Hello Patrons!
I'm returning to my "Game Dev 101" series for this video, with episode two looking at prototyping games. With special guest Luke Muscat, of Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride fame.
You can watch it on YouTube or Nebula, or read it on 2025-11-05 16:30:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Mark's Month - October 2025
Hello Patrons! Welcome back to my monthly catch-up article.
Videos
So I released a new video at the very start of October. It's called How Games Do Destruction and it looks at different techniques that game developers use to introduce ...
2025-11-03 06:11:06 +0000 UTC View PostHello Patrons!
Mark here. So, I wanted to share a big update about GMTK. And because it's important and personal I wanted to do it face to face - so please check out the video above.
Thanks!
Mark
2025-10-03 10:24:02 +0000 UTC View PostTL:DW - I'm having a baby. I'll be taking the first three months of 2026 off to focus on that and won't be charging Patrons during that time. I'll be focusing on videos including Silksong Boss Keys before the end of the year.
Hello Patrons! Here's my new episode of Game Maker's Toolkit - looking at how games do smashing, crashing, and bashing. From Control to Teardown to Red Faction - it's the secret of how to do dynamic, real-time destruction.
Watch on YouTube or Nebula, or read on 2025-10-02 16:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I'm getting back in the GMTK groove with a chunky episode on how games do destruction. Ever wondered how Donkey Kong lets you punch through the floor? Or how cars bend in BeamNG? Or how buildings topple in Red Faction Guerilla? This is the video!
It will be released to the public tomorrow. As always, there may be some slight editing errors and kinks to work out before the final final release. Thanks for your patience!
Mark
2025-10-01 14:00:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello lovely GMTK backers!
Oh boy, the video game business just woke up from its summer slumber! This month saw new Silent Hill, Borderlands, and Sonic games, plus massive indie hits and loads more. Even this big list below is just scratching the surface.
I've also got a bumper reading list for you to enjoy - with tonnes of articles and videos to keep you busy. So let's jump on in.
Blockbusters
Hey all! I'm hard at work on the first new episode of GMTK since my break. But I took a day to make this Mini video so I could join the game design discourse on Hollow Knight: Silksong.
I wanted to look at why the game uses a higher level of difficulty, and the different ways its implemented. Hopefully a good conversation starter!
Chat soon
Mar
2025-09-16 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I am writing this at the tail end of a much needed break. Some essential time off. Because the past few months have been a lot. But first... let's talk about August.
GMTK Game Jam 2025
We ran the 9th annual GMTK Game Jam, over at Itch. And it was a big success - more than 37,000...
2025-09-07 04:23:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello lovely GMTK backers!
I'm technically on holiday today. Taking some much-needed time off after the madness of releasing Word Play and the Game Jam. But I couldn't leave you without the Digest.
Enjoy!
Blockbusters
Hey Patrons!
Earlier this month we held the 9th annual GMTK Game Jam. This year's jam was - as always - massive, with over 37,000 participants and more than 9,600 games. That means it was bigger than last year, and the biggest jam in itch's history.
As always, I've made a video about the 20 games I liked the most. But this year I've changed the wording slightly. Instead of picking the "best games" or the "winners", I'm just picking my "favourites".
Basically: as the jam grow...
2025-08-18 15:00:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all!
Today is a pretty big day - Mind Over Magnet just released on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch consoles.
And it's making me feel kinda emotional, to be honest. Especially the Nintendo release. As I'm sure you can imagine I've been a Nintendo fan all my life. Ever since I got a Game Boy (which, funnily enough, released in the same year as I was born!)
So to have something I made be on the same family of consoles is pretty wild. To have my game in the same eShop as Mari...
2025-08-15 10:42:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
So, July was a busy month for me as I finally launched my new game... Word Play!
Word Play
The game came out on July 14th, slap bang in the middle of the month, which basically meant that I spent the first half of July preparing for the release and the second...
2025-08-04 06:25:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello GMTK supporters! Hope you've been enjoying the sunshine. Here's a run down of what's come out, what's happened, and what's worth reading and watching!
Donkey Kong Bananza - Played
Weirdly, Nintendo waited until mere days before launch to reveal that, yes, this is the new game from the core Mario team. The expert designers behind Super Mario Odys...
2025-07-25 10:46:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh boy, it has been a WEEK. A week and a half.
On Monday, I launched Word Play on Steam. And the response was amazing.
At one point that first day the game showed up on the Steam home page in four different places at once! (New and Trending, Top Sellers, Games under £7, and the massive Featured & Recommended carousel). The game was also played by big streamer Northernlion.
It ...
2025-07-18 07:20:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons, Mark here.
So... today is the day! Word Play is coming out on Steam in about 10 hours. There will be a video premiere to go along with it - but as my backers, you can see it right now, and ad free - watch it embedded above or on YouTube here.
Now - none of this was meant to happen.
When I finished Mi...
2025-07-14 06:34:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons! I'm back with my monthly newsletter about what I've been up to in the last month.
And, for the most part, the month can be defined by two words...
Word Play
Yeah. My new game, Word Play, is coming out on July 14th. And so I basically just spent the entirety of June working on the final touches for the game.
They say "the final 10% of making a ga...
2025-07-07 05:55:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello GMTK supporters!
Okay, I'm gonna level with you. My game is releasing in two weeks. I've been spending every spare moment fixing bugs, tweaking the balance, making trailers, and all the other stuff you have to do before a game comes out.
So this ain't gonna be the best GMTK Digest I've ever done. But I hope you dig it nonetheless! I'll hopefully be back on form for the next one!
Played: Mario Kart World
2025-06-30 05:21:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hey Patrons!
I just released a new video about Steam Next Fest - partly to advertise the game's inclusion in this demo-sharing showcase. And partly to share my tips and experience with getting the game ready for the event.
Hope you dig it.
I'm now going to be focusing on finishing up the game itself for the next few weeks ahead of its launch on July 14th, 2025.
Cheers!
Mark
2025-06-09 17:50:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
It's time for another edition of Mark's Month. Here's what I've been up to in May.
Guadalindie in Malaga
I was honoured to be asked to go speak at the Guadalindie conference in Malaga, Spain. This is an event that started life as a game jam - before evolving into a full on conference with demo booths and talks. So I was there alongside Victoria Tran, ...
2025-06-06 09:02:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello GMTK fans! Thanks for your support this month.
Things have been a bit wild for me - I've been to Spain, released a demo, and... well, there's plenty of stuff I can't talk about yet until various NDAs wear off. But amongst it all... here's what's been happening in the world of games.
Sorry, I've still not been able to play much myself! (Other than hundreds of rounds of Word Play) Hopefully when things calm down...
New Releases
Played: Star...
2025-05-30 12:55:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
So, a big day. It's time to unveil what I've been working on: a new game! A word-spellin' roguelike called Word Play. The video above should hopefully explain all.
I will also soon release a Let's Play video, where I do a run through the game itself!
And you can now 2025-05-23 17:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello!
Okay, I'm excited to finally announce my new game - Word Play - to the world. And so I'll be sharing this video tomorrow.
Though - with one big change. Composer Zach Jones just handed over some final music which means I can also drop a public demo for the game at the same time! So I will change the video slightly to announce that.
As I say in the video, making this game will be an amazing addition to 2025-05-22 13:47:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I just wanted to share a strange story from the world of GMTK.
So on Monday I received an email from a viewer who stumbled upon a video about DOOM: The Dark Ages and thought I should check it out.
Why? Because the narrator of the video sounded suspiciously... like me.
And after 5 seconds of watching it... yep! It's definitely me. The owner of this YouTube channel has use an AI, trained on my voice, to generate a voice over track that sou...
2025-05-21 18:18:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello Patrons!
I am finishing up development on my new game, so mostly focused on that right now. But I couldn't pass up an opportunity to discuss Blue Prince - a super "design-y" game with some interesting stuff to discuss in terms of puzzles, randomness, and genre mash-ups.
Cheers!
Mark
2025-05-08 11:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello GMTK supporters!
So April was a bit of a write-off. I spent much of it nursing a broken elbow! But that won't stop me from delivering another cracking issue of the GMTK Digest. Complete with games, headlines, and recommended articles.
I sadly didn't get a chance to play too many games this month thanks to my broken arm. But I did try a couple of April's releases. In this issue, and going forward, I'll make it obvious which games I played and which ones I didn't.
...
2025-04-29 10:14:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! We've got two months to cover. A lot has happened. It's time for a proper good catch-up. So get's get into it!
But first... some context.
The Context
Okay, so my big plan for 2025 was to put the whole game development thing behind me and focus exclusively on YouTube. With Mind Over Magnet done and dusted I could go back to video-making full time.
Hello Patrons!
First of all: thank you for your well wishes and patience with my broken elbow. It's healing up nicely - just a bit battered and bruised but I can at least type again, so have been returning to work.
My main focus has been on my new game (more on that very soon), but new videos are also coming. And... there's now a date for this year's game jam!
The jam will kick off on July ...
2025-04-18 14:21:56 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons
Just wanted to give you a quick heads up that I, uh, tripped over while chasing a child (not as creepy as that sounds), landed on my elbow, and fractured it.
I now have my arm in a sling and that is certainly not conducive to making videos or games. I’m not very fast typing with one arm, because I’m old (the same reason why “running a little fast” can lead to a fractured elbow).
So I’ll take some time to let this thing heal. I can do some video researc...
2025-03-31 08:07:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello GMTK supporters!
March was a busy month for me. I was either prepping for GDC, attending GDC, or recovering from the jetlag of GDC. But I found some time to play a few games and watch a lot of YouTube videos (I used that 10 hour flight well!)
As always I'll start with my takes on this month's new releases. Then there's the biggest news headlines you need to know. And finally, the best bit - a whole bunch of articles and videos that any GMTK fan should enjoy.
Also...
2025-03-28 13:15:17 +0000 UTC View Post
I can't spell Februrary as it turns out. Nope. Did it again! Every time I type that I have to correct the spelling. How many Februaries have I seen? Too many!
Anyway. Hello. It's me, Mark.
What I made
I somehow released three videos in February, despite having a horrible cold that knocked me out for a week. I guess the improvements to my video-making process are really working out!
2025-03-04 09:22:13 +0000 UTC
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