Making Game Mechanics That Don't Suck

[@coregazer]

I think the art style of the game is stylistic enough that the blood doesn't look all that "gory". It also seems thematically appropriate for a game called "Bloodthief". I don't think a gore slider is a bad idea for those who want to turn the amount of blood spawned down, but it doesn't look all that gory as is right now and feels like it ties the game title and aesthetics together.

[@gemstown]

yeah i think it’s just fine.. i personally wouldn’t change it other than adding a slider to change the amount of

[@Culpride]

I remember Serious Sam: The First Encounter having options to toggle the blood or replace the chunks with candy and red decals with flowers. It was anarchy. But fun.

[@EssensOrAccidens]

Elden Ring settings also change the color of the 'damage' effects from gory red to a more abstract ~black. Very effective at dialling down the intensity, which is what I think you want from a slider / option here.

[@zortnet]

i mean ULTRAKILL also has a gore slider, which uses blood as a healing mechanic. it mostly just helps lower end computers run more smoothly too

[@Omen9tactical]

As long as the gore slider lets us increase the amount of gore 😉 Then I'd say go for it, nothing wrong with giving players options (especially when it comes to the settings menu)

[@Hakita]

Instant response is one in particular that tends to get a bit lost in the weeds, and often tied to other mentioned issues, especially nowadays since a lot more games tie player state to animation state for smoother animation. A good comparison is Crash Bandicoot 2 and its remake in the N. Sane Trilogy. Movement in the original feels very snappy and responsive, but the remake has some edge cases that cause inputs to have unintended results. Landing from a jump (if you're not moving) puts you in a slight landing animation, which means that if you want a high jump, in the remake you have to wait for the landing animation to end and for the crouching animation to start for it to count as crouching, otherwise you just get a normal jump. In the original, as long as you're on ground, not holding a direction, and holding the crouch button, you count as crouched regardless of what animation is playing. I focused so heavily on this in ULTRAKILL that a punch actually lands the moment you press the button, even though it takes a couple frames for the arm to extend, and the dash sound used to have a bit of a lead-in, but I chose to cut that and have it start from the middle of the sound, so you hear it clearly the instant you enter a dash (people react faster to sound than visuals). And to bring this whole point back around, the player's height instantly snaps to slide-height when pressing the slide button, even though it takes a moment for the camera to reach that point for smoothness.

[@Blargis3d]

Such interesting examples, particularly with the ULTRAKILL parry - Up until reading this I had a slight delay on the hitbox activation for the player's normal melee attack so it tied with the swing animation. Never thought to make it instant because I just assumed it would look / feel bad. Just tried it and it feels great and yields that instant response. Definitely an improvement! I do think this only looks/feels okay in my case because the animations are so absurdly fast to begin with. That Crash example you gave is really interesting. Seems like smooth animations and snappy controls are fundamentally at odds with each other. Anyway, thank you for the insights, Hakita! It's always so enlightening hearing your thoughts on design.

[@Hakita]

@@Blargis3d Smooth animations and snappy controls are definitely at odds, but not quite fundamentally, it's just very, very difficult to create a system that manages to transition smoothly from any animation to any other possible animation. Devil May Cry 5 went the extra mile on this front and is probably the only game I've seen pull it off thoroughly.

[@Blargis3d]

I'm ashamed to admit I still haven't played a DMC game. I've heard so many people say it's amazing. Yet another reason why I need to pick it up and play it asap.

[@themineguy1234]

@@Hakita HAKITA????!!!!!

[@gregorymirabella1423]

When Hakita is offering commentary on your game you know you've definitely done something right.

[@boomstick4882]

Add the ability to flip your sword like a csgo knife inspect, it seems useless but i swear useless cool shit like that adds to the player experience so much

[@tehjamerz]

HL1 and 2 had idle inspect animations that rocked and added immersion

[@MiniGunTurtle36]

Bro what if switching to reverse grip enabled different attacks

[@water-4782]

TF2 added the inspect weapon button after they made it so you could pick up other peoples' weapons, and doing that while trimping as Demoknight makes it look more skilled whether it actually is or not.

[@LoveBystroem]

Yeah and make it like a really accessable button like Q tricks with the sword or something

[@Neoicecreaman]

coolest part of LoZ: Twilight Princess is the cool flourish you do before putting your sword away if you killed something with a special attack vs putting it away. I'd kill stuff just to see the animation... So where i'm going with this, is add the damn CS:GO knife flip like the first guy said.

[@migueeeelet]

13:40 the "simple things are novel and fun for new players" is probably the thing everyone is the blindest to, be it someone making a game, a tabletop RPG, or even showing someone else a game. It's impressive how quickly you desensitize yourself to basic mechanics that are actually a blast to play for the first time.

[@yurilopes420]

100% i got my friends playing apex legends, and one of the single best mechanics in that game is the fact that there's no fall damage. regardless of where you are you always have somewhere to run because you can just drop 1000 feet to the ground. but when i was playing with them, i completely forgot to tell them there's no fall damage, a core mechanic, in like 2h of playing, because even tho i love the mechanic im so desensitized to it

[@MrDeldris]

I just started Tactical Breach Wizards and my first time blasting a dude out a window was fucking incredible. You do it constantly during the game, so I imagine the devs got desensitized to it but it's a great example of this exact thing.

[@MarkedThing]

I like to imagine coyote time is just the player using their foot to push the side of the ledge behind them to jump

[@zoltaine]

Okay thank you for saying that

[@ezequielcanale]

I imagine as the player having propelled boots that push them in the air once.

[@CrucibleOfHate]

@@ezequielcanale Okay but that's a double jump

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

That doesn't even make sense and wouldn't allow you to jump effectively at all. Terrible head canon.

[@CrucibleOfHate]

@@Ten_Thousand_Locusts Better let those people go, the fucking scourge is here

[@BigManJD]

My immediate reaction to dashing into that big group of enemies is for some sort of splash damage to occur. I think adding that as some sort of upgrade or maybe just by default would be a really satisfying and powerful addition.

[@ThePhantomTommy]

For someone who says they don't know what they're doing, the solutions you're coming up with are awesome. The "player grace" of not resetting the enemy lock when enemies are grouped together is something no player will ever think about, but will make a world of difference to game feel. Great stuff.

[@finesseandstyle]

I've been developing a game and this is something that I've had to deal with. And as a player I've noticed this in games a lot more now :)

[@Armameteus]

There's a saying that goes something like, "The best game mechanic is one the player never even notices." The idea being that a well-designed game mechanic is _so_ intuitive and _so_ obvious from the perspective of a player that it becomes second-nature instantly, with next-to-no learning-curve or potential for confusion. That isn't to say said mechanic can't be insanely deep and complex; it just makes such perfect sense that the player doesn't even register that they're learning something - they just play with it and clicks instantly. You make it, the player gets it, there's no friction and everyone's happy. And it applies to everything; good UI requires no time to understand what you're looking at, good mechanics are smooth and satisfying, good feedback allows the player to instantly recognize what's happening, etc. It's basically the holy grail of game design.

[@AmiciCherno]

I love watching your development videos and getting to play the results! Keep it up, I can't wait to buy the full version of this eventually!

[@ince55ant]

you explain the problems so well that they seem obvious, but totally understandable how much work goes into getting there Maybe put off doing the first levels of the game until the rest of the game is made. as they say "the first level is the one you make last" since its when you know everything you'll need to teach the player

[@Blargis3d]

This is so true and I have learned this the hard way. With every new level I've made I have learned something new and it just makes me want to go back and fix the old stuff haha. So yeah I probably should just table the first few levels for a while and revisit at the end.

[@sakenovax5863]

​@@Blargis3didk if this was the idea but the game just seems like ghostrunner without the slowmo

[@skabop47]

@@sakenovax5863 a 3d movement platformer where you use a sword? gooootta be a ghostrunner clone.

[@ryanwillingham]

before i finish watching the video, i want to make some suggestions from 2:05 and i'm gonna see what you end up implementing: -fov zooms in on the target/out with speed (would want to play around and see which one feels better) -particles spray out on impact -small freeze frame when the sword impacts the guy -a little screen shake, of course -see if you need a better sound for the impact, sound also goes a long way update: i love the guy exploding so much omg

[@invis_potion]

I would say impact frames but thats just a shitty suggestion imo those freeze frames like the ones in ultrakill would be so much better

[@yurilopes420]

@@invis_potion i generally hate freeze frames

[@Smizzy7]

Add a drop kick

[@christophperktold1824]

Lmao

[@potatoman12555]

My grandma’s favourite move

[@Pricklyscug]

It would be really funny if I could do the JUDGEMENT. Anyways it seems like a fire idea.

[@JorginhoSilveiro]

Up.

[@ArzenikDev]

And a kid!(Totally for something else...)

[@crazyboyandyomama]

Wow, this is a really good video. Your explanation of the struggles/challenges mainting the balance of introducings game mecanics and then slowly showing what can be done as an expert was so succinct.

[@clonkex]

Your comments about dealing with a forgiving aim system while still respecting player intent also apply perfectly to in-world UIs and buttons. You don't want your players to have to aim pixel-perfect at a button, but still want them to be able to click a button that's further away even if there's another button closer to the player. It's this kind of problem and solution that separates good games from rubbish ones where it feels like the dev never played their own game. Bravo!

[@DashzRight]

it is not really about the dev playing or not their games, most devs do play their games to death, it is simply a matter of knowledge, experience, technique and critical thinking. You can play your game to death and just adopt its flaws like 99% of amateur to even mid developers do.

[@clonkex]

@@DashzRight Oh I know. I was only saying some games _feel_ like the devs didn't play their game at all. I know that of course they did. I'm a dev myself. The only way to make a game is to play it yourself many thousands of times.

[@Evanz111]

Love the idea of this video! I remember really wanting to make a game that revolved around a FPS which rewards trickshots. So imagine Call of Duty except going for kills would always result in you losing. Instead you have to do everything you can to make the kill feel skillful. Spinning before shooting, being in midair, jumping off a ladder or mid zipline/grapple, using your last bullet in a mag etc. Closest point of comparison would be the scoring system in Bulletstorm, but making it multiplayer focused. Creative weapons like bullets that can ricochet, have to be charged, can only be shot after sprinting or sliding - just to encourage players to use all the systems as they kill instead of just going for cheap shots.

[@christophernoneya4635]

Theres one change I'd make, when you demonstrate the example of timing carrying between enemies (10:30) it seems when they're bunched up its impossible to dash at them without getting injured which may be viewed as unavoidable damage and therefore unfair but there's an incredibly easy way to actually reward the player for situations like this and turn frustration to excitement... a small AoE effect at the end of the dash, if 2 enemies are standing that close together they both explode. This will leave players looking out for clumps of enemies and excited when it happens rather than potentially frustrated and since its such an edge case it wont really impact balancing (and can even be integrated into later levels or enemies or something if need be)

[@WilliamSyler]

They don't even have to take damage, a small AoE knockback may be enough to make the effect satisfying. Perhaps something where attacking a opponent struggling with that back cancels out any pre-attack lag so you still have to aim, but you get more DPS for the effort.

[@vegtam2869]

I swear when you used the dot product of the vectors my mind very near exploded, perfect example of being able to put the math we learn in school to use 😂

[@htspencer9084]

So much of gamedev is vector maths or trig 😂

[@gragaloth6237]

One suggestion I just thought of if you ever want to introduce new mechanics is the historic concept of blood humors. Theres black bile, yellow bile, white bile ( phlegm) and red bile (blood). You could maybe make them as different reward tiers/medals, or actual game mechanics like teleport for white bile or harder ground pound for black bile. And if we wanna go that deep, could have each humor have its own meter that the player has to balance strategically. IF you wanna go that deep further into the game

[@Theknightman-wg1dz]

A big change to make it not only historical, but just more realistic is have the guy’s arm not fully extended with one of the most heavy feeling swords you could pick all the time

[@Architector_4]

@@Theknightman-wg1dz Eh, the buddy can dash 30 meters up in the air and bounce off everything like on a pogo-stick, he'll be fine lmao

[@Theknightman-wg1dz]

@@Architector_4 he’ll be fine, but I won’t when I think of it

[@Architector_4]

@@Theknightman-wg1dz best i can suggest is suspension of disbelief; personally i find the extended arm upright sword hold a charming visual for a game of this style lol

[@samadel.a765]

Bro that would make the game more enjoyable and take longer But it might as well need for entirly new levels or to make each level revolve around a certain single skill or a couple of those skills

[@motozirillo]

These are some great insights into the challenge of game dev. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your project!

[@GameDevYal]

The industry term for "player grace" is "hysteresis". It's a big thing in things like device drivers, where you have noisy input signals and don't want to accidentally e.g. start emptying the coolant tanks because a cosmic ray flipped a bit - you sample it for a while and only take action after the condition has been going on for a certain amount of time so you can be sure it's for real. (And conditions for entering and leaving a state have a range gap between them so you won't flip-flop between them if the signal is right in the middle)

[@SheepUndefined]

I think player grace could be a bit more than just simple hysteresis, though, yes, that concept is immensely useful for getting games and ui to not feel like ass. It's more of just systems that don't expect the player to have pixel perfect/frame perfect precision for most things, than the specific thing they were talking about.

[@Delaterius]

Hysteresis is a great term for this specific type of grace, but a more general industry term is "forgiveness"

[@migueeeelet]

@@SheepUndefined Player Grace to me feels like the bridge between the Player Character's knowledge ("hey I'm at the edge of this platform, that's as far as I can run before jumping") and the actual player ("can I squeeze an extra pixel?"), specially when in the middle you have the cold hard math of programming ("you're 0.0001s in the air, no jumping!")

[@fabrix199]

@@Delaterius yeah, i heard "forgiving" to describe something like this more often

[@Delaterius]

@@migueeeelet Yes. "Forgiveness" is generally used when you need to account for human error in order for a mechanic to feel fair or responsive. A common one is letting a shot hit an enemy in an FPS even if it actually missed by a small amount. The intent is for you to only get credit if the crosshair is over the enemy, but we understand that a human doesn't care if a shot is off by 0.001mm, and isn't capable of 0.001mm precision anyway, so we employ forgiveness and give him the hit

[@iPuls3]

I also really like the idea of introducing more "boring" levels in the beginning, it allows players to have fun with newly learned mechanics for a bit before needing to really be challenged.

[@Alloveck]

Totally agreed. If I had a nickel for every game that ramped up the challenge faster then I felt ready to want the challenge ramped up, I... Wouldn't be anywhere near wealthy, but I'd probably have at least a dollar or two. And at the very least, ramping up slower is just the safer choice. If games have a problem with the speed at which they up the challenge at all, it's much, much more likely to be ramping up too fast than ramping up too slow. That's a big part of why I like loose, open game structure- it's so much easier to choose your own pace that way.

[@migueeeelet]

@@Alloveck Also this game style rewards speed, so if the early levels are "boring" then skilled players can just blaze through them.

[@zenithquasar9623]

Safe bubble of experimentation and learning.

[@revimfadli4666]

or like Mario where the earlier parts of the level are basically tutorials for the level end

[@officialbfi01]

Telegraphing the dash target made the biggest difference to me personally. Looks really polished altogether, good work!

[@syacone]

for the dash, have you ever thought about increasing the fov when the dash starts? like in nfs games, when you use NOS, the games fov increases and it makes the game feel more 'intense'

[@mrtomithy]

i second this idea

[@joelb6456]

Motion sickness would be insane for some players

[@finesseandstyle]

@@joelb6456 If it's done properly, it shouldn't happen.

[@malaki7335]

@@joelb6456 It could always be a toggle in the settings.

[@migueeeelet]

I don't think FOV would help much here, specially as it could make aiming the air dash harder as it charges

[@Jadenas]

The dash looks pretty satisfying. Installing the playtest as I type. Also love the "medieval" setting. Always nice to see. GL with the development. Absolutely looking forward to the release.

[@Johnny31323]

I think the grace period is very important for pretty much every genre of a game. Even tho, many games don't even implement it. It's also really easy to implement since it's just a timer that can either buffer an action, or allow an action to be executed within that time limit. Bunny hopping is the best example.

[@petraschmitz7850]

Really depends on the type of game though. Not giving grace on these micro instances can be a great way to add depth and skill expression to a competitive game, but here its applied perfecty for sure

[@call_me_ettal]

Some random ideas that could be interesting to implement: - Air dash animation cancels regular attack, or the reverse (or both!) - Charge time increases max range of dash (rather than the current version where long dashes take no longer than shorter ones), but your dash ends at the targeted enemy - Holding down a certain button means you dash the full distance charged instead of ending at the enemy, but you slash them as you pass by (a slide) - Tapping airdash instead of holding and releasing could result in a short dash straight forward with a slash (no targeting with rays) - The tap and slide could combo well with animation cancelling, especially if jumping/bunny hopping preserves the momentum of the slide/dash or you can use the tap-dash to extend jumps I'm not sure which of these (if any) are really compatible with your vision for the game but hopefully they help you continue developing skill expression

[@The-python-guy]

You should always make sure that the world reacts when you interact. mist or any response to a action. is always going to prevent a narrasistic injury and therefore make things fun. (this is what valve used as their thought process that the built half-life's mechanics around)

[@Blargis3d]

Very good point!

[@The-python-guy]

@@Stenny833 fr what I was trying to say was people don't like it when there is blatant non response from stuff in a game.

[@LutraLovegood]

A narrasistic injury?

[@The-python-guy]

@@LutraLovegood dude thats just what gabe newell said, in other words a injury that the world is ignoring you

[@SavageJarJar]

@@The-python-guy Narrasistic is not a word and I have no idea what you mean. Please rewrite your comment

[@haiiry]

I love the game, like ideologically it looks like a vampire themed Ghostrunner and it is very cool

[@KTKettler]

These are some of the best devlogs on youtube right now, you've found a great balance of being fun and engaging while still going deep on game design principles.

[@SamGarcia]

I actually like the throwing the enemy in the air effect more than the explosion, the potential is it can result in chaining an air dash multiple times to enemies already thrown up in the air

[@TheGonzaDev]

9:47 It's still coyote time, right? it's not for jumping but the concept is the same, epic vid btw!

[@skaruts]

Not quite. It's a grace period, but it's not Coyote Time. Coyote Time is one form of grace period, but it's specifically about jumping at ledges.

[@mnoble5406]

@@skaruts exactly, Player Grace is a more general term that encompasses Coyote Time. You could imagine something else with a health bar, where you do not die immediately when you hit 0 HP, but after a few ms, so that a heal you already initiated might still come through and save you

[@binglebangle230]

As someone who is trying to learn godot myself, with extremely similar mechanics and aesthetic, I wanted to tell you you are extremely generous with the information you give out and I appreciate it EXTREMELY. You even put out the gdscript. I will be following you closely.

[@cyqry]

9:47 The closest thing to an industry term I've heard is probably Coyote Time. Its used more for the grace period between a player falling off a ledge and them no longer being registered as standing on ground, the grace period allows players to jump so they can get back up on the ledge. EDIT: Didn't realise you mentioned Coyote Time like a minute later. But yeah I think this is probably the closest thing we have to a proper term.

[@RealPnoenix]

I was just about to mention this lol

[@SheepUndefined]

I've also heard some channels call it "cheating on the player's behalf." Stuff like portal setting your velocity once you reach a certain point so you always just barely make that cool ass jump, or making your hurtbox a bit smaller than your hitbox, and the inverse for enemies.

[@skaruts]

It's a grace period, but it's not Coyote Time. Coyote Time is one form of "grace period", but it's very specific to jumping at ledges.

[@kasane1337]

@@SheepUndefined "making your hurtbox a bit smaller than your hurtbox" - what?

[@SheepUndefined]

@@kasane1337 Hurtbox smaller than your hitbox, sorry. Specifically like, making the area that bullets or attacks can collide with your player character smaller than the one used for like, platforming collisions and such.

[@SHR1]

Very insightful video! Loved seeing the process of how you improved the air dash. I watched the video and actually tested the game myself, and I have a tip. Air dash does feel really good, that's no doubt, but I think the parry needs some touch up. Honestly, you could do what ultrakill does and stop time for a little bit when parrying to really give impact; you could also make the arrow explode, but idk if that would make sense with the game that you're going for. Instead what you could do is make the arrow travel 2 times faster (idk if you do already tbh), make the arrow penetrate enemies, and when an enemy gets killed with a parry, they drop more blood. You could use similar effects as the air dash kill.

[@MerlinDev]

I really, thoroughly enjoyed watching you walk through the process of redesigning an actual mechanic. So few channels on YT will go in-depth about specifics. Usually it's either super-generic, or a video essay made about a AAA game by a consumer. I will have to pick up that book.

[@hotdogking2303]

i am so exited, i just realized that this is a playtest game on steam and i can join!!!

[@colehillyer2329]

Love how you go into the math behind your game mechanics. Thank you for taking the time to share the intentions behind your design choices. Definitely subbing to see more!

[@wander7812]

I have an idea for a type of level: The Persuit In this level, the player is tasked with either chasing down an AI that can move approximetely close to a skilled player's level (use your own gameplay for reference), and another where same type of AI is chasing down the player. to contrast the theme of medieval knights, it could be a japanese shinobi (ninja), and there can be extra "challenge" gamemode, with many of levels with these. That when completed, unlock the player the "Katana Skin"

[@zepplenlives9662]

Or time attack ghosts where you can time trial a map and see ghosts of other players and try to beat their time.

[@AnkaraMessi-p8g]

10:27 i like this cuz this allows for some really advanced movement that uses this mechanic to 'stretch' the maximum distance of the dash/best enemy selection and to gain advantage in different situations

[@The-python-guy]

played bloodthief its pretty cool I like the movment :)

[@bearstrike]

Love this. Your appreciation of game design and analytical approach to problem solving is excellent.

[@strokingmyshitrealgood]

babe wake up new blargis just dropped

[@banjomanperson]

Wow dude what a username

[@strokingmyshitrealgood]

@@banjomanperson I am not ashamed of who I am, I let it show freely

[@tlbwarior2327]

just playtested it and it was absolutely amazing,didnt run into any bugs or issues either keep up the great work man

[@cookiecz123]

The gore isn't that bad. Also you should add a shootable/throwable weapon.

[@flamollusk420]

go go gadget swordarang

[@jackjackson5498]

8:36 something I saw a lot of other games do as well is flash up specifically the amount of blood that you would need, its useful if there is gonna be a lot of methods to use blood that arent the same amount

[@RiedElliott]

I think it would be cool if you could throw you sword. It would bounce off enemies and come back to you it could be used for some really cool combos and maybe it could flip switches to help complete puzzles faster.

[@bam_bino__]

It would invalidate the dash

[@RiedElliott]

@@bam_bino__ not necessarily the dash is used for movement and this is not

[@Paradi5e_l0st]

Wanted to say thank you for this video, your solution for your lockon system grabbing wrong targets actually gave me inspiration to complete my own that I was stuck on getting functional for about a week.

[@Macaron-s8u]

Bro, your smash abilty bounce thing barely works, please PLEASE fix it

[@Kaloffee]

15:03 You should also add a secret “dev time” medal to represent your best time on all the levels! Neon White implemented this and the most fun I had in that game was chasing the developer time medal in every level

[@averysketchygamer3241]

Unironically, this seems more fun and engaging as a playtest than 90% of fully polished AAA games being released nowadays As a Sekiro enjoyer and a Genji player in Overwatch this looks like an absolute power fantasy. Multitasking and maintaining movement flow to create fluid and flashy playbacks is unironically some of the pinnacle of game design Def adding to my wishlist. Keep up the good work dude 👍

[@SleepyLazyPanda]

1:15 I wrote the Principles of Game Feel for myself if anyone is interested : Principles of Game Feel : - Predictable results : When players take action, they get the response they expect. - Instantaneous response : The player feels the response to their input is immediate. - Easy but deep : The game takes minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. - Novelty : Though the result of an input is predictable, there is enough subtelty and expressiveness to keep the controls feeling fresh and interesting through hours and hours of play. - Appealing response : The sensation of control is aesthetically appealing and compelling, separate from context. - Organic motion : Controlling the avatar creates appealing arcs of motion. - Harmony : Each element of a game's feel supports a single, cohesive perception of a unique physical reality for the player.

[@Gooberingoni]

Ur making ghostrunner

[@irecordwithaphone1856]

That's actually so true. But I do like the spin this game takes on it

[@endlesstf2555]

better karlsonn

[@WonderSealYT]

Bruh

[@endlesstf2555]

@@WonderSealYT ?

[@WonderSealYT]

@@endlesstf2555 they are equal in different ways

[@bassterlo]

This shit looks like medieval ultrakill! I love it.

[@aserta]

5:09 that, in any kind of dev work is called "the stink conundrum". Issues pertaining to you are issues you're unable to "sniff". At that, this exists outside dev work in real life and even something like art, which is why you see artists get up from an easel, step back and look at the work piece from either distance or a mirror (in these days, manipulation > mirror horizontal + zoom out). THAT, is because your brain is not a single, monolithic element, rather a conglomerate of thought specific centers. You might want to watch "Answers with Joe"'s episode on separating (physically) the two halves of the brains, just recently released. It does help to understand what you're doing is part of a thought process outside normal means of control.

[@jpbakes9152]

Looks so sick, was already downloading by the time the play test was mentioned

[@Aluwilliam]

Yo this looks really cool! I just recently (like last week recently) got started trying game dev, so it was really cool to see your process. Just joined the playtest!

[@westingtyler1]

10:00 the "player grace" idea might be what they call "affordances" in the industry. i saw a gdc talk about uncharted or something where they talk about how they only have ledges at specific heights so you can easily see if you can hide, climb, unscalable, etc. and in half life, etc. there are "corner smoothing colliders" to make you not hit corners as much. "coyote time" is another one - just giving a little leeway to the player so they can make minor errors and still feel awesome, so that "close enough" is good enough.

[@soganox]

This is really, really good! You explained the premise clearly, and your problem-solving approach is great. +1 sub from me! Looking forward to see the future of this game.

[@cakemanLHK]

I discovered your channel a few days ago and have been binging your devlogs. I really enjoy them and the timing couldn't have been better, since I just played Quake for the first time. Can't wait to see more :)

[@iamtimsson]

6:10 Call it peer through. And when cast ray, if there is a collider behind a collider, find the farthest back, if it is colliding, with the ray, then do.

[@iamtimsson]

7:00 Nice, now let one jump through to rear collider. Enemies gone through have chance to swing, maybe incorporate some block. Maybe a bounce or knock out from the... Through strike.

[@callmesketchy7525]

I think you should add impact to the sword. It seems, from watching, that the enemies are like cutting grass. A game that did this really well was Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I know that's a fairly high end game, but the sparks and sudden change of momentum of your sword feels like you've really just thwacked someone with a blade. It could also be a great way to set apart the dash attack if a normal attack reacts to cutting through an enemy and a dash attack is like cutting butter. >:)

[@youtubeher026]

I really like these game dev logs, others just show the result if their work but you show problems and how you solved them

[@parkie2582]

Hey I just wondered onto this video from my FYP. I want to say you're doing a phenomenal job. Your game looks great and very fun to play. The way you explain game design, your mechanics, and your code is very intuitive and enjoyable to watch. Keep it up! You definetly got me to subscribe.

[@Juexis5]

lol just had an “aha” moment when you mentioned coyote time and showed wile e coyote. also amazing devlog, just binged it all today

[@Preaz3]

i CANNOT wait for this mf game man looks amazing i really enjoy the general vibe that you have created with the old and goey look, but not too gory where youre shuttering as you play. also i think a cool addition to add as a relief from the main progression would be like swag levels that you unlock as you play the game. Like levels that are extremely flowy and easier than the normal gameplay.

[@on_certainty]

"easy but deep" is an important thing. looking back at early levels of Portal 1 or Celeste after beating them is staggering in their simplicity. But that took us through our baby steps!

[@clement9846]

MAN I love this new version of the dash mechanic ! The part where you dash through 10 ennemies accross 3 different rooms in the span of 15 seconds made me want to play sooo much. I Wishlisted Bloodthief on Steam!

[@Zzz-j2f]

I’m glad you’re taking “legacy skill” into account. There are a few games that I love that would benefit from not having to do some mandatory tutorial level every single time you wanted to replay the game.

[@prometheus3396]

Holy shit, first time seeing your stuff. As someone who hopes to make games some day, seeing you do this “especially the the titanfall-esque wall run” makes me so incredibly happy for what we’ve got coming from developers like you. Subbed and will buy the shit out of this game when it comes out.

[@gr1mmsly804]

Really helped me gain some insight into the deeper realm of game design, appreciate it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Just gained a new subscriber 😁

[@natureboss1938]

just found your channel and this game looks awesome! I love the aesthetic your using and it hits all my favorite gameplay points. just wishlisted, i cant wait to see what this game becomes!

[@gatorsoup]

Great video. The game is looking so strong. I really like how you are thinking about the game, it makes a lot of sense, and seeing you build out and polish these mechanics is really inspiring.

[@SprintyFromUkraine]

Just finished the playtest and left feedback. Amazing game!

[@ZealedGuy]

Best Devlog yet, keep on improving mate

[@squadcar25]

What a cool video. Thanks for detailing this. Interesting how a mechanic that is in its concept unchanged but a bunch of feedback matters so much. Definitely wishlisting this game. Has boomer shooter but parkour look to it and you are willing to learn as you go so high hopes. Good luck!

[@josephzado2377]

I'm getting "Die By the Sword" vibes from this, which is a good sign. I actually think that game is a perfect example of what you're talking about here. It came out in 1998 and I still go back every few years because the core mechanic, while a little janky, is so unique and satisfying that the game still holds up.

[@nopianocovers6628]

I love the video! One suggestion is to play with the color palette of the environment and/or enemies so that it’s much easier to see enemies at the first glance. Right now they sort of blend in and in a game that’s trying to be very fast paced and visual, I think that a little bit more clarity/contrast could go a long way!

[@TheMulletWesker]

I just started studying the Godot engine and game design a few months ago and this video popped up on my feed. Bloodthief has been wishlisted. Can't wait to air-dash!

[@tdcjumper0x707]

very interesting and insightful video, it's cool to see how you solved some of these design problems..

[@walden6347]

This is honestly a great video. Definitely looking forward to playing the final product as well. Here are two suggestions that I have for making kills more satisfying: - Specific sounds could be used when killing an enemy. For instance, their helmet could clang when it hits the floor or the rings of their chainmail could go flying and jingle across the floor. If an enemy might have a particularly large sword, it could perhaps rattle when it hits the ground. Even a death cry specific to each enemy type could help with this (just pitched up or down slightly at random for variation). Considering the artstyle and the sounds already in the game, maybe Quake could provide some inspiration here! - Uniquely distinguishable gibbets for the different enemy types could create a more visceral experience, while making any backtracking (if a level requires it) more satisfying instead of having a generic pool of blood. The original Doom used this strategy to help the player feel empowered in seeing their own handiwork instead of just simple drops or pickups. The enemies you created are easily readable from a long range, so why not lean into the easily identifiable nature of the enemies you created?

[@flameofthephoenix8395]

4:11 This is what microphones are for what does the player want most in life? To be blasted with someone imitating a sword slash that has been put through a Java program to filter it.

[@BurntJeans]

I played the demo for the game and it was loads of fun! i have loved all you have done with the game so far and cant wait to see where it goes in the future and cant wait to play more!

[@Tinkrs]

this is the first time i saw this game and i can tell you it is a masterpiece! also, while testing the game out i found that you could rocket jump with the wrist crossbow! all you need to do to make a perfect jump is to starf with the a or/and d keys without touching w. Afterward, turn 170/160 degree and shoot and you make a very big jump! only thing is that it's hard to turn without loosing speed. i'll love to see this mechanic emplemented in the core game! fun but precise.

[@danielbooker8674]

I honestly was watching this hoping to see you add a feature to the air dash where you're able to slash multiple enemies in a tight group all at once. I think that would be so satisfying. I haven't really seen anything like that in the gameplay of this video. The ability to strike down groups of enemies all at once. Imagine jumping all around like a maniac and seeing a cesspool of 5 enemies all grouped up and you dash forward, slashing them all at once and having them all explode. Maybe consider adding differnet types of attacks, like a heavy attack that you can use blood from your blood meter for. That way you can perform bigger, stronger attacks with some discipline to add to it so that you can't just spam it. Regardless, this video is sick and his game looks even BETTER! I absolutely LOVE games yhat focus on movement and speed! Keep this up, I really wanna play this game!

[@Raven-gz8pq]

oh man like if he added in a levi spin from AOT?

[@rom4ik730]

Cool video! It explains on practice a lot about game design and how you found out smth doesn't work. Here's adidtional "thank you" for the book you mentioned ❤

[@lobsterlunchbox7581]

I saw this game and thought "This looks like ultrakill but with sword" and then I watched the video, now I'm invested in this game

[@ChurroLightyear]

I really like the way celeste did the whole skill flow thing. Hurt my brain after playing for a minute that there was a different way to use the same 3 buttons well after

[@NYNmetal]

one thing that looks like it could be a bit jarring is if you rotate your mouse or the enemy starts moving after you start your dash. where your attack animation looks like it hits and where the enemy actually is seems like they can diverge if this happens. homing the player to the enemy as they move, or maybe locking in the mouse rotation/slowing it down so that once you start the dash you can't look away might be ways to alleviate this. a few times in this video this thing happens and it looks like it takes away from the "appealing response" as you slash at the air next to the enemy and they explode into gibs anyway

[@lacklinotter1017]

This immediately made me think of the power slide in my game I'm working on. It started out as a sprite bug where the sprite will turn the wrong way if you press the buttons weird, but then I thought "What if that did something?" And now it makes you go faster and empowers shots.

[@Cxrsed_rl]

game looks amazing and im all here for it, keep up the work!

[@flameofthephoenix8395]

2:36 Aha! And in line with the cartoon chickens flying across your screen, you could make them explode into piles of chickens instead of blood.

[@testentity1.0gaming95]

I've off and on followed this project for a bit, but from where it began this looks much better. I suggest applying the grace period to more mechanics such as the basic swing, because from some of the gameplay shown it looked as if the player should have hit the enemy but didn't (12:16 for an example). Could fix this in a few different ways: 1. The idea I think would make most sense: Increase the time in which the player's attack is active at the tail end of the swing; Prevents frustration from swinging slightly too early. 2. Increase the range of the attack; Reduces frustration from not damaging an enemy the player may otherwise think should have taken damage. 3. Slightly draw the player toward and enemy when attacking; not personally recommended as this could interrupt the flow of the movement, although could tie in well with the dashing mechanic. 4. Draw the enemy towards the player (Do an Amid Evil); Similar to increasing range but also helps to reduce the chance of the player missing their swing.

[@Mister_Doodles]

I’m really glad this video got recommended! I’m excited to get a chance to try this game out myself

[@Hicks206]

Hey man, veteran game designer here - just wanted to say I really, really enjoy watching you talk about your learning and iteration. I think you’re going places if you stick with it! Absolutely LOVE your passion for the art of design!

[@feliperios9213]

Keep the good work! The new "tutorial", with slow motion and everything feels *really* nice. I don't even know if you are going to read this, but here is a suggestion for... Well, everything: redundancy. Examples: - Making the player practice the thing you already told them about in the tutorial a little longer (as you are already thinking about). - The new dash target crosshair shows really well the dash target, but you can also add some sort of blood chain linking the player to the target while dashing. Maybe the player's offhand pulling himself towards the enemy using a blood rope (just like spiderman with webs)? - There already is a blood meter bar in the HUD, but you still can add some sort of trim in the sword which gets filled with blood, mirroring the state of the blood bar, or some other element, like making the screen edges bloody. - There already are effects making the dash feel nice, but some occasional short slow motion in the moment the dash starts, giving the player a little more time to process where are they going would make it even more satisfying. - The medals at the end already give the player a reward for being fast, but what about some sort of combo counter to give an immediate feedback about their frenzy?

[@scrumblo7165]

for the "easy but deep" you could either have the airdash be cancellable for a sort of "air hook" mechanic, or require a specific click press timing (like when you did the slide after a dash to keep your momentum) to help keep that momentum, but as a boost for when you do get it, not as a punish for when you can't.

[@icommitdie8756]

ngl I firmly believe this game will be the next “commentary youtuber background gameplay” game

[@Varntex]

Watching this I had a thought about the airdash near the end of the video. It looks like you stop after you have smashed an enemy to bits, and thought it would be fun to use that momentum you gain through the dash onward, as if you smash through the enemy and continue with your velocity, perhaps if the dash happens when you right click, that if you hold it down you will keep your momentum? It was my first thought as to how I might try to get up to that upper secret tunnel you mentioned. 14:50 Great video btw! Looking forward to playing this game, looks super fun ^^

[@dssaurabh9501]

I had a blast playing the playtest, eagerly waiting for the full steam release. Your game is fun af

[@AsyncMusic]

I think the gore is pretty good! You hit the nail on the head with the ultrakill inspiration, and like that game it doesnt feel that gorey since its very stylish and cartoony. Reminds me of squibs in samurai and john woo movies too. Adding an option to change the color of the gore effects or reduce them entirely would be a decent idea for accessability, but i think leaving the default where its at now would be fine for like 95 percent of players