Tracy Fullerton: Game Design Workshop VS Youtube

Hot tip; bet on YouTube

Its time for me to go back to Tracy Fullerton.

But I have to be honest, I have tried to write this blog post a few times. I read chapters over and over trying to find something I wanted to talk about but I hate this text book. Its painfully boring, unimaginative and lacks the fun and soul that makes game design mean something. I could write an essay on how much I dislike this Textbook, but I'm not going to do that. Instead lets do something more fun and more nice. I'm going to highlight some YouTube channels and videos that are infinitely better resources and free. so, lets begin. 

GDC - https://www.youtube.com/@Gdconf/featured

GDC (Game Design Conference) is a legendary channel, honestly its a gold mine. According to its own description "GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more." In short they get professionals in the game design world to come in and talk about whatever they want. Most videos are half an hour to an hour long and presented my many legends of the game design world. This information is so valuable as each video is basically a university lecture by a industry veteran. 


Design Doc - https://www.youtube.com/@DesignDoc

Design Doc is a very clever channel, most of the videos cover specific mechanics or design concepts. things like save systems, boss rush's, day night cycles, or what makes a good rhythm game UX. In each video he really interrogates the idea from multiple angles, citing games that have done interesting or notable things in that space. If your looking for advice on some strange topic like, how should I introduce a secret boss fight in my game? come look for an answer here, you wont be disappointed. 


                                   Game Makers Tool Kit - https://www.youtube.com/@GMTK

GMTK is a great resource for learning about design, there are videos covering a wide range of topics and hosted by a great guy with solid video production levels. Personally I find his advice and thoughts really inspiring  and I know I'm not alone because every year he hosts the GMTK game jam on itch and it has been the largest game jam on itch for the past three years. I would say the most interesting videos on the channel come from the Boss Keys series, lets have a look at one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouO1R6vFDBo&list=PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2

In this video Mark ( the host) talks about the dungeon design in Legend of Zelda. He cover the interesting difference between linear dungeons with single playable paths and more open dungeons that can be completed by going in different routes. How linear dungeons can be made to feel open and complex while still only really having one way to go. As well as how large complex dungeons can be made to be secretly simple and easy to pass through. He even calls out interesting moments and clever bits of design. Its great stuff over all and when I started making levels for my games this is the type of stuff I thought back on. 

These Channels and Videos, and many more like them, have been my real inspiration and where the majority of my education in game design have come from. Don't waste your time reading dusty text books, the real life and passion exists in the indie scene online. Everything you could want to know is out there, go get involved. 



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