#game makers toolkit

[croverload]

I did it. My entry for the Game Maker's Toolkit Game Jam is done and submitted.

You are a Scrunglenaught. A weak minion in the excruciatingly popular GRIMOIRE: The Redemption Trading Card Game (TM). Help lead your player to victory against a bitter rival!

I'd really appreciate it if you could check it out and give it a rating.

I sleep now.

[spewagepipe]

I used to think that I was the only person who cared about this particular topic, and then Mark Brown blessed me with this video. My contention is this: information should either be totally hidden, or it should be totally transparent and readily available. Any design that relies on info simply being "hard to calculate" or "hard to remember" is just asking for frustrated players to crack out their phones to assist.

[ijsthee]

hearing totk's release being referred to as ''later this week'' has me AAAAAAA

[thefluxqueen]

i love watchin a video essay n recognizing the voice of a different youtuber like fancy seein u here :)

[videogametako]

steam next fest jun 2024: mind over magnet

the gmtk magnet game. link here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2685900/Mind_Over_Magnet/

i didn't expect this one to be so short, i finished it in 15 minutes. give it a shot, it's cute

beautiful

overview

mind over magnet is a puzzle platformer where you play as a robot trying to get out of a factory. you're accompanied by a magnet pal, magnus

gameplay

not much for me to say, it's neat. magnets. the puzzles are alright, too. it's consistent, that's for sure. they're pretty intuitive and not that difficult, can figure them out after a bit of fooling around in the level

the main thing for this game is gonna be you using magnus to ride up the magnet fields. apparently in the full game there'll be different magnet pals too, so that's cool

closing thoughts

i honestly just gave this game a try because i enjoy gmtk's content. it's super barebones as a demo, and i think given how short it is anyone could give it a try without really committing much time to it

here's the youtube playlist, i find they're nice to watch over meals, and it's cool to see the iterations the game took (one of the earlier versions leaned a bit into physics platforming along with the puzzles) as well as the reasoning behind mark's decisions for the final product

if you like gmtk or magnets, give the demo a try

[blizzard-nightlamps]

bad silly gun idea for the game: the gun shoots you (i.e. teleports you to the first raycast intersection). it is also full-auto rapid-fire.

this will be very jank and unbalancia

okay first of all balance is like the LAST thing on my mind right now so this is definitely Not a bad idea - ive been considering something along these lines for an upgrade already. i think it could potentially be even more fun if it did something interesting with momentum, maybe alongside the teleport. it might just be me but i believe momentum-based movement mechanics tend to be more satisfying to use than purely position-altering mechanics

thank you very much for the feedback though i really really appreciate it!! ive put a good chunk of time into this project and im glad someone digs what im doing :)))

[lauferisms]

Why Capcom is the King of Remakes

[gazorninplat]

I've been using the Marginalia.nu search tool and, man, it's just what I needed right now. I've started to become a little jaded by the current internet, and after telling my twitter account to go fuck itself, I've been trying to find the spark of wonder that this infinite network of cables once brought to me.

and I just struck gold, fuck me. I found a whole-ass essay about the puzzle structure of Ocarina of Time, with hand-drawn diagrams and everything. The dude mapped out the item dependency of the entire fucking game! Nowadays that would be a NordVPN-sponsored 3-hour video essay on youtube (and nothing wrong with those, I love 'em), but for 2004, this was quite a nerdcore effort. Downright "monk-copying-a-bible" shit. It's so thoughtfully written, I want to do this kind of stuff all the time.

so yeah, thank GOD for the Swedish dude who coded Marginalia. It's really helping to make the Internet feel cool again, which I think is sorely needed. Shame about the dead links on the essay, though, but for now I can enjoy the type of niche geekery that makes me giddy on the inside.

[datura-tea]

fallout video essays

i watch too many of these lmao

fallout 3 is garbage, and here's why - hbomberguy

fallout: new vegas is genius, and here's why - hbomberguy

anatomy of a side quest: beyond the beef - game maker's toolkit

the openings of fallout 3 and new vegas - joseph anderson

fallout 4 analysis - joseph anderson

fallout 4 - one year later - joseph anderson

joseph anderson vs fallout 76 - joseph anderson

OG fallout was bleak - tks-mantis

bethesda never understood fallout - shamus young

why fallout isn't fallout - 20th anniversary analysis | interplay vs. bethesda's fallout - indigo gaming

van buren: inside the cancelled fallout 3 - luck stat

please feel free to add your favorites!

[ponett]

If you ever make a Mac port of SLARPG I will acquire one of those huge mining trucks and fill it with praise then deliver it to your house it doesn’t work on Crossover or the Game Porting Toolkit for some reason

it's currently impossible for me to do a mac port because 1) rpg maker vx ace has never supported mac exports and 2) because it's a 32-bit application, and apple (in their endless wisdom) ended all support for 32-bit apps a few years back, meaning that even if you use the wine conversion options that USED to work your computer will just refuse to launch the game. (unless your mac somehow hasn't been updated in three years, or you have a years-old OS installed via parallels, i guess)

given these roadblocks, please don't wait up for a mac port. you'd be better off just trying to borrow a windows laptop from someone or something like that

[deirdreskye]

can i shoot my watery loads into you as a game makers toolkit video plays in the background it's gonna be very loud because i'm hard of hearing and my watery loads are like battery acid

[carpedzem]

I like to watch a lot of YouTubers that have no convection to Minecraft at all and I feel like it's helping me stay normal lol because as lovely as Dream is himself there is still so much stupid toxic bulshit and drama that surrounds him just because people love to hate him, that it's pretty depressing to be his fan sometimes.

So here are some popular YouTubers that don't even know who Dream is or don't care to keep your sanity intact:

- Dan and Phil on their gaming channel (ofc)

-offline tv (they seem to not care about Dream drama at all or they don't know about it as far as know)

- vlog brothers (og YouTubers, have lovely community, old but cool)

-Molly Burke (vlogging, fashion and things like that, a blind YouTuber)

-Game grumps (I mainly watch The Grumps channel. Extremely funny)

-Game Makers Toolkit (video essays about video games and how they work, really interesting and well made)

@ anon

thank you so much for those recommendations 🫶

[bellshazes]

my first two jobs ever, in order, were "board game teacher" and "university library assistant," so tho I've never formally studied games (I have been dropping out of college on and off since 2015, and was a freshman in 2012 lmao) I've been casually exposed to games and the people who make and play them in a professional context, as well as having the research skills to help close the gaps. i actually kind of hate playing board games but i loved GM-ing the coop arkham horror and watching my players, which i did for seven years straight.

my current fixation is the result of several years' fucking around on YT watching all kinds of game content, from LPs to specific game dissection to video essayists. jacob geller and folding ideas are kind of gold standards, but this week I've been really enjoying errant signals in particular. Sometimes I'm introduced to concepts this way - ludonarrative dissonance, ergodic literature, the magic circle, etc. that, and getting recommendations from friends or accidentally stumbling into game studies via other research (such as the paper i wrote a few years ago on theater-as-games in prison contexts). most of it though is having thoughts and opinions on things and letting it percolate until i am dangerous enough to find someone who's already explained a concept better than I could, and then running with that. find something that cites its sources, and then chase the ones that seem interesting.

my syllabus post is very much not a reclist, though i do in varying ways recommend everything on that list and it might be of use. here's some stuff I think would be great starting points:

Rules of Play - Game Design Fundamentals, Salen and Zimmerman. This book is an excellent resource, as it introduces a wide variety of scholars who you can dive into as it is relevant to your interests as well as providing tons of useful frameworks and vocabulary to go hunting. It's an easy read with concise bullet-point summaries after each chapter, and the PDF is hyperlinked for easy navigation. I might have found this via Wikipedia, honestly.

A Play of Bodies: A Phenomenology of Video Game Experience, Keogh. What I'm currently liveblogging - it is firmly a literary/philosophical work, rather than by/for designers, and correspondingly it's a little more difficult without at least passing familiarity with cyborg theory or any brand or offshoot of post-modernism, but still fairly digestible and a great read so far.

My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, Nardi. Found this during my theater-and-games paper, and MMO anthropology is not really my thing, but it's a nice complement to the other books as an explicitly player-theorist perspective. Also provides a more approachable introduction to a variety of theorists and sources. (Open access on JSTOR!)

Draw Your Weapons, Sarah Sentilles. I'm biased because I discovered this book by accidentally attending an author event at my local museum, and the games portion is incidental, but if you can find it I think this analysis of the relationship between depictions of violence and violence itself is worth your time. Memorable re: games for its discussion of Press F To Pay Respects.

here are some videos which I offer as examples of channels you might enjoy diving into, looking for additional jumping-off points:

Playing as Anyone in Watch Dogs Legion, Errant Signal. I really appreciate Errant Signal's thoughtful, personal approach to analysis and especially his highlighting of buried gems in his Blips series as well as his non-self-deprecating reevaluation of some of his older analyses over his decade plus career making videos.

Controllers Control Everything, Game Makers Toolkit. Discovered via the Boss Keys series highlighting the souls games, and although I think his channel is (increasingly) geared toward devs, these are well-constructed, thoughtful videos about many aspects of game design. Even when I don't personally get what makes him enjoy Zelda dungeons in that specific way (I'm an outlier), I appreciate his analysis.

Mega Microvideos 2, Matthewmatosis. Perhaps better known for his extremely long-form essays, I love Matthewmatosis' series of microessays framed like Wario Ware minigames. They are brief but don't pull punches, and the format is uniquely delightful. (See also this microessay mixtape.)

Making Sense of Catherine Full Body, SuperButterBuns. She doesn't do much essay content, I guess, but I she loves Catherine and the Persona series, and this dissection of Catherine Full Body is an absolute treat.

Jon Bois. Okay, mostly not about games, but like - come on. 17776 and Breaking Madden, alongside everything else he's ever done, fit because I feel like they do. If nothing else, I think Pretty Good and his general use of Google Earth as a medium for storytelling have a lot of utility in talking about digital media. He's good for the soul.

The Future of Writing About Games, Jacob Geller. One of the gold standards for a reason - and especially if you're looking for further solid recommendations for other writing/creating about games. This video in particular discusses & links to some really great pieces, but his Big List of Other People's Video Essays is also a great way to spend the next month of your life. (You might notice some crossover between this list and his, only some of which is coincidental.)

if i have any conclusion, it's that my current fixation on digital literalism is me finally finding an outlet/academic match-up with a fascination i developed in 2015 when studying gonzo lit. i think the utility of academia and the long history of scholarship on a given topic, as a non-academic, is to help you express ideas or reinterpret beliefs or experiences you've had to others without having to reinvent the wheel. i always become most energized when i stop worrying about knowing all the bg and chase whatever is useful and affirming or enlightening to me. and you can get pretty far if you think about why you like what you do, and just - enthusiastically also consume non-academic stuff. maybe this is a note more for myself! but thank you for the opportunity to monologue.

[19thperson]

19th's June 2024 Steam Next Fest Impressions - Day 4

Day 0/Day 1/Day 2/Day 3

Leximan

You are a wizard with word magic in a shitty wizard school.

In the overworld, that translates to typing out random words to get various effects. In battle, word fragments bounce around the screen, and you have to form a word with whatever you get to handle the situation.

As per it being a comedy game, my experience was making the wrong choices on purpose to see what happens. There doesn't seem to be any actual damage system, so it's just do whatever until you progress.

At it's height it is the best of early homestuck or problem slueth, laughing at the absurd consequences of an obtuse system. At its worst, the jokes feel incredibly forced. It's a land of contrast.

Biggest complaint is that I wish you could redo fights. I often found myself ending one early and wanting to see the other outcomes.

Mind Over Magnet

After years of telling people how making videos game works, youtubesman Game Makers Toolkit made a video game. A puzzle platformer about being a robbit and throwing your magnet friend around.

From the demo alone, it is... entirely cromulent.

It has puzzles that are puzzles. It's movement is smoothment. Nothing surprising, nothing disappointing.

It is a video game equivalent of a bowl of really good cereal or oatmeal with some effort put into it, with fruit chunks and everything. It's perfectly filling and enjoyable, and then you go about the rest of your day.

49 Keys

Apparently, this is an adaptation of a well received italian puzzle book.

It plays like an attempt to mix the classic text adventure style and the modern adventure game style. Most everything is text description with sparse illustrations, but interaction is done by dragging inventory items onto relevant paragraphs.

The plot is that you are a dominican priest or some other church official. Your teacher had not only been into church stuff but also astrology and occult stuff and would teach whoever had an ear. Church didn't like that, but he came from a wealthy family, so the best they could do is exile him to an island to continue his studies in peace and not corrupt the other clergymen.

On his deathbed, he sends the player a letter saying "hey I'm about to kick the bucket, I got a project I need finished, and I only trust you to do that." Which judging from the art and descriptions is some Lovecraft shit.

Unfortunately, the demo never gets to the lovecraft shit, ending right when you find a way to enter his house. While it didn't clock as "Scary" yet, they've got the historical fiction voice down, nailing the balance of antiquated sounding speech while still being easily legible. And they've got a good UI to add to that atmosphere.

Of course, the hot demon lady color spreads on the steam page kinda clash with that.

Curiosity piqued but expectations reserved.

Raining City: Millions Recollection

Gotta admit, I recognize it's sort of an unfair expectation, but after being burned by multiple chinese VN demos in previous next fests, it's nice to see one that's been translated to competent english. Not perfect, still has some pronoun switching, name inconsistencies, and some weird phrasing sprinkled throughout, but it was a naturalistic reading experience. I could consistently follow what was meant without much effort.

This is a supernatural mystery thriller. Lu Xuan is a member of a secretive group called "The Agency." She returns from a mission, expecting to relax, only for a mysterious lapse in memory to occur. When she wakes up, she's covered in blood, and there's a pure black hole in her hand. thin black lines wriggle out, spelling "100,000,000."

Before she can figure out what's going on, she's attacked by a creature that seems half dessicated corpse and half withering tree. After it rips off her arm, it regrows, with a few million dropping from her hand number. Thus starts her descent into the supernatural, as the new supposed "wealthiest woman in the world."

From the first two chapters the game has given, it's set up a lot of threads at once. The hand hole, the agency, a mysterious pawn shop, an unusual beached whale incident, the implication of a cult/religious group, multiple characters having simultaneous gaps in memory.

The cast feels well varied in both design and character voice, and I really like what the character designer is doing. I am guessing the backgrounds are based on photos because there's a nice sense of lived-in detail for a lot of them.

Definitely going on my wishlist.

[roebeanstalk]

also if ur a nerd and ur ever having A Day, highly recommend watching game maker's toolkit videos. mark brown is overly charming. his boss keys series is one of my favorite things ever.

he just put one up about banjo kazooie

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0001 – Finding Direction

There were some real-life complications that means this Devlog doesn’t have quite the progress that I would like, namely how long it took me to get feedback on my experiments. 70 mph windstorms can do that, apparently. The good news is that nobody was harmed, and damage was minimal.

To recap, I found three possible directions for Project RBH, and I promised to settle on one of them and write up a Game Design Document (GDD). And I have reached my conclusion from probably-not-extensive-enough playtesting.

Project RBH will involve the player starting out with a basic attack that they steadily upgrade over the course of a run, until by the end they are filling the screen with bullets like an angry god.

So the next step is writing out the GDD to make sure that the game actually reflects this idea.

I touched on it last time, but I feel like there’s more to say about GDDs and what makes them such useful tools for game design and development.

Conveniently, Game Maker’s Toolkit recently put out this video on means of analyzing games which ties directly into this subject.

The short version of this video is that a game’s systems and mechanics lead to dynamic interactions with the player(s), in turn coloring their emotional response. For example, a game where you have big guns and lots of bullets will probably make you feel like an unstoppable action movie hero, while a game with limited ammunition and powerful enemies will make you feel disempowered and cautious.

The GDD is a way for the development team and the designers to coordinate the systems and mechanics to steer the dynamics and achieve the desired emotional response. It’s an incredible tool for focusing design and development to a single, sharpened point. A way to ‘fail faster,’ so to speak.

Failing Faster refers to the practice of constant iteration as quickly as possible, in order to achieve more feedback and learn from the parts that don’t work. It’s the entire reason I threw together my current prototype even though I haven’t done my GDD yet. And yes, the GDD itself can be used to fail faster. Getting ideas out of your head and onto the page forces you to think of how to communicate those ideas, and gives you something tangible to show people and receive feedback on.

It's a way to prevent Perfect from being the enemy of Good.

But what’s included in a GDD? Yes. Yup, that too.

I’ve still got a template from my college professors while I was getting my degree in game design, and it includes:

The World,

Intended Audience,

Unique Selling Point

Multiple sections on plot and characters

Means of narrative progression

Locations, Layout, Maps

Intended Gameplay Experience

Enemies

Combat

Obstacles

Items and Equipment

User Interface

Art Style

Music and Sound

Among several other things.

As you can see, it’s a lot. Luckily, it’s divided into sections which makes it a heck of a lot easier to get through, especially because I don’t need to write an entire essay per section. The GDD is a living document, meant to be edited and updated throughout the lifespan of a project. I also won’t necessarily need every section.

This does, however, lead us to our next problem with the design. Story.

I’m the kind of person who really likes narrative in his games. Traditionally, Roguelike/lites are not known for being exactly narrative heavy. The cyclical nature of dying, restarting for zero, dying again, repeat, doesn’t always lend itself to storytelling.

Luckily this is a problem that has been solved multiple times. The recent Hades, for example, turns that very thing I listed as an obstacle to storytelling into a vehicle to drive the story forward. Heat Signature gives each of your playable characters a motivation; a specific goal they wish to achieve before dying or retiring, letting the player craft each character’s narrative through their successes and failures. Cult of the Lamb has a narrative explanation for your immortality and your runs with a plot that continues through the whole game, albeit a simple one. And, of course, the Mystery Dungeon games have been telling stories with roguelike elements for a long, long time.

The issue is not that it is impossible to tell a story in this kind of game. The problem is that calling my budget ‘shoestring’ is a gross exaggeration. Having a simple excuse plot like the one in Orbital Bullet would dramatically reduce the development time of Project RBH.

On the other hand, making this game the way I am is already enough of a pipe dream that it might be worth going all-in on it.

So that’s where things stand at the end of Week 1. Next week I’ll be checking in with the progress of my GDD, and deciding how and where to start actually making this thing.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patron Haelerin!

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