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I did this first game and it unblocked my creative block Ive had for ages. Thank you man I'm glad I found your channel

In Russia I worked more than 15 years at a state university (teached math). After that I changed to junior dev and my salary from start was better than at the university (like two times better, as far as I remember). Teachers are just not paid good enough to switch from development to teaching.

I thought the first game looked good. Felt a bit harsh to write it off without actually playing it. Other areas might have been much more brightly lit, for example. I didn’t get a great feel for the mechanics and how deep they were from the clip. If what was shown was the entire game, then sure, I’m with you. But it is quite possible it actually is a good game and just no one noticed. To complete a project of that quality solo doesn’t feel like a fail to me. I’d be proud personally, regardless of sales.

This is great series love this!

There’s a game called Void Tyrant, which is a blackjack-like roguelike, but came out years ago at this point and has a more defined theme (space techno medieval basically).

Great video! I'm a big fan of Balatro, trying for years to build a rogue like deck builder based on "regular" cards as well, but I also do not like these Blackjack approaches, and you very quickly explained the breaking point for me: the player has too few choices: draw or stand. At least allow doubling IMO, or just go in autobattler mode where the player just watches the blackjack part play itself, and then only the choices made in the shop matter. This will shift the focus of the game and may create something more appealing to me than having a 50/50 decision interrupt me every second

Although balatro is a great game, I always bring up that it isn’t a poker game, at least not a traditional poker game, as the core design of poker is around other players, unknown information and betting strategies. The closest game design wise to poker would be hearthstone battlegrounds, as the minions in the shop come from a shared pool, like a shared deck of cards.

Nothing here has soul like Balatro did. This feels like a mobile knock off version. Especially the shop. Even small things like using futura as a font choice for example makes no sense here as it doesn’t really scream “blackjack”. Mix that with the “battle” portions and it’s just a weird collab of random things going on. EDIT: 11:32 there’s a glass “8” card in that video. Again, just copying with nothing of their own really. And the things that are their own aren’t executed well.

Two thoughts from looking at this game, One: it’s “Balatro at home” Balatro is not just successful because of its mechanics, but because it is an absurdly polished juicy piece of software. It is so stylish and tactile and satisfying to interact with that it’s fun before you even start to make decisions. Anything that seeks to emulate Balatro has got to be perfect in that regard or it’s already lost. Two: The thing about blackjack that makes it genuinely interesting is the notion of card counting, tracking the deck over many games to be able to gamble with some advantage beyond sheer random luck. Card counters work in teams, they evade casino security, they have to be careful not to win too much and they have to endure loss streaks. A game that emulates that experience could be really fascinating.

Not to be overly negative but am I the only one who is annoyed by the inevitable wave of knockoffs that appear after a viral hit comes out? Most show a lack of understanding of the core design of the thing they're copying. It's Scott McCloud's six stages of art. Rougejack feels like it's at level 5, good surface and craft. Made competently and looks nice but it's like the video game equivalent of a nicely drawn marvel universe fan OC. I'm impressed by your execution but what am I supposed to do with it? It's true that there's a market for fan fiction but I'm still gonna read actual X-Men. I don't think the lack of the deeper similarities to balatro's style is an indication that they didn't directly base every part of their game off of it and I think because of that they're just asking to be compared to it. It feels like they looked at it and said "that's popular, we need to do that" and then took the surface elements without really understanding what was going on at a deeper level that made balatro really resonate with people. Learning lessons from great games is a good thing, but you need to learn the right lessons and those are the game design decisions not aesthetic. Balatro isn't even that much like poker but with Rougejack it's apparent they were looking for something tangentially related to five card draw because on the surface it looks like that's what Balatro did. At least D&DG has its own identity even if it's kinda lame. It's "we should make a deckbuilder rouglelike because they're hugely popular", "we need special jokers", "the cards need to jiggle for 'game feel'", "we need shaders for the bakground to make it dynamic". It feels very formulaic which is never a good sign to me. The selection of the game doesn't make much sense. Blackjack is one of my favorite card games but it doesn't have enough going on to support an entire game on its own. The point is the gambling and part of the thrill is in the lack of choices you have which is not a good thing in a single player simulation. It's boring unless you're playing for real money or real stakes. In video games it works great as a minigame as a way to gamble currency because you're invested in the rest of the game. But you need reliable ways to get currency too. Getting a blackjack high score feels meaningless to me when the game is so random by nature. Seems like getting a high score at flipping coins and your control over the outcome is you get to buy some different types of coins to flip. If all you do is flip coins it is going to be boring after five minutes no matter how much the coin squashes and stretches and shines and jiggles. People will look at it and say "neat" and go do something else. If you could cheat with skillfull play at the risk of getting caught THAT would be interesting because now there's a risk/reward decision. Also there's already a game called RougeJack on steam/itch that came out in 2020. It's an actual traditional rougelike with blackjack as the combat, seems more interesting to me. Actually the link on this video is for that one not rougejack 21 lol. People really need to google the name they come up with at least once before settling on it.

For such a simple game, the visual effects are massively important to make the game feel engaging to players, so thats a huge thing to think about too, even if not as important as overall theming And overall theming is probably the most important parr of any highly successful roguelike. Whether it's Binding Of Issaccs's religious elements and really disgusting dingy vibes, or Dicey Dungeons' theme of a rigged game show, Balatro is pretty much an exception to the rule with how its theming is weaker than most other massive roguelikes. Not only does the thene give players something to latch onto, but it also gives the dev a specific area to explore for the power ups and create ideas for the gameplay that most devs probably wouldn't. Using the mafia theme example, you could really think about what "Cement Shoes" means when you try to make it a gameplay alteration for Blackjack. Or if its a gameshow, what would a reference to jeopardy or price is right look like? Theres a ctually a blackjack mode in one of the resident evil games that i think would be good reference material, although the ruels of the game are quite a bit different to add strategy into it thats not really there in real blackjack, its got very excellent theming and feedback in a gritty, violent way.

As someone who was thinking about a deck builder blackjack game concept, this video is very helpful to understand some things! Thanks!

Also agree with the feedback. Hope for more reviews in the future!

Great video!

3:50 ditto :P

those horror fans also loved concord and dragon age smh

Agree with the feedback. The game looks too much "wanna be Balatro" without being close enough. Players will compare, and the comparison isn't favourable.

Balatro, by using a CRT filter and low-fi audio, creates a tiny bit of the atmosphere of sitting at a poker machine in a shabby pub. Introversion's DEFCON did a similar thing, where the atmospheric audio of being in a nuclear command bunker as the world is ending enriched the game experience. Creating a story and setting for an otherwise abstract game like this, that allows you to add cheap-to-produce visual and auditory cues that reinforce the theme, I think, is a good approach.

He made gambling games before. Guy knew exactly what he's doing. Lots to learn here

Long-time lurker here-on my main dev account now. Former Flash developer looking to make a comeback with Unity! I wanted to get some opinions on something that’s been on my mind: Horror games. There are plenty out there, but let’s be honest-most rely too heavily on cheap jump scares, schlocky horror, or a kind of "safe" creepiness that doesn't really linger. Few titles truly unsettle on a deep, psychological level. Some exceptions that come to mind are Alien: Isolation, Dead Space, The Last of Us, and maybe Heavy Rain-all of which had genuinely disturbing moments, even if they weren’t strictly horror. But those were AAA games. On the indie side, I’ve yet to find a game I’d consider true adult horror-something that fully commits to exploring uncomfortable themes like familicide, abuse, brutality, or suicide-not just for shock value, but to craft an experience that’s deeply affecting before the real horror even begins. A game that doesn’t hold back, doesn’t pander, and doesn’t feel the need to spoon-feed the player. So, my questions: Would a horror game like that actually sell? Would Steam even allow it with an 18+ rating, or are there hard restrictions beyond content warnings? Would RUclipsrs/streamers even be able to cover it, or would it get buried by platform policies? Would love to hear thoughts on this! Thanks!

Avianos was the first game i tried, beaten, and got the cherry for in the collection. Really enjoyed it

Will do.

I like your channel overall, but these videos feel stretched. You could have made these points in 3 minutes. I'm saying this with good intent, you tend to add these "and by the way I have so and so much experience in doing this myself and PhD by the way". They come off wrong, like you're desperate for respect. You are experienced, we can hear it in the things you say. Continue to show, don't tell.

Based take! Yeah pros and cons for each audience. I'd say its probably more important to have someone of the same discipline give feedback first. Cause you'll get more technical feedback. Then after a prototype is established then you can seek regular gamers to get feedback from. Thank you for the video

Ugh, I can already tell being 30 seconds into this video that this guy is pretentious and annoying. And I haven't even clocked his British accent

Awesome advice! I think solid snake sounded like he was having difficulty articulating his thoughts which is a funny problem for a writer to have lol

I always view it from 'does their feedback align with the vision?'. If their feedback doesn't you just look for the underlying reasons as to why they would feel that way. For people who actually understand what the game is going for, i feel like they can often have a couple decent ideas on how to improve the experience.

Oh my glob I love you ! Thanks so much for checking out Cane-yo!

A vastly unappreciated side of game dev, I used to think it was just my eyes and not *squints* who decided to use this font!??

Good sir, I agree with you 100% Have a nice day.

Applying feedback is always the hardest part for people to make mistakes upon. I remember I was playing my friend's game on steam, and he had a very simple "count the things in the room" puzzle. I spent way too long on it, and eventally he just had to give me the answer because the RPG maker assets and the lighting just made me unable to see some of the things and I was missing other things due to being generally oblivious. Now, my personal opinion in the moment on fixing that issue would be to remove the puzzle because it's not much of a puzzle. My solution I'd present right now is to brighten up the area. The solution he took was to simply disclude puzzles of that type from the sequel, but leave the released game untouched. That's 2 people providing 3 different solutions, and it's quite hard to know which is the best solution or if we completely missed a better solution than those three.

Misappropriation by the alt right killed me, that game is definitely a vibe

I'm with ya! Personally, I've noticed the suggested advice usually has merit, but they will be using their own terms/language to describe the issue. Translating those different terms can be difficult though. Like I usually need to make pipeline tools in my work, which means different departments or job titles might end up using those tools. You'll get tons of suggestions, but the best thing when the suggestion is 'too different' is to just ask them to show you what they mean in the tool; in the language they are trying to describe with words they don't know. Or have them show you by playing the game, or what they were thinking before the "visual layout" suggestion, etc. Cause in my experience, the needed change is usually a step or two before where they felt the problem was.

Thanks for the video! In my experience trying to get feedback with a story based game in which me main hook is the exploration, social interactions and narrative has been particularly hard. In events, conventions or gathering most people expect super catchy game play mechanics and visual feedback to retain their attention so if that doesn't happen in the first 10 minutes they start to lose interest. Of course I wasn't targeting the proper audience but I has been really eye opening and a general surprise to see this reactions. This sh1t is hard man... Keep it going!

The intentional misattribution to Solid Snake sent me. He has so many good quotes and pieces of advice that I’m now going to in my mind reattribute to Snake

Another benefit of sorting feedback into "representative player" and "non-representative player" for the game you made, it also cuts down on the issue of scope creep. If your game aims to entice new players, or casual gamers, then feedback from a hardcore player of the genre about the game 'lacking' some complex management system, would become not just a huge amount of extra work, but also put out the target audience (and existing players). Also beware of feedback about the game being too easy/hard, without determining what experience the player has playing this type of game (eg ask them).

Running feedback trough chat gptl and asking it to summarize the problems is also a good hack. It strips out all the emotion and you will be pointed to things you didn't even realize as it was a comment buried between emotion laden stuff.

holy crap. I never noticed how many instruments are laying around. anyway. I didn't know (or remembered) that Snake quote. What I've heard is: You should always listen to feedback from players. You'll rarely do a player's suggested fixes. It seems a common problem, forgetting that part of your job is understanding the feedback and analyzing the actual problem behind it.

thanks good way to see the feedback

Half the skyrim music RUclips ads Bit more skyrim music Some confusing tangent about colors Call out to partions. Tangent about ludonaritive disanenence The tangent is actually anouther ad I dont have enough adhd to follow this. Edit: a lot of good points but the first few minutes are still rough.

This is very fair and actually it makes it easier for games that need your help to be found.

One situation where your expertise could be useful even for a game already published is for things like "this is a game for computer using keyboard and mouse, how would you adapt it so it can be played on something that only has controllers or touch screens like the Steamdeck".

Ai art done by pro, you wouldn't be able to tell. And the cleanly produce ai art style existed before ai, it just happened ai bro overused it, leading to drama when legit artists had this style all along, with drawing file to prove itk but still get dumped on. Personally i use it FOR the inherent flaws specific to it, but i like data moshing, what do I know...😢

I have filled out the form a few days ago after receiving it by mail from you... Now let's see, if I screwed up or if CHAIR Champions will be reviewed by you at some point 😅

Great insight about nostalgia, saving that in my brain.

I think once you've actually tried to develop your "dream game" you realise how hard gamedev is, and how many issues ur idea ended up having. Then a few projects down the line u finally come to understand that its not ideas that make good games, but iteration and playtesting. So "dream games" become something to avoid, rather good prototypes become a achievable goal to test any idea you have. Before investing serious time.

Read… lol

2:53 i think you fail to consider that the people who are trying to make their dream game are most likely solo devs, the bigger studios will never go with some new risky idea. unless you hire your own team but for most of it its one of our first games so we got no money to hire people and the chances other studios will pitch you ideas are close to 0. because its a risk for em. so what the person said is 2:24 stands true with me. out of that i don't really have a dream game, there is a game concept i would love to make but the studio size for that would need to be massive.

I had a feeling something like this would have to come soon when you mentioned in another recent video the growing number of submissions you've been receiving. I agree 100% on only looking at not-yet-released games for the main series, but another thing that might be cool to do at some point in the future would be a different submission form for released games that ended up not selling well, kind of like you did with those "why my game failed" RUclips videos a while back. I liked that one. At least it could maybe help other devs avoid some of the same pitfalls in their own games. One other idea, I'm guessing just by switching to the form instead of email, you will probably cut out quite a bit of noise. But if still a large number of submissions, it might be a good idea to add more options to that first question to help categorize by how far along they are in development (like for example very early/prototype, demo released, nearing full release, etc.).