Surviving the Steam Next Fest | Cold Take

[@CaptainEffort]

“To say a game is derivative is to hold my past against it” How is the writing for Cold Take so good wtf? This line made me question my own “originality shaming”.

[@wallyhackenslacker]

If anything, the boomer shooter revival has shown that there is nothing bad with being derivative.

[@unclefred3128]

It's just Frost being Frost. I've followed his work for many years and he's always had a way with words

[@Hawk7886]

​@@SimuLordO'Rourke was dumb af and probably only enjoyed missionary and bud light. There are books from nearly two thousand years in the past exploring love and sex. Beer is one of the first things humans worked to develop and has five thousand years of history. To say "humans got it right the first time" is absurd.

[@vitsavicky]

The only question I ever ask is if it's good. I really don't care if it copies other games 1:1. If it is good, I am happy. The problem is that most games that blatantly copy other games usually aren't that good. Usually... not always.

[@D1ndo]

This largely depends on how much derivative the game is, and your definition of the word. For example, I loved Hades. Yet the mentioned Chinese Hades makes me feel tired without even looking it up. I have zero intentions in checking it out, because it looks like just more of the same. Too much of anything is bad. You'll get fed up. I want surprises. I want originality. Especially with the limited free time I have.

[@stevejakab274]

One thing you should have added: devs, don't remove your demo after NextFest is over, or even after the game's released (unless you replace it with a new demo). Just because someone doesn't play your demo right away doesn't mean they'll never want to play it, and if your demo is any good it should make people more likely to buy your game, not less.

[@adamsbja]

Balatro annoyed me with this. It's the sort of game where you'll know if it's your thing or not within maybe ten minutes max, but you should get to poke it first. The demo vanished as soon as the game released.

[@AstralDragn]

@@adamsbja apparently the same thing happened with Pacific drive, which is surprising and disappointing.

[@maskoblackfyre]

100% agreed. Demos need to be all but mandatory.

[@robertstenzel8455]

I continue to love Frost's recurring point of being "someone's favorite game" as opposed to a generalist crowd pleaser. So many of the games in my library are indies that I gave a chance and made me happy to do so; BG3 last year was fun, but I came back to Solasta before it because I honestly like it better. Some games just scratch an itch the right way; filet mignons are nice, but if I'm craving a mollete, I'll be much happier to slap some beans and cheese on bread than schleping it to a steakhouse.

[@ChefAndyLunique]

1:33 “We eat with our eyes”. As a veteran Chef of ten years - incredibly true. That said, a Chef mentor added to that and stated “We eat with our eyes, but they need to read the menu first”. In relation to this I believe many devs need guidelines or classes on how to properly describe the experience for the player as well as appropriate genre. Many devs find themselves missing out on players and investors with poor wording. Not everyone is going to watch the trailer or get hands on time, so it’s god practice to have that description sharp.

[@Hawk7886]

I dunno, I love going to a legit sushi restaurant, sitting in front of a master chef, and have them prepare what they want to make in the moment. I have no idea what is coming next, and unraveling the mystery is a fantastic experience. That's kind of the point behind demos - try something new, and maybe you'll love it.

[@YuzuDrink]

I always recommend that devs read their descriptions and pitches having removed all adjectives. “An intense action game with complex level design and innovative, original level design and mechanics” becomes “a game with level design and mechanics” and now you start to see the problem.

[@Shotblur]

@@Hawk7886 The menu (or past experience) informs you that "chef's choice" is even an option.

[@Hawk7886]

@@Shotblur what? no. you sit down and say hello. that's it.

[@AlanXEverfrost]

The moment I heard that snip of a King being summoned forward 50 years to save his fallen kingdom, my mind keeps focusing on the idea that the kingdom might have fallen because the idiots in the future summoned him away from his flourishing realm and so are themselves the cause of the ruin he now has to fix...weird timeloop thing.

[@OzixiThrill]

The issue with that idea is that it hits a legitimate grandfather paradox, as the cause of the disaster (the future calling the king forth) does not exist in a future where the king was never called forth.

[@michaelmcelligott5074]

@8:28 I didn't read the game page's description, but when Frost is describing it here he says you play as a king "reincarnated" 50 years later to save his kingdom. That would imply he had died whilst the kingdom was flourishing, and was brought back to life 50 years later because it had turned bad. Not pulled out of it while ruling his flourishing kingdom.

[@SolaScientia]

This reminds me, very positively, of how Iron Pineapple does his Steam Dumpster Diving vids for his Souls-like games. He gives them all a chance and he tries to be critical when discussing where the devs could improve or if the game is just hot garbage. He is more lenient for the solo dev games/demos or the student project games. Umbraclaw looks and sounds awesome; shame about the controls. One demo that worked really well for me is the one for Fall of Porcupine. It's done in such a way that the full game actually takes place after the events of the demo. The demo brings you to the town, gets the player to the hospital to start work, introduces some of the mini-games that are used in the main game, and, most importantly, gets the story going. It's ends on an intentional cliffhanger that the full game then resolves. I recommend that game for the story, art, and music more than anything else. Most of the mini-games are fine, but there are 2 that are not great; one of those 2 is very difficult to do with a controller. The Lies of P demo left a bit of a bad taste, because while it looked gorgeous and I was intrigued by the story (and the fact that the demo is a lot longer than I would have expected (it didn't end when the title loaded)), the gameplay felt...off. It didn't click with me. That said, the devs listened to what people were saying and made adjustments. I'm finally playing the full game and the combat is so much better. I'm exploring the factory after having beaten the boss and gotten that inventor dude back to the hotel, and combat is really clicking better for me. They even changed some mechanics so that they're unlocked from the start instead of something you have to unlock later on.

[@rickimaru915]

I like demos that take place before or parrallel to the main game. This was the case for Resident Evil 7 and 8

[@soulechelon2643]

Every single Next Fest, I go through the whole entire catalogue of indie games, choose the ones I'm most interested in, and then spam my friend with the ones that end up being good. It's funny cuz every time I begin with "Guess what time of the year it is!" and she'd throw some form of a "running away" or "scream" gif at me. Clearly she loves it. And...yeah, your explanation on how the next fest games are like is not wrong lol. But you can find some gems in the middle and even sometimes at the bottom. It's rare, but I've been surprised before.

[@czarkusa2018]

Were you there for the Next Fest demo of Lethal Company? No one was playing it and I couldn't convince anyone to try it lol.

[@soulechelon2643]

@sa2018 Sadly I was one of those that saw Lethal Company and just shrugged it off. To my defense - I'm usually not into horror games so it didn't pique my interest genre-wise anyways. That said, I have played it with friends and it's hilarious.

[@DanSilverhound]

Thank you for including "basic customizable keybindings" as a must, i cant tell you how many demos i closed after only 10 minutes because of this. If its not a control scheme that is absolutely crucial to the reasoning given in a game's logic and feel, then i dont want to be forced to play with a sub optimal setup that someone thought was "intuitive" or "standard", because it is most often neither.

[@FilthyKingsRock]

I remember a TED talk where an artist said if you can't explain the piece in 5 minutes to your grandmother, then it's too complicated. I think the same goes for game descriptions. If I have to start googling terms, it's a big turnoff.

[@johnnydarling8021]

I couldn't explain cloud saves to my grandma in under 5 minutes.

[@tretretre1111]

What about a term like "Roguelike"? It's a reference to a game most of us never played, and it's not obvious just from analyzing the term itself. You have to know what it means to know what it means. Same thing goes for Metroidvania.

[@logiju1]

@@tretretre1111 Roguelike : You start over when you lose, but sometimes they let you get upgrades for the next game session. Every game session is randomized to keep things fresh... That's my understanding of Roguelikes, & every game will not follow a straight recipe, just like how music will add something unique to their genre. Did I do well?

[@johnnydarling8021]

Have you ever tried explaining Minecraft to a non-gamer?

[@FFSamurai]

Take note Square-Enix.

[@csnaber]

Ohoo, great to see another Turkish game in a Second Wind video. I have been following the development of Ingression for 2 years now, I had the chance to be a jury in a couple of indie events they joined. Tha team has vision and skills. Congrats to Espale Studios and Ata to be featured in a Second Wind video. Thank you Sebastian for noticing Ingression!

[@SaskinAdam667]

The Last Stand Aftermath I believe does a great job with the "rewarding you for losing" concept. Every bar of health you permanently lose to an incurable zombie infection gives you mutations that can power up your character in some pretty significant ways. So you can either go out of your way to find immunity boosters that keep you weak but save your health pool, or let the infection mutate you into something stronger.

[@megamagicmonkey]

I watch a LOT of game design videos but this has got to be my first one on how to make a game regarding critical perception. It’s easy to go “this is a game I would play” it’s very different thinking about “this is a game I think someone else would play.” Very helpful, and I like how you present a hierarchy of features and the ‘forgivability’ of features for marketability.

[@justinsinke2088]

Children of the Sun, while narratively bleak, does seem like an interesting take on a puzzle game. However, when it comes to "heavily inspired by" and "derivative", my qualifications to that are mostly "if I can clearly recognize what inspired this game, does it put it's own take on it or is it taking something successful, slapping a new coat of paint on it, and hoping to piggy back the success without doing any real work itself?".

[@RobinClower]

Yeah I've been playing cobalt core recently which is Slay the Spire in space. It even has some of the exact same relics. But the spaceship combat is unique to it, and there's an actual story and characters unlike STS, so despite feeling completely derivative of STS, it also feels unique.

[@stevenneiman1554]

The way I put it is this: If you're going to make a game which is deliberately reminiscent of another game, your audience probably already owns the other game and you'd better have a good answer to the question "why should I buy Y instead of just starting a new save in X?".

[@sovietbear1917]

Not gonna lie, "Hades but Chinese" had me open up a new tab and go to Steam immediately.

[@axelprino]

I really appreciate that you and the rest of Second Wind give such an enthusiastic coverage to the Next Fest because I often only have time to try one or two demos, and this time I just couldn't be asked to do even that due to personal things currently going on in my life. For the last couple of months I've only had the energy to do comfort food levels of gaming, which for this month translated into playing nothing but Tomb Raider Remastered. So thanks for all the effort and sacrificing some of your sanity for the sake of us the audience.

[@QBG]

When I heard they're making a new Jet Set Radio, I was thrilled! When I learned it would be a Live Service™ game (i.e. unfinished and filled with predatory microtransactions), I lost all enthusiasm. But _then_ the algorithm put Bomb Rush Cyberfunk in my feed, and I can't recommend it enough for anyone who loved the Jet Set games. It has its rough edges, but in several ways it's even better than the games that inspired it.

[@MutleeIsTheAntiGod]

Given how badly live service games have been doing the last 6 months, they may have renegged on it being live service. IDK, been a few months since the announcement

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic563]

The idea of a Live Serviced JSR feels like a bad sitcom gag. "The game series you know and love for its irreverence towards authority is now coming back, but with a new twist: conformity to the desires of the authority! For only an easy monthly fee of $9.99 a month, you too can show the Man just how punk you are in the street's of Jet Set Radio's Tokyo-to." Cue a stupid remark by a poorly drawn Homer Simpson ripoff.

[@polkadi]

Everything about BRC feels like a natural evolution to JSR. It's to the point that I no longer want a new JSR, I want to see Team Reptile's new BRC. Sometimes, it's good to wear inspirations on your sleeve, if you can completely surpass it.

[@CJBooks4]

My first impression of TUNIC was of the trailer on the PS4 PlayStation Store after it showed up in the "You May Also Like..." section after I added something else to my cart, no joke. One look at that trailer and I was in love, like love at first sight: then I played TUNIC, and the rest is history: it's now an indescribably beautifully joyful game to me, one of my personal favorites, that has helped me remember so much about myself that I had long forgotten about

[@thatjeff7550]

Oooohhhhh.... I want to see the cat game. The more you die, the more powerful you get /buuuut/ the more you lose your will to go back to your comfortable home. I love the concept!

[@kungfuakash1]

Cold Take is something that I always watch immediately. Insightful and interesting!

[@CthulhusMonocle]

Been writing wee blurbs for Steam Next Fest demos over on /r/games for a number of years now and it is swell to hear someone else's process for covering these.

[@SylverstoneKhandr]

I knew I remember that name from somewhere - your Next Fest write-ups are honestly the best part of that period, since it'll help me sort through which games are diamonds in the rough.

[@CesarDaSalad]

Keep up the good work, we appreciate it

[@theAV8R]

"Rewarding you for losing" was always the perfect fix to item durability in the latest Zelda games; once an item breaks, you'd get some resource that was ultimately better in the long run anyway. I believe it was from you that I first heard this idea?

[@dontuserachelslurs]

Wouldn't that just incentive grinding every weapon you find to dust instantly turning all gameplay into smacking rocks for hours

[@jackawaka]

@erachelslurs slap an invisible cooldown on when it happens and only allow it to happen if you've dealt a certain amount of damage to enemies with said weapon

[@theAV8R]

@@dontuserachelslursWouldn't take too long to tweak the proper reward type / ratio. There are plenty of ways to grind all sorts of stuff if people want.

[@Nowolf]

So like. What you get from beating an enemy.

[@tanker00v25]

​@@Thanatos2k adsolutely not

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

This makes me feel better about having my Next Fest video late. It also provides solid advice to developers who are trying to climb to the top of that trending tab on the front page of the event. Though I imagine many of those games that flounder in the depths wouldn't ascend even if they could properly convey what they're about. Many indie developers reach out to even small channels like mine to try to get a leg up in this competitive wishlist-farming party, but it's (usually) pretty easy to see who has something noteworthy and who is just shoveling borderline unplayable asset flips.

[@a.k.5781]

Fracking love Frost's presentation style!

[@GreyOrb]

Came to this channel for Yahtzee, stayed for this. It's amazing how this series became my favorite on the channel.

[@jordanlane8699]

Frost is a national treasure. ❤ (or international treasure… or just treasure). Love these vids and the writing is just soooo good making the delivery all the better.

[@huma474]

next fest is amazing for what it grants. Demos are amazing because it lets gamers have a chance to see whats out there

[@broadsidegames]

Thanks again for checking out the demo for Bears In Space! Excited to hear your thoughts on the full game!

[@spoooky_matt]

I know this is Frost's video, but I just wanted to mention what a good idea it was to have Jack do the narration for the sponsor ads. Something about his voice and delivery makes me pay just as much attention to the ads as the actual video.

[@aventus1177]

This was a joy to watch on multiple levels. and some of these definitely peaked my interest so thank you Frost for both laying out pointers for designer and revealing some games you enjoyed.

[@Moulinoski]

I wish there was a written list of the games listed in the video. The Zelda one sounds like something I’d like to check out.

[@ltbq]

bump i would also like this

[@dread46]

Which minute? The one old skool zelda like shown i can remeber is Tunic, highly recommendable game.

[@dread46]

@@Thanatos2k Well uhm in that case he states all the names of the games he is talking about in that section... Kingsgrave is the title, coming out on 17th of April this year

[@jedimasterpickle3]

Frost has since posted exactly that, and it's been pinned.

[@justb_za5215]

Man this was a good one. Frost, I cannot thank you enough, please keep the Cold Takes and Chronicles coming.

[@theswad]

Something that might help vids like this with a ton of different games we're shuffling through - could you put a caption somewhere that just shows "Game Name (year)" while footage from that game is playing? I get lost in the mix sometimes. That said, great take and video. Really enjoyed this look into what makes a demo really stand out.

[@colvig]

i wound up wishlisting a half dozen games from this video alone, most of which i knew nothing about. thanks, Frost!

[@octocurio7635]

I like the subtle Indika nods 😊

[@andrewhickinbottom1051]

Star Trucker - hell yeah! Love that one. Great video as always Frosty!

[@jeffhiner]

Well spoken, as always. It's worth pointing out: non-indies should heed the same advice. A lot of money is being thrown at Homeworld 3 and I love the original. But I bounced off the demo under the 5 minute mark because the tutorial's controls were broken to the point where I couldn't get to experience the actual game. First impressions sell games. I think it's better for a studio to hold off releasing a demo until it represents the quality of what might come out the end of development. A demo of a game that represents an experience I'm not really looking for is perfectly fine. But a broken demo of a game I actually wanted to buy is a heartbreaking anti-sale.

[@revzsaz9418]

Cheers for a killer video man 🍻😊 I really enjoy when storefronts have those clear and concise descriptions too. As much as I don't hate watching gameplay samples to get an idea of whether or not to buy, I don't always want to sit through 5 or more minutes of buffering to get that video sample (a problem I can recognize as very local, but one that's on my mind when game shopping). Cheers and thanks again Frost! 🍻🙏 Hope you and yours are as well as can be man 😊

[@yoneech]

Definitely a lot of good advice here! Wish this video existed back when me and my co-dev participated in Steam Next Fest. Unfortunately our game got the short end of the stick. Not only were there a handful of "spotlight games" that captivated everyone's attention for days and nearly shook the industry to its core, but we were unaware that Steam seemingly sorts games by wishlist count -- of which, our game had few. Our game got shoved deep, deep down into the bowels of Steam Next Fest. We know our game isn't the greatest or the nicest looking, and there's nothing obligating anyone to give us the time of day, but it was a bit disheartening witnessing a very popular content creator scroll past it on stream and say, "we're at the bottom of the barrel now." It wasn't all bad! We got some wishlists and a little bit of feedback. But my primary advice to devs is: Don't wait to start advertising your product! Steam Next Fest is NOT a substitute for marketing. It might sound like you'll have hundreds of thousands of eyes on your game, but that's only the case if you have momentum going into it.

[@blazerer2424]

I am genuinely impressed with how informative this is for all parties involved. Combined with your calm voice and explanations this could honestly be recommended watching for both gamers and game creators. A lot of important viewpoints and do's and don'ts.

[@sporf_sporf]

Ala 'Mom and Dad Save the World'. Damn that is a movie I haven't thought about in a long time.

[@gregvs.theworld451]

I like how the beginning of this video pretty much perfectly sums up what walking into a Spencer's is like, pretty much regardless of age.

[@CJBooks4]

😆That joke about attention spans was funny Frost, I loved the timing on that joke💖

[@alloounou6900]

That was an entertainingly original way to finish the video. Got a surprise chuckle out of me.

[@PendragonDaGreat]

9:00 I mean it also doesn't help Deviator that there's a very strong argument for them just having stolen assets, or at the very least traced over them, from Hollow Knight.

[@Excelsior1937]

Yeah, he showed those video clips and I was just like “Ummm that’s Greenpath, a snail shaman’s mound, and the city storerooms in the City of Tears”. I was so focused on the background I wasn’t even looking at the player characters, and I didn’t realize they were both of the two different games. They both look like the same copy of Hollow Knight. Even the signs in the background of that City Storerooms area looks an awful lot like the bugs written language.

[@AzureAetherXx]

I would love a monthly demo drop from cold take. A lot of these games sound really cool.

[@naku-kun]

This was sure a great video, loved the stoplight on these games, thanks a ton

[@HazyFuture]

That quadruple threat line made me feel attacked 🤣😭

[@LOZFFVII]

I was casually watching this when my dad came in the room and started listening along. He didn’t know the name of the genre of Noire Detective Fiction, but he instantly recognised the style of voice over you were doing, even comparing your voice to Humphrey Bogart. He’s not into gaming, so I don’t think you’ve scored another viewer, but it was an interesting conversation nonetheless.😄

[@henrywarmoth1792]

Man Frost, I know it was a small point in the video but thank you for bringing up writing in video games around the 7:30 mark. I'm a writer myself and video games are my favorite medium but boy have I been exposed to some... "less-than-stellar" writing over the years that has made me wish the devs would have hired on a professional writer to help with the story rather than coming up with it all on their own. I'm not saying this is all because I'm a snob who revels in well thought out plots and intricate character interactions (I definitely am). I'm saying it because if the story is too boring or lackluster for your average gamer to engage with as they play, you might as well not have bothered with including a story at all.

[@hugmonger]

I dont think I can play Umbraclaw because I get way too emotional about things but I desperately want it to be finished and to sell well because that concept is amazing.

[@jamessweeney4540]

I love seeing a cold take on my feed! beer and spliff in hand!

[@Deadforge]

Still loving what you all do here

[@CraigHodson-e8m]

12:38 this game exists, and it's called "Sundered", but instead of gaining powers from death you have the option to make them more powerful, which in turn corrupts you

[@gregvs.theworld451]

I noticed the "NMH Motel" in the Children of the Son gameplay. I wonder if CotS takes some inspiration from Suda51's No More Heroes franchise, or at least the first one, judging by not just the interesting name of the motel, but also the crunchy, slightly grungy cel shaded aesthetic of the game reminiscent of the very series, and of course the parallel of a young person going on a righteous crusade against those who wronged them and ruined their life, possibly with an overarching message of violence begets violence. I could be totally off, but the NMH Motel seems like a mighty big coincidence.

[@user-sq6nu3rv1m]

I recently picked up "Everspace 2" and have been digging it's og Descent vibes. Derivative-of is fine as long it takes a form of Inspired-by and extends and adds to the concept, rather than just re-beating the same equine carcass.

[@TheCreepypro]

love hearing frost's thoughts!

[@OrangeGenerator]

always a useful reflection to be found in Cold Take.

[@Th3BadThing]

6:26 One of the demos i tried during nextfest, Ereban: Shadow Legacy, did exactly the opposite of this and it nearly made me put it down. Stealth 3d Action game, but before you hit gameplay there is no joke 2-5mins of exposition. Gameplay I really enjoyed but the exposition dump was tiring for a demo compared to something like Never Grave which put you right into the gameplay.

[@gonzaloortega5481]

Awesome analysis 💪🏼

[@CboTheSecond]

Something I noticed with this Next fest batch which was nice but more games need to do, slap that audio at 50% to start with, the number of games that deafen me on start up because they default to full blast is innumerable, it's a one time inconvenience but it's immediately putting you on the backfoot.

[@Waffletigercat]

Pepper Grinder is gonna be hella fun.

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

4:16 Wales mentioned (in text and not by Frost, but still)!

[@jamesrule1338]

Next Fest always has more than a few demos worth checking out, but burnout is very real.

[@ashuggtube]

Masterful work, Frost

[@CausticCrator83]

Great video, as always Frost

[@djeka415]

Thank you for your work👍

[@shardinhand1243]

some interesting lookin stuff in here, iv got an old love for pixel art, platformers and exploration games, ill keep an eye on these. thanks m8

[@MazeFrame]

I remember some 2D sidescroller shooter from a while ago with an incredible selection of guns (and a laser sword). Could not figure out so I began to inch myself towards (re-)making it. So far, I got a bare minimum at best. Probably ten more years before the first demo.

[@speedracer2please]

Wow, how did I miss the Bears in Space demo, that sounds perfect for me

[@gonesnake2337]

Reason and nuance! Frost is great!

[@ErrantMouse]

Anyone know what game/demo is being shown at the 12:48 to 12:53 about mark?

[@Brown95P]

> "Surviving the Steam Next Fest" ...Wait, didn't we just have a next fest like two months ago, if even that?

[@fridayafternoons1]

Nimrods Guncraft Survivor was pretty fun huh? I enjoyed that a surprising amount despite plenty of time in vampire survivors and picayune dreams

[@marvellousm]

One demo that really impressed me was Lunar Abyss. It gives you a quick intro that establishes the tone and atmosphere and then tells you to go start playing. It didn't spend much time trying to explain anything because that's what the full game is for, I have to want to buy it to find out. And I think I will, it felt like an extremely gloomy Giger meets Dune extreme far future with some Metroid Prime.

[@gjergjipocari8227]

Great video. Steam next fest is quickly becoming my favourite gaming event and I look forward more to great demos than actually playing games I own lol. That said please devs don't drop a great demo then go to obscurity immediately, make sure you go into steam next fest close to your release otherwise the hype WILL die down quickly.

[@kozablade]

This was a good video, I would have liked to see the names of every game showed at the same time as the footage. There was like 1 or 2 games that I found interesting in the B-roll, but it wasn't a game that was being specifically mentioned at that time.

[@halcyonacoustic7366]

Yeah as a hobbyist who is thinking of doing some demo coverage, this Next Fest was pretty interesting.

[@Ardent__]

What is the mech game at 9:46 called?

[@Pooltastik]

Mechanically rewarded, but narratively punished? Umbraclaw definitely has my curiosity, and that’s on top of being a kitty game

[@fishpop]

Lightyear Frontier looks up my alley so i'll try the demo.

[@Amocoru]

Backpack Battles is outrageously addictive. I played the demo for 200 hours.

[@smokeyfantastico]

Splattercat is a great streamer/KZbinr who brings Indies and smaller games to light

[@project-gladiator]

I watched Pepper Grinder on the Nintendo Direct and liked how it looked. I am saying, at this moment, it might become something like the next Shovel Knight.

[@Shaltinanwenor]

Bears in Space looks like a more polished Drunken Robot Pornography to me, and I'm allll for that Gonna wishlist it for sure

[@Wolfdogg]

I'm not going to lie, I got really excited by the title for this one. Then it turns out to be directed more towards devs than gamers. Oh well, I've survived all of the Next Fests so far, so I must be doing *something* right.

[@ParanoidCarrot]

pacific drive has me hooked

[@templarw20]

Man, you're bit about expectations reminds me of why I had such vitriol for Hyperlight Drifter. All through the Kickstarter campaign, it was talking about a Zelda-like action-adventure. Then came the release when they revealed that they were also taking inspiration from Dark Souls. I don't like "souls-like" games, to say the least, and I don't think I was alone in my rage...

[@gregvs.theworld451]

Dirt Dolphin is giving off amazing Megaman X boss name energy is the best way.

[@JoshDangIt]

What is the voxel game being shown at 7:24 ? I want to play it.

[@Th3BadThing]

Voxlands

[@inkmcsquiddin2034]

Hell yeah! BGEE 1 & 2 for $20? Grab that!

[@Deadforge]

The next fest and others throw so much at you it's hard to remember or play them all.

[@ReaperTheRager]

Audio was the number one problem i had during Next Fest. I played over 100 demos and thankfully most of them were fantastic game concepts. But the ones i ignored immediately were ones with bad audio balancing or no audio controls at all. Downloading a demo is already giving the dev the benefit of the doubt. There are literally a thousand other games that want my attention, make sure your demo is working before submitting to Next Fest. And if you can't make that deadline? Just do a permanent demo after launch like The Surge does.

[@fruitlogic]

the video was great, is there a list for all the games shown in the video? for the most part the title was said or on screen, but there were some games where that wasnt the case

[@f4rtsman425]

9:15 me neither to patent ideas is to reduce them to snowflakes, unique but basically water

[@Cyan-hide]

While we eat with our eyes first, I don’t think “ugly” is something that is blanket applied to games. It’s not a question of how good it looks, but how interesting it look. Games looking good or decent isn’t particularly hard nowadays, and The Day Before proved as much.

[@thinginajar]

I'm interested in this concept of a 'cat manatee'

[@kairider1770]

Take a shot every time one of these second wind people brings up sea of stars and try to not die of alcohol poisoning lol

[@Next0gen0]

I am the mad man who decides to indulge Next Fest to an unhealthy extreme. I played over 120 Demo's this year, and yes my body hate's me for it. I don't know why the developer's decide to only make Next Fest 1 week as opposed to 3 Month's, but I digress. There are 2 thing's you can take away from the Next Fest experience IMO. 1. It's fine calling something/being derivative as long as you something to give. I've played more Survivor type games than I can count. And while most aren't too notable, a handful stand out as both unique and interesting twist's on the genre. Or manage to strike the right balance that the original VS got right. And Palworld's success proves that it doesn't matter how much people cry about something, if it work's, it works. (as long as your not exploitative F2P model's, in which case I won't touch you with a 10 foot pole) 2. Creativity in the gaming industry is out there, you just need to look for it. Don't stay in your comfort zone's all the time ans stick to genre's your used too, or you'll potentially miss out on something you never knew you'd end up liking. Finding a good youtuber who mixes up they're play content from time to time is a good way to do that. I personally recommend Many a True Nerd, my go to Let's Player. And finally, Have fun. Contrary to what NFT's tried to convince people of back in the day, that's what the point of Gaming is supposed to be.

[@zelatoth]

I already need to upgrade to a bigger SSD and don't really feel like playing the install uninstall shuffle with demos. I already have to do that with full games.