Today we talk about that stuff that goes in your ears when you play a video game. No, not the wet fingers of an annoyingly immature roommate or little brother (though, in this case I’m pretending both the immature roommate and the little brother are named Wily, so getting a “wet Willy” at least makes some kind of sense). No, we are talking about video game music! Join us as we talk about the music we’re listening to and the game music we love. Last, but not least, join us in a video game music listening party of sorts as we listen to four tracks created by the Flyover Indies community, which can be listened to as part of the full Flyover Dailies 2021 album, available here: https://flyoverindies.bandcamp.com/album/flyover-dailies-2021 The sounds we mentioned are: Chicory: A Colorful Tale, by Lena Raine (also known for Celeste, Minecraft, and Build Wars 2)…
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A single feed containing Caleb J. Ross podcasts including Important Question, The Velvet Podcast, and The World’s First Author Podcast as well as a collection of live readings by Caleb J. Ross and his writing contemporaries.
The game-making lessons we learned are:
- Button combos don’t have to be complicated if the designers leverage “domains of knowledge” (also mentioned: Caleb’s video, “Button Combinations Should Be Complicated! Why Aren't They? (Video Game Controls)”
- “input recycling”... “input pairing”...? Almost every virtual action in the game shares a physical input with another virtual action (Overcooked 2)
- Introducing more complex controls over time (Animal Crossing New Horizons)
The game-making lessons we learned are:
- Lack of exposition + personal artifacts = introspective environmental storytelling. Gamifying the mundane. Anywhere decisions can be made (ex: where to place physical items in a room) a game can be born. (Unpacking). Shout out to Ian Bogost’s “How to do Things with Video Games.”
- All characterization is with dialog, conversations with demons. Fiction writing rule: Dialog, not exposition, makes for the best characters. Show don't tell. This game is a reminder that mechanics alone don't need to bear the weight of a game alone; the "what a crazy character that is" appeal can support and, maybe even, still the show. (Shin Megami Tensei 5)
- Obligation is inherently less motivating than discovery. Obligation lacks personal investment. (Mass Effect 2)
The game-making lessons we learned are:
- Music both directs and enhances the mood. Chill must support a chill atmosphere but also it provides feedback to the player that this is a game (or section of a game) that should allow for chilling out. Lack of enemies alone doesn’t signify a conflict-free scenario. (Valheim)
- Pawns as a terrain generator. Live environment manipulation disguised as offensive actions. (Chess)
- Character movement is the most important part of games in which moving a character is central to the experience. Duh, right? I’ll be refining movement in my next game for a very long time before moving on. This means the environment and puzzles I create will be anticipating the good movement, rather than possibly having been built with sub-par (ie, only suitable) movement in mind. (NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…)
The game-making lessons we mentioned are:
- Don’t waste the player’s time. A novel input system cannot survive on novelty alone; it MUST serve good gameplay. Otherwise, the forced input falls from delightful to frustration (Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask)
- Movement in a platformer MUST feel great above all else. If a game has secrets to find via exploration, that exploration had better not suck. (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
- Visuals afford function. Therefore, nothing is ever only cosmetic. If a character looks tall and fat, the player expects the movement to be slow. If a character is short and thin, the player expects the movement to be quick and nimble (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
- Is there a formula for determining the proper melee attack range for a character based on character speed and height? There should be. (Sackboy: a Big Adventure)
Listen in as we talk about our game development “ah ha” moments, including:
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The importance of commenting even as a solo dev
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Self-documenting/readable code
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The importance of having fun as part of the learning & development process
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Shaders are black magic
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Unity events are suuuuper useful
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The absolute need to LEARN THE TOOLS YOU USE and…
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DO NOT FIGHT those tools your learned to use (even if fighting the tools feels like a “neat old’ fashioned way to do it,” as Jo so eloquently states)
The game-making lessons we mentioned are:
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Re-use of levels doesn’t have to be boring. Narrative, along with day segments, means each environment feels very different despite their repetition. (Death Loop). Mentioned: Dishonored 2 Devs Explain the Clockwork Mansion.
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Simplicity can be deceiving. Simplicity doesn’t mean boring. (Super Auto Pets).
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Difficulty doesn’t make Caleb hate a game. Rather, artificial difficulty (ie, design ignorant difficulty), is what makes Caleb hate a game. (Ori and the Blind Forest).