How to Make a HIT Indie Game (Story-Driven) / "The Formula" | The Art of Game Design 

Check out Episode 2 on How to Make a Video Game Soundtrack! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1qPfH95ry84.html

6 years later and this video is still helping out solo indie devs like me who don’t know shit about writing, really well made video!

"Make characters important to the story" - I disagree on that one. Sure, there will always be characters important to the story, but a world doesn't feel "real" when every character has some sort of connection to you. It's important to also have NPCs which have a believable life on their own. Characters that make you think that there are many more out there in that world, and how they may actually live when you are not around. That makes it easier to consider the world a real, functioning place. If everything revolves around the player then it gives the impression that the world really was just built for the player (of course it always is, but you don't want to be reminded of that).

this video is the living proof that with only a small amount of subs, you can make a video with great quality. you can see he really did his best to explain this subject to us, you have earned a new sub

I was randomly cheered up cause you used my favorite word: phantasmagorical

You talked about OneShot. I can die happy.

Art actually is pretty important to the story more than just a "good selling point". Yea, the art doesnt have to look technically good, but it still is usually designed to fit the theme/atmosphere of the story. Undertale would be a different game if it had an anime art style or something (imo). If the art in a good game is bad (or like not like detailed i guess), it is usually very intentional. Character design, shape language, color theory, and the complexity of the art are all important, and can even be important to the story. I guess I understand what you mean by saying it doesnt matter if the game has a "bad art style", but like games with bad artsyles werent good despite the art style. Art matters ALOT to a game and im just kinda salty that you said it didnt matter at all.

The people seem to love creepy cute games..

Nice video. It was very helpful. :)

Well when I was 11 or 12, I started thinking about a story game that I could shortly make for fun later when I can code, and then the more im aging the more im making characters, a story and lore about the game itself all in my head and because of that video im thinking about even more things to make the game special and just thank you i'll make this formula get stuck in my head

This is exactly what I look for in story-based games!

I'm so glad more people are finally talking about Writing. Anytime a movie, or video game or t.v. show is analyzed, they always discuss the visuals, the music, the acting.All of this is important mind you.But NONE of that would have existed had a solid story not been written to lay all that on top of.Writing is the least celebrated art form in our entertainment sphere today, yet it is so crucial to our connecting with meaningful content.

Oh good! I was worried this was just going to be an undertale praisefest like every other video for the past 3 years but it actually went of other games. Thank you for the nice surprise.

Honestly surprised he didn’t talk about Drawn To Life. It also addresses you as a god, the creator, and you draw things into existence. The game takes place in a world where you have been gone for a long time, and the people of the world start to doubt you even exist anymore. It’s a really interesting connection to the player.

Its such a shame this is your only game design video :( I hope you make more soon

I've been waiting for this video. I wanted to make a story driven game but dont know how to like will they like the characters music etc thx for the tips. Good job on the video btw

Oxenfree is a good example of all the criteria coming together nicely

This was an incredibly well made video. Thank you.

Aight, it's about time I try this out.

Man this is now one of my favourite videos on youtube. Its so so good, so helpful. Very well explained. Im so waiting for more videos like this. Thank you so much for this!

I'm so glad i stumbled on this video. PERFECT kudos friend

Great video!!! It's so cool to see someone who has a similar view on games and the importance of storytelling and writing in them, I immediately connected with a lot of your opinions around game-design and what you find important in the games you love I definitely agree that your art doesn't have to be amazing for a game to still be effective, but I think a better way of wording it would be that 'polish' doesn't matter (you need to have a good cake before you add any frosting). I think art and music are both tools that are equally important for storytelling (depending on what type of game you're making / what you're focusing on), but you don't need to have music or art that is aesthetically beautiful as long as the writing and storytelling at it's core is done well Thank you for making this video, it taught me a lot! :)

Thank you for the nice video! I enjoyed taking notes on it and hope to use the information to make something good.

Thanks for the great advice! I will think more about the story in my game in the future!

I like how you made an anology out of Pavlov's stimulus/responce stuff.

This was really helpful, so thank you!

i'm making a ghost hunting rpg that has a earthbound/dragon quest feel. i been wanting to make something slightly silly yet inspiring for younger rpg goblins to play. i added a few races that you can talk to: Rabbitkin, basically humanoid rabbits with heightened hearing and slight advantages to stealth, Bearkin bruisers who are very tough but look so cuddly! Catkin, my infamous race generally a friendly feline humanoid that get along well with humans, certain catkin can attune with elements such as water, astral, and fire to become elementals or "gel-cats", next are mouse and foxies, they are sort of my "moogle" races and for the default human race: well.. Human.. there are Tinnies which are humans with mouse like traits and a hair smaller than other humans. As for game play i'm considering a mechanic similar to everhood where you dance battle in first person akin to a dungeon crawler, the party attacks with weapon projectiles.

Awesome video, I really enjoyed it. :)

Great video. Solid game design advice.

Good characters to keep you invested Fun gameplay to keep you engaged A checkpoints to show progress And a goal to give you direction

Great list! I really enjoyed listening to this, and took notes of everything. I just wanted to share a quick point of view about the art that you mention. If creating a game where exploring the world becomes a driving factor (like in Hollow Knight), depth helps create a more interesting world, and good art helps the overall experience and makes you want to dive deeper into the lore of the world. I agree somewhat with what you are saying however, since the art is not a must, but can (like the music) help set the tone and make the player want to explore and discover.

Liked and subscribed. This was really informative and inspiring, great job, and great points.

Great video from a great youtuber. I hope I see more like this from you.

Thank you very much for this vidéo, I really needed it, it will help a LOT. I would love to talk more about that with you

Thanks you for all these advices

Yeah, I am definitely saving this video to look back on. I love how you mentioned Oneshot. Played it a few months back, and I absolutely adore it. (Oh yeah, and I adore Undertale too!) I've been brainstorming for a game I wanna make in the future, so this will definetly help me.

this video is amazing bro!!!

I don't know, there's a LOT of great indie games that just don't blow up like some others. Could be marketing, could be overall design and aesthetics, whether or not the game genre is niche, etc. Undertale blew up, and I'm just speculating, because of two things(in my opinion at least): heavily inspired my Mother/Earthbound and the spotlight it got from a lot of popular content creators. Of course, it's premise of "play the game without killing any enemies" is pretty unique; and not to say the game doesn't have it's pros, but I'd only say it's highly praised for it's fantastic music, and interesting bullethell gameplay. Just my opinion on the matter though. Some indie games just blow up by random chance; I can't tell you how many times I've seen great looking and well made indie games just not get enough, if any, attention at all. It could also be the fact that indie games are being dropped out by the 100s, and most of them are very mediocre, thus when a good one pops out with an generic looking cover art, and bland design; people will more than likely pass it. Especially true for pixel art games nowaday; just a very overly saturated medium of games. You could put years down on perfectly crafting a well thought out story, with endearing characters, nice plot twists, lingering questions for the fans to play with, etc; but if the game lacks any visual appeal, most people are gonna pass it up. We live in a generation of gamers who care only for graphics, fps, and visual design above all else first, then gameplay last(even though it should be the other way around, I say).

I’ll keep this vid in mind

excellent video, thank you!

"Yiik" Yeah that was a great one.

I think it's the first comment of this year. It's been 5 years and still wonderful content. Thank you for your effort! ✨

this is really helpful. Thx!

I would watch a series that does a deep dive on every one of these segments.

Great video, but the emotion is more like the saliva because you don't create the food with the bell but you create the dogs reaction. (just a minor detail)

The creator of undertale said, (I don’t remember the exact words) When a kid gets older he wants someone to be inspired by his game and make a popular game and he would gladly play it. So if y’all want him to play your game then go make one lol 🤣

great video. i agree with everything here. music is hard to do as not all of us are musicians writing and programing is hard enough, but it is a big factor

Thank you so much for this video!! I'm thinking about making a game about a bunch of realities that ended up merging each other and each of these realities would have it's own story It is **very** inspired by undertale because I really love the game but I'm having difficulties trying to not straight up copy the idea. And I'm kinda not really good with ideas sometimes so I don't really know if this idea is going to work... I mean, I can be hopeless now since I just started to plan this some days ago!! So thank you again! This video helped me a lot on where to start!!

This is amazing

Drinking challenge: Take a shot everytime he mentioned undertale

Thank you for this video.

Well, it's been four years, Omori turned out to be a (rushed) masterpiece, YIIK turned out to be a catastrophic embarrassment, and Ninja Tears didn't happen. Best 1 out of 3.

great video good job

Ninjas Five Steps To Creating An Interesting and Compelling Narrative

Great video

Finally I can see how crabby patties are made.

Awesome video....I learned a lot...thnx

Im gonna use these tricks, for my rpg games

I love that weekly content am'right

I got an ad for a mattress because RU-vid knows that indie developers are sleep-deprived

wow, thx for this video

You love Undertale, don't you? xD

Thank you this helps.

so good!!!!!!

GOOD video... slightly below in production quality... but good..subscribed just because of this video

I haven't played any of the games you mentioned.

Thank u this is so helpful

Thank you.

does "your choices don't matter" count as a moral?

Leitmotiv is a german word. But its probably that old that noone thinks of it. Motives in music maybe can be laid back to music making software and what happens when you keep a pattern up, repeat it and change the instrument used! its a good way to have a wide range of songs with less work.

I'm not a professional developer but In my opinion most of good story driven indie game is the result of budget limitation. Most of those game build on simple well-known mechanics. If story is a central element of the game, developers should avoid complex game mechanics. So this is my must do list for those kind of games.... 1. Use simple 2d pixel/vector graphics. (Avoid "realistic" graphics which is expensive and difficult to be unique) 2. Use nostalgic electro musics. (I'm not sure but I found some of good indie game I played use those) 3. Use simple combat / battle mechanics or do not use any. (battle is not mandatory for good story telling and it breaks story beats) 4. Use existing simple and friendly game mechanics in unique ways. (Do not take time for complex design and programming) 5. Use tools like RPG maker or something. Programming your own game is not always necessary. And story element tends to be like: 1. Protagonist as a normal person (No super hero variants). 2. World settings could be anything but traditional sword and magic world. 3. No extra people who doesn't have anything to tell. If somebody on the screen, she must provide some sort of narrative. 4. Ambiguous moral codes. (What is right or wrong should not be determined by the writer. No Lord Voldemort) 5. No spectacle. (No needs for large scale story) I didn't play a lot of story driven indie games but these are the common elements of my favorites.

great video and very informative. question though: if you wanna to make a game, how do you do that if you can't write stories to save your life? like, the ideas are in my head, yet i can't bring them on paper.

im doing the dumbest thing and making the soundtrack first, and the game second, but maybe itll work out

Interesting. I'll be sure to note this down and use it on a RPG. I won't let your points go in vain! Also, do you have a video on making music for the game? I know it's supposed to be 'according to your soul' but how do I project the feel of the battle in music without knowing how to *make* the music?

Sharing is caring. Ice Cream is part of the veal industry, but I do know of a great vegan donut shop.

"OwO it's food time"

LISA MENTIONED

What’s the name of the song around 20 mins in? By the way, GREAT video, I’ve subscribed!

this video is rly helpful for me and the rest of the indie dev team to help us make a new game to work on, thanks !!!

hi I wanted to say !wow what a good video! and why dont you make a discord server? I could help you do that

Hi! Can you tell me how to make good deltarune sprites? (Like what to use, tips on what to do etc..)

*In which program i can make game like this*

i wonder what this guys typing on that typewriter in 2017

Gotta ask what software or site did you use?

After OMORI came out... yeah it definitely follows the formula

hey, i loved omori :c

How to come up with character designs?

Whats the app you use?

Why the fuck was R.O.B. in Mario Kart DS?

Dude I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said!!! Im so glad you talked about some of my other favorite rpgs as they aren't talked about much >:[ This is so well written and I can tell you're passionate about this as much as I am!! Well done!!! :DD EDIT: I CANT BELIEVE YOU STILL MENTIONED OMORI BRO I HOPE YOU PLAY IT

Hi frisk

Oh that YIIK mention did not age well...

*Were's OFF?*

why not a deep game about shooting zombies :thinking:

19:47 I'm yiiking out

Well I dont know how to program so I can't do anything with this

Would you say Elden Ring follows this formula?

Nice video. FYI it’s pronounced “lite-motif”

Just found this video now. No new video.. that's sad

1:26 why is earthbound here? And also that part of a game where you just kill zombies kinda makes me feel bad as I put many hours into playing l4d2 for the core enjoyment of helping teammates get through a match and It contains plenty of environmental Storytelling from what I noticed in the campaign areas I love round house kicking enemies in re4 remake don't know if that's in the same genres as this but yeah