Bit hyperbolic, but hey, I think it gits the point across: Arcades games are the easiest genre to make and are the quickest way to learn game development. Also, did you know that hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards? 0.0
failing at arcade games is also neglecting to introduce small, new, easy to grasp concept over time, like new enemies after x levels or bonus rounds or simple stuff to reduce the tedium of the game.
I can think of a few ways to fail at making an arcade game: 1) Forgetting to add proper instructions. Both in the attract screen and often on the sides of the original cabinets, the game tells you how to play it before you even start. 2) Forgetting to add a proper hook. Why would someone want to play your game instead of the thousands of already excellent arcade style games? Novelty? Theme? New twist on old formula? 3) Forgetting that polish is a thing, even with supposedly "simple" games. It's actually more important because the games are relatively simple. 4) Forgetting to multiply the existing content by adding additional modes and stuff. This depends on the specifics of your game, but here's some examples: if the main mode of your game is endless, how about adding a timed challenge mode? If the main mode of your game is score attack, how about a time attack? How about a one credit mode with a separate score table? What about a speedrun mode? How about infinite lives and other "cheats" for the casual players? How about various secrets to reward skilled play? How about randomizers?
Some advice to fail at arcade games comes to scoring system: 1. If high score is the main goal, make sure that the easiest actions give the most score (I'm looking at you, Trog!) 2. Alternatively, make it easy to "farm" the score to ensure that you don't interact with the all mechanics of the game, no matter how simple the game is. Also, if you want to fail at arcade games, equate depth with complexity. That allows you to have an excuse of having shallow mechanics.
In this video: how to fail at making a video about how to fail at a video game genre But you are correct, arcade games are really hard to fail at (not in the popularity/earning area, but in the making one) I really tried thinking about something one could get wrong, but it's about literally creating a short infinitely repeating game, the only way to fail is to make something out of the main idea, or not trying :P
@@Artindi It's a great video anyway. Question, can fans help with the pixel art area? It's out of the blue, but I was wondering, and I don't know where to ask
I've never thought about it before, whoever helped would have to draw with the same style for consistency, which would be vary hard to pull off, then aside from that there is the complications of coordinating what is drawn based on the script. I can't say it would necessarily make the process easier at this point in time. But maybe later on down the line it could become a need. I'll have to ponder it some more. And perhaps I could have a special episode sometime with art from the fans, or perhaps just a separate video altogether that somehow includes viewer art participation. For sure worth thinking about, so thanks for the great ideas. :)
What west thinks of arcade games : single screen infinitely playing game What east things of arcades : a racing game with rather extensive customization system, a rhythm game with deep movement tech, a 3rd person arena fighter with characters having various skills, and even a card game with a huge touchscreen to put the cards in and play
We also have completely different styles of RPGs! I wonder, if I as an American made an RPG with cute sprites, minimal character customization, and lots of grinding, would it be a WRPG or a JRPG?
@@EdKolis I dunno. A British studio, Climax, once tried to make an ARPG with similar style to a lot of JRPGs at the time - Sudeki. It is a forgotten game though
@@EdKolis There's also Toby Fox's games, Lisa series and a bunch of others. One of my favorite 'obscure' attempts at a western-made RPG with JRPG-like traits is Septerra Core. That one in particular tried to go for the FF7 vibe since it was big in late 90s. Despite that, my brain just doesn't quite see either one of these as JRPGs, not even SC, which tries very hard to convince the player it is one with the turn-based sequences, several characters to pick for your party, overhead worldmap and no character customization. Yet that's what I call them when I describe them to someone. It's like 'action game' or 'adventure' I think. So, I think it's possible your game could be called a JRPG, because it's a genre of its own, at least in our english-speaking gaming landscape.
These videos are great. Spent the past few weeks chipping away at a space invaders clone to solidify my knowledge of pygame. This was funny as hell, especially your "fail-ception" towards the end. +1 sub. Can't wait to check out the other how to fail guides!
@@Artindi Nope, no fail. Will have to try harder next time hah. Just working on some pixel art/music and sound design skills to give life to my project. Before moving on.
Failing to try at all gets you the worst of both worlds-- you dont get any of the positive output of a success, nor any of the feedback of a failure!! You fail both at succeeding and failing, which I think is a bigger, but less interesting way to fail, since just about everyone does it. And it's mentioned at the start of every video in this series.
Honestly I think everyone's first game, even if it's just a little arcade game, is a success even if you fail, because the first game you always learn so much. So yeah, like you said the only way to fail there would be failing to try. :)
This seems like the perfect time to mention that I’m working on a an arcade game (with dev logs of my own). Feel like I’m guilty of some of these points, but hopefully I won’t have to resort to interpretive dance😢 Would be super thankful if y’all could check it out!
Had no idea you only had a few thousand views on these videos; I’m sure to you it seems like a lot but man, I’ve been binging these and I figured they were super popular, crazy. You might just get blessed by the algorithm sometime soon man
The only way to fail at making a arcade game is if you take so much player interaction out of it that it becomes a slot machine where you wait for animations to resolve for a unfairly chance based game that punishes players for attempting to interact with it .
Hi Artindi. What's your opinion on shaders? It's like alien technology to me, although I would really like to learn how to use them in Godot to make cool things like explosions with particle effects, although it seems like the list of prerequisites is ever-expanding. Linear algebra, knowledge of OpenGL and C-like languages, etc. I'm using Godot to learn how to code but I can only make it so far before my game becomes quite boring due to my limited knowledge and skills. Shaders to me feel like the next step forward.
To be honest, I've never used shaders myself. It's on my list of things I need to eventually learn one day, bit just haven't yet, so my opinion is shaders are a very powerful tool but one can get by without them as well, knowing how to use them would be a great benefit. But if you don't it's not the end of the world. Otherwise, can't say I know much about shaders. :)
I know this series is supposed to be ironic, but there were a few thigs missing in this video. Only some arcade games are supposed to be endless. Other arcade games, like beat 'em ups and shmups, are designed to be short but difficult experiences that you're supposed to practice to eventually get a 1CC (one credit clear). This can take a lot of practice, for example getting a 1-loop 1CC in DoDonPachi can take 100-200 hours of dedicated practice, and getting a 2-loop 1CC (with the second loop being basically hard mode) can take over 1000 hours of practice. Arcade games can have very deep scoring systems, that bring the skill ceiling even higher even after you can 1CC the game. Ikaruga, for example has a very interesting and challenging scoring system that is based on chaining sets of three enemies of the same color. Even though arcade games can seem simple, they are some of the deepest gameplay experiences there is in any genre and require tons of dedication and practice to master.
Courage is so married to its medium in what makes it work. You couldn't make it a comic, film or a game because the editing, framing and especially the use of collage and experimental animation styles. It would feel off. Maybe adult swim could pick it up for a single season run in a similar vein to the Samurai Jack revival, so that they can really delve into the horror and family trauma aspects of the show.
You underestimate my power. I made a game with barely-functional collision, clunky unusable movement, and not even half of the features required for a game development contest in high school. So I'd call that a pretty good failure... (Except I still nearly placed in the state competition because it turns out game design is hard and making something kinda functional was better than what most other high school students could do).
“A lot of arcade games have an endless-style gameplay where the only goal is to go as far and as long as possible, to maybe get the highest score. But nobody cares about points anymore, and I only feel satisfied once I see the ending to a game, so don’t do any of that, and just add microtransactions.” There, fixed your video.
How to fail at making an arcade game: forget to make bullets delete themselves after leaving the screen so after about 5 minutes, your game slows to a grinding halt. Then release it on steam! Im totally not guilty of this one
You could also keep it as bland as possible, with the only thing that goes up a certain number that kills you at some point. What do we want, something that actually scales neatly, enticing players to improve at the core mechanic, that we dont have?? Bahhh. Get out of my face.
While I agree with your message, I have to respectfully disagree too. The only way to fail at making an arcade type game in good faith is to lose sight of the fact that you're making an arcade game, so in doing so forgetting how the gameplay should be intuitive and easily replayable, as well as possibly modular while keeping the fundamentals intact.
I suppose poor implementation of rng could ruin an arcade game. You should feel like how far you got was because of your own skill level and not because the game was kind to you / wanted to make you suffer. There's nothing like getting far on a run only to lose to a gap that was too wide to jump.
to fail , you can make only a single level that repeats for eternity without adding anything , (where you also cant lose).
0.0
cookie clicker made this and it pops off
Pac Man be like
Sisyphus simulator
@@Castaigne-R2rcookie clicker isn't an arcade, its an idle game
" You can't fail at making arcade games. "
you overestimate my power.
Bit hyperbolic, but hey, I think it gits the point across: Arcades games are the easiest genre to make and are the quickest way to learn game development.
Also, did you know that hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards? 0.0
I don’t believe you, show me a video of a hummingbird flying backwards.
It does it in this one, just for a bit: ua-cam.com/users/shorts-5rs9EtYBMw
This is false, I can also fly backwards
@@guyug6940 I don’t believe you, show me a video of you flying backwards.
i Must make an arcade game about this
I love this series, it's like "bad writing advice" but for game dev.
Amazing.
I for sure take some inspiration, but hopefully still give it my own twist. :)
*Terrible writing advice
@@Artindiit's more formulaic which I think puts a spin on it. It's also way shorter which helps with learning quickly
And, I don't have to catch up with hundreds of episodes and also, somehow, the lore!
@@Oceloto999 TWA is still shorter than One Piece 😅
failing at arcade games is also neglecting to introduce small, new, easy to grasp concept over time, like new enemies after x levels or bonus rounds or simple stuff to reduce the tedium of the game.
I can think of a few ways to fail at making an arcade game:
1) Forgetting to add proper instructions. Both in the attract screen and often on the sides of the original cabinets, the game tells you how to play it before you even start.
2) Forgetting to add a proper hook. Why would someone want to play your game instead of the thousands of already excellent arcade style games? Novelty? Theme? New twist on old formula?
3) Forgetting that polish is a thing, even with supposedly "simple" games. It's actually more important because the games are relatively simple.
4) Forgetting to multiply the existing content by adding additional modes and stuff. This depends on the specifics of your game, but here's some examples: if the main mode of your game is endless, how about adding a timed challenge mode? If the main mode of your game is score attack, how about a time attack? How about a one credit mode with a separate score table? What about a speedrun mode? How about infinite lives and other "cheats" for the casual players? How about various secrets to reward skilled play? How about randomizers?
Excellent! I especially like the polish point as smaller games do need it more. :)
Some advice to fail at arcade games comes to scoring system:
1. If high score is the main goal, make sure that the easiest actions give the most score (I'm looking at you, Trog!)
2. Alternatively, make it easy to "farm" the score to ensure that you don't interact with the all mechanics of the game, no matter how simple the game is.
Also, if you want to fail at arcade games, equate depth with complexity. That allows you to have an excuse of having shallow mechanics.
What is trog
@@jknifgijdfui An Pac-Man-like arcade/NES game where you have to collect all the eggs and get to the exit while avoiding cavemen.
This is a common one. Also not adding a scoring system at all.
You doubt my power
Could it be? The chosen one? 0.0
Excellent video, I now know how to fail even more.
All in a days work.
well... I guess a few days, takes a while to draw all those. :)
I'd Imagine!@@Artindi
In this video: how to fail at making a video about how to fail at a video game genre
But you are correct, arcade games are really hard to fail at (not in the popularity/earning area, but in the making one)
I really tried thinking about something one could get wrong, but it's about literally creating a short infinitely repeating game, the only way to fail is to make something out of the main idea, or not trying :P
it was hurting my brain writing that script, then I was just like, I guess that's the point... isn't it. :)
@@Artindi It's a great video anyway. Question, can fans help with the pixel art area? It's out of the blue, but I was wondering, and I don't know where to ask
I've never thought about it before, whoever helped would have to draw with the same style for consistency, which would be vary hard to pull off, then aside from that there is the complications of coordinating what is drawn based on the script. I can't say it would necessarily make the process easier at this point in time. But maybe later on down the line it could become a need. I'll have to ponder it some more.
And perhaps I could have a special episode sometime with art from the fans, or perhaps just a separate video altogether that somehow includes viewer art participation. For sure worth thinking about, so thanks for the great ideas. :)
What west thinks of arcade games : single screen infinitely playing game
What east things of arcades : a racing game with rather extensive customization system, a rhythm game with deep movement tech, a 3rd person arena fighter with characters having various skills, and even a card game with a huge touchscreen to put the cards in and play
Interesting there is a difference. Kinda amazing how video game culture can be so distinct.
We also have completely different styles of RPGs! I wonder, if I as an American made an RPG with cute sprites, minimal character customization, and lots of grinding, would it be a WRPG or a JRPG?
@@EdKolis I dunno. A British studio, Climax, once tried to make an ARPG with similar style to a lot of JRPGs at the time - Sudeki. It is a forgotten game though
@@EdKolis There's also Toby Fox's games, Lisa series and a bunch of others. One of my favorite 'obscure' attempts at a western-made RPG with JRPG-like traits is Septerra Core. That one in particular tried to go for the FF7 vibe since it was big in late 90s. Despite that, my brain just doesn't quite see either one of these as JRPGs, not even SC, which tries very hard to convince the player it is one with the turn-based sequences, several characters to pick for your party, overhead worldmap and no character customization. Yet that's what I call them when I describe them to someone. It's like 'action game' or 'adventure' I think. So, I think it's possible your game could be called a JRPG, because it's a genre of its own, at least in our english-speaking gaming landscape.
Western arcade games: fun, short, simple, maybe a bit more.
Eastern arcade games: Extremely immersive 40-hour RPG, take it or leave it.
Instructions unclear, made a successful RPG
These videos are great. Spent the past few weeks chipping away at a space invaders clone to solidify my knowledge of pygame. This was funny as hell, especially your "fail-ception" towards the end.
+1 sub. Can't wait to check out the other how to fail guides!
nothing like making a clone of an arcade game to learn, you... didn't fail... did you? ;)
@@Artindi Nope, no fail. Will have to try harder next time hah. Just working on some pixel art/music and sound design skills to give life to my project. Before moving on.
this is just hellsinker and it rocks
Not sure what that is, but I like the sound of your comment. :)
Failing to try at all gets you the worst of both worlds-- you dont get any of the positive output of a success, nor any of the feedback of a failure!! You fail both at succeeding and failing, which I think is a bigger, but less interesting way to fail, since just about everyone does it. And it's mentioned at the start of every video in this series.
Honestly I think everyone's first game, even if it's just a little arcade game, is a success even if you fail, because the first game you always learn so much. So yeah, like you said the only way to fail there would be failing to try. :)
This seems like the perfect time to mention that I’m working on a an arcade game (with dev logs of my own).
Feel like I’m guilty of some of these points, but hopefully I won’t have to resort to interpretive dance😢
Would be super thankful if y’all could check it out!
I'll give it a watch. :)
@@Artindi been watching your vids for years, so it really means a lot! Keep doing what you’re doing!
Exactly what I needed as inspiration for my next game
Happy I could help! :)
I would play this game
Me too. :)
I think you really have something good going with that Skylocraft idea, you should definitely pursue that.
Had no idea you only had a few thousand views on these videos; I’m sure to you it seems like a lot but man, I’ve been binging these and I figured they were super popular, crazy. You might just get blessed by the algorithm sometime soon man
I feel so called out by this video in a way I've never felt before... I have some replanning to do, so thank you(?), I guess...
Happy I could help... or not help... something like that. :)
Dang, he really just completely gave up at the end.
There was no hope... all was lost... ;)
bru@@Artindi
@@Artindi
The best way to fail at making a video is to not even try. But let’s say you do try. Here’s how to fail
@@spindash64 lol.
The only way to fail at making a arcade game is if you take so much player interaction out of it that it becomes a slot machine where you wait for animations to resolve for a unfairly chance based game that punishes players for attempting to interact with it .
I will fail so badly that it will be a world record
What a success that would be.. oh wait. I mean, uh, what a failure that would be. :)
It is kind of funny how this is one of the least viewed 'episode's in this series considering the last third of the video.
I think it shows nobody starts with an arcade game like they probably should. :)
Was this episodes second half just "how to fail at making a how to fail at indie game dev video"
the watermelon made me laugh both times it appeared
I couldn't think of what to draw there so I just made a watermelon :) I laughed while I drew it. Lol glad to hear someone else enjoyed it too.
Of course it will do well, people are watching the video thinking "How do you mess that one up?!".
You're way too underrated
Hi Artindi. What's your opinion on shaders? It's like alien technology to me, although I would really like to learn how to use them in Godot to make cool things like explosions with particle effects, although it seems like the list of prerequisites is ever-expanding. Linear algebra, knowledge of OpenGL and C-like languages, etc. I'm using Godot to learn how to code but I can only make it so far before my game becomes quite boring due to my limited knowledge and skills. Shaders to me feel like the next step forward.
To be honest, I've never used shaders myself. It's on my list of things I need to eventually learn one day, bit just haven't yet, so my opinion is shaders are a very powerful tool but one can get by without them as well, knowing how to use them would be a great benefit. But if you don't it's not the end of the world. Otherwise, can't say I know much about shaders. :)
How to fail at puzzle games?
On my list for sure! :D
Make the first puzzle practically impossible, and the rest of them stupid easy!
I know this series is supposed to be ironic, but there were a few thigs missing in this video. Only some arcade games are supposed to be endless. Other arcade games, like beat 'em ups and shmups, are designed to be short but difficult experiences that you're supposed to practice to eventually get a 1CC (one credit clear). This can take a lot of practice, for example getting a 1-loop 1CC in DoDonPachi can take 100-200 hours of dedicated practice, and getting a 2-loop 1CC (with the second loop being basically hard mode) can take over 1000 hours of practice. Arcade games can have very deep scoring systems, that bring the skill ceiling even higher even after you can 1CC the game. Ikaruga, for example has a very interesting and challenging scoring system that is based on chaining sets of three enemies of the same color. Even though arcade games can seem simple, they are some of the deepest gameplay experiences there is in any genre and require tons of dedication and practice to master.
Very true, Thanks for pointing that out! :D
So… Cookie Clicker?
So basically, to make a bad arcade game, you need to make an actually good game, because the whole point of arcade games is to suck quarters.
I mean you can fail at coming up with a fun to play game idea especially in arcade games because they're simple
akaid gam
Courage is so married to its medium in what makes it work. You couldn't make it a comic, film or a game because the editing, framing and especially the use of collage and experimental animation styles.
It would feel off.
Maybe adult swim could pick it up for a single season run in a similar vein to the Samurai Jack revival, so that they can really delve into the horror and family trauma aspects of the show.
Failing at making arcade games is about as hard as actually genuinely winning at making arcade games
You underestimate my power. I made a game with barely-functional collision, clunky unusable movement, and not even half of the features required for a game development contest in high school. So I'd call that a pretty good failure... (Except I still nearly placed in the state competition because it turns out game design is hard and making something kinda functional was better than what most other high school students could do).
how to fail? forget to get out of bed
That can happen sometimes too. :)
“A lot of arcade games have an endless-style gameplay where the only goal is to go as far and as long as possible, to maybe get the highest score. But nobody cares about points anymore, and I only feel satisfied once I see the ending to a game, so don’t do any of that, and just add microtransactions.”
There, fixed your video.
How to fail at making an arcade game: forget to make bullets delete themselves after leaving the screen so after about 5 minutes, your game slows to a grinding halt.
Then release it on steam! Im totally not guilty of this one
b-birdwatching!!?!
ive played some baaad arcade games, and i still enjoyed them overall lol
You could also keep it as bland as possible, with the only thing that goes up a certain number that kills you at some point. What do we want, something that actually scales neatly, enticing players to improve at the core mechanic, that we dont have?? Bahhh. Get out of my face.
Like the Google Chrome dinosaur game? :)
Y'know what they say, the only real skill our players need to hone is reaction time!
How to fail at arcade game: don’t make an arcade game
While I agree with your message, I have to respectfully disagree too. The only way to fail at making an arcade type game in good faith is to lose sight of the fact that you're making an arcade game, so in doing so forgetting how the gameplay should be intuitive and easily replayable, as well as possibly modular while keeping the fundamentals intact.
To fail, map 'insert coin' to a normal button so nobody pays for the game
How about fighting games? What’s the worst way to go about making those?
Aka, stop trying to do what you can't. Fuck around, fail, and learn some stuff first. Fearing failure makes you one
🍉
Plot twist:this is how to fail at making how to fail videos
how to fail at making an arcade game: dont make an arcade game
How to fail at making an rpg game...
You mean this one? :)
ua-cam.com/video/tPQcne7wfX8/v-deo.html
@@Artindi wow! Cool, thanks!
I suppose poor implementation of rng could ruin an arcade game. You should feel like how far you got was because of your own skill level and not because the game was kind to you / wanted to make you suffer. There's nothing like getting far on a run only to lose to a gap that was too wide to jump.
how to fail at making a video about how to fail at an unfailable task.
hm... seems I might need to retitle the video. ;)
@@Artindi would be kinda funny if so.