One #gamedev tip I can give you is watch speedrun videos. Speed runs use glitch explots and glitches are usually assumptions or mistakes made by the developer. Knowing how people break games helps you build yours better. - ThreadSky

delaneyking.bsky.social • 17 days ago

One #gamedev tip I can give you is watch speedrun videos.

Speed runs use glitch explots and glitches are usually assumptions or mistakes made by the developer.

Knowing how people break games helps you build yours better.

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delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

*Exploits.

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

This knowledge is hugely useful when setting up core mechanics - systems like load/save inventory, collision, grounded detection, safe frames and event triggers.

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

When I work with students over the decades, I can usually break their games by using some typical exploits, such as waggling the controller when pressing the character diagonally into a corner on snap together level tiles.

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

I also highly recommend Lets Game It Out as a resource for challenging assumptions. Josh points out what the "game expects us to do," and invariably does the exact opposite with hilarious (and educational) results.

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

A great place to start is looking at older games such as Darksouls 1, Metal Gear Solid and Super Mario speedruns- as they often have more primitive systems that sre closer to your first steps into game developing.

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

If you know your glitches, you will make less problems for yourself.

Usually.

In theory.

Maybe.

kiraafterdark.bsky.social•16 days ago

I’d add Spiffing Brit here too. Shows a whole lot of ways to break games. Sometimes to great results!

alittleope.bsky.social•17 days ago

second this, i love the expectation of "what is he going to immediately not do" when starting an ostensibly linear path.

reptilianvladeoz.bsky.social•17 days ago

I remember when I was studying, and we were making simple prototypes for different mechanics as exercises, and how I made a "grab object" thing similar to what you'd see in something like half-life 2, and how the first thing the teacher did when checking it was using it to fly into the stratosphere

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

Oh yeah, hold a physics object then push yourself into a corner? Classic.

I am a big fan of using student doors to smash myself out of bounds.

rectus.bsky.social•17 days ago

fun fact: you could do this in old versions of half-life 2

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

I love it when kids rotate the wheels of cars to pull along vehicles using physics.

The launches you can do off the wheels is hilarious.

spacewizardfaerie.bsky.social•16 days ago

I watched a speedrun of BugSnax where the team watched it and saw the player not fall off the bridge and they said something like “we spent forever making sure that couldn’t happen!” While laughing.

doom-scroller.bsky.social•16 days ago

I barely understand how the non-speedrun gameplay functions in my game 😭😭

katrinathelamia.bsky.social•16 days ago

There is also a channel featuring a cheeky British lad all hopped up on Yorkshire Gold showing all the ways games are perfectly balanced with no exploits--and playing games exactly as the developers intended

The Spiffing Brit is a wonderful channel

delaneyking.bsky.social•16 days ago

Hey, I am a Brit. I spiff. I very much spiff.

rohancoop.bsky.social•16 days ago

Also use beta testers to try and break your game and keep accurate reports on their testing.

Actively encourage them to exploit systems so they can be fixed.

arcmage.bsky.social•17 days ago

It will also help you make your personal calls on what is 'a bug' and what is 'an unintended feature' when your players inevitably turn them up

delaneyking.bsky.social•17 days ago

arcmage.bsky.social•17 days ago

👌

endlesspillows.bsky.social•15 days ago

As a dev, this is how Kingdom Hearts 2 became one of my favorite games.

I already loved it, but seeing the speedrun use every single item/weapon/summon at some point in the run was insanely impressive from both a design and player execution perspective.

cuirass.net•16 days ago

It's good advice! I used to speedrun games back in 2010 or so, and a lot of what I learned back then informed how I view game development today. I even had my game initially tested by an AGDQ runner.. fair warning though, trying to arms race speed runners will put you down a rabbit hole.

delaneyking.bsky.social•15 days ago

Oh yeah, use them to learn your craft- not try to beat them.

The goal is to make your game as mistake free as possible so that players dont get suddenly soft locked, stuck out of bounds or crashed.

unnie01.bsky.social•17 days ago

I would still suggest a QA 😅

figiment.bsky.social•17 days ago

This is certainly a great tip, but I think there's also something to be said for not focusing too much on making it impossible for the player to break your game. This changes based on what type of game it is (EG singleplayer vs competitive multi), but how a game breaks can help it feel special.

figiment.bsky.social•17 days ago

An example of this I'd give is invisible walls that stop players from falling off the map, shouldn't be in games where exploration is encouraged. Let the player fall. IMO adding solutions to help the player get back on their feet after a bug are better than solutions that cut off the player's feet.

ashlynngs.bsky.social•17 days ago

Speedrunners can also be some of the best people to have to beta test games specifically to highlight such issues for correction.

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