Interview: GMTK's Mark Brown on his foray into game development (Mind Over Magnet)
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We're delighted to bring back our Thinky Games video interviews, this time joined by Mark Brown to talk about the creation of his game, Mind Over Magnet.
Mark is best known for his YouTube channel, Game Maker's Toolkit, where he explores topics in game design. In 2021, after reaching a million subscribers, Mark started work on his own puzzle platformer game, now titled Mind Over Magnet. Through his "Developing" series, he has given his audience a peek behind the curtain, taking them on his game development journey. Watch his videos here: • Developing
We were incredibly happy to chat with Mark about this journey, including his switch from creating design critique videos to making his own games, how Mind Over Magnet might not actually really be his first game, his approach to puzzle design, some recent favorite games, and more.
Mind Over Magnet releases on Steam on November 13, 2024.
0:00:00 - Mind Over Magnet interview
0:00:56 - Introductions
0:02:05 - Starting work on Mind Over Magnet
0:03:38 - How the project changed over time
0:04:56 - Project scope
0:06:00 - Games that inspired Mind Over Magnet
0:07:43 - Portal and ElecHead
0:09:11 - Linear level structure
0:10:26 - Teaching ideas through level structure
0:11:41 - Mark's actual first game
0:13:14 - What attracts Mark to puzzly games
0:14:59 - Classic puzzle tropes
0:17:35 - Pros & cons have having a large YouTube audience
0:20:43 - Changing from pixel art to vector art
0:22:28 - Making the art more vibrant
0:23:20 - Hint systems
0:25:57 - Level exit animation
0:26:49 - Skills carried over from video editing
0:28:25 - Parallel between video game juice & video animations
0:29:24 - Minimalism vs maximalism
0:31:07 - Core systems of Mind Over Magnet
0:32:52 - New approaches to puzzle design
0:34:52 - Designing for puzzle difficulty
0:36:43 - Scrapped mechanics
0:38:18 - Cutscenes & speech bubbles
0:40:20 - Developer commentary
0:42:15 - Any changes left to make?
0:43:19 - Hint prompts
0:44:15 - Post-release video plans
0:46:05 - Videos first vs game dev first
0:47:45 - Favorite recent thinky games
0:49:24 - Outro
Huge thanks to Mark Brown for joining us. The interview was conducted by Joseph Mansfield and edited by Ambie Valdés.
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