My younger sister was recently playing through your games for the first time, loved them, so about a month ago I told her the piece of trivia you said - that one of the reasons you don't want to work in gamedev is that during meetings you no longer argue with other developers about what's the most fun and what's going to work best, but rather argue with producers about what worked already. She was shocked and said she always felt that there was some sort of shift in the way that games are designed, but had no idea it was something this concrete. Today I met her again and brought up the topic. She said she now thinks about it every day.

My man's lowkey raising a whole generation of potential game devs

Hey Tim, thanks for answering my question, that was a lotta info and I appreciate you putting so much time into it! Also oh boy would I and so many others love to peek at that Epic design doc some day! 😮

One thing I’ve learned to think about while creating design docs is how they will be communicated to the team. When I was getting started it was en vogue to make giant tomes and the atmosphere around GDDs was that nobody read them expect the designer when they first created it. There was a fantastic article on this way back which suggested one page design docs. Make a design doc simple and clear enough that the feature can be explained on a single piece of paper. If you need more than one page, break the feature down into separate features. I don’t hold exactly true to this, and it doesn’t account for all types of design, but it has made communicating designs much more effective especially over asynchronous and remote teams.

Honestly, please do more specific design discussion like this. This is a gold mine. I would be very keen to hear you talk about how you create and manage a project, with creating specific project plans for art, asset creation, programming, creating modules, documenting dependencies, etc.

Can't lie, I'm a little bit pleased with myself for covering a good chunk of this stuff in the design doc for what I'm working on right now, but I'm extremely thankful you made this video going into these details because it pointed out a lot of places where I wasn't paying proper attention *at all*

Hi Tim, I'm Matt, and I’ve been a big fan of your KZfaq channel for a while now. Your content is excellent and very well-presented. I just wanted to express my appreciation for your work. Even though I’m not a huge gamer myself, I played Fallout and Fallout 2 back in my teens. While I may not have fully grasped the complexities of the games back then, I enjoyed their dark humor and quirky characters, especially since all my friends were playing them too. Your videos discussing the less polished features, like companions, brought back memories of how we just accepted them as part of the experience back then without much thought. The Monty Python reference really cracked us up, too :D Fallout became my favorite game series, and while I understand some of the criticisms towards the Bethesda titles, they’re still a blast to play, too. Fallouts are like the only games I ever played more than one time. I revisited the original Fallout few years ago and had a great time also. Set it up on a Mac running Vine with high-res mod installed and blown on a 90’ projector screen using a gamepad It actually worked really well, plus with the huge screen it is easier to explore larger locations. I think It was first time I actually completed the game and was surprised how short it was. I typically avoid RPGs due to the overwhelming number of stats and inventory management, but I did enjoy some classic RPGs with friends back in the days. The Outer Worlds was another unexpected gem. I initially avoided it due to the perceived complexity, but I ended up playing through both DLCs and having a fantastic time. The story, companions, the setting, humor, NPSs are very memorable, and mechanics also work really well (and I didn’t even run out of inventory slots of all the armour pieces that give different bonuses :-) I eagerly await the sequel, and I might even revisit the original soon. I admit tho I never really understood or used the flaws in OW, perhaps I try them on my next walkthrough. Thanks again for your great content, Tim! Cheers! -Matt

You're pretty good at this game design stuff, you should do it for a living.

Tim, I've been binge watching your videos for the past week and I'm loving it. Thank you so much for this!

Hey Tim, not a question just gratitude. This series has inspired me to start making a game I've been muling over for years. It's daunting but a lot of fun to finally start. Thanks for the positivity and encouraging tone of your videos!

This is an amazing and detailed outlining. Great stuff.

Thank you so much for this, I'm currently in the process of making my first "big" game and this is invaluable info

I wish i had this 6 yrs ago. Thabks Tim

I hope Tim will make another "Epic" game design doc and we will have another game as awesome as Arcanum.

Holy, Looking Good!

Aw, time to start my work day with another video from Tim

Hey Tim! Thank you for doing these videos they are awesome sources of information and content! I was wondering if you think there’s a better chance of someone landing an internship and getting into the industry with broad knowledge of character/asset art and game design programming, or is it better to choose one focus and become extremely specialized? Following that if it’s better to become specialized, how narrow? For example focus on character design only or focus on character rigging and animation only as opposed to modeling. Love your videos thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with all of us!

Hi Tim! And thanks a lot!

QUESTION FOR YOU TIM! You've mentioned time and again that it goes: Setting, then story, and finally system mechanics. But what about the approach that some directors use (like Miyazaki and Ueda), to design mechanics, movement, levels, etc. *first* and *then* develop a fitting story based on 1) the lore established in the background (the setting), and 2) the things that organically emerge while developing the game itself? In other words, in this heavily "gameplay first" method, story and mechanics are switched, creating a way different development than what you suggest. I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts on this creative approach. Thank you! Cheers

Fallout 3 also had a throwing skill that was cut, with throwing grenades being lumped in with the explosives skill. I think those are the only throwables anyway. It would've worked better in New Vegas with throwing spears, knives, and tomahawks.

Hey Tim, just wanted to say I love your videos and love hearing you talk about all these things. I haven't gotten through all your videos yet so maybe you answer this somewhere else, but I wanted to know what your thoughts are on mods for games. I work a lot within that realm in my free time, would this be something I could build a demo in and show off what I do or would you recommend something completely from scratch outside of a preexisting game? Thank you.

Thanks so much, man.

Hey tim could you please talk about saving and how to code save systems and such?

On the topic of the need for fallbacks: 1) Is there an objective way in which to prioritise these design specifications, such that the prioritisation can be used to assist in deciding what things to potentially cut, instead of just having something like the "low, medium, high" priorities etc. that I see so often, as that just seems too subjective and everyone can have their own take on how highly something should be prioritised based on how much they care about a particular feature. 2) When starting the work for tasks according to a specification, is there a somewhat reliable way to do estimation for how long those tasks will take that doesn't just basically boil down to hopeful guessing?

I dreamed you were showing me how to make a multi process game loop.

Hey Tim! I'm participating in a game jam with Pirate Software and this was really helpful! I know you don't respond but I hope you do read. Thank you!

OMG everyday that microphone setup keeps growing...

It would be neat if you could make an example design doc to show us or show you making one on video since you can't post any from your work.

Hi Tim Its us Everyone! :)

Flying would not be the first thing on my list, but it would be in my top five.

Do you think nailing down the game that early is preferred (alternative solutions proving to be better vs feature creep )? Or is the design going to be revised constantly anyhow? Should there first be a gameplay prototype before writing down all systems in detail?

Wow, nice camera or does new lighting work like that.

Hi Tim, thanks for your elaborate answer. I have another question: The design specification sounds like a really huge document. How do you answer all these questions? Meaning what is the process.

what do you think about modern windows\linux UI and where is it going? What about your OS preference?

Tim you mentioned a lot about Party members in some of your older games and mentioned how you got from Fallout to Arcanum, was there more of a story concerning the development on these? The troubles you had? I remember my first play through and I went full technology and Virgil would knock himself out trying to heal me, always cracked me up.

If Microsoft came to you and asked you to make a new Fallout game with full creative control. Would you make a live action 3d game or would you return to it's top down isometric roots?

Hey uncle Tim What's the best faction from the fallout universe and why is it the Republic of Dave?

Love to see that video making set-up evolving. I think your audio recording levels might be too high because sometimes the sound breaks. I don't think its related to the pop screen you got (Im not a sound person so I cant say for sure).

Can't wait to incorporate that into my game, which I'm gonna make a video on!

Already had ☕ in hand!

Phew, that warning about this being a longer answer than usual was not kidding -- but, I feel 100% secure in saying that every word of it is invaluable

Woo I got here early 🎉

Hi Everyone Its me Tim

Always loved the non essential characters idea and implementation (ARCANUM did it best. Fallout did it great but the overseer cant be killed during the game. The way they did it in New Vegas is almost as good as Arcanum

Do you think CRPG battle system can be a standalone game, like a moba or wave shooter. The main advantage is the variety it offers but can that be implemented in some other game mode than just rpg. Cause i often think the rpg element slows down what can be achieved with the battle system if it was just like pure action game or pvp game.

A bit out of topic here: Could anyone tell me who is that black knight running away in video here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/opuim6h2ltCwgJ8.html ? I have no idea how to google for him. Arcanum is favourite game of my wife and I wanted to show her something she does not know about :)

Hey Tim, Love your content. I have a question for you. I have recently played Outer Worlds and i liked the art style, certain characters and plots but the one thing that i absolutely despised was how the game holds your hand throughout. It felt so mindless, everything was extremely linear, you just go where that green dot tells you to go, shoot or talk to some people on the way and congrats "Mission success". There is no figuring where to go, what to do, how to best engage those enemies, how can i prepare for this mission etc. I am also an old cooter who played and loved original Fallout 1. In that game you basically had no clue where to go, what to prepare for, and you could pay a big price for not preparing properly. I remember going to The Glow first time and realized i needed a rope so i had to go all the way back and get a rope. Came back with no geiger counter, no rad-x rad-away, /i think i didn't even know radiation existed in the game/ so i kept dying. Then of course i had to go back again to get those things. Why such contrasting gameplay styles for two RPG games directed by the same guy? Which gameplay style do you prefer, hand holding or no hand holding? And why such linear, hand holding system was chosen for Outer worlds?

Got a question about player/npc activation for turn based. Classic way of doing it is the Initiative roll whoever rolls highest goes first then in descending order. Alternating where one team goes then the other, but that can get messy when theres more than one team or massive disparity in team sizes. Alternative activation 1 unit on one team then 1 unit on their team so on. Initiative handles the issue of the faster/more skilled guy going first, but then you get the problem of slow guy never getting to play. Alternating is nice but then it weighs the deck heavily in favour of quantity over quality. I did really like in the Star wars FFG game where initiative is rolled but any member of the party can use the "Turn" rolled by another. Which do you prefer when you've played them? Are there any novel examples you'd like to see explored?

I'm not a game developer, or even really much of a gamer, but I find these videos fascinating to listen to. I guess you eventually learn all the things you've been talking about here when you get into game development, but I think if you or someone in the industry ever put out a book that explained in detail the entire development process for a single game (especially if the source code were available to download and study), it would be an instant hit in the game development world. I'd certainly be interested, anyway.

Yeah, there is a grenade thrower in The Outer Worlds. I personally don't like a "throwing" skill just for grenades, it feels like a waste. If you have a whole set of throwing weapons, that's more worth it.

Hey Tim! I have a question for you. I'd like to know what you think about taking stuff from other games to implement on your own design. Obviously, this happens in most games to a degree, but where do you draw the line between inspiration and plagiarism? Is a high level of originality even worth pursuing? And is it okay to implement ideas from highly original and unique games?(for some reason this feels more morally dubious than ideas that are more on the generic side of things.) Also, whats your favorite type of sandwich? : ) Mine's bacon egg-salad.

You talked about flags for endings in your last...last? vid? you publish a lot of vids very fast! which is good because you have a not of wisdom but also I need to keep up. Many years ago a writing position was offered in bioware, and so my dream was to go to uni and then apply. They said you need to write a senario with 2 endings, by mainly doing flags. I would like to know how it really look on your side. When you write for yourself and when you write to publish, you have some mathods that you need to use. So how dose it look when you write flags in a way that the industry will be proud of your formatting? (you is me) Hi! can you show how it looks like? thank you.

I very much enjoy these videos, but you may want to turn down the gain on your mic a little, you're clipping which makes the audio hard to listen to at times.

imo, in a games like fallout 1 & 2, the story needs to have as few acts as possible. if fallout had more than water-chip, mutants and master, then the player would lose a certain amount of freedom to explore the world. such a vast and rich world should be explored organically rather than being restricted to certain areas or requiring certain quests or events to occur first. great stories with open worlds have a ton of interaction with their readers/players -when- the player has to fill in blanks. "i wonder what happens if " or "was doing that the right choice". if you spell things out, then stories just become something to be skipped over because its fully known, you dont have to put any effort into understanding it. leave empty space, fragmenting the timeline and allow the player to discover the pieces ( or not discover them ) in any order, it creates so much mystery and drives replay-ability

Animals/Monsters: Pokémon-like Items: Guns 🔫 Be sure you know how to swim 🏊‍♀️ in the ocean of money💰 you will earn 😅

Question: Do you think gamers give game developers the respect they deserve? I often see people (online) saying very nasty things about game studios or even threaten singular developers when a game fails to meet their expectations or even sometimes with games they love but have some big issue with.

90days for a prototype? I guesss nowadays it would mean 300 days