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Jonas Tyroller24 Mar 2018

Let's Make a Viral Game: WILL YOU SNAIL? - (Easy Peasy!)

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
The core design strategy for 'Will You Snail' prioritizes 'rage-inducing' difficulty and high watchability to foster a 'one-more-time' feedback loop that encourages player persistence and streamer engagement.
02
The project was developed as a rapid prototype using Game Maker Studio 2, with the core mechanics established in only a few hours.
03
The project serves as a practical case study in viral game design, acknowledging that while viral success is statistically rare, the design focuses on creating a memorable and shareable vertical slice.
04
The game features an AI antagonist that actively predicts player movement to spawn lethal obstacles, utilizing a visual 'predictive shadow' to show players where the AI expects them to be in 0.5 seconds.
05
Success in the game is balanced by maintaining player agency, ensuring that despite extreme difficulty, progress remains achievable through a combination of skill and persistence.
06
The development process relies on an iterative model that uses community feedback and live streaming to refine the balance between player frustration and entertainment.

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Transcript

hey guys this gym is making video games that you and I decided we're just gonna make a viral game today no problem at all I want to put my theories to the test and I have an absolutely brilliant idea we're gonna make a rage game that all its players and streamers can rage at it doesn't need to be fun but it needs to be memorable and watchable and hopefully those two factors will make it hugely successful actually all kidding aside I'm 99.9% sure we will absolutely fall flat on our face and it will not work at all but I want to try anyway so let's go at the moment the game's called goodbye AI or the project that already tells you something about the unique selling point of the game I guess but I actually think I want to rename the game too did you snail so it's a very simple jump and run game you play that snail here very easy to understand and you need to dodge those spikes that are coming out of the ground the hard part about it is that there's some sort of an AI and it tries to predict where you'll go next and that's where it will put the spikes

actually it's way harder than it looks but when those white spike C's appear you have about half a second until the real spike comes out of the ground so we have some time to react there but let me show you if I just press you to the side they I will always place a spike that comes right out of the ground and I walk over I think this really funny concept also I think the art style is already really stupid and characteristic and it's gonna be such a cool rage game and basically after each level the AI will learn something new a new kind of trap it can place or at the end it will learn something very cool that I don't want to spoil yet because I think it's kind of fee absolutely awesome yes as you can see I can't really beat my own level here because it's a goddamn difficult and we need some annoying and characteristic sounds for this so it's just supposed to be a little side project this will probably not take all that long maybe we'll make three or four

videos about this and then it's gonna be done just a little fansite project I wanted to do to put my theories to the test about what makes a game successful or what makes the game go viral and the game so incredibly fast to really feel compelled to try again and again and again it's it's this one more time feeling you have I'm really happy I already nailed this feeling I made this in a couple of hours yesterday as I said or I want to have some sort of an AI antagonist that's I think that's one of the next things we'll do just put some sort of representation of that III into the room I made it yes so it's not impossible but it's super hard okay I love it I think it's actually quite hard to create a really characteristic crappy look I'm not quite happy with this yet this doesn't really look as characteristic I would like this

looks a little too much like normal smiley okay that looks nice and creepy I like it yes the absolutely perfect death animation I came up with it's absolutely gorgeous okay made a couple of little improvements here by the way you can see a bit how this AI works there's a shadow that's just a prediction where we'll be in half a second and basically that's just where the AI spawns all of the obstacles I improved to jump animation of the snake a it looks a little more bounce you know it's really funny and it also has a death animation you know you have a little more feedback now when you die and also the AI smiles when you die so this is very very cool let's a continue [Music]

okay okay I created another level and add some effects when you jump unfortunately I'm running out of time because I still need to edit this video so that's all we're gonna do for today I think we should scream the development of this game sometime soon I think that would be fun maybe you have some crazy ideas as well what we could build into this game I might have helped to create a couple of really funny ideas where to take this this is already more or less a vertical slice so obviously we're still lacking sound but other than that this level is already pretty much done and how it would look in the finished game I feel challenged to beat this yes I did it well this level is really really hard I have never beaten this level ever actually in some places you need quite a bit of luck but you can increase your chances a lot with your skill

ha I beat it yeah I think we should continue exploring this game a little bit will this game go viral obviously not but who cares it's gonna be good really excited also really excited for Oberst over because all of us know at the moment was also really extremely fun just in general really happy with my games at the moment I want to stream the development of this game we use snail did you snail did you snail I want you to stream the development of the two snails every time zoom to thank you for that have an amazing day see you in the next one make the world your playground [Music]

Summary

The development of the platformer Will You Snail serves as a practical experiment to test theories regarding viral game design. The core objective is to create a highly difficult, rage-inducing experience that prioritizes memorability and watchability over traditional fun. By leveraging the frustration inherent in challenging gameplay, the project aims to cultivate a one-more-time feedback loop that encourages players and streamers to persist despite repeated failures.

The game mechanics center on a jump-and-run platformer where an AI antagonist actively predicts player movement to spawn lethal spikes. A key technical feature involves a predictive shadow that indicates where the AI expects the player to be within half a second, providing a narrow window for reaction. The development process emphasizes the importance of characteristic art styles and immediate, satisfying feedback, such as death animations and reactive AI behavior, to enhance the player's emotional engagement.

Developed using Game Maker Studio 2, the project functions as a rapid prototype, with initial core mechanics established in only a few hours. The design philosophy focuses on creating a vertical slice that balances extreme difficulty with player agency, ensuring that success remains possible through a combination of skill and persistence. While the developer acknowledges the low statistical probability of achieving viral success, the project serves as a case study in iterative game design, utilizing community feedback and streaming to refine the experience and explore the boundaries of player frustration and entertainment.