thing I was aware of before I started was the assumption. The Stephen’s Sausage Roll puzzle I show, where you can easily cook the sausages but that leaves you incapable of exiting the level, really struck me when I first played it. And then I would start to notice it in lots of other games - and also be cognisant of games that don’t feature the assumption, which often makes them very easy.
The revelation part largely came from the Jonathan Blow design philosophy video, where he talks about solving puzzles in Braid and The Witness as being like discovering something new about the universe.
And then the catch was just the outcome of looking at lots of puzzles and figuring out what makes them, well, puzzles!
Scrapped thumbnail number 2
I also spoke to various developers over Skype. This is something I’m doing more often (I talked to people for the Snake Pass and Rayman videos, too), to get more insider information. I find this tricky as I’m very shy and I’m uncomfortable asking people to give up their time for me. But I’m working on it!
What I’ve been playing
Not a lot! There’s a few indie games that I’ll talk about in the playlist. Though I did just start Far Cry 5. Which is... very familiar. The game feels so similar to Far Cry 4 that I’m getting a lot of deja vu. Taking out a camp full of people with a bow and some Molotov’s... yeah, I’ve done this before.
The game also has what I call the Prison Break Sona Problem. Okay, so I guess spoilers for a really old TV show. At the very end of Prison Break’s second season, our hero is sent to a Panamanian jail. And the teaser for this is terrifying! It’s dark, raining, prisoners are on the floor in the foetal position, there are massive fights in the yard. Woof, this is dark.
And then in Season 3... the prison is actually fine. It’s not too scary, it’s kinda nice and sunny actually, and the big midnight brawls have apparently subsided.
Anyway, the point is: the opening to Far Cry 5 is all about escaping into the woods from a crazy religious cult of murderers. It’s tense and scary. And then you get an assault rifle and actually it’s fine, you’re now the Uber predator who can take out the entire gang singlehandedly and nothing is remotely intimidating anymore.
Maybe I just miss Far Cry 2, which kept me on edge until the credits rolled...
I finished Yakuza 5. As I said in the previous newsletter, the constantly shifting protagonists, cities, stories, and gameplay types made it hard to get invested in any particular aspect of the game. The more focused Yakuza 6 sounds very promising, though.
I’ve also been playing a bunch of Fortnite on PS4 and PUBG on mobile. My buddy likes PUBG but doesn’t have a PC or an Xbox One so we’re stuck on iPad. But it’s fine: it’s nice to play in bed, and most people are incapable of moving, aiming, and firing on a touchscreen so I (with my awkward claw grip set-up) have the upper hand and have won a handful of games - often with 10 or more kills.
Other things I’ve been doing
Well, I’ve been looking at buying a house which is super stressful. No luck right now, and besides - I need to wait until next month when I can do my second year of self assessment tax and will then be well placed to secure a mortgage. This is all very weird to me.
I went to a cool exhibition in London, where they had lots of the models used in Wes Anderson’s new stop-motion animation Isle of Dogs. But weird as I haven’t seen the film yet, but still very cool. It’s still on until early April if you’re interested - just Google Isle of Dogs exhibition The Strand or something.
Speaking of films, I saw Black Panther which was fine. I’m pretty bored of Marvel movies but this one at least touched on some interesting themes of colonialism and slavery, and had wonderful African-style costume and set design that you don’t see very often.
I also saw The Square. This one’s by the director of the terrific Force Majeure and it’s a satirical, black comedy about... well, loads of things. Modern art, faux humanitarianism, the bystander effect. It’s almost like a screwy Coen brothers film at times, before bouncing off to some uncomfortable cringe comedy. I dunno, I liked it.
I caught a couple of the new Netflix films, too. Alex Garland’s Annihilation, which had some cool ideas but ultimately didn’t say much to me. And Duncan Jones’s Mute which was just nonsense. I dunno what’s going on with Netflix and movies - they can do amazing TV (caught up with Master of None while I was ill, which I really liked) but their films largely suck.
(Though I’d be remiss not to mention some their good ones: Okja, Gerald’s Game, The Meyerowitz Stories, 13th)
What’s next for me
I’m not too sure! I need to play some more games, as that’s where I get most of my ideas. I might do something on co-op games following A Way Out, but not sure what the angle would be beyond “here are some cool co-op games”.
I do want to get started on the mid-season Boss Keys special, too. I’m starting to get that itch. I’m also keen to do something on Yakuza, but at this point I should just play 6 and then go from there.
I also need to get back into streaming! I keep skipping it, as I know I shouldn’t stream if I’m not in the right head space, but I’m gonna try streaming some Far Cry 5 tonight. Wish me luck!
And finally, I’ve secured a couple talking gigs. I’m going to be doing a guest lecture in a London uni in May, and a keynote at a Dutch uni in July. I can also apply for Gamescom press accreditation at the end of next month.
Okay wow, I’m rambling like an idiot right now. So I’m gonna sign off. Playlist coming before the week is out, and then - all being well - new video will drop next week.
Comments
Aadit Doshi
If you are making a video on Co-Op games a cool approach would be "How to make players not feel like Player 2", about how Co-op games that originally start off as single player with tacked on Co-Op make the other players feel redundant.
Camui Kushi
Glad you went with that thumbnail. It put Snakebird at the front of my mind going in, and when you got to the explanation of level 10 I ended up pausing the video, buying the game and giving the level a crack before continuing the video. I really dig the game, so thanks for that!
Krit Petty
Agreed. I just played through Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time with my son and it was an awesome co-op that requires clear communication and strategy but is simple enough of a concept that it's accessible for an 8 year old too. I think a video like this would be remiss not to talk about large group coop such as a WoW or Destiny Raid. There are also passive coop games like Mario Odyssey, or even most campaign based coop (Halo, Gears of War, etc.) where the extra players basically just serve as extra firepower in the same sandbox. Could also talk about failed coop games that seem like they should work in theory like the assassin's creed games, but flounder the execution. Oh, and of course, to stay relevant, Sea of Thieves.
ThunderRazor
Actually the 'cool' co-op games might be a great idea to do next! Similarly to your Doom video on orthogonal design, I find orthogonal co op experiences to be the best. Meaning, the players have dramatically different rolls so they each contribute in their own unique way. Great examples for me are Rayman Legends and Affordable Space Adventure, both on Wii U. One player controls the character on screen while the other supports on the touch pad and you have to have nearly constant communication to keep it together. Some co-op games let you create this yourself; such as Contra III where one person will keep Flame to take out missiles and the other keeps laser to take out the boss. I just find that kind of co-op much more interesting than the common beat 'em up which most characters are almost identical.
Annihilation does seem to end on a rather, uh, blank note. Might be because Garland was trying to wrap up the story in his own way without relying on the books. Although it fits thematically, it's rather anticlimactic. But there are so many scenes which are just primal in their restrained intensity. It's nice to see a sci-fi horror movie that doesn't try to ape Alien again. It's just not on the level of other Netflix film failures, I feel. I'm also stunned how this movie doesn't get more attention for its female-centric cast. And hope next month goes better for you, Mark.
Calliope Rannis
Yay! :D Looking forward to that then!
Game Maker's Toolkit
I actually just figured out the angle for that co-op episode and wrote the first draft of a script so I guess you can expect that in April :P
Game Maker's Toolkit
That would be the NHTV in Breda
Hey Mark, I was wondering at what Dutch uni your giving a talk?
