The 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design 

Hey! This is not what I normally do on GMTK, but to celebrate the 10th year of doing this channel I thought it would be fun to do something a bit different. I'm now working on Mind Over Magnet with the aim of releasing the game before the year is out - so expect more Developing updates throughout 2024!

I love the lengths Mark goes to in order to not say “they’re not selling it anymore, so just pirate it.”

I'm glad it's such a nice round number in base 10. Imagine if you had been taught game design after only 97 games or something.

The fact that Doom's source code is also public domain is worth mentioning, I think. Even with its age, it still has lots of techniques about efficient and simple programming that has been neglected by us younger generations of programmers.

Great subtitles/closed captions support, as always. Your channel pretty much sets a standard with your constant great quality of CC. I have the deepest appreciation for this. Thank you.

2:41 - Space Invaders 3:48 - Pac-Man 5:10 - Rogue 6:27 - Super Mario Bros. 7:46 - The Legend Of Zelda 8:56 - Mega Man 9:53 - Tetris 11:18 - Doom 12:32 - Super Metroid 14:00 - Pokemon Blue 15:28 - Tomb Raider 16:37 - Resident Evil 18:00 - Half-Life 19:13 - Thief: The Dark Project 20:34 - Crazy Taxi 21:55 - Deus Ex 23:05 - Diablo II 24:45 - The Sims 25:47 - Grand Theft Auto III 27:37 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 29:06 - Ico 30:23 - Rez 31:19 - Silent Hill 2 33:03 - Animal Crossing 34:20 - Warioware, Inc.: Mega Microgames! 35:36 - September 12th: A Toy World 36:32 - Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time 37:37 - Katamari Damacy 38:47 - Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening 39:50 - Resident Evil 4 41:46 - Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 43:08 - Dead Rising 44:27 - Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 45:59 - Portal 47:32 - Mass Effect 49:03 - Skate 50:23 - Team Fortress 2 51:14 - Bioshock 53:00 - Burnout Paradise 54:05 - Far Cry 2 55:28 - Left 4 Dead 57:25 - Spelunky 58:50 - Dead Space 59:46 - Batman: Arkham Asylum 1:00:52 - Plants Vs. Zombies 1:02:41 - Fruit Ninja 1:03:28 - Amnesia: The Dark Descent 1:04:19 - Fallout: New Vegas 1:05:10 - Sid Meier's Civilization V 1:06:44 - Dark Souls 1:08:08 - Minecraft 1:09:20 - Spacechem 1:10:26 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 1:11:28 - Journey 1:12:53 - Mark Of The Ninja 1:14:39 - The Walking Dead 1:16:00 - Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward 1:17:17 - Xcom: Enemy Unknown 1:18:46 - Spec Ops: The Line 1:20:11 - Spaceteam 1:20:57 - Dishonored 1:22:20 - The Stanley Parable 1:23:23 - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons 1:25:33 - Cookie Clicker 1:26:17 - Gone Home 1:27:37 - Papers, Please 1:28:50 - Steamworld Dig 1:30:29 - Alien: Isolation 1:31:39 - Mario Kart 8 1:33:29 - 80 Days 1:34:31 - Her Story 1:36:15 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 1:37:55 - Undertale 1:39:05 - Downwell 1:40:19 - Yakuza 0 1:41:40 - Kerbal Space Program 1:42:55 - Super Mario Maker 1:43:47 - Doom (2016) 1:44:51 - Factorio 1:45:47 - Persona 5 1:47:02 - Hitman (2016) 1:48:39 - Overcooked! 1:49:54 - Furi 1:51:19 - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 1:52:34 - Fortnite 1:53:57 - Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy 1:54:54 - Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War 1:56:21 - Among Us 1:57:23 - Celeste 1:58:51 - Rimworld 1:59:43 - Florence 2:01:15 - Into The Breach 2:02:01 - Slay The Spire 2:03:25 - Disco Elysium 2:04:44 - Outer Wilds 2:06:08 - Half-Life: Alyx 2:07:00 - Inscryption 2:08:18 - Vampire Survivors 2:09:08 - Tunic 2:10:21 - Shadows Of Doubt

You really missed the opportunity with Doom to say "It's playable on everything"

Remember. Piracy isn’t stealing if there isn’t a way to pay for it. It’s just art.

This kinda feels like some sort of endorsement for gaming as a whole. The way you explain everything so succinctly makes this video feel like a celebration of video games and their design, which I really love

This is truly the Dark Souls of GMTK videos

I kind of love the fact that you recommend the Sims 3 instead of the latest Sims 4.

I feel like Before your Eyes is "one that you forgot" mostly because of how it pushes the boundaries of game controls, and in a way that matches the story ("blink and you miss it") instead of just being a really cool and original gimmick.

Well, this title explains why the video lasts for 2 hours

Game list with timestamps (I've only played 68 of these 100, not bad considering the diversity!): 1-10: 01. 0:02:39 Space Invaders 02. 0:03:47 Pac-Man 03. 0:04:53 Rogue 04. 0:06:05 Super Mario Bros 05. 0:07:28 The Legend of Zelda 06. 0:08:38 Mega Man 07. 0:09:52 Tetris 08. 0:11:12 Doom 09. 0:12:24 Super Metroid 10. 0:13:48 Pokemon: Blue Version 11-20: 11. 0:15:18 Tomb Raider 12. 0:16:33 Resident Evil 13. 0:17:59 Half-Life 14. 0:19:11 Thief: The Dark Project 15. 0:20:10 Crazy Taxi 16. 0:21:23 Deus Ex 17. 0:22:56 Diablo II 18. 0:24:30 The Sims 19. 0:25:44 Grand Theft Auto III 20. 0:27:09 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 21-30: 21. 0:28:33 Ico 22. 0:30:03 Rez 23. 0:31:04 Silent Hill 2 24. 0:32:45 Animal Crossing 25. 0:34:11 Warioware Inc.: Mega Micro Games! 26. 0:35:19 September 12th: A Toy World 27. 0:36:18 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 28. 0:37:33 Katamari Damacy 29. 0:38:30 Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening 30. 0:39:45 Resident Evil 4 31-40 31. 0:41:15 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 32. 0:42:59 Dead Rising 33. 0:44:23 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 34. 0:45:58 Portal 35. 0:47:29 Mass Effect 36. 0:48:53 Skate 37. 0:50:10 Team Fortress 2 38. 0:51:10 Bioshock 39. 0:52:37 Burnout Paradise 40. 0:54:03 Far Cry 2 41-50 41. 0:55:26 Left 4 Dead 42. 0:57:01 Spelunky 43. 0:58:39 Dead Space 44. 0:59:35 Batman: Arkham Asylum 45. 1:00:37 Plants Vs. Zombies 46. 1:02:06 Fruit Ninja 47. 1:03:14 Amnesia: The Dark Descent 48. 1:04:15 Fallout: New Vegas 49. 1:05:08 Sid Meier's Civilization V 50. 1:06:40 Dark Souls 51-60 51. 1:08:06 Minecraft 52. 1:09:19 Spacehem 53. 1:10:24 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 54. 1:11:27 Journey 55. 1:12:49 Mark of the Ninja 56. 1:14:15 The Walking Dead 57. 1:15:58 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward 58. 1:17:13 Xcom: Enemy Unknown 59. 1:18:44 Spec Ops: The Line 60. 1:19:54 Spaceteam 61-70 61. 1:20:54 Dishonored 62. 1:22:12 The Stanley Parable 63. 1:23:20 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons 64. 1:24:38 Cookie Clicker 65. 1:26:14 Gone Home 66. 1:27:35 Papers, Please 67. 1:28:46 Steamworld Dig 68. 1:30:14 Alien: Isolation 69. 1:31:36 Mario Kart 8 70. 1:32:55 80 Days 71-80 71. 1:34:29 Her Story 72. 1:35:55 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 73. 1:37:37 Undertale 74. 1:39:03 Downwell 75. 1:40:08 Yakuza 0 76. 1:41:34 Kerbal Space Program 77. 1:42:35 Super Mario Maker 78. 1:43:34 Doom (2016) 79. 1:44:48 Factorio 80. 1:45:45 Persona 5 81-90 81. 1:47:00 Hitman (2016) 82. 1:48:37 Overcooked 83. 1:49:53 Furi 84. 1:50:58 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 85. 1:52:32 Fortnite 86. 1:53:38 Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy 87. 1:54:53 Middle Earth: Shadow of War 88. 1:56:19 Among Us 89. 1:57:22 Celeste 90. 1:58:49 Rimworld 91-100 91. 1:59:42 Florence 92. 2:00:55 Into the Breach 93. 2:01:59 Slay the Spire 94. 2:03:07 Disco Elysium 95. 2:04:30 Outer Wilds 96. 2:05:41 Half-Life: Alyx 97. 2:06:58 Inscryption 98. 2:07:55 Vampire Survivors 99. 2:09:07 Tunic 100. 2:10:09 Shadows of Doubt [Edit] I made this during the livestream and then rewatched a second time to get exact timestamps... Which means I TOTALLY missed the comment that there would be a link to the list later on lol. Oh well, at least I gave the video 2 full views for the RU-vid algorithm gods, gotta build that retention or whatever the lingo is. As for my own personal opinion of this list... I like it! Each game presented had enough of a purpose to keep me from thinking it wasn't necessary. I love making and sorting game lists in general and believe there is a lot you can tell by a person who shows their favorite/influential games like this. Keep up the good work!

1:54:54 Shadow of War had a good mechanic you don't see elsewhere because they patented it and nobody can use it until 2035, like the direction arrow in racing games in the 90s was similarly patented.

1:41:40 I think the best thing Kerbal Space Program achieved was to *make an incredibly hard to learn subject fun, by catastrophically failing at it fun.* KSP has one of the *steepest* learning curves of any game, like, ever, because it's quite literally rocket science, and basically no skills can be transferred from having played other games because of the unique control schemes a space simulator game requires. To the point where you can't get anything meaningful done without HOURS of figuring stuff out, where %90+ of the player-base has never even left Kerbin's Sphere of Influence to go out to the other planets. But the process of learning is made so much fun, and the sense of accomplishment you get when you achieve what you set out to do is so incredibly potent, that you can't put the game down if you somehow manage to get your first rocket to orbit. If there was a list for "most positive impact made to the real world", KSP would reign at the top for inspiring countless people to pursue engineering(aerospace or otherwise) as a career.

I watched the WHOLE THING good lord how did you have the energy to record and edit this I'm surprised there's no Obra Dinn on this list! I guess both big Lucas Pope games would be weird.

And here's where I stop on 27, go back to work, and pick this up again later. This video is an epic undertaking, Mark. Well done.

Surprised Baba Is You wasn't on here with how the level selection screens turn into levels themselves

Street Fighter 2 was also massively influential. Not only did it create the combo system due to a bug that was found during the development of the game, but it also allowed the player to pick from eight different colourful characters from different countries with vastly varying playstyles. So each time you put a quarter into the arcade machine, your playthrough of the ladder or a fight against someone else would feel very different depending on the character you chose. You chose Ryu? Your experience will most likely involve standing far away and throwing fireballs. You chose Zangief? Your experience will be to slowly approach the opponent until you're in range to land a devastating SPD. It was truly a hallmark in video game design, especially during the arcade era, and thanks to it an entire genre spawned and even games from other genres took heavy inspiration from it.

The fact that Tunic is on the thumbnail makes me soo happy, One of the best and most underrated game. Especially for game design!

I like how the Souls mechanic in Dark Souls is kinda a red herring once you understand the game. What I mean is, it feels like losing a bunch of souls is a big hit, but with how leveling up get's exponentionally more expensive, those souls you lost are not really a big deal. Once you realize this, it's not the souls that become valuable, it's how you spend your limited level ups. At least that is how I came to look at it. I went from caring a lot about losing souls, to caring a lot about how I level up knowing that more souls are infinitely available.

Mark, I just wanna commend you on your wonderful editing. Not only is your script writing super thoughtful, engaging, and funny, but the fact that you could keep it that way for a full two hours is just a testament to your skills. The details -- like at 34:40 where you say "in the blink of an eye" and show a clip of the game where you're giving a man eyedrops -- are so subtle, but really appreciated. I just love hearing you talk and explain, and you're pretty damn good at it!

Others mentioned The Witness, I'll add Braid. While you listed Prince of Persia for weaving the time rewind into the narrative, gameplay wise like you said it's essentially a quick save/ quick load. Braid explores time rewind as a game mechanic building interesting puzzles around it. And along with The Witness it shows how a game can explore a mechanic approaching it from many angles. In my mind this is very Jonathan Blow at this point, and he is doing the same in his newest reimagining of Sokoban, while the original game focused on the simplest form of pushing things, The Witness' designer explores pushing, stacking, teleports, etc, while the game still feels like being ultimately about pushing blocks around.

This is a next level way to procrastinate on your own game 😅

The choice of Skate: A completely different take on skating from Tony Hawk, is why either NBA Jam, or NFL Blitz, would be on my list. I badly wish sports game had taken the exaggerated path instead of where they mostly are now

"Tetris is a perfect game" while I sit, playing Tetris in the browser, avoiding my tasks, late at night Feels good man

Of all (100) games that you could have chosen for the thumbnail I am beyond ecstatic that TUNIC got the spot. The *definition* of an indie masterpiece in my book

Play lousy games. You'll become a better-designer, out of spite.

It's a small note on such a colossal video with so much to say, but I loved the choice to start playing the soundtrack of the game for each entry before naming it. It almost added a layer of interactivity to watching, to be able to recognise what was coming before it's announced. It gave me a very satisfying feeling to know "ooh Mark is going to talk about Undertale", or Disco Elysium, or Outer Wilds, before you did so.

This is a phenomenal journey through the history of games. As a 43 year old that has played games my whole life, this is a wonderful homage to my favorite hobby.

Just wanted to point out in the Mario Maker segment, ANY game with level/gamemode makers are amazing for getting into game design. My two go-tos when I was little was Starcraft's Scenario Editor, and Timesplitters Future Perfect's Level Maker. Both allowed you full access to the the games's entire asset library and then some, and you could add triggers, story beats, NPCs ans AI, and so much more. Starcraft's even allowed you to add dialouge with the main characters. It was awesome.

I still love how I saw a let's play of Gone Home, where they didn't know what game to expect and somehow felt it was a horror game and they were scouring through the house, checking every corner carefully, expecting a monster or some dark history behind everything and then it just turns out to be a very comfy story

My favorite thing about the automation genre (Factorio, Satisfactory, etc.) is that almost every new game tries to embed the core loop into a different other genre. Factorio blends with base defense, encouraging you to claim, defend, and expand what you have, rather than trying to branch out and make a dozen new outposts in its procedurally generated world. Satisfactory blends with open world adventure games, encouraging you to explore its hand-crafted world to find new goodies that can power up your machines, unlock more efficient recipes, and discover spots rich with new resources for smaller factories and outposts. Until its most recent update, Dyson Sphere Program decided not to blend with another genre, instead asking what a pure automation game could look like on a galactic scale. I love seeing so much variety in this relatively new genre, rather than the dozens of copycats other popular games get.

As someone who has followed GMTK for years now, this videos feels as if it represents a milestone. A showcase of all of your inspirations and resources from the medium. Really appreciate your work, take it easy for the next vid.

Thomas was Alone was probably the first indie game I've ever played and it is such a masterclass in how mechanics can affect how players empathise with the characters, objectively every character is just a square that jumps in slightly different ways, but the way the narrator (Shaun from Assassin's Creed) voices the characters plus how they move allows the players to be so emotionally attached to these little squares that the players feels everything from true joy to heart breaking sadness. I love this game and it's soundtrack is one of my favourites!

This is an amazing resource! So many good ideas all in one place.

Long video format is under appreciated. Tank you for this gem.

Hey Mark, just popping in to say thanks for 10 years of cracking good content. Not only is the content fantastic, but the editing and presentation of your videos is top notch too. Looking forward to the 20th anniversary.

You simply must play Sayonara Wild Hearts and Citizen Sleeper. Would also have liked to see a general shout out to fighting games and jrpgs. Awesome list and cool way to celebrate

Unique games worthy of mention imho: - *Mount & Blade's directional parry* (and attack) - Vampire the Masquerade Bloodline's & Fallout's blend of dark atmosphere plus humor - Total War's massive scale battles with deep mechanics - Kingdom Come Deliverance's immersion - Counter-strike's simple yet great gameplay

A great list with great explanations, and wonderfully focused on highlighting different aspects of game design. If I could add just one game to the list it would probably be The Witness (2016) which I was genuinely surprised not to see. The best example I can imagine of a game that carefully uses environment as a means to teach players mechanics, while always making players feel like they are piecing it together themselves. Maybe excluded in favor of other puzzle games that incorporate singular elements that The Witness puts together.

Loved the 26th game choice (for obvious messege) But you should've mentioned the great game "Slice & Dice" when talking about "Slay the Spire" and "Into the Breach"

you are such a hero Mark. You made me love games so much more, even when i dont play them. You've also helped me get through hard times. Your videos are like hanging out with a super smart and engaging friend who loves sharing his deep unique insights. Thank you man.

Extremely impressive video. This must have taken A LOT of time to make. So much history and game design packed in 2 hours. Very much enjoyed it.

I read the title as; Mark Brown’s top 100 video game recommendations! 👍 Thank you. 😃❤️ Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! 🎉

I think that, in terms of Rhythm Games, A Dance of Fire and Ice (7th Beat Games, 2019) manages to combine the visual with the audio in a beautiful harmony. Each beat is tied to a physical piece of the track on a larger string of pieces that your two orbiting balls traverse. I love how certain beat patterns are also tied to a physical combination of tracks, so memorizing an entire level in order to complete it feels like applying your prior knowledge from past levels, making it more manageable. A triangle will always be a triangle, the only thing that changes is the bpm! The game, as far as I am aware, is only on Steam. Highly recommend!

I've been watching your stuff for so many years, and as an apsiring game designer that has, quite recently, finally picked up the torch and began my journey, this series has helped me immensely. whether it be in alterring my outlook on concepts or igniting severe inspiration, GMTK has been a major highlight of my life it's so cool to be here at such a major milestone. there's certainly other youtubers who talk about game design all day, but few hold up a torch compared to the kinds of insights you offer this channel is special

I will do a translations about the part where Mark says "you can't find this game in the stores". Here: "Pirate the fuckin game". Done.

Everything may seem rosy, but did you know that old or discontinued games can be downloaded or emulated? No one loses money because they are no longer for sale.

Hey Mark, just wanted to extend a massive thank you. I've been involved in the software world for a long time, but mostly fintech and business software. I recently got into business with a game design group and your videos have really helped me speak their language and connect with them more, so it means a lot that you put these videos out on the regular. Keep doing your thing, and sharing your journey with us -- but also be sure to take breaks since I've come to learn how much more taxing game dev work comparatively to other verticals.

I'm studying game design to make my own game, and this video happened to be very useful. Nothing like learning from the past!

Half Life was number 13 on the list. List has 100 games. 100-13=87. Video was released 16.05. 16+5=21. 87-21=66. 66 is 33x2. 2. There were 2 Half Lifes. 2x33. 33. 2 half lifes times 33. 2 times the number 3. 3. Half Life 3 confirmed.

This is an incredibly cool list, and it's really cool to see the absolute variety this wonderful art form holds. I run a competition called "Norway's Best Gamer" where we test the contestants abilities to play a lot of different games across genres and platforms. Whereas other gaming competitions usually have people compete in a single game they've dedicated large parts of their lives to, we test it all. Game sense, adaptability, eagerness to try something new. It's a celebration of gaming first and foremost, and I am so chuffed to see how many games on this list are games we've featured in the competition! Thank you so much, Mark, for such a beautiful list. You've reshuffled the priorities in my backlog a ton, and I really appreciate all the effort that went into this!

Happy 10 years! This was a great video, and I loved to see all the positivity and things to learn from each game! The only game that I kept expecting but didn’t see was Transistor. There’s so many amazing and unique mechanics in the game to choose from, but after watching the video, the one I use is its death mechanic where you temporarily lose an ability when you die.

Wanted to take the time to say thank you for all the content over the years, Mark! I've been working in games for almost 20 years and since finding the channel years back, I've learned a lot from following along and have recommended GMTK to just about every co-workers I have had. I consider GMTK to be foundational to my growth as a dev, so thank you sir!

>tfw no Baba Is You, the best puzzle game of the past 10 years

For number 57, I'm not sure why Mark decided to go with Virtue's Last Reward and not 999, IMHO it is absolutely essential you start with 999 and go into VLR after you've completed it, it's basically a direct sequel and you WILL be very lost if you just jump straight into VLR. 999 is a fantastic game so don't think you'll be playing the worse one first, in fact I think a lot of things in 999 are better than VLR, but the sequel definitely has its strengths. If you can only pick one, make it 999.

It took me some time but I finally had time to watch the entire video in one sitting without interruptions. Definitely worth it. Awesome job as always!

Just wanted to say that I really enjoy the presentation and insight of your videos. This was a great watch. I've never made any serious progress in game design, and likely never will, but the topic fascinates me and this video has inspired me to at least open up a game design document I've been keeping for the past few years and jot down one new idea, so thank you for that.

I had always imagined it would be better to play the best example of each of these concepts to learn game design instead of the progenitors. Open to ideas!

Everything else: "Here's why this game mechanic is good and smart in this game." Fortnite: "It just updates alot."

this channel has inspirerd me more then anything else and showed me what games are capable of. becuase of you and this channel i decided to go to collage in game design and i couldnt be happier with where i am. while i wasnt here for all the first 10 years i cant wait to be here for all of the next.

Thank you so much for this video! Every one of your commentaries was a delight to hear ❤

"[game] is available on the Switch Online service" I can't wait to come back to this video in another few years to find out that is no longer true.

The best way to learn about game design is to play a lot of games. And learning about game design and how to think like a designer makes playing games a lot more interesting.

This might be my favorite video of yours... impressive dedication and passion put to it. I also want to say that the things you've highlighted about Hitman are also the same strong points that I truly enjoyed in Mark Of The Ninja: The mastering of levels and "creation of the perfect choreography" in order to become the perfect assassin... so yeah, now I need to play Hitman hahaha.

Thank you so much for mentioning the importance of playing board, card, and tabletop games! Too many folks only think of gaming as it pertains to video games where there is so much to be gained from playing games of all kinds! Great video! Keep up the good work! Congratulations on 10 years and here's to many more!!

should've put hitman at number 47.

I now have an excuse to stay up till 2:00am

The music of the games in the background was amazing thank you for all of the feels

One game that's left an impression on me even three decades later is one I rarely see anyone reference. The game is Legend by Mindscape, a game I played back in the early 90's. The game itself is a very competent early iteration of the ARPG which felt like you were playing HeroQuest in realtime, but the unique mechanic it had was the spell crafting. You could combine runes in almost any way you saw fit to create programmable spells. Want a spell that shoots a healing blast at a friend and then surrounds them with fireballs which in turn shoot out more fireballs when they hit their target? The ultimate "get out of trouble" spell? You can do that. Moreover, these runes would also make up part of the environment in some dungeons, meaning you could craft spells to interact with the scenery to create interesting puzzles. A rune switch is behind a wall? Create a spell that rebounds to hit the switch. Switches that extinguish fire or light torches etc. It was such a novel concept that I've never really seen fully explored in any game since - sure many games let you craft potions and spells, but none of them so customisable and so integral to the puzzle aspects of the dungeons.

dear mr. toolkit, thx for the video. best regards,

Really great list! Happy to see so many great games listed. I'm a little surprised you didn't mention about Dark Souls' message and bloodstain feature allowing players to hint, help, and deceive each other. I think it's just as unique as the drop your souls where you die mechanic. One note, COD 4 was made by Infinity Ward, not Treyarch

This video is amazing, congrats on 10 years!

Great vid! I am amused by how you described the Beginners Guide though, it’s a game that made me cry but it does have some fun bits for sure

Man this is the most complete video about videogames a human mind could ever come up with. I'll send this to anyone that says "I don't know what to play". I am grateful I have discovered you channel now more than ever

2 hour video lets goo!

This video was a massive delight and is the best kind of fuel for being in the games industry - Massive thank you for making it @GMTK

Great video! Must have been sooooo much work to put this together, but watching it has been very interesting.

Finally, the GMTK Cinematic Adaptation I’ve been waiting for

I‘m expecting at least one Metroid and one Zelda game on this list. I bet that Doom is there too.

Omg, amazing video with amazing titles, thanks for sharing all of these with us ❤

After watching this channel for years, this was an incredible journey of both discovery and reminiscence. Thank you for your efforts, Mark! You never fail to inspire and bring a smile to my face :D

Here's my take on what I've learned about boiling down game design to its core elements from playing lots of games, condensed: 1. DISCOVERY. Learning how to play the game, learning what the game has to offer, and finding whatever secrets you can in it. 2. TENSION. Learning how to play the game 'well' and problem solving in it. 3. FEEDBACK/REWARD. A sense of accomplishment from overcoming the obstacles (and how the game is teaching you when you're doing something right or wrong). There are many ways you can do the latter to keep a player coming back, but IMO, the best of them can be as simple as "More gameplay". 4. IMAGINATION: How can the player "Make their own fun" in the game, be it tailoring their own difficulty/strategies, or just plain screwing around? BONUS: NOVELTY--What makes this game stand out from any of the millions of other games out there today? IMO, the best games are those where a player has the option to create their own strategies and solutions to solving a games challenges that aren't the most obvious methods, by creatively using whatever the game gives them and then tailoring their play styles and level of challenge with it. Mario 64, Final Fantasy VII, Tetris, Street Fighter II, Minecraft, MYST, Star Wars Battlefront, the classic board game Go, are all great examples of this. The variety of options (while staying focused within the games core design to give a sense of context and direction) makes the games infinitely replayable as a result due to how many different ways you can go about your adventure in them, because theres ultimately no 'wrong' way to play em. Not to mention, the contradictions and fun of pushing the games rules to their breaking point and beyond is a fun meta challenge in itself. There's a reason glitch hunting and speed running is so huge in gaming now! TLDR: A great game allows the player to make their own fun!

2:18 or emulate, that works also

Took me a few days to get through this, but man what a great video this was. Thank you.

Totally would love another video with another 100 games, as there are still many more that deserve to be mentioned but this was a great list. Games are truly wonderful.

watch this become mandatory viewing on every game design college course.

(before primer comment) I some how know that this video will be really long like 2 hours and 13 minutes Not that anyone publicly announced anything i just know

A long but extremely worthwhile watch, thanks for taking the time to make this

This was an amazing video! I am a beginner in the game-making world, and I hope I'll do something interesting in the future! Discovering your channel was the best thing that could have happened to me, since there is a lot to learn from your analysis videos and your dev blogs of Mind Over Magnet. I'm really thankful for your work. There is not a lot to take from rhythm games that we can apply to other genres, so I understand the lack of this type of game in the video. However, two games I think are worth mentioning are BPM: Bullets Per Minute, a game that combines first-person shooter and rhythm, and Crypt of the Necrodancer, a really fun and unique rhythm roguelike.

The fact that Tunic is in the miniature tells more about the video than the title

This was a much less personal list than I was expecting. Like was space invaders actually where he learned about this style of difficulty curve, or is he reapplying a lesson he learned from like klonoa to the oldest most classic example of this that he could think of? Edit: maybe this list would read better to me if he took more time to narrativize his experience throughout games in the actual order he played them

I had lots of fun trying to place the music in the background before you name-dropped each game. This is a fascinating deep dive, and I'm sure it took lots of work. Thanks for sharing with us.

I managed to get around to watching this after being busy for the past few days, and it was very informative and helpful to see how these games can help to shape a designer's perspective and approach, especially trying to learn more designer-oriented sensibilities to help give my programming prototypes some more direction and structure

Team fortress 2 is not about counters but rather about every class having its own distinct role

I will watch it. I do not care about Ghost of Tsushima.

I was hoping you would mention rainworld either for it’s procedural animation or it’s ability for you to truly feel like just a part of a living ecosystem. I take a lot of inspiration from it because I haven’t felt anything like it. I’d also like to mention its ability to make you feel the passage of time through the dlc. It’s very cool.

this channel is a blessing, thank you GMTK ❤