PickVidsBest Game design Videos
The 65 Game design videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 1 introductory, 14 intermediate, 50 for a general viewer, and 0 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are a talk. What they share is that one speaker finishes a claim, and the examples exist to hold that claim up. Channels you will keep seeing include GDC Festival of Gaming, Extra Credits, /noclip.
PRACTICE 2018: Joseph White
Joseph White, creator of PICO-8, retraces the design of the fantasy console and how tools can shape and guide creative work.
1,500 Slot Machines Walk into a Bar: Adventures in Quantity Over Quality
In this 2019 GDC talk, Alex Schwartz and Ziba Scott explain how they flooded the app stores with over 1,500 auto-generated slot machine games to find the lowest bar for success.
Playing to Lose: AI and "Civilization" (Soren Johnson)
Soren Johnson, a lead designer and AI programmer on Civilization games, discusses game AI design, including whether AI should cheat, behave like a human or be fun rather than strong.
Classic Game Postmortem: Fallout
Timothy Cain's 2012 GDC postmortem of the original Fallout, covering how he helped build the game and set the template for open-world RPGs.
GDC 2010: Sid Meier Keynote - "Everything You Know is Wrong"
Sid Meier's GDC 2010 keynote on how players perceive probability in games, including how Civilization's odds were adjusted because players misjudged them.
Gambling and the desire machine | Pay to Win
A 70-minute video essay by Jimmy McGee on gambling, addiction and game design, tracing horse racing, slot machines and collectible card markets.
"Devs Play" S1E06 - Psychonauts "The SMK Speedrun" [1/1]
In the finale of Double Fine's Devs Play, speedrunner SMK demonstrates glitches and exploits that skip entire sections of Psychonauts while Tim Schafer and the dev team watch.
Ross's Game Dungeon: Deus Ex - Human Revolution
Ross Scott's Game Dungeon episode critiques Deus Ex: Human Revolution, looking at its design, politics and visual style.
Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play
A 2016 conference talk by a mobile game CEO on the tricks of free-to-play monetization, including player profiles and how to target high-spending whales.
Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right
A Google Tech Talk by Sebastian Deterding on gamification.
Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X
Egoraptor's Sequelitis compares Mega Man Classic and Mega Man X, analyzing how the games teach players through level design without explicit tutorials.
Classic Game Postmortem - Another World
Eric Chahi's GDC 2011 postmortem of Another World (Out of This World), describing how he built the game.
How to Survive in Gamedev for Eleven Years Without a Hit
Jake Birkett of Grey Alien Games explains at GDC 2016 how an indie developer survived eleven years without a hit by building a long tail of games and redefining success.
Diablo: Original Game Development
David Brevik's GDC 2016 post-mortem of the original Diablo, covering how it evolved from a turn-based claymation DOS game into the genre-defining action RPG.
Put Your Name on Your Game, a Talk by Bennett Foddy and Zach Gage
At GDC 2019, Bennett Foddy and Zach Gage ask why game developers rarely sign their work.
Classic Game Postmortem: Alone in the Dark
Frederick Raynal gives a GDC postmortem of Alone in the Dark, the game that helped create the survival horror genre.
The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization (The Jimquisition)
A Jimquisition episode examining the human cost of predatory videogame monetization, focusing on loot boxes and microtransactions.
RimWorld: Contrarian, Ridiculous, and Impossible Game Design Methods
RimWorld creator Tynan Sylvester explains at GDC 2017 how Ludeon framed the game as a story generator rather than a game.
Pitfall: A Classic Game Postmortem
David Crane's 2011 GDC postmortem of Pitfall, the classic Atari 2600 game.
The Implementation of Rewind in Braid
Jonathan Blow's GDC talk explains how the time-rewind mechanic in Braid was designed and implemented, including the technical hurdles such as memory limits and state history.
[Highlight] StarCraft Remastered Rant
Day9 gives a passionate first look at what his StarCraft: Brood War Remastered series will teach.
How Localizing Return of the Obra Dinn Nearly Sunk the Game | War Stories | Ars Technica
Lucas Pope, creator of Return of the Obra Dinn, explains in Ars Technica's War Stories how localizing the game's logbook nearly sank the project.
Games Should Not Cost $60 Anymore - Inflation, Microtransactions, and Publishing - Extra Credits
Extra Credits explains from a game developer's perspective why AAA games have stayed at $60 despite inflation, and how that pressure drives DLC, microtransactions and loot boxes.
The Next Major RTS Will Fail. This Is Why.
A video essay arguing that the next major real-time strategy game will fail unless it gets the fundamentals right.