Their site is broken when you try to access it from Germany. Automatically forwards to the german version and then just shows a 404 for everything. Not a particularly good look for a development tool, I have to say.
THE SOUND DESIGN TEAM DECRYPTED HIS LANGUAGE AND USED IT TO ASK FOR COLLABORATION I can't make it up if I try, this is the best story I've heard on teaming up, ever
Special shoutout to the game's creator, Andrew Shouldice, for providing the concept art and screenshots of the desert area featured in the video! What video game would you like to see me cover next? Leave a suggestion in the comments below! Also, if you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing to stay up to date on future “How Games Were Made” episodes. Leaving a like and sharing the video also helps out! Support me on Patreon and get exclusive content like Q&As, ad-free content, access to my Discord server and more: www.patreon.com/ThatGuyGlen
Tunic was such a special game to me. I reached out to Andrew just to say thank you, and he responded with a very thoughtful message. It meant a lot to me, cemented the whole experience as one of my all time favorites!
TUNIC has been my no.1 favourite game since I played it and I don't think I'm ever gonna back down from this hill. Although since playing Outer Wilds, I can't help but see the 2 as equals... when I first finished Outer Wilds, it wasn't even in my top 20 but it kinda just lives in your head and you begin to appreciate more over time until yeah
They are different genres with different appeals. I learned this the hard way. TUNIC was one of the best games I've ever played. I now do randomizers of it to experience it's level design and combat systems in fresh ways. Simply put: Outer Wilds lack of mechanical growth / mastery (just the brain portion of themetroidbrainia) bored me. These games share a lot of meta design for feel and exploration, but I want gams I play to have something to master other than my diagnosed ADHD OCD brain working in circles. I have that every day, with no off time, already. I put 22 hours into Outer Wilds (mostly due to coming back to it several times and relearning things again). I really wanted to like it, and gave it a real shot. I just didn't enjoy my time and the payoff never clicked.
@@olaf.forkbeard I too couldn't get into Outer Wilds the first few times, then i had one friend buy it so i gave it another go, he dropped it after going to each planet a couple times but i kept going, i think part of that is because i had another friend who had already finished the game to talk to about, she would listen to all my theories and manage to hold a conversation about it without spoiling anything. I guess the gameplay felt very samey, whereas Tunic had new game mechanics being introduced as you go which helps keep it fresh during that first playthrough. The dlc of Outer Wilds is quite different from the base game, it's more compact and somewhat linear so that felt more digestible the same was Tunic was (Linear compared to Outer Wilds base game i mean, obviously they aren't that linear). Disclaimer: I talk a bit about the design, philosophy and development of Outer Wilds, you can stop reading here if you want, my comment doesn't really go anywhere. But yeah even after finishing Outer Wilds, like i said, it wasn't even close to being my favourite game, but the ending really does get you thinking, and for a lot of people, changed their perspective on life, the game has cool mechanics but where it really shines is in it's philosophy and story which funny enough, was not something they focused much on during it's development. The team spent most of development looking at the game from a technical standpoint, even the artists. The way they designed the story was by creating main points of interest and then webbing it all together with minor points of interest. And that's how they looked at it, they basically just gave that framework to their writer and had her make it work. Without a doubt there was probably a lot more to it than that but that's all I could find from my hour of research. So strange that the game mostly beloved for it's story and philosophy never intended for that to be the outcome. Their goal was to make players go "AH HA" when they finally put things together. The actual context of what they were putting together was not a main interest of theirs. I can't help but doubt that though, because of the dlc which is very obviously inspired by Albert Camus' book "The Stranger", the entire world of the dlc revolves around his philosophy whereas with the base game, Albert Camus' influence is only present in the ending and not so much the physical world you explore or even in the Nomai.
Great video, thank you! I wanted to add a couple of linguistics notes: 7:02 Tunic doesn't have a new language; it has a new script for an existing language (English). English is usually written using Latin characters, but you can also write it using Tunic's script. Just like you can write Japanese using either Latin script (e.g. "nihongo") or one of the Japanese scripts ( 日本語). 7:51 This is kind of a confusing explanation of phonemes... Tunic, similar to Japanese hiragana or many other scripts, has characters or parts of characters that directly correspond to sounds. That's why it's a phoneme-based writing system. English, famously, is written using characters that map *very poorly* to sounds. "Though" has a silent "gh" and an "ou" vowel that is pronounced a bunch of different ways in different words. Think of it this way: if you are a child who speaks English, and you learn the English alphabet, you *still* have to learn how to spell. You have to learn that "though" is spelled "though", despite the fact that "tho" would have been much more sensible. You don't have this problem if you're, say, Japanese. If you speak Japanese and learn all of the hiragana, you can spell almost any word, because by knowing how to say it, you also know how to spell it! This is also true if you want to write English using the Tunic script - just by knowing how to pronounce a word, you know how to spell it. Hope that helps!
English was written in runes before they adopted the Latin alphabet... That's why TH has two sounds, because if you use runes they are "ð" and "þ" as in broðer, moðer, faþer, þeater, feaþer and ðe.
@@rogercruz1547 Thankfully Trunic is more consistent about those, because at the end of ð and þ's lifespan they were just kinda getting tossed around haphazardly in place of each other.
Sorry, I'm writing this merely moments into the video because I have to give flowers on the beginning effects. That opening title card with the tv effect was immaculate, I've watched it a dozen times now. And the book opening effect was something I've been striving for. Would you mind sharing how you achieved such a clean book opening and presenting effect? Thank you in advance and again, *incredible* work!
Thank you for the kind words! I use Adobe After Effects for all my videos and man, it would take me a while to explain in detail how I achieved those effects. I would recommend searching for After Effects tutorials that specifically explain how to create a book page flip effect. The intro is a combination of glitch effects and chromatic aberration effects.
I LOOOOVED this game so much. I didn’t have any expectations other than the character looked like Link and it delivered. It gave me this feeling of nostalgia, a little happy, a little sad. Idk how to explain it. A time when things were simpler and my imagination wasn’t burdened by reality and adult responsibilities. The lightning is beautiful and the booklet concept was cherry on top.
i gotta say, the format of this video, how well its edited, and how nice the custom visuals look, are very impressive and just plain fun. your videos are always unique! thank you for making them!
Thank you very much for the kind words! I love putting in all the details and creating custom graphics for each video, it keeps things interesting for myself and people here seem to appreciate it. I can't ask for more :D
It just goes to show how deep the secrets get that despite my love of the game from the first day I saw it and learning a bunch of the little background secrets, this video still showed me a couple new ones.
I actually decoded some of the letters in the game. Certain patterns matching to different words, like "button" or "hero". I never fully decoded it, but it was a fun part of the experience for me getting a pencil and writing stuff out of inspiration from a game in a notebook for the first time in many years. I drew the entire map of the original legend of zelda game by hand in a grid paper notebook so I could navigate easier, noting where secrets were or places I hadn't yet figured out. I didn't give Tunic the same treatment, my ability to memorize an environment has improved quite a bit now that I'm older, but it was still really fun and nostalgic for me.
One of the best surprises of my life was finally getting into and subsequently finishing this game a few months ago. I'd known of this game for a while before getting it on my Switch a couple of years ago and I went in knowing nothing. I could tell at a glance that it was obviously Zelda inspired, and while I'm not really a Zelda fan I enjoy those kinds of games fine enough and it's graphics really sold me. I then, over the next two or so years, started the game about 4 different times and dropped it about an hour in each time (I simply had other things going on in life which pulled me away) so when I decided to get the game again on Steam, I really decided to dedicate some time to it just to see what the game was like and I was blown away. It was one of the most euphoric gaming experiences of my life, and I've been playing games for pretty much all of it. That moment when the penny dropped with the D-pad codes and everything I had seen was re-contextualised, like the game had just started up for the first time again, was a moment I actually hope I forget so that I can reexperience it "for the first time" again someday. The moment when I finally realized how to solve the "door" puzzle was one of the single most vivid peaks of my gaming life I ever had and I fear I won't get another one like it. Having a game, in modern day no less, actually make me grab scraps of paper to write down codes for later was a thing I genuinely never thought I'd either get, or want, to do - but this masterpiece of a game gave me that reason to. I think it's safe to say that, for me at least, Andrew Shouldice's desires for what emotions and experiences he wanted this game to evoke in the player occurred seamlessly. Sorry for the bible read, I just had to gush about this game I love so much.
It's funny knowing that he also made that old, super pixelated horror(?) game HIDE; it's so totally different and it was a surprise to find out I had already played a game by him! If you can find it, I'd recommend it, very short but interesting game. May be hard to find due to it's name and age, but if you just want to see what it was I know Markiplier and Jacksepticeye played it at least!
I actually found this secret myself. Based off the question I had “what happens if I die here” which by hindsight is a pretty morbid question out of context. I wasn’t expecting to end up somewhere completely different
I've always seen Tunic as two complete games. The first game is a colorful and challenging action game with combat a mix of Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls. You unlock more abilities as you progress, but most of them are just tools rather than true "keys" like a Metroidvania. The game concludes with a final boss and sends you on your way with a vague ending. The greatest part of this first game are the "Was that always there?" moments that never stop coming. It's a solid game with broad appeal. The second game is a puzzle game using the first games world, as the player scours the game for hidden secrets. From 25% secrets to 5% secrets, this game feels completely different, and if you are in the niche to enjoy it will make Tunic one of your favorite games of all time. If you have the patience to keep searching and not look up the answers, Tunic endlessly delivers. There's even the 0% secrets beyond the true ending that require tearing apart and decoding the audio files as we see in the video. Anyways, great video on how this fascinating video game was made!
It does give abilities though, because the Hero's Laurel allows you to access some places. In that way it's a combination of a metroidvania and a metroidbrainia.
My favorite moment in Tunic was a late night playing and taking notes when I finally hit a critical mass of recognized words that the language construction finally clicked and I just spent the rest of the night finding examples all throughout the pages I collected to decipher the alphabet. The moment I was able to read full sentences without glancing at my key is one of my top moments in gaming and one I will cherish forever I think
Encourage players to work together - my god you have no idea how far astray the game's Discord has become. After a few weeks of everyone being friendly, I mentioned in there that I looked up some secret and the community immediately showed so much hatred towards me for not figuring things out by myself. It's gotten so bad I had to just leave.
It's a bit of a paradox. I don't know about that discord but if it didn't already I think it should have a section that you only enable on purpose for after you finished the game, where people actually collaborate to find hard secrets. As well as a method to interact with only one or two players that have a similar amount of play time, in a way that sharing secrets don't ruin the game.
Never stop making these videos!!! (for as long as you want to & it makes sense to for your life lol) They mean alot to me and are always so inspiring to watch! The attention to detail is immaculate and as someone who cares just as much about how something was made as the final product itself, I love these deep dives more than you can imagine. Thank you so much for making such awesome videos and posting them free for people like me to watch!!
Thank you very much for the kind words! Comments like yours make my day. I love making these videos so I have no intention whatsoever to stop making them :D
Tunic is one of the greatest games I have experienced, it’s one of those things that has me amazed at its existence because of how unique, otherworldly, and phenomenal in so many aspects it is.
great video as always, I knew about tunic before, but this will be the next game I buy because of you. Hope for a video about signalis or something by new blood in the future
This game was a joy to play, made me sob like a baby, and discover things like i was a kid, i don't want to say much since it's at risk of it being a potential spoiler, if anyone reads this, please, play Tunic, it's one of the best experiences i've had in gaming.
It started to bother me that I didn't have an actual logo for the channel. I also wanted a more unique name for the series. "How Games Were Made" just felt too generic. So I gave it a shot and started experimenting with logos and more pleasing colors, while still trying to retain the feeling of the old look.
Was absolutely enthralled with Tunic, right up until then end when I realized the puzzle I'd noticed woven through the game since start was one of those "community" puzzles that indie devs are now so fond of. Completely shattered my fixation. Haven't been back to the game since. There's a line between mystery, and creating wonder, and just being obtuse, and he took it so far over it boarded a ship, sailed out to the new world, and then sank after hitting a reef.
it's so sad that humanity has collectively decided to forget that Below ever existed :( please yall play it. It had some of the greatest mystery exploration vibes ever put to screen in a game. It's marketing was tad confusing (no it's not really a roguelike. No it's not procedurally generated)
@@ThatGuyGlen Strange. Could swear I watched the video months ago. Somebody must have made a very similar one. Anyway, enjoyed it, even if it felt like „again“…
I think the game is cute, I personally don't care for the word translation mechanics of the game. Why? When I saw the mail box, I thought the word would be more literal, mailbox, or mail or something about the mail box...(it kind of was) Luckily there is a translator web site and when I put the shapes in, and found out the actual word was .... .... ..... ..... .... .... .... "Empty" (to avoid even a small spoiler) I have more fun putting the shapes in there to see what it says then playing the game sometimes. I also find the shapes of these letters hard to draw. I went and got graph paper but since you can have the parts divided into a upper and lower or you can have them merged into one, that also throws me off...as I am slightly dyslexic. Not a lot, just enough to easily confuse some lines from one sound from another. Using the graph paper and the online translator was the only way I was able to realize the shop of the basic E sound and not have to guess if it was correct. I think if there was something in the game that confirmed the sounds, I would have liked it a lot more. Again, just my opinion. ;) I ended up just using a guide after a while as I no longer cared what the words said at some point and just wanted to finish the game. Translating words isn't my thing I admit. Plus I never read the game manuals, even when I was younger. I'm 53 so when console games came out, I was already 27 or something. (oops, I just looked up Nintendo and it came out in 1983, so I was only 13 then. ;) but I still didn't read the manuals and I could still real very well by then. No need to go..."what does this mean?") So I just prefer to discover things in the game by playing, not reading about how to discover things in a tiny book.
The language translation is not really part of the game though, you are not even technically meant to engage with it. The language is there to give shape to things, but you will complete the game without ever needing to translate anything. I sure did :)
Unpopular POV: Tunic is a bad game. It's unnecessarily obtuse, unnecessarily difficult, all to replicate a nostalgic view of bad game design that you see now with rose-tinted glasses, but it was bad, and they didn't know better at the time.
That sounds like a similar response to why game devs hated Elden Ring. Or someone who would gatekeep what kind of table top experience should be considered a board game or TTRPG. It's not for you, I get that. But that sentiment seems like you wouldn't play game with a side quests unless it had an arrow pointing where to go while the UI holds your hand for everything else. That's your game! Or maybe it's a multiplayer fps? Who knows. I just know most of those games are "bad" for me and most of the people who enjoyed this video.
