10 Game Design Lessons from 10 Years of GMTK

On November 6th, 2014, I uploaded the first video to a YouTube  channel called Game Maker's Toolkit - a channel where I could tell you absolutely  everything I know about game design. And now - ten years, 200 videos, 8 game jams, and countless dungeon design flow charts  later - I can finally reveal the truth. I didn't really know anything about game design!

Because despite the fancy motion graphics, the lo-fi hip hop soundtrack, and  the commanding British accent - all things that help give the channel an air of authority and knowledge -  I am, truthfully, no expert. But I wanted to learn. I wanted to understand the craft and  cleverness behind my very favourite hobby.

And so every video was an  opportunity for me to find out more. Through research and interviews and analysis. And then I could pop on YouTube and  share what I've learned with all of you.

And you know what? It worked. I've learned so much about the field  of game design in this last decade.

And so to mark this massive milestone, I want to share with you the  ten biggest lessons of them all. Basically - if I could boil  down 50 hours worth of GMTK videos into a single episode,  this is what I would make. So join me on a whistle stop tour of  all the lessons, learnings, revelations, and mistakes from the first ten  years of running this channel.

I'm Mark Brown and this is Game Maker's Toolkit. Lesson 1 One of my very first videos looked at  two games: Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 4. Now on the surface these games are very similar: they're both about civil  wars in fictional countries.

They both have charismatic villains. They both have enemy camps and exotic animals. And they both have the words  Far and Cry in their name.

What are the chances? But the similarities end there because  when you actually pick up the controller and start playing, you'll realise that  these games are completely different. One is a thrilling blockbuster  action movie rollercoaster.

And the other is literally the worst  package holiday you've ever been on. And so with this video I learned one of  the most fundamental game design lessons: that a game's experience is not driven  by the plot, or by the graphics, or by the setting - but by the game mechanics. Far Cry 4 is fun because you have loads of ammo, you can track your enemies, and you can  permanently wipe your foes off the map.

And Far Cry 2 is harrowing because your  weapons can jam, your jeep can break down, you have to stave off bouts of malaria, and dying sends you all the way  back to the last save station. So if you want to understand why a  game makes you feel a certain way, ask yourself: how do the mechanics  contribute to the experience? Lesson 2 In 2018 I made a video that asked the question: are high scores and leaderboards  still relevant in modern games?

Or are they just an antiquated  relic of the arcade era? If you were hoping for a definitive  answer one way or the other, you'd be disappointed because  the truth is: it depends. This mechanic makes sense in some  games, and doesn't work for others.

And there are both pros and cons to  including such a system in your game. And so with this video I learned the  lesson that there's no such thing as a right or wrong game mechanic. As per lesson one, it totally depends on what  sort of experience you want players to have.

I've revisited this point a number of times. Are lives outdated game design? Should roguelikes save your progress between runs?

Should a game have a fixed camera perspective? The answer is always the same: it depends  on the type of game you're making. It's tempting to use a game  mechanic because it's trendy.

Or to ignore a game mechanic entirely  because it feels out of date. But the only way to judge a mechanic is to ask whether or not it can contribute to  the experience you're trying to forge. Lesson 3 In that same year, I made a video about  Insomniac's first Spider-Man game.

And I came to the conclusion that  the game was pretty disappointing because the web-swinging system was so simple. I mean, you can swing through Manhattan  just by holding down a button. The game employs dozens of hidden  physics hacks to aid your every move.

And it's impossible to splat Spider-Man  into the side of a sky scraper. Now I thought the lesson of that video was that in order to give the player  a thrilling power fantasy, you had to provide significant challenge, with  complex inputs, and high stakes for failure. But the real lesson of this  video was: I was wrong.

Because, sure - the game was disappointing to me: a hardcore gamer who loves in-depth  movement systems with high skill ceilings. But I never asked the question: was  Spider-Man actually made for me? Because a game is built for a target audience.

A specific type of person or player. And if you consider that a blockbuster PS4 movie  tie-in is probably aimed at a more casual gamer. .

. well then Insomniac should really  be praised for finding a way to give those players the incredible  sensation of being Spider-Man. Even if it didn't work for me.

So when it comes to making a video game, you have to decide who this game is for,  and tune your mechanics appropriately. You can't please everyone, right? Lesson 4 Well, I dunno, actually.

Because earlier this year I made a video called  Super Mario's Invisible Difficulty Settings. And in this one I looked at how Nintendo tries  to make its flagship franchise fun for everyone. Like, modern Mario games are made for families  and newbies, so they are designed in such a way that it's pretty easy to make your way to  the final boss, and to the end of the story.

But if you're a seasoned plumbing pro  who's been stomping Koopas since 1985, well, you're not going to be bored. And that's because there's loads of optional  harder content to sink your teeth into. Tricky coins to collect.

Tough bonus levels to play. A secret post-game world to unlock. And challenges to finish.

So with this video I learned that options  and bonus content can be used to make a game appealing to those who are more  hardcore than the target audience. Oh, and hats off to Insomniac, who included a  setting for harder swinging in Spider-Man 2. Lesson 5 But what about the other way around?

What if you make a game that's really difficult, and then find that certain players  are unable to play or finish it? I grappled with this when asking the question  "Should Dark Souls Have an Easy Mode? " I mean, FromSoft's haunting fantasy epic is intentionally challenging to give  players a specific experience - of being scared out of your wits, but then having a feeling of triumph when  you finally overcome those impossible odds.

Now dure, you could provide  an easier difficulty mode. But if players picked that option, wouldn't  it rob them of the intended experience? Well, I learned an important lesson in the video  "What Makes Celeste's Assist Mode Special".

This precision platformer is also crushingly  difficult - but unlike Dark Souls, it features a wildly permissive set of options that let  you make the game as easy as you need it to be. But here's the kicker: the  developers carefully explain the point of this mode, before you turn it on. They make it clear how Celeste  is supposed to be played, but also offer a way to reduce  the difficulty if you need it.

Say, if you're new to games,  or you live with a disability, or you're more interested in the  storyline than the challenging jumps. Options, accessibility settings, and easy modes don't have to pose a  threat to your intended experience. You just have to find a smart way to push players into seeing the version of the  game that fits their needs best.

Lesson 6 Okay, let's move off that track  and talk about something else. One of the most popular subjects in  gaming discourse is the topic of genres. Not a day goes by on Reddit without someone  asking if a game truly counts a roguelike.

And we can't go a week in the GMTK  Discord without someone pointing out that Mario Kart is secretly an  immersive sim, or some mad nonsense. But in the video "Do We Need a Soulslike  Genre? ", I learned that while it's fine for players to get preoccupied with genres, we  don't want our game designers to be so obsessed.

You see, when that video released  in 2017 we were inundated with games that closely copied the FromSoft formula. Games with hastily renamed versions  of souls, bonfires, and estus flasks. And they all felt.

. . pretty samey.

That's because if you consider  a genre to be a long list of must-have mechanics you saw in a specific game. . .

well, you'll end up making the  same thing over and over again. Instead, designers should think of  genres in the loosest possible terms. That way you can add and remove features at will.

Mix and match different genres. And make stuff that feels fresh and innovative,  rather than predictable and familiar. Lesson 7 You might think that the best way to make  enemy AI is to craft an utterly convincing, ultra lifelike, galaxy brain super being.

But when I did the research for the video  What Makes Good AI, I realised that the point of AI is not to try and pass The Turing  Test - it's to present interesting gameplay. And, again, as per lesson one,  give players a specific experience. And ever since that video I've  made a habit of breaking down seemingly complex systems to see  how they're actually quite simple.

And how the real trick is using these basic  systems to create magical experiences for players. So by looking at the Nemesis System  and the AI of The Sims and more, I learned that the best solution for a complex problem is whatever provides the most  interesting experience to the player. Lesson 8 Okay, so with all this theory  and analysis under our belts, you might think we'd have everything we  need to know in order to make our own game.

But we'd be wrong. Because when I started to make my own games, I  quickly discovered that a game idea is basically worthless until you actually build  it, and can try it for yourself. Our brains are truly bad video game simulators.

Everything seems fun in our mind's eye. But you can only spot the  problems, the design flaws, and the unintended issues when the game is real. Theory can get you so far, but  nothing beats playing the game itself.

But that's not all bad: as I saw in the  video The Games That Designed Themselves, sometimes the best game ideas actually come  about through the process of making the game. Whether it's a bug, a happy accident, or a sudden realisation, amazing stuff  can occur during the development process. Ultimately, a game idea is worthless until  you've proven its value through a prototype.

Lesson 9 But even then, you're going to see  that your game design is busted. Because as I've learned many, many times  during the development of my own game, players are quick to find faults  that you never knew your game had. They're going to get lost,  not understand the controls, overthink and underthink your puzzles, make  assumptions you never considered, and more.

So, as I saw in the video Valve's "Secret Weapon", it pays to get playtesters involved  at every stage of the process. And as I learned in the video How Game Designers  Solved These 11 Problems, being a designer is as much about solving playtesting problems as it  is about coming up with cool new game ideas. Game design is about building a game for  other people, so frequent playtesting should be used to make sure your design is  effectively producing the results you desire.

Lesson 10 And finally - I think the biggest  lesson I've learned through all of this is that any lesson you've learned. . .

needs to be constantly re-evaluated. Things change, people change, your opinions  change, the industry changes, trends change. And, more than any of that, we can make mistakes.

So it's important to always be open to a rethink. Basically: never take some  game design lesson as gospel. Especially if it's coming from a YouTuber.

Take in as many game design lessons as you  can, but make sure you always figure out for yourself if a game design lesson is true for  you, and for the type of games you want to make. So there we have it. The ten biggest lessons I've learned from  ten years of doing Game Maker's Toolkit.

And what a wild ten years it has been. Aside from all the videos I've made,  I've been lucky enough to travel the world and give talks and lectures  at so many schools and studios. And I've been privileged enough to do  consulting work on some amazing games.

There's also the GMTK Game Jam - an incredible  annual celebration of the GMTK community's talent. And this has led to the creation  of some truly awesome games. It's crazy to think that games  like A Little to the Left and Rollerdrome started life on our silly little jam.

A huge thank you to everyone who  helps out with this event every year. And now I'm almost ready for the  next big step with this channel as next week I'm launching my first  proper video game Mind Over Magnet. Which will be released on Steam  on November 13th, for PC and Mac.

So what will the next 10 years hold for  GMTK? I can't wait to find out, with you. One final thank you to the amazing  Patrons who support GMTK financially every month - you are the only  reason I am able to do this.

I am forever in your debt. See you soon.