Why Did I Lie About My Game? 

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Deynum: I focused on art too much Also Deynum: Lets overhaul the art

Anothother thing you could add to make the walls more interesting are posters that say things like “Get back to work!” or something like that.

Rather than picking up desks as materials, why not destroy them to pick up wood? Then the broken table stays there and it still acts as an obstruction, but still gives materials. You could also make the paper-desk-gun projectiles act as boulders, pushing enemies in its path backwards until it breaks. If this becomes overpowered you can always make the projectile burst into paper immediately upon hitting a stronger enemy, but deal its leftover lifetime damage immediately. Looking forward to seeing where this project ends up :)

I refuse to believe that it's been 2 YEARS

Newton's laws of game dev: Big bullets need big kick-back. Maybe a couple of steps.

I’m happy that you’re being transparent I don’t think people realize how long it takes to make a game let alone make it fun

Add a mystery element, like being able to read cryptic documents. That would breed intrigue and cause the player to want to keep going. Great work, never give up👍👌

Honestly, you are one of my biggest gamedev inspirations, and I am going to closely follow along this project forevermore!

Random suggestion : I've always felt that the player character looks a bit flat, I feel like it may feel broken up a bit more if you give him a little belt. Love the videos :)

i honestly think some of your old weapons would still work, and be fun, with unique mechanics for them. the stapler could temporarily stun enemies by stapling them to objects or the floor, as an example. or the multi color pen thing (idk what they're called) could have different bullet effects for each color. also, sound effects will make each weapon feel cooler, and maybe some recoil as well? the desk printer gun especially looks like it should have recoil, since you're firing a whole desk at high speeds (edit) but your ideas for crafting weapons is incredibly cool, and it fits the office theme well! if you do wind up bringing the old weapons back, maybe they could be like a starting kit?

I have a cool idea for a boss fight: The Receptionist Gameplay: Phase 1:She sits at a desk and doesn't move and only attacks when attacked, she throws coffee and paper at you but mainly types a bunch of words at you. Phase 2: Her head is taken over by her computer and images appear and turns into an enemy e.g. a rat acts like a cursor, a cat just sits there, a turtle spins around the room bouncing off walls like in mario Appearance: Red dress with coffee spills on it and a blue tie, when attacked gets a massive mouth filled with massive sharp teeth, during Phase 2 she stands up and has wire tentacle legs and the computer consumes her heard and an image appears each time a new enemy shall appear I hope you see this and add it to your game (you don't have to I won't mind but LOVE IT if you do)

hey, thank you for the transparency about this! i've been really enjoying your videos, and i really appreciate the step back about what you've been doing and what you need to do. excited to see where this project goes in the future! :D

"To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom." -Socrates 370BC (when asked for his #1 tip for game dev)

I have the *exact* same issue with working on long-time projects like you so I can absolutely understand you. Great vid ;)

"Focusing on the art is the reason I lost motivation" then "So I did more art." Just because you lampshaded it, doesn't mean it's not still a problem. There is a reason that art is one of the last things done in a project, because it makes things so much easier to change when you're not worried about the art AND THEN YOU CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON ART with the walking animation. You haven't learned anything... have you? ... why have you continued to focus on art with the desk? You haven't playtested this? You don't know if it's fun. And then all of these hours could be wasted

4:56 Ah the AAA game mindset, glad you got yourself out of that line of thinking. Can't wait to see where you go with this!

Take your time and don't rush this project. Mistakes are inevidable but you used them to make some amazing progress. Keep it up

Idea:Sound design can also give characyeristics to weapons. Also, can we call the paper desk gun "Paper Jammer?"

The tiles work so well that 50% of the time they don't show up on youtube xD

One important lesson I have learned from game dev is that you need to add gameplay first, then you polish it, and only THEN you are starting to worry about visuals. You know - the only reason you need good visuals is just to advertise the game, funny enough is that modern gamers (at least the ones that have braincells) don't care about graphics. They only care about THREE things: 1. Optimizations 2. Gameplay. 3. Polish. Everything else is literally optional

Love the new gun! Its so juicy with the screenshake and everything! I also like the direction with crafting different guns with objects you find! How many guns is this gonna end up being 🤯

Aye! Glad to hear you’re still working on it, excited for the future man.

I always kinda thought this game didnt really have a hook or anything super duper unique. but the crafting- now that's an amazing idea! :D

The #1 thing that makes things satisfying in video games is sound design. Adding huge thwumps and swooshes makes it 100% more engaging.

Filing cabinets and their little silver keys should be the treasure chests to allow for puzzles. And office keycards to enter rooms/floors. The keys could be hidden inside the desks, trash bins, clocks, office plants, picture frames etc that you have to loot for stuff to make weapons from. The keycards could be on lanyards certain enemies drop

I haven’t seen this channel before this video but I’m so hyped to see where this game goes in the future!

Something very important that could help YOU find motivation is mentioned almost perfectly on bedsheet ghost video "How Pressure BROKE Roblox" but in short you musn't make a game for people to like, you must make a game YOU like not caring about what other people think but making something you like. It's better explained on the video mentioned but when you make something you like people will naturally interest themselfs on the thing you are making you shouldn't care about the image of the game but instead on what you think is Funny, or Poggers or something else. You can do it. Keep up the good work. 😁

This is one of the best videos in youtube gamedev. Really appreciate you being so transparent with the game vs video struggle. Also the paper desk bullet animation is sick

Small recommendation, add some kickback to the paper table gun ( or at least an animation of the player character being pushed slightly by the gun)

I think knowing what you need to do to improve is probably the most important thing, if you don't know what needs doing you can't make progress

Something else that could be interesting with objects is being able to maybe kick them, either into enemies to do damage, or to create obstacles enemies have to get around, say you're being bombarded by enemies you could run behind a desk, kick it and have it slide across the floor crushing some of the enemies as it slams against the wall.

I have been loving your office rogue like videos for ages, but this video felt different. the final part when you said that you finally had fun made me feel very happy, and I am glad that you are stepping up to try and rectify your past mistakes. I'm excited to see what you add next :]

This is a valuable lesson on game development and design. Gameplay is the most important part, after that comes the juice - the stuff that makes the gameplay satisfying. And everything else pretty much comes after that - The art, the sounds (good sound design as arguably as important as things like screen shake or particles), and other types of polish.

I believe the issue with the walking is that the character doesn't lean forward to run/walk. It's alright to perhaps try a running as the default instead of walking, since it'll go hand to hand with the dodging you'd often do. For the Paper-Scatter gun you could also add sfx, or a blast-flash from the muzzle to make it feel more big, if that makes sense. Can't wait to see this game heading in a new direction!

my best tip for fun is to focus on the little things. Its all about the impact of what the player does, so screen shake, particles, and other effects dramatically make the game more fun despite not changing the gameplay.

That is pure evidence of a problem I head the solution of at one of those GDC videos: Mess around first, create stuff for the heck of it, on impulse, even. Make the mechanics and stick to one that feels fun, add few of the other meh mechanics... you can put a pretty packaging on it later.

This new direction is looking sick! Keep it up 👍

First time seeing this project and it looks fun! Cant wait to see what you add next!

some ideas keyboard gun - it shoots letters water bottle gun - it shoots water & hold to release heavy attack camera gun - uses flash to immobilize enemy's sticky notes - sticks enemy's on place after pre-placed by player

7:10 youtubes compression hates this trick

- Spend the first half of the video saying that too much time is spent on art. - Proceed to animate paper for a gun he's not sure how much fun it can be The lesson is unfortunately not learnt.

Love this! Happy to see the direction the game is taking. Nice job on the new gun too😁

maybe with the inventory system, it can be sorta space based? like larger objects take up more space so it encourages strategic organization!

If you ever continue to create this project and release it into playtesting, one thing that always makes a game more memorable and recognisable is a great main character. In my opinion, the current character you play as is sort of bland and forgettable, he’s just some office worker in the most average clothes imaginable. I propose you make him an epic office agent, all black, red tie, epic shades, and maybe even a fedora or something. But simply making a guy that looks cool Probsbly wouldn’t be enough, so you could maybe re-design the movement to make the most epic action hero ever, flipping around the place and diving over enemies, improvising with the office tools as weapons and making quick decisions to save himself. People like to play as somebody they want to be, and feel epic playing. Anyways, this is just a suggestion, good luck in making the game, and keep up the effort!

Great devlog! Man some of those RU-vid video self reflections I can feel in my bones lmao

This has made me realise why i never finish a project I start. The obsession = motivation bit. Additionnaly, I never have a complete gameplay loop to send to my friend so they can give me their opinio on how the game feels or if its any "fun". Thanks! That made me think a bit and hope your as well can improve your game like your want it !

Obsession and motivation is so true, glad you're finding a way around it

i have learned after 4 different failed games to NEVER prioritize looks over gameplay until you KNOW that actually have fun gameplay

Suggestion: Specific objects add specific traits to the weapon. Like desks make projectiles larger, pens make projectiles faster, coffee machines could add splash damage, that sort of thing.

I think your problem is that your game is not "juicy". It looks like the pixel art is nice, but the gameplay is not very fun. For example, when the character shoots, camera vibrations according to the weapon, bullet speed, even random intensification of weapon animations can be added. I think this is the main reason why games don't look fun. For example, when the enemies in 5:10 jump on the player, it feels like something is missing. I had this kind of enemy in my game and I solved the problem by vibrating the camera when the enemy jumps. You can also use PixelOver if you want to progress more through pixel art (I don't know if you've heard of it before, but animations can be made very simply).

the way this was filmed, especially the ending, dude you're a cinematic genius

very excited for more focus on making the gameplay fun!

I totally get you. Making devlogs does interfere with the production procress, one wants to polish things or even solve the graphic side before they should just to please the viewers. And making content is a lot of work, sometimes it takes more time than making the game and the development start to slow down. I'm glad you changed perspectives and find a way back to keep working in the game better than before!

I’ve been following these dev logs for a while. Love ’em! Keep them coming!

Imagine if this guy went to the petscop direction

I have a weapon idea: Red tape grenade - anyone who dears to touch it will get their vision limited and will become slower for as long as they are standing on it.

Its awesome to see another Office Roguelike video! Just a suggestion but what if weapons had different properties depending on the size of the objects you combined. For example the Desk Printer you made would do massive damage, but would only be single shot, while combining something like a stapler and a pen would only do small damage but last a really long time. Finally combining a small and large item could give you a medium weapon that does medium damage, and has medium health / ammo. Maybe they take up different inventory space as well, so you can carry 100 coffee-pen guns but only 2 printer-table guns. Stuff like this would add alot more strategy to the game, and make it alot more interesting to play, as you really have to think about what you want to combine. (Also please add kickback to the printer table, that as well as the screenshake would really show the power behind that paper)

One thing I noticed with the desk printer gun: it looses momentum rather fast at the end, and the last bits of paper seem to stop in place. Maybe having it so that the paper bits keep moving forward would help?

Transparency just got you a new subscriber mate, keep it up!

Dunno what to say but im really happy to see that death inc is moving in a good direction! Best of luck for what you work on next! cant wait for the next devlog but do take ur time! dont get burnt out!!!!

Good on you for being honest with yourself! This is the best way to improve from my experience 🙂 Looking forward to what comes next!

The gun actually looks really fun, I think the eventual sound design will amplifiy the amount of fun you (and I) will have!

I agree transparency is important. It's much more important to be honest with an audience than try to impress them with illusions. No one wins in that scenario.

As someone who saw the first video when it came out, and loosely followed your progression I must say you have my full respect for admitting all these points in this video.

something that i think the desk-paper-printer-bazooka-gun-thing should have is some exponential slowing on the projectiles. I think it would help sell the momentum of the initial shot without adding too many flashy and distracting effects

Im happy to hear you finally found fun!

Hey next time you rework the art you should probably also consider doing that for the characters, at least the player character to start with. The pixel art equivalent of stick figures doesn't really look great.

if you wanted to, you could consider making the camera look ahead of the player depending on what direction you're aiming, could help with longer range weapons so you can see where you're shooting. Good luck on the devlogs, you got a subscription from me!

Hey!!! Best of luck with the game's development :3 I can definitely see the walk cycle being fixed with a more leaned over running animation - never be afraid of *exaggerating* the action! Legs swaying back and forth is always good running! Also making him bounce, of course!

Nice video, now lets wait another couple of years for the next devlog

I love the new gun and new mentality towards this project! I also came up with a few ideas while watching this devlog. So if ur interested, I would like to suggest two things. First idea is small but if u would want the paper desk to feel more powerful or give more UMPH to it, what if it caused u to be knocked back a little every time u fired it? This may cause the combat with it to feel more dynamic and chaotic. My 2nd idea is to do something with crafting and destructible objects. So instead of using a whole desk and printer as crafting recipes, what if u gather pieces of it after the carnage that happened in the room. This way, large objects can be served as barriers that could be broken down to be used for crafting parts. Not only does it allow intuitive crafting, but allows/gives a more chaotic and hopefully fun look to ur destruction and debris. Anyways, those are my ideas and i hope its within scope. Cant wait to see what else comes out of this and happy coding!

WELCOME BACK.

You can add more variation if you think about how buildings actually work: For an office building, the ground level floor could be either a big lobby, a restaurant or just some shops. Then you would have both elevators and stairs (elevators could let you go up, while opening a door from a certain floor to the stairway could act as a checkpoint/going down path). You can also have floors like you have now, office space, meeting rooms, office utility storage, cafeterias/break rooms/vending machines, etc. After a certain amount of floors you could have a machine room, where they'd keep the AC units and such. An alternative is also that big pendulum they put in tall buildings to counteract wind forces and earthquakes. These could be cool for bosses. Also, what about a few floors where another company is located. Maybe an open floor plan, green rooms, games, lounges, etc. Or maybe a scam farm, where they have a bunch of people in a row making sketchy calls. Or a WeWork type space. At the top you'd have the administrative floors. These should be more luxurious, with wooden finishes, carpets, art works, secretaries and big offices. You could even make the bosses themed after the CEO, COO, CTO, CFO, etc, etc. and the big bad after the shareholders. Even throw some shade at some irl companies with meeting rooms filled with monetization technics or similar. And lastly, consider cigarettes as a form of item that would give you either energy or life, cause a lot of workers escape work by smoking breaks. Either that or coffee. Ooh, or a co-worker that steals your stuff, like they'd steal your food from the fridge. K, this is too much already. Thanks

Add water dispensers! You could have ranged enemies based off it too. Would be a great addition to basic enemies!

I'm excited for this new game-focused endeavor!

Make it so that the paper left behind leaves a hitbox with bonus move speed, so if you walk towards the path of the desk you move faster. Also add a bit of recoil to the gun. You’re shooting a whole desk. Movement related attributes on guns like this add a lot of variation.

Whats the story, when I created my game the largest thing that helps make it fun was the story as it keeps it interesting from the start, it’s the reason people want keep to play your game, but for games like Baltro this isn’t necessary. Like hotline Miami, it’s fun and fast with a very small story. Also in game development always do paper prototyping as when people love the basic unfinished game the whole game can just be made even more fun.

Pretty cool project. Had an idea for the color pen gun. Let the player switch between colors and have certain combos of colors trigger some status effect. Say 3 red shots in a row set the enemy on fire. 2 Green and 1 Blue poison the enemy. One of each color makes the enemy explode into bits (0s/1s). Then add a time penalty for switching colors. I think this could make for a pretty fun weapon.

Really cool game, happy to see where it comes to

Chaos, to make it fun, make it chaos

Great episode! I had a lot of FUN watching it

Why wouldn't your office themed weapons be fun? Ink pen could be spreading slippery puddles. Stapler could stun an enemy. Add the ability to switch between items quickly and you can make it x then together for debuff against the enemies as well as attacks.

thank god i thought the game ended up being cancelled/discontinued/abandoned and that would be a shame because I genuinely think it has such an interesting theme that left me wondering what the next addition to the game could be and there is no other devlog that Ii've missed this much, glad to see you back

About the craftable guns mechanic. You should do that when you're collecting bigger furniture like the desks and printers, make it so it takes longer time than collecting smaller furniture. Just an idea. (Hope you keep having fun while developing this game!)

I once cancelled a game for the exact same reasons after working on it for 1.5 years. I get what you're saying! When I started working on a 2nd project, I was able to tackle the "fun" really quickly from the start. Like literally, in about 1 week, I had a gameplay loop that was fun to play regardless of the limited mechanics and the grey boxing. No theme, no graphics, no story, just pure gameplay. That's when it hit me... I realized what were the reasons why my cancelled project never took off. I was focusing way too much on the setting, the uniqueness, the theme and the art. The gameplay was never fun and I boxed myself into trying to fit the gameplay into the story or gimmick instead of the other way around. So yeah, I'm glad that you're learning from past mistakes and that you've figured it out as well ! Keep it up man, I like your project.

As a small idea for wall decor, outside of posters or unpowered TV screens, on the exective suite consider blank windows or wall sconces. Exective suites also have fancier trim, potted plants/trees, trophies/employee of the month things, graduate certificates, or pictures of whatever the company sells.

I make games sometimes and I agree that making a fun game idea is very difficult. So take your time man!

3:40, your motivation is higher then your obsession? your doing better then me

I think that if this is the first gun you would craft in the game that you should give it a longer cooldown to make people want to replace it. The longer cooldown could also be explained by saying that the printer needs to print a new desk to shoot

Ok, so hear me out on some weapons: Pencil Shaving Gatling Gun - Rapidly fires a barrage of pencil shavings. Craft with an electric sharpener and possibly a desk fan or shredder. Eraser Cannon - Fires an enlarged rubber eraser that bounces off enemies and surfaces, losing pieces each bounce. Craft with a box of erasers and maybe a... soda machine? Water Cooler Freeze Ray - Spray a freezing mist to slow and stop enemies. Craft with a water cooler and fire extinguisher. Pencil Crossbow - Fire fast moving, super sharp pencils. Craft with pencils and rubber bands. Tape Trap Spreader - Fires a spray of staple-covered tape on the ground that traps and damages enemies. Craft with a stapler and tape gun. Duelie Staplers - Literally two staplers wielded guns akimbo. Could be an early game craft.

Damn this video motivate me to do more on core mechanics of my game, lately ive been always focusing on art like it doesnt look good i need to do another one and i dont realize that ive been stuck for a whole month without progess on the game and its slowly killing my game i lose interest making when i dont feel like the art i do is good enough, but now after watching this video i finally get it. SALAMAT for this one my guy✌

It’s okay man- fruit ninja used to look wonky in development, and yet it was one of my favorite games ^^ keep at it, and thanks for being transparent

I think adding sound effects would definitely contribute to the making the guns more satisfying

The whole video I kept thinking about this over and over: You need to add the JUICE, my guy! Particle effects, screen shake, hit stop, sound fx! And, interestingly enough, that involves art

I very much relate to the Motivation = Obsession concept. Such is my life. I just get one focus at a time, so I've gotten to the point where I fear starting new things, because I know I'll get into them, and forget about the other things I'm currently enjoying.

You should make the paper desk slow down over time

Ive just found this channel and I love it! Here's a cool idea you can do! You can make it so the player can push the desks onto enemy's crushing them!

id like to give a few suggestions and criticism on the design and ideas for weapons'. 1) you don't need to only make guns, i think it be plenty fun to use a table like a club and smash enemies with it, very strong but very slow, you just pick up a desk in wherever you find it. could make it break after a few hits. 2)I thought about the printer, it be cool if you could like push it and cause some damage and knockback some enemies. 3) the paper table gun. its not a great idea, but for me its cause of the design itself. knowing what you were going for the design didn't really feel clear. imagine you just got the game and you craft it, you'd be confused as to why there's a paper ghost being shot out and why you have a Bionicle drawer in your hands. i think you can make it work but it needs some sort of simplification or adjustment. personally id make your weapon a drawer and you toss random junk thats inside. you can get it by breaking a few desk and gluing wood together. if theres crafting of course. 4) it be neat if you could just use random items found in an office. not only guns but like use a ruler as a sword, maybe use pens like daggers and you run around with one of those cups with a bunch of pens. that be funny. that way you can also have an easy way to replenish ammo.

In the interest of keeping the old art stuff useful and "main loop" fun, do the different weapons have different effects? Thinking along lines of "the stapler will slow down or stop weaker office workers, either for better positioning letting you ignore them while dealing with a bigger threat or build up a mass for a combo". Just thinking more enemy management while moving and shooting adds a layer on top, which might make the player feel like they're thinking more and maybe feel more fun as they exert their actions on the enemies. And different enemies could have different effects when weapons are used; staples on a paper enemy could make them smaller as they get stapled to themselves, a pen weapon could draw moustaches on humans and add words to paper, coffee would "energise" or maybe satisfy humans while slowing down/degrading paper. Simple puzzle enemies making encounters a loop of "dodge while you plan approach->identify possible solutions->decide course of action->win fight". I feel like the fun worry is best solved by the weapons. They're how you interact with the world, and as Gabe Newell has said before fun is the world reacting to your decisions (massive paraphrasing)