If you’re interested in learning about game development through YouTube, there are some amazing resources available to you with intelligent commentary and high production value. But, as is the nature of the platform, you will have to wade through a sea of people ranting at their webcams to find the good stuff. So, to get you started, here are the top five YouTube channels that I recommend game devs check out.
Game Maker’s Toolkit is in a league of its own when it comes to video game analysis on YouTube. Mark Brown, its creator, used to work in games journalism and left Pocket Gamer to work on the YouTube show full time several years ago. Every aspect of his videos oozes quality, from the clear writing and soothing narration to the helpful infographics and slick animations.
Each week(ish) GMTK takes deep dives into different games to examine important topics about game design and development. In addition to the titular series, there are several others on the channel that dive into specific topics. The incredibly thorough Boss Keys examines the structure of metroidvania games using charts to map how the structure of the open world unfolds as the game progresses. A series called Designing for Disabilities examines many different aspects of how developers can make games more accessible, and a yearly installment celebrates the successes (and calls out the failures) in accessibility from that year’s games. Finally, his most recent series is called Design Icons and goes back into the history of games to examine important and influential milestones along the way.
One other cool thing about this channel is that GMTK runs a game jam each year. Hundreds of different people participate, and Mark puts out a special video at the end of the jam highlighting some of the most interesting games to come out of it.
If you’re reading this blog, the Game Developer’s Conference likely needs no introduction. But, just to be safe, GDC is the professional conference for video game developers. It features an expo hall, lots of opportunities for networking, and an extensive series of lectures and panels from professionals all over the industry. The main GDC takes place yearly in San Francisco, and there have been multiple spinoff events, including other locations and one specifically for VR.
One great thing about the conference is that all of the lectures and panels are recorded and made available online in the GDC Vault (though most from the newest conferences are locked behind a subscription fee). Every few days, the GDC YouTube channel takes one of these talks from the vault and posts it to their channel for free. The channel now boasts upwards of 1,500 videos!
Obviously these live-recorded talks don’t live up to the polish and production value of the other shows on this list, but you won’t find a bigger and more varied collection of game development professionals sharing their expertise anywhere else on the the internet.
Extra Credits is the oldest YouTube channel on this list, having posted its first video all the way back in 2008. It was originally created by founder Daniel Floyd for a couple classes he was taking at the time, but when it gained a bunch of traction online, he decided to turn it into a web series, partnering with designer James Portnow and artist Allison Theus to make them happen. The show posts each Wednesday on an incredibly reliable schedule by YouTube standards. The episodes are 5-minute explorations of topics all across game development including game design, industry practices, and topical cultural issues.
Extra Credits might be the most controversial inclusion on this list. It often takes on cultural issues in the video game community, and can sometimes start to feel more like a soapbox for James Portnow than a resource for the viewer. That being said, despite some past missteps, it generally gives a worthwhile perspective. Additionally, across over a dozen seasons it has produced a truly expansive back catalog tackling almost any subject you could hope to hear about.
This next show was more of an acquired taste for me. Errant Signal features creator Chris Franklin diving into a truly in-depth analysis of games. This may sound like a lot of other channels out there, but two things set Errant Signal apart. First, his analysis goes way deeper than most analysis out there. A lot of people say games are art, but Franklin truly examines a game’s artistic decisions and hold the game accountable for what its system and narrative teach the player. Second, the show tends to focus on games off the beaten path. Like, way off the beaten path. Check out some of his Halloween episodes if you want to take a wild dive into whole genres you might not be aware of.
The reason this show was more of an acquired taste for me was the sheer lengths to which some of the analysis goes. Franklin can extrapolate small concepts into sprawling statements about the state of culture and media. Especially in some of his earlier videos, I would lose the thread on how a diatribe about modern society tied back to the instigating element of the the game. But over time he has improved at keeping his digressions a bit more tied to his main thesis, and if the occasional tangent is the price you have to pay for some of the deepest games criticism on the platform, I think it’s worth it.
Mix and Jam is a bit unlike any other entry on this list. Not quite experimental game dev (even though that’s how the ‘about’ page describes it), and not quite a Unity tutorial, this channel merges the two into something that manages to be both fun to watch and very informative. In each episode, creator André Cardoso chooses an iconic feature from a popular video game and tries to recreate it in Unity. The show has snappy editing that strikes a nice balance between practical information about the Unity and moving the show along at a brisk pace that keeps episodes short.
When I first stumbled upon Mix and Jam, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I detest the trend in hobby game development where people are constantly trying to recreate and recreate and recreate their favorite features from classic games instead of making something new. But Mix and Jam never falls into that trap. Instead of being about recreating out of a sense of blind nostalgia, this show is about learning the practical skills and little game dev tricks that were used to craft some of the most successful game mechanics out there. It tries to learn from some of the biggest successes in our industry and use them to teach and excite learning game devs about the craft.
These five channels are far from an exhaustive list of all the great YouTube channels out there, and I’m always looking for new suggestions. Let me know in the comments what your favorite game dev YouTube channel is, and link to your favorite episode!