#12 - Difficulty Settings, Gatekeeping Content Behind Challenges, and Dark Souls

In today's episode of When Does It Get Fun, SoBad and Nirvana talk to LanaLux, creator of Don't Notice Me, a reverse escape room puzzle game where you're the one breaking in. She is currently working on an apocalyptic city survival game called STRAIN, which you can catch her live streaming the entire development of on Twitch. We discuss logging your development process, transitioning from developing smaller games to a large-scale project, and the importance of learning the tools of your trade.

In today's episode of When Does It Get Fun, SoBad and Nirvana talk to ashleypox, creator of Tulip and Ooohh, Big Stretch!!! (with SoBad). Topics include comfy games, the difficulties of learning to make your first game, and ashley tells a fishing mini-game horror story about Twilight Princess.

In today's episode of When Does It Get Fun, SoBad and Nirvana discuss frictional elements in video games, such as damaging floors in Doom, weapon durability in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild, and Miyazaki's poisonous swamp fetish.

SoBad and Nirvana tackle the term 'artificial difficulty' and whether it is a useful term for game devs, as well as adjustable difficulty in games like Skyrim and whether players will often spoil their own experience with these systems.

SoBad and Nirvana discuss the fine balance games like Lethal Company and Phasmophobia have between horror and comedy, as well as the stories they create by doing it. They also have a lot to say about Dota 2, Pokemon Unite, and innovation in the MOBA genre.

This week SoBad and Nirvana talk to Jonas Tyroller, developer of Islanders, Will You Snail? and Thronefall. We discuss how the simplified strategy systems of Thronefall make it slightly at odds with its genre, how being a working game dev is worth aspiring to, and the positives and negatives of YouTube marketing for game developers.

Listen to the full episode to hear Sobad make a bold statement about Dark Souls after I force him to talk about it again and our discussions about difficulty settings in game design and gatekeeping content and other difficulties behind challenges.

Today on the podcast, SoBad and Nirvana talk to Richard Moss, co-creator of FPS: First Person Shooter - The Definitive FPS Documentary. We discuss his collaborator David L. Craddock's encyclopaedic knowledge of FPS games, the trials and tribulations of creating a 4-hour long documentary loaded with game dev interviews, and Richard's love for sports simulation games like Pro Evolution Soccer.

SoBad and Nirvana are joined this week by Hempuli, the creator of Baba is You, Environmental Station Alpha, and a whole host of other fun puzzle games. We talk about the dangers of receiving early feedback when developing a game, where inspiration comes from for creative pursuits, and losing interest in your own genre.

Nirvana and SoBad discuss the many tropes of bad video game writing, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, how Morpheus gets around being 'exposition man', and Dark Souls for the 50th time.