5 Game Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

Here are 5 mistakes I learned while making indie games!

[thomasbrush]

Thanks for watching! Hope you learned a ton.

[loinnirs]

You've made a few typos in "5 Things Resident Evil 4 Did Right"

[zachhixon]

Just started gamedev recently. I come here for motivation :D

[gamingbud]

K, just wanna comment on that loading bar for the promo. Brilliant idea, and I would have skipped the segment without it.

[ravenofcode]

I'd love some tutorials on how you make your characters. I find it one of the most interesting things in game dev that I can't do well at all.

[CreativeSteve]

Hey Thomas. I really do enjoy you'r channel and videos. You've been a huge inspiration to me on developing up my own ideas for my very first big project too which I plan on starting in the near future. :)

[DarkenHmK]

You've been a huge inspiration as I've been building my own game!! Thanks for all the work you put into your video!

[CorianderGames]

This is really helpful Thomas, keep these types of videos coming!

[TwoStarGames]

I learned that lat last point (play testing) the hard way... I published a game a few years ago that I barely tested, and a bunch of YouTubers played it. In every video I watched of it, at least one bug came up, and a few times the game broke entirely... Not doing that again

[_mementox]

Me: Oh wow nice Thomas uploaded a new video! Can't wait to watch it! It's been so l-
My roommate: YOOOO IT'S THAT GUY THAT MADE THE PEWDS GAME RIGHT?!!!??!?!?
Also me: *Loads shotgun*

[LuanaSantos-rlsb]

you really help me to focus on my game, although some things you say may hurt my hopes, cs after all when we are being creative we are vulnerable, I really appreciate your words.

[aurin_komak]

I am proud of myself for getting something simple finally working, but I understand my audience isn't. I am not advertising them how the ball bounces so well, I show them just what they want to see :D

[aztecagames]

This was a great video. Watching it twice because the tips so nice!

[homeslice]

You can't expect to be a good game designer from the start. This takes a special mind that gets it right the first time, every time. The rest of us will take years to learn from our mistakes. The good news is that simpleton hacks can learn to make games, given enough time and practice. Pinstripe is a phenomenal interactive artwork, so in the words of many an adult film director, keep 'em comin' kid.

[gabrielgudino]

Hello and thanks for your channel, I wanted to ask whats the camera you are using for broadcasting? thanks. And if you have a tip about shifting careers into the gaming industry would appreciate.

[AlexK-skqb]

These are some pretty rudimentary points, but if it's for the sake of numbered list advice I'm *all* in.

[technofeeliak]

Thanks Thomas, but I wonder if you can just link me to a video which explains how to get Mesh Vector3 and triangles from a Mesh in Unity.
I just want to work with code.

[sourwitch]

Is element of the second point to also try keeping the same mechanics for any sort of mini game or change of playing style?

[magnusm]

The one mistake I see everyone do pretty much is: Not polish their one mechanic.
Move and jump and he jumps, crouch then jump and he jumps higher and can do a ground pound that knocks away enemies, crouch then move and jump and he rolls and picks up anything he touches, jump then crouch while not moving ENOUGH.
That's too much.
Center your features on ONE mechanic.
The movement:


Make him slide down slopes if they're angled enough, base the slope force on the amount of angle.
Add drag to slow down and speed up the player when moving, make it slow down slower if not pressing anything and make him turn faster if he's pushing the opposite direction he's going.
Base the input on the gravity of the surface or the object for special moments like a Psychonauts like level with different gravity.
Make the player move down slightly faster than moving up.
Make the sprint not be an instant boost but make it smooth in between.


These are all a lot of things, BUT. They're centered around a single thing, movement input.
You do all of these things automatically by using the same inputs and you don't have to remember to do a specific action.
A fighter game is simple with few buttons and a single thing to do. So the combos are the only thing you need to focus on.
But you can't have a combo fighting system in an mmo with 50 different abilities and classes with items having unique active effects over an entire piano of keys to choose from.


RE4 does this with the shooting. You cripple enemies, take them down, activate long distance switches, disable traps, take town hidden objects and interact with the environment. All with just the shooting.
Sly Cooper does this, every single platforming point and action uses the same button.
Same action, different but predictable results. Simplifies the controls and stream lines the action and makes it easier to get into and get back to when you want to play again after a long time.


Many games I see just has the most primitive movement systems there is, simply move when the button is held down, they don't even keep the velocity in the air when jumping. You just stop dead in the air when you stop pressing the movement keys. That's as lazy as you can get, and this is million dollar companies and professional small teams that does this.

[donlybrowne]

Hey Thomas, can you talk more about game prototyping and testing ..thanks