@@webinatic216 Kendrick plays the game with his daughter on his lap laughing together as they figure out the puzzles, drake plays it with someone's daughter on his lap as she tries to figure out the puzzles and he smells her hair byden style..
@@thomascheckie2394 Elden Ring for people not even remotely into soulslikes is most definitely NOT easy. I remember it took me 3 tries to finally understand the appeal of Elden Ring. Now I love FromSoftware games. But it wasn't an easy process.
@@jan-ep7lm And you don't even have to be that good to do it! L1 spamming makes you invulnerable to most of the enemies. Beyond that it's just a rhythm game where you gotta remember to jump once in a while.
Billy Basso ... omg, this is one of the most enjoyable game experiences I have had in a while. No backseating, learning game mechanics through examples in the game and it's just my brain and the items working to figure things out.
Replying to my own comment. Just got done solving the BIG non-apparent puzzle in the late game. Took me hours, but what a feeling to watch it start taking shape as I found each (blank) and it just clicked. Wow
@@danielclark272 It's better than Knack 1 and 2 combined, that's for sure. But the prophecy will only be fulfilled when Bigmode publishes Knack 3 : The Knackening. Animal Well will then PALE in comparison.
I love the fact that I devised a perfect run to take the Mock Disc ALL THE WAY up to the altar, and then my buddy with less MetroidVania experience just uses the Warp Whistle to cut out 2/3 of the legwork that I did. This game just keeps astounding me and I am so here for it.
Lol u did that whole part without the warp whistle?? I've done a few things the hard way, too. And then saw RU-vid vids of people doing it a much easier way, lol.
@@amixofgeekcontent yeah, I mapped a route, then just did attempts until I managed to do it. Wasn't bad at all, like 5 tries or so. I kinda had a suspicion that there was an easier way, but I didn't care because I was having fun.
@@potatopotatopotatopotatopo8746 Something I wish I had before mostly finishing the game! If you have the flute and have used it to reach the fast travel area, say hello to the fishy fellow in the room below it. Bring the flute, it wants to show you something.
I just beat the game for the first time. I want to thank both you and Billy for such a beautiful experience. I've been battling depression for a long time now, and the game released the day I got out of the hospital. This game will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you again, dog bless ❤
It’s crazy the amount of people who either don’t know God or left it behind. I have never been religious but I’m shocked nonetheless. It’s so innocent too. Like crazy man. Wowzers
Truthfully, any time I hear about a proprietary engine, I'm interested. Not that good games CAN'T be made in Unity and Unreal and stuff, but I feel like more often than not, proprietary engines have something special to them, something extra. I will be buying this as soon as I get home today!
@@JoicSethThat's actually a lot more typical of custom engines. Games made with bespoke engines that have exactly the things the game needs, made exactly for the way it needs to work in that game, are often way more performant and lightweight. It's the "generalized" engines that end up heavy and sluggish.
I honestly couldnt put it down until I got the platinum trophy. This is a game changer. I hope this gets a sequel, either direct or spiritual. I need more of this! Amazing job guys!
The way Billy Basso describes Layer 3 (The Evil Layer) is why I love this game. Animal Well feels like it came from an alternate timeline where Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night were just a stepping stone instead of the standard to be measured against. Billy has jumped that 25 years of imaginary progress by himself. The secrets, the freedom, the inventive and multi-use power-ups. Damn. Thank you Billy Basso for making this and thank you BIGMODE for giving it the spotlight and audience it deserves.
Dunkey's sarcasm and Billy's deadpan are a comedic power couple. Like watching someone do standup to an audience of people who think he's doing a ted talk
“The dialogue in this game is literally buried in a secret spot” I thought he was joking but it actually *is* buried. It’s below the ground in a secret spot. Nice job, Dunk.
I legit stopped at the start until I could get around to playing it. I just got to the end (not 100%) and I think the game is phenomenal. Dunkey hit the nail on the head when talking about how rewarding it is to figure things out in this game, half the techniques and tricks you either go "maybe I can.." or you find out something completely by accident. It feels like Dunkey's metaphor for Super Mario 64 being like jazz. Definitely gonna 100%
“Later on when I was trying to make the game more realistic, I realized that animals don’t talk.” I guess Dunkey is still figuring that one out for himself, huh?
I'm 7 hours in. Best game I've played in years. The world's atmosphere and soundscape is just sublime. The sense of discovery and exploration feels like a mix of Outer Wilds and Hollow Knight and it's ensnared me as thoroughly as those titles. Gameplay is crisp and responsive with plenty of creative elements to keep it interesting. Interacting with the world using your myriad tools and gadgets is as fun as it is satisfying and being inquisitive never felt so rewarding. I truly love this game. Well done to everyone involved.
Loved animal well!! Got it on steam about a week ago and have been playing it and enjoying every minute! My four year old loves it too, specially the firecrackers 😊👍 it's awesome that you got to publish this great game!! Congrats BigMode on a great first hit!! 👏👏👏👏👏👍
I love Castlevania and Metroid and everything in between and after but this game is way too cryptic and convoluted. I found myself getting stuck more than a few times, had to put it down. Maybe it's just not for me.
I winced when I heard them say they cut it all out -I imagine this “Aha” moment came after laying down some groundwork, and realizing it’s all made irrelevant by the simple (and in hindsight, obvious) realization that “animals don’t talk.”
I was just about to say that animal well was like the lasagna of video games. The first layer is like Halo 2 the second layer is like halo 3 and the third is like Godfather 1 and 2 had a baby and that baby was a rat that became the greatest chef in all of paris
The technological wizardry it must’ve taken to make this game under 40 MB is insane to me. You have reflections, smoke physics, detailed animations, all the music, the detailed pixel art, everything. Less than 40 MB. This is more impressive than if Halo 2 met Halo 3.
Yeah, the real storage bloat is in high res textures and hours upon hours of dialogue audio files. If the graphics are all created by the engine as you play then that's just code, which is equivalent to text storage wise. 1MB is about 1,000,000 characters before compression. So with 40mb you can hold millions and millions of characters, maybe even more than 40 million with proper compression and compilation. Aaand i just remembered that compilation reduces variables and function names to single characters in most cases (as far as i have experience with) so this could be like, a couple hundred thousand to a million lines of code in this game. That's more than enough space to make a complete game and engine to run it (and just it). It seems people are forgetting just how little space games used to take up. It's really just textures and audio that make CoD hundreds of gigabytes, i bet there's less than a gigabyte of actual compiled code in those games, including netcode.
It being under 40MB isn't surprising given it's on his own purpose-made engine. That he did that as well as all those other things is impressive. It takes a wealth of skills and dedication to achieve that.
@@eqwerewrqwerqreI think you are talking about JavaScript or scripting languages in general. I would guess this game is written in compiled language like C++. Code in these languages is compiled to machine code, which is considerably smaller than minified JavaScript, which is still UTF8 characters.
My favorite part of this video is seeing a small hint for a puzzle that I've been struggling on for a bit, and it helping me unlock a giant section of the game. Thank you Billy And Dunk
The guy who made this game is genius. Dunkey initially I was sceptical but if you manage to maintain this quality I am excited about what is next from Bigmode. Also hope to see more games from Billy. I just still cannot believe it he made all of this by himself and put it 38mb.
This is not a game you just play while holding the controller... My wife and I have discussed puzzles OUTSIDE of the game itself. It is her FAVORITE game to watch! Thanks BIlly and Dunkey!
I remember meeting Dunkey at PAX last year and getting to play the Animal Well demo while chatting with Leah. Graphics and gameplay were very intriguing. Happy to see how far along the game came!
- Critically acclaimed - Innovative Metroidvania - Gorgeous artstyle - 35 MB total size - Hilarious marketing leading up to launch - 10% launch discount to win cheapskates like me over Gotta say, Dunkey, you did quite well with this one. Congrats to you and Billy and anyone else involved!
Congrats Dunkey! Such an amazing accomplishment from Bigmode and Billy! It’s wonderful to use your platform to seek out and shine a light on artists making truly unique work, looking forward to what’s next from Bigmode!
I wish one day I could wield a fraction of Billy Basso's power, I mean this guy is a programming/artistic/musical genius! Built it all from scratch, there's incredible water and smoke physics all over, dynamic lighting and reflections, the pixel art is truly something else and the music sounds incredible, on top of that the game is under 40MBs and playable on consoles too? My mind is completely blown.
It's so impressive how Billy Basso developed this entire gorgeous mastahpiece from the ground up. He put so much love into it. Congratulations to him and to Bigmode.
So happy to see this is getting so much positive attention. Best of luck to the dev and to the big mode team! Really looking forward to your next thing
I bet Moppin is punching the air right now, they made two well type games(Downwell and Poinpy) and never thought to make an open-well type game. The fools.
I just hit the credits on it. I really loved it. Really really good game. Thanks Dunkey for pushing the game to us and thanks Billy for all your hard work!
Congratulations to Billy Basso, dunkey, Leah, and everyone from the Big Mode team, I bought the game last week and have been having a blast playing it. It was only when watching this video again that I realized that the game really doesn't give you any direction explicitly, but it guides you through its environments wonderfully. It's like a guide that intuitively knows where you want to go just by the way you interact with the environment. Amazing game.
Billy and Jason. Thanks for putting a wonderful piece of art into the world. This was a lot of hard work and I couldn’t be more thankful. Thank you so much.
"I made the game by myself" me: "oh a fellow jack of all trade, it inspires me more on becoming a solo-develop-" "I also made the engine" me:"you fucking psycho"
It's not as uncommon as you think. It's also really fun. What's less common is carrying it through to the end. Also, his visuals are pretty good. I couldn't do that.
@@Nickbronline Yes. What they mean though is that people who usually make their game engines often have trouble completing a polished game using their engine.
Dunkey i love your approach to the game drop! Interviewing creators is something I would love to see you do more of. Thanks for putting the focus on the creators you da beeest.
It's a 9/10 for me. Being dead serious, what an incredible game, I always meme'd the hype about the game, but I never realized just how good it was. It would have been a 10/10 if it was called Super Mario Brothers 3, but not every game can be Super Mario Brothers 3.
Dunkey makes a lot of jokes but it was clear to me from day 1 that he truly believed this game was something incredibly special. It was obviously not a light decision to make it BigMode's first published game.
I was living under a rock for the last few years, so I hadn’t heard anything about Animal Well before it came out. I saw one review headline mention a masterpiece Metroidvania with animals, and I thought “I love those things” and just bought it on a whim with no further info. Went in as blind as I possibly could, and I’m so, so happy I did. I “finished” the game yesterday, but I know it’s something I’m going to keep going back to and discovering new things about for years to come. It’s instantly launched itself into being one of my top favorite games of all time. Thank you to Billy for creating such a rich and rewarding world to experience, and to BigMode for shining a light on it and helping it succeed. You’ve all made something incredibly special. (Also hell yes I noticed the SMB2 inspiration! Easy GOTY baybeeeeee!)
I watched the video, played video game, and returned to watch the video again, to confirm that everything Dunkey says is 100% true. It's just masterpiece
i haven't followed dunkey and I didn't even know he published this. I just heard about the game through word of mouth and was immediately hooked. Ironically, if I had known the publisher was a big youtuber, I'd have been MORE skeptical about it. hell of a start on your publishing company, dude! and huge congrats to billy basso, the daisuke "pixel" amaya of the west!
I’ve played most of this game and… Dunkey, Billy Basso is literally completely insane. There are so many secrets and I’ve been left absolutely gobsmacked. I think I’m making progress, only to search up a video talking about wing dings and the 8 layers of code which unlock secret doors. Thank you for spotlighting one of the most passionate devs out there.
I saw Animal Well on the PlayStation Pass for free, looked up a video review, saw a video by Dunkey and started downloading it even before I started the video. I trust Dunkey 100% and that’s all I needed to see to get it. I’m not disappointed at all, fantastic game.
It’s nice that Dunkey gives as much recognition to Billy Basso as he does with Animal Well. Great to see game developers like Billy getting the spotlight he deserves. :)
Dunkey.. On the small chance you see this, I just want to say Ive been following you well over a decade at this point and to see your journey from making funny youtube videos to publishing the amazing piece of art that is Animal Well has been just incredible buddy. Im proud of you dude. You inspire me to try and do half the great things youve accomplished already. Keep it coming my friend. You knocked it out of the park with this one.
That music at the end gives me such Eno, The Big Ship vibes. Congrats, Billy and Dunk. This is such a wonderful game. Exactly what I'm looking for. Papa bless
Ha, I just bought this in Steam and then came over to RU-vid to look at what people thought of it. Didn't even realise it came from your publishing company. I'm really glad to be able to support you so organically after all these years.
Something that I love which isn't even tied to the gameplay is how quickly the game boots up and closes. It makes it so easy to pop open play when I want to. No unnecessary waiting around
@@ProtossOP I've been hearing some say around 6+ hours first playthrough plus 20+ of post game. One person said like 90 hours. It's a Metroidvania style game, so I guess your mileage may vary, but the amount of custom variety to each area to me suggests the size is just really optimized since it doesn't seem to use a lot of repeated assets.
I downloaded this from ps plus for the heck of it. But I adore it now. It’s like all the great stuff about new games used in the format of the old classics I love. Thank you for bringing this to life
Spoilers: You simply count the pixels of the odd numbered flashes of light in the water of the save room, then translate that into morse code, which translates to a language that only exists in one village in India, which translates to a phone number, where a guy gives you an address, and when you go there at a specific time, Billy Basso gives you a handshake.
@@corican there was something about that comment... when you see ''spoilers'' and know you dont want to spoil it but read it anyway because you want to know what it is thats being spoiled that you didnt want spoiled but spoiled it anyway only to find out its the solution to a puzzle you know is made up but are really not sure so you want to play the game to find out just how wild these puzzles are that you are never going to solve, thanks.
I just finished the game and as a huge fan of metroidvanias i must say this one is really exceptionnally good. The gameplay mechanics are very unique and offer a lot of possibilities, the game kept being surprising, both aesthetically and with the game puzzles. It is a very high quality indie title, especially for a first production. That's an awesome job dunkey, thank you !
Man, I didn't even realize you set up a whole publishing company and were working closely with this game. I just remember you seemed hype about it in a pikmin video or w/e and that alone was enough to really put it on my radar.
On a serious note this guy is insanely impressive, you can really tell how much he really cares about this project and how much love he put into it. I'm sold lmao
I just sat down and played Animal Well for 5 hours straight. Of course I was always going to try BigMode's first game, but this is truly something special. I can't remember the last time I was so totally enthralled with a game like I was with Animal Well. It perfectly encapsulates the feelings of wonder and discovery that many games these days fail to. Time disappeared, and I was completely glued to the screen. A huge congratulations to Billy and the entire BigMode crew. If this is what you guys are capable of, then I am beyond excited for what the future holds.
Ya girl can’t believe how bigmode was able to publish the first we’ll type game except welltris. And down well. Seriously though! I am so proud of you!
Back in 1918 I was playing Halo 2, and I was thinking to myself: "Man, I wish this had more Halo 3 in it, innit? (I was British at that time)". Finally I can now play the game I've always dreamed of. Thank you, Billy Basso!
