In Unlocking the Vault, Game Developer Editor-in-Chief Daniel Riendeau dives into the rich archives of the GDC Vault to find timeless game development tips, anecdotes, and hard-learned lessons hidden in hundreds of talks from decades of GDC shows stored in the Vault. Every two weeks, this curated roundup will highlight key takeaways from vintage or classic GDC talks, with the goal of helping today's developers learn new lessons from the past.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've never played Dead cells—A highly acclaimed pixelated roguelike masterpiece from Motion Twin. But I still love this aptly titled GDC 2019 talk “Dead Cells”: what the hell!?” for an easy, unobtrusive design talk that manages to pack so much wisdom into a neat little 30-minute time frame.
By introducing the studio and its previous games (and noting that the project that would later become Dead cells was the studio's “last chance” so they were inspired to do something bigger than that) Motion Twin's Sébastien Benard immediately became the inspiration for Dead cells: Classic Castlevania. But the team was tiny, with only one visual artist at first (a second one eventually came on board), so they simply couldn't create massive, expansive content for a game like this. Voila: the decision to accept permanent death is at the heart of the game.
Death as progress
Notably, the team was looking to modernize the circuit, which was a hot topic at the time.
The team wisely decided to focus on “death as progression” instead of punishing players, allowing them to discover and explore new areas after death, rewarding the game instead of punishing failure. “Death should be like, 'Wow, I died, so I can do something new!' Bernard says, gesturing and giving a thumbs up.
The decision to use this structure meant that there was no going back between levels, so if you wanted to go back to an earlier area (perhaps with a new ability), you would have to go forward and die to get back to the beginning again. The team also made “count every run” a core principle, using the titular dead cells as a currency that can be spent with the collector, allowing progression between runs.
Easing the pain of permanent death
Dead cells was designed to allow the very short game to transition into a new gameplay loop, in part to minimize frustration if the player died. The team also paid particular attention to a tight control scheme and intelligently modulated the game's difficulty, even offering several small “cheats” in the player's favor to minimize frustrating platforming “accidents”.
“We always asked, for example, about platforming: 'Does this have to be a challenge?' – says Bernard. “If you take Super Meat BoyYes, platforming is part of the challenge, it's all about jumping, getting killed and getting back into the action very quickly.”
“But Dead cells truly combat oriented. Platforming is just that [means] move, avoid enemies, choose a position, and this is not a hardcore platformer. So when we asked this question, it was really helpful… “Does the player die doing this?” If the answer is no, we simply ensure the player's success.”
He then shows a short clip of the game where the player is jumping from one platform to another – there are a few shots where it looks risky (they might not be able to do it!), but they manage to do it. He then plays it back in slow motion. This is where the game makes good on the jump failure, minimizing the overall frustration as perfect platforming isn't the game's core value. Dead cellsand this trick allows players to focus more on fighting enemies. The developers call these “just-in-time” jumps, allowing you to jump several frames after the character's feet actually leave the platform, because the intent is there!
These little tricks are also used in more complex combat scenes where the game “corrects” the player's position or orientation, such as turning toward an enemy at close range and auto-aiming.
Bernard noted that most players will simply think that they did everything right, and that small cheats really helped keep the game fun. This also allowed the team to add more complexity to the core game: by eliminating these small potential annoyances, they could create many more strategic battles that were overall more satisfying.
Revealing Key Findings
If you want a sparknote version of the talk – or just want to outline some of the main lessons in your notes – don't worry, I've got you covered!
The key takeaways here are: Lesson #1: Limitations Can Be Your Friend : One of the reasons for adopting permadeath (and, in many ways, the game's core structure) was limited artistic resources. Dead Cells is a beloved game, largely due to its strict design around permadeath, and the team was really keen to “find fun” in the structure. Lesson #2 This is where you can cheat a little: if it makes the game more fun! Motion Twin was able to truly focus on complex strategic combat because they took care of small issues like jump correction and correct player orientation, making the game better by placing the focus exactly where they wanted it.
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