0:00:00.000,0:00:04.500
Hi, my name is Mark, and I am [br]making a video game about magnets.

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Okay, so this was the plan: take all of [br]the levels I made in the previous episode,

0:00:10.320,0:00:16.560
bundle them into a demo, slap that demo [br]onto a Steam Deck, fly to San Francisco,

0:00:16.560,0:00:21.000
and give the demo to people attending [br]the Game Developers Conference.

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But with just one week to go [br]before my flight, I gave my

0:00:25.260,0:00:29.760
demo to a key playtester, and he did not enjoy it.

0:00:29.760,0:00:36.060
He found it to be frustrating and tedious [br]and gave up before the demo was even over.

0:00:36.060,0:00:42.120
And it was in that moment that I realised [br]I had made a huge and pretty common mistake

0:00:42.120,0:00:46.020
when it came to thinking about [br]my game's level of difficulty.

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What did I do wrong, and critically,

0:00:48.840,0:00:54.900
was I able to fix it before flying out to [br]California? Well, stick around to find out.

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[Music]

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Okay, let me back up a little bit.

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In the previous episode, I showed [br]you how I used a puzzle matrix to

0:01:12.660,0:01:16.680
help generate ideas for about 26 different levels.

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Then, after that episode went live, I bundled [br]them into a pretty chunky hour-long demo,

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featuring three different worlds, two different [br]magnets, and a bunch of different mechanics,

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like colour-changing panels, [br]laser beams, moving platforms,

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boxes on wheels, spinning switches, and so on.

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As always, the first people to get this [br]demo were GMTK patrons on my Discord.

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They gave me loads of feedback [br]and advice and unearthed bugs,

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exploits, annoyances, and inconsistencies.

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As always, I am hugely grateful for their help.

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Then, completely out of the blue, I get an [br]email from one Patrick Traynor, the Patrick

0:02:02.700,0:02:09.360
of Patrick's Parabox, the brilliant puzzle game [br]I showed in the previous episode of this series.

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He thanked me for including his game in my [br]video and wished me luck with my magnet game.

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And I said, "Want to play a [br]demo?" He very kindly said yes,

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and then a few days later, I [br]get an email with a single word:

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"played," and a link to a YouTube video: [br]a two-hour playthrough of the game.

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Now, if you're wondering why I'm hesitating, [br]he gave me no indication of whether or not he

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liked the game, and so I would just have [br]to watch him evaluate it in real-time.

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And so, if he hated the game, I would just [br]have to sit there and watch someone become

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more and more disappointed in me, which is, [br]you know, surely what parents are for, right?

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But I finally worked up the [br]courage to hit play on the video,

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and on the whole, he actually really liked it.

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He was laughing and smiling.

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He complimented me on some [br]of the puzzles and talked

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up the potential behind the game's core mechanics.

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PATRICK: "These mechanics make me think like, 'Why [br]isn't someone else made a magnet platformer

0:03:11.520,0:03:12.829
like this before?'"

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And any criticisms he [br]had came with brilliant help and advice.

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For example, I should make it more clear what [br]the player can't do in any individual puzzle.

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So, if a gap is too big for the player [br]to jump, it should be a really big gap.

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If a door closes too quickly [br]for the player to get through,

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it should snap shut immediately, stuff like that.

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He also gave me another huge piece of advice,

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which was to simplify the levels, even [br]if that meant making the game easier.

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Advice which I roundly [br]ignored, more on that in a bit.

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But anyway, there were about [br]two weeks to go before GDC,

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so I decided to use all of the feedback from my [br]patrons and from Patrick to overhaul the demo.

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I removed a bunch of levels [br]that just didn't quite work.

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This one relied way too much on [br]quick reflexes to be a good puzzle.

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This one had a huge exploit [br]which I couldn't easily fix.

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I also snuck in one level which [br]was not a puzzle but was just

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pure platforming to see how players [br]would react to that change of pace,

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but feedback was mixed, so I've left [br]that on the cutting room floor for now.

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I also made some new puzzles [br]to fill in those gaps.

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I worked on improving the readability [br]of certain mechanics in the game.

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For example, these icons which denote [br]when a button is linked to an object.

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I also replaced this weird magnet [br]sensor thing with a panel on a

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pulley which triggers a button when [br]the rope hits the bottom point.

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I also swapped out these simple green buttons [br]for a more satisfying Frankenstein-style switch.

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I made a lock and key for certain types of puzzles

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which has a pretty satisfying [br]animation when you grab the key.

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I polished up the pause menu and [br]added in a better title screen.

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And, oh yeah, I made an [br]entire new dialogue system.

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There's only one prototype conversation [br]in this demo, but it should hopefully

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give people an idea of what the story [br]might look like in the finished game.

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So, the demo was done and dusted.

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There was just one week to [br]go before San Francisco,

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and so I gave the game to a key playtester.

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And as I said in the intro, he was not a fan.

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He was frustrated and annoyed.

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He found levels overly complicated [br]and just tedious to play.

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And in a lot of cases, he would [br]simply hand me the controller and say,

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"Can you just, like, can you just do this [br]one?" And that playtester, that was my dad.

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What'd I say about parents and disappointment? [br]But, as painful as that playtest was,

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I think it was also the most important [br]playtest in this entire development process.

0:06:06.000,0:06:09.420
You see, at that moment, it was [br]like seeing through the Matrix.

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I could see exactly why and [br]how I had messed up so badly.

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And I also realized that if [br]I ever met Patrick in person,

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I would need to buy him a drink [br]for ignoring his brilliant advice.

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So, here's what happened.

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Every time I would design a level, [br]I would end up with a pretty simple

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layout for the puzzle which just tests the [br]player on a single, nice little interaction.

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But then, I would assume that players [br]would solve that puzzle immediately.

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They would instantly smash through the [br]puzzle and decide my game was too easy

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and thus boring, and thus judge me as a [br]human being to be inherently worthless.

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So, I would be a little bit cheeky and [br]add in some extra complexity to the level.

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I would add in a whole bunch [br]of steps the player needs to

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go through in order to actually solve the puzzle.

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And I would add in these devious traps [br]where if the player did one thing wrong,

0:07:05.640,0:07:09.300
they'd be stuck and have to [br]reset the puzzle back to zero.

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And I would obscure the actual [br]solution to the puzzle with

0:07:13.080,0:07:15.840
some red herrings or some other elements.

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And in doing this devious, Machiavellian [br]trickery, I would end up with puzzles

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that were messy and convoluted and [br]frustrating and tedious to actually play.

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I was focused so much on making the levels [br]hard, I had forgotten to make them fun.

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Oops.

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And here's the thing.

0:07:36.360,0:07:40.860
I never actually checked that assumption.

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That assumption that players [br]would immediately and instantly

0:07:44.280,0:07:48.780
figure out the solution, was that actually true?

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So, I took Patrick's advice and [br]remade a whole bunch of levels

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in the demo with a core focus on [br]clarity, elegance, and simplicity.

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Take this level, for example.

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In the original version, you have to use [br]two magnets to flip two switches simultaneously,

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to lift two drill bits, to make a [br]laser hit an orb to open a door.

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It is tedious just describing it.

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The actual puzzle in this level is, I think,

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pretty good but it's obscured [br]behind so much extra fluff.

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So, I remade it to look like this.

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It now requires just one magnet, [br]has about three or four mechanics,

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it's really small, and it's really simple.

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Will players immediately figure [br]out the trick to this puzzle? Well,

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I had literally no time to check.

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I had to compile the build, chuck it on the Steam [br]Deck, drive to the airport, board the plane,

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and then sit in the same chair for 10 hours [br]straight like a triple-A Dev in crunch mode.

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Is that joke gonna get me in trouble? Is there

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going to be an angry [br]Twitter thread about that?

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Okay, so I land in San Francisco, and after a [br]few days of sightseeing - you know, Alcatraz,

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the Golden Gate Bridge, the sea lions on Pier [br]39, In-N-Out Burger... oh god, no. The chips!

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What are you doing? But then it's GDC week, and [br]I give the game to as many people as possible:

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at mixers, at meetups, at a [br]bring-your-own-game event,

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at meetings, and during breakfast over [br]big stacks of American-style pancakes

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(I guess they're not American-style, but [br]they're just American pancakes. I'm in America).

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And feedback on the demo was really pretty good.

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People kept saying, "This feels like [br]a real video game," and people would

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refuse to give me the Steam Deck back [br]until they had finished the entire demo.

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And to answer that question [br]of, was the game now too easy?

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No, the game was actually kind [br]of the right level of challenge.

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That puzzle I just talked about, for example,

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players would get stuck for like a minute [br]or two and then figure out the solution

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and have that sort of wide-eyed aha [br]moment I've always been chasing.

0:10:07.680,0:10:10.500
I didn't have any of that [br]confusion and frustration.

0:10:10.500,0:10:14.280
They just found it to be a [br]good, fun, satisfying puzzle.

0:10:14.280,0:10:18.300
What turns out, it was completely the [br]right—Jesus Christ, that's a big spider.

0:10:20.160,0:10:26.340
Uh—where was I? Turns out it was completely [br]the right move to make the game easier,

0:10:26.340,0:10:28.260
and in fact, I hadn't gone far enough.

0:10:28.260,0:10:32.220
There was one level in the demo [br]that was still pretty fiddly.

0:10:32.220,0:10:36.660
One enthusiastic American described it [br]as, "Gee, this one's a real stumper."

0:10:36.660,0:10:41.340
And there were also just a bunch of [br]basic, fundamental mechanics in the

0:10:41.340,0:10:46.620
game that I had never properly taught to [br]players, and that was making them stumble.

0:10:46.620,0:10:49.260
Like being able to use the magnet to ride up to a

0:10:49.260,0:10:53.040
higher platform or change the [br]magnet's polarity from afar.

0:10:53.040,0:10:57.540
These were things that I felt were [br]so obvious about my game that I

0:10:57.540,0:11:01.740
didn't feel the need to have them [br]as puzzle solutions or tutorials.

0:11:01.740,0:11:05.820
But to someone who has never played [br]my game before, they have no idea.

0:11:05.820,0:11:10.140
And so this is the big takeaway from this video:

0:11:10.140,0:11:13.920
American cuisine is pretty bad, but they [br]do know how to make a good breakfast.

0:11:13.920,0:11:16.380
Wait, no, sorry, that's the wrong video.

0:11:16.380,0:11:22.740
This is the big takeaway from this video: always [br]challenge your assumptions about your players.

0:11:22.740,0:11:26.940
I assumed that players would [br]find my game to be too easy,

0:11:26.940,0:11:31.980
and so ended up making the levels to be [br]frustrating, complicated, and convoluted.

0:11:31.980,0:11:35.760
And I assumed that people [br]would know how to play my game,

0:11:35.760,0:11:39.780
and so forgot to tutorialise [br]about half of the mechanics.

0:11:39.780,0:11:42.240
Now I don't feel too bad because I know

0:11:42.240,0:11:46.200
that this is actually a really [br]common mistake in game design.

0:11:46.200,0:11:51.240
It's so easy to assume that players [br]will have the same skill, knowledge,

0:11:51.240,0:11:59.640
and understanding as you, the uh designer who's [br]been playing the game every day for months on end,

0:11:59.640,0:12:06.600
knows literally all of the solutions to all of the [br]puzzles and literally wrote the rules of the game.

0:12:06.600,0:12:08.160
Mark, you fool!

0:12:08.160,0:12:13.020
And so it's no surprise that developers can [br]end up tuning the game to be too difficult

0:12:13.020,0:12:17.100
or to not properly communicate [br]some of the game's mechanics.

0:12:17.100,0:12:20.400
And as a game designer, it's one of your key jobs

0:12:20.400,0:12:26.280
to fight this urge and to really try and [br]put yourself in the shoes of the player.

0:12:26.280,0:12:28.500
So, I want to close out this video with some tips

0:12:28.500,0:12:33.240
and techniques that I have learned for [br]doing a much more effective job at this.

0:12:33.240,0:12:38.400
For one, Mario's maker Shigeru Miyamoto [br]tells his new designers to try playing

0:12:38.400,0:12:43.380
the games with their left and right [br]hands switched on the controller,

0:12:43.380,0:12:49.020
which should hopefully give you an [br]experience of being an inexperienced player.

0:12:49.020,0:12:53.700
That's quite a bold one, but perhaps you [br]can think of ways to simulate the experience

0:12:53.700,0:12:57.960
of being someone who doesn't have all of [br]your skills and knowledge about the game.

0:12:57.960,0:13:02.580
Also, Patrick, we actually did meet up [br]at GDC, and I bought him that drink.

0:13:02.580,0:13:09.780
Patrick assured me that thinking like a player is [br]a skill that you can hone and develop over time.

0:13:09.780,0:13:11.460
And as I've shown in this video,

0:13:11.460,0:13:16.620
I think the best way to achieve this is [br]to watch other people play your game.

0:13:16.620,0:13:19.860
If possible, you want to be [br]in the same room as them.

0:13:19.860,0:13:23.880
There's nothing more humbling [br]than sitting next to someone who

0:13:23.880,0:13:27.240
absolutely doesn't understand what [br]the heck your game is even about.

0:13:27.240,0:13:32.460
You also want to play with people of all [br]sorts of experience levels and skill levels.

0:13:32.460,0:13:39.180
Some of my absolute best playtests come [br]from my two nephews, aged seven and ten,

0:13:39.180,0:13:42.604
though I do have to watch out for bias.

0:13:42.604,0:13:49.187
MARK: "Jack, what are your thoughts on the game?"[br]JACK:"One million out of-- I love it!"

0:13:49.187,0:13:51.396
MARK: "Thank you. Rory, what do you think of Untitled Magnet Game?"

0:13:51.396,0:13:52.500
RORY:"I love it".[br]MARK: "Thank you".

0:13:52.500,0:13:56.340
That is, of course, a good reminder [br]to spend more time watching how your

0:13:56.340,0:13:59.820
playtesters play than listening to what they say.

0:13:59.820,0:14:02.520
Oh, that's like I should put [br]on like a t-shirt or something.

0:14:02.520,0:14:07.020
Another tip is to think about your [br]target audience for your game.

0:14:07.020,0:14:09.360
Have an idea of the sort of person,

0:14:09.360,0:14:13.560
the sort of skill level, experience [br]level, and games they like to play.

0:14:13.560,0:14:17.940
Have that in mind and make sure [br]you're designing the game for them.

0:14:17.940,0:14:21.000
And make sure you're picking [br]appropriate playtesters.

0:14:21.000,0:14:28.560
A big part of this problem was that I was [br]getting really worried that puzzle game experts,

0:14:28.560,0:14:33.360
people who played and completed [br]Stephen's Sausage Roll and Baba is You,

0:14:33.360,0:14:38.220
that those people would play my game and [br]think it was simple and dumb and bad.

0:14:38.220,0:14:40.500
But they're not in my target audience.

0:14:40.500,0:14:45.780
I want this game to appeal to a much wider [br]group of people and players who have enjoyed

0:14:45.780,0:14:53.280
more gentle puzzle adventures like Toki Tori, [br]Box Boy, Inside, Limbo, and Portal.

0:14:53.280,0:14:58.320
Having a target audience in mind is a [br]great way to keep your design on track.

0:14:58.320,0:15:01.800
And of course, there are ways to [br]appeal to a broader audience, too.

0:15:01.800,0:15:05.100
If you've made a really hard game, [br]you could chuck in an assist mode.

0:15:05.100,0:15:11.340
If you've made a really easy game, you could put [br]in optional harder content or post-game stuff.

0:15:11.340,0:15:16.080
And finally, don't be afraid [br]to start stuff from scratch.

0:15:16.080,0:15:22.680
When you're making a level, there's a lot of [br]discovery involved, and that usually ends up with

0:15:22.680,0:15:29.460
you accumulating a lot of fluff and other garbage [br]as you're figuring out what this level even is.

0:15:29.460,0:15:33.540
My recommendation, then, is [br]to start the level again but

0:15:33.540,0:15:37.800
with the knowledge you have acquired [br]while doing that rushed first draft.

0:15:37.800,0:15:43.800
You will no doubt end up with a much more [br]elegant and coherent version of the level.

0:15:43.800,0:15:47.700
I mean, I always do this with [br]episodes of Game Maker's Toolkit.

0:15:47.700,0:15:51.300
The script goes through five or six [br]different revisions before I hit record.

0:15:51.300,0:15:57.600
Why wasn't I doing this with the level design? [br]So, I came back from GDC with loads of motivation,

0:15:57.600,0:16:02.100
great ideas for where to take the [br]game next, and really bad jet lag.

0:16:02.100,0:16:06.720
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone [br]who said hi or hung out with me at GDC.

0:16:06.720,0:16:11.280
It was amazing to meet so many people [br]who watch Game Maker's Toolkit,

0:16:11.280,0:16:16.680
participate in the game jam, or are following [br]me here on this game development journey.

0:16:16.680,0:16:20.400
It was even cool to meet that one [br]guy who kept showing me his NFTs.

0:16:20.400,0:16:23.100
Cool dude, you're killing it, bro.

0:16:23.100,0:16:29.940
I was also just made to feel like part of [br]this wonderful community of game makers,

0:16:29.940,0:16:35.640
and so I can't wait to go back next [br]year with hopefully maybe a finished

0:16:35.640,0:16:39.840
game or something much closer [br]to being done than it is now.

0:16:39.840,0:16:44.760
Until then, my next job is to take [br]another step back and make a demo

0:16:44.760,0:16:49.200
that explores even more basic, [br]fundamental concepts of my game,

0:16:49.200,0:16:54.240
and then get that demo in front of [br]people in my key target audience.

0:16:54.240,0:16:59.760
For now, if you want to play any of the [br]three demos I described in this video,

0:16:59.760,0:17:02.580
they're available for free on itch.io.

0:17:02.580,0:17:04.800
I'm not taking any more feedback on these demos,

0:17:04.800,0:17:08.280
but it might be interesting to [br]see how the game is coming along.

0:17:08.280,0:17:12.420
Thank you so much for watching, [br]and I'll see you again soon.