How I make puzzles for my indie magnet game (Developing 9)

Comments · 675

• FA

  @fabrislemos · 3 years ago

  That puzzle matrix is genius

  3.1K

• MI

  @michaelpease2103 · 2 years ago

  Every veteran dev:<br>&quot;Don&apos;t spend more than 3 months on your first game&quot;<br><br>Every rookie dev:<br>&quot;So i think it&apos;s ready for polishing after 3 years&quot;

  59

• JO

  @johnjekyllson28 · 3 years ago

  This is how I make puzzle levels in Mario Maker. I pick two or three main gimmicks (depending on how big I want the level to be) and write down every novel interaction I can find between them.

  1.2K

• PO

  @PokeHearts · 3 years ago

  My favorite thing is that the puzzle matrix idea cures the &quot;blank page issue&quot; where you&apos;re stuck staring at a blank page (or in this case a blank stage) and not sure what to put on it. Which is extremely clever!

  93

• HA

  @haflaen · 3 years ago

  Does anyone else find the Developing intro/outro music super relaxing? It has this vibe of, “ok, we’ve got a lot of work before us, but let’s just take it one step at a time and we’ll get through it together”.

  438

• SE

  @SeanNoonan · 3 years ago

  That puzzle matrix is essentially a gameplay variety matrix - something I used at Ubisoft a bunch. It&apos;s pretty much the driving force behind maintaining variety across a game&apos;s campaign!

  163

• SU

  @sunnyaliceart · 3 years ago

  This is one of my absolute favorite series that you do. I really admire and appreciate your honesty going through the process of making a game. The &quot;Oh God I wanna delete this and live in a cave&quot; to &quot;I can see the End&quot; is really inspirational and something I think we can all relate to. Keep doing your best! You got this!

  466

• LU

  @Lugmillord · 3 years ago

  26 of 30 is amazing! One thing that can be very demotivating in gamedev is not getting &quot;enough&quot; done &nbsp;(according to your own plans). It&apos;s beneficial to think in terms of &quot;I got these things done&quot; instead of &quot;I didn&apos;t get those things done&quot;. A very simple psychological trick. Today I spent 9 hours designing rather small areas on paper and I got 3 of 5 done that I wanted to design. And while I could say &quot;damn, almost half of it is still on the todo list&quot;, my mind is rather at the point &quot;man, 9 hours! Can&apos;t believe I was able to focus for so long and the areas turned out great&quot;. This mindset is especially helpful when the project takes a long time in total.

  73

• OM

  @omegaminoseer4539 · 3 years ago

  My speedrunning brethren, the time has come to once again exploit GMTK&apos;s game and break it in ways that he&apos;d never foreseen. We are still reeling from the removal of the laser clip, but I believe that wall-techs are still possible. When the game goes live, trust that I will work my hardest to exploit the game as much as possible. You have my honor.

  736

• FI

  @FireallyXTheories · 3 years ago

  That matrix is insane. 22x22/2 = 242 possible levels with 2 mechanics alone and 252 if we built from 2 mechanics up to the full 22. 494 total possibilities. And the best part is they&apos;re visually easy to see and sort out. Now that&apos;s some productive genious!

  200

• LI

  @lightningstrike9876 · 3 years ago

  This reminds me of your episode on Baba is You as well. You described the puzzle making process as starting from a Solution and then working backwards until you reach a satisfying starting position.

  167

• DI

  @diguifi · 3 years ago

  Finally a video with really applicable and reproduceable steps to create good puzzles, and not just superficial tips or analysis. This video just turned &quot;only geniuses make good puzzles&quot; into &quot;i can make good puzzles if I organize myself and follow these steps&quot;

  62