Another thing with audio in my opinion, is to pay special attention to how well the volume ratio between various sound effects and the music, that way they don't clash(music is so loud/sound effects are so low, that you can barely hear sound effects). I'm sure this is an obvious thing for many, but for people newer to game dev, this may not even occur to them because they have so much energy/attention going towards so many other things.
Yes!!! This should have been emphasized more in the video. I remember when I first started mixing audio and vocals I was like WHY THE HELL DO ALL VOCALS SOUND MUDDY?!?! But then I realized in movies and trailers and stuff they lower the music volume EVERY SINGLE TIME someone talks...you have to mix it properly to sound good and when you do, nobody notices and it sounds great. We did that for the voice overs on Gnome Mans Land and it was fantastic.
I've played quite a few games that gave you the option to adjust the music and sound levels separately in game, giving the player control over the mix basically. I thought that was really cool, because if you wanted to say listen to different music while playing the game, you didn't have to sacrifice the sound effects in game to do so.
Completely agree. Audio is easily overlooked. Visual effects like particles and bloom together with smooth animations also go a long way towards giving a good feel. Imagine Candy Crush without either the sounds or the visual effects, it would not feel half as good.
makes sense. better to have laser focus on important features then freak out over the project as a whole. *game feel* is abstract if said on its own, but easy to explain imo. when you shoot a gun, there needs to be enough shaking/kickback/swaying to give you a sense of force behind the weapon. If you're shooting a player in a competitive game, the aim reticle should confirm it somehow and you should recive an audible noise confirming the hit.
one of the first things i polish is some of the visuals: first i finalise the simple shapes as far as already possible, so i can be sure that the sizes don't change too much in the finished game. then i pick (as close as possible to) the finished colors because looking at ugly placeholder colors for hours on end makes me much less happy and motivated.
My top 3 recommended things to polish: Brass, Stainless Steel and your car. I know this is the wrong kind of "polish" you talk about in the video, but I love to polish Brass and Stainless Steel. I have to say that Brass is much easier to sand/polish because it is softer. Stainless Steel is no fun to polish, but if you get a mirror finish, it will last a very long time. As for polishing a car, it makes them look nice, and I needed a 3rd thing and it was the only thing I could think of, since polishing copper won't last long, because it oxidizes in a very short time. Okay, so I guess I really only like the outcome, not the work involved.
Great video! And often underrated. Too easy to forget how first impressions are made when you've been playtesting your own game for an eternity and you know the whole thing inside out
I think simple animations can go a long way. Something like "fade in/out" for color, text, or scene; or interpolating between 2 points can make quite a difference in the game feels while being quick to implement.
To make things feel good, apply musicality. I don't mean sound but rather finessing the interactions, timing, and intensities into a nuanced precision; very much what musicians do. To fully understand feedback is to understand that the player is a musician and needs to feel what he is playing; Everything outside of player control is the "rest of the band" so to speak. Sound is very key to this. We look at graphics by aiming our eyes, but sound intrudes into our mind without choice. More importantly, our brains function musically (brains are not like computers; brains do not run programs). Frequency is a key factor in this brain music, and sound is frequency.
Damn right. The hype train (advertising) should be fueled by loot boxes containing pride, accomplishment, competitive advantages, maps, skins, hopes and dreams. ONLY $3.99 EACH!! (Warning: may contain duplicate items. No refunds. By playing this game you have forfeited your consumer rights. kthxbai)
That goes without saying. That's why when you only have a short time left before launch day, you focus on advertising and microtransactions, not making more game content.
Benjamin Chen Why bother taking content out? That's time wasted that could be much better spent on more microtransaction implementation! Just "Do a Capcom" and leave the content in, but block it off behind additional charges! Win Win!
From a business standpoint Yes. This, however, is from a game development standpoint. I would agree this isn't the greatest list of things to polish... This video only talks about juicyness... AKA game feel and visual/auditory/any other feedback for the player. Audio falls under that. The most important from a game design standpoint is your core mechanic. (This should be obvious but its not...) The third should definitely be art since it is the glue that allows for communication between the designer and the player.
I'm kind of surprised UI didn't make the list, but I suppose it could depend on the game. I agree that audio is extremely important. Looking back on many of my favorite games, I loved all of their soundtracks. The only thing I would say is to save audio work for the the later stages of development. I've been working on the same game for two years and tried making a couple tracks early on. I was very happy with them, but I heard them thousands of times during testing and inevitably became sick of them.
Super important minor stuff that makes a huge difference. I'm surprised you put audio as #1, but I couldn't agree more :) If the audio is off or not there, or any of the things you mentioned, there will be a jarring disconnect between the player and the game world and that's just no fun.
This video only talks about juicyness... AKA game feel and visual/auditory/any other feedback for the player. Audio falls under that. The most important from a game design standpoint is your core mechanic. (This should be obvious but its not...) The third should definitely be art since it is the glue that allows for communication between the designer and the player.
If my game doesn't "feel" good until the last extra week, I'm not going to work on it for 2 years. I think it's backwards. Make your game feel good as soon as possible because you're going to test it 1000+ times. Do yourself a favor.
This video has so many references to Rami Ismail's presentations and game design principals. He's a great developer. Many of the things talked about in this video can be demonstrated in this single video here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AJdEqssNZ-U.html
