The 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design

One of the best ways to learn about game design is to just play a whole bunch of games. But with thousands of titles to choose from... where do you start? Well, this video lists 100 games that have most helped me in my journey to understand game development - from arcade classics to virtual reality thrills.

=== Corrections ===

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was developed by Infinity Ward, not Treyarch.

Spaceteam is actually still on the iOS App Store!

=== Important information ===

Content warning: Blood, Language, War

While most of the games are available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch, a few can be found elsewhere. Use these links to begin.

=== Sources ===

[1] Resident Evil Creator Shinji Mikami Reflects... | Gamespot

[2] Preview: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars | 1UP

[3] 40 years and I'm still here | Game Developer

[4] The Last Guardian creator... | The Guardian

[5] Rez - Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Timeless Masterpiece | Time Extension

[6] Keita Takahashi talks Katamari Damacy | GameSpy

[7] Spelunky by Derek Yu | Boss Fight Books

[8] Designing side quests? Study these 7 games | Game Developer

[9] Soundbite: Age of Empires and Civilization... | The Life & Times of Video Games

[10] Ahead of the Curve: The SpaceChem Postmortem | GDC Vault

[11] Designing Mark of the Ninja - Nels Anderson | Full Indie

[12] Jake Solomon | Designer Notes

[13] Brilliant Indie Game The Stanley Parable... | Wired

[14] Cow Clicker | Wikipedia

[15] 18 things we learned about Alien: Isolation... | MCV UK

[16] ’80 Days': Jules Verne-inspired game... | LA Times

[17] How Fortnite’s success... | Polygon

[18] ...The aesthetics of frustration in Getting Over It | Gamasutra

[19] Designing Florence... | Game Developer

[20] Understanding the meaningless ... Disco Elysium | Game Developer

[21] Road to the IGF ... Outer Wilds | Game Developer

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
02:39 - 1 to 10
15:18 - 11 to 20
28:34 - 21 to 30
41:15 - 31 to 40
55:26 - 41 to 50
1:08:07 - 51 to 60
1:19:55 - 61 to 70
1:32:56 - 71 to 80
1:45:45 - 81 to 90
1:58:50 - 91 to 100
2:11:28 - Outro

=== Credits ===

Other music from original soundtracks of games shown

[GMTK]

Hey! This is not what I normally do on GMTK, but to celebrate the 10th year of doing this channel I thought it would be fun to do something a bit different. I'm now working on Mind Over Magnet with the aim of releasing the game before the year is out - so expect more Developing updates throughout 2024!

[grfrjiglstan]

I love the lengths Mark goes to in order to not say “they’re not selling it anymore, so just pirate it.”

[unvergebeneid]

I'm glad it's such a nice round number in base 10. Imagine if you had been taught game design after only 97 games or something.

[jamesliu]

Great subtitles/closed captions support, as always. Your channel pretty much sets a standard with your constant great quality of CC. I have the deepest appreciation for this. Thank you.

[richiecastle]

I love at the very end when you say "go play jam games, experimental games, serious games..." and the "serious" game you show on screen is...Serious Sam.

[evanmarcus]

You really missed the opportunity with Doom to say "It's playable on everything"

[chloupichloupa]

2:41 - Space Invaders
3:48 - Pac-Man
5:10 - Rogue
6:27 - Super Mario Bros.
7:46 - The Legend Of Zelda
8:56 - Mega Man
9:53 - Tetris
11:18 - Doom
12:32 - Super Metroid
14:00 - Pokemon Blue
15:28 - Tomb Raider
16:37 - Resident Evil
18:00 - Half-Life
19:13 - Thief: The Dark Project
20:34 - Crazy Taxi
21:55 - Deus Ex
23:05 - Diablo II
24:45 - The Sims
25:47 - Grand Theft Auto III
27:37 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
29:06 - Ico
30:23 - Rez
31:19 - Silent Hill 2
33:03 - Animal Crossing
34:20 - Warioware, Inc.: Mega Microgames!
35:36 - September 12th: A Toy World
36:32 - Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
37:37 - Katamari Damacy
38:47 - Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
39:50 - Resident Evil 4
41:46 - Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
43:08 - Dead Rising
44:27 - Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
45:59 - Portal
47:32 - Mass Effect
49:03 - Skate
50:23 - Team Fortress 2
51:14 - Bioshock
53:00 - Burnout Paradise
54:05 - Far Cry 2
55:28 - Left 4 Dead
57:25 - Spelunky
58:50 - Dead Space
59:46 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
1:00:52 - Plants Vs. Zombies
1:02:41 - Fruit Ninja
1:03:28 - Amnesia: The Dark Descent
1:04:19 - Fallout: New Vegas
1:05:10 - Sid Meier's Civilization V
1:06:44 - Dark Souls
1:08:08 - Minecraft
1:09:20 - Spacechem
1:10:26 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
1:11:28 - Journey
1:12:53 - Mark Of The Ninja
1:14:39 - The Walking Dead
1:16:00 - Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
1:17:17 - Xcom: Enemy Unknown
1:18:46 - Spec Ops: The Line
1:20:11 - Spaceteam
1:20:57 - Dishonored
1:22:20 - The Stanley Parable
1:23:23 - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons
1:25:33 - Cookie Clicker
1:26:17 - Gone Home
1:27:37 - Papers, Please
1:28:50 - Steamworld Dig
1:30:29 - Alien: Isolation
1:31:39 - Mario Kart 8
1:33:29 - 80 Days
1:34:31 - Her Story
1:36:15 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
1:37:55 - Undertale
1:39:05 - Downwell
1:40:19 - Yakuza 0
1:41:40 - Kerbal Space Program
1:42:55 - Super Mario Maker
1:43:47 - Doom (2016)
1:44:51 - Factorio
1:45:47 - Persona 5
1:47:02 - Hitman (2016)
1:48:39 - Overcooked!
1:49:54 - Furi
1:51:19 - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
1:52:34 - Fortnite
1:53:57 - Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy
1:54:54 - Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War
1:56:21 - Among Us
1:57:23 - Celeste
1:58:51 - Rimworld
1:59:43 - Florence
2:01:15 - Into The Breach
2:02:01 - Slay The Spire
2:03:25 - Disco Elysium
2:04:44 - Outer Wilds
2:06:08 - Half-Life: Alyx
2:07:00 - Inscryption
2:08:18 - Vampire Survivors
2:09:08 - Tunic
2:10:21 - Shadows Of Doubt

[the_emigrant]

I kind of love the fact that you recommend the Sims 3 instead of the latest Sims 4.

[WooperZzz]

How did it take me THIS long to realise that "Roguelike" comes from the game Rogue 😭😭

[wangledteb]

This is truly the Dark Souls of GMTK videos

[ludoviajante]

I'm studying game design to make my own game, and this video happened to be very useful. Nothing like learning from the past!

[nuclearocean]

"Tetris is a perfect game" while I sit, playing Tetris in the browser, avoiding my tasks, late at night
Feels good man

[Muskar]

The fact that Doom's source code is also public domain is worth mentioning, I think. Even with its age, it still has lots of techniques about efficient and simple programming that has been neglected by us younger generations of programmers.

[realNommooncow]

This kinda feels like some sort of endorsement for gaming as a whole. The way you explain everything so succinctly makes this video feel like a celebration of video games and their design, which I really love

[hurlman]

This is a phenomenal journey through the history of games. As a 43 year old that has played games my whole life, this is a wonderful homage to my favorite hobby.

[grzesfu]

Others mentioned The Witness, I'll add Braid.

While you listed Prince of Persia for weaving the time rewind into the narrative, gameplay wise like you said it's essentially a quick save/ quick load. Braid explores time rewind as a game mechanic building interesting puzzles around it.

And along with The Witness it shows how a game can explore a mechanic approaching it from many angles. In my mind this is very Jonathan Blow at this point, and he is doing the same in his newest reimagining of Sokoban, while the original game focused on the simplest form of pushing things, The Witness' designer explores pushing, stacking, teleports, etc, while the game still feels like being ultimately about pushing blocks around.

[NagKai_G]

Well, this title explains why the video lasts for 2 hours

[Dylawrnc]

Game list with timestamps (I've only played 68 of these 100, not bad considering the diversity!):

1-10:
01. 0:02:39 Space Invaders
02. 0:03:47 Pac-Man
03. 0:04:53 Rogue
04. 0:06:05 Super Mario Bros
05. 0:07:28 The Legend of Zelda
06. 0:08:38 Mega Man
07. 0:09:52 Tetris
08. 0:11:12 Doom
09. 0:12:24 Super Metroid
10. 0:13:48 Pokemon: Blue Version

11-20:
11. 0:15:18 Tomb Raider
12. 0:16:33 Resident Evil
13. 0:17:59 Half-Life
14. 0:19:11 Thief: The Dark Project
15. 0:20:10 Crazy Taxi
16. 0:21:23 Deus Ex
17. 0:22:56 Diablo II
18. 0:24:30 The Sims
19. 0:25:44 Grand Theft Auto III
20. 0:27:09 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

21-30:
21. 0:28:33 Ico
22. 0:30:03 Rez
23. 0:31:04 Silent Hill 2
24. 0:32:45 Animal Crossing
25. 0:34:11 Warioware Inc.: Mega Micro Games!
26. 0:35:19 September 12th: A Toy World
27. 0:36:18 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
28. 0:37:33 Katamari Damacy
29. 0:38:30 Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
30. 0:39:45 Resident Evil 4

31-40
31. 0:41:15 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
32. 0:42:59 Dead Rising
33. 0:44:23 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
34. 0:45:58 Portal
35. 0:47:29 Mass Effect
36. 0:48:53 Skate
37. 0:50:10 Team Fortress 2
38. 0:51:10 Bioshock
39. 0:52:37 Burnout Paradise
40. 0:54:03 Far Cry 2

41-50
41. 0:55:26 Left 4 Dead
42. 0:57:01 Spelunky
43. 0:58:39 Dead Space
44. 0:59:35 Batman: Arkham Asylum
45. 1:00:37 Plants Vs. Zombies
46. 1:02:06 Fruit Ninja
47. 1:03:14 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
48. 1:04:15 Fallout: New Vegas
49. 1:05:08 Sid Meier's Civilization V
50. 1:06:40 Dark Souls

51-60
51. 1:08:06 Minecraft
52. 1:09:19 Spacehem
53. 1:10:24 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
54. 1:11:27 Journey
55. 1:12:49 Mark of the Ninja
56. 1:14:15 The Walking Dead
57. 1:15:58 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
58. 1:17:13 Xcom: Enemy Unknown
59. 1:18:44 Spec Ops: The Line
60. 1:19:54 Spaceteam

61-70
61. 1:20:54 Dishonored
62. 1:22:12 The Stanley Parable
63. 1:23:20 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
64. 1:24:38 Cookie Clicker
65. 1:26:14 Gone Home
66. 1:27:35 Papers, Please
67. 1:28:46 Steamworld Dig
68. 1:30:14 Alien: Isolation
69. 1:31:36 Mario Kart 8
70. 1:32:55 80 Days

71-80
71. 1:34:29 Her Story
72. 1:35:55 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
73. 1:37:37 Undertale
74. 1:39:03 Downwell
75. 1:40:08 Yakuza 0
76. 1:41:34 Kerbal Space Program
77. 1:42:35 Super Mario Maker
78. 1:43:34 Doom (2016)
79. 1:44:48 Factorio
80. 1:45:45 Persona 5

81-90
81. 1:47:00 Hitman (2016)
82. 1:48:37 Overcooked
83. 1:49:53 Furi
84. 1:50:58 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
85. 1:52:32 Fortnite
86. 1:53:38 Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy
87. 1:54:53 Middle Earth: Shadow of War
88. 1:56:19 Among Us
89. 1:57:22 Celeste
90. 1:58:49 Rimworld

91-100
91. 1:59:42 Florence
92. 2:00:55 Into the Breach
93. 2:01:59 Slay the Spire
94. 2:03:07 Disco Elysium
95. 2:04:30 Outer Wilds
96. 2:05:41 Half-Life: Alyx
97. 2:06:58 Inscryption
98. 2:07:55 Vampire Survivors
99. 2:09:07 Tunic
100. 2:10:09 Shadows of Doubt

[Edit] I made this during the livestream and then rewatched a second time to get exact timestamps... Which means I TOTALLY missed the comment that there would be a link to the list later on lol. Oh well, at least I gave the video 2 full views for the YouTube algorithm gods, gotta build that retention or whatever the lingo is.

As for my own personal opinion of this list... I like it! Each game presented had enough of a purpose to keep me from thinking it wasn't necessary. I love making and sorting game lists in general and believe there is a lot you can tell by a person who shows their favorite/influential games like this. Keep up the good work!

[jacobward]

It's a small note on such a colossal video with so much to say, but I loved the choice to start playing the soundtrack of the game for each entry before naming it. It almost added a layer of interactivity to watching, to be able to recognise what was coming before it's announced. It gave me a very satisfying feeling to know "ooh Mark is going to talk about Undertale", or Disco Elysium, or Outer Wilds, before you did so.

[emanual]

As someone who has followed GMTK for years now, this videos feels as if it represents a milestone. A showcase of all of your inspirations and resources from the medium. Really appreciate your work, take it easy for the next vid.