GMTK Mini - Why do God of War's Characters Keep Spoiling Puzzles?

Agreed with most that this was great. Informative...perspective...and good to chew on for those aspiring epic video game developers.

SHAMANWOLF 1594

Really enjoyed this format too. It is great to briefly talk about some interesting topic without the need for a deep research.

Tyghorn

This went deeper than I thought it would, in a good way! I think GMTK Mini is a great idea.

Parachuting Turtle

Really like this format, it's more polished than I was expecting given your description!

Zachary Decent

I don’t understand why games that run into this issue don’t just have a hint button you can press after a few minutes. That seems like the obvious solution to help people who are getting frustrated without ruining the puzzle for others.

Tom T

I really like this little bite sized video. I'm really feeling this one hard because we just got some ruff Consumer Insight footage of testers getting SO mad and frustrated in our game. As an empathetic person I want SO badly to fix everything; but budget, time, etc. all conspire to make this very difficult to do. One thing I've learned over the years is that being able to think about puzzles, observe the environment, and track the several other things that need to be tracked to play a game... that ability is actually fairly rare.

Josh Foreman

I dug it very much. It might be useful to have a specific thumbnail style for the minis, to help set expectations, but I think it's killer.

Edward Earl Newton

I liked this little video. It's cool to be able to hear unique your voice in more current stuff, much though I like your usual, timeless analytical videos.

Alexandre Moreira

Loved it!

Sandro Dall'Aglio

It's honestly really impressive you were able to manage this in a day. I was expecting something closer to a Youtube Short from the blurb. Game-wise: I haven't found the hints too annoying or disruptive. Most of the time I've figured out what I'm supposed to do and a companion will just restate it for me, which isn't super helpful and there's been a few times I've been stuck and wish they would say something more relevant. I think players are generally adverse to taking hints, but maybe if they made use of some of the context sensitive options, like how the blacksmiths give you a dialogue prompt when you're near them, might accomplish the same thing as providing a hint while allowing you to opt in and dressing it as interactive content.

Eagle Henhawk

Definitely keep them coming!

This is such a fantastic idea for a video format, Mark! Even if, as a content creator, it can be frustrating that the videos you put the least work into might get the most views... :) As for the concept of the video itself, maybe the answer is that combat-based games don't really need puzzles, just as puzzle games don't need combat? I don't think Portal would've have been better had Chell been shooting robots in between puzzle-solving, and the janky Skyrim combat sections in The Forgotten City definitely didn't benefit that game. Maybe, in the end, the question is whether God of War's puzzle sections actually improve the experience or not...

Jason K

Loved this, Mark. I appreciate it as a super-polished commentary on the current state of the industry. It's quick to consume and encourages conversation through a more objective, educated lens. I hope you can make more of these!

Cam