Making Ori and The Will of the Wisps' Best Level

In the first episode of On the Level, I speak to Chris McEntee about the awesome desert world in Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

=== Before you watch ===

Spoilers: The Windswept Wastes is one of the later areas in Ori and the Will of the Wisps

=== Support GMTK ===

Use Creator Tag "GMTOOLKIT" when buying on Epic Game Store

=== Games Shown ===

Rayman Legends (2013)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020)
Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)
Sonic Colors (2010)
Hollow Knight (2017)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (2013)
Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Dark Souls (2011)
Dorfromantik (2022)

=== Credits ===

License code: YQBBIRFKDMSNQY6Q

Music from Ori and the Will of the Wisps official soundtrack by Gareth Coker.

=== Subtitles ===

[lukamagicc]

Seeing the engine without the final graphics makes me appreciate every inch of this team. Every department talented as hell for this game

[eclecticspaghetti]

What’s interesting is that, on paper, the sand burrowing ability and the water dashing ability from Luma Pools are essentially exactly the same ability, but sand is used differently from water in the level design, and there are different hazards and enemies associated with each terrain, so they feel completely different.

[Raymando]

This is SUCH an interesting idea for a series ngl. Would be interesting to see you play It Takes Two with the game's designer. Would be great as they talk about the levels while they play through with you. That game has some of the most interesting level design I've seen in recent games.

[ryuuseiboi]

Will of the Wisps is such a good game.

[kwenlu]

I like that this guy came to your interview prepared

[lintonfor]

"we want them to feel smart"

what was left unsaid: but we know that they're not, so we have to be extra smart to make them feel smart

[thisisfyne]

13:38 In my first playthrough I actually got there without all the requirements to proceed and it didn't feel bad at all. I was like "Oh shit! I can't wait to come back to this cool place!". It actually ended up being a motivation to keep going. The mystery of what was lurking behind that door just made it better, instead of going there and entering right away.

[Silver_Golden]

As someone who went first to the wastes:
Getting to the top felt like an achievement so even though it told me to go back it was well worth it.
Also loved the chase, died so often, took a two day break and got it first run then, part of what made it was teh brilliant music.

[mrbeef]

This game deserves all the praise it got and more. One of the best platformers in recent memory for sure

[microdavid]

Vimlark was right-- Mark is incredibly famous. When Ori developers reference Mark's old Super Mario Maker videos, you know he's super well-known
Edit: the ad break at the end gave me a Masterclass level design by the sims dev, lol

[TWIP]

Wow, the burrow ability actually was inspired by the Drill Wisp in Sonic Colours, amazing.

[itsQuilow]

"nobody wants to die 5 times in escape sequence" - I died like 20 times :D

[jcw]

Hearing Game Devs talk about their games that they worked, is one of my favorite things.

EDIT: Thanks for many likes, first time I have a lot of them! I hope you keep learning GameDev things n.n

[taxevader]

This is such a nice spin on the regular GMTK formula. It's really nice to hear the designer themself talk about their own work.

[samanthanorthover]

Hearing you actually mention that there's an ad break coming up was something I really appreciated. Great video, great channel.

[ithinkitsatiger]

Maybe I'm a little off topic, but the music of sand level is just incredible

[amateraceon]

The sand worm escape sequence is still the most stressful thing I've done in a video game in a long time

[jeniffer]

I've never played a more beautiful and heartwrenching game than Ori and the Will of the Wisps. And I am BEYOND mad that the game hasn't win at least one award at the E3 2020

[William_Sk]

That escape sequence gave me arthritis! Probably took me about 20 tries. Felt soooo good when I passed it, after cursing and yelling at my screen for 40 minutes.

[PabloGamedev]

This kind of videos ARE EXTREMELY VALUABLE! Thanks so much GMTK & Chris for the talk.