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Typography Basics Every Game Dev Should Know

Indie Game Clinic

22,905 views

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⌚ Key Moments:
00:00 what are we covering
02:48 rules of thumb
04:39 examples from MtG and Hearthstone
06:54 common legibility crimes
13:36 culture, history, and symbolism
16:43 examples from games
18:24 some more examples from games
21:24 why you should SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL
23:05 take a typographic town tour
34:46 summary and refresher
37:33 things I can help you with

20 Comments

@IndieGameClinic Creator 5 days ago Pinned

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@IndieGameClinic Creator 1 year ago

I appreciate the irony of posting this with such horrible kerning in the thumbnail.

@VictoryOverAll 1 year ago

As a graphic designer who judges the typography and design on vans whenever I'm stuck in traffic, I approve of this video.

@jocelynnielsen9154 1 year ago

Typography is not USUALLY in the titles I click but here we are. I like your stuff.

@marianosuligoy9750 7 months ago

23:20 Road signs are an example of where all capitals are correct, sings in roads are capitals and characters are thick to be readen from far away in a vehicle in movement

@Drystan-z4x 1 year ago

A local mortician has their shop sign typed in Comic Sans. Im not sure whether they didn't consider typography rules or just have a weird sense of humour.

@FioreFire 1 year ago

typography is a subject that I love that my fellow devs don't give a single heck about. just one of those things that's an easy ticket to Polished Looking Game town once you understand it, but really tends to go under the radar

@Gijontin 11 months ago

Shoutout to my cousin who changed all her fonts in her phone to that (pseudo-?)cursive one and whenever she sends me screenshots of conversations and stuff - all I can think of is an old-timey glass jar of marmalade

@FranzKafkasOfficePrinter 1 year ago

In India there's a really strong culture and history of hand painted signs, I think the owner of Raj's was probably trying to evoke that, but missed the western associations with the circus or Victorian/old west

@PalmGroveSoftware 5 months ago

Why yes 5:21am is the perfect time to enjoy this.

@milkfish-dev 1 year ago

Aspiring game devs should watch this. I think typography is one of those things that can turn a game from amateur to polished with relatively small effort.

I think a good follow up for those video is how to design UI while considering localization (CJK languages to be specific) and what techniques the devs can use.

@SirWhinebottle 5 months ago

This is such an underestimated part of games, so good to see a in depth video on it!

@shek_daniels 1 year ago

Great video!
Reviewed few narrative heavy indies with lots of texts. Felt something is off, but were not really able to pinpoint the cause. Now feel more educated!
Cheers!

@marantisdev 1 year ago (edited)

If Comics Sans is good enough for Silent Hill, it's good enough for my game 😤😤 (Really liked the both real life and game examples!)

@ThiagoCunha 1 year ago

Very insightful, but very ironic indeed 😅 7:00

@ForestRainMedia 6 months ago

Regarding the comparison with the Magic card- I was always told serif fonts are easier to read on printed materials, whereas sans-serif is easier to read on a screen.

@ceprotypes 1 year ago

The Cyberpunk sign returning and sneaking in from the top was very funny 😁

@bigsiskrishere 6 months ago

Really appreciate this video! It covers a lot of things I learned through trial and error when I was a librarian trying to promote library programs (not the coding kind haha). A really good starting point for people new to typography and graphic design as a whole.