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10 Game Design Lessons from 10 Years of GMTK

Hello Patrons

It's an unfortunate day for an anniversary, but here we are - I'll try to make the best of it.

Game Maker's Toolkit just turned 10 years old. So here are the ten biggest lessons I've learned from the last decade of learning about game design.

You can watch it on YouTube, or Nebula, or read it on Substack.

Hope everyone is safe and coping okay.

Mark

10 Game Design Lessons from 10 Years of GMTK

Comments

Oh my god, if you don’t want to be here you don’t have to. You’re trolling a Patreon page because someone asked why someone else's political opinions are being projected onto everyone else. No one is forcing you to be here, and nobody is saying declaration is the same thing as an implication 🙄

cptnoremac

Oh my god, if you don’t want to be here you don’t have to. You’re trolling a Patreon page because someone said they were sad about the election. No one is forcing you to be here, and nobody is saying everyone agrees 🙄

Jake Brabec

It's not worded as a personal expression. It's worded like "Well, OBVIOUSLY, this is objectively bad news and we all agree on that," like it was the pandemic again.

cptnoremac

Or he's just a person expressing himself, and he doesn't need to sanitize everything he says to make it appeal to every reader.

Derek Atkinson

We do have a playtesting channel, yeah - if you're part of the community, others will happily provide feedback

Game Maker's Toolkit

Oh, good, someone with no original thought who just adopts the de facto politics of the internet has weighed in with something they read on Facebook.

cptnoremac

Nah, he's def saying that it's a sad day because fascism won lol it's really not that complicated. The only people that would be happy the racist orange has won would be racist and pro-fascism people alike, so....

Jan 'Intervención' Raventós

I would interpret it this way: the results of an election come in so no matter who wins one side will feel sad, because of this it is an unfortunate date to have an anniversary.

Fran

is GMTK discord a good place for getting playtesting feedback as I build my game?

Alastair Jack

Congratulations on the anniversary. I really enjoying your videos, your style and analyses of GameDesign, since almost day one. Some comments about your video: "Lesson 5" feels in odds with "Lesson 1". When the Game Mechanics are designed to be difficult, then changing them to be easier, would change the feel of the game. Dark Souls on easy would be a different game to playing it on normal. In my opinion there is no bigger sin, then front loading a player with difficult options, which they have no context for. Giving them a warning, simply doesn't cut it, because many people will ignore it ( You know: users). You pretty much asking a person to balance a game for them, which you explain in "Lesson 9", is already hard for the designer themself (To be clear, i talk about difficult options and not accessibility options). "Easy Mode" is the better solution, since it gives the developer a chance to build the experience to stay as close as possible to the attend. But "Lesson 4" is properly the best to have build in options to help player without taking them out of the experience. "Lesson 9" regarding Portal. I find Portal 1 and Portal 2 to be an amazing example, if you take play-testing to far. I listen to both commentary (best feature ever by the way) and it stands out, how the developers over analyze the play-test of Portal 2. So that many room are reduced in complexity, because they had some road-blocks. Portal 2 just feels much more restricted and open for mistake, in comparison to Portal 1. Maybe it is build for a more casual audience to reach a larger demographic (as seen in "Lesson 2"), but it is unsatisfactory for a sequel. "Lesson 8" reminds of writing stories, where sometimes the characters and the world can take over your writing and you have to follow the flow.

Björn Apel

Happy anniversary Mark!! Congrats on making it so far, your work is incredibly inspiring and helps the world in a better direction, no matter where some other lunatic wants to go. Keep it going, can't wait for the release of your first game veeeeery soon ⭐⭐⭐

Théo

So he's just assuming all of us agree with his personal ideologies?

cptnoremac

Congrats on the anniversary! Your content always brightens my day.

Jake Brabec

Congratulations on the anniversary, Mark! GMTK has been a great source of inspiration and joy over the years. And for everyone reading this, I hope you can all find ways to feel happy and cared for in spite of the circunstances.

Matheus Rocha

Mark, your work has been a light and these past few years - thanks for all you do. I'm glad you posted this today as it's giving me something to look forward to.

jt

Politics.

Elliot

Excuse me, why exactly is it an unfortunate day for an anniversary?

cptnoremac


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