WEBVTT

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Hi, my name is Mark and I am - 
still - making a video game about

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magnets. So it's been a little while 
since we last spoke but in that time,

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three things have happened to me that 
have inspired me to get off my butt

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and finally start to bring this game to the 
finish line. So, here's what happened...

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Okay so the first thing was definitely the 
response to the demo I put out at the end of

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the previous video. I put out a demo to address 
some of the most negative feedback I'd received

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on my minimum viable product. So people thought 
the character controlled like junk? Well, I spent

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a month making a much better character controller. 
People thought the mix of platforming and puzzle

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solving was a bit confusing. So I stripped 
out the platforming and focused exclusively on

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puzzles. People thought the game wasn't magnet-y 
enough, so I gave the magnet a face, the power

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to change polarity, and made sure every single 
puzzle was inherently based around magnetism.

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And all of those changes received pretty good 
feedback, but I think the best response came

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to the design of the puzzles themselves. You see, 
I spent a lot of time just kind of working on the

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craft of puzzle design, specifically to get more 
of those 'aha' moments. I've spoken about those

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before: basically when a player feels stumped by 
a seemingly impossible puzzle and then suddenly

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sees the twist at the heart of the conundrum and 
is able to make the logical leap to solve it.

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And so did I achieve that with this new demo?

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Well I think I'll let these let's 
play videos speak for themselves:

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HARRY: Okay what is this? So when this button 
is down I want to be here. So how do I do that?

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I don't know. I'm thinking. This is what the 
robot does when he thinks. He just swings the

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magnet back and forth. Ah! Did you hear that? 
That's the sound of me maybe figuring it out.

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Oh that's so smart. Oh my 
goodness, it was worth it!

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MARK: So that made me feel pretty confident that 
I was on the right path with my puzzle design.

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But it also just felt awesome to 
have made this thing, these puzzles,

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put them out into the universe for people to then 
find them, play them, and have a strong positive

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emotional reaction to a thing I had made. To have 
noises come out of their mouth. It was almost

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like casting a magic spell on people. It felt 
really cool, it's not something I've done before.

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And it inspired me to, you know, make more 
puzzles and package them up in a finished

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game. It inspired me to get off my butt and 
finally bring this game towards the finish line.

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And so I... didn't, and instead stopped work 
on the game entirely for a month to make

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a completely different video game, 
which ended up being Platformer Toolkit.

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Look, I had this idea for an interactive 
video essay and if I have an idea to do

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something and I'm excited about the idea, it's 
really hard to not just focus on that thing

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intently until either I burn out or the thing is 
done. And so that's what happened with Platformer

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Toolkit. But it was also the second thing 
that inspired me to finish my game. You see,

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Platformer Toolkit was very much inspired 
by this whole series: I wanted to take my

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experience of making a platformer character 
and share it with people in an interesting,

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interactive video essay. But also the 
development process of Platformer Toolkit was

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massively informed by everything I've 
been talking about on this series.

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So I made quick and dirty prototypes of 
some of the key mechanics. I made a minimum

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viable product with most of the systems turned 
on but only a fraction of the content. And I

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released demos early in order to get feedback, 
which would help the development process.

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Following these steps allow me to speedrun the 
game development process and get Platformer

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Toolkit up to the same point as Untitled Magnet 
Game, but in the space of a few weeks rather

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than a few months. But then I went further with 
Platformer Toolkit and actually finished it.

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You see, the game jam was fast approaching and I 
realised that I need to either finish this thing

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now or it will never get done. Snd so I did. I, 
you know, completed the development process of the

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game. I learned a lot about how to finish video 
games - definitely more on that towards the end

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of Developing - but I also saw just how good it 
feels to take a creative project and finish it.

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I mean, for one thing, you get to put it out into 
the world for people to enjoy. Platformer Toolkit

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has been played by almost 100,000 people and 
the comments and reviews have been wonderful.

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You also get to flush this thing out of your brain 
and stop thinking about it all day, every day,

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for weeks and weeks on end. And also you kind of 
get permission to move on and do other things.

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And I realised that I want all of this for 
Untitled Magnet Game. Like as much as I'm enjoying

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working on this game - it really is an absolute 
joy - I don't want to be making a video game about

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magnets for the next 10 years of my life. I want 
to get it done and then move on to other games,

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in other genres, with other art styles, and 
solve other design problems. And so I felt

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inspired to get off my butt and bring this game 
towards the finish line. And then I just didn't.

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Instead I worked on the game jam and another 
video and then just kind of procrastinated.

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But then there was thing three that inspired 
me. Okay, so soon after I had started working

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on Untitled Magnet Game I started seeing 
clips for a game called Elechead. This is a

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2d platformer about a robot who throws an 
object around in order to solve puzzles.

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That's pretty close to what I'm working on 
- doesn't feel great! And so when the game

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came out, even though it's exactly the sort 
of thing I would normally love to play,

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I just didn't play it. Because, you know, partly 
out of spite. Partly out of jealousy - the game

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was getting amazing reviews. And partly because 
I didn't want to sort of accidentally steal

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any of the ideas. But then a few weeks back 
I finally gave in and played the game. And,

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yeah, it's great. It's really good, it's well 
designed, deserving of the great reviews,

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and different enough from what I'm 
working on for the two games to co-exist.

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But it was also hugely inspirational for me. And 
this is going to sound like a bit of a backhanded

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compliment, but I was impressed that the game 
had gotten such good reviews - reviews I agree

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with - despite the fact that it doesn't have an 
epic storyline. It doesn't have state-of-the-art

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graphics. And it doesn't have millions of puzzles 
- in fact, the game is very short. It's only a

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couple of hours long. But what it made me realise 
was: I think in my head, Untitled Magnet Game was

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kind of impossibly large. Too big for me to 
think about ever finishing it. But then I look

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at a Elechead, and that level of scale and scope 
and ambition actually does feel attainable. If I

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think of Untitled Magnet Game as having a similar 
number of levels, and a similar sort of storyline

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to something like a Elechead, that is something 
I could actually do. That is something I could

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finish. And so I felt inspired to get up off of 
my butt and bring this game to the finish line.

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And this time I actually did do some work 
on the game! And in the last month or so I

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have done so much work that has brought the 
game so much closer towards being finished.

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So what I really mean when I talk about 
bringing this game closer to the finish line

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is there's a lot of stuff in this game that is not 
finished, not finalised, not properly implemented,

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or just not implemented at all. It's just in my 
brain or in a notebook. These are things that

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I've been leaving for another day or putting on 
the shoulders of future Mark. And this process

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is about saying: today is another day. I am 
future Mark. And it's time to get cracking.

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So first things first, there is of 
course the character - but I'm actually

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really happy with that now. I think that is 
pretty much final code and final animations

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and final sprites. I'm happy for that to 
be the character in the complete game.

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But the magnet needed a lot more work. So what 
I finally decided to do was split the magnet

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into three distinctly different characters. So 
this is the first one you'll meet in the game:

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he's called Max, he is a basic red magnet and 
has no special abilities. Which is probably why

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he looks a bit miffed. Then you'll meet Maggie, 
and she has the power to switch polarity and swap

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places with her sister Meg. And so it's like two 
characters on the same magnet. And then finally we

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have Magnus who is a big chunky boi. And the fact 
that he's so big means that instead of him being

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attracted towards magnetic sources, he is the 
magnetic source and stuff attracts towards him.

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Now this took a lot of time for me to implement 
into the game. Lots of design work and problem

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solving and iteration. Until I realised that 
the solution had been staring me in the face

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the entire time. You see, back in the MVP, 
every magnetic object was its own bespoke,

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uniquely-crafted thing. Which was kind of dumb. 
So in the end I made a generic magnetic panel

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which can be resized and placed pretty much 
anywhere you want. You can put it on the ceiling,

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or connect it to a moving block, or a weight and 
pulley system, or put it on these swinging gates,

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or put it on the tip of a magnet. Make 
it invisible and now you have your own

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personal magnetic field to play with. That 
should lend itself to some really cool puzzles

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about manipulating the shape of the world. And 
with that I finally have the cast of characters

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for the final game. You'll meet them throughout 
the experience, one by one, then maybe they'll

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come together for puzzles. Maybe you'll chat 
to them and have a little banter with them.

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I don't know that's still for another day. 
Bad Mark! But can't do everything today.

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Another thing I did was finalise some of 
the core mechanics in the game. So I built

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a better moving block with these little lights 
on it to show you where it's moving. I also

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built a magnetic block that can be made into 
any size you like. For this I built a system

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where you can split up the sprite into different 
bits, put the corners into different places,

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and it automatically tiles the edges to match. 
And then I put this out on my discord and everyone

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went 'Mark this already exists, it's called 
nine slicing, and it's been in Unity forever'.

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And so I felt like a bit of a doofus for 
wasting so much time. But I'm glad I found

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nine slicing because it's been hugely useful in 
so many things I've been working on since then.

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I also brought the laser beam back from 
the MVP, and gave it a bit of a facelift.

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I've also been learning a bit more about shaders 
in Unity which I used for the laser beam and this

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computerised display for the laser receiver. 
Shaders are amazingly powerful: very cool,

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very complicated. I feel like I'm only scratching 
the tip of the iceberg- that is a mixed metaphor

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there. I feel like I'm only scratching the... 
surface of shaders. That's how words work. I

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also made a ridiculous conveyor belt, again using 
the generic magnetic panel, and spent way too long

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bug fixing a thing where I can make it change 
direction. And a few other mechanics as well.

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Another thing I have been putting off and 
putting on the shoulders of future Mark

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has been sound effects. I know just how 
important sound design is to making a game

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feel alive and polished and complete, 
but it's very easy to just put it off

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until the future. But it is the future! The 
future is now baby! And it's time to put in

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some sound effects. So these are some of 
my favourite ones that I have put in...

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*Door Creak*
*Drill Whirr*

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*Laser, Musical Notes Rise*

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*Clang*
*Suction Pop*

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I also put in some placeholder 
music, just to kind of give the game

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a bit of a different vibe. But in terms of the 
actual soundtrack, that is again another future,

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future Mark thing to figure out. I've had a few 
people reach out to say 'hey, I'm a composer,

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I could make music for your game'. And thank 
you for that - I'm just not quite ready for

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that conversation yet. So at some point in 
this series I will do a much more public

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call out for composers for me to 
hire. Until then, please be patient.

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Another thing that I have been 
sitting on for a long time has been

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backgrounds. So in both demos I just have a really 
basic checkerboard tile effect in the background,

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but people have said that's a bit boring. And 
I agree. If you look at other platformers and

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puzzle games they have these amazing images in the 
background that really give these games a sense of

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place. And so I wanted something like that for 
my game, but I couldn't quite figure out the best

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way to do it. I mean, I needed something that was 
visually interesting and evocative and colourful,

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but at the same time it needed to be easy for 
me to make with my pretty limited art skills,

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and also didn't distract too much from the 
more important puzzle elements. Luckily,

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I figured out a nice solution. So the first 
thing was not to do with the background at all,

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but actually those puzzle elements. I 
boosted the 2 pixel black border to a massive

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4 pixel border which I think makes everything 
look better and more chunky and fun, but also

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helps them to pop off of the background. 
But in terms of the background itself,

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well I found this image on Google from OpenGameArt 
and thought it looked pretty sweet. Threw a shader

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on it and chucked in the background of my 
game, and yeah I was really happy with it.

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But I was also inspired - that's kind of the 
theme for this video - I was inspired to make

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something similar for myself. I mean, it looks 
pretty easy to achieve. It's just some basic

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shapes in silhouette with, you know, the colour 
grading from back to front gives it that sense

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of depth. And so this is what I came up with: I 
built a number of background plates. So this one

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is some buildings off in the far distance. This 
is the back wall of the factory with some windows.

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And then light comes streaming in through the 
windows. I've got some random pipes moving around.

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Some boilers. Some objects hanging from the 
ceiling. And some objects more in the foreground.

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Put them all together on different layers, and 
have them move at different rates, and baby

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you got yourself some parallax. I then played 
around with shaders and post processing to give

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it a more interesting vibe. So I put on a gradient 
overlay to give the space a bit more shape,

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and push it further into the background. I also 
put on a really harsh bloom which gives a retro

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pixel banding effect to all of the gradients. I 
put on some colour adjustment to add some colour,

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and then a split tone effect and... this is 
looking pretty good! I finished it off with

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some little bits of movement: some random dust 
particles, some steam coming out of these boilers,

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these gauges with moving needles, and flickering 
lights. Put it all together and it now looks alive

00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:52.160
and polished, and I'm really happy with this. I 
think this looks really cool, and best of all it's

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really modular - so I could swap out the boilers 
for a different object, change all the colours,

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and now I have the background for world two. And 
then world three and four and five and so on.

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The final thing I wanted to achieve in 
this development sprint was to nail down

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the transitions between levels. So in the first 
MVP, people thought it was weird that you leave

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behind the magnet from stage to stage. And in 
the second demo, people thought it was weird

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that when you collect the key it just sort of 
instantly boots you back to the hub. So I had

00:16:21.920 --> 00:16:27.040
to build a new system that made a bit more 
sense, and made sure that the character and

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any magnets in the scene all went to the 
next level. And so this is what I built.

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*Pulling cork* *Pop*
*Sucking sound*

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Okay, so it's a bit silly - but I think it's 
fun. I think it will be really satisfying when

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you've finished a hard puzzle for this to be 
the ending. And it goes on nicely to the next

00:16:49.520 --> 00:16:53.920
stage where we see a little title card 
for the name of the level, and then the

00:16:53.920 --> 00:17:00.640
character pops out the pipe on the other end. 
That should make each level feel more eventful

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and should give more of a sense of place to 
this whole factory that we're moving through.

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And so with all of that, the game 
really feels much much closer

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towards being complete. It might not look hugely 
different from what you've seen in the past,

00:17:17.280 --> 00:17:23.120
but with these steps I've taken, I've 
ticked off some really big things that

00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:27.600
the game has needed. Like finalising the 
magnets and chucking in sound effects.

00:17:27.600 --> 00:17:30.400
And so while I've got many, many 
months still left ahead of me,

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some really cool things have been 
finished. And that feels really motivating.

00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:42.000
So what is left to do? Well, I've got to figure 
out some kind of context or story for the game,

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and some kind of story giving mechanism as well. 
I also need a name for the game. It can't be

00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.960
Untitled Magnet Game, that joke has already 
been done. Gotta do the soundtrack. And...

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oh yeah, the big one, content! Gotta build lots 
and lots and lots of levels, which of course is,

00:18:01.520 --> 00:18:05.360
you know, the biggest thing in the game. And 
it's going to take, you know, months for me to

00:18:05.360 --> 00:18:10.640
do. But I feel like I've got a really good base 
to build them on now, and so I can really focus

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my time and attention on just making loads of 
levels. And so that is what we're doing next!

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And so here's my challenge to myself: I won't 
come back to make another episode of Developing

00:18:23.840 --> 00:18:30.080
until I have made... 30 puzzles for this 
game. And then we'll see if they're any good

00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:35.120
and how many more I need to make after 
that. Thank you so much for watching,

00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:40.080
thank you to anyone who gave feedback on the 
second demo, and thank you for your patience

00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:46.880
while I'm working on this game. Obviously a lot 
of my GMTK video making time is spent scratching

00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:52.880
my head over bugs in Unity, but I think it'll 
be really worth it. I'm really enjoying making

00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:59.200
this game and I think just being a game developer 
is going to make me a better video game critic,

00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.560
analyst, whatever the hell I am. So thanks 
for watching and I'll see you again soon!

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I don't know how long it's going to take me 
to make these levels. But I'll see you again.

00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:13.200
Probably. Yes I will! Yes of course, we're gonna 
finish this game. Let's do it. Let's get it done.

00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:18.880
Finish the game! Finish the game! 
Finish this video, somehow! Uh... stop