YOUR GAMES | Game Design Analysis

I played your indie games and here is my feedback for you! Hope you enjoy. :)

0:00 - Intro

0:17 - Project Tomb Runner
by Edgar Canelas & Ibrahim Özhan

9:11 - Town Alight
by Doops, nova harbor, Sergio Pulido

15:46 - Dreaming Worlds
by Dominik Wolff

My games & other links:

Do you want to submit a game as well? Please keep your eyes open for an announcement. I always announce new submission phases a few weeks beforehand on Twitter, Discord and YouTube.

Big thank you for all of the awesome games and prototypes you sent me! It was a pleasure to play them.

#gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign

[JonasTyroller]

Fairly busy with Thronefall. Sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoy! <3

[RugbugRedfern]

The mockup of the new sound design for Dreaming Worlds was incredibly effective at conveying your point, just want to express my appreciation for all the work you put into creating these examples! The comparisons for color correction, lighting, etc, are always my favorite part of the series. I learn so much with every episode :)

[CraWea]

You are great at giving constructive feedback! Highlighting the positives, explaining why some things are problematic, suggesting solutions and improvements. I learned a lot. Wholesome and educational. Loved it!

[anthuulos]

We really appreciate your thorough feedback for Town Alight! Your comments about UI simplicity are spot on and we're excited to implement them as soon as possible. As you guessed, we already have a lot of ideas on how to expand the game further, but we'll keep simplicity in mind, thank you again for this opportunity! Both Project Tomb Runner and Dreaming Worlds look great as well, congratulations everyone involved, great job <3

[GamesByDominikWolff]

Thanks for the extremely helpful feedback Jonas! I am so happy to see my little red panda on your thumbnail 🐾
And yes i am an absolut noob at sound design, i am sorry for your ears in that regard 😵‍💫 it feels so much better with your examples, i think i need to take a deep dive into this field.
I see your points and do my best to make a more enjoyable and intuitive experience for the player 😊

[Dragon_]

Hey Jonas, I just wanted to say thank you. Almost 1 year ago, I tried starting game development with Unity, but unfortunately, I kept having problems and tried several times but it never worked for me, so I asked you for help on what I should do, you replied and had a few suggestions, like usiing Godot, and now I've been using it for almost a year and I've been really enjoying it! While I see how Unity has many more features personally Godot just works better for me. So thank you Jonas, not just for proposing to switch engines but to also motivating me and giving me hope! I hope you're doing well and that you keep enjoying what you're doing.

[zeusdeux]

I am not a game dev but the depth that Jonas goes into and how he delivers his message is what keeps me coming back. And now I am teaching myself graphics programming. Vielen Dank for being an inspiration Jonas!

[JDjr.]

I think that last one could work with a color spreading mechanic; as you explored, the world would add color to the areas you'd been. You could add "puzzles" with blatant instructions written out or shown, but in greyscale, they are not there. Completing the area would fill in any color you missed, maybe shift from a pale color to bright color to really make it feel like an accomplishment. That way you are actively rewarded for exploration, and don't have to deal with the dull colors the entire time.

[divinewind]

For tomb hunter: Adding 'screen shake' may help detection of traps behind the player. Making the 'Simon says' puzzle start button flash could help. Maybe add difficulty option, where a trap would not start until you've interacted with something in room.

[NicoFye]

0:57 The need to telegraph what's happening behind the player
2:05 The need to telegraph interactable elements
2:19 The importance of sound design
2:55 The importance of extended accessibility, elements differentiation
3:55 The problem of inconsistency and how to solve it
7:23 The importance of color and visual variety
8:41 Meaningful randomization
10:16 The importance of conveying clarity through UI
12:36 Fantasy problem
23:51 Story vs exposition

[samhblackmore]

7:28 - holy moley! What a difference that colour correction makes! Literally made the game look "next gen" just with some post processing

[Dashmaster]

Wow! The difference is night & day compared to livestreams where people play submissions for like, 8 minutes grasping at straws to fill the silence with nitpicky feedback. This video is so compact and inightful!

[R.Daneel]

Love the look of the firefighter game. A concept idea: creating a firebreak. Let a villager dig a grass area and turn it to dirt pre-emptively - but the villager is locked until they complete it for a challenge. Lets you block the spread at the cost of green land ahead of time.

[stellanovaluna]

I love that the mayor in Town Alight has a Super Mario Bros 3-esque “help me” animation!

[frez]

I have nothing but the utmost respect for game devs. I also tried it quite a bit and I have to say that it is so god damn hard while also having a computer science background, can't even imagine someone doing this with 0 programming knowledge. Your feedback is so sincere and you talk so nicely about the improvements that the said games deserve. I wish you nothing but the best brother Jonas.

[thedollargamestore]

For the second game's double win conditions, I don't think the timer is a bad thing generally. I do however think the game needs to justify why that is a win condition. I think it should be a countdown timer before support arrives, such as a helicopter arrives that extinguishes the remaining flames

[amaryllis]

I love this stuff, especially when you give comparisons of possible improvements.
The tomb game looks good but the puzzles seemingly leave a lot to be desired. A puzzle is meant to be a cerebral challenge, not just busy work. If you're just following a list of steps which you immediately know what to do, it's not really a puzzle at all.

[Reditect]

Definitely enjoyed this! Sound design and guiding the player without telling them everything is something I struggle with. It's nice seeing an example and possible solutions. I'm not strong with the storytelling side of things too, so I really appreciate that here. Calling things out, even if not my own game, allows me to question the same things. All about the intentionality. :)

[balle]

your best video in this series i think! less of a 'game reaction' and more an 'analysis'. great stuff.

[Nic_Holas]

Professor Jonas, thanks for the free lecture in game design and how to provide feedback.