Secrets of Game Feel and Juice | Game Maker's Toolkit

Some game designers use words like "game feel" and "juice" to describe the abstract and often invisible factors that make the best action games surge with life and energy. In this episode of Game Maker's Toolkit, we try to figure out what those words mean, and how you can capitalise on them to make your game feel more fun and satisfying.

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Jan Willem Nijman (Vlambeer)'s "The art of screenshake"


Jonatan Söderström (Cactus)'s "The 4 Hour Game Design"


Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho (Grapefruit)'s "Juice it or lose it"


Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance):

Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games, 2012)
Random Heroes (Ravenous Games, 2012)
Super Time Force (Capybara Games, 2014)
Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games, 2013)
Super Meat Boy (Team Meat, 2010)
Castle Crashers (The Behemoth, 2008)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Nicalis / Edmund McMillen, 2014)
Super Mario World (Nintendo, 1990)
Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996)
Nuclear Throne (Vlambeer, 2015)
rymdkapsel (Grapefrukt, 2013)
Ridiculous Fishing (Vlambeer, 2013)
Gunbrick (Nitrome, 2015)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom, 1992)
God of War (Santa Monica Studio, 2005)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2002)
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (WayForward, 2014)
Guacamelee (Drinkbox Studios, 2013)
Shank (Klei Entertainment, 2010)
Gun Godz (Vlambeer, 2013)
Super Crate Box (Vlambeer, 2010)
Peggle (PopCap Games, 2007)
Alien Hominid HD (The Behemoth, 2007)

Music used in this episode:

00:00 - Miami (Hotline Miami)
01:15 - Main Theme (Super Mario 64)
01:56 - Forest Funk (Super Meat Boy)
02:41 - Luftrauser (Luftrausers)
03:35 - Construction Yard (Super Crate Box
04:35 - Decade Dance (Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number)

Clip credits:

"God of War 1 - Part 1 of 11" - bdcool213