Talk To Lily About Gamedev!

The other day I was getting annoyed working on Steam integration for the Bossgame port, and I missed the fun of messing with game design. I posted about it on Twitter and was totally surprised how many people just wanted to ask me stuff!! It quickly became an impromptu AMA. There were a ton of really good questions, and I wanted to gather them in one place, so here we go!

what are the easiest and hardest parts of making a game for you? (from @uncannyvallie)

Easiest: Gameplay balancing & minutae. I can really easily get lost in stuff like adjusting attack patterns or tweaking menus, and I kinda love it!! It's why I was sure bossgame was a good fit. Plus, I love leaving little weird quirks everywhere✨

Hardest: Coming up with the moment-to-moment gameplay. I have so many overarching "meta" ideas, but can never settle on what actions the player takes at the smallest level, even though I think these are way more important. Also, I still REALLY lack confidence in my writing 😖

how many lesbians per game (from @emperorkeybou)

1 minimum, but 1 lesbian is very lonely so i would suggest at least 2, 4 if you can scope it. i actually have saved a chart (i believe from christine love?) that can help you with this decision

Addendum: i have had this chart for literally a decade. i remember getting it off twitter somewhere but anyway it changed my life

What were some design compromises you had to make while developing games, and what were the reasons? (from @Stickle88)

Scope is the big one. Bossgame was going to have 25+ bosses ("sounded like a good number") but it would've taken me another 2 years, so I released when I reached my limit.

I also cut weapons w/ passive bonuses - too complex for the super-fast action, and made gameplay a slog

do you like trains? (from @pedipanol)

yes!! trains are very good. Bossgame does not have any trains, but it has a boss that runs you over like a train while tooting a train whistle

i think trains are a very good setting for dungeons, or just as a boss themselves. also public transport rules when done well!!

What's your order of operations for making a game? That being in what order would you do things like making assets, actual programming, writing, sound design, etc? (from @PixelatedPetals)

First step is prototyping!! I make a tiny simulacrum of the moment-to-moment gameplay. For Bossgame, this was the battle system - I spent months playing with mechanics, input, balance, timing, getting feedback). Once that was ready, I knew I could move forward confidently!

After that, it's kind of a mish-mash! All of the other stuff (dialogue systems, save/load, etc.) got added piecemeal as I felt like doing them. I designed each boss bit by bit (usually to fit my script or b/c i had a cool mechanical idea) using placeholder assets until I had art

What game do/did you like making the most? (from @amy_piper0l)

Bossgame, for sure. I've wanted to make a bigger adventure for so long, and I was so excited to push my limits!

I got to write a full story with characters I fell in love with, I designed a battle system I'm really proud of, I got to work with amazing artists... I feel so lucky

Is there a character you wanted to add to Bossgame but couldn't find a way to make them fit? (from @PlanetScrapstar)

A few! The original script had Anna's older brother as someone who served the darker forces of Mammon City for decades, knew he was in the wrong, but had bought in too deep to face his mistake

Addendum: I also originally had another devil-hunting team, comprised of an older, experienced woman (Rose) and a petulant apprentice (Janus) but they never quite fit...

If you had to hire someone to do a specific job for your next game what role would they fill? (from @PlanetScrapstar)

Artist, musician, writer. I can do these things okay but design/code is my wheelhouse!

Addendum: Nowadays, I really want to make more complex & full-fleshed games, along the lines of Bossgame. I think I'm reaching a point where more teamwork & collaboration will be necessary. It's still tempting to do everything myself, but that's kind of a cocky attitude... I don't think I can ever beat the raw power of a synergized team!

Do you make tools along the way? If so which is your favorite or most reused? (from @uweeby_ai)

Regrettably, I don't... not much, anyway. I came up with some systems to put together enemies in Bossgame, but they're not easy-to-use tools. The dialogue is all written directly into JSON...

I'd like to do more in the future!! Gamedev is about cheating as much as possible, imo

When making solo projects how do you draw the line between making what you want and making what sells? (from @felres_)

I try not to pull my punches! I'm a tiny indie dev w/ no reach, I can't compete with AAA, Supergiant, whoever.

But I can go sideways, I can make weird niche games like "mobile dark souls for trans lesbians" that no one else will, and maybe find people who are yearning for that!

But, I DO want to sell still, bc I would love to work less at stressful jobs. So I'm more interested in slightly bigger games, with at least a small coat of psuedo-polish... but if i ever stop making trans lesbian stuff, hit me with a shovel

Addendum: I don't think I answered this question very directly. IMO, I work in genres that I think are relatively marketable, and I'm only experimental within those genres - ex. I make action games, but I make them for mobile, and I put a lot of effort into character writing and including a unique cast with a focus on queerness. This is basically the kind of stuff that I want to make anyway, so it works out. That said, when I run into problems of "is this element I want to add going to be offputting? is it going to be marketable?" I try to remember that, as a smaller indie, it is much better for me to hit a niche hard than to vie for mass appeal. I tend to err on the side of what I want to do, in those cases.

Basically, I think staying true to yourself can result in games that are less widely appealing, but very very memorable for the small group of people who are into it! I'm hoping this is a good way to make games sustainably someday, haha...

Another question, how important do you feel plot twists are to narratives? (from @PlanetScrapstar)

Surprise and suspense is important, but not necessarily twists?

ex. the "twists" in Bossgame are, imo, not hard to see coming! But it's not obvious what form they will take, what will happen, or how the characters will handle it, and I think that tension is really important

For Bossgame, did you generally come up with character concepts first and then design their fight mechanics, or were there instances where you thought to yourself “I want to make a boss that does x” and then conceptualize them based on that mechanical idea? (from @re_chief)

Every boss was different! Some were mechanics first ("I want a boss that switches weapons") and some were story-driven ("Mirra has a mirror, how would they fight?")

I also had a huge list of loose mechanical ideas that I would pull from to fill out boss attack patterns!

Pants? (from @Kaiyalai)

pants, skirts, whatever! I oscillate like a pendulum

Btw is there a type of game you absolutely despise? (from @amy_piper0l)

Genre-wise, not really? I'm not super into sports or fishing, but I see the appeal and I get that some people dig 'em!

wait. is gacha a genre? I absolutely loathe gacha as a genre / design pattern. gacha get stuffed

Are there any coding/visual game challenges you’ve run across that were particularly challenging? 👀 (from @sasasori1)

Oh! This is a tricky one, hmm... I've had all sorts of coding challenges, honestly. Often it comes from me having to work with a library or API I'm not very good at understanding... like right now I'm trying to implement Steam stuff in Bossgame and it is *rough*

Octually, one of the trickiest ones for Bossgame was the texting cutscenes, and it was a code AND visual challenge.

Designing a UI that fits well on phones, scrolls up and down, keeps a log, respond to touch, and feels natural was so much work 😭 i'm proud of it, but...

oh great lily of the pond what is your wisdom (from @kasgami)

world hard and cold. gamedev also hard and cold but occasionally it's really amazing so give it a shot?

What do u look for in the games u play (from @TotalDykeReena)

my favorite games nowadays are:

• stuff I can play with my friends (party games, co-op stuff, etc.)
• stuff I can play in a chill, downtime way (roguelikes, etc.)
• Interesting Stuff (unique indie games, old games w/ weird mechanics, etc. etc.)

Silliest bug you encountered working on BOSSGAME? (from @Dwimepon)

Oh geez, I remember the painful ones the most...

Oh! In the fight where you can make Sophie swap sides, she would often get stuck in random and hilarious positions around the screen. Just facing the wrong way, unable to do anything... it was super funny (but such a pain to fix)

This was genuinely super fun!! I... really do just love thinking about and talking about game design, way too much. I hope it was a fun read for you, too.

If anyone here on itch.io has similar questions, please feel free to ask away here in the comments!! Or if you want to keep it down-low, send me an email at lily@lilycoregames.com.

Until next time!
Lily 💜