People Make Games posts
Posts: 208
Files: 264
The Games Press # 3: Mark Brown
Hey patrons,We've got another episode of The Games Press here, fresh out of the podcast oven.This month, I'm interviewing Mark Brown, the creator of Game Maker's Toolkit. You might know him for his extremely popular video essays about game design, his obsession with Zelda dungeon maps, or perhaps you've entered one of the GMTK Game Jams before now.I ask Mark about working on YouTube, making a living via Patreon and what's changed since GMTK hit one million subscribers earlier...
Patreon Show July 2021 - Bonus videos, a new podcast & Activision Blizzard
Hey patrons,This update is very much split into two halves. In the first few minutes, there's some great progress to share in relation to PMG and our move away from relying on sponsorship deals to fund our work. It's been a fantastic couple of months, I'm glad to say.And in the second half, I wanted to share a few thoughts on the awful, awful news coming out of Activision Blizzard right now. This is a company we've reported on several times over the course of PMG's lifespan a...
NEW EPISODE: The Game Prototype That Had to Be Banned by Its Own Studio
After the huge success of games like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, Halfbrick Studios began prototyping some new ideas for their next game. Things were going really well, until they weren't.This is the story behind one of those prototypes; a game that caused so many problems within the studio, its creators were forced to ban it from being played entirely.PATREON EXCLUSIVEAnd hey, as a fun bonus just for patrons, Chris has recorded a mega three-week let's play of Neptune's Pride, th...
The Games Press #2: Patricia Hernandez
Hello again,Here's our second episode of The Games Press, our monthly podcast series in which I interview interesting voices from across the games media.This month's guest is Patricia Hernandez, the brand new Editor-in-Chief of Kotaku. She arrives at an important moment for the site, I think, with several senior editorial staff having departed last year while pointing to corporate mismanagement as their reason for doing so. I didn't want to write this anywhere more publicly, but just...
Quintin & Chris' Bad Idea House #3
Hey behind-the-scenes patrons!It's been a few months since our last one of these, so you know what that means... Quintin and Chris have had yet more bad ideas that they'd like to tell you all about.If you've missed either of the previous episodes, we've popped them in a little playlist.Thanks :)
People Make Games just launched a podcast!
Hey everyone,Bit of a surprise announcement here, unless you've been hanging out in our Discord over the weekend. We've just launched a podcast called The Games Press!This is going to be a new monthly show in which Chris interviews interesting voices from around the games media about how and why they do their work.We're hoping it'll grow into a fantastic tool for aspiring games journalists and anyone else interested in how the media works, but also, Chris just really loves this s...
NEW EPISODE: Comic Artists Are Waging a War, and We Joined the Frontlines
We entered the War for Rayuba, one of the largest Original Character Tournaments in the world and it was amazing.If you've not heard of OCTs before now, they're competitions in which artists are asked to design brand new characters and then have them face off against one another in combat.Once matched up with your opponent, you'll need to both draw a comic in which your two characters battle and whoever emerges victorious (as voted by the judges) will see their contribution become ca...
Patreon Show May 2021 - Chris gets his own car park
Hey everyone!In this month's Patreon Show, Chris gets excited about his new hi vis vest and takes you for a look inside one of the UK's vaccination centres.A few links mentioned in the video:The games industry just talked about outsourcing crunch and totally missed thepointTamoor's video about PalestineDouble Down News: Palestine Under AttackThanks so much for being a patron.
NEW EPISODE: Ubisoft's Blockchain Experiments Are Bad for the Planet
Oh boy, I have a feeling this one's going to get some dislikes.Over the last four years, Ubisoft has been experimenting with a dozen different blockchain projects, hoping to find a new revenue stream for this $1.5 billion games company. But does it have a stance on how that tech directly affects the climate crisis?Join us as we try to find out.
Patreon Show April 2021 - The Queen's Golden Wii is up for sale!
Listen, I'm really sorry about how this one opens. It's vulgar.Anyway, if you can make it past that, we catch up with the collector who owns the Queen's Golden Wii. And hey, if you have a spare $300,000, maybe you could take it off his hands.
Patreon Show March 2021 - The aftermath of our outsourcing video
Hello!For this month's Patreon Show, I thought it might be worth sharing what happened after our latest story went live.Or to put it another way: I want to tell you how your support helped us get the games industry talking about working conditions at outsourcing studios around the world.Oh and here's a strange video about Blaseball, courtesy of Anni & Quinns.
Quintin & Chris' Bad Idea House #2
Hey behind-the-scenes patrons!Quinns and Chris have found themselves another unusual location to talk about their video ideas that just didn't work out.If you missed the first episode, you can find that right here.Enjoy :)
Anni & Chris Talk Over: How Game Publishers Buy Crunch Overseas
Hey patrons,The response to our latest video has been incredible. We've actually got quite a bit to talk about in terms of what's happened since it was published, but I'm going to save that for our next Patreon Show.Here, instead, Anni and I chat about how it all came together in the first place and erm, why there's a terrifying clay model of a face/butt sitting on the shelf behind me.Thanks for your support :)
NEW EPISODE... Someone Else's Problem: How Game Publishers Buy Crunch Overseas
Hey patrons!Over the last month we've interviewed 19 employees from outsourcing studios in Malaysia and Indonesia who've provided artwork for SO MANY games you've likely played.What we found was yet another example of the games industry benefiting from a massive amount of unpaid labour. As we continue to see more reporting on the working conditions for game developers at the world's top studios (which is great!), it's important to note that not everyone is being heard from.He...
Chris makes a video for his old school
Hey patrons!My old high school asked me to make a video for their final year students about what I've been up to since I left some FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. I suppose being a YouTuber is an interesting career path to hear about? I really hope that's true, otherwise this video isn't going to be much of a hit.Anyway, I thought some of you might also like to see it too. Perhaps you're interested in how I ended up doing this job, or maybe you know someone who's thinking about trying to ...
NEW EPISODE: We Spoil a World-class Escape Room to See How It Works
We sent Quinns behind-the-scenes at an award-winning Escape Room to find out what goes into designing the perfect puzzle box.EXTRA IMPORTANT BIT JUST FOR PATRONS:As you'll see in the episode itself, we were able to film a bunch of really, really fun stuff during our playthrough of Loot the Lanes.We had Anni running a camera in the room with us, plus a bunch of CCTV footage from all the different locations inside AND we even had the game's hosts providing commentary from their control roo...
Patreon Show January 2021 - We've made something special for patrons!
Hey everyone,This is a slightly longer Patreon Show than usual, thanks to a little look at something we've been working on just for you, the PMG patrons! The full thing should be coming your way next week :)On top of that, I wanted to have a little chat about sponsors and whether it might be possible for PMG to rely on them less in the future.
People Make Games in 2020: A few thoughts
Hello everyone!I thought it might be interesting to round out this year with some reflections on how People Make Games has been getting on throughout 2020. This has been a complete train wreck of a year, but PMG is still standing and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that. Our team remains healthy and because of your support, we’ve not had to feel insecure in our jobs. That’s no small thing at all. Thank you thank you thank you.Let’s kick off with some numbersAnni’s currently work...
Patreon Show December 2020 - What's Chris played this year?
Hey patrons!For December's update, I thought I'd take a look back at some of the most interesting things I've played in 2020. I think Hades has been my biggest surprise of the year, but there are some other beauties in this list too.Let me know what I've missed! What video games mattered to you this year?
Anni & Chris talk over: The System Behind Hades' Astounding Dialogue
Hey patrons,After falling a little behind with our directors' commentary videos, we're now back with Hades!This is mostly because Anni and I were excited to talk about the set we'd constructed for this episode, which has already been described as "a bit like a Contrapoints video".Thanks, as ever, for your support.
NEW EPISODE: The System Behind Hades' Astounding Dialogue
When Supergiant announced it was working on an Early Access roguelike, a few eyebrows were raised. This is a studio best known for its incredible narrative experiences, with luxurious, often fully-voiced narration accompanying the player throughout their adventure.How could that format translate into a genre that relies so heavily on randomness? And if players are going to be progressing at wildly different speeds, aren't some people going to end up having a worse experience, damned to heari...
Patreon Show October 2020 - YouTube sent us one of those awards
Sorry we're a few days late on uploading this one, it's Chris's fault!Things are ticking along just fine at PMG right now, but we did get a fun thing sent to us in the post. Can you guess what it is?! I mean, it's in the thumbnail, so you probably can.Hope you're all well :)
NEW EPISODE: What is "Blaseball" and why is it taking over the Internet?
Blaseball is a lot of things.I suppose, at some level, it's a wildly popular simulation of a baseball league that you can enjoy via your web browser. But that doesn't do it justice at all. This thing is dark and weird and EXTREMELY FUNNY.You know what? Just trust me on this one and let Quinns tell you all about it. This video rocks.
Chris made a video all about the intro credits to Netflix's Dark
Hey patrons,Sometimes Anni and I take on extra freelance work to help pay the bills at People Make Games and I wanted to share one of those projects, in case it's of interest.Last week I hosted an episode of a show called Working Titles, where I talked about how much I love the intro credits to the TV show, Dark. You can watch it right here:https://watchnebula.com/videos/working-titles-29-people-make-games-darkNebula usually charges a small subscription fee, but I believe you're able to ...
Patreon Show September 2020 - Last call for STICKERS
Hey patrons,I've mentioned this in a couple of places, but here's another reminder! If you haven't already given us your address to send a PMG sticker (at no cost to you, it's on us!), then please shoot us an email at: team@peoplemakegames.comIf you've already submitted your address via Patreon, or are part of the $20 tier, you're all set. But for those of you that missed the email from Patreon at the beginning of this month, it's now easier for us if you get in touch...
NEW EPISODE: Why Subnautica Owes Its Success to This Button
Hello everyone!In a video we've made partially because Chris wanted to put on a wetsuit, we take a look back at the wonderful underwater survival game Subnautica and how its developers managed to learn so much about its design from those who were actually playing it.This isn't just a story about a game getting Early Access right (although that's some of it), it's also about how and when to manage enormous amounts of feedback from your community without losing your own vision at t...
Quintin & Chris' Bad Idea House
Hey behind-the-scenes patrons,In what ended up feeling a lot like therapy, Chris and Quinns sat down for a supportive chat about the video ideas that got away...Enjoy!
Patreon Show August 2020 - It's been a good month!
Hey patrons,Apologies for the thumbnail choice on this one... Anni is entirely responsible for that.We've had an A-OK month at PMG and I want to tell you all about it!Hope you're well,Chris
NEW EPISODE: Can you really get rich in the world's only "cash-based" MMO?
Entropia Universe is a “cash-based” MMO that’s home to some of the biggest spenders in video games.Quinns sets out to explain what it is, who’s making money, and who’s losing big.
A quick message from People Make Games
Hey everyone!We wanted to find a way to thank all of you for continuing to support our work, despite everything that's going on right now.We can tell from the exit surveys we receive on Patreon that COVID-19 has certainly impacted this community and meant that some people have needed to cancel, or reduce their pledges for the foreseeable future. That's absolutely understandable and honestly, Patreon support should be one of the first things to go when times are tough.However, with that b...
