Analyzing Game Designs

[@zgilly]

I'm sorry but laser wolves don't need to make sense.

[@GreedoShot]

Lazer Wulf is a great band

[@SlyI42]

I just opened the video and don't have any context, but I agree

[@victoriafelix5932]

they do do so need to "pew! pew! pew!" at you, tho....

[@lasjames7516]

nice to hear an actual professional say its fair to stop after Act 1

[@Cryptic0013]

Echoing another commenter, I also appreciate you, a very respected industry pro, confirming that it's not the player's job to "stick with it" if the first act of the game gives you unlikeable characters, boring quests, or just generally doesn't hook you, especially when the main character sounds like the distilled essence of Twitter.

[@Galaxy5iveProduction]

Hi Tim! First of all thank you so much for these videos I listen to them every day on my way to work. They’re inspiring, and educational, and fun- and I’m so glad you’re doing it! Im not a big commenter but I notice you answer comments so I figured I would drop a game dev question: When you’re programming a game, how do you make sure things happen in sequence according to a story? Not only so that A, B, and C happen before D- but also maybe events E and F can happen at any time between events A and Z. Or maybe based on player decisions events change etc. I can find a lot of tutorials online about “here’s how to make your character jump,” for example, but not a lot about “how do you program basic story points to happen in a specific order.” I feel like it’s hard to make the jump from little demos to something more substantial because of this. Thank you!

[@maksymbizarreadventure7198]

Its completely up to the type of game your doing. Quest system is wildly différent between skyrim and a linear game.

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

Simples way is to have flags(true/false) in 1 place, and then they are referenced/used in quest related events. That way you can follow steps from IDE at least conceptually, and that probably is the simplest way to organize quest events. Most IDEs today let you just jump with shortcuts from declaration to usage of variables, so single space for storing quest related flags would let you jump around code easier. Organizing the flags probably is the hard part, but you asked simple introductory way to make actions be sequential, and it's probably just have a bunch of flags for letting player do things. so ifs and booleans for anything that you want to limit. I mean, jumping is a code block, right? So, for quest to learn how to jump, you just put it behind an if statement and then that if doesn't work if you haven't triggered some specific quest event(set the flag true). Like, you walk to your jumping instructor, you press interact, he does something and that triggers the boolean for jumping action to be true. alternatively you can also just reference an object without the if statement too for making your character jump. Like character versions that literally don't have code for doing something yet. I think that's 2 ways to limit player interactions that are sort of basic. But yeah, I think Tim mentioned in some other video about a generic tool that let you track code dependencies visually for I think arcanum project. Advanced way would be to orgnize flags in a way that worked better with the tool, but you asked for basics, like 101 of sequencing actions.

[@Galaxy5iveProduction]

@@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799 thanks that’s super helpful! I thought it might be something like that but I was second guessing myself. I’ll definitely check out the arcanum videos again because I think I vaguely remember what you’re talking about.

[@ChevyRob313]

Tim thank you for everything you have done I look back and you have been a part of some of my most memorable games growing up and we need more like you

[@renaigh]

Tim wasn't the only one responsible for the games you love. Give a little credit to people who don't get a bold name at the beginning.

[@paulrevere1183]

@@renaigh They specifically said he was "a part of" their most memorable games growing up. Where in their comment do they make the claim that Tim was the sole developer? What a lame "gotcha"

[@Childofbhaal]

@@paulrevere1183Bro just here to say you toasted that person LOL

[@Draconic_Blazonry]

One thing about ux that you really really notice when it isn’t present is having to press another button or click to exit a menu instead of the key that brings up that menu in the first place. Having to hit escape or click instead of pressing “M” again for your map for instance. I know it’s generally in older games but still.

[@DarkBloodbane]

Yes, being a game dev, I couldn't resist analyzing games I'm playing so I understand your feeling. Multiple endings is tough matter, I couldn't do better myself. Maybe you could make another video discussing good multiple endings.

[@marcbraun5342]

I'm the same with games and even more with movies on the "first act" thing. I'm stressing that in class to my students to get their beginning right for what is to come and give example after example from movies, series and other formats. Even trailer comparissions of two with similarities or just in similar situations, since this is the first impression, what they convey, what they can do and so on. It is so important and so hard to get right. That's why I always find the examples that work so impressive. With games, especially RPG, that have a wide range of possibilities and the invitation to freedom of choise,...that's hard and without an example a tracking shot through a city (if that's the location) where you can see thiefs, merchants, gamblers and so on doing their thing, to give away that you want them to chose or mix professions or on a ship with the view of an island where you can see birds, a volcano, things that catch interest to explore. Just thinking about a possible intro for a non existing game I realize why Tim starts with the setting developing RPGs, got me there...

[@steinmov]

This was a good one Tim. As an animator I usually focus on how the animation responds to the player. But the user interface is another aspect that can either keep me in the game or really get me frustrated.

[@FerreusDeus]

In the part where you ask what the most fun thing to do in the game compared to how it's being presented, I was reminded of watching my friends play through the first two Assassin's Creed games, which are "stealth games". They all just straight up barbarian style fought through every encounter without bothering with even a hint of stealth except for the rare points where the game brute forces you to use it. This is because just fighting everyone was a faster way to resolve the encounter and get loot while enjoying the violence.

[@theodorealenas3171]

I get a very similar feeling watching people play DMC games, where you're supposed to play in a stylish way, and as you vary your moves you get a meter that allows you to heal. It works on paper but the DMC games can be hard, and then the player wants to hide, or you often want to make space in your brain for dodges by not thinking about style. At the end of the day, it's a matter of getting used to it, eventually you get good, but I'd like it if the game guided me more in the first playthrough, and gave me simpler ways to be stylish like DMC1 does.

[@FerreusDeus]

@@theodorealenas3171 I think it's possible that the designers in that case wanted to reward you for getting good, that it's purposely too hard to immediately pull off style and when you learn to pull it off... you feel like the true bad-ass you are. Whareas with Assassin's Creed they made the combat too easy and fun compared to the stealth. If getting in a fight with more than 1 guy was DEADLY and punishing, you would naturally sneak around and pick people off or avoid fighting. DMC rewards you for practicing your fighting to the point where you can be flashy.

[@LunarcomplexMain]

Some replayability in games that are basically the same but for combat, like Ratchet and Clank for example are also incredible. Their new game plus, even from their first game back in... 2002, had such a great concept of increasing the bolt (currency) cap, and high tier weapon upgrades.

[@jackfrost884]

Thank you for being there for the next generation

[@deffdepth824]

Thanks for keeping up with all the valuable insights. I appreciate your work ❤

[@DDNE_]

Hi Tim, what's your thoughts on canon? Are retcons fine in some cases? Is it ok for a game to contradict its own lore for gameplay purpouses? Can 'unreliable narrator' be used as a good excuse to avoid retcons? Is "canon" as a concept even necessary?

[@cohanesian00]

I know you weren’t asking some rando but enforcing canon for a major IP was literally my job at one point. I will say that I think canon creates an immersive setting and rewards long time fans by calling back to past events or characters. However, if something can be improved but the designer won’t do it because it was “canon”, that’s not good. Same if older fans get hostile over changes that help bring new players in because they feel like they own the series.

[@cohanesian00]

Just like every other element in a game, canon should be used only if it improves the quality of the game, not if it brings the game down.

[@paulrevere1183]

2:36 I really value this topic about character creation in the design of the game as it plays out within the very first minutes. One example that came to mind was Starfield's character creation and attribute system. The new player is completely ignorant to the lore of the game and any of its characters while its asking them to choose attributes and alignments to these particular factions, such as alignment to the Freestar Collective or to the United Colonies, when you haven't even heard of, met, or seen anything about either of these factions. If daunting enough, the new player could just opt to choose none of the optional attributes for fear of "choosing the wrong one" when it's a shot-in-the-dark decision to begin with. I remember one trait allows you to "have a home on a far away planet that your parents live on, but you must pay a monthly mortgage." So many questions flood in. Why would I need a home? Will I be able to acquire another home elsewhere if I do need one? How much buying power does the in-game currency even have? Is this mortgage a lot of money relative to what I'll earn in the game's progression? Is there even a point to "seeing my parents"? This was just one selectable attribute out of all of them that left me feeling so confused.

[@coldwarpgates622]

Tim, if you had an evil twin, what kind of game would he make?

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

I'd vote for a roguelike with a lot of monologues between actual gameplay, obviously not skippable. Oh and once you get to the end you realize that you can't win because you didn't pick the correct skillpoint at the end for "win game" speech check. Obviously you couldn't guess what specific skill is needed for the run. Also the unskippable monologues from other characters are the hints for what skill to pick to win. Even better if halfway through the game it turns out you have the wrong attributes to play further. It would be nice if actual gameplay is pretty good, so that the long unnecessary talking between gameplay sections would really feel drawn out, obviously it should be written by someone who can write a lot of fluff without saying anything. also the story should be pretty predictable, like imagine Japanese rpg starting town, but that's the whole game. Hey Tim do you like games like Stardew Valley?

[@sidekickspam7574]

Fallout 76

[@EZMotion101]

@@sidekickspam7574🤣🤣🤣

[@kromlok]

Pay 2 win live service gatcha game

[@bsherman8236]

Starfield probably, as linear and boring as possible

[@heavenheathern]

I have a question: how does music gets implemented into a game? Is there a prototype of the game the composer is provided with at an early stage of development to get a feel for the setting or do they read the design document section that includes the goals the devs want to achieve with the music? Are there actually goals set regarding the music? Do the developers define programming (like when and where the music plays in the game world, how it loops, how much more intense it gets during boss fights/story driven moments, how does it change depending on enemy's level/your character's remaining health etc.) required for implementing music early on, or is it postponed until the later stages of development?

[@josephpurdy8390]

Additional dialogue from NPCs told to characters. That have ability and skills to engage NPCs. This doesn't have to cause a player to be rewarded with tangible benefits. This becomes even more effective when a player gains sensitive information from one NPC. Then, can apply that knowledge in a conversation with another NPC.

[@TheMalevolus]

Your video helped me a lot to understand some initial situations in the first act of the (first) game I'm developing (although it's not an RPG in the sense of evolution, it's based on an RPG system and has dialogues), with a two-person team. You and your creation (Fallout) have been my main inspiration since I decided to jump into this project.

[@SilverionX]

This actually gives me an idea for a game setting. I don't know if it's good but the idea has some merit.

[@MFKitten]

What imaginary product would you picture having the slogan "It sure beats surviving!"? I would love to see you do a series where you point out individual mechanics you appreciate in different games. Not speaking on the whole game, not a critique or rating, just analyzing the way something was done in a game, that you feel was worth talking about. I feel like so many games have come out with new ideas that are super interesting, but then they don't take off, and we never get to see the mechanics appreciated as much as they deserve.

[@AbtinX]

Oxycodone

[@wesss9353]

It will be mass produced by Spacers Choice!

[@roberdjp]

Hey, Tim! Obviously you are primarily an RPG guy, both personally and in your career, and I know you said you're not interested in reviewing games on here. However, I'm curious about some of your other favorite genres. How much do you enjoy purely tactical games? What about the rise in card mechanics, particularly in all the Slay the Spire-inspired games that have come out in the last few years?

[@rickyalbuquerque6238]

Dear Tim, the nickname "Bengala Fraca" that you read on the beggining of your video means "Weak Walking Stick" (soft penis) in brazilian-portuguese. Intentional from his part or not, hearing you say it was funny in a very silly way .😅

[@CainOnGames]

I should really google these user names before I say them out loud, huh?

[@oDinodyr]

I've laughed so hard when you said his username i'm weak rn

[@rickyalbuquerque6238]

​@@CainOnGamesWell, you will remove the fun from a bunch of Brazilians who love you very much. But I think is a good call, next time can be something cruel or offensive from someone with bad intentions.

[@occupationalhazard]

I'm glad this question was asked. I was curious what your thoughts were on this topic.

[@roncinephile]

1:53 I for one am shocked, *shocked* that one of the biggest names in role playing games doesn't like to be told who he should be playing as. Imagine being an actor with that mentality. "I don't feel like playing Hamlet as serious and thoughtful tonight, I think I'll smack Ophelia's ass and kick Claudius in the nuts in Act 1." Funny thing about big creative projects is how many different kinds of brains can word together and figure out how this complicated thing is going to create itself.

[@allluckyseven]

Which modern game mechanics do you enjoy? And which you used to enjoy but haven't seen being used anymore?

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

Socrates vibes from that thumbnail

[@bamfyu]

Hi Tim. I have a question. How do you write non-linear stories such as seen in RPGs and Immersive Sims. What should writers be paying attention to? Also, is there a programm you use to write nonlinear stories? It is quite difficult keeping track of things in programms like MS word, which are made for linear texts. I also wanted to thank you for making these videos. Your channel is a gamedev treasure trove. You've helped me a lot already :)

[@CainOnGames]

Is there a question not answered by this video on non-linear design? kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJmnqZybZ6uhrNE And we used no special programs to write our stories, AFAIK.

[@bamfyu]

@@CainOnGames thank you, I missed that video 😅

[@PedroGomes-cx7ku]

​​​@@bamfyuI'm not a game designer, so I have no idea if this will work for you: try using hyperlinks within the same Word doc.

[@marcbraun5342]

Since this was very elaborate, thank you for this virtue going through all of your videos, I have not very much to add but one thing, which is the most important question I ask myself while playing. What is the core of the game? Weather if it's a theme, a mechanic the experience or something else, what is it and what features serve that core and which one might even are contrary to that. Sitting in a movie theater I have an additional test, that also applies to game but is more suited for movies, even if I'm enjoying the movie there's a point where I feel I would like the movie to end now, that's the right amount of lenght where I would like to leave. From that point on I think every additional minute has to be justified, if padding has been tolerated before, now it can't, the movie is on borrowed time and if goes on for another half hour overstaying its welcome, that's a problem.

[@CainOnGames]

The core of a game is something I call its design pillars. Everything you put into the game should serve one or more of those pillars. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGjFaH98jaeNb68

[@lonneansekishoku8288]

8:50 Ah yes! games like Genshin with hours of unskippable dialogs... that includes time gated content that remains in game for 2 weeks.

[@pitchforker3304]

I keep thinking the cabinet over Tim's right shoulder is a hallway.

[@BigET4547]

I enjoy rpg's where my first option can be to talk my way out of or into a situation, or use stealth mechanics before I even consider combat.

[@tagg1080]

I am glad you mentioned picking games apart at the begining. I recently started getting into writing and story structure and it movies and books are now a completely different experience.

[@ClutchProd]

Hi Tim, been watching your videos lately, I appreciate the insight you provide. After watching this video it sounds like you have different expectations based on what stage/act/phase of the game you are in. Do you follow a blueprint that models these expectations against each phase of a game? As a game designer, would it be beneficial to map out what promises you are making to a player during each phase of your game and communicate those promises clearly?

[@Anubis1101]

There's been a few games where i had that disconnect between whats fun and what the game is pushing for. In RPGs, this often manifests as the side quests being better than the main story. The two recent ones that come to mind are Biomutant and Starfield. Both games, i had way more fun going off and doing my own thing than playing the main story. There are some good explanations for this, but it makes me feel bad for the dev team.

[@lrinfi]

It's obviously not just Bethesda's games that are suffering from these kinds of "disconnection" problems. I've not played and have no plans to play Starfield. Try looking for information about that "disconnect" in relation to Starfield and you will most likely be sorely disappointed for the most part, but there is one review of Starfield that I think hits the nails right on their heads with regard to the problems not only Bethesda is having with that, but so many other studios and that review is ColorsFade Gaming's insightful 'Starfield Deep Dive: Procedural Worlds Are Not The Problem'.

[@Anubis1101]

@@lrinfi I have a long and complicated opinion of Starfield, but I agree they're not the only offenders of this issue, hence why I also listed Biomutant. I think the two games had that particular issue in common, but I think their reasons and circumstances were different, so I thought they were a good example pair

[@exessqd100]

Good points, personally i love when wolves difficulty doesn’t drop with time played / wolves killed, but with my / player skill. Zelda is amazing with this, mob difficulty scales with player skill

[@mateusz73]

I like your shirt Tim, lol. I can only assume it has the double entendre unless I'm off base and it's not referencing P-town, MA

[@CruxDiaries]

Thx, Tim! Awesome to deconstruct your analysis process. However, I think many ppl understand the issues but simply don’t have time or other resources to address them. Can you elaborate on the feature creep process and general prioritisation to decide what’s essential and what is not for the release, given the constraints of the real world? Thank you!

[@mrtalha5616]

Hello Mr.Tim thanks for all you do , I don't know/remember if you have already told us about your fav skill trees in video games in both old and new games.

[@UlissesSampaio]

It really grinds my gears when the description is vague. I need numbers! Also, 9:57, Amen to that: gameplay over art imho.

[@minecraftkid50978]

Hi tim! I wanted to ask, how do you organize your notes? I have a habit of writing things in notebooks and in text docs on my PC but it all becomes so disorganized so fast its almost not worth taking the note in the first place. How do you/did you manage?

[@CainOnGames]

I’ve digitized a lot of them, so I can search them. The ones I haven’t, there is a title at the top of the page so I can find things quicker

[@minecraftkid50978]

@@CainOnGames neat! Thanks for the insight hope your you’re having a nice day :)

[@SirJordzy]

How do you go about teaching or implementing combat mechanics, I understand it's good to start broad then home it down, but I'm having trouble deciding what is more important to teach first, and should I drip feed in harder mechanics? I was playing punchout on nes and was amazed by how well they teach you combat so your prepared for what's to come. Love the videos tim!

[@hpph7133]

After a previous video with what you've said about the stresses UI/UX interface face in only receiving negative feedback, I'm trying to go out of my way to compliment good interfaces when I play games

[@seanothepop4638]

I love grinding and powergaming and collecting, that is in contrast to a lot of games, for better or worse. And yet some of my favorite games miss a behavior or two I enjoy, but really hit it off with the ones It has.

[@wesss9353]

Hold on! I need to get a cup of coffee, for the morning chat with uncle Tim!

[@vishiousbacon]

Mr. Tim Cain, aside from RPGs do you play any other genre? If so what types of games do you play and what do you look for in them?

[@geoffreysherman609]

Small question pretty off topic here. Recently have become entranced with emergent gameplay. After a bit of thinking on it. I feel like a fair amount of your games have offered it and I am curious if it is considered when making a game? If it is, how much, is it style dependent (CRPG/ARPG/etc. etc)? Always, thanks for more insight into games!

[@StavrosNikolaou]

Thank you for the insights! I really liked the timeline-based flow of the presentation. I know you have talked about character creation in a number of your videos but it might be interesting to collect your thoughts in a single video. I'm particularly curious about this relatively new effort to streamlining character creation by "late binding" as many of the important "character-defining" decisions. This allows people to make such decisions later when they have a more informed view of the game and its mechanics. A really well implemented version of this was Outer Worlds' flaws. At the same time this goes counter to the desire from the player side to define their character (their strengths and weaknesses) as soon as possible, especially when they know the game and have a specific build in mind (e.g. second or tenth playthrough). Arcanum did such a good job in allowing to define your character from the get go. What is your preferred way to reconcile the two strategies above? What other cool ways do you see in late binding more decisions and how can one still offer expressivity to the player early on? One simplistic thought is: Have the first playthrough be a streamlined character creation while let the more advanced version as a new game+ option. Doesn't work well with all IPs and character systems though :/ Thanks again for the great video! Have a great day!😊

[@charliek5964]

It would be neat as an example to see this applied to some of your games. Or whether your critera changed as you became more experienced.

[@ftblr66]

So here's a question that I haven't seen asked or answered by Tim: How do you define RPG vs ARPG vs CRPG vs JRPG ect?

[@pizzaman11]

It’s interesting because Dark Souls broke essentially everyone of the “rules” that you established. Vague story with little direction, no idea what the skills do, extremely confusing and non sensical ui, etc. I guess what made it work with DS is that it was so extreme in the opposite direction then you’d expect that it made the game feel it was trying to make you stop, that it was some forbidden game. It made the design it self the adversary that made me want to overcome with the online elements preventing the game from feeling overly oppressive. So I do think that generally games should try to follow the design goals that you laid out in this video, but it can be broken if done correctly and can even help the design massively when done so.

[@echoness_]

What are the games you've played that have very little dialogues and texts but using game machanics to tell great stories? What is your impression or personal preference on this type of show-don't-tell games?

[@dundarious]

I like the shirt, Tim, lotta good bears in that neck of the woods!

[@archaeologistify]

5:50 this sounds awfully like Elden Ring. Xp pops up when you gain it, but when you want to know how much you have and how much is needed to level up, you have to go 2 levels deep in the UI.

[@lrinfi]

I don't play that many games at this point, but Elden Ring is not the only one I've played the UI designer(s) didn't think it was all that important to see XP all the time and neither do I. If I'm playing any game, but a RPG, especially, I'd like the experience to be as seamless as possible and don't want game mechanics (and UI elements) in my face all the time. I never -- and, I mean, never -- check to see when the next level-up is coming around and don't want to. I'll think in advance about what to invest in, but am not playing the game to level up. As a PC player, I use mods like SkyUI because console UIs aren't going to cut it for PC players, period. Elden Ring's for PC players? *&%$&! I should think so many things about a game's UI are going to be dependent on platform, player preference, etc., it's a living wonder UI designers even know where to start. Making the UI moddable or including options to show/not show various HUD elements, etc. until needed appears to be standard industry practice at this point, but absolute essentials probably shouldn't be impossible to find.

[@raiden3295]

12:28 You're talking about Dishonored! lol

[@liaminwales]

In Star Wars Games I always want to be on the Empires side, it's more fun.

[@deathsheadknight2137]

I don't think any game ever nailed that as hard as TIE Fighter.

[@wilytyote]

Hey Tim, question: what are your thoughts on the challenges of mapping controls to gamepads versus keyboard and mouse? I play with gamepads because keyboard and mouse is physically painful for me to play for any long period of time. Whenever a developer (usually of CRPGs) only designs their game with KB/M in mind, I realize I'll probably never play that game. I've missed out on a lot of the great CRPGs from yesteryear because of this. I recognize this is probably due to how challenging it can be to create two UI's and control schemes for vastly different input methods, and it would be interesting to have a developer's insight.

[@theodorealenas3171]

I often want the opposite, a game initially designed for gamepad, and I have some equivalent questions. Although I don't play RPGs, but sometimes the menus in these gamepad games just don't make sense with mouse and keyboard, you have to double click, hovering with the mouse does nothing and so on. For gameplay, some keys can't be mapped, the action key in Dark Souls 3 isn't E and it's R instead, and in Devil May Cry 5 I can't hold down 4 keys at the same time, therefore I can't remap mouse buttons onto the keyboard. Okay, these last questions don't sound like the sort of thing I'd ask Tim about.

[@andypanz]

hey tim, are you analyzed old german game "gothic 1\2"? It is having so many mechanics that absent even in new games.

[@fixpontt]

i would like to get an answer for a question about this aspect of game design, i often use alt+tab during gameplay go back to the browser watch a video or read an article then switch back to the game... now, half of the games i play stop running when hit alt + tab and does not use any unnecessary resource like video card or processor cores the other half of the games still run with full resource usage even when i watch a video on youtube.... WHY??? i really really dont understand this, what can every single game just stop when i alt+tab??? there are games that even use 8 cores with 100% cpu usage... in the MAIN MENU.... it really bothers me that there is no unified standard for this, this has to be part of game design somewhere

[@johnlaythe3336]

Love the content, The camera's auto-focus is bouncing between you and the bottles on the shelf on your left, maybe cut the brightness on that light 50%

[@JLM1PB]

great question, amazing answer.

[@hanzohattori6716]

A question Tim, or if anyone else knows, in Fallout, are the lasers in the laser weapons visible? How powerful are they and the plasma weapons?

[@Arkanthrall]

What's your take on rogue-lites?

[@dfunkt_jester]

@ Tim, could you do a video explaining game engines. Maybe going over the creation of a game engine how that works versus game development. Also explaining the difference between game engines, and what makes game engines better or worse to develop for and why game engines have different look and feel to them.

[@CainOnGames]

Game Engines kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6iWk3aaftt0oJI

[@89mww]

Is your take on replayabliity value (end game player epiphanies and/or questions about how they could have made a different decision driving them to play again) different for non RPG games?

[@1sweetree]

Prey (2017) is a game with great replayability.

[@yuripetrovic7606]

Hmm. But games like Final Fantasy don't have merchant I come limits or encumbrance and they seem to flow smooth

[@ryanrohauer5940]

i dis agree UI is huge for me is one of the first tinghds i notice and critique even if its good

[@chris-headway]

Be fair. Laser wolves do sound awesome.

[@torsteinraaby]

Mr. Tim, you're up early.

[@lonneansekishoku8288]

12:10 *Ahem* The master *Ahem*

[@occupationalhazard]

On the topic of replayability, I've played Bloodlines 27 times. I'll really need to study Bloodlines while designing my future games.

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

don't you have it memorized already?

[@occupationalhazard]

​@@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799 Mostly, yet I still find something new each time. That's what amazes me about it. The game is relatively short, yet packs so much detail.

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

@occupationalhazard Yeah, it's one of the games I've enjoyed very much. Just goes to show that worlds don't have to be expansive to be immersive. Yeah, I guess I can see how people could replay it as an old movie, and maybe on subsequent playthroughs you learn to love Hollywood sewers

[@SasuPsycho]

Thinking of Soulslikes, like e. g. Remnant 2, and you mentioning replayability: I think when this comes up at the end it's not very rewarding. Especially when I compare Fallout and Remnant. I'm the completionist type and when I reached the ending of Fallout - or other long RPGs - I almost forgot half of the stuff that was presented to me in the ending. Not to the point that I didn't remember, but not remember in detail. So... I didn't really care for some events that could have gone in another direction, because I didn't remember what an alternative solution could have been. E. g. of some of the (many) alternative endings (Junktown, Shady Sands) I only noticed from a board discussion. And tbh: Shady Sands and Junktown where SO early in the game... In e. g. Remnant 2, sorry for the explanation if you know this, you either know right from the start: "There's at least one other way, maybe a hidden second or third, for this. And you get a special anything, if you do it the other way." or it's pointed to you afterwards. So usually... you just want to do it again, but you have to play through your roll first. But everytime you encounter a point like this, especially in coop play, you debate, like in a classic rpg: "Hm, should we do the easy way - Is it really the easy way? - or not? What could be a possible solution? Should we use the one key we have for the right or left door? What could be behind those?" Same e. g. in Guild Wars 2: in Vanilla there are at least two possible ways how to solve a quest. The dumb way: just destroy X (amount). The creative: combine X with Y and Z. The "event way", that combines both (you do an event, that relates to the quest). The sneaky... so on. Sometimes this leads to replayability like: "Hm, I wonder what happens when..." or that you choose the "longer" way because it's more entertaining.

[@WOOHOJEHA]

The thing about the first act kinda made me laugh. Because Fallout New Vegas, my favorite game of all time, has imo an extremely boring first act. So much so that when I first played it I stopped playing after a few hours because it didnt grab my like Fallout 3 did. It wasn't until I decided to go back to a couple years later I decided to push through the boring start and it became my favorite game.

[@freddytackos]

tldr: how does it make you feel when you play it

[@akar2755]

The whole 'I'm enjoying this part of the game, but I don't like the game' perfectly summarized Starfield for me e.g. ship building is fun and addictive. The game as a whole though is bland.

[@YeOldEntertainment]

So watching this video... basically, Colony ship is the game of the year... (2023) #seemslegit

[@adgd]

Bengala fraca 😂

[@JuanFarineliFumis]

kkkkkkkkk

[@onemantwohearts]

Can u talk more about ux?

[@CainOnGames]

I did here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/raCyqX6Drb6ir6s

[@shesh2265]

Oh yeah, bad UI has turned me off of so many games. Its ugly or tiring to figure out im outso and donezo

[@vinnyolmsted8018]

How much faster than 10 minutes did it take you to find pain points in Starfield's UI?

[@djkimotei]

Alright, so you are for sure playing mainly rpgs! 😅 ❤️ *Classic Fallout forever!* 🤟😎

[@cocamaster0]

I couldn't force myself to continue playing Starfield. I was so bored so I just used console commands to unlock everything to test it lol. The game still wasn't fun.

[@funtecstudiovideos4102]

Same for fo76. Game is boring asf You cant even roleplay proberly...

[@ashleysmith38]

User interface issues just reminds me of starfield

[@toadd]

I am almost sure the game he couldn't find the XP is Starfield lol

[@VieneLea]

Don't worry, my eyesight is so blurry already I can't see a difference!

[@wesss9353]

I hear that

[@fredaven3189]

So, by the looks of it. Tim probably hates pretty much all Japanese games and especially jRPG's :)

[@yuri_art_92]

Yeah, zero "speech skill" uses and extremely few choices in general.

[@tylerflint5447]

Tim, there's a question. Since we are talking RPGs and deeply in love/hate with certain mechanics deep within many games of that genre, what do you think about Japanese RPGs, have you played any? If that was previously answered, excuse me in advance. Thank you!

[@amanaplanacanalpanama2414]

Hey Tim, is there any other game developers out there that you could link to that explain their thought process when designing games like you do, and can you possibly give a brief overview of the people?

[@romulino]

Bengala fraca hauahauaua.

[@Mynanaentangas]

You can clearly tell that he is talking about starfield's bad interface 😂

[@shesh2265]

THUMBNAIL GOES HARD FOR WHAT?

[@schitzoflink8612]

Hi Tim

[@mattcat83]

Here's another one: I hate it when Western RPGs artificially force you to be a lone group of murder hobos, like in Divinity Original Sin 2.

[@mattcat83]

RIP Seekers, we barely knew you.

[@Derknomicon]

This could just be me, but it disappoints me to see game design these days just getting lazier and greedier. Of course any game developer is hoping their product makes them revenue but it's getting out of control. Especially when the game is touted as Free to Play, those titles are the worst when it comes to FOMO induced micro transactions. Granted, these games aren't forcing the players to purchase these in-game items but players can tell when there was more thought and attention to detail put into the in-game shop than their was into making a fun and engaging game. I miss the days when you just purchased a game and their were rewards to unlock for the time you put into the game. You had goals to achieve and the rewards where awesome to show off. Especially in online games when newer players or current ones saw your new unlock that took you time and effort to achieve giving them the incentive to put in the same effort. Now all you have to do is just give these companies your credit card information and you can just instantly get these rewards by being a whale.

[@lrinfi]

It's not just you. There are video essays galore right here on YT about "the dark age of gaming" or simply asking why games aren't fun anymore. The real reasons aren't obvious to everyone because it's something that's crept ever-so-quietly into the farthest reaches of the system itself. The gaming industry is just among the more recent to be affected. So, I hope Tim's channel takes off like a rocket among the next generation of designers and developers. Craftsmanship (of all kinds) is a bit of dying art. On the bright side, what's happening now is not sustainable and if Tim's stories and mentorship inspires even one, perhaps dispirited, developer to delight in their craft regardless what's happening in the industry, the effort will have been worth it.

[@Derknomicon]

@@lrinfi I honestly feel bad for some of the new blood and fresh talent who get into some of these companies these days. All their hopes and passions will more than likely get snuffed out in order to keep the monetization printing presses going for these companies. I hope to see a turn around in the near future to how things used to be but that's probably just nostalgic wishful thinking on my end. I also like seeing experienced developers like Tim giving advice and hope to newer devs (like myself). I think their experience can give so much insight on any situation regarding game development and how to handle them.

[@lrinfi]

​@@Derknomicon Well, things never go back to how they used to be, but they do change, one way or the other. If I start feeling down about it, I rremember Wendell Berry's 'Peace of Wild Things'. :)

[@GulaschTrade]

Commend number ten here!

[@camraid9]

I don't like the smug, quippy girl characters they make these days. They are often bosses, and are always right and they talk down to you.

[@D0P3NA5TY]

frist

[@PhiLudo]

your titles are becoming more and more confusing and uninformative. i thought this video would be about how you analyze games as a designer. your approach to it etc. instead you talked about the game dev problem of analyzing when playing privite

[@CainOnGames]

That's why I add a clarifying description...but no one seems to read those.

[@aNerdNamedJames]

@@CainOnGames A perennial problem of video hosting sites. IIRC, it's even hurt actual fundraising efforts at times.