Look at that sneaky little copy of Flee, Mortals! in the corner there...

@johnrichards1299

Жыл бұрын

hype!!

@tensity

Жыл бұрын

I was looking for this comment when I noticed it!

@maxducoudray

Жыл бұрын

@@helixxharpellDid you mean to post this as a reply to an unrelated comment? I don’t know how it would be found buried here.

@DMTatDad

9 ай бұрын

I also just noticed The Talent Power Cards I think are on the left hand top shelf 🤔

It was a short video and then I talked for like 10 more minutes about Rapid Prototyping.

@whaitiritua-warbrick1398

Жыл бұрын

The MCDM Way, truly

@matiasnl

Жыл бұрын

Another Matt banger

@arekschneyer3802

Жыл бұрын

Just the way we like it.

@Calebgoblin

Жыл бұрын

We love to see it

@crazygermn

Жыл бұрын

Truly a river to the people

Gosh I got goosebumps when Matt said "save the blacksmith's daughter". Felt like such a cool call back as someone who's been watching Running the Game since 2016 :D

@Drekromancer

11 ай бұрын

It hit me, too. So many memories... 🥲

@seanminer8183

11 ай бұрын

Same! I remember sitting in a Crunch gym, watchign the episode on kindle fire, with headphones, while I did a stationary bike. It's been a fun ride.

@elfberry

7 ай бұрын

Same, dude. Those first videos changed my life, and I STILL learn when I go back and watch through the whole catalogue. I have no idea what this new game will be like, but I always like Matt's ideas and philosophies, so I can't wait to run it and save that proverbial gosh dang blacksmith's daughter!

I feel like this #DesigningTheGame is, purposefully or not, prepping a whole lot of 3rd party designers for working their add-ons onto the MCDM-game-whatever-it's-called. Which I think is going to be awesome. The contribution of 3rd party designers to the success of the game mentioned at 16.08 can not be understated. I love what MCDM is doing here, go yous!

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

Game's only gonna work if people like it enough to want to create and publish their own stuff for it!

@Drekromancer

11 ай бұрын

@@helloMCDM Hey Wizards? Take note. This is what a winning mentality looks like.

The transmutation from the main channel to this vid was AMAZING. 10 out of 10. Love to see it!

@NoNameNinjaa

Жыл бұрын

8 outta 8 m8😁

@OmniGSage

Жыл бұрын

​@@Nathanael_Forlornthe other channel is Matt's personal channel

@nickwilliams8302

Жыл бұрын

Clearly some people don't get the reference. kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZYyHw7BtqsmrnZM.html

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

That was Jerry! He killed it!

@GalvatronRodimus

Жыл бұрын

@@nickwilliams8302 LOL, I was thinking maybe Kamen Rider or something.

I’ve been working on little dungeon-crawler RPGs for a few years now in my spare time and I only recently switched from the “write the whole thing before playing it” to the “play little chunks of it as you go” model. I can confirm, much better results (and more fun, too!). Having keywords also helps, mine are all inspired by dark chocolate: “Dark and Intense, Simple yet Rich, Grounded and Earthy.”

And so the designing the game saga commences, I am so excited to how this game starts to shape up.

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

Us too!

Man, I think I’d love for MCDM to put out a sci-fi game one day.

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

Bro us too bro. Only reason our Art Director agreed to join this company was the promise of a future A: Sci-fi B: Boardgame!

@flashbaggins427

Жыл бұрын

@@helloMCDM Love me some sci fi, our group runs 5e and so I was hoping to find some d20 sci fi systems, and thoroughly struggled xD Every time I look at anything put out I always end up just wanting to design my own instead as nothing jumps out, so the fuuuuuture mcdm sci fi board game sounds grand

@thekaxmax

Жыл бұрын

@@flashbaggins427 D20 Star Wars, leave the Jedi out. And/or D20 Traveller.

I love it when an rpg isn't ashamed of the game portion of roleplaying games.

I'm currently on the design team for an anime-inspired TTRPG being created by a streamer whose community I'm heavily involved in, and up to this point I have only watched Running The Game. Currently I'm binging Designing The Game, and every last word out of your mouth in what I've consumed of both series has glued itself to my neurons for the past couple months that we've been working on this project. It's not gonna be a product, just something for the community to play, but there's certainly no less pressure to make it as fun as possible haha We're getting very close to the end of the design process, and without even having seen this video at the time, our design process used a lot of the same principles you described here. I have no prior experience with game dev, but this process could not have gone more smoothly and I genuinely owe it all to you. Thank you for your everlasting commitment to making game design, TTRPGs, and bringing people together for fun storytelling experiences. This whole thing would probably have taken another 2 years without your help

frankly, i don't think i've been this excited for a tabletop project in... well, forever! the Inevitable MCDM RPG, from what's been described in Patreon and on streams, sounds like exactly what I'm looking for out of fantasy TTRPG stuff, and knowing it's designed using the philosophies behind action-oriented monsters is the cherry on top. super excited to hear more, and to test the thing when you guys drop something for us to sink our teeth into!

@JoeAuerbach

Жыл бұрын

Same. I mean, MAYBE I was this excited about second edition Awakening? But I think this beats it by a hair.

@vintagezebra5527

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree!

@luketfer

Жыл бұрын

It certainly excites me a hell of a lot more than what Tales of Valiant turned into once they announced it would be 5e but slightly different (which is the same problem One D&D is suffering from).

I loved the transmute transition, never stop injecting stuff like that.

Love the reference to "The 1900s!" My kids, the oldest of whom was born in 2009, often give me crap for having lived during "The 1900s" because I was born in 1980.

Hey, I saw that video about the Blacksmith's Daughter, too! A few years later (and a lot of background KZread) and friends call me an expert GM. Excited to see this new content too!

This is a really nice foundation for design in general! I do not have a desire to make my own tabletop game, but I DO aspire to worldbuild. The idea of deciding on *keywords* to be guidance along every step is very appealing. Whether designing a new location, NPC, boss, trap, folktale, tavern, or item, having a few keywords seems helpful to me! I want my world to be dangerous, fantastical, and flexible. Where heroes can do bold things that I don't expect with items that have open-ended effects that could be useful in multiple ways. Love the series already MC.

Carpenter Brut call out was surprising and highly accurate to that moment.

@jrm13

Жыл бұрын

That was the moment I had to pull the video out of full screen and give it a like.

@Aikolon

Жыл бұрын

It gave me a big grin on my face 😊

We are now in the next phase of MCDM where Matt has inside jokes with us, the audience, referring to his original videos. What a beautiful time to be here

pushes up glasses* Actually, after Running The Game....Designing The Game is pretty clever.

"We didn't discuss mechanics" But you did, for one of my favorite games! "Design a ttrpg" is so much fun, more people should play it!

I don’t know if it was intentional, but calling the Game Master “the director” in the introduction, felt right to me

One of my long time friends designed his own game for superheroes. We called it Joe's Game. We started with AD&D rules with a bit of RIFTS thrown in. It was a ton of fun. When I was watching this, I thought back to the early stages of developing that game and he pretty much did a lot of what you covered here. Recognizing that about our game is really cool. I can't wait to see the final product of what you all develop. 😊

Ok this is really funny. I've always been mildly interested in game design, but never really tried making anything big and serious. That was until yesterday, when I started writing up my design for my own dnd mass warfare rules (partially inspired by K&W but alot of my ideas for this came way before that was in production). And funnily enough I independently, having never heard the term or concept before, came up with the idea of Rapid Prototyping. I think not even 10 hours after I started designing it, my friend and I were playing out a battle using the absolute most basic version of my rules, and it was really fun. Afterwards we spent maybe 20 minutes discussing it and the design improved in a way that probably would've taking me months tweaking it by myself. So yeah I can definitely verify that this works even for complete amateurs and I think this series is coming out at the perfect time for me.

Matt, thank you for looking after the little guys. I'd love to support you guys, but I'm struggling to support myself some days. I love your videos, and I'm grateful for the time and patience to put into all of them. Thanks very much, Matt

Not sure if you did this on purpose, but that tee is perfect for this video!! Considering the fact that you're taking the complex subject of 'Designing the Game' and breaking it down into its component parts!! 😁 Very much like what a prism does with light... Love it, and love the video!! ❤️

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

It was NOT on purpose, but it's a great connection you made!

@jeroenimus7528

Жыл бұрын

At the same time it's a fun little dig on the "we don't care about the science" statement, in the explanation of why it's fantasy and not scifi

@thekaxmax

Жыл бұрын

Love Pink Floyd

15:10 that dude has a Halo energy sword, I'm So sold already

@helloMCDM

Жыл бұрын

THE OPERATOR! A Dwarven Magma Diver piloted by YOU!

It's always interesting getting to peak behind the curtain. I mean, I've already done so as a patron, but it's awesome in video form too!

As someone trying to keep the vibe from 4e and the 4e community alive, this whole project is music to my ears. Those 4 keywords are how I run every 4E D&D game and I can't wait to see what this looks like at the end of the day.

@barefootwanderer

Жыл бұрын

looking back, I think i had more fun with 4e than any other edition of D&D. I might have to re-buy the core books from somewhere.

@thekaxmax

Жыл бұрын

@@barefootwanderer DriveThruRPG

Sometimes when I’m having a really hard day I am reminded that MCDM is making a new RPG and it turns my whole day around!

I really appreciated the brake down of what your keywords ment this was very enjoyerable i cant wait for more

Papa Colville never fails to brighten a day

Fantasy Epic Tactical Cinematic Heroes... F.E.T.C.H. Quests

Great video on how to “agile” game design!😂 Super excited to see both the development and the end product.

@wingerism

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I was waiting for him to reference agile vs. waterfall even more explicitly. I think it's actually a very intuitive way to design systems as you come to gaps in the narrative of an adventure or story. Like oh I guess we'll need to solve this problem with non-combat skills, so now that's the next thing we design really quickly, and so on until you're not running into walls so much.

I think, of all the people who went from being 5e 3rd party devs primarily to actually designing a new system, mcdm is the only one I give a shit about. I'm not gonna pretend that I have any love for 5e, I'm *wholeheartedly* a "play other games, and that means *other* games, not just pathfinder", but Matt, James, etc etc have really good ideas about game design so I'm into it. I will say though, I hope everyone seeing this becomes a person that plays lots of games, not just 5e + the mcdm one, I hope you guys are really able to break the mindset that so many people have about only ever playing one game at a time.

Please continue this series. Do not under any circumstances stop this series! I will watch every episode multiple times if I have to. I've been recently considering what I want to do with my life, and game design has been really high up there on the list for a while. I'd love to work for a studio like MCDM one day, and resources like this are integral for getting people involved and interested! As always, love the content, Matt. Rock on!

MCDM Dwarves 🥹 The words “basically short Klingons” live in my head rent free

@treymclemore3418

Жыл бұрын

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

@jeroenimus7528

Жыл бұрын

I've always felt Klingons were tall Dwarves ;) Now that you reminded me of those words though, what will be the MCDM tribble though 🤔

as someone who has been trying for over 20 years to get a game out of his ADHD riddled brain and into the world. I am looking forward to this. I'm fascinated by the world of RPG writing, and still at 43 would love to do it for a job. Game mechanics troubleshooting has always got me excited, and led to me endlessly tinkering with every RPG and wargame I have ever played. So thank you for sharing this, and if i can afford it I absolutely will sub to the patreon for the behind the scenes stuff.

Definitely very interested to see how this continues to develop. I've been wanting to get into TTRPG design for most of my life, and now that I finally have an ADHD diagnosis and ritalin prescription (at 41 years old...) I'm finally starting to do it! Getting insight into others' experiences is utterly invaluable. As much creativity as I've always had, as much as I've spent years breaking down and examining systems, as much as I have so much more drive and focus now, I still have no idea how to *work* because my brain never let me. Just listening to your perspective about the fundamental processes is a big deal for me. 💛

@thegrandwombat8797

7 ай бұрын

Weirdly enough, I've also only gotten into TTRPG design since getting my own ADHD diagnosis, and much more productively so post prescription. Hope things are going well on your end!

Game Design takes place like 70% in the mind, the approach, the goals (keywords), documentation, collaborative production pipeline. Communication, organization and iteration are what makes it work. Outlines are nice, but more for onboarding and teaching than designing. Getting what you have into the minds of people who know nothing about the game. When you're designing, you have nothing pretty much and like a GM: It isn't real until it hits the players. I love listening to your buisness and game design philosophies. Very inspiring! Can't wait to see what comes in the future.

The consistent reference to this game as the "flagship" MCDM product has me calling it the "MCDM Endeavor."

Holy shit, the second half of this video, in which Matt starts talking about rapid prototyping, is so good!! Like, really useful!

I ran my first playtest of my system over the weekend. It was a dream, parts worked, parts horribly failed in measurable ways. Loved it! Most importantly, the testers had a blast and the core idea held up. My approach (and the one I force on my students) is similar in forcing rapid prototyping. Getting something on the table, no matter how broken it is lets you really vet the squishy ideas floating around in your head. I was able to crystalize a lot more in that one test than the months of bouncing crap in my head.

I adore the use of humor in this! It's so easy to accidently make this dry and boring. But Matt managed to make it fun, and I even chuckled a few times!

21:24 That, right there is the overwhelming power of rapid prototyping -- get something going so you can see if it's "right". And in this context "right" doesn't mean complete, done, elegant, or whatever -- it means (specifically for a game) that it's FUN and ENJOYABLE and INTERESTING. The true danger, IMO, with spending dozens/hundreds of hours writing design docs, isn't that they become stale at all; it's that they capture a crappy, uninteresting, and NOT FUN thing ... something that should have been a game, but isn't. Love the video and the Patreon blogs!

As someone who has begun the process of creating a randomized table top fantasy dungeon crawl game by myself, i can appreciate this advice. My original idea (and i wont go into too much detail for a youtube comment) came to me and it was such a fun idea (in my opinion) that i spent 20+ hours writing it down on that first night. This was two maybe three months ago and i have since built a crude prototype (and i really mean crude as i dont have professional development capabilities. Everything is written by hand on blank playing cards or drawn on wooden tiles). It is far from completed but i don't care. Minor changes and tweaks have made it easier to play and it is so much fun and i enjoy the hard work in my spare time to take on such a monstrous undertaking. I saw this video and knew i had to speak up when you said in verbatim "make sure it's fun to play for you".

As some one who works in IT, it's nice to know no-one else keeps their documentation up to date. All jokes aside great vid. Really looking forward to the future of mcdm products!

This is the most hype new series in 2023 for me now. Colville talking passionately about stuff is my favorite youtube genre.

Ohh, I was just listening to the Patreon Q&A too. Lots of fun MCDM listening for me today. Congrats getting the first Designing the Game out! There is a non-zero chance I will try to make a game in the future, and if I ever do I will *absolutely* be drawing from lessons learned from listening to Matt & MCDM peeps.

As someone who is designing his own RPG from scratch, youd be surprised how this video came at a convenient time :P

Probably the third time I've watched this video while designing my adventures. Even contained within other game systems, the advice about focusing on the core loop of the game (or adventure, in this case) and making *that* engaging. I really needed to focus more on my central tension, so I think I'm going to rewatch that one next.

"I know its very unlikely thatyou are going to design your own ttrpg from scratch..." Unlikely...but I am, and I am SERIOUSLY going to be rewatching these over and over.....

Over the past year I've switched every other week between running 5e and The Dark Eye 5e, because that's what my 2 main groups play. Both are enormously frustrating to me in different ways, which lead me to start designing my own system. I can't overstate how helpful these videos have been on that journey, even though my scope is much smaller than yours. I plan to make it open source/free to play and iterate on and hope to have a playable version ready by the end of next year.

This was a little eerie to watch and I absolutely loved it. I started my own tabletop rpg one summer about 7 years ago because I was bored and thought, "Why not." I started with what I had learned from playing a few different systems and started with just amalgamating my favourite mechanics and learning from what I did not like. It started with barebones rules and a few playtesters among my friends and I have been working on it ever since. It is still a long way from publishing, but what you described is still very similar to how I happened to go about developing it. I would play a bit with my friends, get their thoughts, and continue iterating. I hope to one day publish it and hearing how you guys are working on your game gives me renewed motivation to keep on going. Everytime I think the game is done, I find ways to improve or expand it in a way that feels natural. Best of luck to you guys on your own project, I hope it does really well and people enjoy using it.

So I saw this video first and then saw the one on Matt's channel and the intro makes so much more sense now.

I can really see Matt O'Driscoll's character flying through the sky with greatsword held high, and the Carpenter Brut soundtrack is what sells it the hardest

Incredibly useful actionable knowledge being shared here. Useful for life as it is for game dev. Have guiding principles, break the problem into chunks as small as you can, then just start doing. So much more is learned in trying and failing and iterating than is learned by planning.

I love how you explain your designs and ideas, and I look forward to what you all come up with.

Entirely off topic but I had the thought it would be funny if you did end up accidentally inventing new technology. "Idk guys, I was pretty sure this notepad was full of stuff for subclasses but Jerry read it and it turns out I designed an interdimensional portal. I'm just glad the Garmaks like board games. Cool guys over in that dimension."

I REALLY like the sound of this! Having gotten into DnD during 4e,I really loved the tactical design (even if the mechanics around stats made combat slow) that had such clear cut categorization around PC and Monster roles. But having gotten further into it since I also love 5e and understand why long time fans wanted something more DnD in flavor. So this sounds to me like a good blend of 4e tactics and easy to understand categories with the cinematic heroics of 5e and without the baggage of DnD being a legacy product - which sounds like the perfect blend of EVERYTHING I WANT! Very excited

Most excited about the focus on TEAMWORK!

“Extremely unlikely that you will design your own rpg” I don’t, Matt, if anything, this video inspires me to do just that.

Im so glad I went straight from one video to the other so the transmute was perfect

What I expected Matt to say: "I know there are folks who associate playing on the grid as a modern convention, but Jeff Bridges made it into the grid back in the 80's"

MATT I AM MAKING MY OWN RPG FROM THE GAME UP! I've played and designed with my brothers for years and we've made some big, some small, and some weird ones, but recently I'm working on my own personal one that I love. I love what you said about the guiding words - I'll definitely be doing that. And about the working with others. This channel will help me as a game designer. Thank you for your wisdom. Truly you are a river to your people.

Super happy to hear we're going to get another regular series for design take with Matt!

oh I am designing the game I don't want to play from scratch. And yes, it can be a miserable experience. But rapid prototyping is how I do it... I made a little more though, because I don't have a playtest group of designers. I have a few guys who wants to play every other thursday. So I just just filled in with mechanics from other games for everything I didn't make yet. Then get a a feel for what matches the theme of the game. We are on our second travel system, and the next time I see my players... we will be on our third.

Tactical Heroic Cinematic Fantasy are awesome coordinates. I want to see how Cinematic and Tactical work in a game unburden by corporate mandates. Getting excited, Mr. Colville.

I love the little bit of the Flee Mortals cover in the background!

I'm here. I'm paying attention. We must also never forget the secret ingredient: Magic in every part, from Tactical down to Fantasy. Magic is the veiling or unveiling of the mystery that lies beyond our ability to perceive. Can't wait to get that copy of Flee Mortals in my hands. Dig it “Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune

I think this will be a great series and a great game.

I swear, Matt could do an hour long video on the intricacies of paint drying, and I would still be entranced. Unbelievably, his content is dope, too.

This video was exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it. I'm building a deck-building board game, not a TTRPG, but the concepts of keywords and rapid prototyping hadn't clicked for me until now. Since watching I've already started working on implementing a rudimentary board and cards in Tabletop Simulator which is way more than what I had done over the past month.

I tried designing my own mech wargame from scratch and quickly playtesting has been the best thing for it. Realized the HP numbers were too low when the 4v4 was over in 20 mins lol.

Much love to MCDM! Looking forward to find out more about the game and the Timescape!

I just watched the Tactician/Shadow video and it got me so excited for this game (every video has, but... I think I finally understand the marriage of tactics and narrative that this game sounds like it's gonna embody) that I'm starting at the beginning of the series to rewatch... and then I'm probably gonna root around in the Patreon archives for more juicy details. Stoked!

I find myself resonating with what you say about teamwork and collaboration. I just feel as though I have nothing to tell a team in terms of experience if I dont finish the ego project first, so to speak. I really crave collborative work. Im just not there yet.

as someone going to uni for game design in about a month and a half this could not be better timed

Very cool. I love seeing behind the scenes and into the minds. And of course, game mechanics of all kinds fascinate me. It would be interesting I think to see you to talk with others on your team and get their insights. Good luck with the new game!

Absolutely loved the transition between videos.

That brief Gatchaman intro has me so hyped!

More game designers could've made use of this advice and I can say that, I _was_ one of those game designers! That last bit about teamwork hits a very personal spot for me since I make the majority of TTRPGs completely alone, simply because I have no other choice most times. If you can collaborate with other cool people: do it!

I have used table of contents for this sort of thing before for writing an adventure. Glad to know someone as experienced and clever as you has thought of the same thing :)

Great video, can't wait to play the game! Gordon Gekko DMing a dungeon crawl - "Greed is good!"

I am excited for this series, it's like we are getting the dvd behind the scenes of this game before we get the game!

I like the bit about rapid prototyping and the table of contents.

From the moment you announced that you were making your own RPG, ive been desperately waiting for these videos. Im also in the trenches of making my own RPG so i am super excited to hear how you have worked on yours to help me push through making mine

I absolutely can't wait until the next entry in this series. I LOVE hearing about how MCDM approaches design!

I love how this video comes out 2 days after I got crazy and decided to attempt/begin designing a game from the ground-up by myself. Really has shaken up how I had started to approach it. On the other hand, I’m really excited to see the MCDM game come out!!!

Your comment on the importance of teamwork is so true. I've done my best work as part of a team and even some of my 'big ego projects' benefited tremendously from the advice and stewardship of others. The whole project sounds awesome, though I do tend to the 'work from the outline' approach more often than not.

God, I can't tell you how excited I am for this series. You make game design so accessible for us mortals.

I've been working on my own TTRPG as a hobby for a couple years now. I legitimately love it. One of my dreams is to make a game that people actually like and play. And I'm so glad you're doing this series because it's gonna help make that a reality. What I've learned from this episode: I gotta test this game more often.

Ever since I started watching your content back in 2017, I've always wanted a more "direct" (since most of what you do is about design) video about your game design process. And now that I study game design in university, I'm simply thrilled that I get to see more of your actual process. Please keep up the great work and I am really looking forward to where this series goes. Thank you so much for the years of content and education you've provided me Matt and everyone else at MCDM!

I was already looking forward to this game, because you and your team were making it, which guarantees in my mind it will be, at the very least, good. After watching this, I'm now looking forward to BUYING this game. You've really crystalized in my mind what to expect, and it is exciting.

Matt Colviille, Certified Agile Coach. ;)

I think a better way to explain heroic is that characters are "driven by an ideal" rather than "driven by doing the right thing". Ideals can be flawed and even villainous, but still carries more gravitas than materialistic goals.

Hey Matt! Just wanted to hop in and say I’ve been watching you for years and have loved watching you and your process. It’s least a joy to watch you talk about something you’re interested in. You’re one of my favorite creators on the site. So, thanks!

This video helped me realize what things I care about in the role playing game I am already leading. This was super exciting for me to watch. It was “Yeah! Like that!!”. Thanks for putting language to it for me.

Just the title alone makes me so excited. I'm eager for more videos in the Designing the Game category, from Matt, James and all the other crazy talented folks who work with MCDM.

Well done. Thank you for the update. I've been watching Dungeon Coach develop his game, and it looks good to me. I'm looking forward to seeing this develop and eventually playing. You four core values/goals is exactly what I'm looking for.

Really looking forward to more of this

I’m in the process of designing my rpg and this sort of insight it’s been incredibly useful. I keep getting stuck trying to map out everything and writing every single rule that’s needed. This concept of designing just what’s necessary to start and test it right away it’s a game changer! Thanks! Looking forward to the next video