Youtube channels about game development

I feel like this would be a good place to share these bad boys, not only because I like making games, but I also liked hearing people talk about the inner mechanics and what sort of train-of-thoughts that the game developers had during development.

You guys might be interested in that.

Mental Checkpoint



Game Maker's Tool Kit



Daryl Talks Games

Interesting videos!

Having watched a bit of all three, it struck me that there is a general theme that runs through most of the games they feature:

You run along a bit and shoot or fight something. You run along a bit more and shoot or fight something else. You run along a bit more and something shoots you or beats you in a fight. Game over.

The main differences are the background stories that provide a context for the running along and shooting or fighting.

If I've given you the impression that I'm not a fan of this type of game - you are correct.

Although PowerPoint may not be great at making 'running-along-and-shooting-or-fighting-things' games. As a game development platform, it can do something similar, but also so much more.

My own thought processes when developing games really boils down to: 'When I click on 'x' I want 'y' to happen'. Then spend the next few hours or days trying to make it so.

I do agree with the video says that audiences can be turned off by excessive information, especially regarding instructions. It's a real skill to be able to provide instructions in a clear, comprehensive yet concise way. It's something I often struggle with.

Action/shooting genre is very popular, yes. Not universally liked, that's also correct.

When you think about it very thoroughly, games are basically just virtual chores that tricks us into thinking we're having fun by doing them. That is what every existing game that has ever existed really boils down to, they offer some sort of narrative and a gameplay mechanic that acts as an input to move that narrative forward. A good game made the players care, and it gives them that gameplay mechanic to immerse the player into thinking they are part of the game's world and can influence how the story in that virtual world progresses with said input. On the other hand, an uninteresting game will only be treated as a chore that players would like to get over with as soon as possible. Or even worse, why bother with the chores in the first place if they're actually just virtual chores that you can simply run away from?

So from what I can infer from your thought process, maybe you also gotta think about why players should click 'x' or how can you convince them that clicking 'x' is what they'll want to do. We develop games because we enjoyed making them, but we should also consider whether or not the players would enjoy playing them too.

And about tutorials, I always go by the absolute rule of storywriting which is "Show, don't tell." Usually by giving the players a safe environment to let them figure out how the game works before throwing more stuff at them, that works a lot of the time.