Game, Develop, Repeat

Games:  Chess as a psychological horror game  Chess as a fast paced shooter  How bad I am at chess  Crushing failure  Forcing you to recognize the inaccuracy of your own confidence.  Develop:  Chess - learning a theory, applying it, appearing worse at the skill  Learning about lighting, making uglier art.  "The next big step forward" will often make you worse before it makes you better....

Games:  Truly relaxing games:  Eastshade  A Short Hike  Mountain  Dragon Quest 11  Walking simulators  Most games I play are stressful:  Cook Serve Delicious  Almost any Real Time Strategy game  Almost any MOBA  Chess  Shooters and such  Many games that we think of as relaxing can be quite stressful:  Stardew Valley  Roller Coaster Tycoon  Develop:  What makes a game truly relaxing?  What amps up...

Game:  Front Mission 3 vs Front Mission 1st remake, initial impressions.  Design Fundamentals  The UI and maps in Front Mission 3  The difficulty tuning in Front Mission 3  RNG Damage sponges in Front Mission 1st  Develop:  Design Fundamentals  Examples of bad vs good execution  Things that age poorly  Fine tuning the player experience  Putting time into the bits that seem frivolous  Long term, su...

Game:  Deep and wide gameplay  Practice does not make perfect  Difficult learning environment  What matters is hidden until you look for it  Lot of misinformation  Unwelcoming culture  Develop:  Discovering what matters by observing others  "High Ranked" game developers  Avoiding misinformation/misleading paths  Finding a welcoming culture (avoid the doom and gloom)  Actual practice invo...

Game:  What makes Incredible Crisis special?  Ska soundtrack  Completely absurd story  Brutal button mashing (creates physical response)  High pressure, simple minigames  Develop:  The utility of panic  The utility of frustration  How your players physically interact with your game  Impact of emotional moments on gameplay  My own development  Keystone Habits  Working through struggle  My on/off sw...

Game:  Cleaning up  Planting Seeds  Maintaining  Connecting and exploring  Harvesting  If you over-plant...  Develop:  What stardew teaches us about development  How much can you really plan   Patience and Consistency  Energy Management  Community  Process  My own development  Struggling with rest vs burnout Negativity spirals Believe in yourself, not in your accomplishments or potential. Belief i...

Game:  Subnautica's air mechanic  Exploring and discovering more and more cool stuff  How easy it is to drown  Develop:  Drowning in development and/or features  Subnautica oxygen as a metaphor for effort over time  Weightlifting and rest days  Why this segment is called repeat  Sacrificing the short term for the long term  Ego lifting and ego game dev  Repeat:  What are the signs that you&ap...

Game:  Scams in loot based games  Justifying scams in video games  Items with real world prices  Ethical lessons learned through gaming  Develop:  Scams that target developers  Post-launch scams  Game Dev Courses that toe the line  Cheating, shortcuts, and player behavior  My development progress over the past three weeks  Repeat:  What mechanics in your game will your player want to shortcut?  Ho...

Suddenly Bird by Fev Games: https://fevgames.itch.io/suddenly-bird Game:  Super Chicken Jumper, Super Meat Boy, Binding of Isaac, Incredible Crisis, Parappa the Rapper  There is no one right idea  Making absolutely insane ideas  Letting people look at you funny  Confidence in yourself  Chasing the Market   Develop:  Limitations on chasing what interests you  Are limitations just bumper rails?  Gam...

Game:  Brief comparison to The Legend of Dragoon   Blending Narrative and Gameplay  Job System  Character Personalities  Summons  Adding flavor to classic mechanics  Like a Dragon combat vs standard Yakuza combat  Develop:  The purpose and weight of a story  The purpose and weight of gameplay  Is this immersion? My development:  A major test drive of indie game dev  Godot is amazing  TileMap, Terr...

Game:  Creative dreams   Lifestyle Dreams Develop: Purpose of a dream  Expectations  Difficulty  Required Suffering Repeat:  Oops, my bad  Projection Challenge for myself: Open Godot every day for a week. My first game, "Sut" is out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2638880/Sut/ Email me: anxiousbuddhagames(this sentence is to confuse bots@)gmail.com Join our discord: https://discord.g...

Game:  Showing progress  Spreadsheet style progress Develop:  Consistent effort  Gradual progress  Project cycles  Momentum  Godot progress Repeat:  What brings you joy? Tip: Consistent, gradual improvement. Challenge for myself: Open Godot every day for a week. My first game, "Sut" is out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2638880/Sut/ Email me: anxiousbuddhagames(this sentence is to c...

Game:  Testing vs researching  The allure of analysis paralysis Develop:  Unity  Unreal  Gamemaker  Godot Repeat:  What type of games do you enjoy?  What type of game do you enjoy making? Tip: If you're stuck, try something else out Challenge for myself: Finish the Godot 2D "first game" walk-through My first game, "Sut" is out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2638880/Su...

Game:  Yakuza Like a Dragon  FF8  FF10  The turn based combat spectrum  Sprinkling skill on top Develop:  My ideal turn based combat  Why I dislike equipment  Undertale  Linear JRPG with no experience system Repeat:  What do you love about your favorite games?  What do you ignore about your favorite games?  What are your game design pet peeves? Tip: Escape the internet's opinion My first game...

Game:  Incredible definitive edition  Large number of high-impact variables  Compared to WC3  Picking a skill to focus on learning  MOBA comparison Develop:  Giving up on your dreams vs quitting a project Repeat:  What managable challenges would you enjoy taking on right now?  What level of zoom are you looking through right now? Get some sleep. Links:   Real-time strategy is incredible and you sh...

Game:  Why do I love this game?  Less upfront decisions  Less complexity, more targeted growth Develop:  Greatest game ever nostalgia  Nostalgia for specific game mechanics  Letting nostalgia be  A rant about learning and development cycles Repeat:  Is there any one skill you're particularly excited about right now?  Are there any old games that might help you reconnect with your passion?  Wr...

Game:  Learning starts with noticing  Vampire Survivors - Simple gradual education  Soulslike games - Harsh attention based education  League of Legends - Hidden difficulty, social constraints Develop:  "Comprehensible Input" in language learning  How to learn development skills effectively  How not to teach players  When teaching players becomes too complex  Soft observation and pixel a...

Game:  Fast paced  Simple, compelling gameplay  Desirable frustration  Style  Polish Develop:  Ways to handle player failure   Repeat:  Do you expect frequent player restarts?  How much polish can you reasonably add? Get in touch with what drives you. My first game, "Sut" is out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2638880/Sut/ Email me: anxiousbuddhagames(this sentence is to confuse bots...

Game: Expectations Unexpected emotions Finishing vs releasing Unrelatable feelings Develop: Lessons learned How the process felt Energy management Scope management A million other tiny things Confidence in ability to figure it out Unwinding/starting the next thing What the heck is next? Repeat: What are your expectations for your project? How do those expectations serve you? Will they motivate or...

  Game:  Timers and Terror  Genuine consequences  Scary gameplay vs scary aesthetic  Gore in games  Story through gameplay  The power of a soundtrack  Develop:  Setting up consequences  Story scale  Doing more with less  Devlog:   Game is out and I'll talk about it next week.  Designing next game, but scope is too big still  Might just need a breather.  Repeat:  What moment to moment feedback...

Game: Medievil is an extremely "playstation era" game. Pseudo-platformer adventure genre Camera control issues The whole picture is better than the parts Spooky themes mixed with comedy Develop: Blending genres Making the most of unconventional ideas Small issues can make all the difference Sut:   Game comes out on Friday (if all things go according to plan)  Already brainstorming new ga...

Sut Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2638880/Sut/ Game: new fish new lore  a hint of danger in every step  learning in games Develop: Discovery and suspense Games with no discoveries Sut: Steam page & release date Miscellaneous fixes Final decisions, letting go of perfect. Repeat: What am I discovering through this project? What do players discover while playing my game? My first...

Game: Sheer number of skills How can one person do all of this Who do I think I am Perfect vision. Massive commitment, massive expectations Creative vs specific instructions Develop: Huge ambition, must fix everything vs teeny tiny steps faith in self vs forced confidence Patience, with occasional spells of absolutely losing my mind. Repeat questions: Pay attention to how you respond to your own t...

In this episode, we discuss... The impact of your game's setting Your game's emotional intent The problem with cloning games Game: Setting, defined Age of Mythology vs Age of Empires Effects on gameplay Effects on emotional impact Develop: Could you make a different setting with identical gameplay? Sci-fi shoother vs fantasy shooter Stardew vs Graveyard Keeper The issue with cloning game...

In this episode, we discuss... Rapid iteration Structuring a project to optimize learning Learning to focus on small details Feedback loops Game: Why a platformer Quick level design iteration Tons of example projects to compare to "Is it fun" becomes obvious Forces creativity or polish Level/Data management & other challenges Small changes, huge impacts Develop: Accept commercial fai...