What Every Game Dev NEEDS to Learn From Tunic

[@JessZakilly]

How does a Game's Tutorial impact it's Storytelling? This is a tricky thing to get right, but Tunic tackles this in a unique way. Some of you may recognized this video, but it has since been updated. :) Check out our brand new Tunic Lore discord here: discord.gg/AjC3mHB4

[@mrcorrupteddata]

So, I'm sorta sad I missed out on not connecting with the community of Tunic more while I was playing it when it first came out, but I got a resurgence of looking up things about the game and came across your channel. I LOVE your videos on the material and I'll be trying to go through more when I get the chance. I love your coverage of the series and it's perfectly said on why I feel this story is so powerful and why this game is now my favorite game of all time for the time being! From the character, to the visual design of the areas, to the beautiful soundtrack, to the intricate detail of both combat and puzzles, I just love every single thing about this game. I really REALLY hope a sequel comes out to this, and I hope there is more merchandise (like the instruction booklet) and I guarantee I'm buying that lol. Anyway, I'd love to pick your brain about Tunic and maybe your Tunic'd out by now, but I'd love more people to talk to about this game.

[@JessZakilly]

Exactly! You can definitely tell there was so much love, time, and effort put into this game!! If you use discord, this is a Tunic community discord with all sorts of awesome theories and resources. :) discord.gg/AFq6PARqJA Or if you prefer, this is my personal server: discord.gg/jZxPFAGk5s

[@Sonicgott]

Tunic never held your hand, but instead, called out to your curiosity.

[@The0rangeCow]

I absolutely loved Tunic's teaching process. Not sure if I want to see it directly adopted in a broad sense(wouldn't want it cheapened), but the idea of finding innovative ways of conveying understanding is definitely something I would like to see more widespread.

[@JessZakilly]

Well said! I don’t think it would ever overtake conventional teaching processes (and agree, we wouldn’t want it to), but I would love devs exploring other techniques! I love when devs really hone in on what makes video games such a unique medium and use that to their advantage.

[@calcite_dragon]

I'll be getting my notepad out for this video.

[@Kevintendo]

You make any games with this mindset?

[@LighthoofDryden]

Sitting on discord with my friend at 3am solving the language is one of my new favorite gaming experiences. It’s so intensely rewarding!!

[@JessZakilly]

I LOVE this! Games really are about community in my eyes, and this game really encourages it

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

And I think this is kinda where Stray fails. Having a more AAA style of doing things to attract a boarder audiences, the hints gets way too obvious at times, such that it's hard to "discover" things by myself. And it's also kinda out of place quite often, which got me question whether the game is telling the cat or the player where to go, and thus it's just hard to feel much connection with the cat.

[@JessZakilly]

I’m not very far into Stray yet, but already I can definitely tell what you mean. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy Stray for what it is but I agree with you and one thing that’s been bothering me a lot about it is the level design leaves me underwhelmed…and I usually love platformers, I grew up on Spyro!

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

@@JessZakilly Well, I do also enjoy Stray for what it is, as there won't be many games that would try to catch the concept of playing as a cat. But then, for what it isn't, that is, doesn't actually have much freedom in exploration, rendering the visual cues a bit redundant, and isn't quite hardcore about having the player think like a cat, it's just kinda a bigger let down to me. In fact, when I wrote my Steam review for Stray I just said that it might be better to just watch someone else playing it, as there really isn't much to "experience" outside the main story.

[@JessZakilly]

My thoughts exactly! It just leaves a lot to be desired…it’s an ok game, I don’t dislike it. I was surprised to learn there was a story at all, but the story is a bit too surface-level for me to really enjoy. Having designated places you can scratch is cool, but only the first time you come across it. Every aspect: level design, mechanics, story, etc. is *just* ok.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

@@JessZakilly I guess the point about okay is that it really wouldn't make anyone hate the game? Except it also won't make anyone truly love the game. On contrary, Biomutant, a game that's considered bad by many people, got the negative review because of its bad mechanics and bad story (also comedically horrible Chinese translation that are fully dubbed), while the level design would be kinda stunning, and I'd say I kinda enjoy Biomutant more than Stray for simply running around. It's kinda a themepark that has awful rides but stunning scenaries, and that's good in its own right. By the way, there's also another game kinda similar to Stray. It's called Tales of the Neon Sea, which is a short little adventure game in cyberpunk setting, and more importantly, the story is split between two protagonists, one of which is a cat, and the platforming as a cat part controls similar to Stray except in 2D. And with that comes prior, it's hard not to judge Stray more strictly. (In China, Tales of the Neon Sea is free on mobile devices for some reason, but it should be close to free on Steam as well, especially since it showed up on Humble Monthly before.)

[@JessZakilly]

Tales of Neon Sea seems interesting, I’ll have to check it out!

[@TheCheeselordForever]

It’s good to see there’s a new KZbinr out to talk about tunic! Tunic is really thriving! I hope to see more lord videos in the future! Im personally wondering if I should start my own tunic lore channel…

[@jamesmahalek6471]

Great video, thank you! Having grown up with those manuals, the interface of Tunic was such a core part of this experience for me; I haven't felt the way I did about Tunic, like my mind was expanding and learning new things with every play, since I was actually playing games as a kid. That the manual/tutorial transcended just impacting the story to becoming one of the core parts of experiencing the story (and others' journeys) blows me away in a way I'm still struggling to articulate.

[@JessZakilly]

Yes exactly! “It just hits different” or something like that haha

[@TheConMan42]

I've always struggled to articulate why I prefer Zelda on the NES to every 3d Zelda pre-BotW. Now I can just link to this video. Thank you very much.

[@albevanhanoy]

That sentence about remembering the manual fondly, and opening the box right away in the car ride home to start reading the manual already, like it was already part of the game... It rings very true. I miss those days.

[@svoco1265]

The moment you realize that the "game not for you" is exactly the game for you.

[@JessZakilly]

Well said!

[@styxrakash4639]

I don’t understand what you mean? Is this a typo?

[@JessZakilly]

The game developers have said that they wanted to make a world that feels like “it was not meant for you (meaning the main character)” However, even though this tiny fox may feel like they don’t belong, we players still enjoy the game.

[@styxrakash4639]

@@JessZakilly I see! A hostile environment challenges the player and respects their intelligence, very cool; I liked the video and will definitely pick up the game.

[@Cjay2200]

Thank you for your video! You expressed exactly what I just felt for the past week. The nostalgia with the manual was out of control! It felt like you bought/rented a used game filled with clues from the previous owner. I just finished the game and it blew my mind. I wanted to talk about it with someone. This video and the others you made about this game help me processed the moment 😂 Thanks again! Keep up the good work!

[@JessZakilly]

Thank you! I know exactly what you mean about finishing the game and needing to process it!

[@squatsby]

What a fantastic video. On par with Game Maker's Toolkit or Architect of Games 😍 Keep going!

[@JessZakilly]

Thank you for your kind words! They are big inspirations for me so this comment makes me feel good. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@cooldoggo58]

Tbh like 90% of my favorite games are indie games lol. They're usually just so good! Also, R.I.P. people who somehow got the gun before the sword 🏅

[@JessZakilly]

Yes! There’s an extra something in indies that’s really special. A friend of mine made it the whole way through the Quarry without finding the gas mask

[@cooldoggo58]

@@JessZakilly Lol. I didn't even know what that was and thought the mask on the map was a new weapon called Lower Miasma. Turns out that area actually had the way to the next area and I didn't know because it was all purple

[@GameBoiLight]

I teared up like 3 times during this. Excellent job

[@inafrenzy1348]

When I saw the shopkeeper I was thinking it was a boss, or npc, somehow I was right about the npc part

[@orangesilver4568]

This seems similar to Hollow Knight and Dark Souls in how the story is told.

[@JessZakilly]

Yes! Very much. I really enjoy getting pieces of the story through item descriptions like in those games.

[@Archontasil]

as a long time gamer, I wish more videogames would do this environmental storytelling and tutorial. however i wonder would a new player be blinded by this kind of storytelling and tutorial? someone who haven't learn the universal videogame design language and control. I have a hard time imagining a new gamer understanding the lore or mechanic of souls games, tunic or BOTW. but i WANT them to experience this entirely different kind of storytelling in videogames when i first play dark souls after playing decades of cutscene based story, it was such an eye opener for me, i immediately driven to explore every corner of lordran, curious to find more secrets and mysteries to unpack. i made notes and theories trying to make sense of the story. i like this experience but at the same time i understand that alot of people don't have the time or patience to do that. AAA games takes a lot of money to make and it makes sense that they want to cater to the big casual gamers, HOWEVER we see that souls games and BOTW are selling like crazy.. i don't know where i'm going with this rant.. but I really glad i found your channel! subbed!

[@XX-sp3tt]

It's Klonoa that every Game Dev NEEDS to learn from. Compare Pac Man World to the Klonoa games. One is a strictly 2-D adventure in a 3-D world. The other has 3-D movement along a mostly single path. One feels like exploring a living world. The other is a collection of set pieces. The Kingdom of Sorrow and King of Sorrow in the final levels of the second Klonoa game is one the few times that being subtle works, WITHOUT leaving players in the dark who don't have a life time, a peg board, and a lot of string to figure out the REAL plot. That the final level's song is filled with random call backs to the first game, and the final boss resembles Klonoa so completely, and is the embodiment of sorrow, and Klonoa at the end MAKES PEACE with him... it's clear Klonoa is working through his own sorrow, WITHOUT telling the player. And the story STILL WORKS if you don't know this. Compare this to most other games that try to be deep, where you're just left confused if you don't get every bit of subtly.

[@JessZakilly]

Have not heard of this one, I’ll have to check it out!

[@XX-sp3tt]

3:20 It's called world building. It's about getting to know Skyloft, getting to know this Zelda and Link. They hold the special place of being familiar yet new each iteration.

[@JessZakilly]

World building can be done in two ways: infodumping, which is what happens in skyloft, and subtly which is what is much more digestible for the audience. :)

[@JohnnyCProduction]

I wanted to love Tunic overall but for me the difficult gameplay and the 3rd act really pushed me away from the experience. I had to look up a video guide to find those fairy chests since the button input puzzles were just too cryptic for me and really not enjoyable to do. They felt like a huge chore. I am cool with difficult games like dark souls and lies of p but I can such trouble with this game that I eventually had to put no fail mode on. The graphics and music are what really got me interested in Tunic. The game manual element that helped with learning what the hell is going on was awesome but the gameplay and act 3 just lost points for me.

[@tenhovergonha8739]

What is that is that game from the last screen? That reminds some kind of spaceship...

[@JessZakilly]

It’s called Out of Space and is intended to be a co-op resource management game, but can be played solo as well

[@tenhovergonha8739]

@@JessZakilly thanks, a lot! Seens like a good title to play with my girlfriend, if it has a switch version.

[@JessZakilly]

Not sure if it’s on the switch, but it is fun

[@ulrich101]

Subbed. I just 100% tunic as a part of my friend groups “video game book club.” It really grabbed me. I even message Andrew shouldice on Twitter and he was nice enough to message me back.

[@moosesues8887]

When is tunic getting one piece level storytelling

[@JessZakilly]

So I admit, I haven’t read One Piece yet, but it is on my to-read list!

[@SnackXHunter]

I think Tunic could have done a little more handholding in the beginning. I liked figuring out what did what, but I restarted the game because in my first game I got so frustrated with combat I turned on the cheats. Had no idea about upgrading until the 2nd go around. While some games are annoying with the pop ups Tunic was annoying with crypticness. Also props to anyone who sat there to figure out the puzzles (faeries and treasures and Mountian door) but I want to play a game not study something and do homework.

[@JessZakilly]

Totally get where you’re coming from, and there’s a lot of people who agree with you. I thoroughly enjoyed being given the game’s reigns, but I totally understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea!

[@SnackXHunter]

@@JessZakilly Besides that I loved the game, once you find that foot hold it’s an amazing game and glad I played and ultimately beat it.

[@AAAAAAA4444H]

There's a page about upgrades, I went almost all the game upgrade less untill I got it lol

[@SnackXHunter]

@@AAAAAAA4444H EXACTLY

[@spyro1541]

I subscribed you :)

[@JessZakilly]

Thanks! Spyro is one of my favorites!

[@spyro1541]

@@JessZakilly same here :)

[@Prime_Rabbit]

You read every single comment? Bet.

[@JessZakilly]

No cap

[@Prime_Rabbit]

@@JessZakilly dang, that was fast

[@thesis-and-nieces6722]

I think tunic can learn from the more popular franchises on how to better balance the game. I think tunic is too clever for its own good. So much so, that unless you have encyclopedia and hundreds of hours to spend, you can’t enjoy the game to its fullest. Instead this game is caters to a niche audience. A engineered game for engineer. There is countless examples of needless obscuring. Just tell us a damn HP bar is an HP bar, a stamina bar is a stamina bar. Secondly, story is extremely bloated for its own good. It like throwing spaghetti on a wall of story threads, side quests that just don’t add up for story conclusion satisfaction

[@markcouture4726]

I feel like Tunic constantly fails at story telling because the developer was too busy applauding himself for representing English with new symbols. Like, why does this world have both representations - mixed back and forth in the same document. They should have stuck with English. Also, the story was lame. The playable character is basically the only living and not-crazy character in the whole game until you save the Heir with your "knowledge". *rolling eyes* But all of a sudden, at the end, they are watching a TV broadcast. So, um, yeah.