CLUJ Solitaire, the most elegant of Zachtronics B-sides Tom Francis 2023-08-21 | Zachtronics generally ship a single player card game inside of each new Proper Game they release. I made a video on my previous favourite, Shenzhen Solitaire, but now that there's a standalone collection, I've discovered the pinnacle of elegant solitaire design: CLUJ!Shenzhen vid: youtube.com/watch?v=kT7bEJQsVYk
A ramble on the subtle power of theme in games Tom Francis 2023-08-18 | Went on a retreat of sorts, learned a lot about how theme can radically change a game. Also got me thinking about game design in general, looking for little lessons and tools to distill from all these complicated discoveries.
Design Talk: Gut Calls, an especially interesting kind of decision Tom Francis 2023-07-04 | Somewhere between 'I can just calculate the right answer' and 'this is too complicated, I have no idea' lies the sweet spot of Gut Calls: juicy decisions you just have to make on intuition.
Thoughts on Far Cry 6, while I tackle an outpost Tom Francis 2023-06-05 | Just found this on my hard drive, I think I never put it up cos the game footage got cropped wrong, but actually it's mostly fine. I played first, then talked over the video, so it's a mix of general critique and commentary.
Design Talk: the joy of Natural Synergies in 20 Minutes Til Dawn Tom Francis 2023-05-11 | It's a combination Design Talk / Let's Play! 20MTD is a great showcase of what I call Natural Synergies: abilities that combo beautifully as a natural consequence of their properties, not because they're hardcoded to unlock some extra buff.
Why handcrafted games have to play it safe with upgrade choices Tom Francis 2023-04-03 | I've talked before about Doom State - how doomed you can be without dying or knowing about it: youtube.com/watch?v=FA1xa2NqL60 Lately I've been thinking about how roguelikes and handcrafted games have opposite takes on whose responsibility it is to prevent it: the player's or the dev's, respectively. That lets roguelikes give you bigger and deeper choices in how you tailor your build as you level up, while handcrafted games can't afford to offer you permanent choices that might doom you. I also reference Desperation Innovation, talk here: youtube.com/watch?v=4wd4dfKeexU
Ramble: GM-ing tabletop roleplaying for the first time since I was a teen Tom Francis 2023-03-21 | After a few minutes spent trying to remember how to use words, I wanted to ramble a bit about recent tabletop roleplaying adventures, both as a play and a GM. We've been playing a series of intro modules to Teeth, "Occult criminality and monster-hunting in a cursed corner of 18th-century England", co-created by my friend Marsh Davies: teethrpg.itch.io
Tactical Breach Wizards dev log: Acts, and how we make them Tom Francis 2023-02-11 | Just a bit about how we build out each act of the game, now that we've nearly done 3 of the 4.
5D Chess: a lovely idea, badly explained Tom Francis 2023-01-16 | Let me explain (what I understand of) 5D Chess, and why I think they could have taught it to you better. And also why it's not 5D.
My first interesting chess move Tom Francis 2022-12-09 | Errata: I am almost always misreading or misunderstanding what the engine analysis is trying to tell me here, so apologies for how much nonsense I talk about it. I do see now that it's trying to tell me that bishop move checkmates faster than my rook gambit, that's exactly the kind of thing I knew I'd never find. And the queen move it suggests for black - I see that he at least gets my bishop in return, but it still pulls the knight away and lets me close it out, the engine just likes that it takes me 2 more moves to do it.Context: I didn't like chess so I started making a chess game so I started researching chess so I started watching chess so I started playing chess so I started sorta maybe starting to like chess.
Tactical Breach Wizards Dev Log: the fuzzy zone Tom Francis 2022-11-20 | Here's a video in which I have covid but don't know I have covid yet! That's not relevant to the content and I'm mostly recovered already.
Tactical Breach Wizards gameplay trailer - Act 2 Tom Francis 2022-06-12 | store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_WizardsThe game's shaping up nicely, and we're showing it off a little differently this time: this trailer is by the great Derek Lieu: derek-lieu.comThe music is by our composer Robert Arzola, who's also doing the music for the game: robertarzola.comWe'll still be doing long and rambly talkthroughs too, it's just we've done a bunch of those for Wizards, and it would get spoilery to fully explain some of what's new here.Team:Words/Design/Some Code: Tom FrancisArt Director: John RobertsProgramming: John WinderMusic: Robert ArzolaLevel Design: Steve Lee
Thoughts on leveling up in Diablo 2 vs Diablo 3 Tom Francis 2022-05-09 | Been playing both of these lately, and it's interesting what Diablo 3 gained and lost with its drastic departure.
Strange Horticulture Pt 2: A Stinking Mountcap by any other name Tom Francis 2022-04-13 | It is plant time again. This'll be the last part - enjoying the game but it's settled into a pretty familiar pattern and seems quite long.
[Fixed audio] Strange Horticulture Pt 1: Should I have been labelling this stuff? Tom Francis 2022-04-11 | Let's play a game about identifying spooky plants during an actual thunderstorm outside! It's good so far, even if the plantspotting almanac refuses to mention colours and the microscope can only tell you smells.
Why resurrection was underpowered and how we fixed it - Tactical Breach Wizards dev log Tom Francis 2022-03-01 | It's been a while! Here's a rambly chat about where we are and what we've been figuring out lately. 7m30s for the necromancy stuff.
Slice & Dice Pt 2: Hoarse Mode Tom Francis 2022-01-02 | Pt 1: youtu.be/jswCdE1fixk I'm ill, so my voice sucks! But I couldn't wait to finish this run, and it turned into a really fun one - including one of those absurd overpowered synergies that makes the best roguelikes so rewarding.
Slice & Dice Pt 1: Evoker Beam & the Slime Queen Tom Francis 2022-01-01 | Really enjoying Slice & Dice, an elegant dice-based roguelike with a generous free demo. This is part 1 of a run, part 2 is here: youtube.com/watch?v=7yD3EFlb8pgGame: tann.itch.io/slice-dice
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #32: Bugs, Tutorials and Finishing Tom Francis 2021-09-27 | Last one! We bash through all the bugs I know about in short order, add a death/victory screen, then make a short tutorial - and we're done! We made a game everyone, congratulations! As I say in the vid, your comments here have been lovely and so motivating, so thank you for that. I expect to do at least one standalone ep to go alongside this tutorial, and if you find bugs in our finished game let me know in the comments here, perhaps we'll do a hotfix addendum if there's anything serious. I made one small tweak after I finished recording - to add our title to the menu screen. You'll see it in the build but not in the source code. Lastly, for once the notes will have a new item - a link to our finished game! Here we go:- Here's our finished game! No Fighting in the Gun Museum: drive.google.com/file/d/1Pmn3xoEeDHcOjQU2fd_w-EZYF2ggr8lE/view?usp=sharing- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #31: Now Make The Rest Of The Game Tom Francis 2021-09-21 | Most of game dev makes very little visible progress, then it all comes at once - this ep is one of those times! We finish out our 9 levels, split them into 3 worlds with (mildly) different looks, different guard types, and a huge weird final boss! Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #30: One Last Design Tweak, And A System For Making Levels Tom Francis 2021-09-20 | In this ep we make probably our last global game design change: fixing the grace period in our alarm system to give you more room to be sneaky and strategic before combat kicks off. Then we figure out a system to make levels, and make the first 3. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #29: Saving Score and Bounties Tom Francis 2021-09-13 | Today we learn how to save player data, and add a bounty system to make both combat and score more interesting. We're close to being done! Probably 2 or 3 more eps.Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #28: Super Weapons and Pickups Tom Francis 2021-08-27 | This time we get to really enjoy the fruits of our flexible weapon system, and make a bunch of fun ones really quickly! We also add ammo and health pickups to plinths, and the game is honestly starting to get fun.Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #27: Enemy Types and Feel Tweaks Tom Francis 2021-08-22 | It's time we made some more enemies! Adding new types is quick, easy, and has a big impact on the game. Which leaves us time for some tweaks and rejigging of things we did the quick and dirty way. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #26: Camera Follow, and Expanding Level Generation Tom Francis 2021-06-05 | Today we make the camera follow us around, expand our level generator to be able to do levels of almost any size, and fix all those menu buttons we broke a while back. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience, #25: Ammo & Weapon Switching Tom Francis 2021-05-28 | We add limited ammo, which is laughably easy, then simplify our weapon system to a more streamlined one before making the UI to represent it. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience, #24: Persistence Tom Francis 2021-05-24 | Edit: Just realised New Game is not the only menu button that needs fixing after our scene change - I'll fix the others in a future ep, but if you wanna do it now it's the same method we used to make them in the first place - timestamp link: youtu.be/DGtfpVqYS1Y?t=2204Original description: This time we figure out how to make some things carry over from one level to the next, and do some overdue replumbing of our setup for configuring levels. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Tactical Breach Wizards - Act One beta trailer Tom Francis 2021-05-05 | Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_WizardsGet in on the beta: store.steampowered.com/news/app/1043810/view/3056231728247903796Details on the composer job: pentadact.com/?p=9308
Trials of Fire (2/2) - Maim Tom Francis 2021-04-25 | Turns out Maim is good! Part one: youtube.com/watch?v=Y1SLvMvfMOk
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience, #23: Placing Enemies Tom Francis 2021-03-25 | This time we round out our level generator so it can also place enemies and spawners, and is better about balanced item types. It can now do basically everything we did! Got a performance question for Unity pros at the end. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience, #22: Generating Levels Tom Francis 2021-03-15 | Generating levels: it's easier than you think! Labelling museum exhibits: it's harder than I think! Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #21: Generating UI Tom Francis 2021-03-07 | It's been a while! Today we add alert levels to our alarm system, so that the player has some decisions to make. This involves generating some UI when the game starts rather than building it by hand. The images and sound are loose in the zip of this episode's source code at the link below. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Design Talk: the pros and cons of Doom State Tom Francis 2021-02-21 | How doomed can you be? And when do you know it? Here's a term for that, and some games where I think it's good and some games where I think it's bad.
Slipways: nobody wants wheat Tom Francis 2021-02-08 | I've been playing the demo of Slipways, and it's great! I recorded my last playthrough. The demo's up and free at time of writing: store.steampowered.com/app/1264280/Slipways
Spelunky 2 Daily, 2021-01-01: Cornered Tom Francis 2021-01-02 | To ring in the new year, I'm doing the daily challenge in four roguelikes, including my own. Here are the others: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB1CPr1rSdeLB0uIpXS3YEQa
Spelunky Daily, 2021-01-01: Lucky Tom Francis 2021-01-02 | To ring in the new year, I'm doing the daily challenge in four roguelikes, including my own. Here are the others: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB1CPr1rSdeLB0uIpXS3YEQa
Slay the Spire Daily, 2021-01-01: Bullet Time Tom Francis 2021-01-02 | To ring in the new year, I'm doing the daily challenge in four roguelikes, including my own. Here are the others: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB1CPr1rSdeLB0uIpXS3YEQa
Heat Signature Daily, 2021-01-01: Predators Tom Francis 2021-01-02 | To ring in the new year, I'm doing the daily challenge in four roguelikes, including my own. This one was a rollercoaster. Here are the others: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB1CPr1rSdeLB0uIpXS3YEQa
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #20: Useables Tom Francis 2020-11-15 | Well done on making it to episode 20! In this ep I have a plan for what's left to do, a working title for our game, and we build a system to make various different things in the world useable with the E key. Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Make A Game In Unity With No Experience #19: Armed guards Tom Francis 2020-11-10 | It's high time our guards shot at us with guns, which is when the way we implemented weapons really pays off. And our swarmers blow up on us now, making death a real possibility! Notes:- Start with part 1, obviously - here's the playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB3TZfe2wsIgJgGZW5G_NAxa- You can download the project files for each episode here: drive.google.com/open?id=19L7G466iBK4xUSDWrW6kzwkAAmwdrgz3- Please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if anything is unclear - I can both clarify in a future ep, and adapt the pace to improve in future. If anyone's left behind there's room for improvement.- If you're not getting the same results I am, download and check my version of the project - if that doesn't work either, something's up with your install or PC. If my version works but yours doesn't, there must be a difference between them - hunt it down if you can, or just use my copy going forward.
Spelunky 2 Daily 2020-11-08: The 1-2 curse Tom Francis 2020-11-09 | Sometimes you recover from your disastrous 1-2, sometimes you don't.
Teardown: Theyre friends! Tom Francis 2020-11-07 | If you wanna skip to my solution, it starts at 1:09:45
Spelunky 2 Daily 2020-11-06: A theory Tom Francis 2020-11-06 | Reminder not to reveal anything in the comments please! Even things I wonder about.
Spelunky 2 Daily 2020-11-04: Phase 3 Tom Francis 2020-11-04 | Heads up that the adventure runs I do at the end do not turn out to be very fun, you can safely skip em!
Teardown: getting into high art Tom Francis 2020-11-03 | If you just wanna see the 1-minute execution attempts, they're at 56:50, 1:08:05, and 1:12:15 Teardown playlist here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUtKzyIe0aB20lZ1j06h6cWv9TDGrk1zC
