Let's Review Your Games — Ep. 049

We're going to jump into two games from well the people who follow me on Twitter. And by the way, if you want to submit your games for me to play when I decide to play games which I think I might be streaming tomorrow as well. Um feel free to follow me over to x.com/thomasbrushdev. So we're going to be playing two games today and we're going to see which game is our favorite. The goal here is to offer constructive feedback, constructive criticism. Uh positive, negative, what we're feeling about the games and they're typically demos. And the goal is is to help the developer fix these issues so that when they launch their actual game it's a success, right? That's the end goal. Come on in. Welcome, welcome, welcome. How's everybody doing? Let me know if you can hear me, see me. How are we doing? Let's see. You're check one, two, one, two. Check, check, check. Hey, there's everybody. Okay. The chat's rolling in. Let me see if I get it on screen here. There it is. Okay. It Well, it should be. Come on. Come on. Let's go. There's usually a delay, but hey, while we wait for that huge, huge thank you to MJ's,

Powell, Mahendra, Luca, Ivan, Miguel, Hicham, and Eric. Those students joined full-time game dev. And by the way, you guys got one day left. One day left for the massive spring sale, which is my massive spring sale for my game dev course called full-time game dev. I have 4,500 students worldwide. This course is I say it's massive because well, it teaches you not only how to make a game in Unity, how to code, how to make 2D, how to make 3D. But also how to make a game in Godot or Unreal if you want to learn those engines. You can really take your pick. You can only You only really need to pick one. But you can pick all three if you want. But you're also going to learn how to hit the Steam front page, how to get wishlists, how to get a publisher. How to launch a Kickstarter campaign to get funded, how to go full-time with just a demo. And you might be thinking, "Wow, this is some YouTuber, some weird YouTuber guy trying to sell me a course." Well, here's the thing. I get that. I I understand cynicism. I I really do. But let me show you something.

I forgot to get these for the stream. But yeah, like these are my commercial games. And these are what I went full-time with. I've gone full-time on three separate occasions. I don't have a box boxed version of Twisted Tower, which is my third commercial release, but this is Never Song. That's Pinstripe. I went full-time with these games before I even finished them. And the way that I did it was Kickstarter. Um also finding financing with publishers. Or in the course I just teach about how to wish list get wish lists, right? How to get wish lists, how to hit the Steam front page, which I've done several times as well. I believe I've hit the Steam front page several times. Um but also how to get press coverage. I've been featured by Time magazine, um PC Gamer, um but also guys, look, don't trust me. I'm just a YouTuber, a guy on a camera trying to sell a course. Let's be real. But you can trust You can trust the students who have

uh sent me their reviews saying, "Hey dude, I went full-time with the help of your course." And I love this and I'm so proud of these guys. So, be sure to click the link below, check it out, see if it's something you're interested. Let's go ahead and jump into the games and get started. The first game we're going to play today is called Restore Your Island. I'm going to be honest, I saw this game. I thought, "Wow. This is not something that interests me." And and the the cover art kind of looks like AI if I'm being completely honest. I don't know if it is. I'm I'm going to be completely honest with the developer. It looks like it and it's a it's just a shame because if it isn't, I'm sorry. I really am, but it's so polished and clean that it kind of looks like AI. And so I just kind of felt like, "Ugh, you know, I don't know if I'm going to like this game." And it's just trying to you know, you judge book by its cover. Let's be honest. Um and in [clears throat] the age of AI, if something looks so polished, it just feels feels like AI. So, let's hit play here

and see if it's any good, right? Um I saw that the demo page the reception was pretty positive. So, we're going to take a look at it and see how the game feels. Unreal Engine, yay. So, let's see if we have some streaming issues. Unreal Engine, the builds always cause streaming issues, always. Well, I will say my PC is starting to the fans are starting to whir. Woo. Okay. I like the language selection at the beginning. Oh, there's no sound for clicking. I wish there was. Uh I just came out until you see the What? the pie band logo or pay band logo. I need to do this for Twisted Tower. Good. Okay. Uh let's go ahead and hit new game here. I really wish there was sounds here when I hover. But, I don't hear anything. Took a while for the sound to start

playing. I wonder why that was. My theory is we've got crazy realistic rendering going on here. That water is astounding. Whoa. So, it looks like we we've got a cozy vibe. Let's see how this feels. Oh my goodness. This looks really realistic. Got a weird horizon there with the water, but okay.
That's awesome. This looks so realistic. This is This is your island. It's just a little messy.

If you would like, use your tools to clean it We're going to be David Attenborough. Is that how I say it? This is your How's he do it? Let me think here. Planet Earth. This is your island, and it's just a little messy. If you would like, use your tools to clean it up. You can sell the trash you collect in order to earn [clears throat] money and upgrade your tools. A tip, different types of trash are worth different amounts, and the most valuable ones are the organic waste. Okay. I like how simple this is, and I like how it's telling me exactly what to do. It It really is missing sound. I There's so much emptiness right now, and I I've gotten to the point where I'm like, is is something wrong with my headphones? Um but so music sometimes plays, sounds It's just kind of It We definitely need some polish in the sound world. Um Yeah, Unreal games are so demanding, but they are so realistic. Yeah, they are

They are demanding, I will tell you. Uh Use the picker? I love that it's just being very, very simplistic instructions here. Use the picker. Throw items in the bins. Sell them at the store. I love that. What a simple loop. Okay, first first thing. I wish the developer would let me spam spam pick. I think that would be hilarious if you could just It is really, really, really reactive, and you could like talk with it. Just let me do it. Let me break the rules. Give me a jump sound. Ha! Ho! Ku! Ka! Ku! Ka!
Aw, is there a puppy boy? I wish I could pick up the puppy. You could pet the puppy? Go, boy.

Aw. Oh. Oh, there's no barking sound. So, we we got some sound work to do for this game for sure. Game looks really good, though. I don't like realistic games, to be completely honest with you guys. But, this is so well done. That sound needs to loop. It's some The sound we need a sound designer to come in and make some changes. Let's go see. We got a shop here. I guess it's uh Beetles. Is his name Beetle in Wind Waker? So, the sprinting is kind of weird. Sometimes I sprint, sometimes I don't. Where's the picker? There we go. Oh my word. One at a time, huh? Oh, look at my house. This is great. I love how simple this is.

And we got a freaking treasure chest up there. So far, the game design is pretty good. I will tell you. Where's the trash can? Oh, and imagine how clean it's going to get. Where's the tra- What? Where's the trash can? Weird. I like our mega scans. They look pretty good. But, I need to find uh a trash can. I agree with you. Uh who is that? Tuck Mac? Tuck Mac says, "Just because people ram rod every asset with AK textures with no optimization doesn't make it Unreal's fault." I totally agree. It it Unreal makes it so easy to do that though. That's the thing. Um Unity like break starts to break down if you if you do that. It just the engine just gets real slow,

but maybe Unreal does. Where is the trash can? Okay, so I would if it were me I would protect this game against dummies like me. Oh, yes. I can chill. Oh, what a dream. And by the way, this game what this game does really really well is this is Are you throwing up, Jed? Okay, you're fine. What this game does really really well is this is wish fulfillment. How many of you in the chat, by the way, how many of you in the chat use your the hand emoji? How many of you would consider something like this a dream? To have your own island and you just get to clean it up. Now, obviously this is like Animal Crossing. Um but is that a wish fulfillment? And by the way, wish fulfillment is a great um foundation to a game idea.

How many of you would think that's that's a a dream you might have? Oh, press Q at the bottom left, really? Okay, so here's what I would do if I was the developer to protect against dummies like me and I'm the perfect tester cuz I'm a dummy. The first thing I click collect there should be a giant little icon above my cursor and it says drop trash can. That's it definitely should be there cuz I don't even know if I would have forget figured that out cuz I'm a dummy. So, this is my pack. This is my bag.

This is so great. Oh, we got some whey protein. Oh, I love this. Cleaning up a heavenly environment and making it look like a dream is I will tell you it is deep in my soul, and I think it's in most people's souls. The idea of turning something into a home. After all, I think both um men and women love the idea of building a cozy home. Okay, so I'm out of energy. Is there a day-night cycle? I bet you there is. So, I need to eat. So, I've got a trash can full of trash. What do I do? Do I go to the shop and sell my trash

can? What's that? Music? Wait. My mouse is not showing up. Wait, what? R How do I play? Okay, so next is click. I guess I don't have any sounds. Oh, there we go.
This is brilliant. I kind of wish we had bossa nova if I'm being honest with you. I feel like the game would would really benefit from some bossa nova. So let me show you what I mean here, guys. Here's what I would do if it were me. Let's go to Epidemic Sound and we're going to find some jazzy bossa nova. This is definitely what the developer needs because the music playing right

now, that's not serving the game. It's cool to have music playing, but people don't want to listen to that on the beach. Let's fulfill their wish. Let's give them that dream. Here we go. Ready? There you go. And what I would do if it were me, I would have it playing with a filter on it and then when you remove the MP3 player, it starts it fades to a normal sound. So here's what I mean.
[music] [music]
So here's what I'd do. Here's what I do, guys. You ready? We'd start with a a filter EQ like this.

Hold on, let me let me go ahead and make sure the playback device is correct. I'm not just BSing here to be silly. This is what I would do um to make it feel more immersive. And also just like a jazzy island. Okay, let's make it a a bit more tinny. So you I understand that the the the function of the MP3 player is to let the player have control over which songs are playing while while they're working. But, as they're choosing the songs, I think it'd be really clever to have it be really tinny.
[music]
Here we go. Like this. Okay, and then when I switch to uh picking, it does this.

Hang on. Here we go. It fades to this.
[music]
Does that make sense, guys? Wow. And then, obviously, at nighttime, the radio stops and it goes, "Well, that's all we have for today's playlist. If you want to listen to music, join us tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. at sunrise. Good night and have a good time on your island." I'd do something like that. Just so the music stops and it's just very cozy nighttime and maybe even a little spooky. So, it'd be like this. "Well, that's all we have for today's playlist. If you want to listen to music, join us tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. at sunrise. Good night and have a good time on your

island." And then, you can't listen to music and it's just quiet. So, it's kind of got that spooky serene vibe that every great night day cycle has. I'll show you what I mean as as we as we enter into the daylight, um that would be awesome. Oh, I love this game. I think it's great. I think it's I think honestly streamers are going to play this game. I My bet is that this game is going to have 500 reviews, maybe. At least. I think I think it's just solid, especially if the upgrades are there and I can actually upgrade my my hut and get to the next island and Yeah, so let's go ahead and keep uh Can I go to sleep? Do you need cozy time? Aw, buddy. Good boy. Good boy.

Okay, here we go. Energy's empty, so I think I need to go get some rest, maybe. It's easier to rest or Aw. Hey. Yeah. Oh.
[laughter]
You want your treats, buddy boy. Here you go. Go ahead. I love that there's a dog. I wish you could name him. Okay, I guess we need to go to sleep. And then here we go. We're going to do something like this. Good morning, Islanders. This is your host, Mr. Thomas. It's time for another beautiful day picking up some trash. Up next we have

some classic bossa nova from from Rodrigo Miguel. So, you do something like that. And then we let the the nova start on the radio and then once it's ready to hit into the chorus that is where it gets solid. So, let's go ahead and start this here. And I'm not trying to be clever or stupid or just you know, critique this game for no reason. I think the game is awesome. Um but I think this could be a really nice rhythm to the game. So, let's go ahead and try that. Good morning. Good Good morning Islanders. This is your host Mr. Thomas. It's time for another beautiful day picking up some trash. Up next we have some classic bossa nova from from Rodrigo Miguel.

Now in this case it would be the radio is something that this might surprise the developer. The radio is something that I think it should be a focus of the game. Uh I think it should be your uh your dog is the comfort but the radio could be that that person that voice that guides you through the game. And so, this would be a great example which is like um you could say uh when it's a stormy day you can't have music and you're trying to set a tone, right? So, you could say ladies and gentlemen, we have a storm on the horizon. This is hurricane Elda at category five. It's important that you stay indoors and stay safe. Unfortunately, we can't play any music today. We'll talk to you later and see you tomorrow in the bright sunny island blah blah blah, right? You could do that

and then have it cutting in and out
[laughter]
right? Um and the music tries to play and then it stops. Um So you could have something like this. You have your island music. But it's kind of cutting in and out. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a storm on the horizon. This is Hurricane Elmo at category five. Fortunate to stay indoors. Stay safe. Fortunately, we can't play any music today. We'll talk to you later and see you tomorrow in the bright sunny island. Blah blah blah, right? Something like that and then it Then it's just static. And you have to live the rest of the You have to experience the the the day the island life in kind of a a gloomy environment for the day, right? I think that's great. I would lean into the radio if it were me. I think it's great. It's a great part of this game. Um

As is the dog. Just little little bonuses. Oh, cool. The trash can fills up. That's great. I'm out of energy? Okay, I think I need to go buy like snacks or something. Um so let's go ahead and uh I guess go sell some trash. So what do I do? $91? Well, well then let me sell it. What do I do? Oh, sell is E. Told right This is great. This is a solid title. I the loop is definitely uh the the loop is definitely here. Oh [snorts] my word, this game
[laughter]
I think I think it's going to do well. I really do. I mean, am I wrong here, guys? I feel like this game is

it's leaning into something that that is uh it's not carnal. It's it's deep in my core. It's definitely like one of those kind of idle clicker type games. No, I don't think the radio should be wind up. I think the radio is there to It's just It's It's music, right? It's going to play It's like Minecraft. You just get beautiful music it's playing. I think couple things about the radio. Number one, it needs to be
[sighs and gasps]
it it needs to be better music cuz right now that music was not island music. Number two, I think that the radio can be an introduction to a uh a new day. Um and it could give you little tidbits, just tiny little tidbits about um the day. Right? Uh and if you want to turn it off, you can turn it off. I just think it's a nice little character for the game. It's kind of like the wise sage. Um

and it could tell you how you're supposed to feel. Um for example, you could say, "It's a steamy one, ladies and gentlemen. It is 101° Fahrenheit in the Caribbean." And so you It's just telling you like location and how maybe how the day feels. Um it could just bring character and life to the game that uh in a cheap way. That dollar sign needs to be on the left side here. That's not how you do it. Um yeah, this is all wrong. That needs to be on the left side. Okay. Okay, let's go ahead and buy some energy. Ooh, I got me some tasty pizza. Upgrade energy. What is this? So, that's all I got. Okay. Uh earn more money by sorting the garbage. Well, well, well, really? I can sort that This is ridiculous. I love this. Okay, so let's going to up my pack and I can eat 20% energy.

What is that? I can get 20% energy, okay. What is that? I'm not sure I understand this system. Um cuz I I can't I can't really tell what that energy down there is. How much energy do I have? Does anyone understand that that Let me get rid of that little ad really quick. Does anyone understand that energy bar down there? I don't quite understand it. Let's keep cleaning. So, how do I sort trash? I'm not sure.

Yeah, I agree. The radio could be a prime could be a primary beat for the uh for sure. Yeah, a primary narrative beat. Guys, how do I sort the trash and how do I get more energy? Now, if this game was made by David Whaley, there'd be little characters peeking at you from around the corner. And the dog would bark randomly and you're like, "What was that?" Oh man, sorry developer, but that would be really cool, especially with this uh rainy day. Energy bar goes down as you clean trash. Oh, I can golly, okay, I see it now. It looks weird. I thought the the energy icon was like a slider that was going down. But now I I like I thought that that was like a toggle or something.

I would just have it that energy um that energy icon doesn't need to be that big. I would just do a lightning bolt that's inside of the bar. Like that didn't make sense to me, but now it does. I think there's a couple issues with the the UI. It's not perfect, I will say. I don't love the UI in this game. But I think the loot makes up for it and the vibes. Look at that water, by the way. I love it. And I also like how contained the game is. I don't know why that's doing Oh, cuz energy's empty. Um Well, that's weird. I can click those and it plays a sound, but I'm not actually eating anything. So, that that's very confusing. So, I'd say this game really suffers from its UI. I think it's it's um

it's not horrible, but it is hurting the game. Yeah, the water physics are awesome. I I don't think it's the worst UI ever. I think that overall it could be great. It's just there's certain confusions like I should not hear a sound if I can't eat anything. I should hear brn brn brn brn and that should be grayed out. And by the way, when you enter the store, there should be some character here in the corner and he should go, "Welcome!" "Welcome! [screaming] Wel- welcome!" every time. Happy cleaning. Happy Happy cleaning. Great doing business Great doing business with Great doing business with you. Every time.

Okay, let's see here. That's cuz I'm a product of um early 2000s shopkeepers.
[snorts]
Okay, let's see here. What do we got? I could sell my um bins. I should I should also see an escape button if I don't want to sell my bin. I could buy a new bin. I see. I see and we can buy a sifter. This is brilliant. I love this so much. This is very well done. I think this game has a lot of potential. Um $5 for pizza? Sure. So that's all I can get, you know. Oh, what's this? I can upgrade my energy? Yeah. Let's go. Okay, so my pizza is full. Oh, I buy

energy. I don't eat it. Wait, do you eat it? Or do you buy it? You know what I mean, guys? I think I'm just being stupid. Okay. Oh, I like how everything got the specular increases when it rains. That's great. Good job. Look how clean it's getting. I need to hear a sound, by the way, when I'm picking up trash. All I need is an array of three sounds for pickup. I need an array of three random sounds

for dropping. That's it. It doesn't have to match the plastic or the scale or the the material. I don't care. It just needs to be a simple sound. Reward me with sound. Right? All this trash picking up is making me hungry. What's that say? Hey, you have a good day.
[snorts]
Dude, if this game I can't keep playing it, but if this game has rock-solid rewards, number one, okay, there's two things that this game needs. Number one, crank up the UI, meaning make it really clear what I'm doing with the UI, make it really easy to read and understand. And I've already mentioned a few things there. Number two, give me juicy juicy sound. Right? The radio stuff I mentioned, give me footsteps sounds.

Let me walk in the water. Let me swim. To like just see coral reefs and stuff. Coral reefs and stuff. And Christopher Reeves. And yeah, cuz look, there's no sound when I'm walking. When I pick up stuff, I want to like I mentioned. I want to be able to spam click just for fun. That would be really fun. Right? Um and uh that's it. Oh, and the rewards. If I can upgrade my my my island and my um shed and get cool goodies and upgrade my doggy this game and then go to new islands. Oh my word. That would be so freaking awesome. Now, it doesn't necessarily have to be you go to a brand new island. I don't know how what the developer has in in planned, but even like just getting to little islands, right? Maybe there's buried treasure.

Which maybe that's what the developer wants us to do. Um that would be awesome. Okay. Uh what Oh, by the way, those of you are asking, "Why do I only play Steam games?" Absolutely, I only play Steam games. Are you kidding me? Sorry, I don't I just don't trust you guys. I'm not going to play your zip folders. Um let's jump to the next game. Let's jump to the next game. That was awesome. What do we think about that game, guys, by the way? Um how did you feel about that game? And by the way, if you want to join Full Time Game Dev, it's the last day, okay? It's the last day to join Full Time Game Dev, which is my massive course, which teaches you everything I've learned in the last decade of making indie games. And that's not only how to make a game in Unity, or if you want to learn Godot or Unreal, there's course uh course material for Godot and Unreal as well. But also, if you want to hit the Steam front page, I teach you how to do that. If you want to get wish lists, I teach how to do that. If you want to get a publisher, I teach how to do that. I've done that on three separate occasions. Um I'm on my third commercial release,

which is published by 3D Realms. These are my first two games, Pinch Stripe and Ever Song. So, check it out below. Click the link below and I'll give you a shout out in tomorrow's live stream, just like I did with these students here. But hey, I'll also also I'll throw in an hour-long consultation call with uh a small group of students um who enrolled during this spring sale. So, click the link below, check it out, see if it's something you're interested in. Let's jump to the next game, which is called Welcome to Mars 9. Okay, I can't wait. I love games that are set in space. I love games that start with a made with Unity splash because they don't usually screw up my stream. Not my kind of game, but I see the allure. Yeah, I you know, I don't know if I would play it, but I can see the allure. And I could if I didn't have kids and I had time to waste, I would definitely play that game. Um but I think it's a solid title. I do. I think I think it's pretty solid.

Okay, let's hear this music. I think we need some opera in the background. And we need reverb. Let me find the key.
[snorts] [singing] [music] [singing]
Like Halo or StarCraft. Come on. Cuz this kind of feels like I'm about to eat dinner.

Uh in like 1985 with a cute cute girl with red lipstick on and dark brown hair and a really bright red dress and I can't uh by the next to the fireplace uh at Ruth's Chris. This doesn't feel like space to me. I don't think there's too many fonts. I think it's fine. I just I don't understand. I This I've never understood this. And but see it all the time, and I know that I'm missing something. Why do games have pixelated art, pixelated fonts, but their logos are not pixelated? I don't understand that logic. I've never understood it. I think Celeste does it as well. And I can't quite figure it out. It's fine, I guess. It's just something I don't understand. Okay, I need sounds here. Give me some sounds there, but let's go

ahead and hit new game. Stop the music. Hey, where am I? I don't recognize this place. And my head hurts a lot. Hello, you are currently aboard the Mars 9 space station orbiting Mars. Yeah, the music's not It's not doing it for me. Um but I love the art. I think it's really cool. I love the character. I love the dialogue. The music is not doing it for me. Uh I I kind of feel like we need something mysterious. We need something like mysterious going.

Hello, you are currently aboard the Mars 9 space station orbiting Mars. What? Mars? How did I get here? The The music is throwing me out of it. I I love the way the game looks, and I think the game is It's really disorienting. Developer, I I you if you're in the chat. Hey guys, let us know in the chat. Let's help the developer out cuz music is a is a matter of taste. But let's talk to the developer. In the chat, what do you guys think? Do we Does the music help this game? Yeah, let's let's throw in some uh uh uh Cult of the Lamb music, that's right. Um Let's type in uh space ambience. We need space ambience. That piano music is really hurting it. Spaceship dating sim, it might be.

Okay, let let the developer know in the chat, guys. Do we like the music? No, yeah. This would be great. It doesn't mean you can't do piano, though. Give me a sec. I want to show you something. We may be able to do piano, but it needs to be opera. I know that sounds weird, but look. Watch this. This for so I think Blizzard

did this or they created this sort of standard. Or no, maybe it was even um Alien. But like look what we can do to make classical music work in a space environment. So we can do this. And by the way, if I if I focus or I latch onto something, I'm not latching onto it randomly. Sometimes I might, but in this case, I my hope is that we're finding that low-hanging fruit of going, "This is going to hurt the game. This thing is going to hurt the game." I think it's I think it's the music. It If there's anything so far, immediately, that's going to turn people off, it's the music. So, this is If you want classical piano, we could do something like this. Let's do this. We're going to add a little filter EQ. Uh we're going to flatten it, and then just reduce the bass, and then reduce

the treble. And then we're going to consider adding reverb. And developer, this is just personal preference. Don't listen to me, listen to the chat. We've got what, 260 people watching right now? They're going to offer their opinion, as well. So, let's see if we can turn off the music really quick. We'll We'll go back to the game, and then maybe we can go to a pause menu. All right. I remember my ship, but I can't remember anything in too much detail. So, what's the plan for this space station? We need We need typing sounds. And really, we don't need music here. We need the sound of Man, I'm so sorry,

developer. I know I'm ruining your story. We need T minus 5 seconds seconds seconds. Welcome aboard Mars 9 space station, station, station. Ambiance, right? Um, we don't need really loud music. Um, but let's keep playing. There is no plan. This is a hedonistic mission. You and the rest of the crew are here to indulge in the luxuries of life aboard the space station. What do you mean? It doesn't make sense. Why would anyone fund a mission like this? You can indulge in any pleasure you desire. There are no responsibilities or duties for you to fulfill. Your only task is to enjoy your time here. What about the purpose of the mission? Are we supposed to conduct

research or something? There is no scientific goal for this mission. The only objective is for you and the rest of the crew to experience the ultimate pleasure and luxury while aboard orbiting Mars. I'd cut the dialogue in half. I I get the point. I I would cut it in half. I don't know. This This all sounds a bit too [music] good to be true. What's really going on here? There is no catch. You are free to live your life aboard the space station as you see fit. Unless it's hilarious dialogue, I I don't need this much. We have provided you all the amenities and resources you could need. It's up to you to make the most of it. Just relax and enjoy your time here. We are Okay, let's go. Let's go. I'm sorry, but I can't let you exit the observation room yet. Your vital signs vital signs. What do you mean? I feel fine. I just want to see what's around the station. I understand, but your health and safety are my top priority. It's imperative Okay, let's take a vote. Less dialogue or it's good. Less or it's good.

It's imperative that we take precautions and ensure that you are fully recovered before you embark on any physical activity. Okay, I understand. How long will it take for my vitals Well, how long will it take for my vital signs to stabilize? It shouldn't take too long. Just relax and let your body adjust to the changes in the environment. I'm tracking your vitals. I will alert you when you're fit to explore. All right, thanks for looking out for me. Who are you by the way? I'm Bra I'm Brawled. The Brawled, the Bra Braid, the artificial intelligence that manages this space station. Nice to meet you and thank you for rescuing me. You're welcome, River. It's my duty to ensure you that you have the safe and enjoyable experience
[panting]
aboard the space station. Okay. Okay. Let's go to the options really quick. We're going to help the developer out here. Our goal is not And by the way, developer, I like what I I see.

I think it's pretty cool. The art looks good. I like the premise. That was too much dialogue. I could have gotten that We could have done that in three sentences. What Where am I? Who are you? My name is Braid, the artificial intelligence. I'm here to collect your vital signs. What is this place? Don't worry about that. This is your Utopia. You're just outside of Mars and your job is plain and simple. Have fun and indulge in the pleasures of life. That's it. I don't trust him just because of what he said. I know that I don't know who I am or where I am. I know his name is Braid and he checks my vitals. That's all I need. Now, when it comes to music, we could do this. I would do more ambient stuff.

So, I would do this. I would like almost like this this something coming through the speakers that's trying to soothe me and tempt me into the pleasures of this space station. I'm going to make it much um much more old-timey and then we'll add a reverb to it. Because you want to add reverb after the old-timey effect. And then you need a space station sound. So, I'm going to go to artlist.io. Dialogue heavy, if you're going to be dialogue heavy in my opinion, the dialogue needs to be very clever and very funny. Like it's got to have it's almost like a stand-up comic. You got to have punchlines and an arc to the dialogue and twists and riddles. It's got to be clever.

If that's not your skill, that's okay. It's not mine either, I don't think. And then we have a spacecraft interior sound. Hang on. Let's get the ambience right. Something like this. It's a little too loud. Right? And you could fade out the music. You don't need it. All All need is this. Does that make sense, guys? Okay.

Do we agree or disagree? Give me some sounds, some UI feedback. I'm sorry, but I can't let you exit this observation room yet. Give this uh Give this um And please, guys, always always let me know if you agree or disagree in the chat. Um because I want the developer to be able to read the chat. That's why I've got it on screen. I want the developer to read the chat and go No, yeah, Thomas isn't right here. Let's give our our Let's give Braid a personality. What are the idiosyncrasies of Braid? Let's come up with three random ones. He loves He loves candy corn. He is insanely um He's obsessed with correct grammar. And he's also um very very insecure. So, here's an

example. Now that we know Now that we know his idiosyncrasies, right? Um give me just a sec here. Now that we know his idiosyncrasies One. What are his idiosyncrasies? Do you guys remember? One, he loves candy corn. Two. He is insanely insecure. He's obsessed with grammar. So, how how does that play into humor and making this character more interesting? Um He could say stuff like Do you smell candy corn? Never mind. And he could do this every every time you do dialogue at the very in the middle of the conversation. Do you smell candy corn? Ah, never mind. And then you start to discover he's he

starts to say stuff like I love candy corn. It reminds me of my glory days with my mother on Halloween night. It's like, what? I thought you were a robot. It just creates these little questions. It's like, huh? And so every time we engage with this character, we know he loves candy corn. And then you could create payoffs where you find candy corn and you give it to him. You could just create jokes related to little idiosyncrasies. Obviously, guys, this is just random stuff here. And another example is you could have him get really offended really quickly. Why are you just standing there? Is it me? Do I smell bad? Did I forget my candy corn cologne? Do you guys see? Like you could play with different idiosyncrasies. And now I

know about Braid and in a way he's like a friend. It's like C-3PO. It's like R2-D2. Especially with robots, you throw in very immature like childish idiosyncrasies, it makes the robot really funny. He's obsessed with grammar, right? So he could say, um, my name
[clears throat]
is Braid and I can't stand it. Didn't my master know that it's spelled Braid? I'll never get over it. I can't get over these work conditions. By the way, have you seen any candy corn around? Do you get it? Does that make sense, guys? Do we agree with Thomas? Do we agree with Thomas here? Just come up with guys when you're creating characters in games, just come up with things that they do and say and that they're obsessed with.

Okay. What do we think about that? tree root. And so I was running the zero turn and it clipped the ethernet and then they came out and repaired it and it's great now.
[laughter]
Uh um Okay. Okay. Let's keep going. Your vital signs are showing slight abnormalities. Okay.
[snorts]
Awesome. Let's let's turn the music back on. I will drink a bit to quench my thirst.

How refreshing. It feels like he's looking the other way. I'm not quite sure what's Is that his forehead? Oh, he's got a fade and his hair is coming forward. And he's got an earring. Did you guys Could you see that the first time, guys? Yes or no? I must also inform you about the healing chambers aboard the station. Due to the high levels of radiation in space, these chambers are essential for decontamination and healing of any wounds or diseases you may encounter. Uh I see. How do they work? The healing chambers employ cutting-edge technology to regenerate your body at a molecular level.
[music]

Yeah, I It looks like he's disfigured. It looks like that's his forehead and he's looking the other way. But now I see it. Let me turn this music down. They can also decontaminate any harmful substance that you may
[music]
have come into contact while on the station. Please take a look at your heart indicator. It will help you keep track of [music] your health statistics. You should use the healing chambers what Jason I haven't forgot, buddy. I promise. I haven't forgot.
[music]
You should use the healing chambers whenever the indicator goes been busy. I I know I I know I say that all the time. It has. Great. Thank you for letting me know. Oh, great. Thank you letting me know. I'll make sure to keep an eye on the health statistics and use the healing chambers when necessary. You're welcome. As your As your brave companion, it is Imagine if all the idiosyncrasies we could throw into this once we know he loves candy corn. And once we know he's really easily offended. And once we know he's obsessed with grammar. But right now there's no I

I don't know anything about the AI companion. I don't know anything about his personality. I don't know anything about my character's personality. Thomas says, "Cuz you're talking the whole time." Maybe. Do you have any other questions or concerns? Not at all. I'm here to assist you.
[music]
All right. Come on. Come on. Do you want to use the healing chamber now? Yeah, dude. Yes, I I think it's good a good moment to use it and recover my health. Okay, just relax. It will take a second and you will feel much better afterwards.
[snorts]
I should hear like a

Ooh. Like it. Hey braid. Braid, where does this elevator go? It doesn't seem to have any floors marked [music] on it. That's because it's not an elevator. That space station is built in blocks. Oh, the space station is built in blocks.
[music]
Each block is connected through the hyper rail, a sophisticated transportation system capable of moving both horizontally and vertically. Uh yes, Jason. I I agree. I feel like it's way too zoomed in, but I I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be like an idle game or or like use maybe it's windowed or something. So, I'm not going to complain about it. Okay. Well, let's talk about what's good though, seriously. I like the the pixel art. I think the pixel art is good.

I think the colors the color three is great. I do like the setting and the premise and the story. Um everything I've said is is I think little things that don't take a long time to fix. I think the writing is just a little dense and and slightly uninteresting. Um I'm not trying to I'm not trying to be rude. I'm trying to help the developer for sure. Okay, let's let's give the developer a vote. Please ignore the slight candy corn taste in your mouth. It's a simple side effect of the healing. Um Let's do a little vote in the chat, yes or no? Do we like the music? Yes or no? It's that simple. And I could be wrong. So, let's just go ahead and do a simple vote. Have I done this yet? I can't remember. Yes, I like the music. No, I don't like the music. The hyper rail will take us to wherever

you want to go. I'm going to skip through some stuff here. Just cuz I want to get sort of
[music]
It's a lot of dialogue. Woo! Woo! Let's go.
[music]
Nice.
[music]
What is that? Hello. Hey there. You're the rescued castaway, isn't it? Oh, now are you settling into life on the board the space [music] station? Hi, I'm River. I'm doing okay, thank you. It's still a bit overwhelming, to be honest, but I'm [music] grateful for being rescued. That's great to hear. I must say life on board this station is pretty incredible. We have everything we need and more. The food is amazing, the accommodations are top notch. And we have endless

entertainment options. It does seem pretty luxurious, but I I can't help but wonder about the purpose of this station. What's the mission here? Well, technically we were a research station. Now we are a leisure station space station designed for people to come up and enjoy a luxurious vacation in space. Oh, I see. What kind of research used to be done here? Oh, here we studied all sorts of things.
[music]
We mostly conduct experiments on plants, animals, and humans in zero-gravity environments. We also studied the effects of space radiation on the human body. It's all very fascinating stuff. Okay. Um it sounds interesting, but Okay, so this character we need something here. We need to know is it a girl? Is it a boy? What's their name?

What's What is their idiosyncrasy? Sounds like it looks like they're very fidgety. So, maybe we can make their idiosyncrasy that they're super duper fidgety, right? Um and they're obsessed with uh they're obsessed with [music] uh needles. They love needles and we find out why because they are a needle specialist and [music] their research was all about injecting stuff with needles. Just give me something to to to connect me to this character. [music] Okay, let's keep going here. Lots That's to read, but I got to get going here in a minute. We want to do a quick vote. Let's keep exploring. So, so far I've just talked, you know? But then again, I've been talking a lot at like me personally. Hello Hello? Welcome to our space station, River. We are Hold on, let's think about this guy. We are so glad to have you with us. You're going to have it You're going to love it here. We have everything you

could ever want and need. Thanks, I'm glad to be here. It's quite different from where I was before. I bet it is. Here, we have a hedonistic lifestyle. We enjoy the finer things in life. And I've all the luxuries you could ever imagine. We have gourmet food, fine wines, and all sorts [music] of entertainment options. Wow, that does sound amazing. What do you do here besides indulge in pleasure? Well, we do have some work to do. But the work is not too difficult and we have plenty of free time to enjoy ourselves. That sounds too good to be true. Okay, let's keep going here. I'm going to skip the dialogue here. Just got to I got to kind of get moving figure out what what what's uh in the game. I mean it is okay I guess if it's just a bunch of dialogue, but you know, we really need kind of a a loop or a mechanic or something.

I don't really want to read right now. But So he's saying it's paradise, it's fine dining. I don't know what I feel about this. It's great. It's the best place ever. Okay, music changed after the event. Only people like you who we rescue from time to time come around here. So the Okay, the good the music changed. I like this music better. Braid, what is the event? What does it refer to? Oh, we have seen memory lapses in other rescued individuals. Let me accompany you to our screening room where we Okay. Oh, no. I like Yeah, just lots of it's lots of dialogue. Lots of dialogue. Um

and a lot of it is kind of repeated and and not fully [music] necessary. Okay. That's all I've got time for today. Um let's go ahead and jump into let's go go and jump into um we'll just do it in the chat today. Uh, name your favorite game in the chat. 3 2 1 go. Uh, we're going to do Welcome to Mars 9. You can just type Mars 9 if that's your favorite. Or um, uh, restore your island. So, type Mars or Island. Mars or Island. And let's just do that really really quickly here. Mars or Island. And while you guys do that, final thank you to these students here who joined Full Time Game Dev. And I'll give one final shout out just because it is the last day. The last day to join Full Time Game Dev, which is my massive course course which teaches you how to make a game

in Unity, Godot, or Unreal. You can take your pick. But also how to hit the Steam product page, how to get wish list, how to get a publisher, how to go full time with just a publisher, how to do a Kickstarter campaign. And you also get my 2D and 3D art uh, programs completely free. So, if you want to learn well from an actual game developer in the trenches making his third commercial release. And learn everything I've learned in the last decade of starting and building a sustainable game studio, check out the link below. And if you don't trust me, that's totally fine. At least check out the reviews here of students who actually went full time with the help of the program. All right, yeah. Let's take a look here. All right, yeah. Let's take a look here at the chat. So, we've got Island at Thomas, you can't hear me? Thomas, why does your room look so good? It's it's the camera and the lighting and the natural light, yeah. Lots of natural light in here.

Cab the Dev says the game would be having incredible improvements if it would stop pumping exponential dialogue into every single conversation and instead lean into character personality. I agree. So, it looks like the island game won handedly. Um Audio is gone? Really? Audio gone, guys? Let me know.