Dev Game Club

Latest Episodes:

DGC Ep 310: Dark Souls (part eight) Jun 01, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Dark Souls, and so we turn to our takeaways and discuss our final hours with the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett finished

Issues covered: the podcast mirrors the game, feeling like you have godlike powers in New Game+, spending hours on farming different resources, putting the pieces together, enjoying mysteries and putting the clues together, what you take from Dark Souls as an imitator, examining a space and trying to figure out where you can go, senses of accomplishment and discovery as opposed to the checklist, where the studio goes from here, attribute changes in the sequel, miracles and their mechanics, the flexibility of having options, seeking out the things I hadn't found, poor Solaire, feeling of coming full circle, memorable fights and world connections, "butt exposion!", smaller memorable moments, the snoring of Frampt, the inadequacy of the camera in tight spaces, keeping from going on tilt, teaching patience and observation, antithetical game design, a game of secrets, having little guidance, the impossible balance of this game for multiple classes, the knowledge you gain along the way, controlling ambience and tone, the vague pieces of history, Brett's Book Recommendation, character and player knowledge, leaning on archetypes, the weird afterlife metaphor, Star Wars as arsenic, how far do you go to explain a thing, finding your line per game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kingdom Hearts, Sherlock Holmes, Day of the Tentacle, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Tomb Raider (1996), Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven, Practice/NYU, Rob Daviau, Morrowind, Skyrim, Demons's Souls, King's Field, GTA III, Wolfenstein, Mario (series), Artimage, Platinum Games, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Dungeons & Dragons, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Keza MacDonald, Jason Killingsworth, Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice, Dan Hunter, Jedi: Fallen Order, JJ Abrams, Half-Life, Neverwinter Nights, Legend of Zelda (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: We don't know!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 309: Dark Souls (part seven) May 25, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. The big story is about how Brett is a monster, but we also dig into setting goals for yourself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett 154h, Level 160 Tim 39.5h, Level low 50s

Issues covered: squeezing the Dark Orb, Drunk Souls, having more options as you level, having multiple hammers, the fire centipede, liking feeling really nimble, fighting death skullops, entering the painted world and going back to the Asylum, the curiosity killing the cat, Gwynever and Gwyndolin, Timmy bringing twilight to Anor Londo, murdering a fire keeper, wanting to uncover the mysteries, usability in exposing ethical choices in other games, signposting choices, digging into the Catacombs, Patches the cleric-hater, not knowing if you should go places yet, having things you want to do, using simple systems to recontextualize sections or skills, dealing with curse resistance, farming humanity, black knights and going on a black knight murder spree, avoiding an enemy for hours and hours and turning the tides, setting goals for yourself, #consequences, lack of quest log, designing to require the Internet, egg vermifuge removes parasitic egg from body, the importance of discovery, using humanity where it's dropped, "I may have died 28 times but at least I learned something," the uncanny valley of player performance, gameplay as escape from the limitations of reality, accepting film as reality, sports games emulating tv presentation, usability and difficulty, the value of figuring out how things work, accessibility and difficulty.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Artimage, Mass Effect, God of War, The Matrix, The Walking Dead, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Peter, mysterydip, Michael Abbott/The Brainy Gamer, Johnny "Pockets," Shakespeare, James Joyce, Microsoft, David Cronenberg, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes: Brett's "rendering bug" is actually a reflection of the sky dome, but it doesn't read that way on his PS3

The Higgins Armory did in fact close in 2014, but the collection lives on in the Worcester Museum of Art

Links: How players behave (h/t mysterydip)

Next time: Brett finishes?

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 308: Dark Souls (part six) May 18, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We catch you up a little bit on where we are before trying to catch up with the mail bag! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett 115hrs, lvl 114 Tim 33hrs, lvl 50

Issues covered: getting and placing the Lordvessel, Frampt and the second bell, Anor Londo and the two bosses, farming rats for humanity, getting invaded and hiding, the mystery of Gwynevere and leaving Anor Londo and also what's with Gwyndolin, meeting Reah (sp?) again and again, being ambushed by paladins, grinding to upgrade, Tim defeats the Ceaseless Discharge, having sorcerors that revivify the skeletons, powering up your spells, the fire keeper's soul, kindling more, fast traveling, a level design joke, twinkling sounds and occasional marks, being invaded and the costs of banishing, parallel play, recordings of other players, asynchronous multiplayer, fellow-feeling, a Metroid moment, making a big soul-infused thing, good RPG math tropes, missable bosses, the actual level cap, what weapons we use, the reward is the knowledge and the items, the origin of that quote I mentioned, pushing scale, using framing really well for landmarks and aesthetics, "butt explosion!"

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ashton Herrmann, Morrowind, Bloodborne, Demons's Souls, Elden Ring, Death Stranding, Animal Crossing, Metroid, Jarkko Sivula, Ben Zaugg, Sam Thomas, The Honorable T.H. Sismyre Alname, VaatiVidya, Triple Click, Kotaku Splitscreen, Shadow of the Colossus, Disney parks, Brandon Fernandez, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links: That Majestic Quote

Next time: Maybe Brett finishes?

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 307: Dark Souls (part five) May 05, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We catch you up a little bit on where we are in the game, leveling weapons, and the mix and match of combat, to name a few topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett: Level 80, 77 hrs Tim: Level 41ish, 27 hrs

Issues covered: defeating the Iron Golem, finding the bonfire, discovering you can dash and jump, watching a giant drop rocks into a hole, killing a hydra, switching back to the leather armor, fighting the nerves, fiero, pushing it too hard, a scripted invasion, one-shotting the gaping dragon, seeing a space and then fighting in it, the game clicking, a game of patience and intent, having a mace for a long time, transient curses, getting all the moves at once in some games, feeling like you push to a place where you farm things, twinkling titanite, lot of cool armor sets, walking with the silent ring, considering some souls already lost, Blighttown's scaffolding, having to push quickly when cursed, planning gear against what an area is like, vertigo feelings, "Hey, I just got a humanity," thinking that humanity drops from killing lots of enemies, lots of little button combos, the discovery of mechanics versus explicit telling, speculating on the benefits of magic weapons, attacking with two hands, the rhythm of switching weapons, omnicompetence, wish fulfillment, market conditions and getting through games, choices that cut you off from experience, usability problems and fairness, player skill and spectacle.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: "They Might Be Giants," John Huizinga, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Jedi: Fallen Order, God of War, Morrowind, Dagur Danielsson, Deus Ex (series), Skyrim, Epic Mickey, Warren Spector, Junction Point Studios, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Dark Souls

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 306: Dark Souls (part four) Apr 28, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2011's Dark Souls. We talk about some bosses, exploration, and our quest for humanity. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett: 66h, level 75 Tim: 21h, level 30ish

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Dark Souls 1:01:57 Break 1:02:23 Feedback

Issues covered: that dang mimic, Brett's fistful of rings, Tim the Tree and moth killer, production budget, the cost of polishing any given encounter, making specific choices about your systems and how they interact with the level design, forcing the player to think about how to use the space, farming to have equipment, the things Tim has that I don't have, running through the Firelink Shrine to get elsewhere, the game trolling you with resources, rushing and pushing too hard and dying, Tim one-shots the Butterfly trading off with a bow, the area beyond the Crest of Astorias, changing strategy mid-game, being able to self-balance, clearing a whole area and feeling powerful and accomplished, similarities to MMOs, the "no way" moment of a shortcut, encountering a sad demon, admiring the majesty of some of the bosses, understanding the impact of the game, more polish and usability choices, giving permission to return to run-based games, learning telegraphs vs being given telegraphs, Brett is old, the birthday gift for Tim, stripping down mechanics and watering down, not really hurting the bottom line, being numb to your own game, losing perspective, making games for yourself, finding the balance for a different audience, being proud of Fumitsu ratings.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Assassin's Creed, Nintendo, Prince of Persia, Elden Ring, World of Warcraft, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life, Studio Ghibli, Capcom, Tunic, Legend of Zelda, Hollow Knight, Jedi: Fallen Order, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Gothic Chocobo, Pokemon, Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout 3, Morrowind, Dungeons & Dragons, Artimage, Skyrim, Republic Commando, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Bloodborne, Sekiro, CoD: Modern Warfare, Fumitsu, Starfighter (series), Metal Gear, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Dark Souls!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 305: Dark Souls (part three) Apr 20, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We talk about how we use our souls, where and how we farm for resources, the player's goals, the variety in any given encounter, and much more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Tim: ~15h, Brett: ~52h

Issues covered: worrying about the level cap, the variety of a single encounter, farming for arrows, fighting down in Quelaag's lair, the satisfaction of escaping Blighttown, recontextualizing spaces, the flow of the world design, convincing smoke and mirrors, brains and memory, getting time away and confidence, the huge help of an NPC in a battle, when and whether you want to fight the dragon on the bridge, finding sets of armor, feeling locked in to your choices, the curse mechanics, the choice of a lack of a map, having to earn the bonfire every time, the two weapon slots, not being able to buy miracles, clearing up the weapon confusion, the black knights, mini-bosses as skill checks for bigger bosses, playing similar approaches but with very different skills, progressive deepening, the bell ringing cinematic, having only a single/simple goal, being confused about the Darkroot Garden mist, gaining Humanity randomly, missing out on the full Humanity experience, bow timing, Drunk Souls, piecing the narrative together, using the Master Key.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Half-Life, Elden Ring, Monkey Island, King's Quest/Space Quest, Demons's Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Artimage, Qhuenta, Morrowind, Bloodborne, Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil (series), Tunic, Death's Door, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Dark Souls!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 304: Dark Souls (part two) Apr 13, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We talk about how progress is made, the run-based approach, and the mix of player skills and RPG stats, amongst other discussions. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett: ~29h, Tim: ~12h

Issues covered: the melodramatic NPCs, enjoying the architectural setting, seeing dragons, not knowing there were tree creatures, the bosses Brett has seen, being different from other RPGs with equipment and loot, mixing player stats and player skill, having trouble with the parry, having to memorize enemy attacks, learning and losing the timing on counters, feeling like you are learning to speed-run the sections you enter, cheesing a boss, whether or not you click, the cost of upgrading a low stat because of the XP costs, the XP system granting the same number of souls for an enemy type, the sense of progress and accomplishment being in the player and not tracked by the game, feeling like losing souls is a huge setback vs knowledge, learning and mastery as progress, dropping some Humanity knowledge on Tim, having a helping hand from an NPC, the slow death of manuals, wanting to feel like you discover secrets, the usefulness of the messages, moving trees and revealed paths, Brett drops the trompe l'oeil, being afraid you'll miss important things, personal progression and increasing confidence, grinding to find out what things will drop, the double gargoyle, seeing players who get really good, getting invaded and getting wrecked, not understanding the invasion mechanics.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon's Dogma, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, The Last Guardian, Demons's Souls, Elder Scrolls (series), Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Labyrinth, Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars, Triple Click, Dishonored, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Tunic, Death's Door, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Dark Souls

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 303: Dark Souls (part one) Apr 06, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Dark Souls, the 2011 breakout from From Software. We briefly set it in its time before going on to make our characters and discuss the outset of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours (Brett: 3, Tim: 6)

Podcast breakdown: 0:49 Dark Souls 56:52 Break 57:25 Reviews & Feedback

Issues covered: an exception, the thing we mention all the time, the look of Western fantasy tropes by Japanese developers, exaggerated architecture and the third person perspective, working on the same style of game for so long, picking female characters, pushing against normal choices, picking classes and not understanding what all the stats mean, cheesing the final boss in Demons's Souls, picking a rogue character, figuring out what the builds are, not being a transparent game, accentuating the moment to moment, punishing gratification, allowing players to customize the experience, the in-game messages that other players can leave, tutorialization messages, beautiful grotesquerie, series that don't maintain consistency, whether you can plunge on the Taurus Demon, a Singing Review, the mudcrab merchant and all the books in Skyrim, lore reasons, a listener makes his own game, lack of accessibility vs usability, vibrancy in a medium, stagnation, "I guess this is my life now, I'm Dracula," rebuilding a temple in Morrowind, being pointed in the direction of everything vs not, being grabbed by the weird friction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Elden Ring, Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, Rockstar, Team Bondi, LoZ: Skyward Sword, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Bastion, Limbo, Rayman: Origins, Skyrim, Morrowind, Microsoft, Bioshock, Amy Hennig, Nintendo 3DS, Switch, Metroid Dread, From Software, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Bandai Namco, King's Field, Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Dungeons & Dragons, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Susanna Clarke, God of War, Hideo Kojima, Resident Evil Village, Tunic, Baldur's Gate, Tomb Raider (series), Death Stranding, Sekiro, Bloodborne, mysterydip, Jeffool, Brian David Gilbert, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Halo, Republic Commando, Frank O'Connor, LucasArts, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, Warcraft, Zimmy Fingers, A Short Hike, Darren from Cleveland, Todd Howard, Calamity Nolan, Disney, Spike & Mike's, Pixar, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, The Book of Kells, Hayao Miyazaki, Logan, Lord of the Rings, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links: Quote from Design Works book about the dragon design

Skyrim's Top 5 Books

Zimmy Fingers new game

Next time: More Dark Souls!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 302: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part nine) Mar 31, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Morrowind, giving our takeaways and then trying to get to the bottom of our mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: 103 hrs (Brett) vs 36 hrs (Tim)

Issues covered: Brett destroys the heart of Lorkhan and meets another god, games that don't end, wondering about what would happen with the quests, grandmaster quests, not caring about the prophecy, the ur-game, building up a lot of game over time, a leveled-up version of Morrowind, slimming down the dialog options and NPCs, the potential to do everything, approaching the MMO grind loop, feeling like you're in the same game, delivering on the dragons, the sense of a real living world in the abstract and in the experience, the art direction, naming rules, the time to push back to strange, useful frictions, systems you can experiment with, not being handholdy, going big but going built, being in the right era to find a template, interconnected systems, unintended consequences and the ripple effects, emerging systems, the value of continuing to iterate on your ideas, the accessibility of Oblivion, not having to kill a guild master, crazy late game stories, delivering for the writers, creative collaboration, integrating into the creative goals and finding a way to avoid antagonism.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fallout 3, Tunic, Dragon Age, Monster Hunter World, Halo, Menzobarran, Eye of the Beholder, Starfield, Ubisoft, Far Cry, DOOM (1993), Quake, Father Beast, Xbox, Ashton Herrmann, OpenMW, mysterydip, Evan Skolnick, Halo, Star Wars, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: A bit... of Dark Souls

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 301: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part eight) Mar 24, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We thought we were so close, but neither of us has finished and so we talk about some late quest stuff. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett 102 hrs, Tim 36 hrs

Issues covered: losing a quest item, Brett spends many hours playing weekend games, having no next steps for a quest, having guild quests to finish, not obvious when there's more stuff, having to talk to everybody, the journal breaking under it's own weight, not remembering names, voice anchoring you to a character, skipping stuff in the world and not being curious, having the idea of the space but not quite having enough support to see the transitions, not being able to identify the current quest for yourself, a good formula to build upon, becoming acclaimed by all the councilors, speaking to the Gods, having to buy a slave in the main quest, the main quest being a whole game on its own, maximal games and being what you want, a brief tangent into Enchanting, going after the Dark Brotherhood, the commitment to the books, rewriting The Lusty Argonian Maid, a good quest, the feeling of a homebrew campaign, having a character be recalled for politics, carrying too much stuff, devaluing items, MMO levels of systems, having a long life with a game, discovering stuff for ten years, making a specific class, the "and" games, Brett and lore, wanting the lore to impact what you're seeing, finding the vampire clan houses, curing vampirism, saying yes to everything and the costs that incurs.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Psychonauts 2, Reed Knight, Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout 4, Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Chrono Trigger, AD&D Gold Box, Artimage, Kingdom Hearts, Mass Effect, Star Wars, LucasArts, Ashton Herrmann, mysterydip, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Takeaways and Mailbag catch-up

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 300: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part seven) Mar 16, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind and briefly celebrate 300 episodes of Dev Game Club. We've mostly devolved into discussing what has happened in our individual playthroughs at this point, but what else is one to do with an RPG this substantial? Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Tim: 29 hrs, Brett: 90 hrs

Issues covered: 300 episodes, Thermopylae, skill-based play, Brett finishes the Assassin's Guild, having the writs to get off easy, economical use of the mechanics they have, wanting the NPCs to cross your path more so you have a bigger moment when they intersect with the main story, feeling lost in the main quest, nothing handed to you on a silver platter, readability with a pixel-perfect font, the correlation between level advancement and guild advancement, being unable to get in to the Houses, not knowing what to do to become Hortator, opacity to figure out what to do, too big a game to be trial and error, "if I could just find some poetry," Tim pretends he hasn't read "The Lusty Argonian Maid," getting blocked by NPCs, being generous with fast travel, having a lot of unresolved mystery and meeting the dwemer, leaving all the lore behind, using all the hooks to do things, the flexibility for modding, the first time you enter a dwemer dungeon, whether there are callbacks to earlier games, having to finish this thing, running the game below minimum spec, the ways games bring people together, voice acting vs text, the broader reach that voice allows, experimentation in the indie space.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Reed Knight, Greg Knight, The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy IX, Kevin Kauffman, Fallout 3, Todd Howard, A Beautiful Mind, Oliver UV, Baldur's Gate, PC Gamer, Daron Stinnett, Falcon 3.0, Mig-29, Jeffool, Wildermyth, Janine Hawkins, LMNOP, Steven Spielberg, Deathloop, Elsinore, Harley Baldwin, Hamlet, Emily Short, Chris Crawford, mysterydip, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes: The name I couldn't come up with was Emily Short.

Next time: Finishing Morrowind!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 299: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part six) Mar 09, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We talk about the role-playing feeling of the game, how the guilds have a sense of real progression and reputation, and motivating play. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Brett to 71 hrs, Tim to 24

Issues covered: Tim decides he's going to be a good assassin from now on, having to kill the leads of guilds I'm head of, a level design soapbox moment, not leveraging symmetry, getting lost in Vivec City, victory in the Arena, self-guided missions, feeling like some quest-givers gave meaner quests, going to various locations for guild quests, doing work for the Night Mother, the squabbling over artifacts, an assassination behind locked doors, "the most Mel Brooks assassination," being OP for the game, feeling like the later games are more generic, feeling like you are really playing the role, infiltrating a base for a target, backbiting amongst the academics, having a bold moment of quest design, iterating on the formula, developing a sense of place, enjoying motivated play, friction between groups motivating play, having a complete experience from a quest line, revisiting the game, MMO feeling, the structure of The Witcher 3 and side quests that aren't, figuring out the alchemy system and its power, using the mad magician as motivation, a sum of parts game, not proud, adding time to every quest line.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Three Musketeers, Greg Knight, Mel Brooks, Starfield, Fallout (series), Reed Knight, Crazy Taxi, Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Sam, Stephen, Kingdom Hearts, The Matrix (obliquely), Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: ??? What is time?

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 298: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part five) Mar 02, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We talk a little bit about the systems and friction, our individual stories, and Brett solves his Magicka problem. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Just more hours of Morrowind

Issues covered: not sharing the same experience, we compare hours played, a Chocobo Paradise situation, finding where the UI tells you what factions want from your skills, joining the Imperial Legion, working on my long blades, paying off your murders, the weird reveal of the fog of war, very specific usability in terms of having to talk to people, the strangeness of the setting, the friction of the navigation of literal space and its basis in tabletop, wanting to get more usable and sacrifices are made, pure open world design, Eurojank with systems and friction, physical movement in the 3D space, discovering a community of vampires, being guided to points of interest, using markers on the map, training limits, how level design has evolved for dungeons in open worlds, the things that have started to work, finding the Ghost Wall, spending two hours on one assassination, seeing layered architecture in a place, managing the inventory with single icons for groups of potions, having your own diseases, an above-ground Underdark, conjuring a ghost to absorb its magic attack, being so systemic that weird actions result, equations that scale up, emergence of systems, the acrobatics of 1000, Valestra the Thinker, loving the support of all the different play styles, Tim atoning for his sins, a Mage's Guild where you have to teleport to get in, the creative goals of the game guiding how much art you reuse, marketing needs, being responsible with making your art,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Legend of Zelda (series), Final Fantasy IX (obliquely), Tolkien/LotR, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Mount and Blade, Fallout 3, Ultima Underworld, Assassin's Creed (series), Hitman (series), Pulp Fiction, Halo, National Lampoon's European Vacation, mysterydip, Zeriquinn, Dan Hunter, The Witcher (series), Eye of the Beholder, Logan, Mario (series), BioWare, Call of Duty, Bungie, Horizon (series), Tom Cruise, Robert Mitchum, Resident Evil 7, David Collins, Uncharted/The Last of Us, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: When does it end?

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 297: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part four) Feb 23, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We spend some time catching each other up on our successes and failures, talk about it as a preparation game, and the interconnectedness of the lore. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: More hours of Morrowind

Issues covered: Brett finds Tim's yurt, "Dare I continue," being out at the boundaries of the systems, a preparation game and not a find the things you need on the way, finding things to be too difficult, the mercenary who couldn't follow me, asking the game to cheat, Tim having Divine Interventions from early in the game, paying to teleport, Morag Tong sharing quests around, needles in haystacks, carrying armor back to sell, Dark Elven Barbarian Ashlanders, reuniting the clans, defeating the Dwemer, the feeling of richness of the world, creating mysteries and webbing them together, quests as direction rather than reward, white folks writing Africa/colonialism, hearing repeated references to slavery, Tim revisits Elder Scrolls lore, navigating the web of connections, diving into Daedric lore, playing Skyrim looking for how it will fit in memory, diving into memory and virtual memory, Z-keying a head all the way to Tenpenny Towers, the memory systems of consoles, Tim learns about crime and the uses of the writs, sleeping in the wrong bed, avoiding theft, accommodating the assassin's playstyle, being taught how to play the game, finding a bug in Halo and being unable to finish the fight, weird mission select structures, the opacity in the structure of Morrowind, individual playthroughs and how it makes you think about the game, having the low friction and higher friction layers of play, a frictionless model with weirder content, checking out the whole Halo series.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon Magazine, Ray Winninger, Fallout 3, Double Negative, Bioware, PlayStation, Sony, XBox, Half-Life, Guy Carver, Dreamcast, Dungeons & Dragons, mysterydip, The2ndQuest, Halo (series), GoldenEye, Agent Under Fire, Final Fantasy VI, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, Ashton Herrmann, Breath of the Wild, Ubisoft, The Witcher 3, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Psychonauts 2, Watch Dogs (series), Far Cry (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Shoe, Bungie, 343 Industries, DOOM (2016), Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Still More-owind

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 296: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part three) Feb 16, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2002's Morrowind. We talk about our own weird experiences some more, since we are essentially playing different games, and how we are feeling the intersection of different quest lines. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Another handful of hours

Issues covered: down and out in Vivec City, getting around in an oddly constructed city, weather effects, lava in dwarven ruins and by the side of the road, whether there are arenas in every game, feeling like you found something secret, the way the writing tricks you about being special, assassination writs, getting map markers vs directions, chaining silt strider vs boats to locations, the most Bethesda hour and a half, finding a way out of Suran, walking your dad all the way through the world in Fallout 3, QAing while you play, bursting at the seams, you never forget your first assassination, a little short for a stormtrooper, Tim enters cheese mode, using the door trick, paying your way through quests, having to kill a whole family, the various reactions to assassination, returning to the dwarven ruin, is this my life now?, high sense of discovery, choosing what you want to spend your time on, modern games and the externalized question mark vs Morrowind and the internalized question mark, activating quests, decoupling race in D&D, buying your way into NPC's hearts, a mushy game, paying your crimes off or sitting in jail, being mechanically mushy to compensate for lack of DM, everything having a purpose, being approached by the Dunmer hare krishna, "have you heard the good word about Dagoth Ur?," dreaming and prophecy, simple quests with rich text, overlapping every location with multiple quest lines, keyword unlocking, "always be sneaking," "we don't care if they finish the story," having your own story, some feedback about technical terms.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Knights of the Old Republic, Assassin's Creed (series), The Walking Dead, Choose Your Own Adventure (series), Trevanian, Breath of the Wild, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Fallout 3, Star Wars (obliquely), Hitman (obliquely), Darren Johnson, TIE Fighter, Miller's Crossing, Resident Evil (series), Witcher III, Fallout (isometric series), Dungeons & Dragons, Le samourai, Dragon Quest Builders, Richard Lemarchand, Crystal Dynamics, Amy Henning, Soul Reaver, Naughty Dog, _cpjk, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Even More-owind

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 295: Morrowind (part two) Feb 09, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. We talk a little bit about how leveling appears to work, finding quests and using the journal, and just heading off on your own. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: More hours

Issues covered: two roads diverging in a wood, the various Tongs, having some fantasy etymology and naming conventions, the emergence of groups and politics, a huge leap forward from prior Bethesda games, clear analogies to Forgotten Realms, the Dark Brotherhood quest lines, murder triggering a quest line, quests being tied to guilds, worrying about the flexibility of the game to support player choices, grinding reputation in an MMO as opt-in, the QA/dev speedrun challenge, game exploits vs bug exploits, fictional identity to align quests vs clear differences between main and side quests, getting lost on the "roads," modularity and reuse, going deep and losing focus, committing to a character concept, the "good" assassins, etymology of cantor vs canton, the hugeness of Vivec City, tracking a serial killer, trying to track down the Morag Tong under the Arena, the trade-offs between single-character and party RPGs, raising your open skill, "I want to kill people but I want to be good!," opposing the old guilds and the new in the underbelly, cities are their own thing, surprise moment to introduce a spell, opening up all the variables as fodder for quests, adding layers of backstory pieces as you go, going deep into every bit of content, your major skills and how they contribute to leveling, born under a bad sign, the ability to break the game, loving the game because of its flexibility, the user experience problem, not reading the effing manual, having the strategy guide, success breeding stagnation and not pursuing the bugs, isolation and bringing in new talent and the same people making the games, building up technical debt and the costs of servicing technical debt, making different triage decisions and the balance of your focus, sailing the Ship of Theseus, managing scope and risk, 404'ed credits, changing the feel with dual wielding vs the grenade, player overwhelm with choices.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Emil Pagliarulo, Witcher III, Fallout 3, Factor 5, Rogue Squadron, Reed Knight, Xbox, Dragon Age 2, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Dungeons & Dragons, Just Once/James Ingram (obliquely), Breath of the Wild, Less Than Zero, mysterydip, NetImmerse/Gamebryo, Billy Idol, Grand Theft Auto (series), Uncharted (series), Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Halo (series), 343 Industries, Jaime Griesemer, UbiSoft, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More-owind

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 294: Halo Bonus Interview with Jaime Griesemer Jan 26, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a bonus to our series on Halo with a chat with designer Jaime Griesemer, whose sniper rifle talk we referenced in the series. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 1:01 Interview 1:13:02 Break 1:13:37 Outro

Issues covered: looking up Halo lore for the intro, going to school to be a physicist, blackmailing someone for a studio tour, quickly leaving QA by making multiplayer maps, teams stacked with talent, refusing to return the keys, building the level before the play, enjoying the economy-free RTS, "sci-fi Myth," the early version being mostly vehicle- and exterior-based, finding the fun with multiplayer first, having long single rounds, Microsoft seeing something in Halo, how the demo worked, rehearsing to capture one long take, having no sound engine and covering it with music, desperation is the mother of intervention, a hair's breadth from disaster, FedEx-ing the disc, "tell us the formula," being bound to legacy, reverting to the roots, the philosophy background helping influence his design, incepting to understand design process, working with lousy controllers, reconfiguring other games, using the Usability Lab, the interrogation room/psych experiment lab, cameras pointed, being unable to ask whether controls are inverted, testing allowing natural configuration of buttons (and failing), how default became the default, an intro level that holds up, threading the needle between boredom and forgetting, people who forgot to look, people who can't use both sticks, the connection between the tutorial and the Usability Lab, a boring part making the exciting part more exciting, contextualizing the 30 seconds of fun, recontextualizing, why Halo has two weapons, limited memory, constraints inspiring creativity, having to make the right decision, the power of violating conventions, removing what's between you and the fun part, "random access controls," making all the decisions available "right now," thinking and having actions happen immediately, enabling the golden tripod, adding more buttons or sticks doesn't help, the co-evolution of games and controllers, the limitations of arcade controls, the Griesemer Click, the iterative process of tuning, synaesthesia, coming back to re-tune from scratch after a week, craft yourself into a good experiencer, "if I was good at the games, the games wouldn't be good," appreciate things while they're happening... and then seek something new, seeing whether games can do something new in nonfiction, regretting your quotes, reflecting back on a panel, enjoying the specifics, a restrained amount of progression, not having an RPG character in Master Chief.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Myth, Tyson Green, Jason Jones, Destiny, Sucker Punch, Infamous: Second Son, Highwire, Marty O'Donnell, Golem, Evan Wells, Dustin Browder, Blizzard, Starcraft, Matt Tateishi, Randy Smith, Paul Bertone, Chris Barret, Alex Seropian, Oni, Warcraft, Company of Heroes (series), MacWorld, Microsoft, ARMA (series), Steve Jobs, Julian Gollop, X-COM, Marathon, TimeSplitters, GoldenEye, PlayStation, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Jim McQuillan, Tetris, Call of Duty (series), Shigeru Miyamoto, DOOM (1993), Half-Life, Nintendo, Six Days in Fallujah, Thief, Hal Barwood, Halo: Infinite, AC: Odyssey, Troy Mashburn, Resident Evil VII/Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Morrowind!

Links: Halo MacWorld Demo (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YJ53skc-k4

On All Levels (2003 GDC Talk, audio only)

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 293: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part one) Jan 19, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda Game Studios RPG classic from 2002. We situate it in time and then dive right in, having been released from imprisonment and sent on a specific mission. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours of play

Issues covered: 2002 in games, Todd Howard's first mainline game as director, a little about Bethesda, Tim's history with the series, early games feeling open world, finding the titles generic, Brett confesses, not playing just the main quest, directing the player via POIs, self-motivated quests, interview homework, the prophecies, something is going on in Vvardenfell, name/job, situating you in the world with character creation, the census bureau, the clever setups, tutorial and usability, the death of Ultima as a franchise, Brett the battlemage, being able to pick up anything, we try to find the names of the elven races, all the skills and accidentally thieving, sleeping in the wrong bed, having laws enforced, not being able to barter because of contraband, thoughtful world-building, imagining a bigger world from small interactions, playing the good assassin, being opposed to the outlanders, coming up with concepts from the real world, coding the Khajiit as shifty Arabs, homebrew and archetypal sources, steering away from making particular races evil, slavery in RPGs, walking to Balmora, doing some quests, different architecture, Tim's sidequest to woo a Dunmer, directions to get to a quest, what is the arc of the game?, feeling like you have chapters even when a game doesn't have progression or leveling up, the small decisions you make all the time in game design, the crosshairs in Halo.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jonah Lobe, Jean Simonet, Andrew Kirmse, Republic Commando, Oblivion, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Ratchet & Clank, Xbox, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Sly Cooper, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Jedi Starfighter, Battlefield 1942, Age of Mythology, Jedi Knight II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Neverwinter Nights, Bioware, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Todd Howard, Redguard, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, NHL series, Terminator, Fallout (series), Starfield, The Witcher III, Reed Knight, Ultima Underworld, Arena, Daggerfall, Patrick Stewart, Firaxis, MechAssault, DoubleNegative (youtuber), Liam Neeson, Fallout: New Vegas, Underworld Ascendant, Paul Neurath, Baldur's Gate, Tyranny, Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, WoW Classic, Infinity Engine, Sea of Thieves, Ifthatisyo U'rerealname, Halo, RE VII, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More hours?

Links: You're Finally Awake

Errata: The game we referred to as the spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld was Underworld Ascendant and not Ascension (which was the subtitle to Ultima IX). We regret the error.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 292: Goodbye 2021 Jan 12, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we reflect on the year that was, looking back at the interviews and lessons we took away. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: work and long hours, how we generate our lists, more keys that aren't keys, the tangibility of character sheets, the impact of D&D campaigns, your love and fun translating into what you make, labors of love, feeling games that no one felt a spark making, feeling like your hard work paid off, cancelling projects, ideas coming up again later, maintaining the fragile connection between player and character, a perspective on the effort that it takes to deliver a great experience, trailblazing a new feature, thinking about a camera, camera design is like puzzle solving, good camera work being invisible, Uematsu loves prog rock, accessibility, "the team makes the game," sharing credit, bringing in all your players, collaboration, finishing games you hadn't before, being a finisher vs not, Master Chief as the iconic space marine, feeling like Master Chief is black, being more about the lore than the story, CW Suicide (skip 54:20 - :30), getting hooked on Halo, a game series following you through major events, the LucasArts Halo tournament, connecting with your kids through games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Baldur's Gate, Ratchet & Clank, Brian Allgeier, James Ohlen, Michael Backus, Dungeons & Dragons, Joel Gifford, Control, Girl with a Stick, Ted Price, LucasArts, Tim Schafer, Grim Fandango, Double Fine Productions, Psychonauts, Headlander, Lee Perry, Lee Petty, Epic Games, Jon Knoles, Bounty Hunter, Blackout Club, Question Games, Bethesda Game Studios, Remi Lacoste, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft Montreal, Donald Duck Gone Quackers, Crash Bandicoot, Nintendo, Sebastian Deken, Final Fantasy (series), Nobuo Uematsu, Halo, Sony, Microsoft, Patrice Desilets, Resident Evil 4, Ocarina of Time, Prey, Arkham Asylum, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Jarrko Sivula, 343 Industries, Star Wars, Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Ashton Herrmann, Bungie, Half-Life, The Fellowship of the Ring, Crystal Dynamics, KB, Lia, Minecraft, Sasha/Truffles Moccachino, RE 7, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Either an interview *or* our next game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 291: Halo Takeaways / Halo Infinite Bonus Episode Jan 05, 2022

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we really wrap our series on Halo by providing our takeaways, and then dive in and out of feedback to talk Halo Infinite. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours of Halo Infinite

Issues covered: being stuck with the helmet silhouette, 30 seconds of fun, the feel of the controls, elevating lesser elements, world-building and an iconic character, compelling people through mystery, the feeling of the epic, bringing the world to life through physics, verticality and memorability, knowing where you are in the outdoors, mixing up enemies for AI variability, directing the player, possible physics changes, things that the graphics changed, playing with your son, sampling some types of missions, the tank simulation, resetting the story of the series, picking Master Chief out of the debris, having a grappling hook, returning to the spirit of the first game, revealing the ring, really committing to the grappling hook, showing all the things you do with the grappling hook in the opening cinematic, extending the golden triangle, explicit damage types, ammo crates, having more headshotting, audio, story missions, switching from in-person to remote, having sneakernet be part of the normal production process, designing process and culture for your working environment, video game adjacent spaces, machinima, recording matches, shipping the complete package, having so many products and just one team, franchise history, all the things that a TES game is expected to have, Tim getting scared.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: George Lucas, Ratchet and Clank, Ringworld, Larry Niven, Discworld, Half-Life 2, Myth, Bungie, Republic Commando, The Red, Linda Nagata, John K, Goldeneye, Will, Microsoft, Paul Crocker, Lani Lum, Star Trek, Legend of Zelda, Sotaro Tojima, Metal Gear (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Ben Zaugg, Red vs Blue, Rooster Teeth, Netflix, Xbox Live, Forge, Luke S, Red Dead/GTA Online, Ghosts of Tsushima, Last of Us II, Skyrim, Activision, Call of Duty (series), Ubisoft, 343 Industries, Resident Evil VII, Saw, PT, Paranormal Activity, Silent Hill, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Brett's Book Recommendation: The Red, by Linda Nagata

Errata: Brett looked it up, and it's the Battle of Wolf 359. We regret the error.

Next time: Possibly an interview!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 290: Halo: Combat Evolved (part three) Dec 29, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk about some of the major story beats here towards the end, the repetitive aspects good and bad, letting the fights play out in front of you, music, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Issues covered: why is the Flood on Halo, a floor wax and a dessert topping, how do you prevent people from visiting dangerous places, proper noun series, wiping the galaxy of food, Sentinels working for and against you, the deeper meaning of Halo and religious resonance, dealing with big archetypes and lending timelessness, explaining/contextualizing as you move on, losing the mythic, having to get Keyes's authorization codes, using the enemies against one another, engaging and becoming the focus, detecting when the player should be the focus of attention, sandboxes and thinking you can do more than you actually can, stealth and not for Halo, the repetition of the Library, the strength of the original graphics, the golden triangle, the dance of combat and the depth of multiplayer, switching grenade types, tactical choices behind weapons for the enemy types you'll fight, going out and returning to the Pillar of Autumn, feeling different if you have vertical movement, the confusion of the engineering space, having to find the armory, finishing the game co-op, Brett's many failures, requiring skill checks along the way to lead you to the challenge, art/architecture getting in the way, payouts getting drowned out by frustration, time pressure, high skill ceiling, smoothing out the experience, orchestral accompaniment, combining disparate musical elements, the impact of music, the theme song matching the character, setting tone and mood with the Flood themes, pairing opposites, conservative plus primal.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Destiny, Portal 2, Stephen Merchant, Wesley, Star Wars, Legend of Zelda (series), Bruce Willis, Looper, Call of Duty (series), Medal of Honor (series), DOOM (1993), Resident Evil 4, Star Trek, Andrew Kirmse, Skyrim, Death Stranding, Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, John Williams, Indiana Jones, ET, Harry Potter, Nintendo, Myth, Resident Evil VII/Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: A little bit of Infinite

Errata: Brett realizes it's not a beholder but a cacodaemon in DOOM, but has D&D on the brain. We regret the error.

Also, the Covenant ship is the Truth and Reconciliation.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 289: Halo: Combat Evolved (part two) Dec 22, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk vehicles, architecture, lore, and level design before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Library!

Issues covered: the ungainly Marine vehicles vs the sleek Covenant vehicles, enjoying the shooting quite a bit, the driving model of the Warthog, camera-based driving, driving into walls and off edges, co-op driving, the freedom of driving in the sandboxes, checkpointing based on logic vs location, promoting experimentation, having the feel of an RTS and having the freedom to move around, component-based mix and match, watching an RTS fight from both sides, having the ability to use the damage model to your advantage, having two guns and not constantly refilling just one or two weapons, knowing what weapons you can pick up, orthogonal weapon design, high-level play, the feeling of the different difficulty levels, looking at the original artwork, space Egyptians, beton brut, building from an architectural principle, lower noise in the original art, the huge sense of scale, the story being told in a particular way, not wanting the lore to take precedence, archetypes and mystery, liking a reboot, losing your bearings from the repeated nature of the spaces, the granularity of its environmental modules, kitbashing in other games, differentiating through enemy mixes, Halo being best as a horror game, the Covenant had a point!, suddenly having a shotgun, AR tie-ins fueled by Doritos and presented by Mountain Dew, how Halo holds up, not loving the horror, loving the horror.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Andrew Kirmse, Myth, Baldur's Gate, Triple Click podcast, DOOM (1993), John Romero, Jaime Griesemer, Mark Garcia, Stargate, James Cameron, Aliens, Nic Bouvier, GoldenEye, Star Wars, RA Salvatore, Bungie, Destiny, Ridley Scott, Prometheus, Resident Evil (series), Final Fantasy (series), Witcher (series), Mario (series), Mike Wu, Skyrim, Fallout (series), Bethesda Game Studios, Flood/They Might Be Giants, Polygon, Nolan Filter, Paranormal Activity, Pokemon Go, 7-11 Presents Halo 4: King of the Hill Fueled by Mountain Dew, Geoff Keighley, Tim, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Finish the game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 288: Halo: Combat Evolved (part one) Dec 15, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series about Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie's seminal 2001 FPS on the Xbox. We set it in time, discuss its development history, and delve into tutorialization. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to rescuing Keyes on the Truth & Reconciliation

Issues covered: 2001 in games, lull in PC shooters that year, Bungie history, the astonishing development, seeing the migration in the game from the units on the battlefield, betting big, other shooters on consoles, the unexpected internal hit at Microsoft, Oni's complex combat system, the seminal paper on first-person controls, aim acceleration, the big impact of being purchased, the audacity of a PC-focused developer muscling into the market, the library advantage of Sony, lack of distinguishing system sellers, the sole mascot, the enterprise/application/services mentality, the alienation of PC games, DirectX as a unifying force, friends lists and achievements, Xbox Live, politics derailing JSF being the Xbox Live launch title, orthogonal approaches like GamePass, unthawing the Chief, the usability lab, just asking you to look to establish preferences, Technical Requirements Checklist/Technical Checklist of Requirements, being rebellious, a lot of mysteries right at the beginning, sequences for health/shields, giving context, having a motion tracker, Covenant mirroring you vs grunts that don't, low morale pests, clear and different silhouettes, target prioritization, dropping the weapons they carry and enabling different decisions, being able to swap to the old graphics, hating our wokeness, dynamic ability and missability of treasure stuff in RE4, being a bit obscure, survival horror working against scouring an area, possibility of inviting a critic, indie games, the age difference between Leon and Ashley (vs the apparent difference), aging the protagonist towards your own age.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: GTA III, Silent Hill 2, Ico, Civ III, Anachronox, Animal Crossing, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Devil May Cry, MGS 2: Sons of Liberty, Super Smash Melee, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, Jak & Daxter, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Game Boy Advance, Advance Wars, Max Payne, Black & White, Dark Age of Camelot, Baldur's Gate II, Painkiller, DOOM 3, World of Warcraft, Everquest II, Asheron's Call, Bungie, Marathon (series), Myth (series), Mumbo Jumbo, Take Two Interactive, Apple, MacWorld, Microsoft, Ed Fries, Oni, Republic Commando, Starfighter (series), GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Rare, Jason Jones, id Software, Epic Megagames, PlayStation, Forza, Brute Force, MechAssault, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, Star Wars, Geoff Jones, Medal of Honor, Saber Interactive, 343 Industries, Troy Mashburn, Karl Popper, Resident Evil 4, Zachary Crownover, Nick Miller, Limited Run Games, Indie Game: The Movie, Suikoden 2, Jason Schreier, MinnMax, Rebel FM, Undertale, Braid, Call of Duty (series), This War of Mine, 11bit Studios, Ben Zaugg, Resident Evil VII, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 287: Resident Evil Village Bonus Dec 08, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this add a bonus to our series on Resident Evil 4 by taking a look at Resident Evil Village. We talk about the bit of the game we played, some of the things that come with first-person and realistic rendering, and then turn to some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The first couple hours

Issues covered: the entrancing Lady Dimitrescu, looking forward to playing more over the break, the very different storybook introduction, whether these games are a continuation, building on things others have been doing, the way photorealism falls into an uncanny valley from even props, the way older games signify what is interactable, feeling like you're in a vision mode, knowing the baselines from your initial experience, the acceptability of something rundown, a modern update of RE4, "why does this keep happening to me," wanting to know who you are, being a cipher should maybe go all the way, age-appropriate character delivery device, the over-the-top murder of Mia, the impressive engine they are using, good claustrophobic audio and camera design, finding your sweet spot, slowing in ADS, good resource balancing, a single enemy being terrifying, the creepy guy who is like Mendez and being transported with the ringing of the bell, the systemic daughters that can be defeated in specific ways but short-term dealt with, the slower pacing, doing less with more, prioritizing the right things/focusing on the right stuff, survival horror and working through dark stuff safely, the game you had in your memory, how a game is set against the background of other games you're playing, how we deal with things that are pretty gross, calling it out, needing to be better, being open to perspectives, listening.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Calamity Nolan, Metal Gear Solid, Inside, Limbo, Last of Us 2, Gone Home, Dear Esther, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, What Remains of Edith Finch, P.T., Metal Gear (series), Half-Life, Alien: Isolation, Monster Hunter World, Capcom, Artimage, God of War (2018), Sasha Visari/Truffles Mochacchino, Wii, Ratchet & Clank, BioShock, Ocarina of Time, Hitman 2, Trespasser, Reed Knight, Seamus Blackley, JJ, Karl Popper, RockStar, GTA III, Activision/Blizzard, Chris Corry, Xbox Live, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: ???

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 286: Resident Evil 4 (part six) Dec 01, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about various set pieces at the end, a bit about ammo types and balance, and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Issues covered: having more cutscenes and quotable lines, set piece stuff that reminds you of other series, tying back to the series, parallels with Metal Gear Solid, being campy vs leaning into camp, new enemy types, whether an enemy was skippable, feeling resource poor, weapon choices, conserving resources as much as you can, losing resources to being unable to line up enemies, making ammo more powerful via upgrades, killing parasites with flash grenades, whether resource constraints are balanced for all players dynamically, leaning more heavily on QTEs, replacing mechanics with QTEs, forcing exposition, camera authoring, uninteresting skill challenges, Ashley driving and the rail-shooting, being more action-y than survival horror, wish fulfillment/power fantasy, where you can kill enemies, Krauser and backstory, leaning on prior character knowledge, feeling like the Saddler battle doesn't pay off, not having the right location, the eye in the mouth, the series going darker, replaying the jetski scene again and again, controller problems, planned obsolescence, the rainbow proposition, sturdier controllers, credits story time, ending with a bit of a whimper, Mike we hardly knew ya, Brett's Book Recommendations, the commitment to design tension, the pacing of combat, linear macro design with arena sections, agency in level flow, the AI states and how they work everywhere, the great balancing across the whole game, balancing a game you can't change, pushing your game further but not too far, adding the right things and leaving the right things behind.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear Solid, Konami, Capcom, Die Hard (obliquely), Killer 7, Grasshopper Interactive, Suda51, Fatal Frame, Hideo Kojima, Dark Souls, 28 Days Later, Gamecube, PS4, Nintendo, Deus Ex, Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic, Julian Gollop, X-COM, Soren Johnson, Civilization III, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Good question! Thought you might ask!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 285: Resident Evil 4 (part five) Nov 24, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We take a little sidestep into the things that aren't mentioned in the manual, and then work through Chapter 4. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the end of Ch 4!

Issues covered: things we didn't notice about the game, target practice, going to apparent side tracks first, extending play to try to slow trade-in, collectibles, gacha mechanics, needing to enjoy the core thing, a precursor to lootboxes, expanding to other types of players, ways to expand the mechanics, upgrading treasures, having the nagging idea that you might need to go back, hidden mechanic that extends play, adding discovery, Eastern vs Western design philosophies, misreading the thing they wanted from the El Gigantes, the dragon room, having to come back to a side room, leaving Ashley behind, the layers of history of Europe vs Japan, looking for locations and ideas that can support a lot of varied fictional, differences between systems and level design and parallels with programming, the creature that seems unkillable, being unable to read the boss' states, the Salazar bot and Salazar as an enemy (versus others), the mine car section and its tensions, failing the QTE at the end, wanting an indication that a QTE is coming, feeling unfair, Brett makes a plan, the problem with setpieces, matching expectations, insta-killed by being grabbed by a lava gigante, dropping barrels on your enemies, fighting in close quarters, being absorbed into a giant plant, jumping down to avoid QTEs, turning and running and fighting the design, Your Princess is in another castle, giving a little bit of thanks.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Shenmue, Arkham Asylum, Metal Gear (series), Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Assassin's Creed, Legend of Zelda (series), Arkane, Dishonored (series), Prey, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Ico, Dragon's Lair, Republic Commando, God of War, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Donkey Kong, The Thing, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Temple of Doom.

Next time: Finish the game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 284: Resident Evil 4 (part four) Nov 17, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the ecology of the monsters, defense sequences, and bobbing and weaving. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the end of 3-4

Issues covered: sagacity and gardens, finding the PS4 to be a slightly easier platform, the enemy count, the easier tram ride as a setpiece, running out of ammo in the town on replay, being thoughtful of ammo use and switching to the knife, the suplex, the retinal scanner, Mendez taking the stylized symbol shape, the ecology of the parasite, the dev-evolution of the parasites, feeling like a cohesive setting, a place that used to be a place, Saddler's insectoid form under the robes and his cosmic horror staff, the creep Salazar, gunning and running, taking advantage of AI slowness, higher breeds of hybrids, using the sandbox in interesting ways, having to defend Ashley when separated, having the final exam with Ashley and changing up the challenges, Brett discovers that Tim didn't get the turret gunner, getting a lot out of spaces, the back and forth with Ada Wong, localization issues, another test of the player, Ashley's contextual attacks, the camera closing in and Ashley sticking super close, avoiding the hard thing, noticing the weirdness, poor localization choices, investing in decisions you make (especially when it comes to cultural sensitivity), justifying the investment, othering and foreignness, screaming at Leon, playing RE4 more as a strategy game, pacing and a strategic spectrum, using games to do games stuff.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: PS4, Zach, Dungeons & Dragons, James Bond, Alien, Benjamin Button, Tomorrow Never Dies, Michelle Yeoh, Kumail Nanjiani, Call of Duty, David Cage, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Max, Guillermo del Toro, Akira Kurosawa, Ghosts of Tsushima, The Seven Samurai, Sony, Stephen, Xbox, X-COM, Alien: Isolation, DOOM (1993), Control, Alan Wake, Reed Knight, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: All of Ch 4

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 283: Resident Evil 4 (part three) Nov 10, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the new horror in the game, our systematic companion and the other NPC, look at the choice of paths, and then take the tram. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To Chapter 3

Issues covered: remembering the game, recovering the map, El Gigante reveal, stabbing the creature in the back, getting to no health but being allowed to recover, taking big swings early, foreshadowing traps and the dog, the systematic companion, the church and navigating to Ashley, the quality of the puzzles and being more grounded, the emergence of the Las Plages virus, introducing the enemies, reuse of gameplay objects in the siege, ugh-inducing achievement names, losing Ashley to the Gigante, the many ways Ashley interacts with the game, mechanical/narrative consonance, being introduced to interactions before you have Ashley to interact with them, being able to plan and having accommodations for the plan and executing the plan, maximizing the amount of play you can get from a space, having an apparent plan but being unable to pay it off because of camera movement, changing the camera to be lower in the El Gigante fights, the difficulty of the tram section, the accuracy of the Wii version, another potential way to play BioShock, the soft way BioShock reinforces whether you should deal with the Little Sisters, systems and endings, the interconnectedness of RE4, modality of fire and move at the same time being key to the pacing, finding all the little things in a game you love, tapping A once or twice for slow or fast doors, returning to Ordinary,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Zachary, God of War, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Leon: The Professional, DayOfTheDan, The Lonely Island, Andy Samberg, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Mark Garcia, BioShock, Dishonored II, Wildermyth, Janine Hawkins, Walker Farrell, David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years, Zachary Crownover, Sam, Grim Fandango, Silent Hill, Control, God of War (2018), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: More RE4!

Links: "Play" in evolutionary science

Death animations in RE4

Sam Thomas's RE4RL game and trailer

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 282: Resident Evil 4 (part two) Nov 03, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk a bit about the modern mechanics it introduces to the series and consider how it maintains its balance despite it. And, of course, we take a peaceful boat ride across a lake. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up past the lake

Issues covered: quoting the merchant, how the chain saw Ganado appears in the opening section, approaching the town in a particular way, bottlenecking, the dynamism of the enemies, knifing enemies, integrating the merchant into play, art object collection and the economy, trends in 2005, player agency not working against survival horror, the risk of breaking your economy, wondering if they tune for money drops, wanting to find all the things, tuning dynamic difficulty, navigation puzzles, paths to be able to run away, the canyon area, the ups and downs of the series, excellent and non-excellent helicopter rides, QTEs and non-repeatability, maybe being generous in the remaster, attracting you to the collectible, the peasants just farming, keeping performance up with lots of characters, not using tons of tricky spawning, film grain look plus feeling color graded, the lake creature being a cryptid and not just a big alligator, having more characters, introduction of Ada Wong, the scale of the first big monster feeling so overwhelming, getting tossed from the boat in the lake, upgrading weapons and carrying a lot of grenades, are guns worth more after being upgraded?, obsolete upgrades, ideology and abstraction, how the DLC recontextualizes BioShock Infinite, maybe giving BioShock too much credit for its themes, are there horror games that fill us with dread, being scared at a young age, psychological horror getting to you, the importance of audio, power dynamics and increasing tension.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Zachary, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Rage, id Software, Designers Notebook, Left 4 Dead, God of War, Lord of the Rings, Devil May Cry, Tobe Hooper, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tim, BioShock, Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message, Baron/Daniel, Tanner, Fatal Frame/Project Zero, WiiU, PT, Alien: Isolation, The Exorcist, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Minecraft, Valheim, Dragon Quest Builders, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Find out on Twitter, maybe, if I remember :)

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 281: Resident Evil 4 (part one) Oct 27, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 2005's Capcom horror classic, Resident Evil 4. We place it in its time and then talk immediately about how it really kicked the third-person action-adventure game into higher gear. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the second typewriter

Issues covered: the Capcom 5, having some trouble getting the game off the ground, success of the remake, a really different feel, relying on establishing POV shots from slashers, horror movie touchpoints, moving away from straight-up zombie games, differences between Chris and Leon, meeting Hunnigan via the Codec, popularizing the third-person shooter, hold-overs from the older controls, fighting the controls, embodying the character, disempowerment, pick a spot and stand your ground, jerky enemies, shooting a weapon out of the air, opening up the level design to multiple paths, the gun-and-run, Leon's better tactics, "various awesome actions," moving saves away from being a resource, a more revealed map, having people coming at you with pitchforks and torches, can you get the chainsaw guy?, disconnects with marketing, getting lucky to have marketing departments who got it, moral choices and the morally objectionable, motivating the character choices for evil, coloring the tone of dialog to reflect your choices, what weapons we chose with BioShock, talking about the wrench kill, loving crossbows, style over substance in Control.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, SW: Republic Commando, Psychonauts, Guild Wars, Civ IV, FEAR, The Undying, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, AC: Wild World, Guitar Hero, Mercenaries, Battlefront II, KotOR II, Lego Star Wars, Xbox 360, Capcom, GameCube, PN 03, Vanquish, Viewtiful Joe, Suda51, Killer 7, Clover Studio, Hideki Kamiya, Dead Phoenix, Panzer Dragoon, PlayStation 2, Devil May Cry, PT, Game Developer Magazine, Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Godzilla, Classic Monsters, The Hills Have Eyes, 'Salem's Lot, The Omen, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Living Dead, Shawn Cassidy, Silent Hill, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid, Frankenstein, Deathloop, Sam Thomas, BioShock, The Green Knight, David S. Lowery, Ghost Story, Jarkko S, Dishonored, Metro, Hitman, Control, Aki Kaurismaki, The Last of Us Part II, Ryan, Deus Ex, No More Heroes, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Check Twitter!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 280: BioShock 2/Infinite Bonus Oct 20, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a little splice to our series on BioShock by revisiting and discussing its sequels, somewhat vaguely. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: whether Elizabeth is a grown-up Little Sister, getting a chance to revisit Rapture, breaking cycles and circles, overstuffing the narrative space, the mechanics, Skyline rollercoasters, kitchen sink combat, trapping with vigors, combining vigors, being on the nose, dehumanizing the enemies and putting that next to more serious topics, a creator revisiting previous work, friction between teams, wanting more BioShock, "it is a big ole TWO," being able to use both types of weapons at the same time, simplifying hacking, finding new types of puzzles, fleshing out Rapture, paying off on a wish fulfillment you didn't know you have, "getting the franchise," going deeper, the difficulty of seeing someone else work on your work, the weirdness of the DLC, what would they do with a sequel, earning the ending, having more fun via creativity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Lottery (Shirley Jackson), Dishonored, Fallout 3/Fallout New Vegas, Alien: Isolation, Prey, Halo (series), Daron Stinnett, Star Wars, George Lucas, Escape from New York, Arkham (series), UbiSoft, Death of the Outsider, Deathloop, Resident Evil 4, GameCube, Tantuar, Drew, The Prestige, Hannah Arendt, Ken Levine, Sunset Overdrive, Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac, Control, Todd Howard, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes: The quote is "There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city." We regret the error.

Next time: Resident Evil 4!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 279: BioShock (part five) Oct 13, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on BioShock. We delve into the end and endings of the game, and of course address our takeaways.Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Issues covered: Brett's terrible fathering, Big Daddy issues, developing Suchong more as a character, Yellow Peril, leaning into pulp, being like a ship, turning the lower classes via demogoguery, leaning on the Irish, tracing the arc of Diane McClintock, using abstraction to hide real harm, character dualities, turning you into a Big Daddy, seeing the evolution and development of the program, putting the big boots on, fully integrating the backstory into the level and narrative design, redesigning to support the movement of the Big Daddy, changing the perspective, moving from alien camera views to first-person perspective, forcing the section where you protect the Little Sister, being paranoid about keeping the Little Sister alive, playing this section on Hard, BioShock 2 as a better-playing game, handing you the syringe, also becoming a Little Sister, where the series goes from here, the specificity of the series, how to adapt the themes of the series repeatedly, the point of no return, the boss working on paper and maybe not in-game as much, Fontaine being under-developed, still getting Ryan's story after his death, not knowing enough about Fontaine before meeting Ryan, the binary that drives the bad ending, becoming like your fathers, unmotivated world monstrosity, the good ending, doing something other games hadn't, BS jobs, failures of capitalism, a shooter with the heart of an immersive sim, greater approachability, two senses of place (sight and sound), high production values, ease of use/play how you like to/forgiving design.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fu Manchu, Titanic, Ratchet & Clank, Revenge of the Jedi, 2K Games, Cloud Chamber Studios, Activision, Call of Duty, Fallout, Star Wars, Metroid, Prometheus, Alien, Six Feet Under, The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years, Occupy Wall Street, Dishonored 2, Prey, God of War (series), Portal, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Bonus: the sequels!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 278: BioShock (part four) Oct 06, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk a lot about the surprise of the scene of Ryan, and some mechanical and production aspects we haven't had a chance to talk about yet. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Apollo Square!

Issues covered: where the game should (?) have ended, playing golf with your dad, finding a way to incorporate a power station, Ryan the abstract monster vs Ryan the concrete monster, changing the lens you view Ryan through, rationalizing one's choices, the red yarn board, forcing the player to see a scene the way they want you to, egocentric Ryan and seeing oneself as a tragic hero, every villain as the hero of his own story, mythological framing, other ways you could tackle player agency here, "The Cake Is A Lie," the Irish charmer becoming the Irish thug, using Atlas to puff out Ryan as a monster, the many many layers of references and archetypes, all that matters to me is me and all that matters to you is you, killing people who are much like you, differentiating the Little Sisters in the Tenenbaum section, the mind-control plasmid, walking a tightrope with difficulty and challenge, mixing up your plasmids, the simplicity of upgrades, some numbers change or more things can be impacted, not feeling the power of tonics and plasmids, lack of builds, the limited number of axes across which powers and weapons apply, compressing the depth, modularity in world construction, solid art direction, regularity in the built world, kit-bashing, a couple of kind reviews, dealing with issues of preservation, what gets lost, wanting leaders to do more, having let's plays for reference.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: System Shock 2, Snowpiercer, Portal, Walt Disney, Wide World of Disney, PIXAR, Studio Ghibli, William Hearst, Citizen Kane, Modern Warfare 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima, Arkham City/Arkham Knight, Robert De Niro, The Irishman, Ken Levine, Village of the Damned, Metroid, Ratchet & Clank, Unreal, Gears of War, Skyrim, Fallout (series), Jarkko S., Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Final Fantasy VI, Metal Gear Solid, Chris_3646363, Ocarina of Time, mysterydip, Phil Spencer, Vectrex, Double Fine, Square Enix, The Matrix (series/Online), The Wachowskis, Meridian 59, Andrew and Chris Kirmse, Control, The Lost Room, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links: Twitter thread on preservation

Next time: Finish the game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 277: BioShock (part three) Sep 29, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk about Fort Frolic and the arc of what's coming, guns and plasmids and a bit about their crossover, crafting, and gene tonics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Fort Frolic

Issues covered: hitting the best beats of the game, having the future be a little blurry, Cohen's theatricality, using the camera purely as a framing camera artistically, the multiple payoffs of the camera, critical path integration of the camera, time-delayed gratification, a bottle episode, the statue splicers, using spotlights theatrically, how do you produce oxygen and filter out carbon dioxide, riffing on space games, putting crafting on the critical path, not having inventory as a presented system but having it underneath, not a lot of difficult decisions, always being able to get enough stuff through grinding, minimal benefits to adding crafting stations, only just getting better plasmids and tonics (not spending to improve them), the changing approach to respecs in modern design, wanting to ground systems in the world, categorizing tonics as a sop to balancing, Trojan Horsing the immersive sim, alienating a smaller audience in favor of a larger one, Jack's mother and father, themes of family in the series, getting a lot of mileage from the narrative setting, the uselessness of the map and the way the objective marker can put you on the rails, not having decisions that mean a lot, the greater impact of the older games, the rise of blogs and critical outlets, explosion of other outlets around the time.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Pokemon Snap, Dead Rising, Xbox, Unreal Engine, System Shock, Thief, The Chronicles of Riddick, Repblic Commando, Prey, Dishonored, Fallout 3, Tomb Raider (2013), Ayn Rand, Resident Evil, Peter, Planescape: Torment, Control, Blarg42, Twin Suns Corp, Batman (film series), Calamity Nolan, Airplane!, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: To Apollo Square

Links: 1998: Why it's (probably) the Greatest Year Ever in video games

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 276: Bioshock (part two) Sep 22, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Bioshock. We talk about the horror elements early on, the use of minibosses, how low-friction the game is, hacking and of course, the Choice. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to end of Neptune's Bounty

Issues covered: reading how Atlas talks about Ryan knowing what we know, introducing Fontaine and audio tapes indicating maybe death at first, temporal setting, the game's argument both against and for the primacy of the individual, horror and the Medical Pavilion, doling out a good step-by-step game, having a solid target in Steinman, framing cinematic events well, theming characters in areas, audio design heightening the horror, seeing ghosts/echoes and the direct lift from System Shock 2, the setup and payoff of the Choice, Tim the Harvester, the difference between harvesting and rescuing, wondering about their goals in making the choice, the sea slug and the original version of the game, killing the protector and traumatizing the girl, not questioning Atlas even though he's wrong, the melancholy of the Big Daddies, the strength of the music and the use of diagetic music, the horror of the 1950s, dealing with the Sisters and Daddies as you go, the pipe hacking mini-game, being low friction, a very forgiving immersive sim, AI state vocalization, richness of AI voice lines, the shift of perspective and how it gives permission to allow for variety of lines, humanizing vs dehumanizing in AI state communication, Bioshock the power fantasy/shooter/hero story.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Half-Life, Arkham Asylum, Pablo Picasso, System Shock 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Bernard Herrmann, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Prey, Thief, Deathloop, Splinter Cell, Uncharted (series), The Last of Us, Naughty Dog, No One Lives Forever, James Bond, Austin Powers, Artimage, Control, The X-Files, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: To the end of Fort Frolic

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 275: Bioshock (part one) Sep 15, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2007's Bioshock. We set the game in its time and talk about how it expanded the audience for a shooter with sim elements, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Neptune's Bounty

Issues covered: the name change, retaining identity after being acquired, what is a brand, the games that year, the Shock-verse, wanting System Shock 3, missing the immersive sim, starting with the wrench and a power, the success of the game, broadening the appeal of immersive sim elements, the difficulty of balancing immersive sims and testing them, improving the shooting, a successful E3, keeping secret the weird beginning, the theme park opening, the bathysphere and the mystery, marine life being used once, delivering a really solid moment, a single location that is a character in and of itself, a sleeper hit, the games blogosphere, the "Bioshock slot", taking a chance on something quirky, superhero games often being bad, establishing an Art Deco aesthetic, amplifying fear by setting it underwater, leaning into the horror early, Dutch angle usage, needles, survival horror elements, staying in first person, story bits and teasing narrative out over time, growing story space, well-implemented audio logs, a good choice for narrative delivery, foreshadowing and making a place feel lived in, easy to enjoy, getting some stuff really right, Kindly filling folks in on Atlas, setting up the smoke and mirrors, reapproaching the 4X genre from an old hand, the fun that is Ratchet & Clank, choosing a language based on the regional flavor, how long to show the tutorialization, teach the player without them knowing they are being taught, dynamic tutorials.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Irrational Games/2K Boston, Firaxis, Microsoft, Bethesda Game Studios, SWAT 4, Republic Commando, Portal, Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Metroid Prime 3, Crysis, Nintendo Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, The Orange Box, Half-Life (series), Team Fortress 2, Medal of Honor: Vanguard, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, The Witcher, Peggle, PuzzleQuest, Crackdown, WoW: The Burning Crusade, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Lulu LaMer, PlayStation, Xbox, Rainbow Six: Vegas, System Shock 2, Ken Levine, Cloud Chamber, Prey, Arkane, Deathloop, Bioshock Infinite, The Incredibles, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Arkham Asylum, Skyrim, Rocksteady, Warner Bros., Jules Verne, Control, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Johnny Pockets Grattan, Old World, Soren Johnson, Civ III, Drew, Ratchet & Clank, Traveller's Tales, LEGO (series), GTA, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Ni No Kuni, SEGA, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead, Yakuza, Metal Gear (series), Death Stranding, Alan Wake, Remedy, Dragon Quest Builders, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBD! More Bioshock!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 274: Ratchet & Clank Bonus Interview with Brian Allgeier Sep 08, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we interview Brian Allgeier, the Lead Designer of the first Ratchet & Clank (as well as many others) in connection with our series. We cover 20 years of career at Insomniac, creative leadership, Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 1:12 Interview 59:45 Break 1:00:13 Feedback, Next Time

Issues covered: Girl with a Stick, first jobs, getting in as an animator and artist, getting a good demo reel together, being excited to work on Spyro, having trouble thematically connecting disparate elements, playing in a toy store, an alien traveling from planet to planet collecting weapons and gadgets, evolving the character, building levels diorama-style, getting the attitude of the character across, relatability, kitchen sink design, try it and see what happens, tinkering to find the fun, coming up with jokes except they were weapons, fun in the room translating to fun for the player, an iteration that last for years, grinding, having a rhythm of constantly getting more stuff, getting exciting to work on the games, focusing on story in a generation swap, eating up preproduction on a downloadable title, using challenges to develop as a studio, tricks from the book, switching to user experience research, learning about disability, figuring out movement in VR, always pushing forward, falling into pits, removing friction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Spyro the Dragon (series), Sony, Ted Price, Phillips Interactive Media, CD-i, Scooby-Doo, Michael John, Mark Cerny, Vinnie the Penguin, Cuphead, Warner Bros/Loony Tunes, Doom, Blue Shift Inc, Running Wild, 989 Studios, PlayStation 2, Brian Hastings, Marvin the Martian, The Little Prince, Iron Giant, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Conker's Bad Fur Day, David Guertin, Naughty Dog, Game Developer, Thomas Edison, Disruptor, Resistance (series), Call of Duty (series), Nintendo, Mike Stout, Halo, Pixar, Brad Santos, TJ Fixman, Directing Video Games: 101 Tips for Creative Leadership, Edge of Nowhere, Lucky's Tale, Sunset Overdrive, Remote Control, Nnedi Okorafor, Binti, Sam, Super Meat Boy, Spider-man, Tony Hawk, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes: Agent 9 was the spy-monkey in Spyro: YotD

Next time: BioShock!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 273: Ratchet & Clank (part five) Sep 01, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2002's Ratchet & Clank, with our takeaways and a bonus look at the 2016 remake. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Actually finished the game

Issues covered: the quality of the cinematics in the new game, Quark's criminal status, being underpowered for the final boss, getting money by going back so you can buy additional weapons, fun timing challenges, giving you a greatest hits in the last couple levels, the difficulty being a thing of its era, getting the benefit of dynamic difficulty, promoting grinding with currency systems, wanting additive rewards, the magic of the RYNO, the inaccessibility of the RYNO, keeping players stuck in one game, balancing on average vs minimum, giving you more navigation tools earlier and by default, doing what's coolest for the player, leaning into variety, infusing RPG elements into another genre, having lenses to navigate the environment, leaning into weapons, embracing the shooter/platformer combo, the Rule of Cool, generosity and finding ways to say yes to your designers and players, handcrafting lots of different things, the many things Insomniac does, the layout of the credits, character attitude, how Ratchet becomes more sympathetic, referring to Halo, character design changes, embracing modern third-person action, transmedia influence, appreciating the company.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Galaxy Quest!, Halo, Bungie, Insomniac, Dungeons & Dragons, Ted Price, Sony, Crash Bandicoot, Warner Bros, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Spider-Man, Edge of Nowhere, The Unspoken, Song of the Deep, Slow Down Bull, Magic Leap, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Marc Garcia.

Next time: Another Bonus!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 272: Ratchet & Clank (part four) Aug 25, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Ratchet & Clank. We talk about the late game, variety in the game in its many forms, getting things out of order, favorite stuff, and more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finishing the game?

Issues covered: what the remaster improved or didn't, finding upgrades, having to backtrack, how many weapons we have left, getting to the end of a sequence and not having a payoff, our bonus episode, the entertainment of Mr. Zurkon, comparing the film adaptations, favorite or favored weapons, throwing the wrench, getting the weapon placed in your hands when you pick it up, UI fighting design, chorded weapon wheels later, putting devices on or off the item select, silly trophies, skill points, the space battle with Quark, getting to be Giant Clank, fun being the giant monster, pounding lots of big enemies, the Gadgetron grind rail, tools for making things epic, having only two hoverboard sections, having the confidence to let your enemies look dumb, setting up the level design to make you feel clever, embracing the medium, "smart dumb fun," killer dogs, dynamic difficulty,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metroid (series), World of Warcraft, Fallout, Spyro (series), LEGO (series), Iron Giant, Psychonauts, Rampage, Final Fantasy (series), SSX (series), God of War, Halo (series), Jak & Daxter, Zachary, Starfighter, Republic Commando, Resident Evil 4, Mark Brown, Game Designer's Toolkit, Bloodborne, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian, Pokemon, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Note: In LEGO games, the currency is the "stud"

Next time: Finishing the game! and a bit of the re...visit

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 271: Ratchet & Clank (part three) Aug 19, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Ratchet & Clank. We delve primarily into the variant game play we start to see at this point in the game, though admittedly with other topics sprinkled in. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Bomb Factory

Issues covered: voice cast, Ratchet's longer story arc, dark and snark, opposing ideas of what have to be done, building story around archetypes, attitude mascots, moving from mascots to more realistic rendering and characters, PlayStation moving to more "mature" themes, Microsoft pulling Sony, changing strategy, wanting the variant game play to reinforce the setting, spline enemies, aim down sites, using tools to create problem-solving scenarios with weapons, having lots of rewards for completing variant play, enjoying being able to visit a space a second time, sticking with a single design structure for years, fighting the Snagglebeast, what we have to look forward to, miniaturization for backwards compatibility and as a business plan, picking the right version of a game to play, not looking to fans for what they want, having the tools to talk about game design through engaging with the podcast, talking about the end of Death Stranding.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lost, Hitman, Pulp Fiction (obliquely), David Kaye, Transformers, GI Joe, Paul Giamatti, Mikey Kelley, Michael Richardson, Mortal Kombat, TMNT, Jim Ward, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, Mario (series), Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Sly Cooper, Infamous, Ghosts of Tsushima, Spider-man (PS4), Sony Santa Monica, Twisted Metal, God of War, Xbox, Halo, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Mark Cerny, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, Starfox, Zelda (series), Spyro, Sunset Overdrive, Tony Hawk, Jet Grind Radio, Kingdom Hearts, Death Stranding, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, PSOne, Metal Gear Solid, LucasArts, Truffles Mochachino, Final Fantasy VI, Square Enix, Waypoint Radio, Chrono Trigger, Sebastian Deken, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Dark Souls, Horizon: Zero Dawn, biostats, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Finishing the game

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 270: Ratchet & Clank (part two) Aug 11, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2002's Insomniac action shooter platformer Ratchet & Clank. This week we talk about the weapons systems, watching a game evolve over a few years, level design, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Blarg Station Nebula G64 or thereabouts

Issues covered: propulsion, stretch and squish, humor along the lines of Warner Bros, comedy and timing, matching comedy style to the game, weapon upgrade systems and the many levels of weapons, contextualizing upgrades and gadgets, the zaniness of weapons, gold bolts, having help with the collectibles, getting a lot of trophies, the ways gadgets improved, improving usability, third-person shooting on consoles, early 3D still, filling in the gaps for Nintendo, collection-focused mechanics vs generosity of bolts, failing forward, channels of reward, skill-based leveling systems, adding behaviors to weapons as they level, the variant gameplay forms, looping back to the beginning of sections in level design, taking over Clank, ordering a small squad of robots, a series that blends together, Ratchet being a little irritating, good enemies, music with zany sci-fi, world-building on the nose in a good way, why Gau is a great character, CRTs vs monitors, picking favorite RPG characters, hidden mechanics, an announcement of Brett and Tim working together again.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Marvin the Martian, Warner Bros., Disney, Hanna Barbera, Jackass (film series), the 1619 Project, Nintendo, Oddworld, Stranger's Wrath, The Mask, Sly Cooper, LucasArts, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, LEGO Star Wars, Elder Scrolls (series), Ready at Dawn, High Impact Games, Full Throttle, Anachronox, Space Quest, The Incredibles, Michael Giacchino, David, Bergeaud, Disruptor, Resistance, mysterydip, Final Fantasy VI, Pokemon, zachary, SNES Classic, Blarg42, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, Dragonball, Sebastian Deken, BioWare, Planescape: Torment, Mass Effect, Dragon Age (series), Ni No Kuni, Freddy Prinze Jr, Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, JRR Tolkien, Mikael Danielsson, Gears of War, Starfighter, Republic Commando, Jak & Daxter, Resident Evil (series), Death Stranding, Calamity Nolan, Twin Suns Corp, Harley Baldwin, Greg Knight, Paul Pierce, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Up through the Bomb Factory!

Link:

CRT vs Monitor in Pixel Art

Hidden Mechanics

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 269: Ratchet & Clank (part one) Jul 28, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on the delightful action platformer shooter thing called Ratchet & Clank. We set it in its time a little bit, and talk a bit about developer Insomniac, and then turn to talk about introductory impressions and continue to catch up on feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Novalis

Issues covered: destroying your enemies with flame, tone and charm and humor, 2002: a Good Year with a Thick Coat of Peanut Butter, the mascots, playing PlayStation games at the start of the PS2 lifecycle, the Cerny Method, Tim's first time, the war on consoles surrounding mascots and third person action, what Microsoft was up to, Brett projects that Tim will be amazed about with the guns, a little sideline into Resistance, the titles, future streamlining, getting animation to film quality, stretch and squish as a frontier, making a character feel very alive, Brett dives into the hardware, wishing you could take your technical expertise back, seeing lots of characters and structure very early, consistency of tone, enjoyable juvenalia, a series of gags, the surprise of having a map and quests, a variety of enemy types, the tendency of consoles towards PCs, a huge pile of FF6 secrets, a game coming to you at a time where it helped you get through, what we'd want from JRPG combat, taking a week off, thinking you've finished the game,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Insomniac, PlayStation 2, Disruptor, Spyro (series), Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Animal Crossing, GameCube, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Republic Commando, Xbox, Sly Cooper, MechAssault, Splinter Cell, BG: Dark Alliance, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Phantasy Star Online I & II, Andrew Kirmse, Warcraft III, Jedi Outcast, Freedom Force, Irrational Games, Jonathan Chey, Dungeon Siege, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, No One Lives Forever 2, Neverwinter Nights, Battlefield 1942, Jedi Starfighter, Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Dread, Sonic (series), GTA III: Vice City, LucasArts, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, Mark Cerny, Game Developer Magazine, Jak & Daxter, Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64, Crash Bandicoot, Rare, Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Sega, UbiSoft, Rayman, Gex, Crystal Dynamics, Croc, Bonk, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Frogger, Halo, Max Payne, Brute Force, Psychonauts, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, GoldenEye, Sea of Thieves, Resistance, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Agent Carter, Skylanders, Toys for Bob, Star Wars, Space Quest, Anachronox, Warner Bros, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Ryan/Biostats, Top Gun, Ninja Turtles, Ducktales, Chrono Trigger, Mark Garcia, Undertale, Skyrim, Death Stranding, Calamity Nolan, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Play more! How much more? Peep the Twitters.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 268: Final Fantasy VI (part nine) Jul 21, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we at last conclude our series on Final Fantasy VI. We give our takeaways and then turn to some of the mountain of feedback that's been piling up. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: June says hello, developing deep character backstories, differing combat mechanics for each character, being pushed to mix parties at the end of the game, full world state changes, going against the grain, going dark places, getting a lot out of their engine and their small set of sprites, stretching beyond your audience's expectations, the alienness of opera, merging exploration with linear story, not knowing what order the story might come in, storylets and minimum expectations of how much game you get, Brett's Book Recommendation, dealing with the end of the world, having trouble getting past an early fight, a strange fan theory, having lots of story and wanting to split the characters, cautioning against reading too much into "original plans," marketing input, the contrasts of Terra and Celes, games as products of their constraints, the business constraints of a changing technology base with many developers, Terra's special ability, input lag in the Anthology, more about the weird Relm sketch glitz, how tools lag, higher fan expectations, the slowing of velocity with each generation, going towards the lowest common denominator or what we know works.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sebastian Deken, biostats, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Ultima (series), Gold Box (series), Wizardry, Dungeons & Dragons, SNES, Batman (obliquely), Shadow of the Colossus, God of War (series), Deus Ex, The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells, Death Stranding, Logan Wells, Skyrim, Star Wars, Sega, Phantasy Star, Wes from DFW, Ted Turner, The Museum of Film and Television, Mikael Danielsson, Sam, Johnny Pockets, Valheim, Cyberpunk, The Witcher III, Marvel, Wonder Woman, John Romero, DOOM (1993), Quake, Stardew Valley, Ratchet & Clank, PS3, Hideo Kojima, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Ratchet & Clank (first level)

Links: An Ultima-te fail

Podcast rec from Johnny Pockets

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 267: Bonus Interview with Sebastian Deken Jul 14, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a bonus interview to our series on Final Fantasy VI. We are joined by Sebastian Deken, whose new book explores especially the music in the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:51 Interview 1:05:21 Break 1:06:03 Outro

Issues covered: not being able to talk about video game music, researching live performances of video game music, pitching Boss Fight Books, playing a friend's copy of Final Fantasy, racking up Blockbuster fines from pushing the rental, knowing that you're a musician from early on, studying to be an opera singer, having punishing stage fright for performance, getting into the Columbia MFA program, getting a great thesis advisor, the influence of prog rock on FF6's soundtrack, "the steampunk of music," Celtic music as an influence, the other influences you hear, having the Chocobos take you out of the game, the transitions from overworld to Zozo, knowing what to expect from a game vs not, needing a quilt of a game to quilt the music, planet-hopping, doing a lot of work through the music, having to find a way to talk about music through analogy, showing a few examples visually, the subtlety of Relm's musical number, sassy Relm, getting the whole story about Shadow and Relm through multiple playthroughs, the opera scene and "how is it possible," not making any sense to get the airship this way, the game as an opera with a three act structure, reflecting back what's happening in the game, opera as a strange confluence of factors, transcendant beauty that stays with you, opera as its own answer, needing to hear something as an 8x8 square, maintaining the illusion, matches of fidelity, the viewpoint on opera, not being meant to see people up close in opera.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: biostats, Brett White, Boss Fight Books, NES, StarTropics, Dragon Quest, Matt Shafeek, Gabe Durham, GameCube, Kirk Hamilton, Strong Songs, St Louis Symphony, Upright Citizen's Brigade, Margo Jefferson, Michael Jackson, Koichi Sugiyama, Nomuo Uematsu, Mario (series), Nine Inch Nails, Ennio Morricone, Indiana Jones, Baldur's Gate, JRR Tolkien, Ultima, Skyrim, Elder Scrolls (series), Forgotten Realms, Super Mario RPG, Ryan Thompson, Cosi fan tutte, La traviata, Otello, Puccini, Ingmar Bergman, The Magic Flute, Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet, Spelunky, Derek Yu, ZZT, Anna Anthropy, Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima, Dragon Quest Builders, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Takeaways and feedback

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 266: Final Fantasy VI (part eight) Jul 07, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we mostly conclude our series on Final Fantasy VI, though we'll be back for takeaways and more email. Brett takes us through the ending and we discuss some other late-game content. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the end

Issues covered: games we haven't finished for the 'cast, setting aside a day to finish, three hours of the final dungeon, the advantage of the SNES Classic, the emulation problems, delving into the magic points per battle for Espers, cross-pollination of Espers and various systems, gaining Ultima and Ragnarok, Ragnarok's weird power, grinding for Ultima, using Phantom to vanish as a strategy, having Dualcast and whether you can find it, naming things with X-, potential localization differences, games with multiple translations and intending different things, needing Mog to get the Yeti and not Gau, Relm's dad, the credits for the characters, betting Striker to get Shadow, Tim's FF6 Watch, finding the tile to change Relm, the paintings in Owzer's, figuring out how to turn on the light, the final dungeon tileset, the statues as bosses, philosophical chats with Kefka, ordering your whole party, battling through a bunch of Espers, healing/restoring MP to people so they can cast Ultima, things matching up well, Ultima cutting through everything, Relm's powers sometimes being good for the enemy, final cutscenes, the stately pacing of the end of the game, having time to come down, finishing games rather than just getting what you needed, the mixture of unrelated elements, having to maintain player goals through combat, an on-air production meeting, favorite Finals Fantasies, serious games with their lighter moments and their antecedents.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy IX, GTA III, Dungeons & Dragons, SNES Classic, PS1, Tacoma, Chrono Trigger, Star Wars, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Final Fantasy VIII, Reed Knight, "Tom," Willy the Shakes, Macbeth, Henry IV, Halo, Death Stranding, Dragon Quest Builders, Nolan Filter, mysterydip, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBD!

Errata: In FF8, they are actually "Ability Points." We regret the error.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 265: Final Fantasy VI (part seven) Jun 23, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We are deeply into the world of ruin, seeking out our friends, and relating our strange adventures, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: More of the World of Ruin

Issues covered: breaking the Internet, reaching the Dream Stooges, naming Cyrano, The Dark Chuckler, Tim's plan going off the rails, exploring Zozo, returning to places from the World of Balance, the sad story of the woman's departed beau, getting a lot of mileage out of small amounts of animation, not enjoying the battle system enough to avoid the feelings of interruption, the challenge of the dragon, Brett's unchanging strategy, Celes's Runic action, searching the map for Locke, the hidden stuff in Doma, getting into Cyan's dream, defeating the Dream Stooges, puzzles on the Phantom Train, being begged to save Cyan by his dead family, the tough battle against Wrexsoul, combats that challenge you more and play against expectations, combinations that lead to unexpected results, hidden bosses in Kingdom Hearts, secrecy of bosses changing over time, being at the top of their game, establishing an expectation of secret bosses, "the Internet ruins everything," pulling off more adult themes, having the unexpected in tabletop and in a JRPG, the big unresolved moment in Cyan's life, Esper management, exploitable combos, not knowing the usefulness of the other spells, picking out a weapon at the secret base... or not?, poking at the Tower, not liking the distance melee attacks, mechanics you bounce off the first time, not enjoying the disempowered controls of certain games, the focus on story in JRPGs, being co-located to play co-op, bugs and exploits in the game, Eastern European takes on Tolkien.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, Cyrano de Bergerac, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (series), Chrono Trigger, Dungeons & Dragons, Hironobu Sakaguchi, The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien, MattSattam, Fallout, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario RPG, Square Enix, XenoGears, Dark Cloud 2, Ni No Kuni, Shadow of the Colossus, Reed Knight, Resident Evil, Nathan Martz, Fumito Ueda, Artimage, Pokemon, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls (series), BioWare, Mass Effect, Darren Johnson, John Stafford, Derek Filippo, Icewind Dale, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Interplay, Earthbound, Brave New World, John Webb, Divinity (series), The Witcher (series), Death Stranding, Get Out, Us, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Even more of the World of Ruin

Links: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Vanish-Doom_bug https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Sketch_bug https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Evade_bug https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Psycho_Cyan_bug

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 264: Final Fantasy VI (part six) Jun 16, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. Tim catches up and fails to save the world, so we talk about making it work, in the ashes, as we got the band back together, before turning to listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours past Floating Continent

Issues covered: the messed up inner turmoil of Terra, being stuck in a maze with random encounters, five hours on the floating continent, wiping after racing to the ship, waiting because of the walkthrough (or not), Timmy saves the day and holds back Kefka, cutscenes that age well or poorly, saving Cid or not, the cost of resetting the party, fears of apocalypse, meaningful sequences of finding each character again, finding a dragon and failing, Terra not rejoining you, wandering around Zozo, Sabin holding up a house and another timed sequence, regaining Edgar, going through Darill's/Daryl's Tomb, restoring the Falcon and watching it rise from the water, grinding around Narshe, being able to do more because production costs are lower, talking about FFXV's troubled production and feeling it in the game, revisiting games a second time around, first bosses in several ATB games, renting from the store, long load times and emulation, having trouble when you name your character the same as an in-game character, being frustrated when characters are taken away, wanting it to be Cyan's story, the reactive world.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Lani Lum, Tron, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Symphony of the Night, Gabe Durham, Boss Fight Books, Sebastian Deken, Nobuo Uematsu, Silent Hill 2, Nick Faulhaber, Derek from Spokane, Link's Awakening, MrRhythm, Zack from Melbourne, Maas Neotek Proto, Death Stranding, Dragon Quest Builders, Minecraft, Dark Cloud, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More of the World of Ruin

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 263: Final Fantasy VI (part five) Jun 09, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We continue talking about the story, the mechanics that make an area like Floating Continent so frustrating, the new characters, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the Floating Continent

Issues covered: sketching my enemies to death, whether there are other characters named Relm, setting things up to be open, retreading a lot of territory due to random battle interruptions, the psychology of spatial changes, running away and smoke bombs, leaving the area and returning, crashing the airship and getting that Mode7 goodness, the rough-and-tumble empire town of Maranda, the impact of Empire, having to sustain disbelief, not buying that the Emperor would sue for peace, introducing dialog trees for a one-off, designer jokes, Cid becoming a Returner, General Leo's honor, Kefka being locked up, mastering 16-bit cutscenes with a limited palette of expressions, Thamasa and the lore of how the world came to discard magic, constraints inspiring creativity, the Jedi analog, the house fire sequence and Relm and Shadow, Gao as a character based on grinding, the return of Ultros, Leo fighting Kefka and losing, negotiating peace with the Espers, the party being somewhat culpable with the Espers as well, Leo's consistency as a character and the shock of his death, Kefka as Louis XIV, Sephiroth as villain, the organic looking environment of the Floating Continent, the massive number of potential spells, using Espers more, ways to slim down spell options based on character archetypes,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: L. A. Noire, Kingdom Hearts, Godzilla, Star Wars, H. R. Giger, Chrono Trigger, Death Stranding, Dragon Quest Builders, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Some significant amount of time in the World of Ruin.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 262: Final Fantasy VI (part four) Jun 02, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about more of what we've played so far, dipping into issues of where we grind, how we approach combat, and touching on the Espers. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Opening the Gate!

Issues covered: the gold hairpin/Moogle choice, Lone Wolf in a cell, being confused about the Atma Weapon, random battles and preventing player goals and expression, exploring the Vector facility, having to fight the sub-boss and then save, meeting Cid, the grim origins of Magitek, cultural origins of what the game might be about, grinding in the facility for tents, Brett's physical damage approach vs Tim's magical damage approach, Scanning, losing a magic-user due to Lore Reasons, some discussion of Espers and leveling their skills, how the summons work in later FFs, streaming rules and audience support, being unprepared to lose a character, finding a way to incorporate things you love, the airship as reward, milking the mode 7, multiple control modes for the airship, having to figure out the discrete interface, having even more freedom in another JRPG, an interactable flashback interlude, having a baby on screen and learning how Terra came to be, inviting Tim to come and play FFVII for a week, Terra wanting to open the gate to elist the Espers, gating in Thamasa, monster town, friction with random encounters and disappearing floors, losing your save files and being pushed to finish, doing unpaid labor for your brother, other ways of delivering cutscenes, the whelk and ATB.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, Park Chan-wook, Parasite, The Host, Bong Joon Ho (obliquely), Wasteland 2, Waypoint, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ultima Underworld, Mario Kart, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, Suikoden II, Mikael Danielsson, Zach, James Roberts, Super Mario RPG, Square Enix, Sam, Dungeons & Dragons, Ultima, Wizardy, Dragon Quest, Rubik's Cube, Tetris, Spelunky, Death Stranding, Dragon Quest Builders, Aaron Evers, Kirk Hamilton.

Links: Super Mario RPG pantomime

Opera House Track OCR

Next time: Up to the World of Ruin!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 261: Final Fantasy VI (part three) May 26, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about more of what we've played so far, including differences between each of our experiences especially, and culminating in the Opera House. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the Opera House!

Issues covered: not being able to play every day, lack of recaps, enjoying the thief play, fighting a merchant and stealing his clothes, "who does this?," playing different games, the influence of party members on combat play, the trickster as main character, missing out on surprises because you spent so much time on a space, recontextualizing a space, paying off the cider/setting up things that needed to be dealt with later, transitioning based on order, a little bit of proto-Tower Defense, how/why Brett lost, fighting Kefka, the transformation of Terra, spell ordering in the menus, learning from Espers (rather than treating them as Items), implementation cost tradeoffs, effective use of Mode 7, a brief aside on how Mode 7 works, hardware-supported image tricks, retroactive peformance analysis, making a level out of sprites, party composition, a flashback with Edgar and Sabin, losing context for later information, Locke and Rachel, the backstory and its many tropes, the HadesGiga earthquake thing and avoiding it, the clock puzzle in Zozo and everyone lying to you, Edgar's chainsaw, the Opera House, getting to rewind time, Tim failing the timer due to shenanigans, really laying out the scene, not playing to the game's audience (with opera), a big set-up to introduce Setzer, investing in the developers' passions, limited sources of pop culture reference, drawing from a wider range of influences, layering force over the top, a review that calls back a couple years, keeping Edgar in the party, Balthier (FFXII) as Han Solo stand-in, abstraction and JRPGs, music in the game, getting into JRPGs in 2000.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon Quest Builders, Chrono Trigger, Star Fox, Mario Kart, PlayStation, Jedi Starfighter, Super Castlevania IV, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Romeo and Juliet, Friday the 13th, biostats, Nintendo DS, The Three Amigos, Star Wars, Aliens, The Matrix, BioShock, Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, The Witcher 3, Death Stranding, ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker, Metal Gear Solid, Eric Anderson, Logan Wells, Kirk Hamilton, Jason Schreier, Triple Click, Maddy Myers, Stephen, Dragon Quest XI, Raph Koster, Dungeons & Dragons, Nobuo Uematsu, The Last Story, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Check the Twitter!

Links: An orchestral/sung version of the Opera

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 260: Final Fantasy VI (part two) May 12, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about the story and the utility of allowing players to choose the order in which to play a few sections, among other things, before turning to your feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through two of the post-rapids sequence

Issues covered: the ins and outs of S. Figaro, finding the rebel base, Tim forgets the names, whether longer names would be easier to remember, having a way to introduce several characters quickly, a digression into how several FFs are related in terms of tone, enjoying the presentation because it's more cohesive, potentially not predisposing a player to particular characters, strategy guides and long manuals, learning to control Sabin's moves, suplexing the train, the death of Doma, the tension of melodrama and darkness, conveying moments through simple tools, the possibility of anything coming next, getting everything out of the SNES, an analogy to silent films, being curious about how big studios reapproach the formula (aka FF7 Remake), running down to the veldt, meeting Gau and what's their deal with primitives, not knowing what ability to pick from Gau, Cyan's swordtechs, active battle mode and Cyan (vs wait mode), not knowing how to get past Gau, the tight little text bursty questy stuff, all the different modes of world interaction, the weirdness of the Serpent Trench, Chocobos and lack of random battles, running low on resources, resources as rewards, the potential to grind for gil, the saga of trying to play Final Fantasy VI, why teach you what you learn from Ymir fight, a poorly executed teaching moment.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Remi Lacoste, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dungeons & Dragons, Chrono Trigger, Hironobu Sakaguchi, The Last Story, Square, Nintendo, The Artist, PlayStation, Ray Bradbury, Legend of Zelda (series), 668 The Neighbor of the Beast, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Shout at the Devil, Vincent Price, Mark Garcia, Nintendo 64, Super Mario 64, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Death Stranding, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: To The Opera House!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 259: Prince of Persia Bonus Interview with Remi Lacoste! May 05, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we present a bonus interview with Remi Lacoste, who reflects on what it took to make the camera of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which was far more authored than previous 3rd person platformers and action adventures. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Interview 1:04:29 Break 1:05:00 Outro

Issues covered: trial by fire with the last talk of the week, "If the job is well-done, people won't realize how much work there is," being the bad goalie, exploring a new medium for storytelling, working with level designers, developing an aesthetic, setting up the alternate camera, providing the player more spatial context, expressing yourself as an artist, getting views you couldn't have gotten otherwise, building a relationship with level design, anticipating problems, discovering the rules as they went, attempting to preserve the feeling of the 2D game, a 3D navigation puzzle, helping guide the player, camera-relative steering, finding the exact moment to cut, camera behaviors, splines, placing thousands of trigger volumes, preventing panning for jumping between walls, moving the camera to see better, helping the player better understand a space, placing shadows well on the wall to help the player understand the timing of jumps, creating exclusion lists to prevent bugs, maintaining controller and player facing continuity, changing camera at a knowable time, avoiding a problem that's hard to train/tutorialize, the fragility of the player-character control mapping, watching someone else play your game, having flybys and not enjoying watching them, audience problems vs play problems, using camera as a crutch for weak level design, having to show the player something they couldn't see via cuts and trying to avoid that, find the way to frame the destination while you're activating it, blending back when you cut, collaborating with an excellent team, a major milestone, the game's tone and mechanics, the timing with UbiSoft taking off, a darker tone for the sequels, everything needing to work together, pushing the GDC talk again

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Assassin's Creed (series), Behaviour Interactive, WET, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (2013 reboot series), The Avengers, The Initiative, Microsoft, NES, Patrice Desilets, Philippe Morin, Half-Life, Rainbow Six (series), MYST (series), Donald Duck: Quack Attack, Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, Mario (series), Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, 3D Studio MAX, Alex Drouin, David Châteauneuf, Raphaël Lacoste, Splinter Cell, Michel Ancel, Beyond Good and Evil, Final Fantasy VI, Death Stranding, The Last Story, Mistwalker Studios, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links: Creating an Emotionally Engaging Camera for Tomb Raider

Next time: More of Final Fantasy VI!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 258: Final Fantasy VI (part one) Apr 28, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Final Fantasy VI, which is often in the conversation surrounding the pinnacle of the 16-bit JRPG. We set the game in its time, and then turn to it directly, talking about world-building and how 2D feels better than 3D for these sorts of games, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to South Figaro

Issues covered: who chose this game, stringing out the announcement of the game, how the numbering happened, the apex 16-bit JRPG, Square leaving Nintendo, 1994 in games, knowing what they're doing, feeling like a late-generation game, the transition from VI to VII, the expense of cartridges vs CDs, getting to the limits of cartridges, investing in the cinematics department, self-correcting the numbering scheme, how good the cinematics department was, moving to more of a cinematics-based storytelling style, caveat: this is our darned podcast, Nomura starting as a "debugger," the advantages of staying somewhere for a long time, compressed world-building on the SNES version, making the cinematic for people who already know the game, having expectations, 2D holding up better than 3D from this era, not being ready to compare with Chrono Trigger yet, feeling hyper-linear and not being able to pursue options you think you should, feeling like Chrono Trigger was better balanced for straight play, feeling more adventure-gamey, having moments that stick with you, being balanced towards easy early on, getting poor feedback from an enemy, leaning on Edgar's strengths, some parallels with other popular media, sticking with the given names, hoping for strong characterization, similarity in presentation across modes in 2D and late 3D, universality and abstraction, having a great moment in a combat, adding layers of confusion to presentation with multiple interpretations and writers, removing abilities at the end of the game, adding challenge, addressing adventure game dialog trees through time rewind.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Chrono Trigger, Ultima, Dragon Quest/Warrior, Earthbound, Level-5, Studio Ghibli, Ni No Kuni, Nintendo, Super Metroid, Warcraft, TIE Fighter, X-COM: UFO Defense, Earthworm Jim, Donkey Kong Country, Tekken, Namco, DOOM (1993), System Shock, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, Master of Magic, Theme Park, Aladdin, The Lion King, Sonic (series), Sega Genesis, Quake, PlayStation, Blizzard, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase, Shigeru Miyamoto, Fallout, Vampire: the Masquerade, Troika, Hiroyuki Ito, Tetsuya Nomura, Tetsuya Takahashi, Nobuo Uematsu, Kingdom Hearts, The Spirits Within, Star Wars, Pokemon, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Symphony of the Night, God of War II, Life Is Strange (season one), Wasteland 2, Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2, Tobey Maguire, Returnal, Groundhog Day, Death Stranding, The Last Story, Mistwalker Studios, Wii, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Stay tuned!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 257: Prince of Persia Sands of Time (part four) Apr 21, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2003's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk about the unfortunate elevator sequence, the final platforming of the game, its circular story and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the Game

Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Prince of Persia 56:16 Break 56:46 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: rewinding time, feeling bad about the elevator section, spending two hours on one combat encounter, leaning on the worst things of the combat system, tight space, companion AI, being unable to see the Prince, being able to render more stuff and having that in tension with what you want to see, the "Kung Fu Circle," using the death blossom and wanting fewer sand bubbles, taking away all the things I enjoyed about the combat, the rewind resource, feeling over-designed, "fun is challenge," the history of challenge in digital game design, tightness and the tension with other goals, being too good at your game at the end, giving a lot of verbs that are fluidly deployed via context, trying to jump away but instead running me up an enemy, help me look cool getting away, not making the lock-on specific, finding the right balance for players, advocating for how to make your enemies/systems look great, the value of a locked camera, Tim looks up the solution to an audio puzzle, more puzzle discussions, misreading a puzzle and having a good moment, long checkpoints for the final exam, flipping the difficulty, really demonstrating how far the Prince has come by holding the blade edge of the dagger, maybe missing some of the transitions, rewinding the whole story back to the beginning so he tells this wild story (tying into the failures), the grand vizier trope, the cobra staff, compressing character development, the right difficulty for the final boss, doing a deep reading of the Prince disrobing through the game, not loving the rewound smooch, Brett's Book Recommendation, those mechanics that are just Great Ideas, allowing for soft failure and experimentation, contextual traversal (and combat), making the player look awesome with gentler difficulty, distilling down/all killer no filler, allowing for games that are shorter, the excellence of the animation blending system to achieve fluidity, the history of that fluidity to the original, the narrative space, trying different things in the narrative, how much we use mods, grief and games, the way games are more fixed in time, playing single player games with friends, getting streaming now, where to add quality of life improvements, asking why and what a game is about, Mister E. Dip, the sweet spot for Animal Crossing quality of life, "would fast travel help this game," being in the natural world, where the interesting friction is.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Brian/dontkickfood, Todd Howard, NES/SNES, Mario (series), UbiSoft, Nintendo, Troy Mashburn, Tomb Raider, Nathan Martz, Republic Commando, John Hancock, God of War, Starfighter, S. A. Chakraborty, Aladdin, Groundhog Day, Zelda (series), Dungeons & Dragons, G. Willow Wilson, Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, Alif the Unseen, Gears of War, Ocarina of Time, Uncharted, Shenmue, Assassin's Creed, Baldur's Gate, PixelJunk Eden, Q Games, Rez, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, The Matrix, Jill Murray, Zac Katis, Anachronox, Diablo, Bethesda Game Studios, DOOM (1993), World of Warcraft, Ashton Herrmann, Morrowind, Marcel Proust, mysterydip, Civilization, Animal Crossing, Ultima Underworld, The Witcher 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Minecraft, Death Stranding, Hitman (2016), Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links: Big World Setup tool for Baldur's Gate

Enhanced Edition Game Setup

Ashton Herrmann on sharing single-player games

Next time: TBD!

Notes: I call it the "Death Blossom" but the manual calls it the Power of Haste.

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 256: Prince of Persia Sands of Time (part three) Apr 14, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk about the Library, our problems with it, how we were misled, and how such things happen, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to "On the Ramparts"

Issues covered: the Prince as a jerk, what did you call me?, feeling hamfisted but trying for the heart, a stepping stone to better-formed relationship in a game, inter-character action in later Ubisoft games, skipping to the end puzzle of a sequence as a possible goal, misunderstanding the point of the puzzle, skipping a chunk of stuff and being thrown off mentally, having to re-run the room to understand what was going on, building the puzzle piece-by-piece instead of holistically, wanting to see a pattern when it's just a series of steps, the language of the space, Tim loves his cisterns, recontextualizing a space, being able to compare several rooms more or less back-to-back, the memorable rooms from an art standpoint vs a design standpoint, balancing against hidden health packs, feedback loops that are negative for the wrong people, aesthetic fit of the space between worlds in tension with the difficulty piece, unlikelihood of dynamic difficulty balancing, feeling like the later areas were seen less in playtesting, getting to the limits of the traversal, the inability to refill the sands out of combat, camera modes and the camera timer reset, losing track of where the stick movement will take you, breaking the 180 rule, working the level and camera design together, platformers with wider spaces, why this game didn't hit as well as God of War, the possible shadow of September 11, tone and presentation and mass appeal, everything going grim, the arcade-y nature of God of War and the power fantasy, story and video games, the balance of traversal and combat, excellence in craft in the God of War series, the roots of Western civilization and making a Greek story easier to go for, what we're streaming, Sands of Tim.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver, Uncharted, UbiSoft, Assassin's Creed, Naughty Dog, AC: Syndicate, Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia (2008), Crystal Dynamics, Apple ][, Ocarina of Time, Perfect Dark Zero, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Remi Lacoste, Mario (3D series), Artimage, Binx: The Time Sweeper, God of War, DOOM, John Carmack, Max Payne, Jak 2, Brian/dontkickfood, Hitman (2016, series), Death Stranding, Metal Gear (series), Hideo Kojima, Lea Seydoux, Lyndsay Wagner, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Fallout (series), Troika, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Finish the Game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 255: Bonus Interview with James Ohlen Apr 07, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Baldur's Gate with an interview with James Ohlen, who was lead designer on the title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Interview 52:50 Break 53:21 Outro

Issues covered: starting a comic book store at 19 right before the market crashed, the origin of Minsc, starting at BioWare, building an IP bible as a way to start, working the killer hours and becoming the lead designer, putting in the 25000 hours, getting lucky and selling millions of copies, the impossibility of faking love, the choice between real-time and turn-based leading to pause-and-play, being delayed by Diablo, having contributions from everyone for design, sharing credit, feeling of playing D&D more important than perfect translation, balancing being easy due to so many party members, feeling smart, finding patterns in your party, relying on save and load, random numbers, the team testing the game, using characters from the binder, finding the voice for Minsc, writers taking ownership of voice, the passing of a player, bringing in characters from more players, growing the Sword Coast, staying away from the main space others were used, the perks of working for Wizards, four types of player, learning to respect player types, the end of a game being less tested, fighting the "dumbing down" due to overplay, engaging with the community, Karzak the Half-Orc and Gromnir and criticism, incorporating another player's character in to some coming work, caring so much for the license, being able to put infinite hours in.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Arcanum Worlds, Odyssey of the Dragon Lords, Wizards of the Coast, Kevin Martens, Image Comics, Magic: The Gathering, Cameron Tofer, Augustine Yip, Warcraft, Doom, Dungeons & Dragons, Shattered Steel, Scott Grieg, Malcolm Gladwell, Fallout, Civilization, Gold Box (series), TSR, Interplay/Black Isle, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart, Blizzard, Diablo, David Brevik, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Michael Backus, Chris King, Lukas Kristjanson, Gary Gygax, Ross Gardner, Dean Anderson, Icewind Dale, Trent Oster, Beamdog, Richard Bartle, David Gaider, Drew Karpyshyn, LucasArts, Starfighter, Mark Garcia, Sands of Tim/Brett-e Davis, Hitman 3, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Troika, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: More Prince of Persia!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 254: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (part two) Mar 31, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk a bit about combat and especially the way the baths area expands the level design, despite a few visual language missteps. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the Soldier's Mess Hall

Issues covered: the physics of ponytails, trying to make the palace feel like a real place, deathtraps, major locations, a thin narrative, establishing a relationship between the Prince and Farah, who he's telling the story to, a charming rogue, differences with other similar heroes, the upcoming elevator scene, a companion character that is genuinely helpful, the scripting of Farah to be helpful, Farah as an element of the combat space, having different voice lines for small changes in order, the availability of further linearization, making your small choices make an experiential impact, not being forced to learn by trial and error, not refreshing mechanics for players, the cadence of mechanics to reinforce learning, level design and design jokes, the bath house room, going between two spaces, recontextualizing a space, environmental storytelling misleading the player, symmetry getting in the way, macro goals getting in the way of the level design, the possibility that these were solutions that needed further refinement, being able to rewatch the vision as a band-aid, loving the ability to climb up through swinging and jumping, having the heavy sword as a key, not cuing that the sword is going to go through the wall well, the rewind time mechanic, using the sands as a resource, the cooldown mechanic, an additional health bar for combat and not caring about your health as much, painless experimentation without reloading, learning combat by rewinding to the moment of pain, crowd combat and finding gaps to escape through, finding ways to make traversal less punishing in more modern games, not needing the sands to be a resource, needing to refill the bubbles by killing enemies, the grittier sequels, our lack of cussing, narrative reactivity, our streaming lives.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, Tomb Raider (series), Chris Hecker, The Three Stooges, Mass Effect, Half-Life, Uncharted, Tangled, Firefly, Nathan Fillion, Aladdin, Republic Commando, Captain America, Mark of Kri, Rise of the Kasai, God of War (2018), Resident Evil 4, Ico, Dark Souls, Devil May Cry, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, JS Bach, the Crab Canon, Assassin's Creed, Super Meat Boy, Arkham (series), Jonathan Blow, Braid, Remi Lacoste, Frost Raven, John Romero, mysterydip, Finding Dory, Maximum Super Dip Land, Bastion, Supergiant, Logan Cunningham, The Crow, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Baldur's Gate, Vampire: The Masquerade, Troika Entertainment, Icewind Dale, Hitman 3, Knives Out, Sherlock Holmes, Clue, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Errata: The word for a story that is the story of its own making is poioumenon. We regret the error.

Links: Tomb Raider: Cameras and Emotion

Next time: A Bonus!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 253: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (part one) Mar 24, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We set the game in its time and studio, and then speak a fair amount about its holistic approach to design, its fluidity, and its contextualization of game mechanics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to defeating Demon Dad

Issues covered: 2003 with lots of sequels and licenses, when you launch a new IP, a strange sort of gap year, the prior incarnation of the game, emulating Tomb Raider and feeling heavy, buliding one you can learn with, burning Jordan Mechner, UbiSoft becoming a bigger player, the continuation of the series into the next generation, maintaining IP rights, rebooting with your own flavor of a thing, partnering with Nintendo, branching out with outside the box thinking, UbiSoft model of layering in content, supporting four engines internally, the Jade engine, the feeling of flying, feeling like a hero, perfecting and polishing a mechanic and getting the credit, melding multiple things together very well, using the linearity to contextually drive movement and camera, setting it in a place, the formula being copied for many years, "motion capture," rotoscoping in the original, moving from mark-up to mark-up fluidly due to blending, using transition points to drive the camera, shipping programmer art, orientalism, a holistic translation to 3D, contextualization of mechanics, basing the mechanics upon the narrative elements, avoiding cognitive load through holism, ludonarrative dissonance, writing getting out ahead of mechanics, switching discs.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Max Payne 2, Jak 2, Ratchet & Clank 2, Final Fantasy X-2, SoulCalibur 2, PlayStation 2, Devil May Cry (series), Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness, CORE Design, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, EverQuest, EVE Online, Call of Duty, Knights of the Old Republic, Mario Kart Double Dash, Beyond Good & Evil, Legend of Zelda (series), Michel Ancel, Jedi Academy, Uru: Ages Beyond MYST, SWAT, The Hobbit, Charlie's Angels, Pirates of the Caribbean, Enter the Matrix, Hulk, Ang Lee, True Crime: Streets of LA, XIII, Red Orb, Broderbund, Jordan Mechner, UbiSoft, Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy, The Learning Company, SSI, Rayman (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Patrice Desilets, Clint Hocking, Baldur's Gate, BioWare, Dragon Age, Nintendo, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Wii, Far Cry (series), Watch Dogs (series), EA, God of War, Gears of War, Kill.Switch, Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Crystal Dynamics, House of Moves, Obi-Wan, Remi Lacoste, The Initiative, Daryl Gallagher, Perfect Dark, Starfighter (series), John Webb, Pillars of Eternity, Secret of Evermore, SNES, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Uncharted (series), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Eric Fox, Grim Fandango, Knives Out, Mission: Impossible.

Links: How It's Made

Next time: Up to the Drawbridge

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 252: Baldur's Gate (part five) Mar 18, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Baldur's Gate. We talk takeaways and then clean up a very full mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: the long-term quest of the franchise, Baals everywhere, converting from D&D, not every rule translating well, limiting the story to a generic "Gorion's Ward," having different expectations for their other games, a full campaign, feeling like a bad adventurer, mechanical map support, fog of war, stories about the side content, the story picking up from the flooding of a mine, tactical hybrid combat, the wide variety of character choice, companion quests, addition of voice, closing off branches, RPG elements, holistic design and RPGs, the use of archetypes, the spectrum of being a role-playing game, companion pairs, richness for companions, leaning into the save system, the puzzle nature of the combats, the ideal in level design vs core mechanics, the influence of level design on mechanics, comfort with tools, making the mistake of stopping a story having an impact on me, greater maturity expected of players, missing out on an opportunity for executing a plan, having a wider field of options for play, not worrying about what happens to your game after you've left it,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Diablo, Dungeons & Dragons, SSI, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Neverwinter Nights, Black Isle, The Witcher 3, Fallout, Temple of Elemental Evil, Larian Studios, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Beamdog, Dragon Lance, The Belgariad, David Eddings, Divinity: Original Sin, Dan Hunter, Descent 3, Dark Souls, UbiSoft, Assassin's Creed, Arkham (series), Bette Davis, Dragon's Dogma, Final Fantasy, Warren Linam-Church, Greg, Logan, Borderlands, Uncharted, Jedi Starfighter, GTA 3, Keith "mysterydip" Wagner, Firewatch, BioShock, The Walking Dead, Artimage, Wizards of the Coast, Ashton Herrmann, Republic Commando, Trent Oster, Soul Reaver, Populous: The Beginning, Hitman 3, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBD

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 251: Baldur's Gate (part four) Mar 10, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Baldur's Gate, the 1998 D&D interpretation that put BioWare on the map, as it were. We talk about the end of the game based on our two approaches to play, some fun side content, and other issues! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Baldur's Gate 1:09:35 Break 1:10:06 Feedback

Issues covered: names in reverse, a brief tour of one title in Brett's childhood library, side content, discovering someone swapped your Oil of Speed for a Potion of Confusion, when things were added to the map vs being actually playable, the potential for hitting the level cap, balancing to the save system, the sense of going out and finding stuff being missing for a non-completionist, the way the main story is much clearer, the journal as guide, the way we draw connections in the tabletop that make their own stories and how that crosses over with the CRPG and the journal, a game made by fans for fans, the sense of getting to the big city, intrigue and the setting, the Doppelganger Banquet, retrieving the dying Duke, leaning on the thievery, Tim's greater difficulty at the end of the game, talking your way through things, having to design in all the options, accentuating the horror, two ways skipping side content hurts you, having very little interesting gear, wanting the blessings of the RNG, feeling like you have two many options, being framed by Sarevok at Candlekeep, circling back to where you began, having a murder mystery where you're the prime suspect, exploiting knowing where the enemies were vs using protection from paralyzation, missing a critical bit of information and getting lost, the battle in the castle, the lack of clarity in the tactical rules, messing with the maze, the ruined city beneath the city, entering Bhaal's cathedral, being blessed by the RNG Gods, having a hard time making the final moments epic because of reloading, how quickly the game ends, the large number of sequels the game should have, Brett's Book Recommendation, using ASCII characters for games, not playing or watching a lot over the last year, the way graphics are in our memories, how much you can talk about as far as bugs go, triaging bugs, losing the ability to even evaluate a game at the end, self-handicapping, using achievements to find unusual ways to play.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nintendo, Forgotten Realms, The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings, George Lucas, The Phantom Menace, The Elder Scrolls (series), Dark Souls, Eternal Darkness, Brian Taylor, Soren Johnson, Jill Murray, Tomb Raider, The Crystal Shard, R. A. Salvatore, Raymond, Castle Adventure, Rogue, Atari 2600, Drew, Edwin, Istvan Pely, Fallout (series), Stanley Kubrick, Matt, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pikmin, The MinnMax Show, Halo, Hitman (reboot).

Next time: Takeaways!

Links: Finding a Bow in a Rockpile

Tim on The MinnMax show

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 250: Our First Adventures Mar 03, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we celebrate our five years of podcasting by doing something a little bit different. We look at our first Adventures, the Atari 2600 Adventure and Colossal Cave Adventure. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: why we're doing the adventure games, the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, birds and videos, connecting the printer to the modem, arcade games we played, action games, seeing a representation of a dungeon crawl, the dynamics of the simulation, clockwork and the surprising depth, a surprising story of a bat and a sword and a dragon, playing games with Dad, what you show the player and what you leave to the imagination, mapping problems, a score rush, muscle memory, wanting to explore to find new text, discovery, using text as game design and the emergence of narrative design, the ongoing life of interactive fiction, being able to page back through your work, other games of interest, the evolution of the design, the many dynamic aspects of the game, programming the Atari 2600, the first Easter Egg, a new timeline, being humbled to hear someone is making games, some other introductions, format fiddling, the first time planning a podcast.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Atari 2600, Will Crowther, Don Woods, Oregon Trail, Space Invaders, Boot Hill, Galaga, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Dungeons & Dragons, Commodore 64, IntelliVision, Zork, Planetfall, Hunt the Wumpus, Enchanter (series), Deadline, Witness, King's Quest, Space Quest, Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark, Twitch Plays Pokemon, Andrew Plotkin (zarf), Pitfall, Tomb Raider, Sierra On-Line, Racing the Beam, Nick Montfort, Ian Bogost, Warren Robinett, Lode Runner, Baldur's Gate, Johnny "Pockets", Dave from Seattle, Super Metroid, Keith "mysterydip" Wagner, Robert Smith, The Cure, Hitman, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: We return and finish Baldur's Gate!

Links: Emulated Adventure 2600

Colossal Cave Adventure PHP implementation

Colossal Cave Sources Article

The Easter Egg

Juno StarPlanet

The type of paper we used

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 249: Baldur's Gate (part three) Feb 24, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Bioware's 1998 CRPG classic, Baldur's Gate. We talk a bit about the structure of the world, the difference between playing straight through on the main story and indulging in side quests, companions, and some about audio and music before turning to your feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Chapter 5

Issues covered: Brett explains Tim's intro, consistency of tone in the writing, economics in pop culture, considerations of what mixes badly with chocolate, the flow of Cloakwood, Brett makes a map, leaning into quicksaving, pulling back like a tactical map, how much time has been spent in-game, Tim's Cloakwood PTSD, CRPG arachnophobia, a few standout side areas, the slowness of D&D's progression mechanics, a well-written side character, companion characters from the beginning, adding in 3e backstab rules, the compositions of our parties, a walk through how you gained XP in different editions, D&D tournaments, Brett's anecdote about a chime of hunger, gaining story rewards, rich complex settings like the Forgotten Realms, how much do you leverage the IP, a fan wanting more fan service, being a potential recruitment tool, ambient audio, songs sticking in your head due to hours with them, orchestral soundtrack, inconsistent tone in voice performance, the large number of side characters, the unheroic death of Dorn, Rasaad's side quest in Baldur's Gate, the curse of Crenshinibon, the manual and tutorialization, brain-twisting THAC0, what editions/settings we're playing online, what designers leave to the player's imagination, cutting away from cutscenes, many uses of narrative design, audio logs, environmental storytelling, having the opportunity to sit with a story space in video games, how the numbers and pattern recognition lead to player stories, level caps in games, needing the cap for production reasons, needing the cap for design reasons, level caps and player goals, retiring in a tabletop game, modding in side management games into big RPGs.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Dungeon Run, Critical Role, Star Wars, Eye of the Beholder, Darkstone, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Black Isle, Birthright, Trading Places, Vampire: the Masquerade, R. A. Salvatore, World of Warcraft, Michael Hoenig, Charles Deenen, Craig Duman, Interplay, Wayne Cline, Hal Barwood, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Michael Dorn, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Grant, Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Jim Sterling, Jennifer Hale, Kevin Brown, Champions, Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, Wizards of the Coast, Rime of the Frostmaiden, Roll20, Greyhawk, The Shackled City, Zimmy Fingers, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Bethesda Game Studios, Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian, Diablo, Elder Scrolls (series), Cosmic Funkonaut, Grace Blessey, Hitman (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time (two weeks!): Finish the Game

Twitch: brettdouville and timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 248: Baldur's Gate (part two) Feb 17, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Baldur's Gate. We talk about racing through versus following multiple sidequests, about tactical battling, and about the huge variance in verb sets for different party members, amongst other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Chapters Two and Three

Podcast breakdown: 0:57 Baldur's Gate 1:02:11 Break 1:02:43 Feedback

Issues covered: meeting Drizz't, chasing side quests and not knowing where to go, balancing with side content, the hidden cost of racing through, replaying battles, dynamic difficulty, JRPGs vs western RPGs for grinding XP, low XP rewards, getting too much data, potential fixes for allowing multiple styles of play, giving the player points to spend, discussing XP accrual when you choose not to level up, milestone-based leveling, giving the player options, enjoying the tactical battles, wanting more clarity as in an action point system, the blessings of the Random Number Gods, multiple whiffs, old manuals, quest scripts ending and dropping into systemic play, QA and ISV, the possible ways in which different departments could have been responsible for a bug, a digression into multiclass vs character with two classes (and its interplay with race), the wide gap between verbs for different archetypes, verbs not represented in this game, the huge change to go to 3rd-5th and have skills, adding class abilities, discretely placed content vs curated content, finding the very specifically placed items that feel like tabletop, the possibility for an ecology, building tension without combat, introducing players to game worlds, timed quests, thinking hard about when to initiate timed quests, time and failure, time being an important element in your game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Temple of Elemental Evil, JFK, Elder Scrolls (series), World of Warcraft, Super Metroid, Ocarina of Time, Path of Exile, Fallout (series), X-COM, Calamity Nolan, Ray Muzyka, GURPS, Diablo, Dragon Age (series), Divinity: Original Sin, Ashton Herrmann, Ultima VI, Dan Hunter, Vampire: the Masquerade, Brian Mitsoda, Aliens, DOOM (1993), Warren Linam-Church, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Chapters Four and Five

Twitch: brettdouville and timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 247: Baldur's Gate (part one) Feb 03, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series about Baldur's Gate, the 1998 CRPG from BioWare that revitalized the genre. We situate the game in time, talk about BioWare as a company, and then turn to a lot of Dungeons & Dragons nerdery. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Chapter 1

Issues covered: explaining Brett's intro, flashbacks, 1998: a great year in games, the setting, 2nd edition AD&D, founding BioWare and "the doctors," different flavors of CRPGs, how the backgrounds hold up, feeling like your way through an explorable world, talking a little bit about methodical combat, hiding some of the complexity of combat scheduling, the varieties of turn-based combat, how they might have gotten to the combat, how we're using combat, scripted AI characters, the (new?) tutorial, THAC0 explained, table-driven combat and war-games, discussing the difficulty levels in this and the other games, having to reload, statistical difficulty vs statistical gentleness, player expectations in early D&D modules, leaning more towards role-playing, BioWare and dialogue/ethics systems, mixing in other genre elements, evolving towards loyalty quests, feeling like the tabletop, having all the text, party members not meshing, changing perspective, being banned from Candlekeep, classic characters, death of a dad figure, reinforcing the main quest, building up a party, multi-classing vs two classes, potential party members, kicking party members out for roleplaying reasons, letting characters die, characters not interacting well, including VO, VO and character, needing to gather a party before venturing forth, playing evil characters, the affect of game-making on mood, animating the deaths of children, abstraction and craft, having to deliver, project rhythms, sense of flow, playing "right" vs efficiently, incentivizing the player, intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards, achievements as a psychological motivator.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Planescape: Torment, Dungeons & Dragons, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, BioWare, Shattered Steel, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil 2, Starcraft, Unreal, Thief: The Dark Project, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Xenogears, Tales from the Sword Coast, Icewind Dale (series), Forgotten Realms, Wizards of the Coast, TSR, Magic: the Gathering, Hasbro, Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, EA, Mass Effect (series), Dragon Age (series), Diablo, Blizzard, Fallout (series), Black Isle, Obsidian Entertainment, inXile Entertainment, David Brevik, Temple of Elemental Evil, GDC, GURPS, Shadowrun, Storyteller, Call of Cthulhu, Dark Souls, Cyberpunk 2077, "etcetera,etcetera," Sam, Lani Lum, Nintendo, Tomb Raider, Bethesda Game Studios, Pete Hines, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Soren Johnson, Michael, Halo, The Witness, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Chris Hecker, Christian Bale, Hitman, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Through Chapter 3

Errata: Apparently, Shattered Steel was *not* a Windows 95 title. We regret the error.

Twitch: brettdouville/timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 246: So Long, 2020 Jan 27, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we look back on the podcast year of 2020 (because we'd like never to think about the year in general ever again). We talk over our takeways, largely drawn from our interviews but also bringing in themes from the games we played. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: Tim's non-trip, COVID/US tragedies, playing a bunch of sims, every day is problems, better people means better problems, getting a lot out of making yourself play games deeply, being in school/structure, listening to the series you're interested in, how we approach our takeaways, games with holistic merging of aesthetics/dynamics/mechanics, "done is not the same as good," "wouldn't it be great if," production as a tax, the cube and the stickers, putting the aesthetics together with the mechanics, the questions Nintendo ask themselves, making the mundane into a fun source of game design and delightful experience, applying the filter of interactive design over anything, simulating the arc of a TV episode, music and audio, how the audio sells the experience, the difference between visual and audio when it's missing, the difficulty in talking about audio, building the AI for a Civ game, focusing on the player experience, the anti-pheromone pathfinding algorithm, filling in the gaps, the stories that come out of simulation games, Brett's ongoing relationship with Bertha, characters who have their own lives vs being the chosen one, identifying with the main character, a SWRC Easter egg, our next game, Infinity Engine.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, Republic Commando, Nintendo, World of Warcraft, Serial, Phoenix Wright, Civ III, Jeff Morris, Sid Meier, Soren Johnson, Populous, Glenn Corpes, Rubik's Cube/Erno Rubik, Peter Molyneux, Lani Lum, Halo 5, Animal Crossing, Brian Mitsoda, Aaron Brown, Brian Reynolds, Johnny Pockets, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Nintendo Power, Counterstrike, Cody Harlin, David Collins, Starfighter (series), Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur's Gate (series), Larian Studios, BioWare, Pool of Radiance, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Spelljammer, Hitman (2016 series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Baldur's Gate: Through Ch 1

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 245: VtM Bloodlines Bonus Interview with Brian Mitsoda Jan 20, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we air our December interview with Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines writer/designer Brian Mitsoda. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Interview 1:11:02 Break 1:11:34 Outro

Issues covered: wanting to start in screenwriting, playing a game that gets its hooks in you, overdressing for the interview, the low bar to QA entry, starting out testing RPGs, "don't crunch, kids," a game cancellation, the OC style, branching dialog, being given a lot of leeway, including mature language, generalizing across level design vs writing vs narrative design, two designers, bringing hubs to life with supporting characters, working to get the Ocean House scary, funneling the player subtly, the importance of audio to horror, sticking to your guns about keeping combat out, a necessary density, representing Santa Monica, thinking about who lives in a location, satisfying player expectations and wish fulfillment, filling in gaps and fixing things yourself, domain protection, not needing permission, balancing input and ownership, keeping the game in your head, a lived-in quality, how to branch effectively, focusing on player intent, the difference between writing and narrative design, 24 ways to say "ow," helping to design and build tools, guiding the experience, maintaining cohesion, how writing is delivered, prepping to work with a license, managing experienced players' expectations, bringing in players as a new vampire, avoiding a Chosen One story, thinking of clans as a mod, feeling important and unplanned delights, reskinning the game for Malkavians, thinking of characters as having lives that are interrupted by the player (not waiting for the player), overlap with theater.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Icewind Dale, Messiah, Interplay, Troika Entertainment, Obsidian Entertainment, Alpha Protocol, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Double Bear Entertainment, Dead State, Panic at Multiverse High, Bloodlines 2, Fallout, Black Isle Entertainment, Invictus, TORN, Planescape: Torment, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, The Writer Will Do Something, Matthew Burns, Tom Bissell, Universal Studios, TJ Perillo, Chad Moore, Jason Anderson, Ubisoft, Dungeons & Dragons, Halo, Half-Life 2, LucasArts, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Annual Takeaway Show!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 244: Ocarina of Time Bonus Interview with Lani Lum Jan 13, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we explore Ocarina of Time a bit more through an interview with industry Executive Producer Lani Lum. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Interview 1:07:25 Break 1:07:54 Feedback

Issues covered: nerd markings, "why are you studying anthropology?", drawing the short straw, transferring into production, unsung heroes, "this is a game about a girl?", video games being marketed towards boys, still waiting on a female protagonist, making programming a male job, art becoming specific with graphical power, a female arm for CounterStrike, opening doors, a less linear feeling game, the comfort of early childhood encounters, a game you can trust, room for so much debate, rolling onto Hyrule Field and the model, revelatory moments, struggling with camera control, overcoming the feeling of size, introducing the game to a new generation, listening to the music in your life, the difficulty of looking back, "I don't think I'll ever play a more perfect game," the sense of discovery, context-sensitive controls (and a modern version), "games will never be the same after this," two kinds of people: those who care about the timeline and normal people, the possibility Link turns into a skeleton, Brett the Heartless, Tim the teary-eyed, using the Triforce to hop the line, innocence and lack of cynicism, asking yourself the right questions, being honest with what we're doing, using influence rather than control, mapping the pieces of the triforce to game development, the perspective of the Triforce in different games, Tim swayed by passion, the complexity and expectations of Flight Simulator, Flight Simulator in VR, shipping while working from home during a pandemic with a nine hour time difference, the importance of representation and the mishandling, family focus, transferring into your adult self as wish fulfillment, the timing of recording and recent events, the cautionary tale of becoming an adult, motion capture and Ocarina, inverse kinematics in games, skipping the game play, we've gotten away from feeling we have to force people to play a particular way, if the game is claiming to be good at a thing it should be compelling enough that people want to play it, free-to-play and intrinsic interest, the value proposition, games in school.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Turok, Threewave Software, Aion, NCSoft, Microsoft, 343 Studios, Halo (series), Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Counterstrike, Republic Commando, NES, The Karate Kid, Indiana Jones, Gamecube, Harry Potter, Breath of the Wild, N64, Minecraft, Koji Kondo, Roblox, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart Double Dash, Kingdom Hearts, Shigeru Miyamoto, Starfighter (series), TIE Fighter, Super Metroid, Wii, Nintendo Switch, Dungeons and Dragons, mysterydip, Drew, Freaky Friday, big, 18 Again, Jennifer Garner, Elizabeth McGovern, Elizabeth Perkins, Moon, Duncan Jones, Kevin Spacey, Michael Justice, Tomb Raider, Majora's Mask, Shadow of the Colossus, League of Legends, Sam, Math Munchers, Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Lemonade Stand, Robot Wars, Manhole, Ken and Roberta Williams, Wizard and the Princess, Mystery House, Rogue, Sierra, Hitman, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Another Interview!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 243: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part eight) Jan 06, 2021

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We talk takeaways and then catch up on our feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Takeaways 48:18 Break 48:45 Feedback

Issues covered: the Master Quest version of the game, the 3DS version, transitioning to 3D, coming up with mechanics to answer new questions, the evolution of block puzzles, the wow I'm a genius moment, object-oriented quest design/chunky progress, list-based vs tangibility in quests, gating in different designs, "true adventure" and sense of space, tricking the player into how big a space is, a richer space and a sense of adventure, overlaying side quests everywhere, the keys that aren't keys, the ocarina key-ring, tying the colors of ocarina songs, the music, looking at the manual, Brett's Book Recommendation, jumping the Lon-Lon Ranch fence, critical path objects that don't appear on the critical path, challenges you set for yourself, missable/skippable things, it's our podcast and we can do what we want to, giving the player options, allowing player expression, Tim talks streaming, rumors of secrets,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, Tomb Raider, Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, Jeff Browne, Shigeru Miyamoto, Eternal Darkness, Brad Furminger, Mario (series), Koji Kondo, Kirk Hamilton, Strong Songs Podcast, Earthbound, Bone Houses, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Roel, Guy Morgan/notmyviews, Darksiders, Vigil Games, Gunfire Games, Starfighter (series), Tim, Full Throttle 2, Hitman (series), Game Maker's Toolkit, Voltron, ElfQuest, Atari 2600, Mortal Kombat, Streetfighter II, Ed Boon, Adventure (Atari 2600), Warren Robinett, Aaron Evers.

Next time: An interview!

Links: How Zelda's Puzzle Box Dungeons Work

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 242: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part seven) Dec 30, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We talk about a lot of side quests and then turn to the end of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the Game!

Issues covered: playing games too fast, the tension of verbs and shortcuts, loss of discoverability, taking note of where things are (or not), where to find remaining skulltulas, feeling like you are in a place and finding everything, wanting to live in the world, knowing where things are, feeling like an epic adventure, translating the epic from 2D, knowing the gravekeeper (you know, to talk to), emulating a game vs emulating a movie, simulating a world vs simulating empty places for adventure, Nintendo's approach to an RPG, a series of rooms that test everything you can do, rewards that are less useful, the final exam, lending the character to the Gerudos, realizing what the mask of truth was for, using it on many... many stones, side content in Ubisoft games, overly systematizing side content, other ways of making open world content unique, finding the Biggoron quest and being pushed everywhere, goofy gossip stones, localization and the gossip stones, the one room which challenged us both, losing a tunic, Tim has more horse teeth, having duplicate items where only one is the path forward, climbing the tower with increasingly louder organ music, the final Ganondorf fight, the pain point this boss could be, a timed escort escape, the climactic building coming down, a building settling into an arena, "that's not a knife.... this is a knife," Wisdom keeping Power in check so Courage can deliver the blow, damsels and unnamed archetypes, cursing one's descendants, seeing all the characters again, seeing the locations again, joining up the characters again, ongoing series, end of year episode.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy IX, Mark Sean Garcia, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts (series), Witcher 3, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones (films), Mario (series), Square, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls (series), Fallout (series), Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 2, Crocodile Dundee, Age of Calamity, Hyrule Warriors, Return of the Jedi, Earthbound, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario 64, Link to the Past, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Fumito Ueda, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Takeaways and a bunch of feedback

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 241: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part six) Dec 23, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We talk about the ability to play things out of order and the precursor dungeons and temples of this section of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: through the Spirit Temple

Issues covered: the possibility for going out of order to dungeons, being able to get all the tools, how to speedrun this, not being sure about what map stuff means, being stumped by side quests, watching Tim Schafer beat the boss, visiting the Gerudo area as a child, being confused by the carpenters, only knowing when you have done a thing, Brett gives a hint, the 3D representation adding a level of epic feel, reproducing progress in the save file, seeing the beginnings of lots of 3D adventure and puzzle tropes, the potential influence of Tomb Raider, teaching you how to think with the Lens of Truth, not enjoying the magic drain of the Lens, making you think about other tools when you run out of a resource, finding the third magic, wondering how to thaw the Zora domain, the well and the connection to the Shadow Temple, the stencil effect of the Lens of Truth, performance on the N64, using knowledge of your inventory to know whether you need to approach as a child or an adult, having more keys that aren't keys, discussing the longshot vs the arrows and timing, the difficulties of the Phantom Bongo Bongo, the design of the witch beams, fighting the Z-targeting, seeing how much of the formula they got right here, preferred length of dungeon vs shrines and temples, the OCD nightmare, being able to re-enter a space from multiple directions, missing the set piece centrality of a hub in first-person design, a fine review, wild connections between this and the preceding games in feedback, who is Impa in Breath of the Wild, transcending lore nonsense, specificity with myth and fireside stories, a present for the listeners.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tim Schafer, Grim Fandango, Breath of the Wild, Link to the Past, Tomb Raider, PlayStation, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, The Witcher 3, JJ Abrams, Silicon Graphics, Starfighter, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, irreverentQ, Link Between Worlds, Uncharted, John Romero, SIGIL, DOOM (1993), Far Cry, Dishonored, Pokemon, tylenardo, Billy/The2ndQuest, Toy Story, Jim Henson, The Christmas Toy, Star Wars, How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps, Age of Calamity, Mark Garcia, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: Ocarina TV ad

Twilight Princess trailer

Next time: Finish the Game!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 240: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part five) Dec 16, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We dive into the Water Temple (see what I did there?) as well as elaborating more about some topics we touched on last time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Water Temple

Issues covered: what Tim means when he talks about Hyrule Field, lack of prior art for 3D hub and spoke, the beginnings of an open world, sight lines for blocking and enticing, breaking the prior structures, physically representing the choice space of macro decisions, looking at a level in a tool to get a sense of scale, getting different perspectives, seeing the DNA of 3D Zelda, getting a sense of a space, a return to Goron City, revisiting areas with new tools, stealing object-oriented quest design, filling in the slots and a sense of accomplishment, gaining levels or using an economy for reward, hybrid systems, allowing for player choice, renting tools in later versions, getting to Breath of the Wild and having all tools fairly early, not caring about remaining progression stuff, what happened to Jabbu-Jabbu?, dabbling with buoyancy and friction on the ice, having a tool that's only useful in one dungeon/Domain, having to give up something in a bottle, having a need for that analog stick, having to make decisions about how you'll use a container, concretizing the abstract, an area of effect key, how they devised their rules, Navi's... cryptic hint, using stores as a clue mechanism, a usability feature, replacing lost items, how many hearts Dark Link have, a camera problem with the Forest Temple boss, taking off the boots as soon as you get in the temple, the water level as a state you can change many times, the floating platforms as an item of interest, hookshot anchors, the potential influence of Tomb Raider and The Cistern, a quick aside on which versions we're playing, the creepy reveal of Dark Link, how we each defeated that boss, the evolution of wearables as also bindable in the future, upgrading a tool instead, making it clearer that you need another means of solving a puzzle, the cold hard truth about fishing games, variant gameplay should be easy, a preference for Tim's explanation for all the Legends of Zelda.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Super Mario 64, Disney World, LucasArts, N64, Shadows of the Empire, Dark Forces, Rogue Squadron, DOOM (1993), TIE Fighter, World of Warcraft, Republic Commando, Dave Collins, Jesse Harlin, GTA III, Metroid, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Troy Mashburn, Arkham (series), Link Between Worlds, Skyward Sword, Kingdom Hearts, Diablo, Path of Exile, Torchlight II, Tomb Raider, 3DS, Chrono Trigger, Milo Kent, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, Okami, Jak and Daxter, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Link to the Past, Switch, Dungeons & Dragons, Sam Thomas, Brian David Gilbert, Polygon, Halo, Vlad, Kirk Hamilton, Strong Songs, Ultima Underworld, Final Fantasy, Aaron Evers.

Links: Brian David Gilbert's total Hyrule timeline

Next time: The next two Temples

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 239: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part four) Dec 09, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We talk a lot about cluing direction, small keys, and the two dungeons we played. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Fire Temple!

Issues covered: what brings out the email, developing a relationship with Sheik, having trouble figuring out how to go back and forth in time, getting stuck in the Goron City, weird cluing, the lingering effects of a critical path mini-game, not knowing there's a verb in the graveyard, the inconsistency of the grab/pull verb, signalling critical path via text, the expanding set of verbs and the expanding amount of space they can be used in, "horse teeth," where your head goes when the puzzle logic is vague, stumbling upon a critical key and not knowing that's what it was, trying to figure out the what the key is from the shape of the lock, discussing where the bottles are, the multiplicative effective of verbs, wondering about whether the time change is critical path, world changes, psychological safety in world changes, big bang for buck, good camera trickery in the Forest Temple, making you believe more is going on than really is, "Object-Oriented Quests," quest status screen and the objects on it, abstract pegs on a board, strong work through theming, lack of copyright over game mechanics, making an RPG without a quest log, not usually being able to add UI elements indefinitely, keeping the same formula and iterating it and pushing it, feeling unsettled by small keys in the Forest Temple, wanting more clarity from key linearity, the interchangeability of the small keys, directing the player attention via a side goal, wanting specific keys, the fact that keys are not shared between dungeons, the impact of age, the Headless Horseman feel of the Phantom Ganondorf, timing and attacking/returning an attack, being misclued by Navi in combat, needing to worry about magic (or not), a serpent-style dragon, having a routine before attempting a boss, music in these two dungeons, revisiting the fishing game when Link is an adult, how different people bounce off different challenges, teaching players to throw the bomb, updating the contextual button text, overworld sparseness, the performance choices in 3D overworlds, the tiling rendering being the same as being in a level in 2D Zeldas, changing pace with Hyrule Field.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: SNES, N64, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (obliquely), Tomb Raider, Super Mario (series), DOOM (1993), Spelunky, Final Fantasy (series), Drew, Mark Garcia, Walker, Chris Hecker, Rubik's Cube, LucasArts, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Two More Dungeons!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 238: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part three) Dec 02, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We look at some of the snags around the Zora domain as well as its main dungeon, chat about mechanic literalization, and then Tim explodes a Lore Bomb. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Until becoming the Hero of Time

Issues covered: the undercurrent of masculine tropiness, the canonical relationship between Ruta and Link, not loving the Zora section, ignoring the critical path minigame, solving a puzzle in different ways, running around for an hour because of presentation, experience with the series hampering you, the usability problem presented by longevity, Tim connects the dots for Brett, not wanting to enter the Lost Woods, looking for another way to get a fish, not having the Rumble Pack, showcasing the rumble add-on, an elaborate fishing mini-game, the Game Cast 'Cast, whether or not the message in the bottle is misplaced, resolution changes between N64 and GameCube versions, bottles on the critical path, being misleading, the multiple uses for bottles, telling a parent when you're asked not to, getting sucked into the giant fish, watching the king scooch over, circuitous routes to map locations, difficulty with cause and effect and timing, lack of clarity with affordances, not knowing the distance you can throw Ruta, introducing a new element, another level inside a body, the ability to do organic stuff in textures, the mini-boss room, an unnecessary difficulty spike, the easier multi-stage boss with tentacles, failing mini-games and not wanting to repeat them, literalizing mechanics, upgrading without experience points, korok seeds in Breath of the Wild as a similar literalized mechanic, using the primary verbs to collect, the cutscene with Zelda and Sheik and Ganondorf, getting the Ocarina of Time, the Lore Bomb about the origin story of Ganon, overexplaining the lore, supporting differently abled gamers, bringing Zelda mechanics into musou games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Big, Dark Souls, GameCube/Wii, Chris Hecker, World of Warcraft, Nintendo 64, Tomb Raider, System Shock 2, Thief, Pinocchio, Kingdom Hearts, Breath of the Wild, Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed (series), Homer, Star Wars, future_Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs (obliquely), Death Stranding, Metal Gear Solid (series), Johnny Pockets, Left 4 Dead 2, Sony, Microsoft, Valve, Age of Calamity, irreverentQ/Nolan Filter, Dynasty Warriors, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Next two dungeons!

Links: Blind Gamer Beats Ocarina of Time

Interview with that Gamer

Another Blind Gamer who Beat OoT

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 237: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part 2) Nov 25, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We talk a bunch about mechanics big and small in this one, focusing on things that come up through the first dungeon as well as some audio chat and themes of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Death Mountain

Issues covered: adorable Gorons, audio hardware, voice emotes, the unappreciated half of an audiovisual medium, memory cost of voiceover, ambient dungeon music, hearing Saria's Song near the entrance to the Lost Woods, using stereo music to guide you through the woods, being able to map out the Lost Woods (rather than randomization), the opportunity to get stuck, getting a hint from the King's guard, modern design vs two decades ago, many people having one thing to say, seeing a 2D representation of a ruin moved to 3D, games keeping track of things, inspiring creativity in the music through a constraint, limiting to five notes, unifying all the game music, not needing to chord up the buttons, using the Ocarina as a key, holistically integrating time into the play and leveraging it for production, the safety in mechanical and replenishing dungeons, being able to retry a room by resetting it, learning to use the tools, locking down milestones, the ease of returning to places, the repeatability of Dark Souls, the progression of the bomb mechanics, teasing that things will be available to you, the tradition of level design at Nintendo (Lost Woods in Breath of the Wild), modernization of Nintendo design (and the critical sphere), a new generation of level designers, the King Dodongo reveal, accentuating the relative size of Link, searching for gold Skulltulas, getting all the Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild, stealth mechanics, the mechanics of the shield, naming things, having a use even for a weaker shield, lighting things on fire in Zelda games, torches as an indication of adventure, Goron dancing, moving around, centering the camera, lock-on targeting, using target switching to do your next attack, care and feeding of your controls, Switch joycon drift, a note of thanks, weird to do a podcast for so long, still learning, applying the tools.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: SNES, N64, Super Mario 64, Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild, Shigeru Miyamoto, Metal Gear Solid, Dungeons & Dragons, The Dungeon Run, Majora's Mask, Zimmy Finger, Valve, Discworld (series of novels), Batman: Arkham Knight, Mark of Kri, "Drew," Joystick Butter et al, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Becoming the Hero of Time

Links: Valve's Dev Note

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 236: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (part one) Nov 18, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on one of the highest-rated games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We of course first situate the game in time, but especially start the discussion by talking about how ground-breaking and revolutionary it felt at the time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through meeting Princess Zelda

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Ocarina 1:01:05 Break 1:01:40 Feedback

Issues covered: a man without a fairy, the antithesis of our last game, not being sure where we stopped, a surprising discovery, "I'm Mr. Rhythm," 1998 in games, release days in stores, seeing the character in 3rd person, a large team for time, the 64DD expansion, a mind-blowing impact, amazingly well-received, the revelatory step to 3D in this game, two giant cratering events in the year, approach of a Mario vs a Zelda in terms of problem space, cinematic choices, artful cinematics in-engine, stepping into the world and all the world-building, Nintendo and finding ways to present innovation, introducing a controller with Super Mario 64, creating characters that represent a mechanic, Navi & Lakitu & Wii Fit Trainer, helping people surmount the 3D barrier, the Fairy Navigation System, having to find the sword, near-perfection, a sense of ease and trust, being led to the places where you need to go, changing the world in ways that recontextualize the space, the timer of fire, one of the best introductory dungeons of all time, knowing you're doing the right thing, a weird choice with the Lost Woods, the quality of the moment of waking up, animation to show quality, getting a lot out of limited facial expressivity, using cinematic language to establish emotional tenors, texture changes to convey ageing, limited tools in 3D, music interactions, leading up to a boss, presenting you with a 3D way of thinking of past/2D Zelda dungeon construction, wondering how they iterated on the level design, why it's hard to talk about our more recent games, discussing some other weird differences in play between our games of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, an unanswered question about VtM.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Vampire the Masquerade, Nintendo 64, Troy Mashburn (obliquely), Starfighter (series), Full Throttle 2, Jake Stephens, Wind Waker, GameCube, Wii, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Thief, Grim Fandango, Banjo Kazooie, Xbox One, Crash Bandicoot, PlayStation, Xenogears, Suikoden II, Resident Evil 2, Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate, Unreal, Starcraft, Starsiege: Tribes, Falcon 4.0, Rogue Squadron, Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aounuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Link to the Past, Koji Kondo, Mario 64, Link's Awakening, GameBoy, LucasArts, Shadows of the Empire, Wayne Cline, Hal Barwood, Tim Schafer, Psychonauts, Jon Knowles, Forza (series), Bill Tiller, SCUMM, Breath of the Wild, Wii Sports, Monkey Island (obliquely), Twilight Princess, Bethesda Game Studios, Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy (series), Kingdom Hearts (series), Blarg42, nambulous, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Through Death Mountain

Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub, instagram:timlongojr DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 235: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (part five) Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. We talk about Chinatown, the end of the game, boss design, and then turn to our takeaways! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game

Podcast breakdown: 0:52 VtM: Bloodlines 1:01:03 Break 1:01:44 Takeaways

Issues covered: the use of voiceover in RPGs at the time, the whole game Maguffin, some remaining events in Chinatown, confronting the Mandarin, referencing the G-Man, Brett's dancing werewolf at the Luckee Star, the linearity of Chinatown, development and cutting late in the game, the connectivity of the macroworld, Brett misses a shark boss, being violation free, the threat of losing to a violation, having more vampire hunters in the world due to violations, having more and more abilities but narrowing the actual game options (to combat), being unable to talk people out of combat, feeling like there should be no-combat options, lacking intrigue options, wanting a nemesis system, the difficulty of endings, having trouble reading the Ming Xiao boss fight, an unbalanced fight, exploits, circularity with the cabbie and Smilin' Jack and character creation, maybe meeting Caine, a poetic and humorous ending, the other endings, spending a bunch of points at the end, interconnected level design, fitting your fanbase/drawing on your license, providing distinct experiences for your first-person RPG, world-building, "best of" inclusion, genre-busting, having to fully support combat to include it, Brett's Book Recommendation.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Half-Life, Kevin Mitnick, Wargames, Maximilian Schreck, Nosferatu, Bill Gates, Arcanum, Kill Bill, Dishonored (series), Prey, Shadow of Mordor (implicitly), Mafia III, Deus Ex, Obsidian, Interplay, Jabberjaw, Street Sharks, Suicide Squad (comic), Fallout 3, Skyrim, The Stand, Sandman, The Matrix, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Fallout, Anne Rice, Tom Cruise, Twilight (series), Stephanie Meyer, Dracula, True Blood, White Wolf, Cyberpunk 2077, LucasArts, The Vampire Tapestry, Suzy McKee Charnas, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Either an interview or our next game

Errata: Brett said The Shining when he meant The Stand, and Tim said The Corsican when he meant The Corinthian. We regret the errors.

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 234: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (part four) Nov 04, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. We delve into Chinatown, touch on some of the level design issues, and revisit some of the thinking of how RPGs and genres were starting to bleed into one another at the time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Chinatown

Issues covered: level design in the Warrens, whether things were fully tested, leaning on what was new in the Source Engine, jamming barrels into spinning bits, sewage tunnels that go nowhere, leaning away from what the game is, likely lack of playtesting, the reservoir tank race, keeping the player on the right track through signalling, the simplicity of telling the player they are doing the right thing, possible solutions for visualization, body horror and the late 90s/early 00s, having to backtrack, being reminded of Lamplighter, enjoying the payoff of the Nosferatu den, having locations for all the clans, the Nosferatu hacker, Tim's choice of fighting style, supporting some styles and not others, trinkets and blood, being unable to visit a location again, being a game unlike others, dissolving genres, experimentation with first-person, expectations of first-person action today, having to teach the player, getting stuck in Chinatown as a player, Brett gets confused about how to get to the Nosferatu, a level design joke, good character design, leaning into a real place, connective tissue and cross-pollination of quest design, mapping that onto a 3D world, the lure of interconnectedness, the quality of the artwork in the tabletop and its translation into the game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Half-Life 2, Valve Software, Fallout 3, Nate Purkeypile, Hackers, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, Metroid Prime, Unreal, id Software, Cyberpunk 2077, CD Project Red, The Witcher (series), Gremlins, Blade Runner, The Misfits, Eli Wallach, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, The Good Bad and the Ugly, Hitman, Shenmue, Leonard Boyarsky, Ubisoft, Bethesda Game Studios, Microsoft (obliquely), The Outer Worlds, Tim Cain, Tim Bradstreet, White Wolf, Ralph McQuarrie, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Finish the game!

Errata: It's called "Little Lamplight," and its denizens are "Little Lamplighter." That other rose-colored glasses vampire is probably a Toreador.

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 233: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (part three) Oct 28, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. This week we talk a bit about how we're playing the game, what that suggests about its design, and continue to delve into all this vampire mythos. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Hollywood

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 VtM: Bloodlines 57:41 Break 58:12 Feedback

Issues covered: how we get from area to area, the Nosferatu primogen... Gary, sect and clan, getting to meet Grout (or not), meeting our first vampire hunter, playing to the tabletop fanbase, integrating the worldbuilding and servicing fans, getting caught up in the machinations, building a power base, sending the player back and forth between hubs, having dialog options that tie into the politics, feeling like a double agent, Nosferatu as the Shadow Broker, misreading Malkavian cues, including Tzimisce and whatever Pishi is, having a number of trope locations, good connections between locations and storylines, being able to rely on a quest log, needing to take notes, missing a codex, a narrative quest log presented in a more mechanical way, having difficulty remembering who or where a character is, lack of a player-focused map, wanting a little more direction at times, telegraphing and inconsistency, the affordances of GMs/DMs and adapting tabletop RPGs, more of an action game and an adventure game, testing spending upgrade points, dialog supporting the RPGs, needing to support things as augmenting the storylines, their first 3D game, lack of levels, the combat not delivering XP, having difficulty reading the cameras, leveling obfuscation, choosing melee over guns, audience expectations around combat for RPGs and particularly modern-set RPGs, sum of parts/grotty fish stew, maintaining the Masquerade, increasing your stealth so high that you can get closer to things, whose hand you're playing into, appreciating the many scary locations, having to hit the right level of pastiche, someone asking me not to sing a singing review, indirect control games, the rhythm of conflict, direct vs indirect control in Populous, limitations of controls, MOBAs, iteration in AAA: sprints vs longer prototypes, gating iteration, the difficulties of high fidelity, iterating a big feature in Skyrim, how milestones change late in development, working on an intellectual property you love, the difference in feeling of playing each clan type, solo character RPGs being the big difference, how you're reined in to have the game be buildable, choices around women.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dracula/Drakthar, Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout (series), Mass Effect, The Shining, Silent Hill, The Witcher 3, Shenmue, Hitman (series), Half-Life, Troika, Bethesda Game Studios, Crimson Peak, Bioshock, Thief, Dishonored 2, Resident Evil, Maas Neotek Proto, Podcast Addict, Spodboy, Jon Cheatham, Giant Beastcast, AwwwwwYeeeaahhh, Populous, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, John Webb, SNES, Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, Glenn Corpes, Warren Linam-Church, SW: Republic Commando, John Romero, Skyrim, Todd Howard, Dagur Danielsson, CCP Games, Dragon Age (series), Deus Ex, Kingdom Hearts, Chinatown, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Up through Chinatown

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 232: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines (part two) Oct 14, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, from 2004. We talk especially about level and design density and the world structure, as well as tidbits of our playthroughs and of course, our names! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Downtown

Issues covered: picking your character's name, insane vampires, the disposition of White Wolf, jokes that are timeless or not, having special abilities in dialog, how many clans there are, the way Malkavians speak, why you might play this game multiple times, level and design density in Santa Monica, quest and interaction density and opportunities in the world, staying on top of the side quests for XP, sprawl in 2D RPGs, knowing who to talk to, width rather than depth, discrete-ness of locations in other RPGs vs high degrees of interconnectedness, doors in video games, density of opportunity, limited depth of systems, lack of soft failure, sum of parts/grotty fish stew, inherent limitations of CRPGs vs tabletops, being able to take over a guard's mind, taking a cab to downtown vs having to use the sewers, how a cutscene had to be built, when it is safe to feed, combat and bosses pushed, checking out the license plates, computers in the game, the "aesthetic," the generational challenge, threading the needle of a particular vibe, doubling down on being the "adult RPG," cyberpunk and Cyberpunk, marketing/authoring missteps, cyberpunk's moment and playing a role at a time, timeless ideas and settings vs narrower ones, talking through things with people, how good the faces look, really good voice acting, the split personality sisters as an example of something that doesn't play well, handling women poorly, scummy characters, being scared by atmospherics, good camera shake in 2004, the quality of the Ocean Hotel, failing or not failing a quest, liking to feel smart, meeting Bertie Tung, enjoying the warehouse (or not), giving an old woman a heart attack, each player having their own high points, expectations of dialog vs systems, spending a lot of time reading, new areas on the website, the timeline, how long games are, being into MMOs, talking yourself into playing the game again, fine control in character creation, vectors for narrative, setting the scene with the question-based character creator, working around the limitations of being a Nosferatu (as a designer), having to pay attention to the dialogue.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Enola Holmes, White Wolf Publishing, CCP, Onyx Press, Paradox Interactive, Ian Watson, Vampire: The Requiem, Johnny Carson, Baldur's Gate (series), Wasteland 2, Planescape: Torment, GTA III, Deus Ex, Eidos Montreal, BioWare, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls (series), Fallout 3, Rubik's Cube, Prey, Dishonored (series), Hitman (series), Ken Levine, Half-Life 2, Twilight, True Blood, Charlaine Harris, Leonard Boyarsky, Cyberpunk, The Witcher 3, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Dungeons & Dragons, Robert Forster, Quentin Tarantino, Alien: Isolation, The Shining, Warren Spector, AwwwwwwYeahhhh, Conor, Final Fantasy IX, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Eternal Darkness, Johnny Grattan, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Glenn Corpes, Mikael, Ultima (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Through Hollywood!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 231: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (part one) Oct 07, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our annual tradition: a series on a horror-themed game. This year we look at 2004's Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, the last game from RPG developer Troika. We set the game in its time (and its crowded month) and talk about its license, how that compares with D&D in particular, and the opening moments of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Into Santa Monica

Issues covered: our interview with Glenn Corpes, 2004 and especially November of that year, stiff competition, shipping on an untested engine, what engine support one can expect, the costs of building your own engine, delays in engine/game development, shipping Steam at the same time, why Valve isn't more of an engine company, founding and fall of Troika, the studio's earlier games, the full implementation of D&D 3.5, save-scumming through a final battle, the consolidation of RPGs under Microsoft Game Studios, southern California game developers, a differing style of tabletop RPG, lesser emphasis on statistics, heavier melodrama with more role-play focus, politics and diplomacy, ending the world of White Wolf, a modern setting, vampires living among us, "classic" settings in D&D, Dark Sun/Eberron side settings, a question of being less timeless, tying into a very specific aesthetic and time and place, anti-heroic settings and edginess, the Storyteller System, mission goals for small numbers of XP rather than around skill uses and cleverness, cinematic combat in tabletop, focus on intrigue, Greyhawk/The Forgotten Realms, timelessness in settings, the White Wolf MMO, the options for character creation, multiple-choice questions, vampire clans/archetypes, dancing around what we were picking, ending as Nosferatu, vampires as an analogy for disease, being staked and stunned, a big world-building moment, Camarilla vs Sabbat, a theater of the undead, the niche nature of the World of Darkness, not necessarily wanting to pick a Nosferatu, possibly feeling like a different game based on clan, the horror of becoming like Tim, designing a question system for RPG character creation, tournament selection and classes, points-based questions and answers, attributes: physical/social/mental, abilities: talents/skills/knowledges, feats as combinations of attributes and abilities, vampire magic as disciplines, experience points as skill trees purchases, not being able to have it all, the high quality of Smiling Jack as a focus and as a world-builder, various skills to introduce, learning powers and having multiple tutorial paths based on clan, simple passive tutorializations, watching a loop of the TV or listening to the radio, how much we both love LA.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Glenn Corpes, Populous, Kotaku Splitscreen, LucasArts, KotOR 2, Doom 3, Fable, Sly 2, Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Jak 3, Pikmin 2, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Beyond Divinity, Baldur's Gate 3, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, Everquest II, World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Counterstrike (Source), Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Bejewelled 2, Epic, Unreal, Valve, Respawn, id Software, Deus Ex, Troika, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Fallout (series), Interplay, Jason Anderson, Temple of Elemental Evil, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Bethesda Game Studios, TES V: Skyrim, Andrew Meggs, Shadowrun, Dungeons & Dragons, Obsidian Entertainment, The Outer Worlds, inXile, Wasteland 2, Brian Fargo, The Bard's Tale, The Village of Hommlet, White Wolf, John Stafford, Crystal Dynamics, Call of Cthulhu, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, Mummy: The Resurrection, Gary Gygax, Lord of the Rings, Anne Rice, Wizards of the Coast, Twilight (series), The Matrix, Ray Gresko, Richard Garfield, CCP, Ultima (series), What We Do in the Shadows, Nosferatu, System Shock 2, Ubisoft, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Danny Trejo, Tom Cruise, Interview with the Vampire, AwwwwwYeeeaah, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Through Downtown

Note: White Wolf Publishing became defunct in 2018. We were unaware, which may speak to its niche nature.

Errata: Nosferatu was 1922 and it is Count Orlok. Count Orloff/Orlov is a figure in Russian history.

Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub, Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 230: Bonus Interview with Glenn Corpes Sep 30, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Populous with a special guest interview with Glenn Corpes, the original programmer who came up with a little generator for height maps that ended up launching a whole genre; we'll talk about that and tons of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Interview 1:18:41 Break 1:19:02 Next time

Issues covered: how Glenn got in, seeing a computer for the first time, being a computer operator, getting a job for your woodgrain, getting hired as an artist, porting a game without the code, winging it on things like collision detection, being unable to port something and casting about for something else, writing a level generator to avoid writing an editor, having to add the ability to raise and lower land, having the whole world with a pixel per cell, the game on top being all Peter's, working backwards from mouse coordinates, having the original disk, the potential for the landscape to rise up over the interface elements, updating the map every frame, limiting the use of the blitter, size of Bullfrog at the time, the musician/salesman, understanding the "metal-bashing aspect" or not, three man weeks of graphics, blocks vs sprites, one thing per square and no more than 256 total, managing character state, no pathfinding, map steps: the opposite of pheromones, buildings based on the flat space around, people as groups of people, the interaction of weapons multipliers and population, getting an explanation of what all the bars mean, the most significant digits, the strategy for managing population, the strategy for clearing land, a clarifying button on the SNES, near-launch title, sales and the UK Chart, multiplayer only until shortly before ship, communicating through a networked file, writing the game in 7 months, watching two AIs play each other, the ways in which AI difficulty is managed, reimplementing all the gameplay in two weeks, faking out the AI because it will always attack your oldest building, AI speed, responding to flood, the manna rules, going into a manna debt and paying it off, making inroads for the knights, stuck messages, adding a campaign two weeks from the end, having an accountant QA the game, the most difficult level of the game: Biloord, how to beat "Biloord: The Hardest Level in Populous," slowing the game vs arcade-ing it up, faking out a sphere, making the cube without the stickers, flat land as currency, synergy and serendipity, revolutionary gameplay from an unexpected place, last minute additions, fights on Populous: The Beginning, heretical choices in game development.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bullfrog Productions, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate, Lost Toys, Moho, Battle Engine Aquila, Kuju, EA, Weirdwood, 22 Cans, Edge, Topia, Fat Owl with a Jet Pack, Ground Effect, powARdup, Commodore PET, ZX-81, Sinclair, Telex, Amiga, Taurus, Peter Molyneux, DPaint, Druid 2: Enlightment, Gauntlet, Spectrum, Fusion, The Ultimate Database, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Alienate, Knight Lore, Spindizzy, Marble Madness, Dungeon Master, Ultima Underworld, Andrew Bailey, Dene Carter, Big Blue Box, Fable, Lionhead, Kevin Donkin, Powermonger, GDC, SNES, The Sentinel, The Promised Lands, LEGO, Black&White, Godus, Sean Cooper, Civilization, Alan Wright, Alex Trowers, Command & Conquer, Ernő Rubik/Rubik's Cube, X-COM, Wayne Frost, Julian Gollop, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Leonard Boyarsky, Fallout, Tim Cain, The Outer Worlds, Obsidian, Microsoft, Dungeons & Dragons, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines (up through.... some of Santa Monica)

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 229: Populous the Beginning Bonus Sep 23, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we talk about our Populous takeaways and then take a little bonus look at Populous: the Beginning, an RTS spinoff from the original games. We talk about how the game takes concepts from the originals and molds them into something new, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few missions

Podcast breakdown: 0:56 Takeaways and Populous: The Beginning 1:12:48 Break 1:13:20 Feedback

Issues covered: dreaming big, the one-sentence/high concept, buying on the box, the mindset you approach the game with now and at the time, creation vs destruction mechanics, your Old Testament gods, toys vs games academically, indirect control and influence, opacity of interface, being engaged even indirectly, board games as an influence, the interactions you have as a god, "when I get to mid-game, I flood the world," emergent strategy, simulated villagers, wanting the stories of how strategies developed internally, simulating a population, what are your choices for abstraction, the mystery of simulation, watching an ant colony, it's like the terrain itself was a character, Tim's troubles getting this game running, user-created solutions to get this thing running, forgetting to save, how the god of Populous ascended, borrowing from multiple tribal traditions, is a thing 3D or not, a rotable camera vs an isometric view, a level-designed game, limitations on raising and lowering land, getting a number of charges to raise land, directly controlling villagers to become warriors or to build and occupy buildings, your godlike powers, tech tree driven by level/macro design, having the RTS ruts, critical unit mass and rhythm, franchise pillars and what you bring with you, winged monsters, converting savages through your Shaman, converting units, a finite unit map, religion and colonization, a puzzle level, micro-management of units, seeing patrol paths, the costs of scale, being neither enough of an RTS nor enough of a Populous game, legacies, eye strain, hardening of the corneas, blue light blockers, perception of depth of field and focusing, ambient light, what do you tell a young person, organizing thoughts creatively, the benefits of a liberal arts education, communication as key life skill, doing the thing every day, game jams online and in person, Brett's Book Recommendation.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead, Peter Molyneux, SimCity, Civilization, Will Wright, The Walking Dead, Black & White, Ultima IV, Windows, Star Trek, Warcraft, Dune 2, Command & Conquer, Starcraft, Quake III Arena, Nintendo DS, Total Annihilation, EA, Haden Blackman, Paul Pierce, Tropico (series), Anno (series), Sam, Cody, Unreal, Unity, Blender, MGS 3: Snake Eater, Resident Evil 4, Mario 3, itch.io, Terry Pratchett, Discworld, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: An interview or possibly our Halloween-themed game

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 228: Populous (part three) Sep 16, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1989's genre-defining Populous. We take a little more time with the game and then think about how and why and it might have hit so big at the time, in addition to considering its principal designer, Peter Molyneux. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Several more battles

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Populous Discussion 51:30 Break 52:02 Feedback

Issues covered: Tim's new podcast, the thinness of the game, the systems present in the game, minimal surfacing, settlers and food and buildings, getting a feel for systems rather than directly understanding or showing them, finding a formula, reinforcing castles as good but it maybe leading to a poor dynamic, indirect control, being unable to stop them from making castles, weird ant farm thoughts, overclicking, building up to flood them, speed-land raising by the AI, flooding rather than swamping, the OCD clean-up dopamine, turning the tides, tit-for-tat strategies, a narrow tipping point for Brett, not knowing what to do about things, forgetting about the population bars, getting to flood conditions, being ready to do the thing at the right time, wanting to act on the enemy at exactly the right place, fighting on the borders, pinball wizardry, examining the "load-out" of the level set-up, the fun of playing genre-defining games, that Unique Selling Proposition, finding the big selling point, calcifying genres and breaking away, being not "another one of those," shooting an eye out from a mile away, Molyneux's unique talent, overselling his ideas, child-like enthusiasm, being a forcing function on development, going beyond the limits of what's possible, different approaches to how you push beyond preconceptions, console generation and caring less about new hardware, interesting games being interesting on any platform, an Ubisoft model, applying the specific game to every design, the value of working cheap, having the value of working with more interesting hardware, simulating lots of Little Computer People, how we build an image today, not being able to re-render the whole screen, getting to the interface they had, actually using all the screen to play, being confused about how it all works, runtime performance of PCs in the 1980s, the screenshot test, selling the experience not the visuals, severe technical constraints, switching from another industry, creative leadership in different industries, being willing to step down before stepping back up, the difficulty of going from peak to peak, leveraging your leadership/mentoring skills.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Northern Exposure, Voice of the Last Frontier, SimCity, GTA, Civ, Dungeon Keeper, Dominion, The Who, Thief, Ultima (series), Heroes of Might and Magic, Dave Perry, Shiny, MDK, Peter Molyneux, Syndicate, Bioshock, Shigeru Miyamoto, Pikmin, Roberta Williams, Space Quest/King's Quest, PS2, Ubisoft, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Monster (energy drinks), Michel Ancel, Bullfrog, Populous: The Beginning, From Dust, Eric Chahi, Yannick from Germany, Maas Neotek, Amiga, John Romero, Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Apple ][, NES, MegaMan, The Legend of Zelda, Jonathan, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Note: The Amiga was in fact 640x512, higher than I would have guessed! This would have been EGA/VGA depending on the machine on other PCs.

Next time: A bit of Populous: The Beginning!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 227: Populous (part two) Sep 09, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1989's Bullfrog Productions hit and originator of the God Game genre, Populous. We talk about using the mouse in 1989 and dive into particular strategies and the surprising depth of the game, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Another... 5? Levels

Issues covered: the tutorial just going on, restarting a conquest, having a false sense of security in the tutorial, generating more manna early in the tutorials, games being more keyboard-only at the time, evolving use of home computers for games, adventure games/text adventures and interfaces, figuring out the input interface, hard-to-use mouse input, the Taurus/Torus mix-up that gave us Bullfrog Productions, the PC platform space in 1989, RTS improvements to help navigate, keyboard controls, figuring things out on the second or third game, unanticipated phases to the game, avoiding arcadey controls by indirection, slow manna generation, the costs of raising land, the dangers of flooding, leaving a lone knight errant to decimate the enemy, the enemy flooding himself, unanticipated stories, flooding yourself to kill the enemy, the ways the AI cheats, rubberbanding of a sort, using swamps and earthquakes to disrupt the enemy, papal magnet management, the impact of the map, how to analyze a map for an RTS, developing a simple unit-based AI, the Game of Life/cellular automata approach to AI, focusing on knights, using the gather behavior to make tougher nights, how much space castles take up and the borders around them, the macro around score and how far to advance in the 500 levels of Populous, how would one speedrun Populous, modern descendants of the game, loving having Molyneux in the industry, "to think, it all started with baked beans," machine speed in DosBox, not adjusting for time in old video games, what is an honorific, honorifics and first-person identification in Japanese, observing sexism as potentially embedded in the writing alphabet, gendered particles/radicals and similarities to Romance languages.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Prince of Persia, Civilization, Ultima (series), Doom (series), Quake, King's Quest, Space Quest, LucasArts, Dark Forces, Ultima Underworld, Duke 3D, Amiga, Peter Molyneux, World of Warcraft, 22 Cans, EA, Microsoft, Fusion, SNES, SimAnt, Game Developer, Warcraft, Dune, Command & Conquer, Game of Life, John Conway, Darwinia, WarGames, Introversion Software, DEFCON, Uplink, Prison Architect, Scanner Sombre, Godus, Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube, Dungeon Keeper, Fable (series), Mr. Beast, Chris Corry, Syndicate, Johnny Pockets, Chrono Trigger, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Harry Potter, George Orwell, allthosewhowander.org, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: More Populous

Link: That Italian translation article I mention

Note: It is in fact possible to navigate the view window with the number pad. But the number pad does in fact control the viewport scrolling. The problem is, the number pad and the mouse are typically both controlled with the right hand.

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 226: Populous (part one) Sep 02, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a series on the Bullfrog classic Populous. We set the game in its time and place and talk a little bit about Bullfrog and the different directions simulation games were going, driven by different designers, before talking a little bit about the weirdnesses of this game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Tutorial and First Battle

Podcast breakdown: 0:51 Populous 1:03:48 Break 1:04:17 Feedback

Issues covered: welcoming Tim back and a discussion of his trip, 1989 in video games, a little discursion into Midwinter, creating the God Game, the immense sales of Populous, the Bullfrog game legacy, absorbing smaller developers into a larger publisher, the different directions that simulations were going under different developers, geographic distinctions, creating genres, limitations in processing power and UI representations, trying Populous in 1992 without a manual, the tutorial in the manual, failing the tutorial, the UI representation, performance concerns and filling the space, raising and lowering terrain, overloading icon use, the pause menu, GDC Lifetime Achievement Award, trying to figure out the best way to do a thing, influencing a game vs controlling the game, reading the map, using cartographic techniques in lieu of shading, killing the enemies indirectly, making your leader into a knight, mixing religious iconography, "we" are good and "they" are evil, the macro of the game, the way characters become stronger, overloading the use of the bars on the shield, lowering land to prevent a new leader forming, raising land to create a path for your knight, visual novel recommendations, an update on Pockets the Great, how deep the Civ rabbit hole goes, finding appropriate mentors, not always having the answer, listening to and asking questions of a report, the Socratic method, getting to know your people, setting Phoenix Wright in LA for a Western market, regional dialects, Shu Takumi's dog.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star II, Golden Axe, Herzog Zwei, NES, River City Ransom, Castlevania III, Mother (Earthbound Beginnings), Final Fight, Strider, Xbox One, Nintendo GameBoy, Super Mario Land, SimCity, Midwinter, Minesweeper, Prince of Persia, Stunt Car Racer, Commodore 64, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, LucasFilm Games, The Colonel's Bequest, Roberta Williams, Batman, Bullfrog Productions, Peter Molyneux, Fusion, Amiga, Black & White, Lionhead, Microsoft, EA, Dark Forces, Dungeon Keeper, Powermonger, Syndicate, Syndicate Wars, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, 22 Cans, Godus, Origin Systems, LucasArts, Maxis, The Sims, Spore, Will Wright, Respawn Entertainment, Sid Meier, Civilization, Ultima Underworld, Warcraft, Rogue, MYST, Richard Garriott, Looking Glass, id Software, Tropico (series), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Danganronpa, 999, Nonary Games, Jonathan Stoler, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Nolan Filter/irreverentQ, Murder by Numbers, Picross, Johnny Grattan/Pockets, Morrowind/Arena/Daggerfall, Brian, Republic Commmando, Nick Faulhaber, Shu Takumi, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Five (?) more battles?

Links: Amusingly enough, it *was* a Populous postmortem talk where I first heard Peter's anecdote

Shu Takumi's Pomeranian

Errata: Thank you for playing... Wing Commander!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 225: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (part three) Aug 19, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. This week we talk about the final original case, particularly looking at the growing complexity of the story, and then turn to our takeaways and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Turnabout Goodbyes

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Phoenix Wright Case 4 59:57 Break 1:00:34 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: being novelistic and weaving through multiple narratives, intricate backstories coming together, wanting the macro arc, ending on a high note, developing character empathy, the impact of one event on many lives, wanting to have a character introduced earlier, feeling a greater sense of the world, the Castlevania-lookin' character, goofy gourds, Edgeworth staying a little too quiet, potential professional embarrassment and guilt and shame, a common setup for a mystery, turning expectations on its head, where is this game set?, Lotta Hart, layers of motivation, getting stuck in a cross, the puzzle of getting to a bit of conflicting evidence and when, when to press and when to present, the way information enters into the world, looking for tells, the localization nightmare when language is so ambiguous, localization as design, animation tells, the case room, the police tools, Missile the Shiba Inu, what the police tools do, finding Larry's CO2 compression canister, working back from the one idea, establishing Yanni Yogi's identity and his own knowledge of it, the Chewbacca effect, economy driving connection, raising the stakes, the boss battle with von Karma, how are you going to get to von Karma, the riddle of the one bullet, von Karma's shoulder-grabbing pose, being careful to work within your constraints, deepening von Karma's "Objection", the screaming and head-banging, "the evidence was in you all along," a possible plot hole, what's "fair," realizing a connection, using every part of the animal to emphasize drama, doing a lot with a little, the hallmarks of a novel, anime/manga treatment of the courtroom procedural, making the rules part of the drama, what you marry to the adventure game to breathe new life in, a different take on the adventure game, JRPG to Western RPG, being careful about what you bring from a genre, asking whether a thing is necessary, Brett's Book Recommendation, a shout-out to a listener, fast-forwarding through random combat, the one-handed version of this game, playing the touch-screen, All Those Who Wander.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: X-Files, Castlevania, Bird Box, Josh Malerman, Sandra Bullock, Star Wars, Hotel Dusk, Secret of Monkey Island, Halo 1, Misery, Shinji Mikami, Resident Evil, Tango Gameworks, Zenimax, The Evil Within, Platinum, Eliza, Danganronpa, Richard Lloyd Parry, The People Who Eat Darkness, Mark Sean Garcia, Final Fantasy IX, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy XII, Matt A, Nintendo Wii, Kingdom Hearts, Yakuza (series), Persona 5, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Hollow Knight, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: Tim off on his trip

Next time: ...? We will let you know.

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 224: Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney (part two) Aug 12, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Capcom's 2001 Japanese GBA title/2005 US DS title Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. We revisit the history just a bit before diving into this next case, talking about "detectiving" and adventure game tropes (and how/whether they work here), as well as various ways in which the game pushes its mechanics before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Case 3

Issues covered: a bit of correction and elaboration, the cost or lack thereof of pressing, the kid with no respect for the law, quick case recap, a slight change in structure, wondering whether Phoenix was defending a murderer, the personal stake in the case, demanding a lot of the legal system, growing the space you investigate, expanding into a detection game, deductions that are there to confound you, tricking the player, having to revisit places just to move characters, rebuilding logic after the fact, being thrown off by details that turn out to be meaningless, wanting fast travel, having clear ideas of what should happen in the game and not knowing what to do to trigger them, text adventure hold-overs, hesitating to change genre design, expanding the use of "evidence," stretching the interface, audio and visual upgrades, the arguments for remasters vs remakes, the high quality music, adding motion graphics in this case, feeling more engaged in the investigation mechanics, using a small amount of character animation budget to good effect, the slide mechanic in areas, missing support for a second stick, good moments with Edgeworth, adversarial legal systems, wanting the truth, adding S-Rank, why did we even go there?, how much we don't know about the legal system, lawyer's badges, more about the sexism, future supernatural stuff, Tim is possessed by the spirit of his wife, being conditioned to apologize for systemic issues, localization issues with various places, generally trying to abide to cultural sensitivity, questions of centrality, wanting to have the conversation and pushback, getting pushback in concept and pushing back yourself, censorship vs companies and creators, the difficulty as a creator of having your work looked at, curating how games are made, shouting into your DS, pronouncing names properly, AllThoseWhoWander.org, Tim's small trip.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Portopia Serial Murder Case, Yuji Horii, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Border of this World, Wolverine, Angela Lansbury, Murder She Wrote, Hotel Dusk, Trauma Center, Matlock, Sherlock Holmes, Capcom, GBC/GBA/DS, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, SamSpot, Kingdom Hearts, Gran Turismo, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Dagur Danielsson, Persona 4/5, Edwin, Matt A, The Muppets, Shaun, 8-4 Play podcast, Star Wars, Halo 5, Dragon's Crown, Judgement/Yakuza series, World of Warcraft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: The importance of lawyer lapel pins

AllThoseWhoWander.org

Next time: Case 4

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 223: Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney (part one) Aug 05, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Capcom's 2001 Japanese GBA title/2005 US DS title Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. We talk a bit about the year, the visual novel as a form we're not all that familiar with, although we've each played at least one, and then dive into the game properly before turning to reviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Cases 1 & 2

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 PW Discussion 1:02:38 Break 1:03:16 Reviews & Feedback

Issues covered: looking at the history of the visual novel, crime scene base, the combination of visual novel elements with other action elements, companion quests as visual novel, the split between adventure game types from different cultures (like RPGs and JRPGs), the limits of a handheld vs the early 80s PCs, good fit for the DS, the rampant sexism, the distraction of the sexism, stereotypes/archetypes used to involve the player efficiently, lack of subtlety, production realities, dating game history, where you put your development dollars, showing the crime and the killer up-front, dramatic irony, knowing you have to press the villain, scrubbing back and forth and evaluating when you want to present, being able to see the evidence at any point, a brief discussion about the Japanese legal system, similarities to turn-based combat, stripping down the mystery to expose the mechanics, adding in the investigation/adventure game mode, coming up with a theory of the crime, finding the evidence, the burdens on the prosecution vs the defense, adding in the pressing mechanic, seeing characters progressively crack, animating the characters in a way fitting to the hardware, having the fighting game rhythms, using manga aesthetics for pacing, Brett objects to the supernatural elements as unnecessary, would historians really thank us?, making the margin too small for dates, possible localization issues, Brett objects to the lighting in the office vs the hotel room, being open to what the game wants from me rather than what I know, finding what the game wants, seeking out the aha moment, following the wrong leads, red herrings, stuffing too much into the initial couple hours of a game, missing a core mechanic, two old men with their vision issues, exhaustible dialog elements vs a different style in PW:AA, RPGs trying to replicate D&D, verisimilitude of a game's dialog, parser-based early Ultima games, different ways of presenting dialog, lifting into a different level of story space abstraction, the hidden costs of moving to voice, the loss of the parser, money finds a way.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Republic Commando, Capcom, GBA/Nintendo DS, Portopia Serial Murder Case, Enix, Square, Hotel Dark, Trauma Center (series), Professor Layton (series), Policenauts, Hideo Kojima, Bioware, Mass Effect (series), Doki Doki Literature Club, Space Quest/King's Quest, Sierra, Scott Adams, Devil May Cry, Ico, GTA III, Animal Crossing, Civ III, Halo, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Final Fantasy X, Onimusha: Warlords, Shenmue II, Dreamcast, Pikmin, Advance Wars, Starfighter, Luigi's Mansion, GameCube, Xbox, Dream Daddy, L.A. Noire, Infocom, Deadline, Law & Order, Medium, Profiler, Numb3rs, SamSpot101, Ben Zaugg, 999, Danganronpa, Kingdom Hearts, Hunt A Killer, LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, Sam Thomas, Walker Farrell, Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Divinity: Original Sin, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Dungeons & Dragons, Ultima, Reed Knight, Ken Rolston, Mark Crowe, Jurassic Park, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Case 3

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 222: SWRC Bonus Interview with Jeremie Talbot Jul 29, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we at last complete our series on Republic Commando, with an interview with technical artist Jeremie Talbot, now at Pixar as a Characters Supervisor. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:53 Interview 1:12:01 Break 1:12:35 Feedback

Issues covered: growing up in Canada, going to college in the states, interning for Alias, bartering skills with a weather station, starting at a company that dissolved, joining up with LucasArts, maintaining family relationships through video games, "When you're working on a game, nothing is done until it ships," breaking the game every day, team alchemy, people who didn't fit into silos, the various aspects of character art, "The Puppet Department," specialization, the lubrication that makes it go, the technology in the way, becoming technical to get it out of the way, just wanting to make the thing, "nobody knew what they were doing," losing connection points through specialization, creating tiger teams, agile-style methodology, military manuals for terminology, wanting to dig in and make stuff as well, having technical chops, the pink baby arms, adding raindrops to the head, safe experimentation, animation compression and "we need to," being the communication chain, wanting to also make the stuff, the internal video that was good enough to release, taking things from the game and turning it into the video, doing a whole scripted video to cut together, prototyping through video, the genesis of the prologue, baby hands baby hands baby hands, having some direction for the story, being able to lean into them being clones, reuse to make things feel big, a good team functioning well, building excitement making a thing happen, being inspired instead of checking the box, staying apart from the LucasArts madness, "there's no way they're not gonna release this," scratching a Star Wars itch, thinking back about process and alchemy, the feeling of something accidental that was actually designed, wondering if it's even going to work, the payoff of thinking about team composition, the tension of company needs and project needs, giving people an opportunity gives a burst of enthusiasm, the problems with always filling the container, "the team makes the game," getting along well with people and how that makes the whole thing go, the healthy mix of seniority and new folks, leveled up Jeremie, talking about what Leia and Marcus were, Brett confesses his eye strain, our next game, taking recommendations.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Tippett Studio, Charlotte's Web, Spiderwick Chronicles, Enchanted, Pixar, Brave, Monsters University, Finding Dory, Onward, Dave Bogan, Sheridan College, Maryland Institute College of Art, Alias/Wavefront, Autodesk, PowerAnimator, Maya, Jonathan French, Metrolight Studios, Total Recall, Conn Peterson, Jason Armstrong, Pokemon, Full Throttle 2, Bounty Hunter, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Ian Milham, The Mandalorian, EA, Harley Baldwin, Nathan Martz, Adam Piper, Unreal, Tim Ramsay, Skyrim, Greg Knight, Paul Pierce, Paul Murphy, Brett Schulz, Loren Cox, Rebecca Perez, Daron Stinnett, the one and only person, Luke Thériault, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Leia/Marcus, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Ray Gresko, Rob Huebner, Justin Chin, SITH Engine, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Maniac Mansion, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Rebel Assault, INSANE, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Kingdom Hearts, Animal Crossing, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, 999, Hotel Dusk, Ghost Trick, Nintendo Switch, Kotaku Splitscreen/Triple Click, Jason Schreier, Hollow Knight, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, first case

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 221: SWRC Bonus Interview with Two Surprise Guests Jul 22, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue to flog the dead tauntaun of our series on Republic Commando, through a pair of interviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:53 Interview One 54:05 Break One 54:17 Interview Two 1:46:40 Break Two 1:45:55 Feedback

Issues covered: starting out as a theater geek, finding a job in the newspaper, faking co-op via phone, QA as the breeding ground for designers and producers, needing to staff a project after folks left, finding management talent in QA as well, the benefits of a theater education in level design, the historical areas of the Indiana Jones game (including the Aetherium), using similar research as for set design, theatricality and 3D spatial design, matching believability with fun, reallocating resources to JK's ex-pack, scripting cutscenes, Leia/Marcus engine, the long crunch of Indy, figuring out how to ship a game, sharing design amongst Daron and programmers, looking into leadership, thinking you'd come in for mission design and having so much people work, leadership vs management, moving into more of a direction role, getting to build on something you knew, choosing pillars around features, aiming for more bombast, tying missions together, wearing a producer hat as well, "90% of the challenges are people challenges," picking people for the project, wanting to work with people, skill sets and talent, diving back into the first person shooter, building consensus and going too far, finding the right boundaries for consensus, using pillars and goals to set the sandbox for discussion, giving respect to others, having the connection of the team, listening as an actor (and as a director), the trust on the stage, physics as a misstep, switching to computer science for grad school, doing military contracting in academia, Caveman Tim lifts his head, learning a million subjects all at once, remembering that first interview, getting a random offer, having no flight simulator experience, starting out playing pure flight sims, programming mission logic, figuring out how a game works from the tools, EvE (the Event Editor), knowing the LucasArts legacy, learning everything about being a professional programmer and a good collaborator, moving quickly into leadership, the internal MMO, working closely with level designers, being asked to be a lead, "the designer's programmer," having a rapport with designers (and building it), fighting for the users, learning to work with people, being able to hold the technological line, a game being too expensive to build, helping shore up technical management, helping the programmers help the designers, Brett makes an Alien reference, not being set up for failure, opportunities for growth, the potential problems of success, the conundrum of what people make sense when on a project, the weird side effects of matrix management, we agree to never do it again, the difficulty of writing squad-style AI for varied potential parties in CRPGs, the goals of action games vs RPGs, differing fantasies, disconnect from expectations of players if you had more independence in CRPGs.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Star Wars: X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Star Wars: Jedi Knight, Mysteries of the Sith, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Starfighter (series), Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (series), Microsoft, 343 Industries, Halo (series), Nintendo Wii, Jason Botta, Playstation 2, Xbox, MobyGames, Tacoma, Skyrim, Reed Knight (nee Derleth), Dan Connors, Jonny Rice, Nihilistic Software, Ray Gresko, Rob Huebner, Justin Chin, Infinite Machine, GT Interactive, Activision, Dan Pettit, Geoff Jones, Outlaws, Kevin Schmitt, Ryan Kaufman, Telltale Games, Hal Barwood, Wayne Cline, Daron Stinnett, Troy Mashburn, Rich Davis, Dave Bogan, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Tim Miller, Unreal, Harley Baldwin, Tim Schafer, Full Throttle II, Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout (series), Apple ][+, Colossal Cave Adventure, Macintosh SE/80, Richard Feynman, Pixar, Doom, Quake, Diablo, MYST, Steve Ash, Aric Wilmunder, SCUMM, Steve Dauterman, Garrett James, Descent: Freespace, Chris Corry, Andrew Kirmse, Sony Online Entertainment, Star Wars Galaxies, Jesse Moore, Doug Modie, Reeve Thompson, Force Commander, Tron, David Lee Swenson, Steve Dykes, Malcolm Johnson, David Worrall, Vernon Harmon, Sam and Max: Freelance Police, The Warriors, J. Scott Peter, Alien, Battlefront II, Patrick Sirk, Chris Williams, Harry Potter, EA, Nathan Martz, John Hancock, Michelle Hinners, Ashton Herrmann, Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Josh Lindquist, Hollow Knight.

Next time: A final(?) interview

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 220: SWRC Bonus Interview with David Bogan Jul 15, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we just keep on rolling about Republic Commando, on which both of your hosts worked. This week we talk with lead animator Dave Bogan, about his journey into the industry and what stuck out for him on this project, among many other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:44 Interview 1:19:32 Break 1:20:05 Feedback

Issues covered: our rampant professionalism, stepping in the right potholes, taking an early liking to art, half arts school/half regular high school, finding out you're not a draftsman, learning about animation, having industry professionals for teachers, not knowing you can work in games, putting in the devotion and the time, a little who's who of great LucasArts artists, making a choice based on comedy and drawing, early experience on CMI and other titles, getting a title axed, finding roles for people rather than laying them off, getting involved in a project and working with other people, doing what you have to to ship, not having a plan and realizing: we always need to have a plan, taking on additional responsibility, the limitations of some of early characters, eyes and face and hands for animation, where one of the animators went, looking for an opportunity as a lead, thinking about how characters behave before you see them, getting expectations set, being intimidated by Daron Stinnett, looking at the competition, feeling elevated by Daron, the excellence of the animation team, learning from Joe Bacciocco, trigger discipline, when good behavior meets up with video game needs, how much an expert cared for people, using soldier expertise, composition and correctness, translating the authenticity, a well-integrated and organized animation team, the Trandoshan who runs at you like a gorilla, having to tell Dave no, various games they thought about post-SWRC, being afraid of not doing a Jedi game, being a pragmatist, lacking strife, having real characters, wanting stories at the forefront, Brett's Book Recommendation, being a salve in tough times, the hidden co-op version of Republic Commando.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Obi-Wan, Escape from Monkey Island, Rogue Squadron, Telltale Games, The Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Fame, Degrassi Street, Amanda Stepto, This Is Spinal Tap, Tara Campbell, Sheridan College, Disney, Fox, Pixar, ILM, LucasArts, SquareSoft, Magnum PI, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Kevin Boyle, Chris Miles, Graham Annable, Karen Chelini, Sangeeta Prashar, Sega/Secret Level, Starcraft, Jedi Knight, Ray Gresko, SCUMM, Derek Sakai, Mark Overney, Kevin Micallef, Chris Williams, Daron Stinnett, Eric Ingerson, Tippett Studios, Troy Molander, Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner, John Hancock, Chris Ross, Ryan Kaufman, Stephen McManus, Jeff "Pinecone" Kung, Ian Milham, Dead Space, Bret Robbins, Ascendant Studios, Justice Unlimited, Michael Stemmle, Diablo, Patrick McCarthy, Camela Boswell, Afterlife, Sean Clark, Force Commander, Factor 5, Magpie, Bounty Hunter, Armando Lluch, Cory Allemeier, Loren Cox, Matt White, Medal of Honor, Halo, Ryan Hood, Brett Schulz, Rebecca Perez, Jeremie Talbot, Nathan Martz, Joe Bacciocco, Call of Duty, Hulk Hogan, Haden Blackman, Patrick Sirk, Matt Omernick, GTA, The Force Unleashed, George Lucas, Sledgehammer Games, EA, Soul Reaver, Full Throttle 2, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Martha Wells, The Murderbot Diaries, Chrono Trigger, Mark, Ultima Underworld, Super Mario RPG, Nintendo, Bill, Johnny Szary, Short Circuit.

Link: Video of training the animators

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 219: SWRC Bonus Interview with Greg Knight and Paul Pierce Jul 08, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we are beginning to come dangerously close to spending longer talking about Republic Commando than we did playing it. This time, we get a look behind art development for Star Wars through the eyes and voices of two artists who worked on the title: Greg Knight, who was the principal concept artist for the game, and Paul Pierce, who designed the look and feel of the user interface. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Interview segment 1:14:39 Break 1:15:14 Feedback

Issues covered: how Paul got his start, web design in the 90s, learning 3D modeling, how Greg got his start, the ubiquity of LucasFilm in Marin, making an important connection and getting an unstoppable recommendation, the importance of art in establishing a game, the design of HUDs and menus, the distinction between UX and UI, how UI art got into the game, iterating the UI in response to the game you're building, starting out as a texture artist, imagining rooms as a whole and getting noticed for your control of tone, an exciting time to learn about concept art, being a force multiplier for the art team, the need for concept art with rising fidelity, keeping cohesive style and flow in the art by use of concept art as well as art direction, differences with film, what immersive experiences mean for content, lacking control of camera, good ideas coming from all over, vs auteurism, putting a burden on UI aesthetics by being always first-person, bringing in the visor pieces, losing visual real estate and that conversation, the impact on design on art decisions, putting the ammo readouts on the guns, marking up renders to figure out where UI elements would go, weapons as characters, running into resistance with the programmers, the ways programmers can... avoid work, the conversation you have to have around iteration cost, fitting into a palette, designing vehicles that didn't exist in canon, coming up with the tone of a more deadly clone story, figuring out who the clones even were, figuring out what the side stories were, imagining beyond the borders of the film, morphing to a different scale, how little a Geonosian means to a Jedi and how much to a trooper, colorgrading and how it sells various tones and moods, giving a different interpretation of Star Wars, seeing something of Republic Commando reflected in Rogue One, focusing on what's important to your characters, the heat and contrast of the Geonosians, pulling on the film's UI elements, avoiding drama on a project, checking egos at the door, how collaborative the game was, the value of technical art, the energy of team members, tech artists as glue and bridges, the value of a demo, Neanderthal Tim, when your level is difficulty, the design ideas behind the hangars and bridge, the knobs you had to turn for storytelling through tone, having to die again and again, failure without excessive punishment, the ability level of the team, where your skills are relative to the game, improving communication between branches of the team, setting a vision without falling to design by committee, being able to deliver a new experience for a Star Wars audience, the challenge of making an AI that keeps pace with the player, "The Squad Is Your Weapon," the debate around the efficacy of the squad, building around the game's goals and how other games might attack that differently, the importance of building consensus, trying to find a way to say "yes" to an idea, "everybody can design," being able to have the squad revive you.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Jedi Starfighter, Bounty Hunter, Galactic Battlegrounds (series), Escape from Monkey Island, Lucidity, Disney, 2K, Transformers, EndeavorRX, Akili, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, The Phantom Menace, EA, Jedi: Fallen Order, NYU Film School, Whole Foods, Cybernautics, Rocket Science Games, Obsidian, Behind the Magic, Haden Blackman, Starcraft, Dan Colon, Lightwave, LucasFilm, Ralph McQuarrie, Hal Barwood, Chris Williams, Unreal, Adobe Illustrator, Peter Chan, Joe Johnston, Doug Chiang, Obi-Wan, Bill Tiller, Jedi Knight, Dark Forces, Nathan Martz, Jeremie Talbot, Hideo Kojima, Metroid Prime, Maya, 3DS Max, Daron Stinnett, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Rogue One, Paul Murphy, James Zhang, Adam Piper, Harley Baldwin, Mafia III, Hangar 13, Top Mix, Kovaak's Aim Trainer, Galaxy of Heroes, Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, John Drake, Ryan/biostats, Pat Sirk, Gary Whitta, Book of Eli, Fallout, Nick from LA, Halo Reach/Halo 5, John Hancock, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: YET. ANOTHER. INTERVIEW.

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 218: SWRC Bonus Interview with Harley Baldwin Jul 01, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we welcome another interview, this time with industry veteran and current VP of Design at Schell Games, Harley Baldwin. Harley talks about her path through the industry and about her time especially at LucasArts and Republic Commando, on which she served as a level designer. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Interview 1:25:23 Break 1:25:51 Feedback

Issues covered: how Harley got her start, planning to get into photographic printing, crashing a friend's interview, knowing a tuck-in top from a hang-over top, figuring out technical art challenges, getting a programmer to do some interpolation, emergence of digital cameras, the unsung heroism of technical art, making one kind of data into another kind of data, overlapping art and engineering, figuring out how to blend animations for locomotion, learning from designers via over-the-shoulder watching, the three-point slice, trying to figure out how to build stuff, moving to design, not having to worry about both the architecture and the gameplay at the same time, getting designers to play and talk, becoming a lead systems designer, communicating the use of systems, advocating for designs, VR and location-based entertainment, hard and interesting problems, encouraging design skill overlap, getting the design document on day one, LucasArts using proprietary technology and the internal controversy, believing you need the author of the engine in-house, the conversations between level designers, talking about how to make the bridge moment, building momentum, speaking level designers' language, coming on late and fixing cover bugs and optimizing spaces, figuring out how and whether to do jungle, arguing over the spotlights, trying to find solutions together, level ownership, getting enough distance to see what needs to be real or what needs to be smoke and mirrors, the creepiness of the Prosecutor, giving the designer you once were a talking to, getting stuck on Troy's level, designing to the peak experience, the story of what a designer is trying to say, finishing your own level on hard... over a few hours, QA beating it eventually, lacking storytelling tools and using design tools like difficulty, door breaches and hints, the "doors and hallways engine," how to tackle a dwarf spider droid, still figuring things out as you ship, building to a character moment, being in the perfect spot, the old home tour of enemies, "hey player, you can handle this now," "Brett's favorite room," the energy and communication of that team, "Nobody reads your docs," designers and difficulty, "when do you turn off god mode," watching people play, your applicant pool of user testing players, three things you'd change about project/process, fumbling towards scrum/agile, how seeing where the squad was going changed the game dramatically, VR and its problems to solve, meeting Harley for the first time, the Starfighter pie meeting, Pi Day, Tim delivers a pie to Brett's apartment, "I might worry about a random pie," East Coast geography, the team helping get you through the making of the game, the special atmosphere of LucasArts, good people working with good people, defending Tim's honor, difficulty and Constraint Satisfaction Problems, Boss Keys series, Longo Calrisian, positioning and leadership, lowering ammo and tuning towards the focus fire mechanic, the hot targets, differences between PC and Xbox, difficulty codes, marketing, Starfighter III: Jedi Starfighter II: Starfighter Outcast or Reti Player One, a plea for orbital strikes in more video games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: American Laser Games/Her Interactive, LucasArts, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Starfighter (series), RTX Red Rock, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (series), Demiurge, Nihilistic Software, Rock Band, Resistance, Call of Duty, Schell Games, PhotoStyler, McKenzie & Company, Mad Dog McCree, Drug Wars, 3D0, Vampire Diaries, Nancy Drew (series), Debabelizer, Jedi Knight, Reed Knight, X-COM: The Bureau, Jesse Schell, Disney VR, Unreal, Galactic Battlegrounds, Age of Empires, Outlaws, Troy Mashburn, Pat Sirk, Jesse Moore, Juli Logemann, Uncharted, Kevin "Schmitty" Schmitt, Xbox, Microsoft, Jeffrey "Pinecone" Sondin-Kung, I Expect You to Die, Until You Fall, PlayStation VR, GDC, David Collins, Blarg42, Anachronox, Violet B. Trudel, Pokemon, Oliver Uvman, Sokoban, Super Mario Bros 3, Stephen's Sausage Roll, Final Fantasy XIII-2, King's Quest, Gothic Chocobo, Game Maker's Toolkit, Mark Brown, Zelda (series), Leon Buckel, Greg Knight, Sam Thomas, June, Jocko Willink, Leif Babin, Dark Forces, GameSpot, Billy/The2ndQuest, Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Forza, Tetris99, Animal Crossing, Charlie Rocket, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Another Interview?

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 217: SWRC Bonus Interview with David Collins and Jesse Harlin Jun 24, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we delve deeper into audio and music on Republic Commando, via our interview with David Collins and Jesse Harlin, the audio lead and composer for the game, respectively. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Interview 1:45:20 Break 1:45:56 Outro

Issues covered: going from film scoring to games, writing a column, dealing with the suits, getting the games at a discount, getting exposed to the hard work of audio and games, interviewing the composer, the turnover at LucasArts in the early 00s, being focused on audio and music in games, Redbook audio, having no one to learn from, having to figure out how to fit all the music on different consoles, parallels to silent film and MIDI, the development of iMUSE and having to replicate it, trying to find middleware for audio, hot-rodding the engine for audio, splitting sound and voice and the history, having lots of departments that had built up their own silos, being a service group at even a greater scale, the costs of switching, burnout and lack of downtime, having to crunch on multiple games at a time, the physical costs of burnout, having to hide that you're working on multiple projects, "see a dog hear a dog" sound design, shifting to being fully involved with one team, integrating departments earlier, having a fully immersive proof-of-concept level with audio, being able to hand off more to audio, still chasing what you'd like from audio, the non-Star Wars Star Wars game, systemic audio vs a more curated experience, the implementation of the Assault Ship, having different musical cues for different approaches, the game finding its own way from the Star Wars musical soundscape, not knowing what the movies would sound like, injecting more personality, having developed based on what we knew, the wonders of the ring modulator, a signature Star Wars sound, having the LucasArts audio available at Skywalker Sound, choosing a language for choral music (and not having Wookiee available), embedding your sister's name in a piece of music, training up the choir on how to sing Mandalorian, having the gall to invent Boba Fett's language, getting away with more because of timeline distance, slipping a thing to be low-key, wanting to use a talking dog, having a thing die because Business Affairs holds onto it for a long time, adding in Russian/Slavic dipthongs, knowing what fans were going to want to know, planning ahead for the meaning of the content, having The Battle of the Trees in Sanskrit for Duel of the Fates, slipping Doctor Who character names into The Old Republic, the audioscape of the "battle beyond," pulling in the audio for a developer diary, having the opportunity to widen the Universe, going nuts with the audio, having time to think about what a space should sound like, "this is my level too," integrated audio storytelling, the invisible art form, people not knowing how to describe audio, "you know, audio's cheap," the small size of the audio team, the high efficiency of audio, where the Ash video came from, having a weird coda to the game like that, critics thinking the game had rock in it, how mistakes happen in reviews, having had a deal, the only rock song ever to be in a Star Wars game, guitars and Star Wars, line items in a budget, Foley as a performance, having raw material for days for blasters and such, having clacky armor in front of the camera the whole game, having a footstep level, having to retag geometry, meeting with a fan, missing out on a multiplayer balancing issue, having networking break the music system, the airing of grievances, making a music map for QA, how to test audio effectively, the problem with music, what these guys are up to now, scores that don't work, knowing that things had to change, iterating on team makeup and process.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Marvel, Mafia, Avatar, Futurama, Counterspy, Yoku's Island Express, LucasArts, Escape from Monkey Island, Star Wars: Demolition, Starfighter (series), Sony, PlayStation, Uncharted 3, Journey, The Last of Us, Celebration, Skywalker Sound, Rage Software, Space Debris, Starfox, Paul Stroud, Game Developer Magazine, Electronic Musician, Larry the O, USC, The 7th Guest, Xbox, GameCube, Michael Land, Michelle Hinners, Unreal, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, The Force Unleashed 2, Troy Mashburn, Kevin Schmitt, John Hancock, Nathan Martz, Dave Bogan, Jenny Huang, Wwise, Daron Stinnett, Alien, Event Horizon, J. White, Obi-Wan, Resident Evil, Philip Sousa, Steve Matulac, George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare, Justin Lambros, Cindy Wong, Doctor Who, The Longest Day, Tales of Jabba's Palace/Tales of Mos Eisley Cantina, Creative Audio, Harrison Deutsch, Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn Entertainment, Andrew Cheney, Julian Kwasneski, Bay Area Sound, Aaron Brown, Ash, Chris Williams, Full Throttle 2, The Gone Jackals, Halo, Marty McDonnell, John Williams, Michael Giacchino, Clint Bajakian, Mercenaries, Peter Hirschmann, Jana Vance, Dennie Thorpe, Tony Shalhoub, GalaxyQuest, Battlefront II, ComiCon, Joss Whedon, Riot Games, Valorant, Mafia Remake, Haden Blackman, Matthew Wood, Star Wars Resistance, Galaxy of Adventures, Forces of Destiny, Ahmed Best, Star Wars Jedi Temple Challenge, Jason Sudeikis, Rise of Skywalker, Boss Baby: Back in Business, Netflix, The Soundtrack Show, Ladyhawke, Mutiny on the Bounty, Akili Interactive Labs, EndeavorRx, Metal Gear Solid, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Epic Mickey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: SWRC Developer Diary about audio

The Battle of the Trees

Next time: Another interview!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 216: Republic Commando (part three) Jun 17, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on the 2005 squad-based shooter Star Wars Republic Commando, on which both hosts worked. We talk about some of the difficulty unevenness of the game, some of the process of building the game, a bit about enemy and squad AI, and especially how we came to differentiate the characters and inject some humor. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Kashyyyk

Issues covered: leaving characters behind, the length of development and how it changes your longer-term plans, having George give feedback on your game, the overly grim version of the game, ignoring feedback given once, the difference of dealing with George vs dealing with LF Licensing, caring more about story than lore, the huge impact on production, the value of the feedback, being on each side of the question of whether to push out a schedule, having Robin Williams suggested for the game, needing the balance of comedy, the use of gallows humor, the impact of voice on a game's budget and schedule, RPGs and text vs voice, the additional cost of well-known names, finding actors more in line with characterization, enriching the script by specificity, having an off-site to plus up the game, looking at the game during in production, facilitating discussions, getting ideas from everyone, stepping back from development to get enough distance, going to Kashyyyk, incorporating another film character in General Tarfful, seeing the ragdoll bug, climbing up to the treetops, fitting this game on a Xbox, having good technology internally, being unclear about objectives, not having characters to rely on for storytelling, reusing enemies etc, having only two people write all the AI but carrying other engineering tasks, how you would approach this today, leveraging gaps in time to get across the bridge, delaying the pay-off to force the player to see it, the milestone process, not having enough investment in the product over the process, cutting part of the bridge level, failing a milestone and using that to improve, needing more spectacle and spit and polish, the AIs throwing grenades back and forth, leaning on the linearity of the game to make the squad seem smarter, "bread-crumbing," behavior trees, multiple path voting, AI and level design working together, finding the edge of AI, how you design for roguelikes instead, adapting to the needs of the game as they went, having a little bit of everything at the end, a notable cameo, the interviews, difficulty in games and different ways to achieve it, toy development timelines, the success of the game as a surprise, the team gift, a team delivering a solid first product, the possible follow-on titles, Delta Squad as canon, how tech could have supported the game better, Tim admits that he is a jerk, a good game with a lot of potential, figuring out how to make the game vs making the game, the strength of second titles, the greatness of the team, who gets design credit on the games, having the opportunity to work on different types of games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: George Lucas, Clone Wars (TV Show), Genndy Tartakovsky, Samurai Jack, Dave Filoni, Chris Williams, Daron Stinnett, Robin Williams, Shakespeare, Law and Order, Tomb Raider, Jill Murray, Ken Rolston, Morrowind, Oblivion, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Max von Sydow, Temuera Morrison, Ryan Kaufman, Mike Stemmle, John Hancock, Unreal, Xbox, PS2, Epic, Starfighter, Patrick Sirk, Half-Life 2, Hacky Sack, John Hancock, Nathan Martz, Remnant: From the Ashes, Harley Baldwin, Thief, TIE Fighter, Larry Holland, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Blarg42, Raymond Cason, BoxBoy, Curse of Monkey Island, Resident Evil 4, Mark Brown, Dawfydd, Karen Traviss, West End Games, Dylan Thomas, Jim Ward, Gentle Giant, Greg Knight, Battlefront II, Grand Theft Auto (series), Jedi Knight, Fallout (series), The Mandalorian, Dave Collins, David Norton. Mass Effect (series), Uncharted (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey.

Next time: Bonus Episodes!

Link: Dynamic Difficulty in Resident Evil 4

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 215: Republic Commando (part two) Jun 10, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on the 2005 squad-based shooter Star Wars Republic Commando, on which both hosts worked. We talk about demoing at E3, some of the design philosophies evidenced by the scavenger droid and tidbits from the levels we played, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Prosecutor

Issues covered: getting approval with the Ranch, trailblazing, how clones talk about commandos, showing on the E3 floor, getting a theater presence, E3 as trade show and practicing to present the game, how teams were handling demos, handling rude Q&A, being glad to do it once, being at ComiCon, playing a live demo in the theater, the value of a demo and the predictive power, bug counts, giving you the Star Wars juice, setting up the scale of the environment, making the player feel small relative to the battle, having an assassination that really matters (to the nerds), the massive size of the torpedo launch tube, changing the sniper visual effect in response to the game feeling bad, having to make the weapons feel better, making the games feel not so "pew-pew," going from trigger-to-hit, having a good even basic weapon, having a difficult sections and losing sight of them, the fingers that tap on your armor, having really good Foley, introducing the maneuvers, bringing in the door breach and adding the slice option, object-oriented maneuver design, the team putting in extra things that made the game better, building up the scavenger droid, pulling the survival horror vibe from Alien, getting the scale of the place, the audio and music cues really selling an experience, introducing the scav droid, orthogonal enemy design, overly high lethality, shooting the greebles in case they were scavs, using the scav droid properly and not, embodying the player with the scav, adding new elements to the universe, introducing the brute and selling their toughness, introducing the mercenaries, the mercenaries breaching the room like you did, getting some additional bang for buck, reusing a space, the expense of building spaces, the hangars as tactical areas with lots of options, constant decision-making, the usefulness of a movable monster closet, reexamining our choices there, needing more support from voice or something to help the player know what's going on when they are locked in perspective, trapping the player, having the ship battle behind you, winning and disabling the droids, the impact of games and the humility with which we take that responsibility, visits from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, building a connection that is player-motivated, ikigai and iyashikei, shelf-level events, damage types, putting too much into the tutorial, coming back to a game and having the skills to overcome a challenge that defeated you previously, the Tetris Effect, skill acquisition and sleep. dynamically lowering the difficulty on challenges, wanting to avoid taking away the feeling of mastery, the original Xbox controller configuration, mapping A to squad control vs jump, taking time to accommodate a control scheme, controlling a camera vs controlling a head.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo, ATI, Enter the Matrix, Xbox, Revenge of the Sith, Battlefront II, Pandemic Studios, Chris Williams, Matt Fillbrandt, Cat Sheu, Jonny Rice, Uncharted 3, Assassin's Creed, Skyrim, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter (series), Return of the Jedi, Dark Forces, Ben Burtt, Geoff Jones, Troy Mashburn, Jana Vance, Adam Piper, Jeremie Talbot, Alien, Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton, Spider-Man, Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist, Greg Sestero, Gears of War (series), Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, Battle for Naboo, Jedi Knight, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Sam Thomas, Animal Crossing (series), 343 Industries, Nintendogs, Mario Kart (series), Luke Theriault, Alan Stevens, Pokemon, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario 64, Bethesda Game Studios, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Tetris Effect, Spider-Man 2, Jamie Fristrom, MobyGames, Chris Gripeos, Jenny Huang, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: Discovering presents from your mum on Animal Crossing

Next time: Finishing the game!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 214: Republic Commando (part one) Jun 03, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on the 2005 squad-based shooter Star Wars Republic Commando, on which both hosts worked. We first set the game in its time and also look at the various introductions made in the first part of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The Geonosis section

Issues covered: revisiting our game and what it was like, a new console generation, HD gaming, embracing online play, the impact of a new generation on the late games of the prior generation, market pressures on Republic Commando, being a late game in a cycle and being held back by your publisher, internal flap over a separately licensed title, tying into the franchise and flooding the market, licensing as a market strategy, the growth of team size, the continuing strength of first-person shooters, presentation and Half-Life, the presentation of real life in shooters, the influence of Halo, having a sense of playing a single-player game that had the feel of playing co-op tactical games, the original high concept of the game, the mechanics of Allied Assault that helped lead to the game, wanting to point to a window and have a guy snipe from there, doing a lot with the game, a shooter for a Star Wars audience, the marines in Halo, letting the level design embrace the maneuver system, borrowing a stance system from elsewhere, why we had an unskippable intro, the strength of the team to just get things done, going above and beyond, delivering under duress, the intro being something you don't see in a Star Wars game, establishing a world, always being in the helmet, a few other influences, eliminating the text crawl, the lineage of LucasArts Logo animations, text crawls leading to the melodrama, choosing military-style introductions, introducing the characters to distinguish them more, moving to the painted armor, seeing unfinished film, giving the characters a chance to shine, creating the idea that the characters are different, having to be flexible about what the commandos can do, throwing down smoke and reflecting it in a mirror, opportunistic design, having characters comment on what they like and don't like, context-sensitive cuing, how later games would introduce a character, "we gave it to the Wolf," maybe being heavy-handed with the tutorial, finding elegant ways to trick the player into learning, difficulty levels, Brett sings a review, how to fiddle with puzzles for difficulty, messaging on a macro and micro level in presenting a puzzle, asking the player to step up, sticking to your goals, managing difficulty by presenting levels of challenge that are optional, knowing your niche and your ceiling of number of audience members, wanting to do GDC all year round, our inspiration for the 'cast, small regular bonuses of Nook Miles in Animal Crossing, letting go of Nook Miles, responding to the dopamine drip.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Morrowind, Fallout, LucasArts, God of War, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4, Psychonauts, Guild Wars, Civilization IV, FEAR, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Guitar Hero, Mercenaries, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Pandemic, Lego Star Wars, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Forza, Doom 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DreamCast, Halo 2, Xbox Live Arcade, Starfighter (series), Rainbow Six (series), Rogue Squadron, Daron Stinnett, Dark Forces, Outlaws, Jedi Knight, Half-Life (series), Medal of Honor, Saving Private Ryan, EA, 2015 Games, Jason West, Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment, ARMA (series), The Longest Day, Chris Williams, Greg Knight, Kevin Schmitt, Peter Hirschmann, Freedom Fighters, Tim Ramsay, Scott Peters, Adam Piper, Jeremie Talbot, Pixar, Tippett Studio, Brett Schulz, Ryan Kaufman, Mike Stemmle, Telltale Games, Metroid Prime, Full Spectrum Warrior, Laralyn McWilliams, SWAT 4, Ken Levine, Day of the Tentacle, John Hancock, Nathan Martz, Andrew Kirmse, Borderlands, Troy Mashburn, Mike Baker, Kevin Guigere, Cuphead, Super Mario 64, Sherlock Holmes, Call of Cthulhu, Frogware, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Pit Droids, Lucas Learning, Baba Is You, Nintendo, Dark Souls, Super Mario Odyssey, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Ori (series), Sebastian, Vlaada Chvatil, Codenames, GDC, Grand Theft Auto III, Crystal Dynamics, Rebel FM, Jesse, Animal Crossing, Destiny, Epic Mickey, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: The Prosecutor section

Links: Game Degustation (Czech)

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 213: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Bonus May 27, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we cap off our revisit of the unique series Animal Crossing with a bonus episode about it's latest installment, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We talk about the feeling of the new game, the intersection of new mechanics and quality-of-life improvements and how they change the feel of the game, and we give the museum some love in addition to other topics and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour or so a day!

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 Animal Crossing: New Horizons 57:04 Break 57:37 Feedback & Next Game

Issues covered: the vacation that's not a vacation, observations of humanity and how we use our phones, our own relationships with phones, similarities with Pocket Camp, seasonal events, the evolving mobile game and its influence into New Horizons, explicit vs implicit cooldowns (and being able to pay to remove them), analysis paralysis at the beginning, the things that Brett's not crazy about in the game/Nook Miles tracking, preferring the lack of incentives, worrying about achievements, intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards, stacking fruit, hacking and modding scene, losing the innocence, imagining a world in which the original game appears now, visibility into the indie space, blowing tranquility out of the water with Nook Miles, achievements, the influence of business models on the churn and turmoil of the industry, the changing approachability of games, being able to ask Tom Nook what to do, losing discovery and its accompanying delight, taking a positive lesson from trash, franchise challenges in terms of what you keep and what you discard, tracking multiple economies, revisiting EverQuest or Ultima and not knowing what to do, taking things academically for the 'cast, wanting to stay in the tent, not being engaged by the acquisition loops, losing characters in the original, animalizing changing your look, beauty as a feature, only doing the required crafting, overlap between classic AC/WoW and modern AC/WoW, the fantastic music, Tim captures a flea, the huge impact of the beauty of the museum, Brett's Book Recommendation, having a birthday intersecting with holidays in Animal Crossing, anticipating what will delight a player, being akin to a clicker, why play a game about chores, being rewarded by a chuckle, tend-and-befriend, Scandinavian comfort culture (hygge), ikagai and lagom, thinking about the next generation of hardware, load constraints, being interested in constraints, being curious about genuine innovation, what you can do with a really big hard drive, the expense of building for a new generation, high definition as a feature, pushing up against the constraints, we look forward to returning Geonosis, Brett's screed against YouTube.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Chris Hecker, Ultima IV, Ultima VII, Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Death Stranding, Quake, Michael Abbott/Brainy Gamer, World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Hitman 2, Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteredge, Tay if that is his real name, 30 Rock, Mike, Cookie Clicker, Universal Paperclips, Cow Clicker, Last of Us, Mike Baker, LucasArts, Sierra On-line, Edwin, Nintendo Switch, PS2/3, Xbox, Wii, Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon, Fallout 4, Mark Cerny, Star Wars: Republic Commando, Star Wars: Starfighter/Jedi Starfighter, Kotaku, John Williams, David Collins, Epic Mickey, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: Michael Abbott on older games

Next time: Star Wars Republic Commando: The Geonosis missions

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 212: Animal Crossing (part four) May 20, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on the unique Animal Crossing. We talk about the holidays we visited, Mr. Resetti and not wanting to mess with your save, going to the island, and many more, before turning to our series takeaways and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour a day! (Many in holidays.)

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Animal Crossing 1:07:38 Break 1:08:13 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: Brett's gyroids and UFO, Tim's asteroid, the attract mode and seeing outfits you don't have yet, learning about how to play the stalk market, whether the animals talk about things you haven't engaged with, additional visiting characters, how the fireworks work, the tricks on Halloween, how Jack works on Halloween, Tortimer's gifts on holidays, losing items to tricksters, having big scares on Halloween as a kid, how different Halloween is, the evolving nature of Mr Resetti, wanting to protect your town, the animal version of the Windows BSOD, playful shaming, having a dialogue with a designer, emerging design, recognizing what the player is going to do, seeing the things the player will do, encouraging the player to diverge from the intended style of play, weeds everywhere, setting the world state on the clock, having unique sets of animals between us, speculating about why the acre transitions occur, aesthetic choices and whether that translated to movement, Tim's adventures with morning aerobics and sports day, lacking interactions in mini-games, changing up the appointment play, trading off appointment play with real-world tension, theme sets on holidays, moving events to be longer time-framed for MMOs, talking about the new game's egg-onomy, reaching the island via Kapp'n, picking coconuts and wearing island shirts, Kapp'n's songs, the remarkable amount of discovery, Brett finds a coelacanth, the variety of bugs and other collectibles, attuning yourself to the world and being able to read things in the environment, appointment play and mobile gaming influence, the connection to mobile and social games, tend-and-befriend, means of player expression, Brett's gyroid fascination, growing expressiveness of the series, representing everything in the world, mechanically using the things that players interact with as animals and animal interactions, a huge variety of discovery supplanted by shallow interactions, not getting stuck, the potential to generate stories, a singing non-review delivered as a dramatic reading, the role of a designer for longer and larger development (such as AAA), the shifting needs for system design, communicating and holding a vision for an element of a design, advocacy and the narrative or progression of a design, communicating across departments, the complications of enemy or vehicle design, having to put micro pieces together that support the macro, being about more than the ideas, answering lots of why questions.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The X-Files, Auld Lang Syne, Blizzard Entertainment, RoboCop, Starcraft, Asteroids, Gothic Chocobo, Game Boy Player, World of Warcraft, GTA III, Facebook, Zynga, FarmVille, Mafia Wars, The Sims, Pixar, Batman, Waypoint, Metal Gear Solid 4, Civilization, Peyton Place, Beverly Hills 90210, Blarg42, Pokemon, Billy/The2ndQuest, Halo (series), SW Republic Commando, Jamie Griesemer, Ryan Darcy, Elan Ruskin, Left 4 Dead, Epic Mickey, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: An hour a day of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Errata: Although I stand by my memory of there being a coelacanth discovered in the Mediterranean in the 90s, the discovery that coelacanths had survived to the modern era dates back to one being caught in 1938.

Also: Brett, what is a "stegalosaurus?" STEGOSAURUS.

The television show Brett was looking for was Melrose Place. Peyton Place was in fact a multi-year running prime time soap rather than a mini-series.

Links: Five GameCubes and Four Sword

Jamie Griesemer: Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3

Ryan Darcy: Designing Spartan Abilities for Halo 5: Guardians

Elan Ruskin: AI-Driven Dynamic Dialog through Fuzzy Pattern Matching

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 211: Animal Crossing (part three) May 13, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on the unique series Animal Crossing. We talk about collecting, changing the world, paying off your second mortgage, the many purposes the animals serve, and the fun the developers seem to have had contributing ideas to the game, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour each day!

Issues covered: Brett's growing gyroid collection, Gyroid Orchestra, speeding through your second mortgage, expanding player verbs through mortgage payoffs, stealth training and game expansion, changing perspective in games and in life as your routine is hampered, limiting your verbs by weather and time of play, the metagame of what's worthwhile to have in your inventory, revealing something about you through your style of play, freeing up time by paying off that second mortgage, how a change in inventory management would dramatically change play, being careful of what you incentivize, convenience changes behavior, the choice of your third mortgage, starting to fill in the museum, having few opportunities for insect collecting when you play at the same time each day, the difference between this and a Majestic, allowing you to come to a game vs a game coming to you, having more weeds when you miss a day, using the animals for so many things, subtle tutorialization, replacing real socializing with the animals, asynchronous social, putting everything in the interactions with animals, Brett details his ongoing romance with Bertha and the interactions with Lily and Alli, reading into the characters, the return of Tortimer and bridge placement, unplanned design, banging rocks with shovels, giving your designers tools and making it possible to add whatever they can think of, empowering creativity, allowing the player to make play, pitfalls, customizing your attire or space, added and experimental hardware, using the GBA to go to an island, the eReader, getting another type of fruit, the fish market, the difficulty of the ocean fishing, Tim's cherry tree that lived, terraforming your whole island, a digression into who Snake's Mom is, your Mom guilting you over labor, reflecting nostalgia in Animal Crossing and in anime, speedrunning the rest of the game, potential seasons and holidays to see, localizing holidays, MMO adoption of events.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Resident Evil 4, Majestic, Phantasy Star, Legend of Zelda: Four Sword, The Sims, Lee Meriwether, Metal Gear Solid 4, The Girl Who Could Stop Time, Shenmue, Epic Mickey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Hitting a few seasons!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 210: Animal Crossing (part two) May 06, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on the unique series Animal Crossing. We talk about real time gaming, acquisition loops, how it resembles a mobile game and other topics, before turning to reviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour a day!

Issues covered: pinchy-pinchy and puns, wanting to pay off that second loan, the daily routine of play, filling about an hour, "that fossil belongs in a museum," Tim's routine, lost and found items and the villagers, having more villagers than you can keep track of, chicken varieties, localizing names, Brett playing in a more laid-back way, tranquility, grinding for bells, being trolled by the animals, tying in to the GameCube clock, appointment gaming, mobile touchstones, lacking monetization and being liberating, how many trees you chop down, forest maintenance, weekly events: seagull and fortune teller and furniture seller and rug seller, keeping the player in a rhythm, finding rhythms in MMOs, fighting the mobile monetization mechanics in Pocket Camp, introducing resource loops in later games for crafting, furniture falling out of trees, Brett running out of gyroids, getting the right fruit for you, the difficulty of completing sets, how to know you complete a set, limiting memory use at the time, loving finishing the collectibles, having a nice place to put your stuff, grounding things in the world, the many places you can find a new item, "I got the modern wallpaper and I was pretty happy with that," Brett's torrid love affair with Bertha, punning on your paper type, speedrunning the letter-writing, animals getting cross with Tim for his short mails, theorizing about how the letter responses work, keeping responses vague, wondering about keywords, not wanting to break the illusion, character responses to blowing them off, maintaining the archetypes of these characters, maintaining an attitude, clean conscience gaming, the foreignness of the traditions of Animal Crossing, the normalization of Nintendo in its games, animal identity and jokiness, colonialism in the new title, wanting to see the numbers go up on your Happy Room score, reducing your debt, capitalism and growth, exploitation of natural resources, simulations making an argument, the sterility of weeding vs the messiness of weeding in real life, gyroids and Haniwa (Kofun period), the basis of the Miis, anagram fan, the difficulty of replicating a success like this, not wanting to be the second game in a cornered niche.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Indiana Jones (obliquely), Nintendo's Treehouse, Farmville, Facebook, Gavin Newsom, Destiny, Fortnite, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, EAD, Assassin's Creed (series), Metal Gear (series), Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Waypoint, Tomb Raider, Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Violet B Trudel, Scrabble, irreverentQ, NotADoctor, The Sims, SimCity, Cities: Skylines, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Tim's Favorite Things: Lens flares on cameras with many a jump cut, CQC combat that shows off Old Snake's butt, Cute codec calling to save with Mei Ling, These are a few of my favorite things

When the Vamp bites, When Pain's bees sting, When I'm feeling sad... I simply remember my Metal Gear things, And then I don't feel so bad

Who is this Raiden and Iroquois Plissken Invading a snow base I hope you brought mittens Sons of the Patriots pulling my strings These are a few of my favorite things

When Gray Fox strikes When Deep Throat rings When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my Metal Gear things And then I don't feel so bad

Notes: Tim describes Animal Crossing as having been made by DeNA; it was by EAD. We regret the error.

Next time: Still an hour a day!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 209: Animal Crossing (part one) Apr 29, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on the unique series Animal Crossing. We situate the game briefly in time before turning to some of the ways the game introduces itself and its mechanics, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour a day!

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Animal Crossing 1:08:09 Break 1:08:43 Feedback

Issues covered: "this is one of my favorite Nintendo series, actually," Tim uses the 'cast to his advantage, trying to think of forerunners, Daddy, an explosive era of design, the variety of games and the PC/console divide, thinking outside the box, a weird kind of buzz, the Nintendo spin on some genres, having a chillout time, being able to meditatively play, the weird concepts at work and conveying that to a potential audience, Nintendo going its own way, having a lot going on in even this first game, daily routine and tranquility obscuring the systems, heading off player aggression, meeting up with KK Slider, setting and subverting player expectations, listening to KK Slider play guitar, that Nintendo touch, hopping the train to town and meeting Rover, the important Rover connection, committing to characters and making them iconic, social propriety and cell phones, contrasting this with character creation, representing everything in the game (with an inventory as well), chibi/big head character design, attitude with their voicing, character design and presentation being economic but expressive, timing phonemes against the spaces between words, spending a lot of time on the speech system, Nintendo's habit of having everyone in the company try the games, anime/manga idioms for expression/emotion, developing an internal language and sticking with it, Rover the cat, we reveal our town and player names, getting a mortgage and job from Tom Nook right away, establishing verbs early, passing by the dump and into the store, learning how to put on clothes, gating progress on activity, being naturally pushed to explore what the game has, atypical goals and tricking you into addiction, talking to the animals, establishing something like a main loop gently, coming up with your own "quests," random towns (a discovery for Brett), shared characters between towns, we introduce our characters and NPCs, review from Finland, some design choices that a 25-year-old game overcame, leaning on the RNG to some degree, remembering getting into Animal Crossing and the draw of NES games, the acquisition loop and its evolution, Tim having not really analyzed this game before, gyroids.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Sims, Little Computer People, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Alex Neuse, Silent Hill 2, Anachronox, Ico, GTA III, Civilization III, Devil May Cry, Soul Reaver, Star Wars: Starfighter, Jak & Daxter, Final Fantasy X, Halo, Xbox, Metal Gear Solid 2, Advance Wars, Pikmin, Black & White, Max Payne, World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, PS2, Luigi's Mansion, Peter Molyneux, LucasArts, Starcraft 64, Halo Wars, Resident Evil, Spider-man 2, Satoru Iwata, Wii, Viva Pinata, Pokemon, Happy Home Designer, Amiibo Festival, Mario series (obliquely), Sonic series (obliquely), Final Fantasy (series), Zelda (series), Sailor Moon, Madman, _Dupre/Petri, Commodore 64, Ultima IV, Bitmap Books, Derek from Spokane, Chrono Trigger, Octopath Traveler, Chrono Cross, Sea of Stars, Sabotage Studios, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, SNES Classic, Final Fantasy VI, Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest (series), Level 5, Dark Cloud (series), Square Enix, Reed Knight, Metal Gear Solid 4, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: An hour a day!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 208: World of Warcraft (part four) Apr 22, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to Blizzard's 2004 classic MMORPG World of Warcraft. We discuss the pace of the game in solo vs group, another dungeon, and make some observations about MMO combat before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to level 30

Podcast breakdown: 0:53 WoW Talk 1:06:32 Break 1:07:08 Feedback

Issues covered: blasts from the LucasArts past, "a gaming miracle," XP bonuses galore, Westfall culminating in Deadmines, quest storylines culminating in a dungeon run, extending the storyline into the Stockades, elegant design of these quest lines, breaking someone out of Stockades in modern, instance dungeons getting better over time, grey setting and repetitive play, hit point sponges, lack of boss mechanics, similarity to tower defense or EverQuest, dungeons with wings, the game as a group experience, having less down time, having a better balance in solo vs group experiences in modern, getting better at the types of roles warriors can fulfill, separating into tank/healer/DPS and some stagnation in the MMO space, the effect on D&D and being better to go the other way, having stances per character later, finding the right challenge level, the types of quests in Redridge, good critter variety, more verticality, introducing the Black Rock orcs, starting into the long game of end game quests, having deep lore and organizational structures in your setting, loving the Duskwood art design, hating the Duskwood quest design, lacking a culminatory dungeon, a wandering abomination, the pfffft of the Stalvan quest line, getting cursed repeatedly, enjoying the Raven Hill cemetery, reviving the Embalmer, snitches get Stitches, introducing the Worgen, the process of recruiting and traveling to an instance, evolving the theme park, the technicality of aggro and pulling and enemy awareness, using tactics against the technology, lacking saves and structuring strategy around that, seeing the top-down view in your mind's eye, using simple representations (planes and circles), running a combat system on a single machine for everyone in the zone, the costs of scale, using line of sight against the enemy, exploits as game-play, Brett's Book Recommendation, New Game+, the cost of additional development, paid DLC, checking NG+ off the list, block quotes from Woolsey and Slattery, a book club for books about games, finding all the endings, Frog and Robo's themes, being impressed by what they get from music hardware, "It's Not Easy Being Green," soundtracks we loved, lots of Chrono Trigger details, Janus/Magus as the main character, an update on Tim's trip.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Gladius, LucasArts, Mike Terpstra, Tippett Studios, Alex Neuse, Jedi Starfighter, Chrono Trigger, Activision/Blizzard, Makendi, The Goonies, Warcraft III, EverQuest, Dungeons & Dragons, Guild Wars 2, Reed Knight, Dark Age of Camelot, The Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Reanimator, Bride of Frankenstein, DisneyWorld, The Witcher, Diablo, Ultima Online, Dragon Age, Stephen King, 11/22/63, Sam Thomas, Devil May Cry, Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild, Gabe Durham, Boss Fight Books, Ted Woolsey, Tom Slattery, Michael Williams, Skyrim, Elder Scrolls, Dave Fort, Earthbound, A Christmas Story (obliquely), Mikael Danielsson, Phantasy Star, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Mass Effect (series), Halo (series), Brock Holt, Red Dead Redemption, Kirk Hamilton, Shadow of the Colossus, Peter McConnell, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Clint Bajakian, Outlaws, Ryan/Bio, Ryan McPherson, Final Fantasy VII Remake, James Roberts, Chrono Cross, Nintendo Switch, Wasteland 2, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Animal Crossing (2001)! An hour a day!

Link: The Audio Design of RDR by Kirk Hamilton

Magus as the Main Character

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 207: Chrono Trigger (part five) Apr 15, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series playing Chrono Trigger. We discuss the handful of remaininig quests in "The Fated Hour" and defeating Lavos (as an afterthought) before turning to our takeaways and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finish the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Chrono Trigger 1:27:22 Break 1:28:05 Feedback

Issues covered: reforestation with Robo, being aware that certain characters have to be in your party, Robo's world sprite, seeing Robo on the world map, being able to have player theories, not deploying Robo as a player verb, Robo's theory, a Gaia hypothesis, the double-edged sword of optional content, time travel wish fulfillment, having trouble saving Lara, a moment by a campfire, Robo's evolution, Lucca's mini robot and the progeneration of the robots, collecting the highest power loot, hunting the moon stone, Tim discovers there's an in-game map, the Sun Keep boss and randomly selecting, hitting the right flame, having a different tactic to deal with the boss, clearly telegraphing the Sun Stone, the mayor whose kids hate him, the consequences of your actions, Sins of the Father visited on the sons, how you open up a game, open worlds vs Chrono Trigger, the stifling linearity of the early game of FFXIII, losing narrative cohesion, telegraphing important decision, how your game's goals close off other opportunities, replayability vs feeling the impact of player choice, doing everything the designers want you to do, freeing Cyrus's ghost, hating on Crono, Prometheus and Robo and Atropos, pouring one out for Toma, the court scene, bursting through the stained glass, the many endings, the developer ending, the bridge ending to Chrono Cross, the Dream Devourer and Lavos and Schala, the advent of New Game+, the various final weapons, Tim's water level theory, fighting science fiction elements, supporting the party as being important, supporting party experimentation, limited party combat vs full party combat, deepening characters, subverting the tropes, letting the hero die, strong female characters, a world structure that works, not worrying too much about paradox, The Three Wise Men and Magi vs Magus, Magus's lieutenants' names, the strengths and weaknesses of the combat, splitting Chrono Trigger into two games, tragedy vs comedy, goals for translations, the richness of this game and being able to investigate it over and over, squinting and seeing Frog as the hero of the game, silent protagonists in JRPGs, a story of a killed game, the strength of this game's New Game+, systemic games and story generation.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: James Lovelock (obliquely), Rio Bravo (obliquely), Final Fantasy XIII, The Witcher 3, GTA III, Wasteland 2, Alpha Protocol, LMNO, Steven Spielberg, David Cage, Doug Church, Randy Smith, Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy IX, Pinocchio, Boss Fight Books, Michael Williams, Akira Toriyama, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Chrono Cross, Silent Hill 2, Fallout, Persona 5, Kingdom Hearts, Earthbound, Mass Effect, BioWare, KotOR 2, irreverentQ/Nolan Filter, Warren Linam-Church, Patrick Holleman, Shakespeare, Ted Woolsey, Tom Slattery, Rick Butler, James Roberts, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (obliquely), John Webb, Final Fantasy VII, Breath of Fire 3, Walker Farrell, NieR: Automata, Zimmy Finger, Civilization, Dwarf Fortress, The2ndQuest, Johnny "Pockets" Grattan, Marc LeBlanc, Ron Gilbert, X-COM, World of Warcraft, Metal Gear Solid 4, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Link: The 1UP article about LMNO appears lost to time, but here's a contemporaneous Kotaku article reporting on that article

Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger

Dwarf Fortress

The Hamlet of Tyranny

Errata: Brett referred to Tom Slattery as "Shepherd." We regret the error.

Next time: Another WoW Checkin

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 206: Chrono Trigger (part four) Apr 08, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series playing Chrono Trigger. We hit the story notes first and doing things in your own order before turning especially to where the game goes once we reach "The Fated Hour." Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up into The Fated Hour

Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Chrono Trigger 1:08:35 Break 1:09:07 Feedback

Issues covered: the chapters at the end, the monomaniacal immortal queen and her daughter, underdeveloped queen nemesis, the cast of characters surrounding the queen, a battle with the Golem Twins, having bosses that are puzzles rather than slugfests, bringing in cosmic horror, fighting Lavos early, finding the locked chests organically... and not, finding the blue pyramid, a brief digression on the Ultimate Weapon, the revelation of the prophet, Chrono struggles to his feet and is obliterated, the fall of the floating continents, the party reacts to Chrono's death, choosing a new leader, losing and retrieving your stuff on the Blackbird, looking through grates, similarity to an adventure game, crashing the time ship after defeating Dalton, leveraging the history of the characters, Brett blows Tim's mind, "the black wind blows" and telegraphing Magus's identity, learning how everything came from one event, the gurus help you out, having an object out of order, bringing you full circle, having trouble with a mini game, more frustrations, QA being good at a thing, designing to the controller you have, another difference between the two versions, Brett and Tim talk about time paradoxes, whether you always have to have the main character, finding Ozzie's fortress by accident, assembling all the ingredients to fix the timelines, monsters and humans living in harmony, Brett theorizes about how to finish the desert quest, advice from the Civ 3 political advisor, modding and Civ 3, updates from the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the appeal (or lack thereof) of developing a 4X game, worrying about the spreadsheet and chaos, not being sure you could go the distance, being able to tell a story about your game, replaying a JRPG and length, having more or less grind.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Timothy Dalton, James Bond (franchise), X-Men (series), Brian Taylor (obliquely), Final Fantasy (series), The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss, Metroid (series), Pulp Fiction, Wii/Virtual Console, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Xbox, Back to the Future, James Roberts, BioWare, Civilization 3, Wild Weazel, Soren Johnson, DOOM, Johnny Grattan, Sid Meier's Beyond Earth, X-COM, Julian Gollop, The2ndQuest, Legend of Zelda, Dragon Warrior, Shakespeare, Wasteland 2, Persona 5, World of Warcraft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Finish the game! For real, this time!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 205: Chrono Trigger (part three) Apr 01, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series playing Chrono Trigger. We talk about new modes of exploring the game, the tone of the translation between the two of us, some of the boss battles and go over the story bits for the week. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to "What Lies Beyond?"

Podcast breakdown: 0:53 Chrono Trigger 1:14:42 Break 1:15:17 Feedback

Issues covered: bowling balls and sashimi, slipping in jokey references, tone in translation, finding places for the game to be heavier, being caught off guard by differences in tone, the consequences of your actions, getting more information on Lavos and getting a sense of cosmic horror, being a little lost on the timeline, focusing on the linear story vs the ripple effect, other games dabbling with time travel, Tim moves to Wait mode, Wait mode and feeling like a better fit, using Marle's Haste ability and having her as a utility player, having many options for party make-up, what other JRPGs do with character roles and XP, the impact of the past, Tim moves to Wait mode, Wait being better balanced for menus and for exploring abilities, leaning on Marle's Haste ability, allowing the player to explore party makeup, XP side-leveling, party members as utility players, mixing in the characters you want to play with, Brett's long game, the spooky tone of the Magus's Castle, all the NPCs being faceless, controlling pacing, chasing Ozzie from room to room through traps, fighting a part of the environment, fighting the Magus and shifting elemental attacks, having a role for the whole party, Tim having the benefit of auto-combat, not being clear on why you go back in time, Lavos being summoned and learning more about his history in the world, finding and riding pterodactyls, exploring the world and finding breadcrumbs for later, Brett gets over-geared, Tim asks Brett about jerky things, stepping on buttons in the reptite castle, starting in on dual techs, fighting Nizbel again and being allowed to pass but not really, the arrival of the red star, portaling to our last time period, taking the bifrost, getting a new trope, a quick review of the royal house of the Enlightened ones, being sent away by Schala and powering the amulet Marle wears, coming back to the scientist who is building the ship, coming full circle with time, recordings from the Guru of Life, going through the Beast's lair to ascend Mt Woe, strategies for defeating Giga Gaia, the dragon counting down, ATB in various Square JRPGs, later exploration coming, a full Final Fantasy ATB survey, Tim getting a JRPG itch, the way tech conveys character, how you learn techs and prerequisites, the trade-off of a multi-character technique, forgetting where the magic chests are.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Avengers: Age of Ultron, Memento, Looper, Primer, Time Lapse, Rear Window, SNES, Ultima (series), Earthbound, Eternal Darkness, Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Ocarina of Time, Shadow of Destiny/Shadow of Memories, Shenmue, Ni No Kuni, Pokemon, Errol Flynn, Ron Gilbert, Day of the Tentacle, Thor, Walker Farrell, Chrono Cross, Eric Anderson, Kingdom Hearts, Stardew Valley, Reed Knight, World of Warcraft, James Roberts, Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenara, Obsidian, inXile, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Finish this game!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 204: Chrono Trigger (part two) Mar 25, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series playing Chrono Trigger. We talk exploration vs following the story threads, delve deeper into the combat, chat about the game's difficulty and accessibility, along with story recaps and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Magus's Castle

Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Chrono Trigger 1:30:48 Break 1:31:22 Feedback

Issues covered: why Tim hates JRPGs, why Tim took a little longer this time, irascible exploratory Tim, getting to the top of the mountain and finding nothing, feeling discouraged from leaving the main path, what the rewards of the game are, having the prototype of what additional interactions would look like, exploring party make-up, when Ayla met Bobo, the blandness of Crono, being able to put yourself in the character, characters who start at the beginning of their story vs somewhere in the middle, party members standing out more, where you decide to spend your development time, swapping out party members and when you can, the pressure relief valve for difficulty, what is the real set of defaults for this game, having a more dynamic combat with Active Time Battle, developing your menu-diving skill, being forced into repetition and limiting ability exploration, wait mode as being more accessible, having higher highs in active mode, feeling like active mode is an experiment, having menu difficulties with Kingdom Hearts, the burden of memorizing key sequences, the timer as animation tell, having too many characters to manage to memorize things, escaping combat, using run as a means of skipping combat, dealing with status effects (Heal/Panacea), cutting out the searching for specific status healers, using specific attacks for elemental weaknesses, generally not needing to worry about weaknesses, using lightning to remove defense, fighting Spekkio, needing to restore the timeline, returning to a changed Medina, not knowing what we changed in the past, having weird interactions with monsters, localizing using stuff based on your real life, turning assumptions on their head, translation barriers, looking for Masamune, starting to subvert tropes, a kid who's no hero, a good boss battle, going to Melchior with both halves of the sword, meeting Ayla and having a big party, making Crono dance, echoes through time, losing the dreamstone via Kino, fighting Azala and the Megasaur, learning the history of Cyrus and... Glenn?, echoes of Tolkien, making a significant commitment to characters, having calls to action, integrating Glenn into the main quest, getting to equip the badge to Glenn, an update on Tim's hike, the responsible thing, stay safe and healthy, cultural references, beating up robots, variations in the courtroom and jail scenes, localization and emotional intent, the business case for localization, the high costs of localization, making choices about what content to keep in Yakuza and a design which accommodates players ignoring it, friction between an original market and a new market, growing to appreciate the underlying value of the business end, looking to journalism to fill in the gaps.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: irreverentQ, Chrono Cross, The Outer Worlds, Fallout (series), Prey, Earthbound, Final Fantasy (series), Kingdom Hearts, Batman: Arkham (series), Pokemon (series), Ray Bradbury (obliquely), Narnia, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Ultima Underworld, Minecraft, The Two Towers/Return of the King, Mass Effect (series), Sam Thomas, Short Circuit 2, Westworld, The Terminator, James Roberts, Patrick Holleman, Gothic Chocobo, Persona 5, Andrew Dice Clay, Yakuza (series), Kotaku, Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Wasteland 2, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Links: Short Circuit 2

Hitchhiking Robot Beheaded Robot falls into fountain

Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger

Yakuza: Judgement replacing actor

Next time: Up to "What Lies Beyond?"

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 203: Chrono Trigger (part one) Mar 18, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our series playing Chrono Trigger, the beloved 1995 SNES classic. We cover a lot of ground with this one, including the story, some of the combat, the way the game pays attention to you... all sorts of topics for a corker of a game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to The End of Time!

Podcast breakdown: 0:51 Chrono Trigger 1:31:07 Break 1:31:41 Feedback

Issues covered: COVID-19, SpaceWorld and E3, the year 1995 in games, the creative team, character design in hand-drawn art and intro, the Dream Team, the top-down look of a 16-bit era game, companions following around, combining the background and the foreground in the PlayStation era, the quality of the art direction, running right into combat vs modal play, lack of random battles, choice of battle mode, Active Time Battles, differences between active and wait styles, the overworld and entering spaces, influence of other games, the basic menu presentation, the "Sakaguchi style" and its culmination, being able to approach things fresh, getting on with it, the bouncy playfulness of childhood, Chosen One tropes, Mom waking you up trope, relatability, the princess incognito trope, mixing up a trope, feeling more surprises in FFIX, short-term goals vs long-term/Chosen One goals, signposting the Day of Lavos, whether or not we're able to choose to come back, having another JRPG pay homage, seeing the change in various timelines, enjoying our time with the Frog, the evil Chancellor, the Cathedral and Yakra's minions, having a moment of talking with the monsters, the juxtaposition of drama/horror and comedy, space for Japanese vs letters, returning to the present with Nadia and having a trial, referring back to things you did at the fair, the designer noticing you, the game is safe, the theme of our choices mattering for our future, wanting to be the paladin, the courtroom as setting, escaping the dungeons, a little scene in the warden's office and telegraphing importance to the player, possibly a stealth mechanic, the Dragon Tank on the bridge, affine transformations in the background, using atmospherics for setting tone, the computer telling the tale of Lavos, recruiting Robo, having to pass through Lab 32, the flamboyant Johnny, racing Johnny in Mode 7 to the end of the Lab, Johnny the Biketaur, Robo getting beat up by the other robots, the valiant robot who sacrifices himself for you, Brett gives Tim a hard time for ST: Nemesis, humanizing the non-human characters, gunbows and floral horrors, Tim's big hike, renaming in the new translation, the difficulties of translation, localization as its own art form, adding difficulty with IPs, machine translation, recognizing the great translators, testing your focus as much as your execution, repetitive learning, playground of moves, looping in failure to the style of play, board games and failure, higher highs, rubbing death in your face, worsening the traditional model, obfuscatory, dealing with people who wave their brains around, being open to looking foolish, "Caveman Tim" and being self-deprecatory to diminish status differences, asking simple questions repetitively, active listening, reflection as a means to learning in the moment, being in the moment, being okay with vulnerability.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ted Woolsey, Tom Slattery, SNES, Dark Forces, TIE Fighter, LucasArts, Full Throttle, The Dig, Phantasmagoria, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Warcraft, Command & Conquer, N64, Dracula X (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood), Twisted Metal, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Bomberman 3, Kirby's Dreamland, Earthbound, Dragon Quest (series), Trials of Mana, Tales of Phantasia, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy (series), Yuji Horii, Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball, Shonen Jump, Masato Kato, Xenogears, PlayStation, Shiren the Wanderer, Ninja Gaiden, Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, SquareSoft, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, GameBoy, Ni No Kuni, Ultima (series), Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, The Witcher (series), John Romero, Fallout, Wasteland, Enix, Activision/Blizzard, Dragon Warrior, Dungeons & Dragons, Jason Schreier, Chrono Cross, BioWare, Ocarina of Time, Aladdin, Diablo, Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon Ho, Day of the Tentacle, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Mass Effect, Super Metroid, Super Castlevania IV, Wall-E, Shenmue, Mario Kart, The Mandalorian, Planetfall, Isaac Asimov, Star Trek: Nemesis, The Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed, James Roberts, Stretch Armstrong, Boss Fight Books, Michael P. Williams, Republic Commando, Star Wars, Cyrano de Bergerac, Roxane, Douglas Hofstadter, Un Ton Beau de Marot, Love in the Time of Cholera, Edith Grossman, Margaret Jull Costa, Odyssey, Emily Wilson, Warren Linam-Church, Jeff Morris, Civilization, Mario 64, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Super Meat Boy, Beyond Earth, DOOM, Batman: Arkham Knight, Soren Johnson, Maas Neotek Proto, The Turbo Encabulator, Obduction, MYST, Metroid Prime II: Echoes, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Next time: Up to The Magus's Castle

Errata: Brett said RPGs when clearly he meant RTSes. We regret the error. (It's Tim's fault.)

Links: John Romero on Chrono Trigger

Tim's Charity Webpage

Pacific Crest Trail Association

Big City Mountaineers

The Turbo Encabulator

Anime Intro Movie

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 202: Bonus Interview with Jeff Morris Mar 11, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our Civilization III discussion with an interview with Jeff Morris, producer on Civilization III and long-time producer in the industry. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 Interview 1:09:53 Break 1:10:25 Feedback

Issues covered: not being suited to programming, being part of the problem, the huge shadow of Origin growing up, getting a job through the hospitality suite, the game culture in Austin, the game dev scene of a city, rivalry between studios, sinking the MicroProse battleship, QAing a flight simulator, the difference between single-vehicle and survey sims, falling in love with modern air combat, Baltimore as actual flight sim town, loosening up or not, learning about the American Civil War, embedding in QA from remote, the number one job in QA, wearing multiple hats, only being able to get better as a producer working with a team, the team not needing design input, keeping a firewall between production and design, different kinships between QA and design or production, the difference between done and good, learning the tools of production, looking at Civilization as a war game, Baltimore and Avalon Hill, reading the effin' manual, boardgame legacy, localization complexity, what's in the manual vs not, rewarding a style of play, loving the early and middle game, where the one more turn comes up from mixed levels of goals, Sid's Dinosaurs game transforms, "the manual for Civilization is in your brain," shipping, the benefits of programmer + designer as one person, fast iteration, being able to predict when assets would be done, feeding scheduling data back in, keeping track of people and their implementation rate, difficulty of scaling, being rewarded for neglecting certain programmers, paying the production tax and getting something for it, getting Civ II experts involved, doing everything possible in a game being impossible, compliance testing machines, having bug reports from dev heroes, being driven by playtest, playtesting with post-its, shipping your 518th implementation, "wouldn't it be cool if," spending time in the right places, streamlining the advisors, the elasticity of production titles, in the trenches production, making mistakes into small bumps in the road, insomnia Civ play, the influence of where you've been on what you do, playing the game every day, production notes, reasons for designers to be programmers, the mix of people on a project, avoiding obfuscation, trusting your experts, what Tim will do on the trail, the Superman hate minute, we review Olrox, Tim's JRPG education.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Origin Systems, Janes (military sims), Ultima Collection, Firaxis, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Epic Games, Unreal Tournament (series), Gears of War, Red Five, Planet Moon, Crystal Dynamics, LucasArts, Kabam!, NCSoft, Free Range Games, Ultima Underworld, Apple ][, Warren Spector, Starr Long, Richard Garriott, Steve Jackson Games, MicroProse, Longbow, US Navy Fighters, Advanced Tactical Fighters, Top Gun, Marine Fighters, NATO Fighters, A-10 Warthog, F-15, Larry Holland, Battlehawks 1942, SWotL, Autoduel, Moebius, Andy Hollis, EA, Sid Meier's Gettsyburg, Jeff Briggs, Soren Johnson, Jason Coleman, JACKAL, Avalon Hill, Empire, Pool of Radiance, SSI games, Beyond Earth, Sid Meier's SimGolf, Maxis, Pat Dawson, Blizzard, Casey O'Toole, Microsoft Project, Tim Train, Brian Reynolds, Alan Emrich, Computer Gaming World, Bruce Shelley, Absolute Quality Incorporated, Archon, Jon Freeman, Bethesda Game Studios, Aaron Loeb, Star Wars Uprising, Ed Catmull, Pixar, Lulu LaMer, Daron Stinnett, Spotify, Stitcher, Derek Achoy, Josh Harding, Oliver Uvman, Designer Notes, Idle Thumbs, Scratch, GameMaker, Doom (1993), Minecraft, Portal, Noita, Richard Feynman, John Lethbridge, Ben Zaugg, Superman, The2ndQuest, Batman: Arkham Knight, Chrono Trigger, John Romero, SIGIL, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy IX, SNES, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Quest, Eye of the Beholder, PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts, Spider-man.

Next time: The beginning of Chrono Trigger!

Links: Scratch programming language

Twitch: brettdouville, Instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 201: Bonus Interview with Soren Johnson Mar 04, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our Civilization III discussion with an interview with Soren Johnson, Civilization III designer and programmer and head of Mohawk Games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:49 Interview 1:39:20 Break 1:39:54 Feedback

Issues covered: surprises on the 200th episode, getting into games, mispronouncing a California city, computer science as a term, figuring out where to work, being into history, getting away from games in college, the troubled history of Civ III, preferring not to do sequels, bad choices at MicroProse, not thinking about walking away from IP, a rights battle, getting Sid Meier to make a Civ game, Brian Reynolds turning away from Civ games, brain drain, a golden opportunity, "the adults had disappeared," evolving into designer-programmer, the beginning of a franchise, switching away from adding proper nouns to the game, incorporating culture as a fountain to establish borders, design ideas that feel like they should have always been there, adding strategic and luxury resources, pushing trade and tension through resources, the advantages of particular historic civilizations and that not being a good fit for Civ, game play coming from map generation, lacking a single AI technique, starting the AI by starting at the beginning of the game, keeping hard-coded values out of the AI, making things data-driven, mod-ability, adapting the AI to changes and iteration in development, whether an AI is "cheating," being careful with how the AI interacts with the player, the intricacy of a naval invasion, how to choose a good city for your invasion and how players subvert that, making small decisions plausible, having no firewall between AI and game data, scaling for difficulty by bonuses and penalties, beating the opponent vs providing behaviors as a challenge, the inherent difficulty of diplomacy, AI as NPC, the negotiating table, AI career beginning when Civ III released, optimizing the fun out of the game, you don't give up anything to trade technologies, limiting what the AI is allowed to do, Civ is a game about math, giving up floating point math, balancing the numbers through Early Access now but patches in the past, being on the frontier of live games, holding the game together via time with the audience, discovering the perfect strategy for asymmetrical games via iteration, re-examining the 4X with his next game, automating as a poor solution, removing unnecessary vestigial stuff, taking away decision-free micromanagement, being afraid of changing mainstays, revisiting your prior design ideas, working like film and being out-of-order vs starting at the beginning, GDC postponement, Irene of Athens, Tim's love for Civ stories, manga and comics, the variety in the Japanese games market, the prevalence of handheld and mobile in the Japanese market, greater variety of games in smaller budgets, the value of common language, Tim's charity pledging.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Sean Garcia, EA, Knockout Kings, Firaxis, Maxis, Spore, Dragon Age Legends, Mohawk Games, Offworld Trading Company, Adam Saltsman, Designer Notes, Idle Thumbs, Commodore 64, Amiga, Black Isle Entertainment, Avalon Hill, Sid Meier, MicroProse, Brian Reynolds, Spectrum Holobyte, Sid Meier's Gettysburg, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Activision, Infogrammes, Hasbro Interactive, Sid Meier's Dinosaurs, Starcraft, Age of Empires: Age of Kings, Tim Train, Jason Coleman, David Inscore, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Jake Solomon, Jeff Briggs, Bohnanza, Settlers of Catan, Guns Germs and Steel, Warcraft, Paradox Interactive, Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, A Few Acres of Snow, Dominion, Ten Crowns, Empire, Beyond Earth, John Romero, SIGIL, DOOM (1993). Warren Linam-Church, Oedipus, Shakespeare, Johnny Grattan, Maus, PlayStation 2, Mr. Mosquito, Xbox (original), Prey (2017), Batman: Arkham Knight.

Next time: Another interview?!

Links: Playing to Lose, GDC 2008

Irene of Athens

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 200: Beyond Earth Bonus and 200th Episode! Feb 26, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we engage in a little bonus talk about 2014's Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. We talk about the game's strengths and iterations over Civ III and also the things that particular work for the hosts in the game, before turning to a brief celebration of our episode 200 and some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours of Beyond Earth (9 for Brett, 15 for Tim)

Podcast breakdown: 0:57 Beyond Earth Discussion 40:31 Break 41:16 Ep 200 and Feedback

Issues covered: how much Beyond Earth we played, getting its hooks in, knowing you've lost, many types of victories, pursuing victory types, not stacking units, board game simplicity, being mocked by other leaders, having a good set-up for interest if not for victory, being condemned for violence against aliens, getting over the hump, the huge benefit of tooltip additions, integrating advisors into the UI, the web of technology rather than the linear development, more visually parsable tech web, colorblind settings in Civ III, affinity colors and positions, exploring the tech web, adding RPG elements/progression to units, expanding your city, preferring the tone and setting, putting money into an opening cinematic, Brett's Book Recommendations, 200th episode surprises, the castle flip, being into the JRPG nonsense, our good fortune in interviews, spending time with immersive sims, Brett unwraps a thing, our poster with six Easter Eggs (true video game fashion), a heartfelt thank you from a listener, our own thank you to our listeners, some gentle ribbing about our ability to count, whether designers should be programmers, not being held back by what you know to be possible, being able to communicate clearly between design and engineering, the value of communicating and terminology, Caveman Tim, finding a way to say yes as an engineer, laying out logical steps for programmers, following up on older episodes, why Shenmue contracts down to having a job, autobiography in Shenmue, the Civilopedia being what you can do and not what you should do, Civilopedia as a legacy feature, a fantasy Civ.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Jurassic Park, Dark Souls, Confucius, Boris Johnson, Shenmue, Simon Parkin, A Game of Birds and Wolves, The New Yorker, Metroid (series), Castlevania (series), Alex Neuse, SNES, PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts (series), Disney, MYST (series), Final Fantasy (series), Persona 5, Prey (2017), David Brevik, Robyn Miller, Ken Levine, Bill Roper, King's Quest, Space Quest, Mark Crowe, DOOM (1993), Diablo, Quake, System Shock II, Hitman 2, Deus Ex, Thief, Ultima Underworld, Arkane Studios, Dishonored (series), Giant BeastCast, Vinny Caravella, Aaron Evers, Mark Sean Garcia, Devil May Cry, Mario 64, Halo, Skyrim, Fallout, Gothic Chocobo, Pokemon, Game Maker's Toolkit, Johnny Grattan, John Romero, Murray Lorden, Roberta Williams, David Perry, Shiny Entertainment, Republic Commando, MDK, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Warcraft (series), Jedi Starfighter, GTA III, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Yu Suzuki, Björn Johannson, Magic: The Gathering, Warren Linam-Church, Mikael Danielsson, Master of Magic, GOG.com, MicroProse, Ultima VII, SimTech, Master of Orion, Wargaming, Star Control II.

Brett's Book Recommendations: For Civ III: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin For Shenmue: What I Carry by Jennifer Longo

Next time: more Civ bonuses!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 199: Civilization III (part four) Feb 19, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our discussion of Civilization III (and of the Civilization series generally). We talk about Tim bending the game to his will and falling down the game's rabbit hole before turning to takeaways and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Modern Era!

Issues covered: Brett just can't play the game, making a very specific game, finding the ceiling of your audience, sticking with the series, interacting with the game at a narrative level, our rabbit holes, OCD: The Game, pursuing the space race victory, Tim leaving a perfectly good planet, techno-utopianism, the final frontier, espionage and the information fog of war, losing to the United Nations wonder, trying to get to a victory as fast as possible, skipping unnecessary tech, turning to another game in the series, setting your own goals and being drawn into a game, "all games are the same," building a society of the industrious and unhappy, choosing your Civ to suit, building a rocket in 1890, not being able to copyright gameplay, interlocking systems and numbers, balance and cost/benefit and personality, politics and responsibility, how bad American history education is, emerging stories due to interlocking systems, the strength of the AI, kudos to us, what we play and why, considering more recent AAA and indie games, being mindful of our positions in the industry, looking forward to next episode (our 200th!).

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Telltale Games, Apple ][, Ancient of Art of War, Rob Zacny, Waypoint, Three Moves Ahead, Star Trek, Skyrim, Fallout, Leonard Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina, Elon Musk, SpaceX, Dominion, Jurassic Park, Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams, Nellie Bly, Sigmund Freud, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Nikolai Tesla, Beyond Earth, LOOM, Bruce Shelley, Age of Empires, Avalon Hill, MicroProse, Firaxis, Jon Shafer, Barbarians at the Gates, Soren Johnson, Offworld Trading Company, World of Warcraft, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo, Civ Revolution, Ani_Mitchell, Jesse, John Romero, MYST, Return of the Obra Dinn, Undertale, Fez, Zack, Breath of the Wild, God of War (2018), Pokemon Let's Go, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy IX, Death Stranding, 343 Industries, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Persona 5, Prey (2017), Spider-Man (2018).

Next time: Beyond Earth Bonus! And Episode 200!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 198: Civilization III (part three) Feb 12, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of Civilization III. We talk about Tim triggering a World War, the slow-down in the mid-game, Brett as a war criminal, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Modern Era

Issues covered: Rome gets what it deserves, having more vs fewer Civs, running out of time/hitting a point of no return, not knowing what to ask for when you're suing for peace, wanting more feedback, being the type of game you need to figure out in a time when games wouldn't hold your hand, wanting a shallow end of the pool, having suggested scenarios, do they lean on old players, wondering if culture wins are possible against military might, experimenting to figure out the rules, getting an army and not knowing what to do with it, having military history vs not, fantasy/science fiction settings and the burden to teach, educating a player as they follow the series, Tim triggers a world war through diplomatic agreements, talking about history, trade and the economy, the weird ending screens, democracy hating war, appreciating the craft, this being a forever game, whether Brett would get a game with a different skin, bouncing off this style of play because it's not escapist, watching the AI and learning from that.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Trek, Fallout, Civilization: Revolution, Dominion, Magic: The Gathering, Beyond Earth, Madden (series), Daron Stinnett, Final Fantasy (series)/ Final Fantasy Tactics, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Pirates, Balance of Power, Risk, Starcraft, Persona 5.

Next time: Finish the game/additional games!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 197: Civilization III (part two) Feb 05, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of Civilization III (and of the Civilization series generally). We talk a bit about the middle game generally, why it doesn't catch on with Brett as much, and especially address the layers of game play and how they interact. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Medieval period

Issues covered: converting members of the population to entertainers, lowering taxes instead, fighting overpopulation, filling out a tech tree to trigger the next age, bouncing off this game again and again, managing complexity, educating yourself with the Civilopedia, finding the decisions less interesting, lack of simulation pressure, having found a boring game and having less to worry about, fighting over every resource, having all the spice, cascading effects over resource distribution, thinking about how the AI might work, characteristics of nations and persons, thinking too hard about civilization breaks the game down a bit, the horrors of balancing, the benefits of iterating a franchise, running into the turn limit, the types of victories, a clash of simple systems, low complexity of any individual system, games of conflict and domination, turn-based combat and domination, putting faces to the civilizations, playing characters as caricature, marketing with Gandhi, personification and putting naming things, the pros and cons of having associations, competition games generally, the astonishing level of achievement here, generating little stories about your civilization, personalizing your board game, what do you bring into your game, visualizing your relationships with other civs, preferring "your" version of a game, playing games linearly but developing them out of order, interpreting the title (and possibly irony), how we teach history in America, sanitizing history, understanding causes, sitting back and evaluating rather than being in it, procedural rhetoric, mirroring it history, games in other areas that focus on different civilizational histories, getting to games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Dune, Diplomacy, Risk, Fallout, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Phil Simms, The Osbornes, Dominion, Balance of Power, Chris Crawford, Mario Kart, Pandemic Legacy, Risk Legacy, X-COM, Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock, PRACTICE, Jeffool, Final Fantasy (series), Sam Thomas, Europa Universalis, Ester Olsen, MicroProse, The Aristocrats, Paradox Interactive, Persona 5, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Day of the Tentacle, Tacoma.

Links: Rob Daviau, Designing a Legacy Game Sun Tzu's War Academy The Apollo Program

Next time: Finish a game!

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 196: Civilization III (part one) Jan 29, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our discussion of the game series beginning in 1991, Civilization, through its 2001 incarnation Civilization III. We talk about it in time, the type of sim it is, some bits about "civilization" and lots of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Medieval Age

Issues covered: choosing your names, looking at the series as a whole, one more turn, the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) genre, situating the game in two times, additions to the Civilization franchise, needing the manual, the PC as the home of the deeper simulation game (wargames and flight simulations), "a game is a series of interesting decisions," Sid Meier's studio history, game perspective and the God Game, Brett and insomnia and a number of turns, learning through failure and why people bounce off, high highs and low lows, having a hard time making the early decisions, getting a better understanding of the early game by having a good roll, not knowing how far apart to place things, not cracking the manual, not knowing what to do, the difference between Civ and some other styles of Sim game, transparency of numbers and systems, the distinction of toys vs games, limited automation in Civ, digging into the Civilopedia, genre-defining creation of its own choice space, what you read in the Civilopedia, playing against harder AI levels, reading as a min-maxer, applying concepts as relatable, being pushed away from the "realism/historicity," colonialism and Western civilization as the framework, limiting historical tribes as "barbarians," scope and production realities, warping reality, using peoples as pure resources, colonialism and barbarians and their inherent game limitations, layering systems, leveling units against barbarians, limiting what you ask of an old game, being curious about a ruler, finding an essentialism in a representative leader, arguing that different civs might have an opportunity to rule, seeing another Civ pass through a first time, early game tranquility and the end of innocence, creating a story around a single resource, shifting to a new form of government, establishing Pax Romana, the simple power of names, layers of ironic naming, "the past is never dead, it isn't even past," film and games, not being part of the cultural conversation, the mystery of games to people, Oscars and Pulitzers and prizes, marketing and games, proud self-support, staying away from a side-hustle, a couple of well-wishes, Tim's charity walking.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear (series, obliquely), Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Avalon Hill, Computer Gaming World, Sid Meier, Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Street Fighter II, Monkey Island 2, Metroid (series), Super Castlevania IV, id Software, Bungie, Blizzard/Silicon & Synapse, 3D0 Corporation, SNES, World of Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights, Stormfront Studios, SSI, Gold Box Series, Ico, Final Fantasy IX, Doom (series), Soul Reaver (series), Star Wars: Starfighter, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, Jak & Daxter, Max Payne, Red Faction, Serious Sam, TIE Fighter, MicroProse, Spectrum HoloByte, Hasbro Interactive, Infrogrammes, Firaxis, 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, SimCity, Populous, Will Wright, Maxis, Peter Molyneux, Bullfrog Productions, Sid Meier's Pirates, Istanbul (not Constantinople), They Might Be Giants, Flood, Soren Johnson, Puerto Rico (board game), UFO: Enemy Unknown, StarCraft, Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Candy Crush, Fortnite, Lady Gaga, Geoff Keighley, The Economy of Prestige, James English, Alexander, Luke Theriault, The Revenant, Persona 5.

Next time: Civ III to the Industrial Age

Twitch: brettdouville, instagram: timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 195: Bonus Interview with Kirk Hamilton Jan 22, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we welcome Kirk Hamilton, composer, podcaster, and retired writer/editor to the podcast to talk about music composition, working with licenses and licensed music, the way music and play work on our brains, and a host of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:16 Interview 1:10:31 Break 1:11:00 Next game, announcement, etc.

Issues covered: Kirk's early writings, using your ear training, picking up a saxophone, Brett's saxophone solo, getting a broad mandate, modeling on NPR podcasts, geeking out about NPR podcast intros, aerophone, jingles as condensed composition, working with synthesizers, programmer art for the theme, remembering the old themes, the hard work of working with composers as a non-musician, talking about intangibles, level reviews and music, working on established IPs, breaking the music, repeating music in older games, composing for player actions, iMUSE and music blending in between states, game audio with multiple sound cards, preserving game audio, CD-ROM game audio/Redbook audio, the excellent audio and voice department of LucasArts, the many cool influences of Peter McConnell, artists at play, the evolution of the human brain, playing with your prey, the mix of lyrics and music and story and game play, the need for technical understanding in game composers, writing for an environment, adding data to music tracks, scheduling audio to play at the exact right moment, building a dynamic game play system and finding a way for music to match that, how Zelda music has changed over time, being aware of the creative vision of the game, Japanese game development, the mismatch of the opening vs the play of a game reflected in its music, feeling the play, the Tomb Raider menu music, Lara Croft in media vs Lara Croft in the game, the loneliness and promise of the menu music, the exploration of Tomb Raider vs the pulp of Raiders, licensing music, matching a soundtrack to the game's moment, using the right soundtrack that reflects the music, dropping in some Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins, Brett overshares his saxophone history, Kirk's projects, feedback about how we should set up each episode, going from game/book club vs discussing and analyzing games, what's next, Tim's big adventure.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Gamer Melodico, Kotaku, Strong Songs, Kotaku Splitscreen, Maddy Myers, Jason Schreier, Red Dead Redemption, Aaron Evers, NPR, RadioLab, Fresh Air, This American Life, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, World Saxophone Quartet, Matthew Burns, JukeDeck, Slate Culture GabFest, Succession, Nicholas Britell, Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Halo, Jason Graves, Republic Commando, Jesse Harlin, John Williams, David Collins, Ludwig Göransson, MIDI, Michelle Hinners, iMUSE, LucasArts, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Dark Forces, Nintendo, GameBoy, The Secret of Monkey Island, Michael Land, MYST, Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, George Lucas, Peter McConnell, Psychonauts, Double Fine Entertainment, Metallica, ProTools, David Byrne, How Music Works, Austin Wintory, Journey, That Game Company, Flower, Uncharted, Zelda (series), Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Koji Kondo, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Manaka Kataoka, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cadence of Hyrule, Danny Baranowsky, Super Meat Boy, Mario (series), Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey, UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM, John Broomhall, Timothy Michael Wynn, The Avengers, Morgan Grey, Indiana Jones, Crystal Dynamics, GTA (series), UbiSoft, Watch Dogs, Martin Scorcese, Birth of the Cool, Miles Davis, Saint Thomas, Sonny Rollins, The Lost Boys, Phillip from Copenhagen, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, Kingdom Hearts, Shenmue, Eternal Darkness, Rebel FM, DDR, Civilization III, SimCity, Sid Meier, Alpha Centauri.

Next time: Civilization III

Links: Kirk and the Secret of Monkey Island

Gameplay and Story Are Exactly Like Music and Lyrics

Strong Songs Patreon

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 194: World of Warcraft (part three) Jan 16, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to Blizzard's 2004 classic MMORPG World of Warcraft. We discuss the focus required to work in groups, zone design and macro story choices, and delve into our first dungeon before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Into the mid-20s

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 WoW talk 1:16:45 Break 1:17:16 Feedback

Issues covered: shortcuts/acronyms for what's going on, our change in schedule, streamlining roles into tank/healer/dps, a first experience tanking, explosions of types of role-playing games, the interplay of innovation and risk/cost, being able to easily fall into a role, limitations on boss encounters due to role specificity, crowd control roles, elite feel for a game requiring harder roles, spreading abilities around to all classes, roles becoming automatic and rote, designing dungeons to the variety of player you actually have, building more complex MMO behaviors, limiting mechanical complexity, using position as an element in combat for boss design, adding puzzles to dungeon instances, being a part of a bigger raid, the perfect tank build, designing zones to slowly push you to the tough challenges, randomly encountering folks tackling the tough challenge, naturally pushing people to the same locations and forcing social interactions, quest lines that cycle you past places you've been, having long-term enemies and macro stories, having your endgame tie into characters you've seen before, breadcrumbing storylines, seeing higher level characters and having aspirations, returning to new player areas, Tim uses the B word, trying to find a group via server-wide channels, how busy the servers are, modern and match-making, name collisions on the server, being over-leveled for the dungeon, being overwhelmed to fulfill the role, getting careless or pulling badly, switching tactics for a dungeon, high highs and low lows, knowing your role while you're in a 5 person raid, surprises along the way with different types of characters, designing like an amusement park, having surprising visual moments, going out on an adventure, why there aren't lots of games like Shenmue, the historic hangover due to lack of diversity in AAA games marketing, making a game to reach our parents' generation, reaching Tim's mom, discoverability, attach rates and consoles, modern games with deep Shenmue vibes, mobile and casual games, availability of "classic" mobile games, game portals.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Destiny, Everquest, Final Fantasy XII, Left 4 Dead, Valve, Sekiro, Lord of the Rings (obliquely), Disneyland, The Goonies, Dark Age of Camelot, Shenmue, Robin, Resident Evil, The Sims, LucasArts, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Nintendo, Wii, Wii Sports, Persona (series), Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA (series), Nick McCormick, Spider, Drop 7, Osmos, Andy Nealen, Big Fish, Diner Dash, Crazy Taxi, Plants vs Zombies, World of Goo, Peggle, Alchemy.

Links: Shenmue on the Saturn

Next time: Our (delayed) interview with Kirk Hamilton!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 193: Shenmue (part three) Jan 08, 2020

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 1999's Sega cult classic Shenmue. We spend a lot of time lifting cargo and putting it into place and also run pell-mell for the exit before we turn to our takeaways and some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finishing the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:44 Shenmue discussion 58:24 Break 59:03 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: why we're even working in the harbor anyway, being stuck in the harbor and not being able to free-roam, triggering scenes day by day, being committed to the forklift bit, warm-up racing, earning raises, giving in to the routine, turning off the open world and opt-in, being stuck at the harbor if Ryo had more to do, "the worst version of wandering around," being directed but not being able to directly forward the story, genre-bending, watching forklift operators and then feeling part of that machinery, playing anything, having a first job, feeling communion with Ryo more and with the characters with whom he interacts, whether Death Stranding derives from this, having timelines with Nozomi and Goro and Mai, wondering what we missed, having to rush to the docks at midnight, connecting to the schedules, hopping on a motorcycle, a late timed challenge, getting into the Mad Angels' hideout, a music video returning Nozomi home, having to fight Gui Zhang, having to fight everyone who hangs out in the docks at night, leeching drama from a scene through repetition, Tim getting into the move set, wanting a little more from the fighting game parts, going half-way and lacking camera and HUD support, an aside into Japanese gang sartoria and Hong Kong cinema, missing out on Lan Di, having the final conflict, incorporating more fight moves in the final fights, finding scrolls and being taught the moves, suddenly dropping in narration, an abrupt ending, the life simulator, succeeding at building a living world, the real-time clock, lacking character state in unscheduled interactions, having rewarding moments off the beaten path, how the notebook fills in and not being able to use that to explore the world, "interactive cinema" and how that drove the game and industry, paralleling certain cinema tropes, embracing the mundane, crafting as mundane, having the mundane to balance and buoy the action, setting the game in its time again from fans, technical achievements of Shenmue, things feeling a little stilted, Brett not remembering the names of stuff, spending time on side things, looking ahead.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Yu Suzuki, Ian Bogost, Play Anything, Death Stranding, Metal Gear (series), John Woo, Jackie Chan, Oldboy, Virtua Fighter, The Warriors, LucasArts, Full Throttle, Persona (series), Left 4 Dead (series), Top Gun, David Cage, Heavy Rain, World of Warcraft, DreamCast, Guy Morgan, Lloyd Parker, Soul Calibur, PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy VIII, XBOX, John Carmack, DOOM 3, Daniel Louks, Animal Crossing, Assassin's Creed, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: An interview with Kirk Hamilton about the new theme!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 192: Another Year Behind Us Jan 01, 2020

No show notes this week -- just our annual takeaways and recaps. Happy New Year -- let's make 2020 a good one, folks.

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 191: Shenmue (part two) Dec 18, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Sega cult classic Shenmue. We talk about waiting for time to pass, delve into similarities with other auteurist life simulation games, and get caught by guards ten times apiece. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up until we're getting a job

Issues covered: getting on the bus, missing the bus, watching the wheels on the bus go round and round, having that awkward moment trying to figure out how to get on the bus, imagining the design meeting, making concessions to the player with fast travel, a removed economic mechanic in Skyrim, always having to follow the schedules, looking at things on shelves in markets, the many mechanics around the focus, finding and having to put down the elixir of life, selling the father's back story, making things make sense in the fiction, picking up and buying stuff in the store, feeding the kitten, the cat disappears and can be found, Brett's issue with Nozomi, running up against the boundaries of the sim and caring, having a sense of things, it becoming Christmastime and the town, meeting Santa, why can't I thank Nozomi, mysticism maybe slipping in, bringing in wire movement from kung fu cinema, having a cool moment in the dojo, pocketing a family heirloom, an infinite inventory, using the flashlight again, how to get the scene with the father's memory over breakfast, missing things, systems vs spaghetti scripts, what David Cage owes to Yu Suzuki, building scenes vs world building, in theater: why is this the day or period of this character's life, choosing the most important day in Hamlet's life, padding a game and not fully motivating it, providing contrast, the map of the old warehouse district updating, filling in the homeless man's map, adding in the guard patrol paths, the forklift meme, trying to get into a warehouse and thinking you need a forklift, Quick Time(r) Events, a brief digression on laserdisc games, having a soccer ball kicked at you, lots of mini-moments, mapping QTEs to natural motions, using direction vs button presses, having the right player logic.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Seaman, Phantasy Star Online, Sega Pro Bass Fishing, World of Warcraft, Yu Suzuki, Skyrim, Big Trouble in Little China, Rockstar, David Cage, Heavy Rain, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Anachronox, Fahrenheit/The Indigo Prophecy, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, LA Noire, Chekhov, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Cliffhanger, Badlands, Don Bluth, Game Boy Advance, God of War (2005), Tomb Raider (2013), Metal Gear Solid 4, God of War (2018), Persona 5.

Next time: End of year bonus!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 190: Shenmue (part one) Dec 11, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 1999's Sega cult classic Shenmue. We've visited 1999 before, so we briefly set it in context before moving on to the salient question: What even is this game? We talk about the way the story begins, the environment interactivity, and the "open world" and time, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up until we're looking for Warehouse 8

Issues covered: what this game was relative to 1999, the most expensive title of its day, lack of commercial success, a strange turn for Yu Suzuki, the importance of SEGA in the industry at the time, how much of Ryo's story has been told, Dreamcast's weird experiments, the change of the Japanese market, not even really knowing what this game was, starting from scratch even from a genre perspective, "full reactive eyes entertainment" or FREE, getting into the cold open, motivating the player, giving you an in to the mystery and the start of play, player and character motivations tightly linked, slowly introducing you to the world, removing some of the mechanics of mourning, the Band-Aid of power, "pointless interaction," little cutscenes with his father, methodical slow initial pacing, being worried about a full inventory, quickly removing a picture from the wall, a sort of tech fetishization, attention to detail, feeling like a simulation, what kind of simulation this is, very elaborate per-character scripting, the sorts of ways we simulate these days, the cost of developing a game like this, other highly scheduled games of the time, day-night schedules, always having the clock on the HUD, lack of time manipulation, learning to know your location, learning the schedules of characters, seeing a character leave or arrive at his apartment, being able to theorize about what characters it made sense to talk to, calling back to text adventures, process of elimination vs logic-ing out, systemic conversation options, automating something similar to Ultima keywords, spaces in the notebook, having cultural aspects in the story, integrating into a foreign culture, likely personal goals for the game, an allegory for certain clashes, the fortune-teller, upsetting the DAoC economy, staying away from the WoW economy, making crafting more or less optional, encouraging interaction between players or not, insider training in WoW, real world money, getting around in WoW, playing modless, finding a place again a decade later, having those moments you can't have any other way, being aware of your market and building budget-appropriate.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Charlie Chaplin, System Shock 2, Planescape: Torment, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, EverQuest, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, Counterstrike, Alien vs Predator, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Team Fortress Classic, Half-Life, Quake, Final Fantasy VIII, Medal of Honor, The Longest Journey, Sierra, Unreal Tournament, Homeworld, Silent Hill, Super Smash Bros, Mario Party 2, Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi, The Offspring, Soulcalibur, Yu Suzuki, Hang-On, Space Harrier, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Out Run, Afterburner, SEGA, Blue Dragon, Phantasy Star Online I & II, Sonic Adventure, Blue Stinger, Seaman, Samba de Amigo, Rez, Ikaruga, PlayStation 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Trespasser, Gone Home, The Sims, Majora's Mask, Groundhog Day, Ocarina of Time, GTA III, Assassin's Creed (series), Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim, Deadline, Witness, LucasArts, Ultima (series), Yakuza (series), Godzilla, jesusfreak144000, Eric Fox, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Makendi/Aaron, Twitch, Curse, Ashton Herrmann, Morrowind, Dark Souls, Game Maker's Toolkit, Dead Space (series), Frank Gibeau, Mark Brown.

Next time: Up until the end of the next open world section

Links: Could not find the gold farmer article, sorry!

DGC Ep 189: World of Warcraft (part two) Dec 04, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to Blizzard's 2004 classic MMORPG World of Warcraft. We talk a bit about the grind, a notable MMO moment, some differences with world layout and characterization over time and character, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to level 20

Issues covered: hitting the Classic grind, fetch quests, zone refinements in modern, finding the right quests for your level, not leading you by the nose (vs not knowing the best way to go), having a sense of mystery, going from Coldridge to Dun Morogh, having curiosity about the world, being conditioned to a reward schedule of a different type, buying a weapon due to slow positive reinforcement, limits of combat mechanics, feeling like you had to grind out levels, lacking an equivalent to the Barrens, the variety of locations in Stormwind, running into a player who helped us find and finish a quest, having the network of other players to guide you to content, building a world, broadness but not depth in character, traveling long distances, playing co-op even with strangers, complementary character builds, tank/dps/healing triumvirate, flying over a very dangerous area and the exhilaration of what you'll see some day, like visiting a whole new place, progressing from very small to small to absolutely enormous, transitions from place to place, limitations of Westfall as an area, transition from Coldridge up into Ironforge, designing around when you transition zones, stretching quests a little too thin around Thelsamar, order of continent design, limitations of the Alliance, curiosity about retention, Tim's theory about humans as most retained race, approachability of the familiar, wanting different experiences the more games you've played, worrying about money, controlling what's purchasable, the importance of money, getting abilities for free, having to make interesting or hard decisions about money, running out of money, cutting off experimentation because things are expensive, evolving into multiple currency types, auto-sorting things into bags, the nightmare of inventory management, grognard capture and approachability, setting graphics to the WoW look, getting into a dungeon.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dark Age of Camelot, Dr. Seuss, Disneyland, Gone Home, Firewatch, Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Bethesda Game Studios, Everquest, Brad Furminger, Eternal Darkness, Nintendo, Shenmue, Dreamcast, Austin Walker, Waypoint Radio, Makendi.

Next time: A new game: Shenmue (check Twitter for how far) (And to 30 for a future WoW episode)

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 188: Eternal Darkness Bonus Interview with Brad Furminger Nov 27, 2019

Following on from our DGC series on 2002's Eternal Darkness, we talk with designer Brad Furminger, who got his start at Silicon Knights working on Eternal Darkness and an earlier version of Too Human. We talk about design choices on Eternal Darkness and get lots of little stories.

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Interview segment 1:03:35 Break 1:04:06 Feedback

Issues covered: getting in with geographical luck, progressively getting into deeper discussions with a future employer, becoming second party with Nintendo, being at a teaching developer, diversity of background and interests, structuring for various characters, studying the game bible, working with tough tools, the "glamour" of game development, having an intense crunch, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, not being able to show fear, having a learning moment that lasts, a four-room prototype, meeting ED, building worlds and universes and not just individual games, a universe with mystery, diversity of characters, a strong positive female role model, the ancient ones and their machinations, establishing the importance of places in the world, building and rebuilding the world, returning to a place and knowing where to go, blending the player and character experience, the meta effects, the adventure game beginnings, sanity effects coming from the whole team, incorporating good ideas as a designer, Brad's favorite meta sanity effect, the difficulty of going low sanity, "You need keys that aren't keys," illustrative koans, finding ways to connect Alex through the chapters as keys, teaching the player to navigate the unknown, Nintendo's excellent QA department, finding a weird.... hardware bug?, PEBCAC, sacrificing a feature to make the game a little more approachable, seeing the flaws in our own work, making not enough use of the body part targeting, having to change to Pargon for Japanese, the magic system, developing around four plays, the percentage of people who finish a game having started it, hoping rather than expecting people would play more than once, making changes that cut down on differentiation of playthroughs but benefited QA, getting into teaching, getting experimental in classes, the impact of 9/11 on Eternal Darkness, Bush invoking the Crusades, incorporating development lessons into teaching, a game recommendation, the impact of fans in keeping games alive and playable, usability testing and playtesting, getting information about the whole player, blind testing, having that discomfort and not saying anything about play, getting a sense of what the player is experiencing, giving voice to what you're playing, pushback on playtesting, using different departments to playtest, seeing and not reading, usability issues again.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: World of Warcraft, Silicon Knights, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Too Human, Bedlam Games, D&D: Daggerdale, George Brown College, Toronto Film School, Denis Dyack, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, Full Sail, DigiPen, Sandbox Studios, Digital Extremes, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Nintendo, Ted Travor, Sierra, King's Quest, Space Quest, Robyn Miller, MYST, Lovecraft, Shigeru Miyamoto, Trevor Fencott, Runbow, 13AM Games, Jedi Starfighter, DLC Podcast, Jeff Cannata, Christian Spicer, Alynne O., FromSoft, Shadow Tower Abyss, Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, King's Field, Dark Souls/Bloodborne, Owen Lawson, TIE Fighter, X-Com, Dark Forces, Planescape: Torment, Star Control 2, Stardock, Lucas Rizoli, Microsoft, Republic Commando, Michael Abbott, Valve, Blizzard, Jeffrey Sondin-Kung (Pinecone), LEC-Game Theory, Zachary Crownover, Johnny Pockets, John Romero, Persona 5.

Links: Patrick Klepek on Mizzurna Falls

Next time: Up to level 20 (?ish) in World of Warcraft

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 187: World of Warcraft (part one) Nov 20, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we start a new series with a bit of a different goal: a game we'll play for an initial couple of episodes and then return to from time to time. We discuss 2004's seminal and crowning MMORPG World of Warcraft, discussing the year in which it came out, a history (personal and not) of MMOs, and then dig a bit into the initial hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up until level 8

Issues covered: revisiting our chat with John Romero, looking at 2004 in games, a live game model in EverQuest, self-cannibalization, early history of MUDs, a sad discovery, reflecting on Brad McQuaid's career, sharing games as source, MUDs and theming, talking through the history of a number of MMOs, talking about the market and approachability of other MMOs, peak users, the influence of other Blizzard games on WoW, Brett's confession, introducing characters through the RTS, modding and Warcraft III, launch and WoW, pulling the games from the shelves, server queues, revenue gross, Brett does some on-the-fly math, Activision-Blizzard merger, the starting area for gnomes and dwarves, inviting you into the world like a DM, learning the design language of the game, usability of the quest system, shifting the focus to quests (vs combat grinding), doing multiple things with the quests and rewards, changing your character's look, each race having its own animation set, differentiating races strongly, pre-rendered introduction, RTS influence again, seeing your first human (on a horse), simplifying WoW in the modern version, having to read the text to understand where to go, adding user interface mods, increasing intrinsic reward through difficulty, managing your own grouping, growing the scale of what you see, scale of towns and villages, growing up with the world through exploration, experience ramp.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Romero, LucasArts, Republic Commando, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life 2, DOOM 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, Fable, Halo 2, Far Cry, Chronicles of Riddick, Katamari Damacy, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Source Engine, Troika Entertainment, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, The Outer Worlds, EverQuest & EverQuest II, 989 Studios, Sony Online Entertainment, Rob Pardo, MUD, Roy Trubshaw, Richard Bartle, DikuMUD, Brad McQuaid, Zork, Adventure, MOO, Pantheon, Saga of Heroes, Habitat, LucasFilm Games, Randy Farmer, Chip Morningstar, Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, Raph Koster, Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Underworld, Turbine Entertainment, Lord of the Rings Online, Mythic, EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blizzard, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Bill Roper, Diablo, David Brevik, Warcraft III, Chris Metzen, DotA, Icefrog, Riot Games, Dark Souls.

Next time: To level 20

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 186: DOOM Bonus Interview with John Romero Nov 14, 2019

Following on from our DGC series on 1993's DOOM, we've been lucky enough to get connected with John Romero to talk about his early career and how id and DOOM came to be. We hear all sorts of stories about those early days, and we hope you enjoy it.

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Interview segment 1:40:30 Break 1:41:00 Next time

Issues covered: a brief history of John Romero, playing games at the arcade and on a mainframe, programming without being able to save them, living with hyperthymesia, learning BASIC and 6502, hand-assembling without a computer, bailing from college, selling games to a bartender, meeting a fellow programmer for the first time, zeroing in on Origin Systems, co-opting a demo PC, Origin in New Hampshire, overlapping between John and Brett, being up against other Commodore programmers, killing the interviews, making every life change at once, making your own hardware and writing your own protocol, getting your first raise, the death of 8 bit, learning PC and moving house, missing out on your chance to make a great 8-bit game, wanting to make games all day, hiring an artist based on musical taste, knowing a coder from the game, Carmack renting a PC to port his own RPGs, getting your own room and making your own games, two games in a month, becoming the game everyone in Pakistan and India played, dividing up the work, vertical scrolling vs smooth horizontal scrolling, getting stuff done in a night, knowing when it's time to move on, pitching a game to Nintendo, mistaking fan mail, making deals through the mail, making bank and cutting a deal to avoid a lawsuit, nearly selling the company, shareware just taking off, moving into the black cube, writing a... strong press release, riding the rocket, being fluent in code and creativity at the same time, multi-user editing, breaking out of a rectilinear world, getting out of the intellectual model, no room could have been made in the prior game, having to solve unknown problems, coding everything into the editor and coming up with the needs, programming all sorts of wild secrets, goals for SIGIL, coming up with new ideas that are reasonable extensions, someone stealing your thunder, flipping switches to get from multiplayer to single player, loving designing stuff, the Empire RPG, dream game with the dream team, spending time with John Romero, working on 90 games, working solo, the history of games in one man's head, June calls out, we talk our next game, SWotH.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sigil, Origin Systems, Softdisk, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, Tom Hall, id Software, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, ION Storm, Daikatana, Deus Ex, Anachronox, Monkeystone Games, Midway, Slipgate Ironworks, Gazillion, Loot Drop, Brenda Romero, Romero Games, Empire of Sin, Poison Cookie, Hunt the Wumpus, Nim, Adventure, Robert Lavelock, Will Wright, Dr. Cat (David Shapiro), David Crane, Capital Ideas Software, Apple ][, Nibble Magazine, Scout Search, InCider Magazine, AppleFest 1987, UpTime, Jay Wilbur, Cocktail, Epic Software, Lane Roathe, Ultima I, ManPower, John Fachini, Denis Loubet, Robert Garriott, Ultima Underworld, Mapping the Commodore 64, Inside Out Software, Might & Magic 2, Tower Toppler/Nebulous, Epyx, Lynx, Crush Crumble Chomp, Temple of Apshai, Alien, Dark Castle, Ideas from the Deep, Al Vekovius, Karateka, LodeRunner, Choplifter, PlayStation 2, LucasArts, Gamer's Edge, Sub Stalker, Tennis, Mark Crowe, Paul Lutus, GraFORTH, Catacomb, SuperNES, Mario, Zelda, Dangerous Dave, Solitaire, Minesweeper, Slordax, Michael Abrash, Captain Cosmic, Nintendo, Scott Miller, Kingdom of Kroz, Commander Keen, Aliens Ate My Babysitter, FormGen, Sierra, Ken and Roberta Williams, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Kevin Cloud, NextSTEP, Wizardry, REKKR, Civilization, Paradox, The Irishman, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Skyrim, World of Warcraft Classic.

Next time: World of Warcraft Classic (up to level 5)

Links: Making of SIGIL

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 185: Eternal Darkness (part four) Nov 06, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we complete our play and discussion of 2002's GameCube horror adventure Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. We discuss re-use and when it doesn't quite work here, but highlight the end of the game and then turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Segment 1 -- ED discussion 59:30 Break 60:00 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: Tim talks about his surprise trip, leaning into spells as lock and key mechanisms, having to use the dominant color, systems that are more simply multiplicative, the portraits of the human archetypes, committing to personification, rune descriptions and lore, Lovecraft's racism, natural opposition in different archetypal systems, the fourth playthrough, Pious's purple dispel, learning at the same rate as Alex, setting the final rune and soft failure, having a hard time knowing what to do, usability fighting fiction, getting into a designer's head, describing the WWI bosses, communicating how to fight the boss, timing with the seven-part magical attack, scripting-heavy bosses, playing against your instincts, our go-to spells, objects showing up in the trapper world, running past because your sanity is low, the most repetitive points of the game, using the towers as an amplifier, good camera use, finding a cyclical story for production benefits, the final fight as a restatement of the rest of the game, starting the game as Pious, villainous consistency, learning to hate Pious with Alex, phases of the fight, getting lucky with the ghosts, Brett's Book Recommendation, the strength of the structure of the game, the statues in the walkway, finding a story that allows for production benefits, finding additive bits via the insanity systems, adding coats of paint to levels, water cooler talk, viral marketing, generating surprise, insanity effects and a conflict with a resource, interplay with difficulty, Alex slowly going insane, the magic system and its visual and experiential representation, gender and racial representation, a note about our book club feel, lighting in DOOM vs gzDoom, lighting complementing emotion, level design and lighting, fidelity and lighting, using light as a landmark to propel the player, photorealism and its interplay with design, remembering you're making a game, lightening the load on the player.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Brian Taylor, HP Lovecraft, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Hamlet, Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom, Waypoint Radio, Austin Walker, The Night Ocean, Paul LaFarge, Metal Gear, Diablo, Dejan Josifović, DOOM, Sigil, John Romero, Alan Wake, Dead Space 2.

Next time: An Interview!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Announcement 10-30-2019 Oct 30, 2019

Just a quick announcement to let people to know we're on what we hope is a brief hiatus.

DGC Ep 184: Eternal Darkness (part three) Oct 23, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we continue our play and discussion of 2002's GameCube horror adventure Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. We talk up the magic system as well as the level design writing checks that the camera and perhaps the tech can't quite cash, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: 6-9 (Brett, nice), 6-8 (the other guy)

Issues covered: Tim gets a reference, the Spanish Inquisition, levels getting more complicated, returning to locations you've been to before, having additional things bolted on, reconfiguring a space, visiting cities that have built upon themselves, every location having something beneath it, uncovering the past, small differences between color playthroughs, the predator/prey color wheel and a mnemonic for it, where Tim got blocked by the camera, putting too many items in a camera frame, missing the lectern/podium, Nintendo lessons of learning and acting, teaching spells earlier, things getting away from you, where Brett gets stuck, the characters looking at objects, missing a critical object, putting too many things in a room, level design and camera design must work together, being constrained by your tools, scripted spline cameras, the difficulty of good camera tools, being worried about breaking your scripts, runes with meaning you can explore in the magic, sentences in older and younger languages, the god speaking the spell, the timing mechanic, the elegance of putting time into the spell-casting, the ways it can be interrupted, insanity effects, returning back to Alex, Pious Augustus using the same spell language, tying voice work between related characters, voice acting coming into its own, large number of characters, models being unable to emote and thus relying on voice acting, using tricks to make the lack of emotion work, is a handheld good for horror, requiring time to build tension, how baring mechanics works against horror, having space to move preventing horror vs claustrophobia, feeling capable and having power mechanics, insanity effects as titillation, the camp bathroom system in Dead Rising, frustration working against horror, seeing extra content, achievements, how the Internet changes game designs, streamable and giffable moments, finding the pearls of the game that are shareable.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Monty Python, Far Cry 2, Nintendo, Grim Fandango, Breath of the Wild, Dungeons and Dragons, Crystal Dynamics, DOOM (1993), Jennifer Hale, Mass Effect, Soul Reaver, The2ndQuest, Resident Evil, Stargate SG-1, Fatal Frame, Resident Evil 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, Luigi's Mansion, PT, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Demon's Souls, Zachary Crownover, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill 2, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Dead Rising, Alan Wake, Gothic Chocobo, Arkane Studios, The Outer Worlds, PUBG, Minecraft.

Next time: Finish the game!

Links: IGN pushing ED sales

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 183: Eternal Darkness (part two) Oct 16, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we continue our play and discussion of 2002's GameCube horror adventure Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. We talk a lot about the structure of the game, how it differentiates the choice we made last time, and also discuss the variety of player characters and how cleverly they get mileage out of some decisions. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Levels 3-5

Issues covered: achieving the pulp aesthetic, the structure of using Alex to find pages to enter more stories, linear storytelling hidden by apparently useful skills, running into well-placed insanity effects, having more insanity effects than you realize, having the work you put into a game pay off for someone, lack of efficiency in an open world game, efficiency of mechanics in Eternal Darkness, efficiency in design vs development, embracing a system team-wide, changing audio with low insanity, changing play when you don't care about your insanity, Tim's trouble with enemies, being under-resourced, feeling painted into a corner, save strategies, game play derived from that early choice, expectations of the player, being punished by a powerful enemy, how enemies differ across color, playing different characters due to the structure, a variety of endings for characters, the conspiracy to kill Charlemagne, having a fatal flaw that comes around to get you, good puzzles and showing you the states, hiding the locks and keys, the death of Charlemagne, revisiting the shrine where Pious Augustous became a lich, Karim's ending with a ghost, joining up eternally to protect some artifacts, having a freeze frame on the twist death, seeing Maximilian's ghost, going back to a different stage of the mansion, the weakening penmanship of A. Roivas, the secret entrance to the library, the pattern of the pulps, a long discussion of controllers and fighting games, we talk about our use of combo again, thinking differently about a game for the podcast.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: HP Lovecraft, Alan Moore, Providence, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, Hamlet, Shakespeare, Warren Spector, Deus Ex, Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, Starfighter, Resident Evil, Dark Souls, Thief, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Creepshow, EC Comics, Amazing Stories, Stephen King, George Romero, The Nameless City, Alone in the Dark, Dark Corners of the Earth, Charles Dickens, Robert Howard, Conan, HKris7, Warcraft, Derek from Spokane, DOOM, Chex Quest, Street Fighter, Sega Genesis, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Call of Duty, Chrono Trigger, Republic Commando, The Matrix, Alan Wake.

Next time: Levels 6-9, nice.

Links: Angry Video Game Nerd on Chex Quest

The Hit Box

Mike "BrolyLegs" Begum

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 182: Eternal Darkness (part one) Oct 09, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we turn to the start of our annual spooky game content by looking at 2002's GameCube horror adventure Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. We situate the game in time a bit and talk about its critical and commercial reception, as well as the GameCube, before turning to the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The first three levels

Issues covered: how names appear backwards, our horror tradition, this year in games, Nintendo and close third parties, the mythology around a good GameCube game that disappeared, moderate sales but critical success, the Nintendo horror gap, Japanese lens on sales, understanding the mind of Nintendo, finding the comic spookiness rather than true horror, avoiding mature stuff for first party, cosmic horror, not connecting with Lovecraft, Mantorok the Corpse God, paying plenty homage to Lovecraft, Brett's tax on game lore, taking itself seriously, minimal insanity effects, Brett's never-empty bar, Tim describes an insanity effect, describing the initial experience, reading the Tome of Eternal Darkness and as a result playing the game, writers and writing and their madness, ancient history and its influence on modern day, using libraries to find information and history books, seats of American academia, delving into memory, using an Animus vs a book version, the Necronomicon, changes to Alex as to whether she's astrally projected, having multiple interpretations, Pious Augustus's transformation, making an uninformed choice, making better informed choices in Kingdom Hearts, starting to see the structure, being in the same location across multiple time periods, whether or not one required a manual, the forces for and against manuals, slowly adding mechanics in a Nintendo way.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2, Thief, Nintendo GameCube, Metroid Prime (series), Resident Evil 0, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Animal Crossing, Super Mario Sunshine, Kingdom Hearts, Hitman 2, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Jedi Starfighter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, Warcraft III, PlayStation 2, LucasArts, Silicon Knights, Denis Dyack, Tatsuya Hishida, Hiro Yamada, Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, Resident Evil 4, Capcom, Retro Studios, Nintendo Switch, Mother 3, Kirby Dream Course, SNES Classic, Disneyland, Haunted Mansion, Luigi's Mansion, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta (series), Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, In the Mouth of Madness, Assassin's Creed, Evil Dead 2, Alan Wake, Dungeons & Dragons, Kingdom Hearts, MYST, Super Mario Bros, Bill Roper, Lurking Horror, Infocom.

Next time: The next three levels (until Lurking Horror)

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 181: DOOM Bonus: DOOM (2016) Oct 02, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we turn to the start of our bonus content about DOOM. We look at 2016's re...boot? Reimagining? Re...launch? of DOOM and talk about its modernization of mechanics and its resource loop, before turning to catch up on the mail bag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First few levels

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 DOOM talk 40:30 Feedback

Issues covered: Tim likes to get into the lore and how this supposedly ties all the DOOMs together, Tim's free time, what it's like rebooting something, how do you deliver a modern version of a classic game, infinite interconnected positive reinforcement resource skill loops, drawing you in with glory kills, combat stats and finite enemies, how DOOM feels visceral, risk/reward in the glory kill mechanic, the limits of long-range combat in other shooters, dealing with the Hell Knights and being forced retreat, orthogonal enemy design, being put off by the demo, leaning into the heavy metal, corridor/arena design and length, having characters to interact with, thinking about the game when you're not playing, difficulty, how the game improves as level design starts to get more abstract, being a little at odds with itself, lack of aim-down-sites, lower maximum ammo, appreciating tight tuning, the NPC similarities, influence of art direction, having a space make sense as a place you've been, not stopping to think, playing as a designer, Tim vs Brett as how they play and disconnect if they can, WASD becoming a thing, what control schemes and controllers might work, VR controls, MOBAs and ability triggering, naturally using your hands, eye-tracking as another improvement in interfaces, finding the one game that encapsulates all sorts of play, player-created narrative vs authored narrative, "welcome to the Nether," teaching game design, using analysis to get at mechanics and their connection to dynamics and aesthetics, source ports, multiplayer being important to a campaign, being in communication with players through knowledge vs social media, the uniqueness of SIGIL, games as products, having multiple player types, figuring out your relationship with players, .plan files, designer/developer interaction through plan files, Usenet, art and games as a gift, being able to give more to your players, Brett's Book Recommendation, expansion and contraction in game design, the natural rhythm of play matching breathing, natural pacing, AI story direction to manage tension, focusing on a single enemy as a contraction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: id Software, Prey, Dishonored, Call of Duty, Zenimax/Bethesda Game Studios, Republic Commando, Rage, Quake (series), Wolfenstein (series), Machine Games, Raven Software, Half-Life 3, Bioshock, Terminator 2, Total Recall (1990), Viktor Antonov, Unreal Engine, Cry Engine, The Evil Within, Resident Evil, Tacoma, Gone Home, System Shock 2, Austin Powers (series), Logan's Run, Michael York, Gilmore Girls, LucasArts, Daron Stinnett, Tomb Raider, Mike Vogt, Apogee, Dark Forces, GOG, Ingar Shu, Valve Software, Kinect, DoubleFine Studios, StarCraft, WarCraft, Facebook, Oculus, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect, Mikkel Lodahl, Minecraft, Nintendo, Legend of Zelda (series), Mario (series), Metroid (series), Disney Infinity, Project Spark, Little Big Planet, This War of Mine, Sam Thomas, SIGIL, Unreal Tournament, LEC-Quake, Ryan Troock, John Romero, Mario Maker, Halo (series), Ken Levine, John Carmack, SiN, Levelord, George Broussard, 3DRealms, John Yorke, Masters of DOOM, James Franco, The Disaster Artist, Tom Bissell, Paul Reiser, Mad About You, Oscar Fiasco, Link's Awakening, Day9, Super Mario 64, Starfighter, Left 4 Dead, Silent Hill 2, Thief: The Dark Project, Eternal Darkness, Nathan Martz, Alan Wake, Control.

Next time: Either a guest... or a bit of Eternal Darkness, check your local listings (i.e. Twitter)

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 180: DOOM Bonus: SIGIL and Thy Flesh Consumed Sep 25, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we turn to the start of our bonus content about DOOM. We look at 1995's added fourth episode "Thy Flesh Consumed" as well as John Romero's 25th anniversary megawad SIGIL. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Thy Flesh Consumed & SIGIL

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 TFC & SIGIL 47:26 Break 47:59 Feedback

Issues covered: shooting a lot of eyes, who worked on what with Thy Flesh Consumed, difficulty level, level design propelling you forward, having to jump gaps by moving fast, open sight lines and being fired upon, more death surfaces, seeing the evolution of level design and discovery of emergent mechanics, having moments of surprise, Brett's rendering issues, the experiments in this game space, playing with expectations and making you feel like you know the level, circling back to the same place, seeing John Romero's style, being able to convey a level from memory in a single sentence, masterful manipulation of geometry, increasing detail and nuance, teaching you about the eye triggers, Baron backstabbing, Tim talks about the level with the three paths with the colored keys, being fully immersed in a level, squeezing every drop of blood from a design stone, being a master of your techniques, feeling a little too agitated, playing with a controller vs a mouse and keyboard, aim assist and magnetism, playing with highest resolutions and hardware, speed of controller games vs mouse & keyboard games, better tools and using DOOM as a learning tool, a lesson from the Pokemon series, the huge reach of the biggest franchise, Nintendo games as exemplars of good design, games we've been inspired by despite not having played much, the granularity of game bits, mental mapping in Will Wright's games, mea culpa mea maxima culpa, playing with a controller vs a mouse with the most recent game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tim Willits, id Software, Kevin Cloud, John Romero, American McGee, GZDoom, Shawn Green, Hexen, 3D Realms, Daikatana, Nintendo, Switch, XBLA, nickmcco, Pokemon, Pokemon Go, GameCube, N64, JC Porcel, Super Crate Box, Final Fantasy (series), The Sims, Richard Evans, Will Wright, Mark Brown, The Game Maker's Toolkit, GTA III, Matt Ackeret, Apple ][, Atari 2600, The Witcher III, DOOM (2016).

Next time: DOOM (2016)

Links: MiniDOOM 2 Trailer

Download link for Mini DOOM2

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 179: DOOM (part three) Sep 18, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we complete the main game in our series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We talk about the level design some more as well as the use of maps and other topics before turning to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Episode Three: Inferno!

Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Segment 1: Inferno 57:32 Break 58:04 Segment 2: Takeaways

Issues covered: the feel of the new levels as the descent into Hell continues, use of terrain and more Gothic elements, the arc in DOOM II, BSP-ing symbols into the walls, being unclear about landmarks vs puzzles, the Unholy Cathedral and puzzle teleporters, personal pacing then and now, Slough of Despair and the spare room, where we got our BFGs, Brett makes his first Cyberdemon/Baron of Hell mixup and keeps doing it all episode (sorry), contrasting arenas with corridors, comparing Gromesh Mines, BSP improvements, 2D topology and mapping vs fully 3D maps these days, feeling like you can lean on the map, what companies do with maps, underestimating the needs and use of the map, the map as crutch, avoiding blood-locking through good level design, blood-locking and speed, speed as score attack, death animations and audio, the exploding Pinky in alpha, mechanical information conveyed through death feedback, persistent bodies and landmarking, the memory and performance expense of dead bodies in modern 3D shooters, favorite moments, using the chainsaw, punching Barons, the rabbit ending, heads on pikes, lap claps, big steps in first-person level design, story and level design, video games growing up, bringing Hell to Earth, unapologetically being what you are, going over the top, propulsive play, the importance of technology, Tim speaks to the younger generation by bringing up Howard Hughes, being on the bleeding edge, emergent enemy behavior/orthogonal design, simple rules for enemies, simple tools for generating game play, high numbers of enemies, being able to drop an enemy anywhere.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Roald Dahl, Paradise Lost, Sandy Petersen, Dark Forces, Thief, Ultima Underworld, Legend of Zelda (series), Nintendo, Metroid (series), Wolfenstein 3D, id Software, Dungeons & Dragons, Quentin Tarantino, GTA III, The Ramones, Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood, Masters of DOOM, James and Dave Franco, John Carmack, Howard Hughes, Epic/Unreal, Star Wars Republic Commando, Halo, Randy Smith, Bungie, Bethesda Game Studios.

Next time: Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed & SIGIL!

Tracks: Unholy Cathedral (intro) Slough of Despair (break)

Links: Bunny ending

Maybe... Randy Smith talking about emergence

Note: Dis, in Dante's Inferno, is a City and not a "plains." We regret the error.

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 178: DOOM (part two) Sep 11, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we continue our series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We spend some time especially on level design and the environments and specifically how they feel different from the first, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Episode two!

Issues covered: figuring out where we actually are, Hell bleeding through, chaotic and asymmetric geometry, non-critical path key use, additional exploration, pace of play then and now, Tim uses the "I-word" on a non-explicit podcast, immersion then and now, speed of play in the 2016 sequel, cover and higher lethality in modern shooters, reasons shooters slowed down, getting use out of smaller amounts of play-time, the authoring of levels then and now, expectations of differing business models, wanting to live in the space for longer, using the keys to get weapons rather than just to get to the exit, communicating change to the player, setting and rules surprises, cosmic horror influence, specialization of level design, holistic differences, teleporter and stair and platform use, where you got your shareware in 1993, Steam collecting data on cards and such vs Quake_Test, simple puzzle, dungeon master influence, using lighting for effect, AI rules, emergent behavior, escalation of clutter from human body parts to demon body parts, knockback, having additional sprites/frames, communicating AI state visually, closing the Pokemon Pandora's Box, diving deep on EVs and IVs and fans finding a way, high degrees of systems plus social equals success?, slimness of Nintendo UI, Nintendo patching glitches out, Marathon on modern systems, pitch-counting your Pokemon battles, areas to run through in games that are okay.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Romero, Sandy Petersen, Wolfenstein 3D, Call of Cthulhu, Quake, Half-Life, Tomb of Horrors, Tom Hall, Anachronox, Predator, Splinter Cell, Nintendo, fulltilted, Bard's Tale Remastered, Prey, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Eye of the Beholder, King's Quest, Wizard and the Princess, Pokemon, Gothic Chocobo, Mario Maker 2, Patrick Klepek, Waypoint, Smash Bros, Marathon, Alelph One, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Daggerfall, Chris Mead, Ben Zaugg, minatorrent, Tomb Raider, Metroid: Samus Returns.

Next time: The final episode!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 177: DOOM (part one) Aug 28, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we begin a new series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We talk briefly about the year in games before digging into the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First Episode!

Issues covered: where the game takes place, adventure games at a good spot, hard drives and CD-ROMs, designing for efficiency, polar opposite of rendering presentation from MYST, first-person perspectives, tone and subject matter, how each host met up with the game, Brett's hoarding problem, "things have changed," shareware model, how you could write from/to a disk, "free to play," levels becoming more organic, pushing technology, avoiding drawing pixels multiple times, simplicity of rooms and limited enemies, having a better sense of place, adding a map (which ten years before would have been the game), moving in the map, comparing goals of different FPSes, abstract levels vs grounded ones, trying to find the first-person formula and simplifying down, limited enemy types in the first episode, dealing with enemies in a mix, hearing before you see, high school aesthetic, the whole aesthetic in the cover, gore, leaning into what your technology can do, contrasting themes in first-person games, falling into the game, getting your skills back, developing your vocabulary, we totally get the dates wrong on a couple games, playing with a mouse and keyboard vs sticks, speed speed speed, weird choices for sprites, the pacing of the intro, having a horror intro the overshadows, organic bits of design, being able to see across spaces, feeling exploratory, having a sense of place through vistas, addressing an elephant in the room, professionalism in development, Blast Processing, a faster memory pipeline, design beating technology, Riven and Metroidvania, looking across spaces to an exit and being spit out near it later, stat experience and Pokemon (as well as other stat stuff), players figuring stuff out, the game making an argument to you, how does a player reason about a thing and letting a player intend to do a thing, non-exposed systems, Tim guesses who is who.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Day of the Tentacle, MYST, Link's Awakening, Syndicate, Mortal Kombat II, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Masters of Orion, The 7th Guest, Eye of the Beholder, Ultima VII, Wizardry (series), Dark Forces, LucasArts, Chris Corry, Commander Keen, Castle Wolfenstein, Space Quest, Daron Stinnett, Andrew Kirmse, George Lucas, Star Wars, Matt Tateishi, Quake, Dune 2000, Marathon, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Diablo, Beavis & Butthead, Frank Frazetta, Mysterious Island, Marvel, DC, Spider-Man, Batman, Mario (series), Thief, Nick Foster, Outlaws, Skyrim, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, DOOM (2016), Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, Fallout 4, Sam Thomas, SNES, SEGA, Super Mario Kart, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Dreamcast, Saturn, PlayStation, Steve Race, Walker Ferrell, Castlevania, GoldenEye 007, Nier: Automata, Riven, FF6, EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Pokemon, Gothic Chocobo, Shigeru Ohmori, SimCity, Nintendo Power, World of Warcraft, Rich Davis, Derek Achoy/Speakyclean, Jackbox.

Next time: Second Episode!

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlulSyBI2aY

Formulae: Change in Stat = floor{ min{ ceiling[ sqrt(Stat Exp.) ], 255} * Level / 400 }

Correction: Steve Race was the director of development for Sony America, not its President. He left three months or so after his announcement at E3 1995. The Sega Saturn was $399, and the PlayStation debuted at $299.

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 176: SNES Classic One-Off Aug 21, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week the podcast does something a little bit different and takes a quick side-turn into the SNES Classic. After playing two games off-cam and two games on, the hosts talk about each game in turn. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A bit of a number of SNES Classic Games

Issues covered: the difficulty of Contra games, old school punishing difficulty, power-ups, memorization, eating quarters, shooters and brawlers, reflex-based games, playing on d-pads, putt-putt golf, unlocking where the hole is, more interactions than golf, politics and interfering with other players, screen-watching and Kirby's Dream Course, bards and paladins, physics and ricochet prediction, playing defensively, having a number of shots before being tired, forward feedback loop, the other Kirby game on the Classic, discussion of various other consoles of the time, down the rabbit hole of other consoles of the time, seeing the depth of fighting games right there on the screen, more quarter plugging, move discovery, the beauty of Street Fighter IV, fighting game sticks and cheating, dabbling in fighting games, knowing you could systematically improve, labor practices, story modes in fighting games, covering e-sports and fighting games, raising your game to a higher level of play through muscle memory, obsession, EVO, Nintendo being tentative about their fighting games, lack of player support, racing games and digital control time, casual racing games that you can get good at, solo joy-con play, getting demolished, getting better at racing games over time, rubber-banding and other balancing, getting better power-ups in the back, balancing difficulty dynamically, trying to incorporate both a child and a parent, clearing up Brett's confusion about the time that has elapsed between Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, Castlevania in the future, the rug that looks like the Himalayas, getting tons of upgrades to change the feel of a Metroidvania, the pure moment-to-moment enjoyment in Castlevania, first-person retreading spaces, completion and percentages, having a parry in Return of Samus, learning by failure, being constantly focused, appreciating just moving your character around, solving various additional problems, twin-stick control, more inviting combat, a bug in TR Anniversary revealed, collecting souls and shards, being able to grind for what you like, having the ability to customize Pokemon abilities, using crafting to better ends, unavailability of Castlevania DS games, chipset emulation, what we're playing next.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Street Fighter II, Super Mario Kart, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Contra III: The Alien Wars, PS2, Andrew Kirmse, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Xbox 360 controller, Bloodstained, Nintendo Switch, Kirby's Dream Course, Marble Madness, Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI/III, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Metal Gear (series), Intellivision, Dungeons & Dragons, Shamus, Adventure, Street Fighter movie, Mortal Kombat (series), Crystal Dynamics, Tekken Tag Tournament, Battle Area Toshinden, Virtua Fighter, Soulcalibur, NetherRealm Studios, Injustice (series), Maddy Myers, Kotaku Splitscreen, Compete, Smash (series), Mario Party (series), Mario Maker, Nintendo DS, Steve Ash, Chris Klie, Daron Stinnett, Forza, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Kart 8, Nintendo Wii, Donkey Kong Country, Secret of Mana, Super Mario Galaxy, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Pokemon: Red/Blue, Gothic Chocobo, Dave Wisecarver, Metroid Prime, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Return of Samus, Dark Souls, Dead Cells, Platinum, Bayonetta, Halo, Skyrim, Twilight Princess, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Nolan Filter/irreventQ, Castlevania 64, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, Giant Bomb, Konami, Virtual Console, Koji Igarashi, Shenmue, Seaman, DOOM, Bethesda, John Romero, Sigil, DOOM Eternal, Half-Life, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Thief, Dark Forces, Ultima Underworld.

Note: Brett indeed also played Earthbound on the SNES Classic but forgot in the heat of podcasting

Next time: DOOM (Whole first episode)

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 175: Bloodstained ROTN Bonus! Aug 14, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week take a little time to talk about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, in our bonus episode for the series. We talk about how much of a Castlevania game it is as well as a number of other topics in a free-flowing discussion. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The first few hours

Issues covered: being pierced by shards, feeling the beat, blood pools, the many similarities with Castlevania: SOTN, introducing characters and having a ton of little conversations with them, having quests and such, crafting and other additions, Kickstarter history of the project, the simple mechanics of the quest system, upsides to the shards and powers and farming, permanent buffs from eating food the first, the prime factorization of Todd's hair cut curse, mastery bars for button sequenced techniques, having to replay bosses and learn their patterns, powering lots of things up, adding different layouts of equipment, whether the bosses measure up, using the first boss to teach you to read the attacks, the transition to 3D, dynamic camera, 3D vs pixel-perfect collision, getting stuck on collision simplifications, not being as clear with collision, splitting attention in projectile-based Metroidvanias, touching on the show, bringing in characters and setting a new tone, consistency of voice work, David Hayter's performance, adding the compendium, switching to 3D for the main series and maybe keeping with the pixel art, we noodle around the Zangetsu talk and are wrong about many things, Brett's Book Recommendation, some comparisons between Dark Souls and Castlevania, styles of RPG influence, enemy scale, getting more out of Symphony of the Night than your friends, cultural issues and localization and a more global audience, requiring a good writer for translation, providing for fan translation in the indie space, the difference between trying different abilities in Pokemon vs Diablo, acquisition costs for spells in Diablo vs Pokemon, combos vs motions with respect to button... sequences, gamer use of combo vs dev use.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Koji Igarashi, DeBarge, Rhythm of the Night, Unreal Engine, Gothic Chocobo, Sony, Shenmue, World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Fez, David Hayter, Shadow Complex, Samus Returns, MGS V (or V), Devil May Cry, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton, Infocom, Deadline, Witness, josh (if that is his real name), Hidetaka Miyazaki, Alex Neuse, Halo 5 / Infinite, Rômulo Santos, Pokemon, Monster Hunter (series), Le Ton Beau de Marot, Gone Home, Tacoma, Shawn, Diablo, clorf, Street Fighter, Kirby Dream Course.

Next time: Catching up on the mail bag at last

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 174: Castlevania SOTN (part four) Aug 07, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week complete our Castlevania discussion with the beloved PlayStation classic. We talk about actually finishing the game, the size and scope of the thing, character movement, enemy variety, and a host of other topics including our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:38 Castlevania SOTN discussion 52:30 Break 53:07 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: the end dialog of a game this gothic and melodramatic, the Japanese lens, localization in the 90s, various early memes, ideogram languages and translating into small amounts of space, translation as an art, the reward for getting a greater percentage of the game, finding your way to the inverted castle, having a 3D bias, following industry trends, Tim's mea culpa, the fully inverted castle and how big it is, whole new enemies and placements, wondering how they came to invert the castle and make the changes they did, the nightmare of mirroring or copying geometry, having the transformation buttons easily accessible, mapping where the bosses show up and whether there are more, Alucard and being both a hero and a vampire, not being familiar with these games, familiars and their various identities, challenging yourself to play different ways, the various sub-weapons, comparisons to Metroid, fitting together sprites for larger characters, managing pixel density, the availability of Redbook audio on a PlayStation, making changes in the CD hallways, getting the most out of memory, precise character animation, avoiding stun lock and when you are committed to a move, the huge space of the RPG elements, giving a look at Richter, gothic theming, video games are Hawaiian shirts, in Transylvania it's always the 15th century, how much of it is there is and player choice, wanting the player to miss stuff, exploration in space and systems, the ability to miss the big change, loving the bosses, seeing bosses again and in number, big bosses, committing to movements, grounding the character to match the groundedness of the space, motion blur on the character, full-screen effects, a first meetup for the podcast, emulation QoL improvements and auto-attacks, changing the feel of a game with QoL improvements, playing the unimproved Dragon's Dogma, leaning on fast travel, licensed titles, living in the worlds others have created, managing fan expectations, lack of consistent voices, reaching niche markets, using the Star Wars IP and bringing it to genres, Brett identifies his perfect license.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Zero Wing, Resident Evil, Starfighter (series), Douglas Hofstadter, Le Ton Beau de Marot, Siskel & Ebert, Metroid (series), Stranger Things (obliquely), Alex Neuse, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tomb Raider, LucasArts, Bob Dylan, Grim Fandango, Aliens, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Ray Harryhausen, God of War (series), PlayStation/Xbox, Dead Cells, Super Mario World, Dark Souls, Legend of Zelda (series), Diablo, Metal Gear (series), Hal Barwood, Universal Monsters, Edgar Allan Poe, Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Shadow of the Colossus, Fumito Ueda, Ico, Hideteka Miyazaki, Contra, SNES Classic, Devil May Cry, Bloodstained, Koji Igarashi, Warren Linam-Church, Chrono Trigger, MYST, Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon's Dogma, The Witcher III, Elder Scrolls (series), Morrowind, Ashton Herrmann, Xbox 360/Arcade, Shadow Complex, Chair Entertainment, Epic Games, Gothic Chocobo, Hollow Knight, Star Wars, Daron Stinnett, Justin Chin, Matt Tateishi, Dark Forces, EA, Lord of the Rings, James Bond, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Fallout, No Mutants Allowed, Wasteland 2, TIE Fighter, X-Wing, Ingrid Bergman, Konami.

Next time: Some of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 173: Castlevania SOTN (part three) Jul 31, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are continuing our Castlevania discussion with the beloved PlayStation classic. We talk about "finishing the game," various bosses, and how the whole game provides exploration in all its systems, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To the castle inversion

Issues covered: finishing the game without finding all of it, feeling like you had gotten enough, Richter living more than 100 years, being told you are passing the point of no return, finding what you'll find and playing how you'll play, being locked in a boss battle, an anticlimax that makes you think there's more to a game, it's always Dracula, knowing that there's more to the game, Olrox the reptiloid, level design flowing towards the boss rooms, fighting Scylla versions 1 and 2, elaborate boss designs, using buffs and potions in boss battles, reaching in desperation, lacking information about when you need to use a potion, the cumbersomeness of using a potion, familiars using your resources, familiars in other games, familiars finding stuff for you, having AIs that fail you, items that are only used by familiars, leveling familiars, the enormous play space of the game, combo vs sequences of keys, being able to replenish at the Librarian, the Librarian gaining more stuff, spells and rolling the buttons, the additional abilities to the forms, the game-changing nature of the bat, wolf underutilization, using the toggle for the familiar relics, nice custom moments and behaviors, where the Easter Eggs might be, reinforcing the sense of place, addressing feedback, thinking about games the other has worked on, the amount of effort that goes into the 'cast, lack of planning, discovering a game like the audience might have, the history of the singing review, overpowering the Elite Four, games that made good transitions from 2D to 3D, having max abilities and then losing them.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Steve Gaynor (obliquely), Tacoma, Metroid (series), Persona 3, Nintendo, Kingdom Hearts, Rise of the Kasai/Mark of Kri, PlayStation, PC-Engine/Turbo-Grafx 16, Alex Neuse, Netflix, Logisverð, Pokemon, GameBoy, Ben Zaugg, Gothic Chocobo, Boris of Alzey, Star Wars: Starfighter, Indiana Jones, Chris Williams, Eric Koz, Nickname_Placeholder/Makendi, Stealer Wheels, Stuck in the Middle with You, Purple Rain, Reservoir Dogs, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Prince, Elvis, Jamie Zucek, Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Pokemon Go, Zelda, Mario, Super Mario Odyssey/Galaxy, Contra, Fallout (series), Chrono Trigger, Diablo (series).

Next time: Finish the game...??

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 172: Castlevania SOTN (part two) Jul 24, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are continuing our Castlevania discussion with the beloved PlayStation classic. We talk about how the structure encourages a natural and player-led exploration as well as some deep diving into weapon mechanics, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Olrox (in theory)

Issues covered: bosses that feel optional, getting health or heart-ups, the tightness of the Metroid structure vs the more explorative Castlevania, feeling like your order is the natural and correct one, picking your rabbit holes, looking at the map and combing over spaces you weren't able to get, being unable to figure out a room, warp points and mysteries of the game, fighting area fatigue by warping other places, avoiding wall levels/missions, hitting a rough area and returning to it, the shared lineage with the Dark Souls games, difficulty differences, the depth of gearing up your character, the depth of some weapons and surprises, analysis/paralysis, picking the obvious dumb thing, respec-ing, flexibility of approach, streamlining combat in Diablo vs this, getting so pulled in, seeing why the Metroidvania term exists, little enemy surprises, comparing play time and level, rock-paper-scissors combat in Metroid vs Castlevania, leveling/grinding for health and heart-ups, having specific constraints you know will be true of the player or not, comparing Metroid to a Rubik's Cube and Castlevania to a jigsaw puzzle, the Librarian and the training videos, grinding resources or not, not looking at the numbers, caring about your goals and not caring about XP, always hitting the candles, the inherent fun of the play, blowing your time constraints for this game, software emulation and memory mappers, cartridges and emulation, cut-away buildings, adding three-dimensional depth to a two-dimensional game, nuance in level design, an easier entry in the series due to character controllability, grounding a character's animation, reading the effing manual, callbacks in the TV show, Easter eggs, the confessional, the grave keeper, feeling a connection with a real place vs a fantasy place.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metroid (series), Day of the Tentacle, Dark Souls (series), X-COM, Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Diablo III, PlayStation, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Rubik's Cube, The 2nd Quest, Pokemon, Castle (book by David Macaulay), Scott Schneider, Tomb Raider, Alex Neuse, Choice Provisions, Bit.Trip (series), Gaijin Games, Warren Ellis, Bloodstained, Dragon's Dogma.

Next time: Up until the flip

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 171: Castlevania SotN (part one) Jul 17, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we continue our Castlevania discussion with the game that renamed a genre. We talk about the year it came out, the structure of the game, and then delve into its many surprising RPG elements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours in

Issues covered: games of 1997, the PlayStation cycle, where this game fits on the Castlevania history, sticking with 2D, pushing the transition to polygons, similarities with Super Metroid, the large number of relics, lacking map markers of any kind, needing to have made a map, spending a lot of time covering the map again, reasons why QoL doesn't get in, being primarily melee, adding action feel through melee, using the ranged subweapons, new subweapon mechanics for switching, changing into a wolf or bat (vespertilionize: a real word), being able to turn off relics, giving the player more options to customize the experience, offering too many options for player attention, the opening battle against Dracula, switching up characters, connecting the games, having slots for armor, leaning into the gothic with character design, being able to cast spells with combos, customization options that feel like classes, effects of leveling up, the history of adding RPG elements to games, RPG elements vs progression mechanics, making interesting choices about character, why the structure of Metroidvanias works for Tim, unification and motivation of mechanics and exploration, contrasting with open world games with lots of exploring, acquiring more verbs and designing to the addition of verbs, the resilience of the genre, mixing in these mechanics can work, the game you imagine vs the game you get, the reality of budgets, finding new features that weren't in the first game of a series, business forces, not living up to expectations, the expenses of development, wanting the developers to be excited about what they're doing, FPGAs vs software emulators and clone consoles, ultra-hobby options, having a wealth of options to play, preserving history, companies being poor at preservation.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fallout, Goldeneye, Gran Turismo, Ultima Online, Jedi Knight, Mario Kart 64, Tekken 3, Harvest Moon, Myth: The Forgotten Lords, Final Fantasy VII, Riven: The Sequel to MYST, Dungeon Keeper, Final Fantasy Tactics, Curse of Monkey Island, Total Annihilation, Colony Wars, Age of Empires, Blade Runner, Westwood Studios, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, PlayStation, Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver, PSP, SNES, TurboGrafx-16, Virtual Console, Wii, Koji Igarashi, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime (series), The Return of Samus, Nintendo 3DS, Metal Gear Solid 2, Arkham Asylum (series), Assassin's Creed, Dead Cells, Guacamelee, Axiom Verge (obliquely), Darksiders, Gothic Chocobo, Yooka-Laylee, Banjo-Kazooie, Mighty Number 9, Mega Man, Pokemon, Game Freak, Capcom, Jeff Gerstmann, Giant Bomb, Pink Gorilla, Starfighter, Star Wars: Racer, Eric Johnston, Jedi Starfighter, Republic Commando, Steve Dykes, Game Makers Toolkit, Mark Brown.

Links: Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design Analysing Mario to Master Super Mario Maker The World Design in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Next time: Through Olrox

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 170: Super Castlevania IV (part three) Jul 10, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our second discussion of Super Castlevania IV. We discuss the ways the game mixes up its mechanics in the late game as well as its music and a few other topics before we turn to your feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished....? the game?

Issues covered: monsters and bosses, Universal monsters movies, the difficulty of these final levels, imagining someone playing at the time, linearity and difficulty spikes, arcade legacy, the modernization of playtesting, clunkiness of the platforming, level design in comparison with Nintendo, learning through failure, positive vs negative reinforcement in design, having fun even when it's hard, inconsistency of frame rate, emulation and slowdown, the hilarity of the enemy health bar, the terror of the bone bird, consistency of tone, the feeling of immersion in a location, reading the boss, the stages of Dracula, giving you help after you complete the challenge, do you need to complete the challenge, retracing your steps vs seeing everything "once," gaining capabilities over a game vs not, was the game made for fans of the series, mixing mode 7 throughout vs set pieces, bumping your head/feeling less heroic, Brett digresses into French history, having to practice, platforming on the stairs, jumping to blocks that would appear in time, learning what the design rules lead to, a screen scrolling down, the leading camera, interactions with the stair rules, questions of taste, steering the course of the industry, modifying rules when conflicts happen, iterating with the next game, shorter development times, Nintendo shipping its prototypes, investing so heavily in stairs, music in the names of the games, Gothic music, melodrama and space, SNES audio hardware, memorable and iconic music from the era, Tim can't find the melody, emulation and effects on play, display sizes, CRTs, controllers, some technical concerns in emulation, vinyl vs digital, emulating more modern series, remastering from film vs video.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Universal, Pokemon, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Super Mario World, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (obliquely), Nintendo, Metroid (series), Dungeons & Dragons, Legend of Zelda (series), GameBoy Advance, Konami (obligatory: FK), Contra (series), Dark Souls, Metal Gear (series), Charles I/VIII, Academie française, SWAT IV, Guacamelee, LoZ: Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, LoZ: Skyward Sword, Masanori Adachi, Taro Kudo, Star Wars, X-COM, Ha-Drew-ken!, DLC podcast, Ken Levine, Jeff Cannata, Christian Spicer, Drew from Scotland, Purple Rain, Prince, Logan Brown, Star Trek, Mario 64, Andrew Kirmse, Chris Kirmse, MAME, Batman '66, The Wire, Dragon's Dogma, MYST IV.

Next time: Some of Castlevania: SotN

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 169: Super Castlevania IV (part two) Jul 03, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our second discussion of Super Castlevania IV. We talk about the difficulty of the game and "fairness," Mode 7 shenanigans, and how the game quickly teaches things and moves on. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To/through Stage VIII

Issues covered: the Myst-like rabbit-hole, leaning into the affordances of the SNES Classic, difficulty of Stage IV, the question of fairness and difficulty, throwing a lot at you, ramping up difficulty quickly, not a lot of soft landings or player help, play style, how to double jump across two spinning platforms, hard failures vs safe failures, having to put a game in its time, hard games in their time, challenge as fun, having release valves for difficulty, lacking time to explore with a timer game, getting into the designer's head, the world disappearing when you can't see it, finding every bit of memory or performance, having the hardware for less time, boldly leaning into Mode 7, the swinging chandeliers, slowly moving the character while the level rotates, letting the player deal with small issues and compromises, the Golem boss and shrinking the character, a great moment with the enemy design, learning how much time various actions take, being punished for slow reactions, multiple enemy states, wanting more helpful pickups, secondary/sub-weapons, moving up in levels, the navigation challenge of the stairs, analog stick vs d-pad, sticky surfaces in cover games, ladders in late 90s/early 00s games, bad publishing deals, physical game production, walking backwards up stairs, being able to think about the game when you're not playing it, genre death and rebirth, tension and boss placement.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Myst III: Exile, Obduction, Riven: The Sequel to Myst, The Book of Atrus, Warcraft, SNES Classic, Braid, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Mortal Kombat II, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Dark Souls, The Six Million Dollar Man, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Legend of Zelda, Nintendo Switch, Kingdom Hearts, Nicholas McCormick, Robyn Miller, Cyan Worlds, David Brevik, Diablo, Blizzard, LucasArts, Daron Stinnett, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega, Zimmy Finger, Mike Vogt, Radiohead, Bohemian Rhapsody, Return of the Obra Dinn, Lucas Pope, Papers Please, Unreal Engine, Presto Studios, The Journeyman Project, Disney's Haunted Mansion, Ready Player One, The Shining.

Next time: Finish the game!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 168: Super Castlevania IV (part one) Jun 19, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we turn to 1991's Super Castlevania IV, due to the series having its anniversary this year. We talk about quite a lot of stuff, including its arcade nature but also its nods to the home market, its tone and setting ,how it teaches stuff, an a host of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The first two stages

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Castlevania Discussion 46:32 Break 47:11 Feedback

Issues covered: games in 1991, the arcade nature of this title, Metroidvania, arcade elements, common approaches to design, making Simon feel heavier and different, remaking Castlevania, the different approaches of other Castlevania games, playing something so old school, learning skills along the way, learning timing, using layers in Mode 7, exploring with some depth, jumping levels and stair climbing, the cool thing you can do with the new hardware, the multiple uses of the whip, powering up the whip, discovering that you can whip the background, teaching moments, enemy design, cursing the bobbing medusa heads, ramping the difficulty on enemies, mixing up enemies by plussing them up, putting all the enemies in the manual, possible sales technique, multi-phase bosses, patterns to detect in their movement, using sprites to lengthen out a spine, fighting the boss mid-level, seeing the boss's health level throughout the level, balancing difficulty, JRPGs, your weapons of choice, using hearts as ammo, the original name Dracula Satanic Castle, satanic panic of the 80s in the US, the animated series, talking about the many entries, the many places this series has gone, a Singing Review, uses for players guides, prodding you to think, developers working with players guides, getting Mew and Mewtwo in Pokemon, Japanese development.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy IV (/II), Civilization 1, Megaman 4, Monkey Island 2, Metroid 2: Samus Returns, Streetfighter 2, Another World/Out of this World, Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Neverwinter Nights, Road Rash, Tecmo Bowl, Konami, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Contra, Frogger, Pro Evo, Dance Dance Revolution, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, GameBoy Advance/Nintendo DS, Bionic Commando, Indiana Jones, Dungeons and Dragons, Bram Stoker, Netflix, Warren Ellis, Hideo Kojima, Platinum Studios, SNES Classic, MJVogt85, Paranoid Android, Radiohead, Moby, Magnus Carlsson, MYST, Riven, John from Cincinnati, The Wizard and the Princess, Space Quest, King's Quest, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Obduction, Infocom, Sierra, Robyn Miller, Rand Miller, David Wingrove, Dark Horse, The Witcher, Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, Republic Commando, Fallout 3, Skyrim, The 2nd Quest, Disney, Imagineering, Jonathan Ackley, Chris Pavis, Rob Huebner, The Journeyman Project, Presto Studios, UbiSoft, ScummVM, ResidualVM, Gothic Chocobo, irreverentQ, Pokemon Sword & Shield, Unreal Engine, The Pokemon Company, Game Freak, Lightning Returns.

Next time: The next three stages

Links: Myst and Disney

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 167: Obduction Bonus Jun 12, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we aren't quite ready to say good-bye to MYST and devote a bonus episode to the 2016 Cyan game Obduction. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A couple of hours for Tim, the whole game for Brett

Issues covered: being down the rabbit-hole for Brett, talking about the opening of Riven, losing the framing of the placed cameras, a game where you can't die, the MYST formula, getting lost without a map, the addition of photographs, having theories and testing them, mechanically consistent, being on a separate track from the rest of game development, technology and design and VR, natural evolution, recreating levels on later technologies, designing around limitations, learning to read the language, adventure games start-up cost, adding fluency as you played FPSes, mouse-look, the odd navigation on a phone, new interface/new game, ways that analog bits are bleeding into the design, no systems in the game, finding MYST Easter Eggs, physically fully rendered puzzles, not always pointing the camera in the right direction, camera and level design, Mew under a truck, saving Aerith, secrets in the age of arcade, closing and opening doors in Cyan games, modern accessibility and having automated animations, having our predecessors lay the groundwork for a later game, what makes a good MYST puzzle, Channelwood and the water pipes, the Selenitic Age, making the games for ourselves, larger teams meaning more eyes, timing puzzles and variety, our next game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: MYST (series), Cyan, Unreal, Riven - The Sequel to MYST, realMYST, Rand Miller, Robyn Miller, Dungeons and Dragons, Super Mario Bros, Minecraft, Little Big Planet, Dreams, Pong, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Arkanoid, Metal Gear Solid, Star Wars, Uncharted, Fallout, Tacoma, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, LucasArts, King's Quest, Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Half-Life, DOOM (1993), Duke Nuke'm 3D, Quake, Morgan Gray, Nick Foster, Gone Home, Nintendo, Switch, Wii, Super Mario Run, Red Faction Guerrilla, Gears of War, MJVogt85, Cory Potomis, Pokemon Red/Blue, Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix, Mortal Kombat 2, Waypoint, Tron, Pac-Man, Burger Time, Food Fight, Dig Dug, Nolan Filter/irreverentQ, Zimmy Finger, Mark Crowe, Diablo, John Romero, Bethesda Game Studios, Jak & Daxter, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Konami, SNES/NES, Metroid, Symphony of the Night, Radiohead, Moby.

Next time: The first two levels of Super Castlevania IV

Link: That Time Some Players Thought Mew Was Under A Truck

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 166: MYST Bonus Interview with Robyn Miller Jun 05, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we're so lucky to get to talk with Robyn Miller, co-designer of MYST and its artist, composer, and writer as well. We think you'll agree, it's a fascinating discussion. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Interview! 1:06:14 Break 1:06:43 Additional discussion

Issues covered: getting into game development, bringing other interests and skills to bear, drawing a world and following what the world wanted to tell him, the fluidity of working in HyperCard, following where things take you, going to an expo with your product, HyperCard as a precursor to the web, learning that computers would connect together, each machine being isolated, self publishing and having publishers come to you, adding a soundtrack to make a CD-ROM worthwhile, a small number of games, packing in with OEMs, pushing further with MYST into narrative/cinematic/gameplay/interface, the ease of PR when you have a narrative about two brothers, throwing all your influences in like a soup, choosing an island to provide natural barriers, designing for non-linearity, diving into imaginary worlds through role-playing, dropping the mechanics of the tabletop RPGs in favor of story-based games, being into 19th century novels, multiplayer being an ideal, wanting character and story and puzzle all to be communicated together, maturing as developers, putting in doodads because you didn't know better, the order in which worlds were built, evolving the design within development, moving from 2D illustration to 3D modeling, redrawing wireframes in minutes and full frames in hours, turning off all the objects not in the view, seeing into a world for the first time/being the first person in a place, finding a video solution, having QuickTime come along at the right time, pushing the limits of technology and working with its developers, how the music came to be, proving to the publisher that music wouldn't work, wanting only diegetic audio, not wanting the publisher to corrupt the vision, mismatching emotional direction with the player experience, having the soul of an artist, unknowingly trailblazing, finding your way via your passions, a distillation of making a game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Manhole, Spelunx, Captain Osmo, The Book of Atrus, Riven, Zoobreak Productions, Obduction, The Immortal Augustus Gladstone, Rand Miller, HyperCard, Bill Atkinson, Activision, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island, Dungeons & Dragons, Rod Miller, Arthur Conan Doyle, Anton Chekhov, Quicktime, Stratavision, TRON, Chuck Carter, Macromind Director, QuickTime, Broderbund, LucasArts, Sierra, Vangelis, Michael Giacchino, Mark Crowe, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Supergiant Games, Bastion, The Sims, Lightning Returns.

Next time: A bit of Obduction!

Links: HyperCard on Computer Chronicles

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 165: MYST (part three) May 29, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our discussion of 1993's MYST. We talk about avatar-based puzzle games, story elements, and some other bits and bobs before turning to our takeaways from the game and answering listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Final sections discussion 58:27 Break 59:00 Takeaways and feedback

Issues covered: not seeing the fourth ending, a first-person avatar/playing as yourself, increasing immersion, not having to develop a back-story, throwing back to text adventures, forcing a light touch on the story, removing layers of story, the player succeeding or failing, using FMV to reinforce that they are people which matches with you, other story/adventure games, getting stuck in the Stoneship Age, being unable to see details in the frame, up-rezzing and porting, having difficulty with the compass and the submersible lamp, logical vs physical connections in Stoneship and Channelwood Ages, Brett and Tim do math on-air, the sounds in the Selenic Age, teaching how a puzzle works, compatibility issues in 1994, the lore in the books, trying to piece together the timeline, the themes of reading and being immersed in a book, finding through-lines in Cyan's work, stewardship of young minds, fan service and Jules Verne, absent fatherhood, we work through a possible plot hole, talking about each of the endings, threading your story and lore to enrich the world, accessibility in interface and approach, limiting verbs, complexity in other adventure games, playing to your strengths and using constraints to improve your game, being in the right place at the right time, technology matters, Brett's Book Minute, interface suggestions for touch, VR controls, parallels between game design and modular synthesizers, gameplay programming and constraints, making choices around accessibility and context-sensitivity, disturbing side rooms, word of mouth and watercooler talk to get ideas about games, leaning into obfuscating, playing games in the 80s, finding ways to make a community work together, disarming nuclear silos in MGS V, getting out through the solar system in Noby Noby Boy, placing limitations on yourself in the age of the Internet.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sierra On-Line, LucasArts, Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork, Enchanter, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Curse of Monkey Island (obliquely), King's Quest (obliquely), Space Quest (obliquely), The 7th Guest, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria, Roberta Williams, Tex Murphy, Full Throttle, The Dig, Grim Fandango, The Wire, biostats/Ryan, The Manhole, Alice in Wonderland, The Mysterious Island, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Gone Home, Tacoma, Xbox 360, Assassin's Creed, Riven, The Lighthouse, gutenberg.org, The Impostor, Javier Cercas, Raymond Cason, realMYST, Walker Farrell, Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Starfighter, HyperCard, Nolan Filter, Cory Potomis, Pokemon Red/Blue, Rockstar, Mortal Kombat 11, Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark, Silicon Graphics, Dark Souls, Ninja Gaiden Black, Majestic, Destiny, MGS V, Noby Noby Boy, Red Dead Redemption, GTA San Andreas, Jonathan Blow, The Witness, Robyn Miller, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Next time: Either an interview or a bit of Obduction!

Links: Modular synthesizers

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 164: MYST (part two) May 22, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue discussing 1993's MYST. We talk about representing a physical space, the problems of camera and limited modes of interaction, and a host of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Two more ages! (Both: Channelwood; Tim: Stoneship; Brett: Spaceship)

Issues covered: turning a lot of valves, making and motivating a physical space, losing a sense of direction due to the lack of camera, having a hard time getting your bearings, filling in the blanks and having your intention mislead you, wanting to know where the touch box is, the importance of camera framing, minimizing the HUD, maximizing the diagesis, simplification as a strength, cameras as challenge or gameplay and that not being designer intent, building out the whole world, when a gun isn't Chekhov's gun, elaborate bits and not being clear on their relevance, caring so much about their story and lore, clockwork/repeatability/knowledge loop, mixing bedrock interactions with new mechanics, using repeatability to encourage experimentation, player goals and implicit goals, reinforcing the sense of a real space, lack of reversability in other adventure games, closed loops and watertight game state, not knowing why a thing is in the game, having those AHA moments, when you get it vs when you don't, making puzzles to keep intruders out, being stuck and not having anything for your brain to chew on, accidental solutions, accidentally solving things, reading player intent, how you rank your design goals, setting the game apart from competitors, Mac vs PC, Brett gives a KH update, humor in puzzle games vs dramatic/horror adventure games, using the books to be invested in the ages, more reading than expected, DGC merch, the creeping sense of dread, Johto region update, Brett being a monster.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Anton Chekhov, Sierra, LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, The Witness, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Greta Garbo, HyperCard, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Leonard Nimoy, Waypoint Radio/Lore Reasons, Natalie Watson, Raymond Cason, The 7th Guest, Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight, Infocom, Enchanter, Zork, HP Lovecraft, The Lurking Horror, Cameron Hass, DOOM (1993), Soma, Amnesia, Halo Infinite, Jamie Zucek, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu, Pokemon Sword/Shield.

Next time: Finish MYST

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 163: MYST (part one) May 15, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series looking at 1993's MYST. We talk about the strains of adventure games at the time, HyperCard, the emergence of the CD-ROM platform, and a bit about the game itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: One Age (Mechanical, as it turned out)

Issues covered: what we're playing it on and why, the game landscape in 1993, using MYST to justify CD-ROM pack-ins by OEMs, using HyperCard to work together and pool their talents, HyperCard base technology, broadening the base of PCs, non-gamers having a copy of MYST and showing off your new PC, everyone knew what MYST was, the limitations of the art style in other graphical adventures, MYST and DOOM (1993) clones, streaming video, the benefit of constraints, image transitions, confluence of many emerging technologies, interconnected puzzle games, walking simulators and a simpler interface, hidden object games, simplicity of interface, sense of solitude, music and ambient soundscape, Redbook audio, game developer snobbishness, comparing MYST and DOOM (1993), covering the same ground again and again, trying to find a toehold in the world, getting lost in the open structure, finding the format of the main island puzzles, pixel hunts, spurious interactivity, enlivening the space, real-time puzzle/interaction, avoiding spoilers, teaching concepts, aha moments that keep you going, because it feels so good when I stop, the answer is there somewhere, putting two and two together to make five, how you set resource costs for upgrades, tuning for both cost and behavior in upgrade systems, numerous small points about Devil May Cry, bouncing between multiple characters.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: UbiSoft, iOS, Riven, Day of the Tentacle, Link's Awakening, Kirby's Adventure, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, The 7th Guest, Syndicate, Master of Orion, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, DOOM (1993), Megaman X, Starfox, Disney's Aladdin, SNES, Sega Genesis, Mortal Kombat 2, Samurai Showdown, Virtua Fighter, NBA Jam, LucasArts, Sierra, King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry 6, The Sims 2, Cyan, Cyan Worlds, Rand Miller, Robyn Miller, HyperCard, QuickTime, Broderbund, Stratovision 3D, Macromedia MacroModel, Photoshop, Gateway, HP, Dell, Star Wars: Rebel Assault, Fortnite, Lighthouse, Dark Forces, John Knowles, The Manhole, Alice in Wonderland, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island, Chronicles of Narnia, Zork, The Room, Gone Home, Skyrim, Gorogoa, Dear Esther, Proteus, Unreal Engine, Source, Vangelis, Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, Blarg42, Devil May Cry (series), Daniel C, Ben Zaugg, Metal Gear (series), Wayne Cline, Star Wars, Resistance 3, Jak & Daxter, irreverentQ, MaasNeotekProto, owellgi, dontkickfood, Gothic Chocobo, biostats, Makendi.

Next time: Two more Ages!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 162: Devil May Cry 5 Bonus May 08, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we take a bonus trip to discuss a more modern game in Devil May Cry 5. We especially note how much they capture the feeling of the original game, despite modernizing some aspects. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: The first few hours

Issues covered: cramming everything Devil May Cry into Devil May Cry 5, iterating on a formula and delivering the same feel, pulling the Resident Evil series along, iterations in camera, having the same feeling of play but with lower effort, feeling cool even outside the cutscenes, the reward of spectacle, risk/rewards and timing and breakers, translating enemies to the modern era, the addition of the grapple action of a breaking arm, teaching you to grapple and incorporating it into a boss fight, the story catch-up at the main menu, going back and forth in time, fighting with a motorcycle, opening credits sequence, tight franchise identity, being happy with the sequel, high level of craft, lack of maturity in the women characters, Barbie-Dolling the bodies, being careless with stereotypes and archetypes, lock and key and self-awareness, Dante's styles, fan service, Brett's Book Minute, using difficulty to train the player for higher difficulty levels, different ways to address turn-based vs real-time goals, trading off the cerebral for the immediate or vice versa, being too nit-picky about the details.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: William Blake, The Force Awakens, God of War, Resident Evil (series), The Raid: Redemption, A Star Is Born, Adam Driver, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Platinum Studios, Vanquish, Bayonetta, Ninja Theory, Metroid: Other M, Team Ninja, Heavenly Sword, Hellblade, Microsoft Game Studios, Diablo III, Kingdom Hearts 2, Jak & Daxter, Takashi Miike, Ryu Murakami, In the Miso Soup, Book Riot, Horrorstör, Grady Hendrix, Mike Vogt, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Johnny, David Brevik, War and Peace, X-COM, Fallout, Final Fantasy 9, FTL, Into the Breach, Temple of Elemental Evil, Tim Cain, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, MYST.

Next time: MYST (check Twitter for how much)

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 161: Devil May Cry (part four) May 01, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our discussion of 2001's Devil May Cry, discussing the ending of the story (for the benefit of one co-host) and some mechanical elements about the structure before turning to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game! (In theory)

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Segment 1: End of game discussion 42:55 Break 43:10 Segment 2: Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: Tim confesses, spending big chunks of time on bosses, Trish's betrayal, packing story into the end, fighting your brother Vergil, the high cost of failing Mundus, Trish's sacrifice, fighting in an intergalactic void, the shooting mechanics at the end vs the swimming mechanics, changing up the mechanics at the end, high melodrama, escaping the building, the surprise return of the biplane, strength in character rather than plot, introducing themes through associations, Mundus's motivation, seeing the underpinnings of future lore, negative reinforcement and mission continue, resource consumption across retries, disincentive to grinding, learning skills and the player improvement loop, jankiness with Nightmare, using space to your advantage, losing Devil Trigger to use the Sparda sword, end-of-game rankings, reconsidering your approach to consumables, the Nightmare boss's design elements fighting one another, blood locking, artfully obfuscating blood locking, embracing and clearly communicating blood locking, artificial creation of potential wall moments, good world structure as a means of limiting blood locking, not clocking failure, running with Happy Accidents, ultra focus on high skill/high speed mechanical combo-based melee skill-based combat, juggling minor enemies, third person experimentation, being able to read the animation tells, additional aesthetics driving feel of the game, swagger in game design, gamification of ranking your successes, camera and levels must work together, working on our audio, how animation contributes to play, communicating movement through tiny details, telegraphing and animation, frame counting in fighting games, video games bringing people together, cultural appropriation and context, historic insularity and imperial context in Japan, preferred camera style, refining cameras, preserving drama with camera.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dark Souls, God of War (2005), Space Harrier, X-COM, Final Fantasy IX, GTA III, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Legend of Zelda (series), LucasArts, Call of Duty, Onimusha, PlayStation 2, Kingdom Hearts, Suda51, TheSentry42, Waypoint Radio, CaffeinatedBrushes, Josh Rogers, James King, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, Don Daglow, Ester Olsen, Donut County, Zimmy Finger, Ico, Alpha Protocol, God of War (2018), Jak & Daxter.

Next time: A bit of Devil May Cry 5!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 160: Devil May Cry (part three) Apr 24, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of 2001's Devil May Cry, discussing underwater controls, the camera, combos in combat, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Missions 11-17

Issues covered: the two scariest words in video games, the underwater sections, forcing emotional stress through cumbersome controls, putting the player out of her element, pulling you out of the experience because your character is usually a superhero, sailing the ghost ship, game play "jokes," collision detection and keeping the player on walkable space, testing against 2D instead of 3D, 2D thinking in level design, walk boxes, moving the world around the ship, camera relative controls and camera switching, everyone's playing in the pool and Mario has an inner tube, having to model everything and yet keeping a set of fixed cameras, making the mistake of designing the camera around the levels instead of vice versa or in concert, framing for coolness at the sacrifice of player cohesion, being curious about where the camera ends up, attempt to make more vertical game play in Republic Commando, believing you can do anything with the camera and players proving you wrong, making 3rd person game play with a first person mentality, making a test case or prototype that proves out your camera design, lack of block and blocking with an attack, going without block to promote fast and forward motion, having trouble with Sparda, streamlining combos down maybe too much, finding the combo rhythms, physical mastery games, Brett puts the petty in competition, reading the telegraphing of bosses with the camera, the stress of restart/lives mechanics and boss battles, learning for one boss but not gaining thereby, trial and error on bosses, cultural appropriation, being able to defeat Phantom in the hallway, experimentation in game play to find information and secret missions, chapter endings in the Resident Evil series.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jedi Knight, Resident Evil (series), Frictional Games, Amnesia, SOMA, Halo, The Goonies, Sony Santa Monica, God of War, SCUMM games, Grim Fandango, Thimbleweed Park, Ron Gilbert, Republic Commando, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver, Remi Lacoste, Prince of Persia, Ubisoft, Full Throttle 2, Mysteries of the Sith, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Super Mario Odyssey, Diablo III, Dark Souls (series), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Kirk Hamilton, Maddy Myers, Kotaku Splitscreen, Derv_PNW, Super Metroid, X-COM, Half-Life, Link to the Past, Gothic Chocobo, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Jak & Daxter.

Next time: Finish the game!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 159: Devil May Cry (part two) Apr 17, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of 2001's Devil May Cry, discussing enemy introductions, the mission structure, grinding to find your difficulty level, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Missions 5-10

Podcast breakdown: 0:32 Devil May Cry part one 34:32 Unintentional break 34:56 Devil May Cry part two and feedback

Issues covered: enemy introductions, bosses or more fodder enemies, finding first rooms for enemies that fit, introductions in Republic Commando, first person camera intros, marionettes and dread, weapon intros, smoke and mirrors in intros, ceding character for game play, cutting polygons from a model, high poly counts smoke and mirrors, introducing weapons, lacking weapon introductions in Jedi Starfighter, ideal intros, devoting a mission to introduce a new unit, limited introductions in Diablo, Japan and "cool" culture vs "hot" culture, cultural appropriation, snapping your fingers to open the door, Dante's insouciance when talking to a giant boss, changing and growing Capcom's brand identity, time pressure, teaching the player that time is a factor in getting the best rank, timed levels in games, being all about speed, eating your health away and an avenue to increase time, integrating time into games, kill streaks and time, overlaying a mission structure on a physical location, saving the game between missions, putting the mastery forward, giving frequent feedback, using trophies as a means to give feedback, ranking play in general, intrinsic gratification vs feedback, having multiple save slots and experimentation, being able to go back to earlier sections of the castle, limited resources in Resident Evil, upgrade stations being in the world, being able to move back and forth through the world, fast loads, grinding to find your equilibrium difficulty-wise, increasing player skill, using all the tools and feeling accomplished, using the shotgun for the banshees, taking another look at Bayonetta, level capping in Diablo and Paragon, ways of elongating games (as a service), accessibility in games, interpretative difficulty, commercial benefit to being "the difficult game," being more positive on the Internet, Nintendo and difficulty, doing a good job of making a hard game, feeling "guilty" about lowering difficulty, applauding commitment, the accessible controller.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ben Grimm, Lobot, Professor X, Nick Fury, Republic Commando, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Jedi Starfighter, Nintendo, Blizzard, Starcraft (series), Warcraft (series), Diablo (series), Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents, Metal Gear (series), Hideo Kojima, Suda51, Ghost of Tsushima, Infamous (series), Akira Kurosawa, Capcom, Resident Evil (series), Clover, Platinum, Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, PN 03, DOOM (1993), Metal Gear Rising, Jedi Knight, Reed Knight, Matt Tateishi, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena, Gran Turismo, NES/SNES, Castlevania, Metroid, Pit Droids, Kingdom Hearts (series), God of War, Alpha Protocol, Destiny II, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Darren from Ohio, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, War and Peace, Captain Underpants, Tacoma, Gone Home, Steve Gaynor, Return of the Obra Dinn, From Software, Souls (series), Bloodborne, Patrick Klepek, Super Meat Boy, Celeste, Keza MacDonald, Jason Killingsworth, King's Field, Microsoft Game Studios, Nathan Martz, Once Upon A Monster, Sesame Street, Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Next time: Missions 11-17

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 158: Devil May Cry (part one) Apr 10, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2001's Devil May Cry, an action beat-'em-up from Capcom. We situate the game in its time and talk about its evolution from the Resident Evil series with its action. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First four missions

Issues covered: gaming in 2001, the origins of the title as Resident Evil 4 and making it into a new franchise, leaning into the tone, the beginning of the Clover legacy, distilling down to God of War, camera changes, we riff on the ranks, evolving the camera from Resident Evil, branching off the controls, dealing with the stick when moving from screen to screen, the Capcom 5, many takes on Dante's Inferno, "Devil May Care," dripping with style, style *is* substance, a game that wants you to dive in and get good, switching to be more aggressive to fight the first boss, where you can run from the return of that boss, the presentation of easy mode, learning to read a hard game, trying different third-person cameras at this time, facing difficulty and having to figure it out, change in game tastes in the last two decades: repetition vs continuing spectacle, physical limitations, grinding for consumables and the store, how does scoring work, taking a weird detour into watery skulls, how this series evolved to present day and greater generosity, procedurally generated emails, Diablo's shrines, the strategy of allowing a shared copy of the game actually driving sales, virality, generosity driving sales, hacks and cheats and the difficulty of preventing them.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Capcom, Jedi Starfighter, Ico, Grand Theft Auto III, Anachronox, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil (series), Halo: Combat Evolved, Metal Gear Solid 2, Max Payne, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Diablo, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Onimusha: Warlords, Nintendo GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Melee, 007: Agent Under Fire, PlayStation 2, Jak & Daxter, Twisted Metal Black, Andrew Kirmse, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Hideki Kamiya, Shinji Mikami, Clover Studio, Platinum Games, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Dark Souls (series), God of War, PN 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix, Dante's Inferno, Patrick Klepek, Kingdom Hearts, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Full Throttle 2, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Mr. Beast, DOOM (1993), Eric Fox, David Brevik, Quake, GOG, Alpha Protocol.

Next time: Through Mission 10

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 157: Diablo III Bonus Apr 03, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we look in this bonus episode at Diablo III to discuss the game's impact and systems, while also touching on a Kingdom Hearts update and getting into a ton of listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: Kingdom Hearts 2 side/end game stuff, the inventive choices you have to make to do side stuff in JRPGs, figuring out constraints and min/maxing against them, generosity in game design and development, finding ways in development to layer on more stuff, adding more to a game, being good at making the game you make and losing that institutional knowledge, sticking together and iterating, thinking outside the box for a platform, business model and the endless game, not caring about the campaign, being able to drop into certain types of game, soaking in the endorphins, having quest randomness in the first game and in adventure mode in Diablo III, hero rooms in Republic Commando, having areas become memorable through repeated play, games as a service, encouraging and cross-pollinating classes, Diablo and WoW influencing one another, incorporating the auction house and gray market sales in Diablo II, going against player expectations, purchasable cosmetics as a revenue stream, being generous with your success, vicious and virtuous cycles in revenue models, anticipating Diablo IV, establishing your game's reputation, procedurality and generosity, shooter-looters and the expense of making new content, embracing rogue-likes as a way to leverage a small team, making a lot of content and having players chew through it, procedural board game generation and fitting together worlds, lore through-lines from the first game in campaign mode, bringing in new characters to bring in both new and old fans, having to establish a character as interesting in their own right, leveraging 3D for more variety and efficiency, every character having spell-like abilities, couch co-op is more about the couch, reflecting on the Brevik interview, gold taking up space in inventory, weird multiplayer friction with gold taking up space, high value resources and gold forcing you to spend money, disarm trap skill, mechanics in conflict with the game, low lethality of traps, bosses in Diablo, difficulty of making boss battles interesting, experimenting with traps as a boss battle design, limiting to one mouse button for the Mac, Blizzard having a lot to answer for with our nation's youth, the cost of connecting to the Internet in the late 90s, video games pushing technology, the changing expenses of telecommunications, digitizers, skill and technology gaps for 3D modeling, even making stuff in 2D on a computer was hard and slow, getting into the industry, growing the developer tent to include economists and psychologists, grit and streamlining, knowledge vs design grit, grit as a side effect of development style, adding grit to the development process, adding in only what you need.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kingdom Hearts 2, Lore Reasons/Waypoint, Square, Final Fantasy IX, Republic Commando, Crystal Dynamics, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Nintendo Wii, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Diablo (series), Nintendo Switch, Dominion, Borderlands 3, Blizzard, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Reed Knight, Dead Cells, Jason Schreier, Maddy Myers, Into the Breach, FTL, Andrew Kirmse, Meridian 59, Destiny, Star Wars, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, A Way Out, David Brevik, Anthony Gallegos, Marvel Heroes, RebelFM, LamestarGames, Journeyman2011, Raymond Cason, Good Old Games, Derek Achoy/speakyclean, Shenmue, DreamCast, Sean Richards, Super Mario Galaxy, Bungie, StarCraft, LucasArts, Zimmy Finger, Out of This World, Portal, Jon Knowles, Turn 10, Forza Horizon, Super Star Wars, SNES, Dark Forces, Mark Crowe, BakedPotato, Jesse Morgan, Aaron Evers, Mark Wahlberg, Invincible, Halo, Mike Vogt, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter (series), Capcom, Dark Souls, Bethesda Game Studios, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter, Unity, Unreal, Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Baumgartner, Dark Crystal.

Next time: Devil May Cry -- First 4 Missions!

Links: The Making of Final Fantasy IX

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 156: David Brevik Interview Mar 27, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we extend our time with 1996's Diablo with an interview with Condor/Blizzard North co-founder and Diablo lead programmer and designer David Brevik. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Interview 1:21:19 Break 1:21:51 Wrap-up

Issues covered: falling in love with games as a young person, learning how to program, finding out you could make a living making games, typing in programs from magazines, sticking with games, clip-art discs, founding Condor, Diablo pitch document, meeting people at CES, genre calcification and RPGs, working on a fighting game and finding out the SNES and Genesis games were being developed independently, switching to PC games, having the whole gang up to get a pitch, starting with Rogue and adding graphics, the short life of claymation-based graphics, signing as turn-based but Blizzard wanting real-time, getting a 3D0 contract for a football game on the M2, a side distraction into baseball and other sports, cutting turns up fractionally, being all-in on the turn-based/permadeath nature of Rogue-likes, strategy games going to real-time, squeezing more money out of the publisher, getting real-time running in a couple hours, stealing from X-COM's graphics, having a moment when the clouds part and the angels sing, democracy works, having an "I've never seen this before" moment, moving away from D&D tropes and getting darker, having internal hockey tournaments, lowering "time to killing monsters," removing complexity from potions and also verbs, pen and paper requiring character development and games less so, stealing the attributes/requirements loot properties from Angband, getting away from Tolkien and towards the Gothic from the art direction, the contribution of music to the tone, trading player-oriented drama for immediacy, constraints leading to a cornerstone of the series, simplification of the good and the evil, having the stories you get from playing rather than from dialog and designer-written story, running around in multiplayer, getting owned by The Butcher, tackling lots of big new programming stuff on Diablo including networking, having a tutor in Pat Wyatt, inventing Battle.Net, coming in with the multiplayer very late, peer-to-peer model and notifying others, non-deterministic model and rampant cheating, erring on the side of being generous, uniting people on the Internet, the huge impact of Diablo's designs on gaming as a whole, David's latest project, going from CEO to a one-man-show, the huge impact David's had on the industry, transformative games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Iguana Entertainment, Condor/Blizzard North, Flagship Studios, Hellgate: London, Gazillion Entertainment, Marvel Heroes, Graybeard Games, It Lurks Below, Pong, Apple ][+, Richard Garriott, Ultima, Inside (magazine), Intel, FM Wave, Tramiel family, Atari/Atari Lynx, Gordo 106, Sunsoft, Acclaim, 3D0, Justice League Task Force, SNES, Sega Genesis, Silicon & Synapse, Warcraft, Davidson & Associates, Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, Allen Adham, Mike Morhaime, Pat Wyatt, Chris Metzen, Rogue, Nethack, Moria/UMoria/Angband, Primal Rage, Dune 2000, Baldur's Gate, X-COM, Starfighter, Mortimer and the Riddle of the Medallion, J. R. R. Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, NHL '94, DOOM (1993), Erich and Max Schaefer, Matt Uelmen, Dragon magazine, Amazon, Total Entertainment Network, Daron Stinnett, Dark Forces, Loderunner, Terraria, Starbound, Zork, Don Tomassello (now that's random), Planescape: Torment, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Bill Roper.

Next time: An additional bonus episode with Diablo III!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 155: Diablo (part four) Mar 20, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our main discussion of Blizzard Entertainment's 1996 classic Diablo. We cover level design in a procedural world, how the tone of the game darkens further in this final segment and then turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Killed Diablo!

Issues covered: quoting oft-repeated lines, last two levels as a more authored experience, strategy for the final levels and killing Diablo, the final cutscene and tying to Diablo II, exposition delivery, over-the-top font, going after Lazarus, missing quest pieces without Leoric, missing exposition when you kill a character out of order, random teleportation stuff, "co-opetition," missing major quests with the random quest selection, lack of in-game messaging about random quest generation, possible complaints if seen as a single-player game, getting the itch to play again because of multi-player, level design and macro tiles, fitting a set up tiles together, seeing the algorithm, having more authoring capability from bigger pieces, purely algorithmic generation, following a table-driven approach, feeling like a real place and good environment choices, not getting drops that fit your character, innovation in loot drops to encourage other styles of play, getting an unique item, procedural everywhere, shifting to real-time, the influence of this loot system, giving an identity to your loot, the cool lighting model, constraints breed creativity, simplicity of the game, multiplayer as a key element of the game, trading in multiplayer, our upcoming bonus episodes.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Jonah Lobe, Bethesda Game Studios, Mario (series, obliquely), Kingdom Hearts (series), Borderlands (series), Planescape: Torment, Gold Box (series), Eye of the Beholder, Might and Magic, Ultima, Spelunky, Castle Ravenloft, Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Rogue, Nethack, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Everquest, MUD, Carl Sagan, David Brevik, Path of Exile, Blizzard North, Tanarive Due, The Good House, Stephen King.

Next time: An interview! And your feedback!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 154: Diablo (part three) Mar 13, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue discussing Blizzard Entertainment's 1996 classic Diablo. We talk a bit about macro pacing issues and how other systems tie into that, changes in enemies as you go deeper, and some tight spot anecdotes. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Caves

Issues covered: going after the Lord of Terror with the Horadrim, cutscenes tying together two games (end of one to beginning of next), Brett gives a Kingdom Hearts update, the side games of KH, getting Mickey and Donald and Goofy as you play, limited inventory slots, emotional peaks and valleys in the dungeons, tranquility of the town and resetting your emotional baseline, the loop of magical drops and identify, reducing anxiety, music reinforcing the emotional state of the area, limited resources and resource sinks, how inventory stacks and filling it with gold or potions or what-have-you, encumbrance systems and negative reinforcement, balancing the loot loop with resource sinks, monster reskinning and reuse, converting sculpture into 3D models, using 3D models to make 2D images, having a different walk cycle in town, your weapon palette changing when your armor does, transmogrification and aesthetics in WoW, mixing and matching enemy stats, enemy types and managing mana use, recharging staves, immunity and bosses, how to generate a monster, getting cornered and having to manage your potions closely, continuing to play when UI tabs are up, multiplayer requirement, the best implementation winning history, moving to controller use on the PC, playing widely, inspiring designers from games off the beaten path, drawing inspirations from unexpected places, playing our failures, Diablo on Good Old Games, pacing vs action in town visits, approachability and the need for breaks, Diablo II's ongoing community, being a dad with Pokémon, separating character from save, profile character vs save character, next time.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories (et al), Dominion, Magic: the Gathering, Metal Gear Solid (series), Game Boy Advance, Resident Evil, Jill Murray, Kirk Hamilton/Strong Songs, Dungeons & Dragons, Skyrim, Fallout, DOOM, Dark Forces, World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, Dan Smith, an opinion haver, TurboGrafx/PC-Engine, Dungeon Explorer, N64, Operation Winback, Ultima 8, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Gauntlet, Gears of War, Trespasser, Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2, Richard Lemarchand, Uncharted 2, Dear Esther, LucasArts, Henry David Thoreau, Hearthstone, Andrew Henninger, Jamie Zucek, Pokémon, Warren Linam-Church, Plato.

Next time: Finish the game!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 153: Diablo (part two) Mar 06, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue discussing Blizzard Entertainment's 1996 classic Diablo. We look at tone, discuss art direction, dive a bit into procedural loot and how it has reverberated through games since, with other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Catacombs

Issues covered: dark and brooding tone, gothic melodrama, using the palette to your advantage, having to address troubles with art direction to make the game play readable, choosing an unusual palette for the time, diving into the lore in the manual, character design through-lines in Blizzard properties, stuffing the retail box with stuff (including lore), having fewer quests and sticking to the essential quest of killing Diablo, the issue with lack of urgency in open world main quests, "pixel hunt," procedural loot and generation of items, the winner gets the credit ("Diablo loot"), procedural loot invading anything with even light RPG elements, the store, obvious future refinements to the loot drops, chasing the loot, entwining loot and difficulty, buying from the store to refresh it, the audio cues of drops, classification of loot value with colors, adopting colors for relative difficulty as well, the Butcher's Cleaver, having the experience of a gold drop, re-speccing your character around the drop you get, sorcerer changing spell types for the enemies you find, spatial management as the warrior, sub-speccing yourself, associating items with attributes rather than classes, the town music, game musicians learning the town theme, knowing you're safe from the music, Tim's golem spell and who's having the fun, the better implementation winning, clearing an area in Diablo and not being able to in 3, clearing to white in Republic Commando, having the initial experience in SWRC to move data to the hard drive, determining how long the initial scenes in SWRC are, remapping controls and how you do it and why you might not.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Diablo III, DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D, Aaron Evers, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Disney, Starcraft, Overwatch, Starfighter, LucasArts, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Tomb Raider, Destiny, Borderlands, Freebird, Stairway to Heaven, Halo, Star Wars, Indiana Jones (a series of only three films I will *fight you* on this), Resident Evil, Red Sox, Lee Davey, Ultima 8/Ultima (series), Gears of War, Kill.Switch, Gauntlet, Raymond, Ben Zaugg, Republic Commando, Matt Alan Estock, Adam Piper, Jeremie Talbot.

Next time: Through the Caves

Link: Dave Brevik on moving from turn-based to real-time

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 152: Diablo (part one) Feb 27, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new game: Blizzard Entertainment's 1996 classic, Diablo. We situate the game in time and in the RPG landscape of the 90s before diving into the first quarter of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Levels 1-4

Issues covered: Brett's Ph.D. falls to Diablo, playing in the various pits of LucasArts, games slipping across the industry due to Diablo multiplayer, RPGs of the 1990s, apparent look of Diablo as an isometric turn-based game, tabletop lineage and Western RPGs, limitations on casting, coming from arcade design, the origin of rogue-likes, loot drops, the death of RPGs and the rise of first-person shooter, overturning genre conventions, moving a strategy game reinvention to the RPG, having multiplayer, underpinnings of so many loot systems, screenshot test, limiting down to one character, balancing AI design to allow the player to react, mechanics/dynamics/aesthetics framework, lack of health bars, being pulled in and freneticism and panic, position maintenance and target prioritization, doing everything with one input, lack of numbers, streamlining health/stats, quest selection, saving frequently/infrequently, memorable terrifying boss, simple quest system, multiplayer games, getting a friend to help you retrieve your corpse, lack of game history in the curriculum, DGC timeline, lack of cursing, tenets and pillars of studios as well as for the games, incorporating players into games, fighting each other, Japanese interviews, the show music and production, leveling up spells.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, Doom, Quake, LucasArts, Duke Nukem 3D, Pokemon Red/Blue, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, PlayStation, Civilization II, Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario Kart 64, Crash Bandicoot, Meridian 59, Andrew Kirmse, 3DO, Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Betrayal at Krondor, Sierra Games, Ultima VI, Ultima VII, System Shock 2, Fallout, Elder Scrolls: Arena, Might and Magic VI, Wizardry (series), Eye of the Beholder, Ultima Underworld, Gold Box (series), Halo, Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, Jack Vance, Chainmail, Gauntlet, Nethack, Moria, Rogue, Dave Brevik, Condor Games, PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, Rise of the Triad, Dune, Command and Conquer, BioWare, World of Warcraft, Fallout 4, Destiny, Dark Forces, Jogsidf, Deus Ex, King's Quest/Space Quest, Johnny Grattan, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill 2, Julian Gollop, X-COM, TIE Fighter, Sakaguchi Hironobu, Ueda Fumito, Kojima Hideo, Suda Goichi, SWERY65, Deadly Premonition, Aaron Evers.

Next time: The Catacombs

Links:

PC Gamer Diablo Preview

Original Diablo Pitch Document

Dave Brevik Classic Game Postmortem

IGN Interview with Dave Brevik

Arcade Attack Podcast Interview with Dave Brevik

Diablo 2 Office Tour

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 151: Kingdom Hearts (part four) Feb 20, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of Kingdom Hearts. We talk about the end of the game, a few topics we'd never got around to, and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 KH Discussion 56:50 Break 57:20 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: the separation between the sky and the land, Brett playing again and again and again, leaning on Tinkerbell with default equipment, boss escalation at the end of the game, Tim's power problems, Ansem's final form, where we ended leveling up, wanting more item slots, when a game grabs you, Disney moments that pull on the nostalgia, nailing the animation and modeling archetypes of so many varying shapes/sizes/gaits, high degree of developer difficulty, contextual attacks, triggering attacks from menus, differences with the PS3/PS4 version, carryovers from another style of game, transitional games, making sense of the story, Ansem and his reports, relying on the journal or not, losing track of characters, the Gummi Ship construction, finding the Gummi Ship missions, minimal vs maximal design, relying on the Internet or a strategy guide for secret bosses and late-game content, having an ending that sets up a next game, smashing up two franchises, being the last moment in dev history that you could have smashed these together, trying to introduce people to JRPGs rather than billing it as Final Fantasy, mashing up mechanics and systems, bringing people in with action-oriented mechanics, being okay to be earnest, "cool" culture vs "hot" culture, main characters as children, Sora as child vs Ansem as adult, Sora as the stand-in for the child in all of us, canceling Squirtle's evolution to grind him forever, Brett obsessing over a thing, what we're playing next.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Matrix, Alice in Wonderland, Final Fantasy IX, World of Warcraft, Witcher 3, Prey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid, Fantasia, MediEvil, Dark Souls, Heart of Darkness, Final Fantasy VIII, Kung Fu, Square Soft, DC, Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Infinity, Elite Beat Agents, NK Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Brian Lam, Pokemon Blue, Game Boy Pocket, Snazzy Snorlax, God of War (2018), Pokemon Let's Go, Diablo, Blizzard, Ni No Kuni.

Links: Diablo on the Wayback Machine

Next time: Diablo! The first four levels/up to the Butcher.

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 150: Kingdom Hearts (part three) Feb 06, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of Kingdom Hearts. We talk about some memorable moments, some about character design, a bit about AI... a whole hodge-podge. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Hollow Bastion

Issues covered: Brett playing simultaneously on PS4, televisions, being stuck on the boss, grinding and action combat, navigating in 3D, slow leveling, assigning items to party members and changing their strategies, leaning into tech points and the way the camera and enemy AI fights that, parrying the boss, games that require grinding versus those that don't, leveling via critical path in Pokémon, the Trinity symbols, character design in Atlantica, new Heartless visual and enemy design in different worlds, camera controls in the PS4 version, combination of 3D camera design and level design, difficulty navigating with few landmarks, designing one's house, logical flow colliding with geometric flow, camera relativity and movement, designing your areas and cinematography around what your camera does well, level length with Halloweentown, visual beats from the films, wishing you were the movie character, letting a moment be a moment, the Hundred Acre Wood, minigames in the Hundred Acre Wood, summons, item synthesis, pro-tips for combat and leveling, lock-on and enemy AI design, strategies for using space in combat, camera design for combat, running different programs, Game Dev Club,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Peter Pan, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Wrath of Khan, Final Fantasy IX, Pokémon Red/Blue, Anachronox, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Square Soft, Soul Reaver, Doom, Quake, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 4, Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, The Lion King, Aladdin, Dumbo, Dagur Danielsson, Arkham (series), Ben Zaugg, PlayStation, XBOX, ENIAC, EarthBound.

Next time: Finish the game!

Link: Brett talks about the end of EarthBound

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 149: Kingdom Hearts (part two) Jan 30, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of Kingdom Hearts. Tim sings a bit, Brett raps a bit, and we talk about what makes this game work or not work, as well as delving into the combat. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Monstro!

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Tim sings + Kingdom Hearts 44:03 Break 44:33 Feedback + Brett Raps

Issues covered: birthday, the giant Kingdom Hearts collection, "I think this game might be bad," bizarre linearity, weird triggering, loving some films and not having connecting with others, lack of supporting systems, pushing strategy guides, lack of level logic, IP control and lack of public domain, what films they pair up with the games, being out of their design element with various choices, not connecting with FF characters, how the characters level, the lack of a moment when you level up, lack of boss requirements, zero XP, the camera is bad, paying attention to the technical points, handling the general case for graphics, why are they making this just a button mashy game, going in and out of the Bizarre Room, meeting Merlin or Jiminy Cricket, the occupation of Japan, strength/weakness collection mechanics, when we don't like a thing, enjoying analysis but respecting how hard it is to actually solve problems, applying the podcast day-to-day, designing for knucklehead stealth, embracing chaos and humor, lore in series, finding hooks that service new players, structural choices to bring in new players and opt-in to lore, how films deal with lore, play sets and toy box differences in Disney Infinity, Brett raps.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tarzan (film), Chris Corry, LucasArts, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hercules, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Winnie the Pooh/The Hundred Acre Wood, Song of the South, Mary Poppins/Mary Poppins Returns, P. L. Travers, Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks (obliquely), Alfred Hitchcock, Big Hero 6, Frozen, Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Tangled, Disney Infinity, Final Fantasy (series), Dark Souls, Tim Rogers, Kotaku, Vagrant Story, Alice in Wonderland, Cameron Daxon, Boss Key Books, Tim Dooley, Bobby Oster, Pokémon Let's Go, Persona/Shin Megami Tensei (series), Warren Linam-Church, Thief, Dungeons & Dragons, No One Lives Forever, Hitman 1 & 2, Giant Bomb, Mikkel Lodahl, Halo, Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls (series), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Saw (series), Disney Infinity, Wabash College, Project Spark, John Lasseter, Skylanders, The Incredibles, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, Tasha Robinson.

Next time: Up to the Hollow Bastion

Links: Kotaku's Kingdom Hearts Review

Cameron Daxon's Pokémon teams

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 148: Kingdom Hearts (part one) Jan 23, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series about Kingdom Hearts, the 2002 Disney / Square crossover game that culminates in Kingdom Hearts III this week. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Wonderland!

Podcast breakdown: 0:38 Kingdom Hearts 42:01 Break 42:30 Feedback & Singing Review

Issues covered: series lore in non-console games, E3 2001, licensing starting to wane, part of the EA business model, working with a license and not making a "play the movie" game, the land grab of licensing, struggling with using licensed titles, schedules not lining up with film, a positive change in licensing, seeing movies in theaters or drive-ins on Disney's re-release schedule, the specialness of seeing one, the lack of home video, seeing cartoons on TV, relationship with the iconic characters, the return of Disney animation in the late 80s/early 90s, bringing in Broadway talent to score the new movies, Disney World and Disney Land, choice of first Disney world, the abstract start, the weird bedroom scene, Destiny Island, bringing in characters from Final Fantasy X and other Square properties, being made for someone else, merging of worlds, fearing the limits of the game, usability problems in Traverse Town, triggering steps by randomly going through a door that had previously been locked, doing one-off mechanics and adventure gamey stuff like a Final Fantasy game, Game Boy constraints and the games they inspired, the evolution of Pokémon mechanics, "constraints inspire creativity," relatability of Pokémon vs Kingdom Hearts, groundedness of mythology in Legend of Zelda vs Final Fantasy milieus, save warnings, informing the player of your mechanics, bucking trends with intent, picking your battles, Nuzlocke style, PvE and PvP in Pokémon and stats buffing and debuffing, singing review.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jedi Starfighter, Nomura Tetsuya, Square, Final Fantasy (series), Parasite Eve, Ehrgeiz, The World Ends With You, The Bouncer, Disney, EA, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Final Fantasy XI, Metroid Prime, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Dark Cloud 2, GTA Vice City, Eternal Darkness, Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, James Bond in 007: Nightfire, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Two Towers, The Fellowship of the Ring, Spider-man, Activision, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Battlefield 1942, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Mafia, Dungeon Siege, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, SW: Republic Commando, LotR: Return of the Kings, Stormfront Studios, EA Spouse, Daron Stinnett, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Indiana Jones, Force Unleashed, Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Warner Bros, Alan Menken, The Great Mouse Detective, Robin Hood, Sakaguchi Hironobu, Hashimoto Shinji, Super Mario 64, Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, Hercules, Final Fantasy X, Mary Poppins, Marvel vs Capcom, Pokémon Red/Blue, John Lethbridge, Chrono Trigger, Game Boy, Link's Awakening, Metroid II, Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, Minit, Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu, Jan Willem, Vlambeer, Rami Ismail, Jesse Morgan/seaofmorgan, Pokémon Sun/Moon, Star Wars: Starfighter, Iwata Satoru, HAL Laboratories, Iwata Asks, Nintendo Wii, Legend of Zelda (series), GTA III, Ben Zaugg, Gothic Chocobo, Ryan/biostats, Dave Mason, We Just Disagree, Frozen, Pixar.

Next time: Through Monstro!

Links: The GameBoy Programming Manual

Iwata Saving Pokémon

Iwata Asks

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 147: Pokémon Let's Go Bonus! Jan 16, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we extend our time with Pokémon by turning to recent Nintendo release Pokémon Let's Go and tons of Pokémon-related feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First bit of Pokemon Let's Go

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Let's Go 37:02 Break 37:23 Feedback

Issues covered: Blue showing up, playing with the Pokémon Ball controller and it making noises, playing handheld vs throwing the PokéBall, whether or not we'd have played this one, playing bonus 3DS games, the feel of a remake, the translation to 3D, positivity of the combat, lightheartedness of Nintendo vs games made in the West, the twenty-year gap of features between what we've played, more connection to the Pokémon, how well the characters come through, representing organic shapes in blocky pixel art, paying homage to the pixel versions, being able to see more of the Pokémon stats directly, improving stats with candy, being able to see all the stats, technical machines and who should use them and improvements, incorporating the type chart into the game, incorporating Pokémon Go mechanics, whether you care about collecting the Pokémon, keeping the game in the rotation, Brett's Book Recommendation, commanding fantasy creatures, not designing deeper depth into the combat, numerous picked nits and game evolution over generations, how information about the game got around, wider audience, avoiding stagnation, growing an audience, Nintendo always targeting a new audience and needing to innovate less, enjoying evolution, balancing creative fulfillment with keeping your audience, design considerations for specific hardware, what are your Pokémon OCs, Brett's monsters type and Tim's espionage and minis types, mods, cosplay in the 501st and 405th, remastering SWRC, looking forward.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Pokémon Red/Blue, Game Boy, Detective Pikachu, Game Freak, LoZ: Link Between Worlds, Metroid: Samus Returns, Studio Ghibli, Level-5, Dark Cloud, Ni No Kuni, Pokémon Go, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Micro, Super Famicom, Earthbound, S. A. Chakraborty, City of Brass, Harrison Wade, Nintendo Switch, Ben Zaugg, Gothic Chocobo, Junichi Masuda, Prima Games, War and Peace, Dark Souls, Threes, 2048, Fallout (series), The Elder Scrolls (series), Final Fantasy (series), Obsidian, inXile, Nolan Filter, irreverentQ, Universal Monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, John Lethbridge, Aaron Evers, Republic Commando, Skyrim, Fallout 3/4, Thomas the Tank Engine, Star Wars, Jesse Morgan, Kingdom Hearts (series), Square, Disney, Chrono Trigger.

Brett's Book Recommendation: S. A. Chakraborty: City of Brass

Links: Junichi Masuda on the Pokémon series getting easier

Halo Red vs Blue

Malukah's Dragonborn Cover

Republic Commando Remastered

Next time: Kingdom Hearts: Up through Wonderland

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 146: Pokémon Red/Blue (part four) Jan 09, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 1996 Game Boy classic Pokémon Red/Blue. We talk about the tension of the final battles and then of course chat about our lessons and takeaways from the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finishing the Game!

Podcast breakdown: 1:15 Pokémon discussion 50:04 Break 50:35 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: renaming your rival and Professor Oak chiding him, being less precious about what things are named and such, separating out boxes and pure memory limits, the punk rival, coming full circle, naming your Pokémon, finding the legendaries, our final six, Brett's end-game, whether or not you can buy the elixirs, Tim's Frankensteined Pokémon team, how Brett leveled his top Pokémon, Tim coming down to running out of PP and items to take on the Elite Four, save states in the middle of the Elite Four battles, charging your adrenaline, four color palette, having very tight hardware limitations, squeezing more out of consoles late in hardware lifecycle, dungeons as puzzles, dungeon as palate cleanser and tuning/balancing pinch points, dungeon variety, trainers as gates and auto-grinds and tests of where you should be, map as revealing the order in which you will encounter stuff, the collection mechanics, evolution and collection, unique Pokémon, designing to your hardware constraints, music constraints, the depth of the roshambo, flexibility in supported approaches and player goals, emergent story in individual Pokémon, zany aesthetics of the Pokémon, collecting game play depth, whether playing Pokémon on release would have impacted our design or hardware thinking, most huggable Pokémon.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear (series), Ultima Underworld, Final Fantasy IX, God of War, Anachronox, Chrono Trigger, Junichi Masuda, Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Raymond, Ester Olsen.

Next time: Play some Pokémon Let's Go!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 145: Pokémon Red/Blue (part three) Jan 02, 2019

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on 1996 Game Boy classic Pokémon Red/Blue. We talk about how widely our strategy is varying both in terms of team make-up and approach as well as marvelling over how well the game supports both, and Brett geeks out over how the hardware of the Game Boy (and in particular the Memory Bank Controller) influenced the design of its games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to having 7 badges!

Podcast breakdown: 0:36 Pokémon discussion 59:17 Break 59:50 Feedback

Issues covered: Happy New Year, real Pokémon name or not?, our current team mixes, dominating in combat, allowing for widely different approaches, misunderstanding the depth of the game, cultural signifiers of the game, experimenting and sense of discover with Pokémon, more RPG than anticipated, the world opening up, more than just a collection landscape, fearing the end of the game, "Gotta Catch 'em All," the zaniness of the Pokémon, opacity of some of the Pokémon, Brett uses brute force, switching when things don't work, referring to the type chart, the underground tunnels, starting linear and opening up via guardposts/skills/bicycle, allowing a kid to follow his star, the differences of playing alone vs on stream, leaning on stream chat, not expecting RPG quests, efficient design of the Pokémon Flute, running away from the Snorlax, paying close attention to the abilities, layers and depth of information, designing your own Pokémon, HMs as critical path, connecting the overworld to the Pokémon, Tim and Brett playing against type, allowing so many varieties of play style, a healthy amount of slop, increasing numbers of Pokémon, commonalities of types to give you a hand-hold, Butterfree as a cornerstone of Tim's team, not doing much collecting, level cap and traded Pokémon, avoiding collecting to avoid the cap, not finding much to collect, trading in-game, using the GameLink, Game Boy technology, the Memory Bank Controller, virtual memory paging, having one program that runs on multiple sets of data that are lined up in a specific way, structure staying with the franchise afterwards, forcing particular patterns, coding in assembly, specifying how the music works via five hardware registers, timing the music, cultural differences for JRPGs, writing different programs to run on the hardware, all in on the singing reviews, is the computer having all the fun?, different kinds of fun, the appeal of different kinds of fun, the computer doing some of the work for you, not having the social engagement, losing your D&D players due to the excessive die rolling, hyper-specificity in Rolemaster, diceless RPGs, very slow evolution/conservative approach to the series.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Game Boy, Final Fantasy IX, Dark Souls, Let's Go Pikachu/Evee, A Link Between Worlds, Link to the Past, Tetris, Metroid 2, Apple ][, GamaSutra, PlayStation, Ester Olsen, Dungeons and Dragons, Bruce Shelley, Marc LeBlanc, World of Warcraft, Gold Box (series), Rolemaster, SAGA system, Ben from Iowa Zaugg, Björn Johansson, Pokémon Go, Niantic, System Shock 2.

Next time: Finish the game by defeating the Elite Four!

Links: Doctor Ludos on GamaSutra -- Making A GB Game in 2017

8 Kinds of Fun / Marc LeBlanc

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 144: At Year's End Dec 29, 2018

Show notes are simple this year -- we talk over the games and interviews of the year and reminisce.

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a Happy New Year.

We'll see you in 2019 with our continuing series on Pokémon Red & Blue.

-Brett and Tim

DGC Ep 143: Pokémon Red/Blue (part two) Dec 19, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1996 Game Boy classic Pokémon Red/Blue. We talk quite a bit about the early game, the way it solves age-old RPG problems with random encounters, and of course, our current mix of Pokemon before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Saffron City (in theory)

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Pokemon 55:48 Break 56:14 Feedback

Issues covered: Bonnie Ross's induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame, our current Pokémon rotation, a few specific attacks on various Pokémon, some strategy talk, domesticating animals, how the game treats the Pokémon, random encounters and the grind, randomness and the disincentive to explore, the randomness as a loot box sort of mechanic, randomness as strength in collecting, Japanese cultural conservatism, whether or not they were deliberate in their random battle approach, the television show, sweetness and innocence and getting attached to particular Pokémon, transcending as a franchise, characterization and evolution, meta-strategies, the immensity of the game and multiplicity, rock-paper-scissors and simplicity of grasping it, the periodic table, learning the type table by osmosis or by study, talking about inventory management, a game where you are rewarded if you put your Pokémon into a flow state, running out of PP, finding ether in the wild, providing items based on need, getting into the strategy, an index of the creepiest trainers, memorable characters and repetition, trainers are great for previewing Pokémon, getting pushback and inviting it, talking about the Yakuza series, game preservation, games as a business, fighting preservation, poor preservation, emulation, improving on an old game, hidden numbers in RPGs, Pokémon as loot and as units, wanting variation, being based on games with dice, figuring out exactly how many hit points a thing has, the role of the Internet, a user corrects Brett on shiny Pokémon and on what level he was.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bonnie Ross, 343 Industries, AIAS/DICE, Bungie, Halo, Microsoft, The Game Awards, Game Developer's Choice Awards, Waypoint Radio, Final Fantasy IX, Pokémon Go, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon Let's Go, Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild, Miles Truss, GTA III, LA Noire, Mike Vogt, Yakuza (series), MGS V, GameBoy Pocket/Lite, Giant Beast Cast, Chris Tiemeßen, PlayStation Classic, Sega Classics, SNK 40th Anniversary, Pink Gorilla, Virtual Console, Xbox One, NES Classic/SNES Classic, Zimmy Finger, Nintendo DS, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Diablo, Dungeons and Dragons, Ben "From Iowa" Zaugg, Gothic Chocobo.

Next time: 7 Badges (after our end-of-year 'cast)

Link: My Little Golden Book About Zogg

Note: Although Brett said he hadn't worked on an RPG, what he meant was he hadn't worked on a JRPG. (Brett of course worked on Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Fallout 4.)

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 142: Pokémon Red/Blue (part one) Dec 12, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1996 Game Boy classic Pokémon Red/Blue. We situate the game in time and spend a fair amount of time discussing the Game Boy itself as a handheld system, before turning to the game itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Pewter City's Gym Leader, Brock

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Pokémon discussion 55:02 Break 55:35 Feedback & Review

Issues covered: the series as a whole and its stewardship and popularity, 1996 in games, Tim's start in the industry, our histories with handheld systems, the Game Boy as a movement, the convergence of handheld and console in the Switch, the Game Boy launch, a side business that exploded on them, sales of the Game Boy, iterating on the hardware then and now, mobile gaming, pacing on mobile gaming, naming your hero and adversary and Pokémon, "all boys leave home," dropping you right into the world, lack of quest, trusting the player, knowing the other's Pokémon choices, Tim bouncing off the series, limiting the player's options early, a pastoral/nostalgic feel, basing it on childhood memories, JRPG structure and games of the time, exploring JRPGs and how they differ at the time, elemental battling, leveling your critters instead of your character, managing tone, chancing into destroying Brock's rock Pokémon, anime quality of the characters, rock-paper-scissors battling, persistent effects and strategy, the Pikachu that got away, "shiny" types and rarity, gamers grinding, Tim wanting to collect everything, the cast of characters/Pokémon, the experience of having a pet, domesticating pets, generational games, a new singing review!, gamer memory, gatekeeping, growing the audience, Oral History of Republic Commando, Game Boy peripherals and licensed gear, collecting and trading Pokémon, encouraging different kinds of city simulation behavior, the memory card.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Game Freak, Nintendo, NES/SNES, Sega Genesis, Creatures, The Pokémon Company, Pokémon Let's Go, Ni No Kuni, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Tamagotchi, Skylanders, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Nintendo 64, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Final Doom, Marathon Infinity, Diablo, Mario Kart, Kirby's Block Ball, Donkey Land 2, Nintendo Switch, Metroid 2, Link's Awakening (+ Legend of Zelda series), Nintendo 3DS, Virtual Boy, Super Mario Land, Tetris, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Micro, Game Boy Advance, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Shigeru Miyamoto, Pikmin, Final Fantasy IX, Super Mario RPG, Dragon Quest/Warrior (series), Ultima (series), Eye of the Beholder, Phantasy Star, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Hayao Miyazaki, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Anatole France, Jeff Cannata, Christian Spicer, DLC podcast, Dungeons and Dragons, Reed Knight, Infocom, Zork, Gilmore Girls, Where You Lead, Carole King, speakyclean, GTA III, Lucas Rizoli, Cameron Kunzelman, Republic Commando, Xbox One, Kieron Gillen, Thief, PC Gamer UK, John Williams, Kotaku, David Collins, Starfighter/Jedi Starfighter, PS2, PSNow, Ester Olsen, The2ndQuest, Pokémon Stadium, Nintendo Wii, Scott Richardson, Streets of Sim City, Maxis, EA, Crazy Taxi, Sega Dreamcast, LucasArts, Lego City Undercover, Andrew Kirmse, Ben from Iowa.

Next time: Get into Saffron City

Links: PLAYER/KNOWLEDGE Gamer Memory and GTAIII Kieron Gillen on Thief, 20 Years On

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 141: GTA III (part four) Dec 05, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion about Grand Theft Auto III. We close out the game by picking a couple favorite moments, talk about some of the difficulty at the end, and of course, do our takeaways before turning to feedback, of which there was much. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game! (If you're Brett, anyway)

Podcast breakdown: 0:39 GTA III discussion 59:06 Break 59:46 Feedback

Issues covered: Tim gets demoralized, timing and bad luck, wall missions, time and patience running out, being indifferent to the player, one's changing taste, getting better at the driving (and falling into the ocean), 'cast being non-conducive to this style of game, being okay with not finishing it, feeling comfortable in some areas of the game, imagining giggling devs, timing missions pushing you to let go of stuff and learn the city well, lower mission density, running off the drawbridge, doing the coffee carts the second time (and rubbing it in), getting the bulletproof Patriot, everyone shooting at you around the world, stuff in the disc case (RTFM) including a good map, heist mentality, planning and executing your heist, cheating, moments of grace, fiero, triggering a stunt at the end of a mission, movie moment, side missions Brett tried, the cost of adding more on top of the simulation, other ways to scale the timing missions, making a big commitment to the story, likely low completion rate, wanting to care more about the characters and being pushed against the stereotypes, the high quality of the radio stations, adding flavor and life through radio, car damage model, running to the Pay and Spray, juking the police cars at high wanted level, punishing system countering the player's goals, inner turmoil, considering the game's impact, the freedom of this open world, loading times on PS2, opening up open world games and establishing the possibility of many franchises, committing to style, fantasy fulfillment of crime, media influences, realistic setting (as opposed to fantasy), pushing towards transgression, pushing the player into just getting things done and letting things go, expert frustration, running over pedestrians, running around the streets and bumping into people, dehumanizing pedestrians, Brett's favorite moment, the chaos engine, getting into the cartel area to go after the "oriental gentleman," switching into game development later, whether to get into QA, having useful skills, buying a developer lunch or a beer, company sizes, getting into game jams, what's punk rock (Brett has no idea), calling something virtue signaling and what that means, taking a risk in talking GTA, learning the map vs being directed, appeal of missions vs driving around shenanigans, player-directed vs designer-directed behavior, what people showed when they showed you the game, side content and achievements, how much simulation is too much simulation?, what brings people in, recognizing film-style realism, sports games looking like television broadcasts, inviting mechanics, the arcade driving model, forgiving damage model, listening to whatever radio station comes on, scratched disc and other reminiscences.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Gone with the Wind (obliquely), X-COM: UFO Defense, Final Fantasy IX, Deus Ex, Rockstar Games, Robert Loggia, seaofmorgan, djmurgatroyd, Kyle MacLachlin, Homo Ludens, Huizinga, Red Dead Redemption 2, PlayStation 2, Starfighter, TIE Fighter, Assassin's Creed (series), Spider-Man (2018), Halo, Metal Gear Solid, PacMan, The A-Team, Jesse Morgan, Dungeons & Dragons, Miles Truss, Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, MaasNeotekProto, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, Joe Carnahan, Mark Garcia, Shenmue, Harry Potter, Scarface, The Godfather, The Mechanic, Miami Vice, Christopher Wright, Don Winslow, Dan Simmons, Pokemon Red/Blue, GameCube.

Brett's Book Suggestions: The Winter of Frankie Machine, by Don Winslow Dan Simmons's "Joe Kurtz" trilogy: Hardcase/Hard Freeze/Hard as Nails

Links: Global Game Jam

Next time: Pokemon Red/Blue, up to Viridian City

Mea culpa: "Fiero" appears to be a term popularized by Nicole Lazzaro, in the 4 Keys to Fun. We regret the error.

Dan Simmons's "Joe Kurtz" trilogy is actually set in Buffalo, NY, not Albany. We regret the error.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 140: GTA III (part three) Nov 28, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion about Grand Theft Auto III. We talk a bit about mission structure, failure states, learning through failure, and a host of other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: About a dozen missions into Staunton

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 GTA III discussion 55:12 Break 55:45 Feedback

Issues covered: homophones, the intermediate position between cartridges and hard drive, saving when you're "done for the night," tension between mission design and world design, building up your arsenal, adding to your mission setup loop, memory cards and the hardship of working with them, choosing your save spots in an open world game, Vita Chambers vs save spots, the weakness of the PC port, "quality of life stuff," the assassination of Salvatore, learning through failure, escalation missions, individual mission stories, sniping on the PC, aim assist for consoles and stealing from a common place, learning the map, playing the radar game, eyes being drawn low for the radar but being unable to follow landmarks as a result, the cool moment of knowing a place, usability to support the story missions, putting yourself back in 2001, wishing you could program for the PS2 again, being frustrated by timers, using the systems and tools you have rather than building new stuff for every mission, getting janky because of having few tools, bending tools to your will, capture the flag mission from humble beginnings, Rube Goldberg machines, how far can you bend a system before it's no longer in line with what your game's about, timers don't support the chaos engine that the game is, punishment for being poor with the controls, finding your lanes and staying in them, maybe missions aren't really the point, the player type that pushes the boundaries, using achievements or trophies to push you in directions you might otherwise miss, the cars being much better on Staunton, being put off by the driving model, world systems fighting your driving, fingers deep in Cheetos, no one in the game fighting for anything, finding a character you can hold on to, the value of Aristotelian structure, putting different points of view around an issue, needing stakes and counterpoints, punk rock requires an opposing authority, punching down, wanting more meaning from your choices, examining what games should be trying to do, our super-fan, host-appropriate T-shirts.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Banjo-Kazooie, Rare Replay, Nintendo, PS2, Tomb Raider, Bioshock, Hitman (2016), The Terminator, Halo, Starfighter, PS3, Thief, Unreal, Republic Commando, Jedi Starfighter, John Drake, The Incredible Machine, Casey's Contraptions, Rube Goldberg, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dark Souls (series), Ninja Gaiden (series), GTA V Online, Crazy Taxi, Batman: Arkham (series), The Witcher 3, Mazirian the mag, Mikkel Lodahl, GTA San Andreas, Bojack Horseman, Waypoint, Austin Walker, Patrick Klepek, Danielle Riendeau, Rob Zacny, Natalie Watson, Baldur's Gate, Jurassic Park: Trespasser, Microsoft, XBOX, Bill Gates, Dreamworks Interactive, Far Cry 2, Clint Hocking, Aaron Evers, Dungeons and Dragons, Tomb of Horrors, Star Wars.

Links: Seamus Blackley and Trespasser

Sorry, I could not find Clint Hocking's Trespasser talk... :(

Next time: Finish the game!

https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 139: GTA III (part two) Nov 21, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion about Grand Theft Auto III. We actually spend a little time talking about the counter-argument, that this game extends a middle finger to the moral scolds who wanted to cage video games, and then talk about specifics about its streaming, and talk about the dissonance between its systems and mission design, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through "Last Requests"

Podcast breakdown: 0:32 GTA III discussion 57:07 Break 57:41 Feedback & reviews

Issues covered: voice actors who don't quite work and those who do, rough combat, dreading combat, avoiding alternate and secondary missions, moral scolds and violent video games, critical and player response to a finger extended at the establishment, punk rock, rap in the 90s in Oakland and LA, skewering American culture, handling your satire around certain topics, madonna/whore divide and stripper/nun divide, treatment of women in games, being in the right place at the right time, freedom of speech issues in film (and games), systems vs skinning, positive benefits of skinning and negative, consequences for actions, forcing player behavior by being unable to continue otherwise, pushing the boundaries when there are numbers, seamless streaming, systemic support for the streaming, parallel mission structure, flight sims as streaming, streaming in with media storage much larger than the available RAM, streaming in topography for flight sims, doing quest lines with multiple characters at once, intertwining mission structure, parallelizing and TV's subplot nature, RPG influence with quest lines and side quests and optional quests, putting various skill challenges into missions, skill challenges in opposition to the chaos engine, failing due to flipping your car, freedom fighting the missions, chilling with an open world, being able to exploit systems, suffering for the art of the exploit, exposing options, janky grenade throwing, finding simulation limits to exploit, our occasional lapses in knowledge or research, the hooker/health/money method, making horrific behavior palatable, "protagonist doesn't mean hero," punching up and punching down, hearing more of the radio because you're better at the game, double standards and hypocrisy, treatment of minorities, narrative framing, representation matters, liking to play the good guy, what freedoms do you actually have, lack of consequence for death or mayhem, limits of failure, upping the ante on police response, lack of a strong female lead in Rockstar games, playing a game when there's nothing like it and how that impacts you and returning to it later and seeing its flaws, abandoning World War II games because of a personal connection, feeling weird about war games where the only way they touch me is through entertainment, licensing term, lifecycle of a music license, unionization aspects and agent culture with music licensing (inheriting from film), complication of rights even for scores, personal soundtracks, save systems and using engines, choosing the wrong engine for the game you're making, writing all your game code.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Michael Madsen, Frank Vincent, ESRB, Jack Thompson, Paducah, Columbine, DOOM, Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat, Joe Lieberman, South Park, Bonnie and Clyde*, the New Hollywood, The People vs Larry Flynt, Hustler, Penthouse, Playboy, Woody Harrelson, Ed Norton, Milos Forman**, Oliver Stone, Thomas Was Alone, God of War, GTA Vice City and San Andreas, Super Mario 64, PlayStation 1, Spyro the Dragon (series), David Jones, Elite, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Derek Smart, BattleCruiser 3000AD, Star Citizen, The Sopranos, David Murgatroyd, Red Dead Redemption (series), Spider-Man 2, Jamie Fristrom, Joseph Krull, Fallout (series), Grant Goodine, Manhunt, Kevin James, Thief, Silent Hill 2, Hitman (series), Black & White, The Sims, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Call of Duty (series), Medal of Honor, Ethan Johnson, Dylan Cuthbert, Q Games, Pixeljunk Sidescroller, Xbox/Xbox 360, Underworld Ascendant, Mark Eldridge, Unity, Unreal, System Shock 2, idTech, CryEngine, Dishonored (series), Prey (2017), Tacoma, Lulu LaMer, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Tim Sweeney.

Next time: 12-15 missions into Staunton Island

Corrections: *Bonnie and Clyde was released in 1967. ** Milos Forman did in fact pass away in April of 2018.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 138: GTA III (part one) Nov 14, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we are beginning a new series about Grand Theft Auto III. As always, we spend the first episode situating the title in its release time frame and talk a bit about the history of the studio and creators associated with it before turning to the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through "The Fuzz Ball"

Podcast breakdown: 0:37 GTA III discussion 58:48 Break 59:16 Feedback

Issues covered: perspectives from Lulu about production, games of 2001, bringing the mafia back into popular entertainment, grabbing the zeitgeist, how to deal with the anti-hero, commercial plays with the gritty follow-up, freshening up a franchise by going dark, not being sold on playing this game, mature with a capital M, still being under the shadow, starting and abandoning GTA IV and skipping GTA V altogether, DMA Design founders, programming-centric company, the top-down camera view, introduction of the Houser brothers, British gangster cinema, writing style and tone changes, film-style credit sequence, iconic characterization and key art, having a gritty New York of the 70s and 80s genre films, blaxploitation, the New Hollywood, leaning into character archetypes, impressive voice cast, using Hollywood-level talent, not needing to use them, unsung high-quality voice talent, cinematic representation of the credits, ambition vs genius, going big and not apologizing, putting the developers forward rather than the actors, making their own myth, a voiceless main character (Claude), voiceless being better in first-person, empty vessel to fill, limited representation, defining characters more as time goes on, the risk of changing the character out from under the player, undirected game, tension between genre and character and story, playing a low-level thug in The Godfather, playing your own sort of character, do players care about the tension, do you have to like the character, the chaos engine and the strong cinematic style, player exploration of the possibility space, separating the chaos and the nihilistic stories, dehumanizing women, punching every which way vs punching down, Brett messes up his punching directions, creative decisions, choosing the ones you put in and don't, presenting a boundary that is itself commentary, choices players can't make due to lack of systems, prostitution in multiple media, the crassest flattest two-dimensional representation of sex work, being a target in the industry, disposable human beings, hope for humanity, craftmanship and talent and lack of responsibility, representing themselves, pushing the player to a nihilistic viewpoint, pushing the player to psychopathic driving, spawning cars to gum up the works, diametrically opposing success and responsible citizenship, not overcrediting them with thinking it through, tongue-in-cheek or not, what if it were visually amazing but everything else was the same, how you get the talent, Brett and Tim the ASMR guys, first-person camera, console-centric development, head bobbing, couch vs monitor, motion sickness and movement and FOV, more complicated than you think, stick movement and aim assist, what's the walkin' around like, frame-dependency, noticing something and being able to describe it, reticle, GTA III memories, returning to GTA III, corrupting the youth, killing jaywalking pedestrians, unexamined biases, kitsch, the first draft and tropes, editing a story due to current events.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lulu LaMer, Thief, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, System Shock 2, Ico, Silent Hill 2, Anachronox, PlayStation 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, SSX Tricky, GameCube, Super Smash Bros, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X, Max Payne, Black & White, Diablo 2, Xbox, Halo, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare, Jak & Daxter, Game Boy Advance, Castlevania, Oni, Bungie, The Sopranos, Scorcese, Coppola, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Prince of Persia, Jedi Starfighter, Republic Commando, Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V, Rockstar North/DMA Design, Acme Software, David Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond, Mike Dailly, Crackdown, Lemmings, Take Two, PS1 Classic, Reagent Games, Cloudgine, Epic, the Houser brothers, The Krays, Bob Hoskins, Ian McQue, GTA: Vice City, Robert Loggia, Frank Vincent, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Rapaport, True Romance, Debi Mazar, Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Nolan North, Leslie Benzies, The Godfather: The Game, GTA Online, Eve Online, South Park, Klute, Jane Fonda, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Jean-Paul Sartre, Dungeon Keeper, Jigsaw/Saw, Michael Madsen, Lars from Hamburg, Hitman, Giant Beastcast, Tacoma, Steve Gaynor, The Stanley Parable, Nels Anderson, The Witness, David "Heavens To" Murgatroyd, Fallout, Ray Liotta, Brian Moriarty.

Next time: Through "Last Requests"

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 137: Interview with Lulu LaMer Nov 07, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we in this episode we are lucky enough to enjoy an interview with Lulu LaMer, who started out her career at Looking Glass as QA on Thief, and went on to be a producer, including on some of the Tomb Raider games at Crystal Dynamics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:00:39 Interview 1:10:24 Break 1:10:48 Next time

Issues covered: a quick list of the uses of a degree in French, quitting your job and bleaching your hair and tossing your business casual, early introduction to games, getting away from games and coming back, QA as an engineering discipline and player advocacy, buying into the development philosophy, becoming QA, level designer differences and tester differences, pairing designers and testers, moving to full play-throughs with specific builds, being a sympathetic tester/regulatory capture, naming a play style for forum users, too much intimacy with forum users, influencing the game's economy, the benefits of Looking Glass on a résumé, the help of data-driven design, inheritance and object model, a lot of territory to cover, trying to get outside the level, Randy's voice acting, ignoring a player who's being a dick, transitioning to associate producer, lack of communication at LG, going on press tour, having unsympathetic press, going to the pub, having a company abruptly close, the role of a producer, having a core of people to work on Thief: Deadly Shadows, taking an engine and trying to make it work for their sort of game, using Unreal to make levels, lacking shared understandings, needing to create a culture, lacking direction and mentorship, the abstraction of being a producer, avoiding micromanagement, quitting to become a midwife, "you don't deliver the baby, the mom delivers the baby!", coming back into the fold better prepared for the job, feeling you had been terrible at the job, the last game she played as a Tomb Raider, the sense of being in a place, additive vs subtractive rendering and tools, moving from a story game to a more systemic game, having trouble communicating the ideas, Uncharted taking a big leap forward, distilling down Tomb Raider's essence, remaking vs remastering, preferring the updated levels, a schedule all of out of whack, playing through the levels and streamlining, distillation of memory and emotion, building to alpha and then moving to agile, triage, ranking what needs to be fixed, compromise and choices, ending pressure, guidance for players, Daydream the "product area," augmented reality project, Immersive Arts, augmented reality, spaces and games and reading and space.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Looking Glass Studios, Thief (series), System Shock 2, Flight Unlimited, ION Storm, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, 2K Games, Spec Ops: The Line, Borderlands, Bioshock: Infinite, Borderlands 2, Funomena, Robin Hunicke, Daydream Studios, Google, Randy Smith, Pong, Vic 20, NES, Bethesda Studios, Dorian Hart, LucasArts, Greg LoPiccolo, Marc (Mahk) LeBlanc, Harmonix, PC Gamer, Kieron Gillen, Eidos, Telltale Games, Jon Chey, Irrational Australia, Warren Spector, Emil Pagliarulo, Terri Brosius, Doug Church, Freedom Force, Chris Carollo, Tom Leonard, Deus Ex, Unreal, Tim Sweeney, Epic, Game Developer's Conference, Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver, Uncharted, Richard LeMarchand, Naughty Dog, Jason Botta, Ratchet and Clank, Project Snowblind, Nate Wells, Nate Schaumberg, Kyle Mannerberg, Google Pixel, Playground, Iron Man, Kindle, GTA III, GTA Vice City, Resident Evil VII, Thief (2014).

Next time: GTA III, the first several missions

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 136: Interview with Randy Smith and Greg LoPiccolo Oct 31, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we in this episode we are lucky enough to enjoy an interview with Greg LoPiccolo, project lead on Thief, and Randy Smith, who was a level designer on the title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Interview 1:00:08 Break 1:00:50 Feedback

Issues covered: World Series, how Randy got his start, psychology and programming as substrate for game design, "Suck it down" and toxic masculinity, cold-calling, the attraction of LG games, how Greg got in, the origins of Thief, competition, seeking limited but rich interaction, being weak, controlling the world from observation, AI with sense perceptions, the success of Thief, working counter to the prevailing winds, writing documentation to think about the space, commodities of space: loud/quiet and light/dark, tools support or lack thereof for those spaces, carving shapes, spaces that are hard to read, the level Escape, experimentation to find how to make a level, inventing sound propagation, dynamic lights impacting game play, player reading the lighting of a space, optimization, pulling back on combat in Thief II, "winging it and doing our best to survive," having nothing until you had everything, "like digging the Chunnel," polygon limitations, how do you build a cathedral with that?, the Emil vs Randy systems of building, designers having to be artists at the same time, putting the systems first, systemically reading space rather than tagging it, leading the team without having the tech yet, directing the narrative, writing lots of narrative to provide background and use it sparingly, people making their own stories, high quality voice acting, the bear pits, dialog as part of the game play loop, witty characters poking through, having to learn how to build a GANTT chart, repossessing the plants, the role of a leader, deep backstory, starting from a 1-4 page document, making up cool ideas and running with them, not being aware you couldn't do a thing, the trend of risk aversion in the industry, the indie spirit, an attempt to be more commercial, object hierarchy of inheritance, being in a submarine in the cold war, debugging console, the fundamental trick of game design: player brain and designer brain, starting testing much earlier, empathy as a design skill, overcoming doubt when innovating, saying yes to everything -> saying no to everything -> it's hard but we can do it, what the guests are doing next, having taste in game design and finding that audience, feeling like a musician vs being a musician, a touching father/daughter story.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Looking Glass Studios, Thief (series), ION Storm, Electronic Arts, Steven Spielberg, Edge Magazine, Tiger Style, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, Sega Genesis, Bimini Run, Nuvision Entertainment, System Shock, Flight Unlimited, Harmonix, Frequency, Rock Band VR, Tribe, Waking Mars, Nate Blaisdell, MYST, Tim Schafer, Eric Brosius, Rex Bradford, Activision, Tim Ries, Doug Church, Dan Schmidt, Ned Lerner, Terra Nova, Terri Brosius, 2001: A Space Odyssey (obliquely), DOOM (1993), Paul Neurath, Metal Gear Solid, Ultima Underworld, id Software, Tim Stellmach, DromEd, Unreal, Emil Pagliarulo, Bethesda Game Studios, Marc LeBlanc, Stephen Russell, Ken Levine, Tom Leonard, Red Dead Redemption 2, Game Developer's Conference, Kevin Brown, Halo: Combat Evolved, Far Cry 5, Andrew Kirmse, Star Wars: Starfighter.

Next time: Another interview!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 135: Thief (part four) Oct 24, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we in this episode we conclude our discussion of 1998's Thief: The Dark Project. We talk a bit about equipment and gadgets, the story and enemy shifts that happen late in the game, the commitment maybe to story over what was working, and as always, our takeaways from the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the end!

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Segment 1: Thief discussion 54:53 Break 55:20 Segment 2: Thief takeaways, Brett's Book Minute, and Feedback

Issues covered: good ending dialog, using the whole toolkit, kiting enemies to a trap, firing off gadgets immediately on acquisition, gas and fire arrows, having trouble on Escape, leaning away from the core fantasy, being a little too story-forward, other directions that might have worked, an easier last level, having to experiment to take down enemies, making good extensions to the enemy mix vs bad, finding an in-game way to give you information about your tools, the Hammerite mythology and technological disruption, conflicts between technology and nature, Hammerites and the Brotherhood of Steel, the texts before the cutscenes, setting tone, using first-person tools for storytelling, not being able to rely on lore, usability and testing, being a developer and being too good at your game, enjoying little loops of locations and story, missing subobjectives and having to go back, kicking the hornet's nest and having to go back, moving the goalposts too many times, the frustrating Escape level, returning to the Hammerite cathedral and having it changed, one-way gating your way through the final level (vs stealth), changing the tone of the game, how do you end a game?, going to an otherworldly place, Garrett talking to himself, listening to the Trickster do his summoning, heist/switching the idol, committing to the thief fantasy, technology as a feature, writing their own engine, focusing on simulation and systems in first-person, rope arrows and surface types, designing ancillary systems to support your core experience, consequential map, lockpicking vs a minigame, inventory and the store, horror beats, Garrett as a character, Brett's Book Minute, a correction, quiet and loneliness in Tomb Raider, loner vs loneliness, the golden age of the immersive sim, the genre as a success or not, expense of making AAA, level designers' ability to make whole levels, immersive sims at the indie level and procedural elements, flesh levels.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Looking Glass Studios, Everquest, Edge of Tomorrow, Fallout, Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Gone Home, Dear Esther, D&D, JRR Tolkien, System Shock 2, Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark, Baldur's Gate, ION Storm, Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex, Thief (2014), Tomb Raider, Tony Cliff, Delilah Dirk (series character), Timothy Hallinan, Junior Bender (series character), Ethan Johnson, Greg LoPiccolo, Vijay Lakshman, Elder Scrolls, Alex Rigopulos, Eran Egozy, Tim Dore, Half-Life, Dan Hunter, Dishonored, Prey, TIE Fighter, Daron Stinnett, Bethesda Game Studios, Zenimax, Arkane Studios, Kotaku, Neon Struct, We Happy Few, The2ndQuest, Contra, Aliens, Predator, Abadox, Alien Syndrome, Halo, Eric Bartoszak, Jill Murray.

Next time: Next time we expect an interview! Keep your eyes peeled.

Links: Fansy the Famous Bard (CW: homophobia, probably other chat grotesqueries, MMO chat can be ugly)

Brett's Twitch Channel

Stealth Docs YT Channel (recommended by a listener)

Podcast with Looking Glass folks

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 134: Thief (part three) Oct 18, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of series discussing 1998's Thief: The Dark Project. We talk about map trade-offs, enemy diversity and choices, the levels we played, music and objectives, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Undercover

Issues covered: "disco is my life," longer Thief: Gold levels, DLC before DLC existed, technical issues and level design, experimenting with what direction to take next, being unable to connect the dots, making assumptions about what the sim is saying, satisfying objectives unsatisfactorily, feeling like you'll be able to pick up the collectibles later, making the optional mandatory, intrinsic reward of economy and core fantasy, scaling difficulty being different in modern designs, unnecessary tension, changing up strategies due to the mission preparation screen, identity and tone in the music and audio design, impact of horror film genre on soundtrack choices, NPC dialog, cinematics as reward vs dialog, reward for slow player pace, variety of player choice encouraging stealth in NOLF, using dialog and timing to locate enemies and get into position, NPC dialog as a timer, having all the enemy types in The Lost City, the variety of enemy types, using water arrows on fireballs, crossing a valuable resource over, motivation of enemy designs, reuse of animation and models, technical limitations, character realism vs other games, co-op in SS2, choices in the map, map as opportunity for strategy, an inaccurate map, maintaining the fantasy with the map, map as puzzle, needing to use the compass to get your bearings, the many approaches of the map, flexibility in the uses of the map, seeing the lineage to Dishonored, finding maps as you play, map in an exploration game vs a target game, playing to your game's needs, map as a microcosm of design choices, getting an opportunity to be in disguise, the Eye talking to you, bleeding the natural through the mechanical thematically, MIT Gambit lab podcasts.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Earth, Wind, and Fire, Eric Brosius, Red Dead Redemption, Kirk Hamilton, GB Buford, Jaws, Frictional Games, Amnesia, SOMA, The Chinese Room, No One Lives Forever, Cthulhu, System Shock 2, Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider, Quake, Hitman, Unreal, Doom, Far Cry 2, Miasmata, Firewatch, Prey, Dishonored, Tim Dore, Dan Hunter.

Links: Kotaku on the RDR soundscape

Podcast with Looking Glass folks

Next time: Finish the game!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 133: Bonus Interview with SotTR Lead Writer Jill Murray Oct 10, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we look back to Shadows of the Tomb Raider for a special bonus episode featuring Lead Writer Jill Murray. We talk about how the writing gets done -- spoilers, there's a lot more planning than writing -- as well as all sorts of topics that grow from that. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: lacking access to technology, Jill's early career in visual arts/music/theater, staging a big musical, web development and a mismatch of needs, being non-distracted by the Internet, realizing that someone is writing these things, getting in, having to generate a lot of AC in a short time, the roles of writers, the meaning of a lead writer, leading a team vs being a principal writer, focusing on character and voice, writers holding multiple roles, writers working alongside one another vs a writers room, working with designers vs writers, splitting content responsibilities up, sharing a few systems, accommodating multiple styles, the team still tells the story, the impact of the team on the storytelling, choice of verbs impacting possible stories, lack of authorial control, having no sense of the size of a team, out-sourced studios enlarging the team, pros and cons of working with big teams, working with actors, the luxury of performance capture, security of the company being your security, production and collaboration style driving lifestyle, combative styles, smaller games less reliable, working out collaboration afresh, broader responsibilities, figuring out how everything fits to drive the actual sitting down and writing, lots of meetings, working on animatics, prepping for performance capture, multiple revisions with critiques of up to a dozen people, planning to prepare due to cost, attending performance capture shoots, going over the scripts again and again, having a full crew to move equipment/manage cameras/aid talent/feed everyone/set up mocap, observing as a writer, talking with the performance director to avoid getting in the way of the actor/director relationship, read-throughs, doing the cinematography afterwards, having a little more freedom with the character, reaching the end of this first journey, strength in vulnerability, leaning into awkwardness in a scene, being limited in what we're allowed to choose because it having to be badass, adding dimensionality to characters, expanding the medium into new audiences, audience not realizing what they want, community management and development, how game writing is like Gatorade, audience empathy, your responsibility to the player, provoking anger and fear, aftercare, thinking about how we care for a player after we've provoked strong, games as services, seeing yourself represented, being someone else, making games not just for ourselves, bringing other voices into the room, reaching the status of a Lara Croft, dating in a seniors residence, the Star Trek holodeck.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: UbiSoft, Assassin's Creed (series), Writer's Guild of America, Kitfox Games, Moon Hunters, Minority Media, Time Machine VR, Lawbreakers, Tomb Raider, Montreal Fringe Festival, Minesweeper, Xbox, Mass Effect (series), Ann Lemay, WB Games, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, Richard Farrese, Republic Commando, Jedi Starfighter, Bethesda Game Studios, Darby McDevitt, Eidos, Camilla Luddington, Gray's Anatomy, Virginie Costa, David Hubert, Crystal Dynamics, Gatorade, Kotaku, Skyrim, Kirk Hamilton, Evan Narcisse, James Bond, Batman, Bloom Digital, Later Gators, DreamDaddy, Golden Girls, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Boyfriend Dungeon, Meagan Marie, Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play, Chinese Independent Game Developers Association Conference.

Next time: Next time we return to Thief: The Dark Project, through "Undercover"

Links: You can find Jill on Twitter at @disco_jill and via her company website, https://discoglo.be.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 132: Thief (part two) Oct 03, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of our series about 1998's Thief; we talk about the story development of the world, some small mechanical bits, and then dig into the level design of the four levels we played. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through "The Sword"

Issues covered: getting shot with an arrow, starting with the day in the life of a thief, establishing a baseline of a life, introducing the Hammerites and other groups, verses from religious texts, things are getting weird, weaving in "The Dark Project," upsetting the balance, the trope of stumbling into something larger, significance of what you're stealing, interludes vs cutscenes, preferring the mundane to the strange in this game, player expectations of story, surprising the audience, industrial/steampunk setting mixing with magic, wanting more from the city, leaning into weird backstory but drifting away, not needing the bizarre framing devices, constructing your story level to level, individual contributions driving story, extending the core fantasy with new mechanics, knucklehead stealth, sword swinging mechanics, complexity of collisions, the efficiency of the blackjack, adding traps and lock picks, slow projectiles, being able to see the mechanisms behind the traps, methodical trap avoidance, player skill in reading the environment, committing to first-person in lock-picking, triggering character skill, adding a lock-picking mini-game to the franchise, being a predator in other games, claustrophobia in narrow corridors, hacking a zombie to bits, the mournful music of the horn, building Garrett's character and placing him in the world, surprise switch objective, a level that is too long, not having the texture budget to support the level design, being lost, picking up things and having them in your inventory, doing stuff in the wrong order, banging up against the banners, being a second story guy, rope arrow mechanics, a weird space, relying on physics engines, level as character building, weird promotions, flipping the script and driving you away.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Tomb Raider, System Shock 2, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Hitman (series), Assassin's Creed, Dario Casali, Half-Life, Dark Forces, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Hal Barwood, Die By The Sword, Ultima Underworld, Leon: The Professional, Ken Levine, Dark Souls, Pipe Dreams, Kent Hudson, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Arkham Asylum, Deus Ex, Stephen King, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft, Gothic Chocobo, Fallout 3, Bulletstorm, People Can Fly, EA Partners, Turok, Dante's Inferno, Brutal Legend, Jack Black, The Way, Grand Theft Auto IV.

Next time: Through "Undercover"

Links: Assassin's Creed's Functional Story

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 131: Thief (part one) Sep 26, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we now begin our series about 1998's Thief; as usual, we start by setting the game in its time before diving into a few of its systems and technology requirements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Cragscleft Prison

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Thief 53:13 Break 53:45 Feedback

Issues covered: reflecting on 1998, first-person shooter games of the time, having different first-person goals, differing pacing, original design goals, high enemy lethality and comparative weakness of the protagonist, methodical style of play, punishing the player for an action approach, getting sucked into the demo, niche and sales, sticking to a core fantasy vs going to a more action-oriented design, an aesthetic that spreads to other places, going in a different direction with tone, establishing a different fantasy setting, painterly cutscenes, functional lore, quality of the voice acting, the light meter, audio surface changes, lack of direct information about the AI, technology considerations, dynamic lighting, dynamic and attenuated audio, not cheating for the AI, setting an expectation for future games in the genre (particularly with shooting out lights), doing a job at Lord Bafford's Manor, setting the stage for the game, introducing the mission, having alternate routes, picking pockets, level and experiential density, clear level direction (moving up), dynamic goals, turning off transparency and ledges, following the dotted line or not, movement weight, making trade-offs of immediacy vs groundedness, weapon roles, progression and weapon roles working against one another, extending character through weapon choices, making more interesting choices from your systems (including weapons).

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Starcraft, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Unreal, Rainbox Six, Final Fantasy Tactics, Resident Evil 2, Tomb Raider 3, Rogue Squadron, Grim Fandango, Half-Life, Baldur's Gate, Spyro the Dragon, Battlezone, Descent: Freespace, Star Wars: Starfighter, Kotaku Splitscreen, Half-Life 2, Fallout 2, Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, Quake, Epic Games, id Software, Duke Nukem, Heretic, Eidos Interactive, Die by the Sword, Treyarch, Trespasser, Daron Stinnett, System Shock 2, Looking Glass, Hitman, Splinter Cell, Dishonored, Ultima Underworld, Origin, Flight Unlimited, System Shock, Terra Nova, Strike Force Alpha Centauri, Ken Levine, Doug Church, Harvey Smith, Randy Smith, Mark LeBlanc, Warren Spector, Paul Neurath, Underworld Ascendant, Emil Pagliarulo, Lulu LaMer, Crystal Dynamics, Tim Stellmach, Terry and Eric Brosius, Greg LoPiccolo, Stephen Russell, Arx Fatalis, Arkane Studios, Raf Colantonio, Gothic Chocobo, Mark Brown, Morrowind, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Batman, Dead Space, Rômulo Santos, Monster Hunter (series), Andrew from Cincinnati, Deus Ex, Doom, Halo, Uncharted, Star Wars: Republic Commando.

Next time: Through The Sword

Links: Is the reboot of Lara Croft more feminist?

10 things (women were doing in Video games in the) 1990's (2:45-4:28)

Why Nathan Drake doesn't need a compass.

Following the little dotted line

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 130: Shadow of the Tomb Raider Bonus Sep 19, 2018

Hello, and welcome to a special bonus episode of Dev Game Club, where we talk about the most recent Tomb Raider release, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, talking a little bit about where the reboots came from and the thinking that went into them as well as some of the structural differences between the two. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Some of the first few hours

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Shadow of the Tomb Raider 42:18 Break 42:50 Feedback

Issues covered: considering the original reboot, discussing the Crystal Dynamics era generally, updating for the modern era, avoiding predictability, exploring character rather than superheroics, reconsidering the world structure, adding side activities for the player, tonal shift, survival action rather than survival horror, not seeing how the character will turn into the original Lara Croft, voice acting, changing set pieces, paying off on minimal player interaction with bigger set pieces, the flood sequence, having moments in the original and the reboot where you're hunting around for what to do, the resourceful explorer, solitude, marrying modern sensibilities and expectations to older game feelings, connectivity constraining globe-trotting, choosing the difficulty, not missing the telegraphing/mark-up, considering how the puzzles might be different, re-using combat AI to create play opportunities, finding repeatable systemic features that enrich a space, leveraging mechanics that you don't need to teach the player, relishing modern design, starkness of the difference between them, Sega Saturn technical concerns, soundtrack differences, resolution differences, lock and key dependencies, the condensing of the original in the remake, a bit about Kingdom Hearts, some insight on the philosophy of TR: Anniversary, capturing the flavor of the original, gruesome deaths, taking ourselves less seriously, real-time raytracing, the uncanny valley, making things more expensive, letting go, whether you even notice, slow adoption by developers, enjoying the smoke and mirrors and the demands of limitations, the run-on costs of even a simple addition, mixing settings and increasing the uncanny valley.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, Noah Hughes, Soul Reaver, CORE Design, Jason Botta, Brandon Fernandez, Toby Gard, Darryl Gallagher, Uncharted (series), Skyrim, The Descent, Indiana Jones, Metal Gear Solid 4, Assassin's Creed, DF Retro, Edwin Crump, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, (Allison By Proxy -- sorry to forget your name), irreverentQ, Game Maker's Toolkit, Super Metroid, Dagur Danielsson, Kingdom Hearts, Half-Life, Ratchet & Clank, Doug Church, Valve, William Rance, Conan O'Brien, Chris Tiemeßen, Xbox/Xbox 360, Republic Commando, Tim Ramsay, Metal Gear Solid, Nintendo.

Links: DF Retro on Tomb Raider

Boss Keys on Super Metroid

Brett on Kingdom Hearts

Next time: Possibly Thief? Possibly an interview? Keep posted at @devgameclub.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 129: Tomb Raider (part four) Sep 12, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we celebrate the triumphant return of co-host Tim Longo with... a discussion of the rest of 1996's Tomb Raider. We once again discuss the levels themselves, but also discuss traps, puzzles, and the use of voice to characterize action adventure avatars in more recent games, before turning to takeaways and your questions and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finishing the game (Egypt and Atlantis)

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Segment 1: Levels and other discussion 1:04:40 Break 1:05:12 Segment 2: Takeaways and feedback

Issues covered: cumbersome controls, traversal-based exploration vs skill-based exploration, traps as playing against expectations in traversal, varying threats with traps, lower stress approach than combat, puzzles, block moving, levels as puzzles, evolving the puzzles and mechanics over multiple games, feature iteration over a series, voice acting in cutscenes vs in-game, preferring solitude, not having a plan for Lara the character, losing the ability to see yourself in the character, using cutscenes as reward, blurring the line between cinematic and game, using FMV instead, thinking of the first two Egypt levels as one level, interconnectedness of the Obelisk, seeing everything you need to do in one room, breaking their rules, climbing all around the side of the Sphinx room, navigation as puzzle, sense of scale, showing you the destination and making you figure out how to get there, water puzzles, contextualization, having your input read in in-engine cutscenes, doors that open and stay open, motivating your puzzles and switches, ancient stuff vs modern, building new mechanics late in the game, central pyramid room, ending in flesh, leaning into a problem, paying off on doing something denied you in a cutscene, leaning into exploration, naming your enemies and therefore making them more important, level as puzzle, strong character design, animation with weight and wind-up, the move set as puzzle, learning the move systems, white paint, branching paths, inescapable abstraction, give me guardrails to find the fun, balancing freedom against direction, MDA framework, interaction of the mechanics with the dynamics, abstraction in AI and physics and other systems, merging mechanics and narrative, VR as an interesting place for this, innovation moving to the mainstream, horror.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Indiana Jones, Resident Evil, Soul Reaver, Stephen's Sausage Roll, Monument Valley, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, Core Design, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Uncharted (series), God of War (2018), Jedi Knight, Westwood, Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Wing Commander, Half-Life, System Shock 2, Doom, Cthulhu, Metal Gear (series), Eidos Montreal, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Assassin's Creed, Deus Ex, Michael, LonelyBob K, Tim Dooley, Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, Zachary Crownover, Zimmy Finger, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Papers, Please, Limbo, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Inside, Cart Life, Memento, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Switchblade Sisters, Sera Gamble, April Wolfe, Being John Malkovich, Lost, The Magicians, Supernatural, Sharp Objects, Hereditary, American Horror Story, The Endless, Resolution, Thief.

Links: Play Tomb Raider in a browser

31 Nights Streaming Screaming

Next time: We look a bit at Shadow of the Tomb Raider!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 128a: Flösser Interview Revisit Aug 29, 2018

No show notes this week as we revisit our 2016 interview with guest Janos Flösser; you can find those notes on the website. However, Brett does take a moment to answer a reader email before the show and to talk about next week afterwards.

DGC Ep 128: Tomb Raider (part three) Aug 22, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have been playing 1996's Tomb Raider. We spend more time on the levels themselves as well as diving into the AI for human enemies, the sense of space and of pace, and having no idea what to do to find a key. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Egypt, in theory

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Tomb Raider 1:00:17 Break 1:00:47 Feedback

Issues covered: plumbing, level and puzzle size, nonsensical space and St Francis's Folly, suspending disbelief, squinting and seeing the modern version of a puzzle, erosion of geometry, integrating player knowledge to game knowledge, preparing the player for challenges, knowing your mythology, knowing less mythology in Egypt, having preconceived notions due to myths, climbing down and up the tower, complications and confusions, situational awareness of levels, consistent themes across whole levels, motivating animals, scouring the space, level scale, emphasizing the sense of being underground with clip distance and fog, trusting the player to understand the space, hardware fogging lending to mystery, jumping on the hand of Midas, gruesome deaths and a protective instinct, ratcheting up tension psychologically, justifying playing a female character, the patriarchy, more realistic deaths being more problematic, cartoon plumbers, not relating to characters, hinting at what you're supposed to do, missing areas and not being directed well, industry learning how to naturally direct a player, cutscenes to show what happens, composition replacing cutaways and tracking cameras, order of operations puzzles, coming out at a place you've seen before, tantalizing glimpses of where you might get next, non-linearity vs linearity in levels, lower friction in level/dungeon design, Tim reveals a favorite level of all time, mind-blowing ability to change the level of the water, getting stuck on the shimmy, missing a key and being terrified, matching player motivations to puzzle logic, a realistic functioning space, a thrown switch only needs to be thrown once, making it clear why you should raise and lower a switch, spending a long time in a level, imagining leaving the Cistern for a week, avoiding usability problems by making solutions irreversible, disconnected levels, bursting centaurs, avoiding an unnecessary fight, bringing in the supernatural and Atlantis elements, descending deeper and deeper underground through multiple levels, taking an enemy down with two shots, humans vs animals as enemies, the guy who gets away, "white paint" and usability and directing the player, watering down the sense of exploration, difficulty settings in the new TR, putting more on level design to direct the player, maps making a game into "a map game," composition/visual design/environment art, camera and animation to direct the player, telegraphing where you can go, keeping titles current or revisiting them.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Indiana Jones, Jenga, God of War, Quake, Crystal Dynamics, Mario (series), Uncharted (series), Skyrim, Fallouts 3 & 4, Oblivion, TR Anniversary, Dark Souls, La Bamba, Tomb of Horrors, fulltilted, Deus Ex, Michael, Fable, Andrew Kirmse, Naughty Dog, LonelyBob K, Daron Stinnett, TIE Fighter, XvT, Dark Forces, Tim Dooley.

Links: TR in the browser:

Next time: Finishing the game! (Always, always, in theory)

Program note! We will be taking a little time off so Tim can go explore the real world.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 127: Tomb Raider (part two) Aug 15, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have been playing 1996's Tomb Raider. We specifically dive into level design, Lara's move set, combat, and a bit about technology here and there. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Greece, theoretically

Issues covered: dinosaurs in film in books, level size, level design and events to direct the eye, interconnectedness of areas, distilling the original game to remake it, exploration and order of operations, not knowing when you're done with a puzzle, possibility of going back and forth, looking for secrets and finding a way down to the valley, opening the other two doors, becoming less accepting of more abstract spaces, going for realism vs abstract reality, why you might build levels on grids and with repeated bits, backface culling, lining up animations because the character is on a grid, PlayStation hardware and acceleration, announcing the PlayStation at its price, controls vs fidelity, dropping air steering out and returning it, figuring out the right move to get the right jump, reinforcing character through move set, one-false-move failures, tank controls, trusting the grid, trading fidelity and responsiveness, planting the foot before she jumps, really embodying her in the world, fluid animation, designing with the experience in mind, failure as a valid teaching tool, aligning design and animation intent, increasing realism and trade-offs of feel, introducing procedural approaches to animation, blending in sports games, using inverse kinematics to navigate the world, allowing tech to solve a role, using math to point the head and arms in the right direction during combat, simple gun combat with good character animation, using jump scares to introduce combat, limited AI, limitations in combat systems, auto-lock and camera interplay, lacking sticks, switching lock targets, lack of music during combat, downplaying the combat, good level moments, the T-Rex moment, collision on the T-Rex corpse, pushing scale in environments, correction 0451 code, music genres and game genres, when do game mechanics and narrative mesh together well, "Would You Kindly?", simple stories working better, ludonarrative dissonance, the player being the unique hurdle, comedy in games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jurassic Park, Arthur Conan Doyle, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne, Michael Crichton, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Crystal Dynamics, TR: Anniversary, Jason Botta, Half-Life, Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64, Silicon Graphics, PlayStation 1/2, Star Wars: Starfighter, Track and Field, Resident Evil, The Matrix, Dark Souls, Demons Souls, Assassin's Creed, CORE Design, Steve Ash, Crash Translation, System Shock, Warren Spector, Deus Ex, dcab11, Zimmy Finger, Beethoven, Tetris, Bioshock, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Prince of Persia (2008), Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Far Cry 2, Planescape: Torment, Chris Avellone, Gone with the Wind.

Next time: Through Egypt, theoretically

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 126: Tomb Raider (part one) Aug 08, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are turning our eyes to 1996's Tomb Raider. In this episode we situate the game in its time, paying particular attention to the challenges of 3D and technology at the time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Peru

Issues covered: setting the game in its time, 3D acceleration, "at least they got our names right," having to control a bunch of extra stuff in 3D, camera control in Super Mario 64 or Crash Bandicoot or Resident Evil, handling challenges differently through design and technology, Brett fumbles around the PS1 hardware, lack of save anywhere on PS1, designing for console vs PC, "the Indy game that people wanted," starting in Peru and Raiders callbacks, the ambient score supplementing exploration and loneliness, broken keymapping, Lara's evolving backstory, a strong self-sufficient woman, objectifying the character, nude mods, strong character design, British culture, traveling well, amalgamation of clear character archetypes, sensibility of a British icon, setting up a world via simple short character interactions, analogue in Resident Evil, world-building through grace notes, pulp antecedents, pure exploration, exploration as its own reward, finding secrets, doing whatever it needs to do to serve the core fantasy, level construction, Brett becomes a German, wanting more tracked data, stats and baseball, adding more tracking over time, using data in development, digging into his WoW stats, the person Tim spends the third most amount of time with, games that terrify you so much you can't play them, does Alien impact people who don't know the movies.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jason Botta, Crystal Dynamics, Toby Gard, CORE Design, PlayStation, Crash Bandicoot, Lara Craft GO, Nokia, 3Dfx, Xbox, Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64, Diablo, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Donkey Kong Country 3, Resident Evil, Quake, Indy's Desktop Adventures, Duke Nuke'em 3D, Civilization, 3DO, Meridian 59, Andrew and Christopher Kirmse, Game Developer, GDC, Game Programming Gems, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Next Generation, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Batman, Temple of Doom, Allan Quatermain, H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines, Spice Girls, Ian Livingstone, EIDOS, Deathtrap Dungeon, Games Workshop, Warhammer, Peter Molyneux, John Wick, Soul Reaver, Hal Barwood, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, The Producers, Maas Neotek Proto, Final Fantasy, League of Legends, DOTA, Blizzard, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Eric Bartoszak/WeyounNumber6, Prey, Alien: Isolation, P.T., Ico.

Next time: Thru Greece

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 125: Prey Bonus Aug 01, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where in this bonus episode we've turned to a clear descendant of Deus Ex, 2017's Prey. We talk about the first few hours of the experience and note some of its systems and world-building, among other thoughts. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: At least up to the lobby

Issues covered: post-it notes, allowing mimics, Tim gets excited, another potential forerunner, using the Goo Gun to get to an apparently unreachable area, analysis paralysis, not knowing which way to go, being surprised that the payoff was delayed, trying to reach beyond the normal market (and people who understand the tropes), the erased whiteboard code, psi hypos in the safe, surprise CryEngine, looking at the map, setting up Alex as a villain, waking up again, room inside a room, commitment to first-person presentation, visual design of the PDA, putting in the neuromod, contextualizing neuromods, use of body horror, mimic design and creepiness, mod for inhabiting any prop, using audio design to enhance creepiness, breeding paranoia, wanting to look at and enjoy the world but anything could be a threat, fighting the bigger typhon, being less inclined to stealth because combat is expected, themes, choice of gender here, going wide vs deep in skill choices, the resource collection mechanics, what can you scavenge, crafting and how far you go in the resources, the origin of 0451 and immersive sims, the A113 Easter Egg, alternate histories, clear lineage in immersive sims, the rough road for immersive sim makers, importance of setting, critical vs commercial appeal, what genre do you put this game in critically, production design choices, living in-between and pushing other genres forward, Hong Kong the shelf-level event, the killswitches, being old as dirt, wanting more guns, maintaining tension through resource levels, hoarding weapons, FOMO.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Legend of Zelda, Arkane Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax, Bioshock, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Looking Glass, Half-Life, Portal, Dishonored (series), CryEngine, id Software, Raphael Colantonio, Harvey Smith, Groundhog Day, Mission: Impossible, Dead Space, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Republic Commando, Counterstrike, Garry's Mod, Team Fortress II, Source Engine, Alien: Isolation, Fallout 4, Tacoma, Fahrenheit 451, Pixar, Disney, Battlezone, Ricardo Bare, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Origin, ION Storm, Irrational Games, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Viktor Antonov, Philip Staffetius, Kevin Brown, Halo, Wumpus, Hammurabi, Sanders Associates, Ralph Baer, ADVENT.EXE, Pipe Dream, Thief, Resident Evil.

Corrections: Turns out, Dishonored II was idTech 5

Next time: For those looking at the show notes, advance notice: We'll be playing 1996's Tomb Raider, the first four levels (Peru). (Looking out for you show notes readers. My people. -B)

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 124: Deus Ex (part five) Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are finishing out our discussion of 2000's Deus Ex. In our fifth episode in the series, we talk a bit about the game's viewpoint(s) and turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game at last

Issues covered: Tim's marathon of M:I, the othering of Anna and Gunther as well as Walter Simons and Bob Page, building a sense of place and history, the inhumanity of JC Denton, a game about the grey area of decision-making, Tim merges with the AI, choosing a little less globalization, wealth operating in secret, playing the good guy, turning off the Illuminati-sicle, pulling the opposing threads back further into the game, the gas station level, Tim finds a prototype AI, mashup of genres, robust optional content, stealthing the end of the game, using thermoptic camo, leveling up the sword, a fully-realized Vandenberg Base, flying the drone and blowing up the robots, using the AI's rules to stealth through, doing the mission impossibly, like we're playing two different games, emergent design, using tools for mayhem vs success, paying off on story choices/the game watching and keeping track of little things you do, the RPG lineage, projecting onto the character because of flat affect, allowing Paul to live, Tim likes the trains to run on time, bringing in all the various conspiracy theories, tracking things and setting up the sorts of things that we track today, choosing story beats instead of being able to fully get through non-lethally, level design feeding into emergence, the saga of BobPage51, adding surrealism to everyday life, the modern Deus Ex games, lockpicking and time, knucklehead stealth and limited playtime, assigned roles vs created roles, player tracking, internal vs external, expectations of privacy, the challenge of interpreting player data, heat maps and ways to tie the data together, justifying any decision, tracking and part of the competitive landscape.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mission: Impossible, Terminator (series), RoboCop, Peter Weller, The Witcher 3, Fallout, Warren Spector, Far Cry 4, X-COM: UFO Defense, Kindergarten Cop, Jack Black, Nacho Libre, Grand Theft Auto III, Ultima Underworld, Dragnet, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Starfighter (series), Rick Butler, Metal Gear Solid V, Splinter Cell (series), Thief, Ben from Iowa, Clint Hocking, Aaron Evers, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, UbiSoft, God of War, Tomb Raider, Jumanji, 343 Industries, Microsoft, Halo 5, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, League of Legends, DotA 2, Fortnite, Unreal Engine, Unity, Prey.

Next time: A big chunk o' Prey

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 123: Deus Ex (part four) Jul 18, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have finally turned our attention to 2000's Deus Ex. In our fourth episode in the series, we talk about maps, the damage model, augmentations, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the Paris Cathedral

Issues covered: stealth and non-lethal play, hitting your foes with tranq darts, externalizing statistics, the things you track, a decision or a priority, a stuffed UI, adding notes to images, self-motivated play vs auto-mapping, usability, detailed maps, orienting yourself via the maps, feeling in conversation with the designer, map fidelity and playing into the fantasy, leaning on the existence of a map as a designer, leaning on navigation mapping as a crutch, spatial sense, making navigation design choices based on the needs of the game, emergent design and not holding hands, navigation as a resource, taking away mechanics you lean on, sneaking up on snipers, accurate modeling of bullet trajectory, making weapons feel like they should feel, suspected player collision model, accuracy model, difficulty making decisions, understanding the weapons having not using them, the damage model, weapons being more lethal sometimes than others, random vs statistical distributions, seeing the RNG and damage model, tuning and spread and balance, player expectations and numbers, progressive improvement in random chance in MMOs, perception is everything, "it's not a blunderbuss," augmentation choices, not meeting tougher creatures when you make the choices, not upgrading, recycling + healing non-stop, playing into power fantasies of different types, potential "best way to play," being a sum of parts rather than strong at any individual thing, VO issues, player stories in the Dowd level, making weird decisions with guns, audio design, triggering enemies through walls, provoking exploration, more player stories in the Dowd level, scripting interactions and weirdness, clash of script and AI, player feedback, a future bonus episode, proper noun soup.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fable, Metal Gear Solid (series), Ultima Underworld, Far Cry 2, Elder Scrolls (series), Perfect Dark Zero, Xbox 360, Dead Space, Resident Evil, Dark Forces, Unreal, Halo, X-COM: UFO Defense, Sid Meier, Civilization, World of Warcraft, Planescape: Torment, Fallout, Thief, Grehtn/Zimmy Finger, Darren from Ohio, Prey (2017), The Witcher 3, Warren Spector.

Next time: Finish the game, no really, really!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 122: Deus Ex (part three) Jul 11, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have finally turned our attention to 2000's Deus Ex. In our third episode in the series, we talk about the RPG aspects as far as story goes as well as some obvious influences. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the Paris Cathedral

Issues covered: mispronouncing the title of the game, bringing in all the story as you get to Hong Kong, level geometry in Hong Kong and getting lost the first time you played it, hearing the proper nouns, the gigantic conspiracy smoothie, pushing conspiracy theories 75 years forward, not being sure who you can trust, can you even trust Tracer Tong, hitting all the technology paranoia (clones, nanomachines, viruses and cures), having time still running while you're hacking/lockpicking, the final destiny of Maggie Chow, cutscenes and enemy AI, mini-games in hacking and lockpicking, player vs character skill in mini-games in BGS games, when mini-games pull you out of the game and when they don't, making hard decisions thematic resonance with hacking/lockpicking, "knucklehead stealth," giving the player lots of options even just to hack and player agency, getting captured by MJ12 in Brett's version and in Tim's, Anna Navarre and "I can see you," forced greets, procedural camera placement, dialog cutscenes in Mass Effect, revealing that you've been in the UNATCO base the whole time, forking level assets, how Alex and Jaime join back up with you if you choose to have them, finding killswitch codes for others, avoiding lethality, reuse of space, having to propagate fixes to multiple spaces, placing your RPG in the real world, connecting the world, globalization and fear and paranoia, naming post-apocalyptic cities, Tim outs my film choices on the podcast, contextualizing the make-up of the world, replaying games and length, engaging with backstory, what we're on about here.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Harry Truman, The X-Files, Millennium, Deus Ex (rest of series), Assassin's Creed (series), Leonardo da Vinci, The Matrix, Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Thief, Bioshock, Fallout 3/4, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Pipe Dream, LucasArts, Anthony Gallegos, RebelFM, Mass Effect, Anachronox, ION Storm, Eidos, Dishonored 2, Tomb Raider, Fallout 1 & 2, Lord of the Rings (films), Obsidian Entertainment, Alpha Protocol, Metal Gear Solid 2, Darren, Konrad the Canadian.

Next time: Finish the game!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 121: Deus Ex (part two) Jul 04, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have finally turned our attention to 2000's Deus Ex. In our second episode in the series, we discuss difficulty levels for different styles of play vs augmentation hard choices and some level systems specifics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Hong Kong (in theory)

Issues covered: trying to get out of the level when you've been in it a while, difficulty levels and combat vs stealth, the paths not chosen, the interaction of augmentations and difficulty, not being a great shooter, motivated level design, stealth and the tranq dart, balancing weapons, the ghost or non-lethal run, the emergent quality vs achievements for ghosting, player choice in play goals, trying to remove all the TNT from a room, punishing particular play styles, how you reflect player choices in the world vs the character, forking paths and the small bugs therefrom, the crowbar vs the baton, making hard binary choices, all active augmentation and resource usage, minimal resources, bioelectric batteries vs colas and chocolate bars, forgetting the skill points, point-based skills vs discrete augmentation levels, not playing completionist, getting rewards for different solutions, Tim's weird way of dealing with the hostage situation, failing for purposes of discovery, visual language, ladders in games, cutscenes and what systems get turned off or not, Tim goes backwards, the difficulty of getting through a door, using a heavy box as a defense, save-anywhere as a critical play system.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Starfighter (series), Halo, Thief, Dishonored, Harvey Smith, Julius Caesar, Warren Spector, Infamous (series), Fable (series), Far Cry (series), Dungeons & Dragons, LoZ: Link to the Past, Mark of the Ninja, Hitman 2.

Next time: Up through Paris Cathedral

Links: Ben Abraham Plays Far Cry 2 with Permadeath

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 120: Deus Ex (part one) Jun 27, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are finally turning our attention to 2000's Deus Ex. In our first episode in the series, we set the game in its time but also talk about its many connections to other games we've played here on the 'cast. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the Airfield

Issues covered: ten hours of driving, convergent point in games, early indie dev mentality, formative early career game, a game that became a verb, commitment to multiple paths, merging RPG and action and other systems, branching skill trees, lack of classes, connecting to a more grokkable understanding, creating a subgenre, listening to E3 recaps, setting the game in time, a bunch of engine discussion, multi-route play and accommodating play styles, narrative beats that you can influence, supporting player choice, going super-lethal and being disincentivized, RPGs not tying choices together/mere mechanics, knucklehead stealth, linear tutorial, putting all the plants in the tutorial rooms, bulletproofing a level, blowing off your legs, supporting all the various possibilities, GDC post-Deus Ex, emergent gameplay, supporting a wide variety of player stories in emergent design, engineering around sources generally instead of specific things.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ion Storm, Ultima (series), Irrational Games, Looking Glass Studios, Warren Spector, Harvey Smith, Anachronox, System Shock, Arkane Studios, Ricardo Bare, Prey, Dishonored II, Austin Grossman, Reed Knight, System Shock 2, Mass Effect (series), Junction Point, Origin Systems, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher, CD Project Red, Diablo II, Baldur's Gate II, Infinity Engine, Icewind Dale, The Sims, Hitman: Codename 47, Final Fantasy IX, Rainbow Six, Quake III Arena (DreamCast), Daikatana, PS2, Dark Cloud, SSX, Nintendo 64, Perfect Dark, Majora's Mask, Shenmue, Timesplitters, Soldier of Fortune, Elite Force, Bioshock, Escape from Monkey Island, Thief II, Unreal, Half-Life, id Software, Eidos, other Deus Ex titles, GO series, Planescape: Torment, Chris Avellone, Grand Theft Auto 3, Breath of the Wild, Oblivion, Dabominic, The2ndQuest, Link to the Past, Super Mario 64.

Next time: Check Twitter for details

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 119: Bonus Interview with Matt Tateishi Jun 20, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club for a second Dark Forces special bonus interview edition. We speak with Matt Tateishi, a level designer on the game, talking about the environment around the building of Dark Forces, process, and leaping into the new. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Interview 1:03:31 Break 1:04:01 Feedback

Issues covered: a brief history of Matt, architecture department at Berkeley, starting as art techs, hourly wages, having your Star Wars bedsheets, Master Chief body pillow, thinking about the use of a space, trying to outdo one another, abstract spaces vs real-feeling one, geeking out over the Dark Trooper intro, simulating screen shake, just getting the thing to run, how big should levels be, figuring out production, difficulty spikes and weapon (mis-)balancing, dreaming of work, skill-based challenges, losing sight of your work, some doubt about doing Dark Forces, "puzzles are how we're going to be different from DOOM," throwing everything at the player, saving state mid-level, the pie tin mine, motivating the space, being brought in to be an artist (rather than the technical specifics), being near ILM at the time, everyone coming together to make cool stuff, Brett sings terribly again, an argument for Jabba's Palace, going from high concept to design, productivity and scheduling, Pomodoro, meeting-driven, Brett walks down memory lane, discussion of Mac vs PC in the 90s.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Shadows of the Empire, Jedi Knight, Lucas Learning, Droid Works, Infinite Machine, Nihilistic Software, The Force Unleashed, Dante's Inferno, EA, Visceral, 1313 (RIP), WETA Digital, Impulse Gear, Farpoint, Daron Stinnett, Ingar Shu, Jim Current, Kilani Striker, Ralph Gerth, Winston Wolff, Ray Gresko, Rob Huebner, Brett Tosti, Republic Commando, Troy Mashburn, Skyrim, X-Wing, DOOM, Peter Tsacle, Full Throttle, Double Fine, George Lucas, Tom Payne, Ben Burtt, Dungeons & Dragons, Colette Michaud, Peter Chan, Day of the Tentacle, Forrest Gump, Steve Dauterman, A Knight of Ren, Dire Straits, Zachary Crownover, Zimmy Finger, Quake, Mysteries of the Sith, Marathon, Philip Kramer, Apple, Myth, Kevin Steven.

Next time: Deus Ex; up to the airfield

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 118: SWRC Interview Bonus Jun 15, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club for a special bonus bonus interview edition. Justin Stinnett turns the microphones on hosts Brett Douville and Tim Longo, in addition to Daron Stinnett, to talk Republic Commando. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: making a squad seem smart, how to deal with the squad AI, keeping the squad in view, how to control the squad on a console, squad positioning, seeing the sniper, Sev's sense of humor, Fixer's uptight nature, Scorch childishness, making the squad feel even smarter and more connected, markers/maneuvers, more freedom and options for maneuver use, regretting cutting co-op, Delta Squad animated, Republic Commandos as canon, obeying or disobeying Order 66, what we're up to now,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo, Rainbow Six, Nathan Martz, Mike Stemmle, Ryan Kaufman, The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni, Star Wars Legends, 343 Industries, Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4.

Next time: Another interview OR Deus Ex, up to the Airfield

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 117: Bonus Interview with Daron Stinnett Jun 13, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club for a special bonus interview edition. We speak with Daron Stinnett, lead programmer and project lead on Dark Forces, looking at the beginnings of his career before turning to specifics about the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Interview segment 1:04:45 Break 1:05:17 Feedback segment

Issues covered: Daron intro, the Stinnett origin story, making houses on computers, Radio Shack, buying a first car, transitioning to having a regular development job, porting Thexder, moving to Spectrum Holobyte, existential threat to the company, becoming a project lead, team lead and lead tester, multiplayer and the 600 baud modem, a Las Vegas con FalCon, modeled cockpit, high-fidelity simulations that didn't exist in the real world, "I knew I had to make Star Wars games," eating lunch at Skywalker Ranch, a room full of prop, Kerner complex, looking out at ILM, crashing a plane in a parking lot, "I want to do a Star Wars Wolfenstein game," the challenge of making Dark Forces, getting a leg up from the DOOM alpha, subtracting from the world rather than adding to it, performance challenge, having a vision of walking around a hangar, expecting to work with Luke Skywalker, Luke belonged to George, adding Ray Gresko as a rendering engineer and Justin Chin as lead designer/story guy, mixing level design and architecture, adding to the palette, specific areas of wish fulfillment, not just a game about shooting things, LucasArts as a place to create new stories, showing the game to George the first time, shooting non-humans in the films, putting together teams to make something no one knows how to build, bringing the conversation around to the car, following up on the interview, getting interviewed ourselves, targeting just one hardware, console exclusivity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Thexder, Republic Commando, Spectrum Holobyte, Falcon 3.0, LucasArts, Outlaws, Starfighter (series), Star Wars Episode III, Perpetual Entertainment, Star Trek Online, Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, PlayGrid, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Rick Lamont, Synergistic Software, Sierra, Microprose, Chuck Yeager, Nintendo, FalCon, X-Wing, Dean Sharpe, Jon Knoles, Taito, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Toshi Morita, Steve Dauterman, Alive, DOOM, Wolfenstein 3D, Faceball 2000, Ray Gresko, Justin Chin, Doug Smith, Lode Runner, Broderbund, Justin Stinnett, Dan Hunter, Terminator: Future Shock, Bethesda Game Studios, Danny O'Dwyer, Gamespot, noclip, Unity, Sony, Sega.

Next time: We... think, another interview

Links: Space Race

Daron's interview on Computer Chronicles

NoClip video about BGS

Making of Fallout 76

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 116: Dark Forces (part three) Jun 06, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are finishing 1995's Star Wars: Dark Forces. We talk a bit about the final levels of the game while punching dragons and then turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: We finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:44 DF Discussion 59:08 Break 59:38 Takeaways

Issues covered: the Kell dragon, entirely too much discussion of dragon types, being unsure what to do, not matching up with the fantasy, puzzle elements in fighting, having a role-playing moment in an action game that you don't often have in an RPG, starting as a Luke Skywalker game, lacking a hook for why it's Jabba's ship, enemy types, cuts later in games, the iso chamber maze puzzle, making the level itself into an interesting space, bending constraints to your will, not having anyone to tell you you can't do a thing, lowering risk, shifting towards production realities, the cost of a pivot raising aversion to risk, distinctions between studios (tech-driven vs design-driven vs art-driven), having to compete on all three, "you are fighting Boba Fett, so that's pretty cool," player skill puzzles, executing on a plan that's working, minimal story telling, television vs films, build up and implication, filling in a lot yourself, leaning on the films, the only source of Phrik in the galaxy, unmotivated space, the conveyor belt action bits, gaminess of a level, placing obstacle courses at the end of games, denouement and falling action, climax and the lack of remaining action, remaking the game, level design high water mark, being evolutionary rather than revolutionary, elevating through design and Star Wars bits, gadgetry and secondary mechanics, introduction of the Dark Trooper, high quality music, using Jedi in games, what you choose to build into your design, cornering the market in the Auction House, picking a setting that supports the fantasies, the MDA framework.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Force Awakens, Return of the Jedi, TIE Fighter, Jon Knoles, Mysteries of the Sith, Final Fantasy IX, The Witcher, Baldur's Gate, Rebel Assault, Republic Commando, Ingar Shu, Kevin Schmitt, Reed Knight, Duke Nukem 3D, Steve Chen, Starfighter (series), John Drake, id Software, Epic MegaGames, Half-Life, Unreal, Quake, Outlaws, Jedi Knight, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Fallout, Leonard Boyarsky, Tim Cain, Obsidian, Chris Avellone, Planescape: Torment, Justin Chin, Mario, Ratchet & Clank, Battlefront II, Clint Bajakian, John Williams, @notmyviews, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Everquest, Ultima Online, Raph Koster, Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax, Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware, Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein.

Next time: Bonus interview!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 115: Dark Forces (part two) May 30, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our second episode about 1995's Star Wars: Dark Forces. We delve much deeper into the level design and themes, talk about fulfilling the Star Wars fantasy, and talk about the tease of future technologies. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through "The Death Mark"

Podcast breakdown: 0:46 DF Segment 57:09 Break 57:40 Feedback

Issues covered: beating the parsec to death, a favorite moment in games, going down deep through into the mine level, playing the game on different difficulties, how lives and checkpoints work, the ice cleats, taking a break due to frustration, tension-filled obstacle courses, Star Wars fantasy fulfillment, making the places feel like Star Wars, good texture work, puzzling out the level geometry, the balance of combat vs level traversal, getting lost and leaning on the map, atmospheric, pushing the technical boundaries, bleeding through of new technologies, the "golden path," finding secrets, more ornate secrets, extra steps to use your inventory, RPG-elements, a sense of high adventure, Darth Vader says your name, Boba Fett, tools that are unique to a space, Dark Trooper introductions, seeing the enemy side, building the story up a piece at a time, Vader overseeing other enemies, battle droids, motion sickness in games, speedrunning and leaving glitches in, singing reviews.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Terminator, GalaxyQuest, The Rock, Republic Commando, Half-Life, God of War, Pinocchio, Bambi, Jedi Knight, Fable, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Solo: A Star Wars Story, No One Lives Forever, TIE Fighter, Halo, 343 Industries, The Witness, Maas Neotek Proto, David Sullivan, Bethesda Game Studios, Jeff Brown, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Finish the game!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 114: Dark Forces (part one) May 23, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a new series about 1995's Star Wars: Dark Forces. We situate the game in its time a bit and then turn to the first three levels of the game, specifically talking about its level design and a bit about squeezing Star Wars into games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through The Subterranean Hideout

Podcast breakdown: 0:46 Segment 1: Dark Forces 49:50 Break 50:25 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: Star Wars character class, Bothan spies, Tim as Dark Forces tester, PlayStation version, credits up front, lots of adventure games in 1995, fond memories of DF, faking co-op by phone, project leader Daron Stinnett, prior Star Wars games, level design, not a discipline, innovating beyond DOOM, grounding the level design in architecture, creating a sense of place, increased complexity, verticality, auto-aim, ducking and jumping, lighting, scale of rooms and levels, grounded vs abstract levels, Star Wars economics, using more detail in rooms being visited multiple times, characters and story lines fitting into Star Wars, hunger for new Star Wars stories, loving and respecting Star Wars, building characters on Star Wars archetypes, bringing in Star Wars elements and fitting them into the game, Crix Madine, flexibility with using a new character, mechanics, vertex lighting, enemies who aren't facing your way, reimagining the Williams aesthetic, seeing Star Wars a bunch of times, controls, differences between GOG and Steam versions, Brett's weird keyboard configuration, sliding movement, pace of play, cover shooters, seeing canonical characters in mission briefings, seeing the hive of scum and villainy side of things, leaning on the existing world-building of Star Wars, polygonal Moldy Crow, fixed point and floating point math, seeing a thing in a cutscene and then in-game, levels getting bigger, resources carrying between levels, Brett delivers a punk serenade to the audience, Tim mispronounces "proliferation," pitch docs, DVD-style commentary on Jedi Starfighter, surfacing unreleased content, lack of bang for buck, not showing things that aren't complete, saving stuff for a sequel.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: George Lucas, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Sierra, The Dig, Phantasmagoria, The Beast Within, The 11th Hour, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Warcraft 2, Blizzard Entertainment, TIE Fighter, Command and Conquer, Flight Unlimited, Looking Glass Studios, Chrono Trigger, Square, Enix, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Descent, Marathon 2, Hexen, DOOM, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Outlaws, Jedi Knight, Bioforge, D, Super Star Wars, Rebel Assault I & II, Myst, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Kevin Schmidt, Ingar Shu, Matt Tateishi, Ultima Underworld, Anachronox, Mysteries of the Sith, Empire Strikes Back, Clint Bajakian, Half-Life, Amy Hennig, DOOM 3, Wolfenstein, Quake, id Software, Unreal, Descent, Brian Taylor, Buttercup Scratchnsniff, The Ramones, The Platters, Bing Crosby, God of War, Daniel C, Andrew Kirmse, Nathan Martz, Doug Modie, Troy Mashburn, Rich Davis, Halo 5, Arkham (series), Fallout 3.

Next time: Through The Death Mark

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 113: God of War (2018) Bonus May 16, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing the newly released return to God of War. We talk about the way the game has been modernized for current tastes, and how it maintains the feel of the series. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: First few hours

Issues covered: modern design elements, combat feel, level linearity with bits of side secrets, combat/explore, chests, pushing technology, ways you can cheat for performance, pixel density, which GoW games we've played, elaborate progression system, camera commitment, camera in combat, thinner combos, epic feel of original from camera, older and more sympathetic anti-hero, more deliberate pace of combat, more psychologically dense mythology, making a character relatable again, more vulnerable heroes, the character of the mother, small story, enriching a character after her death, developing the relationship with the boy through animation and writing, animation-forwardness, craftsmanship, Tim digresses into television, geographic and cultural origins of mythology, toxic masculinity, the jock and the theater kid, high stakes and having to survive, the dad games and the dad feelings, having another character to relate to, having colors and level information on enemies, loot systems and not knowing what sort of player you're going to be, the axe and its economy of design, giving clear direction, more grounded violence, intimate violence, digging into the design problem with the one room, camera having to work with level design, fork in the road level design choices, not doing enough usability testing, wanting more information based on what you're given in a story game, non-verbal communication, difficulty balancing at the end of God of War for explorers vs combo kings, how to deal with balancing, rubber-banding.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Skyrim, Devil May Cry, DOOM (2016), Tomb Raider (2013), Resident Evil 4, PS3, Xbox 360, Cory Barlog, The Vikings, The Road, The Last of Us, Starfighter series, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gilmore Girls, Diablo, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed, Republic Commando, They Live, Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven, Fight Club, Rocky, Dolph Lundgren, Metal Gear Solid (series), Gothic Chocobo, Zimmy Finger, Ico, Silent Hill, Ratchet and Clank, Mark Garcia, Sony Santa Monica, Spider-Man 2, Jamie Fristrom, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Nintendo, Metroid (series), Mario Kart.

Next time: TBA!

Links: Ratchet and Clank Level Design

The Muse Keys

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 112: God of War (part three) May 09, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are finishing our series on 2005's God of War. We talk about when the game leans into the things it's not great at, the sense of epic scale, as well as turning to our traditional takeaways as we end a series. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 God of War discussion 54:45 Break 55:11 Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: dying 20 - 60 times, the downward spiral rage, compounding challenge, adding elements at a good rate, enumerating the elements of a challenge, not earning the challenge, shelf-level events/wall mission, not knowing you're near the end of the game, being stubborn and maybe putting a game away for a while, representing Hades accurately as a Sisyphean task, leaning into disempowerment sections as a mistake, potential for usability testing issues, variant gameplay needs to be easier, getting bored as developers, it's a sorbet not a bowl of hot sauce, positive vs negative feedback loops, rich getting richer syndrome, strategies for dealing with small numbers of orbs, arguing with QA, rationalizing your poor choices, a combo game for the masses, difficulty levels as a Band-Aid (TM), a strategy for spending orbs, adjusting orbs for difficulty, puzzle scale, puzzles for pacing, merging of genres, enjoying geometry puzzle, macro puzzle, puzzles that fit or don't, physics puzzles (buoyancy, momentum), tests of the gods, Tim and Brett forget ballistas, Greek tragedy themes, melodrama being appropriate here, having to work for a more minimal story, overly simplistic motivations, conflating player and character motivations, finding revenge against Ares, never getting to care for Kratos, an unsympathetic hero, tragedy as a character issue vs a plot issue, evolving Kratos and his world, sequence saving the family, Brett confuses who the brothers are, music as the MVP, exotic and seductive soundtrack, pushing Pandora's Box to no soundtrack, full commitment to camera, a technical pinnacle on the platform, embracing spectacle, combo flow, Raiden: the best MGS hero, empowering games, assertion through domination vs self-expression, the opportunity to be clever, using tactics effectively.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo, Mark Garcia, Nintendo, Jamie Fristrom, Jak & Daxter, Devil May Cry, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, King Tutenkhamen, Noah Hughes, TR: Legend, Ray Harryhausen, The Bacchae, Shadow of the Colossus, Faustus, Oedipus, 300, Frank Miller, Conan, Medal of Honor, Michael Giacchino, Clint Bajakian, LucasArts, Outlaws, Gerard Marino, Michael Reagan, Ron Fish, Winifred Phillips, Winnie Waldron, Cris Velasco, Marcello de Francisi, Lawrence of Arabia, DarkSiders, Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta, Platinum Games, Metroid: Other M, Metal Gear: Rising, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mikkel Lodahl, Sierra, Mark Crowe, Jordan Mechner, Karateka, Prince of Persia, Republic Commando, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Everything: The Game, Minecraft, Fallout 3, X-COM, Toy Story 3: Toy Box Mode, Disney Infinity, Project: Spark, else heart:break, The Magic Circle, Kim Kardashian's Hollywood.

Next time: We'll figure it out soon! (Almost certainly more God of War-related content)

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 111: God of War (part two) May 02, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are on to the second of our series on 2005's God of War. We talk about what a fully scripted camera allows you to do, where it breaks down in implementation, as well as touching on the over-the-top nature of the game and its light RPG elements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through the Challenges

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 Segment 1: God of War 51:40 Break 52:20 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: Birthdays, Sierra interview, the academic/theoretic side of making games, the early days, the Yosemite photograph, cameras and third-person action-adventure, level design and the camera, scripting the camera throughout the game, conceptually 2D in some ways, freeing up the right thumb, flicking to roll, managing the space well for the camera in combat, sewer camera problem, "God of War Camera," altitude in combat, telegraphing the camera through player control vs designer control, exploring a space from multiple directions, being clear about what space you're in and whether you've been there before, not knowing where you can go, were levels and camera being designed at the same time?, lack of telegraphing of direction to follow, not having supporting mechanics to know you've missed things, possibility of thinking you have to do something local to solve a puzzle, sense of scale, having to trust the game, using the camera to hide secrets, gigantic sense of scale, capturing sense of scale with a closer third person, over-the-top violence, combining scale and animation and camera cohesively, pairing button mashes to animation speed, herky-jerky and stop-motion animation, sacrificing a soldier, pushing Kratos's inhumanity, toxic masculinity, toxic masculinity/anti-heroes and pop culture, wanting to play as a hero, lack of choice, light RPG elements, stringing combos together, leveling the Artemis sword, balancing weapons with XP, liking to power up the base weapon, just using the cutting laser in Dead Space, the ranged blades of chaos, compelling weapon design due to flexibility, combo-based games, watching skilled players, playing for stream, power escalation and enemy introductions, adding multiple enemies of a newly introduced type, foreshadowing the moment of Kratos's jump, whiskey-fueled voices, looking at your user experience to support tutorialization, taking the easy way out at the end of production, implicit tutorials and learning, real-time and turn-based tutorials, implicit tutorials and iteration, not hand-holding for experienced players, players don't read, also: podcast listeners don't read show notes, prove me wrong, send us an email :)

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sierra, King's Quest/Space Quest, Mark Crowe, John Romero, Larry Holland, Julian Gollop, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Soul Reaver, Super Mario 64, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia (2008), Devil May Cry, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (series), Republic Commando, Super Metroid, Ray Harryhausen, Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, DOOM, Cory Barlog, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Dead Space, Bioshock, Rygar, Bayonetta, Resident Evil, Plasticman, Mr. Fantastic, Ninja Gaiden Black, Boy.Pockets, Tom Waits, Gilmore Girls, Zachary Crownover, Chevy Chase, SpaceChem, FTL, Detention, Red Candle Games, The Last Door, Nintendo, Civilization, Fallout.

Next time: Finish God of War (2005)!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 110: Mark Crowe Interview Apr 25, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are lucky this week to be able to interview Mark Crowe, one of the original "Guys from Andromeda" who were the creative force behind Space Quest, as well as working on many other Sierra titles. We talk about those old days, the flexibility of working with a parser, and all the constraints on game development in the early days. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: Mark's history, having a dream job, walking in the door, the hippie environment, local inspiration, first exposure to computers, size of company, meeting Scott and teaming up, developing a core idea and prototyping it, having the split-up environments in the first screens made, getting a picture on the box, taking a pseudonym in fear, dabbling in prosthetics, vacationing from Mars, learning on the job, doing everything at once, adding some humor, a cinematic approach, cinematic inspirations, cramming in references, pushing technology further, side-scrolling environments, not knowing what's possible vs "staying in your lane," the origin of Roger Wilco, stand-in for the player and trying to be in the player's head, the point-and-click innovation, parser as another layer of interaction, additional entertainment value, death and missing things and frustration, signature negative, making the games more player friendly, the needs of your existing audience vs the needs of a growing audience, playing the game pre-release, layoffs and the "cart debacle," throwing pencils at the ceiling, quick prototyping, primitive tools, time lapse rendering, Space Venture development.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sierra, Scott Murphy, Space Quest 1, Ken and Roberta Williams, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Dynamix, Star Siege, The Black Cauldron, Chris Pope, Greg Steffen, Wizard and the Princess, Softporn, Mission: Asteroid, Frogger, Sega, Ultima, Two Guys from Andromeda, King's Quest, Two Guys from Italy, Star Wars, Star Trek, Bernard Kliban, Lifeline, Space Venture.

Links:

Bernard Kliban's Original Roger Wilco

Space Quest III Timelapse

Guys from Andromeda

Guys from Andromeda YouTube Channel

Next time: Next week we return to God of War to discuss everything up through the Challenges

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 109: God of War (part one) Apr 18, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning our series on 2005's God of War. We set the game in its time, an interesting time at the end of a console lifecycle as new machines loomed on the horizon, and then turn to the game itself before hitting feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to the desert / through Athens

Podcast breakdown: 0:44 Segment 1: God of War 50:35 Break 51:06 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: the console lifecycle, PS2 install base, the new console generation, learning the hardware over the lifecycle, exclusives, squeezing the hardware over the series, optimizing instructions, iterating on a franchise, juvenile tone, the influence of the underlying mythology, being edgy or over the top, Greek tragedy and the fatal flaw, opening with a bang, narrative device of setting up how the character got to the big moment, setting up mysteries of character and fate, tension between player and character, pacing and balancing on a beam, perfecting the quick time event, the first level as a microcosm of the whole game, the influences of this game, skimming the top of a bunch of genres, adventure games drawing from every verb, explicit vs implicit tutorialization, great mythological moments, a series of yeses.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Broderbund Software, Red Storm Entertainment, Red Orb Entertainment, Riven, Prince of Persia 3D, The Journeyman Project, Santa Monica Studio, Shadow of the Colossus, Dragon Quest VIII, Resident Evil 4, F.E.A.R., Republic Commando, Metal Gear Solid 2, Sly Cooper 3, Guitar Hero, GTA: San Andreas, Japan Studio, Starfighter/Jedi Starfighter, Devil May Cry 3, Gran Turismo 4, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Lego Star Wars, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Tomb Raider (2013), Clash of the Titans, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Richard Wagner, Uncharted 2, Shenmue, Crystal Dynamics, Soul Reaver, Castlevania, Maximo: Ghosts and Goblins, MediEvil, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, System Shock 2, Sid Meier, Half-Life, Dario Casali, Sierra Games, Sebastian Pellegrino, Tim Schafer, LucasArts, Telltale Games, Amanita Design, Wadjet Eye, Daedelic, Edna and Harvey, Deponia saga, The Dark Eye, The Whispered World, Hal Barwood, Bill Tiller, Curse of Monkey Island, Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler, A Vampyre's Tale, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, The Dig, Kyle Vermaes, Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Link to the Past, Manhunter (series), Rules of Play, Eric Zimmerman, Katie Salen, Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design, The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman, GamaSutra, Brenda Romero, Challenges for Game Designers, Will Wright, The Sims, SimCity, A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander, RadiatorYang, Ryan, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Kotaku Splitscreen, Giant Bomb, Giant Beastcast, DLC, Jeff Cannata, Christian Spicer, RebelFM, Waypoint Radio, Patrick Klepek, Danielle Riendeau, Austin Walker, Steve Gaynor, Tone Control, Gone Home, Tacoma, Idle Thumbs, Important If True, Shall We Play A Game, Chris Suellentrop, JJ Sutherland, Slate Culture Gabfest, Filmspotting, Filmspotting: SVU, The Next Picture Show, Maximum Fun, April Wolfe, Switchblade Sisters.

Next time: Up through the Three Challenges

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 108: Space Quest (part two) Apr 11, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we complete our discussion of a pair of very early Sierra adventure games with Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter. We finally hear Tim's story about getting stuck on a game so long it drove him to drink and also get to our takeaways before hitting feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished SQ1

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 Segment 1: SQ1 35:35 Break 36:08 Segment 2: Takeaways and Feedback

Issues covered: music theft, the Do Not Press button and a return to Daventry, talking to the guards, cross promotion, learning to use your seat belt, the influence of the real world, making jokes out of the topical, Tim's inadvertent hint, inventory objects inside other objects, the importance of looking at things at the right time, getting a hint from the parser, the origin of the pizza orgy, killing Orat with a spider droid, random walk mechanics, hating on the skimmer, Brett gives Tim a pro tip, critical path gambling mini-game, adding in new mechanics, Brett's early skiing game, game play variety, using money in adventure game puzzles, Tim gets stuck, Tim doesn't get a fart joke, being driven to drink, the new verb with the grate, player perspective and the sense of exploration, dramatic/cinematic moments, ignoring the first offer for the skimmer, looking everywhere for a coupon, gadgets and copy protection in the box, story arc and adventure and fantasy fulfillment, aligning the player and the character as far as world knowledge, cognitive dissonance vs ludonarrative dissonance, cinematic presentation, buckazoids in the Longo family, splitting screen spaces as a push for exploration and sense of adventure, where could adventure games go, visual novels and systemic depth, underserved genres, what game would you claim for yourself, games that are hard to get and their influence, buying consoles, has something been lost in change of difficulty, opacity and discovery, finding players who won't look on the Internet, on-demand culture and chasing the next thing, putting the onus back on the game (to keep you enthralled and not searching for answers), creators asking you to not get hints, supporting the right team size.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: ZZ Top/Sharp Dressed Man, Styx, Peter Gunn/The Blues Brothers, Madonna, King's Quest 1, Ken Williams, LucasArts, Secret of Monkey Island, Loom, Grim Fandango, Curse of Monkey Island, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, George Lucas, Anachronox, Star Trek, The Corbomite Maneuver, Sierra, Police Quest, Star Wars, Grimm Fairy Tales, Skyrim, StarGate, The City on the Edge of Forever, Joan Collins, Jar-Jar Binks, Derek Achoy, Broken Age, Thimbleweed Park, Machinarium, Ron Gilbert, Telltale Games, Samorost, Amanita Design, Chuchl, X-Files, Wadjet Eye Games, Dave Gilbert, Year Walk, Simogo, Device 6, Sailor's Dream, Aaron Evers, Souls series, Tom Hall, Ultima, Civilization, Zork, Pitfall, Adventure, Atari 2600, Half-Life, Dark Forces, Daron Stinnett, Jeff Buttaccio, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Sega Saturn, Ico, Mario 64, NOLF, Warcraft, Steinar Nedreboe, Jonathan Blow, Braid, The Witness, GDC, Jeff Vogel. Links: Sierra Death Generator

Space Quest 3 Promo

Space Quest 1 VGA Remake Commercial

SQ Docucomedy

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Next time: Keep an eye on our Twitter as we figure it out!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 107: Space Quest (part one) Apr 04, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we continue to discuss a pair of very early Sierra adventure games, now turning to Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter. We talk a little bit more about adventure games and general and talk about some specific ways this game differs from King's Quest, including its use of space. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to Planet Kerona

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Segment 1: SQ1 37:19 Break 37:43 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: humor in adventure games, obvious influences, nostalgia for Tim, playing adventure games as a shared experience, getting stuck, linear vs open structure/points of no return, not getting the cartridge, stealth game play, fearing death and rushing through the game, quick beginning to the game, how you measure play time, designing around player death, embracing shorter game length, frustration points, inability to predict puzzle pain points, prodding the edges out of frustration, how you QA or player test a game like this, how to innovate or adjust in light of success, knowing whether you can fail, the market at the time, extending a specific audience rather than trying to grow the whole audience, attention to detail and commitment to a consistency of the world, requiring less knowledge from the player, discovery at the same pace as the character, Guybrush Threepwood, from Space Zero to Space Hero, characters who change or that don't, character development over a series, humor, fish out of water, Tim gives Brett a hint (survival kit), use of screen space, explorable spaces, payoff on finding nothing vs keycard, using splitscreen, economical screen use, text adventure structure, dramatic tension, having fun with death and exploring that, double whammy of enemies you can't kill and a timer, the daily chase of the most recent releases, learning as much if not more from an old game, doing a lot with a small team, legendary games we missed out on, picking between systems, classic strategy wargames, getting a survey vs playing in depth, games history and film history, playing the history at LucasArts, the tip line, ickiness of 1-900 numbers.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sierra, LucasArts, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars, Tacoma, The Walking Dead, Telltale, Deadline, Republic Commando, Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria, Quest for Glory, Al Lowe, Anachronox, Tom Hall, Outlaws, Daron Stinnett, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Super Metroid, Out of this World/Another World, Planescape: Torment, Dan Hunter, Guernsey College, Fallout, Skyrim, Zachary Crownover, Unity, Unreal, Derek Achoy, Aaron Evers, Raphael Cornford, Mikkel Lodahl, Dungeons and Dragons, Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands, Ultima Underworld, M.U.L.E., Commodore 64, Mario (series), Megaman, Bomberman, NES/SNES, Sega Genesis, Flashback, PS2, Atari, IntelliVision, Vectrex, Chuck E. Cheese, Avalon Hill, Art of War, Panzer (series), Larry Holland, HMS Pegasus, Will Wright, Raid on Bungeling Bay, SimCity, SimEarth, SimAnt, Guy Morgan, XCOM, Soul Reaver, Game Boy Pocket, Link's Awakening, Discworld, Psygnosis, Activision, Infocom, Vivendi.

Next time: Finish Space Quest!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 106: King's Quest (part two) Mar 28, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we continue to discuss a pair of very early Sierra adventure games, beginning with 1984's King's Quest: Quest for the Crown. Having finished the game, we discuss the ways in which different puzzles work and what aspects are frustrating and how it might all have gotten that way. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finish King's Quest 1

Issues covered: getting through without hints, remembering puzzles and forgetting stuff, rule-breaking and rocks, leaning into fairy tales, thinking about the game away from it, the better manual, verbs with rare usages or no usages, the Rumplestiltskin puzzle, good for streaming or not, dying from the rock, timing and waiting, the difficulty of the game Deadline, things not appearing on screens, characters that don't appear all the time, not knowing what you're not seeing, the well and figuring out what to do there through dying, dealing with the dragon, solving puzzles multiple ways, timing your throw at the dragon, using water in the pail all over, supporting lots of weird choices, finding the use of the bucket and not experimenting further, verbs you use only once, looking at objects in your inventory, XYZZY, piecing together a series of steps, the Leprechaun puzzle, multiple solutions as a usability issue, losing the goat, giving treasure to the troll, fallback solutions, being able to ignore various obstacles, encouraging exploration, no RPG-style combat, the Fairy Godmother spell, dealing with the witch, lack of mapping between manual and game, eating the witch's house, the fullness of the world, climbing the beanstalk and being high on the foliage, fighting the parser, thinking the pebbles might be for the wolf, sick fairy tales, a sleeping giant, navigating the beanstalk, differences in world structure between different adventure games, proving out the capabilities of a new engine, showstopping spots in an adventure that's more linear, playing a game together, ARGs and the appeal of playing with a crowd, breaking Tim Sr with Space Quest, giving away carrots, goat eating your carrots, top-down design vs bottom-up design, 500K copies sold, relegislating the sexism, The Boss, aspiring to be Solid Snake, getting interested in real world topics via games, creators who are drawn to real-world issues, not fully embracing a difficult topic, having a hard time getting that stuff funded, various examples, escapism in entertainment, fun MGS bits.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Roberta and Ken Williams, Deadline, Infocom, LucasArts, Ron Gilbert, Edge of Tomorrow, Wizard of Oz, Advent, Grimm Fairy Tales, Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Zork, Two Guys from Andromeda, Mark Crowe, Scott Murphy, Reed Knight, Super Metroid, Super Mario World, Metroid, Quest for Glory (series), Manhunter, Betrayal at Krondor, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Blarg42, Final Fantasy IX, Metal Gear (series), Bioshock, Tom Clancy, Far Cry 2, Hideo Kojima, This War of Mine, Papers Please, Cart Life, Valiant Hearts, UbiSoft, Far Cry 5, Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin, Firewatch, Gone Home, Wolfenstein, Star Wars, Yoji Shinkawa.

Next time: Play until you reach the first planet in Space Quest

Links/Notes: Note - the XYZZY Awards still exist!

Dialog with Campbell et al about your mono TV

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 105: King's Quest (part one) Mar 21, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing a pair of very early Sierra adventure games, beginning with 1984's King's Quest: Quest for the Crown. We talk a bit about Sierra and its early contributions to games as a whole and the specific form of the adventure game, setting it in context and discussing taste. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: "About half" of King's Quest

Issues covered: crossing a drawbridge, being top of the game food chain, the rise and fall and rise of adventure games, establishing a formula early on, being unable to get games, hint lines, IBM funding, sweet development deal, four-color video cards, reusable engines, general-purpose machines vs custom machines, leveraging programming work, local-ish company, building a string of franchises, first developers whose names you know, typing in directions, diving into the manual, how to make an adventure game map, the need to restart, lack of direction, number pad, playing with a parser, getting source code for text adventures, verb usability in LucasArts vs Sierra, finding parser edges and the sense of discovery, one-use verbs, having visual feedback in addition to the parser, open world exploration in the parser, different taste in adventures and animation, a brainy game, experimentation, engineers vs pure designers, character mechanics, timing element, hint books, using friends like a hint line, pen and paper similarity, willing suspension of disbelief, blocking off inaccessible areas via art, the wrap-around map, connected world, usability decision?, multi-use puzzles and inventory items, waiting for things, relying on fairy tale lore.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, Apple ][, Infocom, Wizard and the Princess, Roberta and Ken Williams, Egghead Software, IBM, Out of this World/Another World, Karateka, Dynamix, Vivendi, CUC International, Havas, Andromeda, Zork, ADVENT/Colossal Cave Adventure, Ultima, Tetris, ExciteBike, Marble Madness, Montezuma's Revenge, Commodore 64, Ancient Art of War, Ballblazer, Archon, Lode Runner, Disney, Pixar, Ubisoft, Dark Souls, Felix the Cat, Warner Bros, Ralph Bakshi, Mystery House, Manhole, HyperCard, Cyan, Myst, Enchanter, Lost Treasures of Infocom, Activision, Dungeons and Dragons, Greensleeves, Ultima Underworld, Pac-Man, Lucas Rizoli, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Daryl Gates.

Note: It might have been more accurate to say source might have been "assembled" rather than "interpreted"

Links: Duncan Fyfe on PQ4, writing for Waypoint

Next time: Finish King's Quest

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 104: Ultima Underworld (part four) Mar 14, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We talk about how the game comes together at the end and the interconnectedness of it all before we turn to our pillars and takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Segment 1: finishing the game 44:23 Break 44:59 Segment 2: Takeways and feedback

Issues covered: serviceable weapons, Tim realizes he never beat the game before, reuniting pieces of key, going in between levels, breaking down a door, getting a little help from your friends, cup talisman, the taper being a different piece of art, the writ of Lorne, killing all the trolls, Tim finds nine talismans, the crux ansata, Tom and Judy quest, themes of loss throughout the game, the lost world of Cabirus, thematic storytelling here vs larger open worlds, usability issues and keeping track, missing clues and having to scour levels, having an unbreakable sword, worrying about the final room, anticlimactic final room, the final maze and its length, hallucinatory images while running away, dream sequences in Max Payne, wearing the special crown, the moonstone room, Brett ends with a ton of scrolls, wondering about other skill possibilities, finishing at level 15/16, clip of the ending screen, interconnected quests and dungeon, being nervous about a game being broken, QAing this game and finding workarounds, hinting at how to move around the dungeon space, getting frustrated to the point of exploring the non-obvious, the game that justifies the inclusion of quest journals, the wane that proceeds the RPG renaissance, full commitment to simulation, simulating the staleness of food, leaving bloodspots, pushing forward to any idea you could think of, supporting the core fantasy of being in this place, interconnecting systems, focusing on one dungeon, committing to a motivating idea, balance, interconnected levels, pen and paper games, fallen utopia, old rotten and seasoned, choosing enemy types, borrowing from the main games, using archetypes, picking characters based on their abilities and lore, orthogonal design in enemies, varieties of damage types, top-down vs bottom-up approach, potentially bad tropes to take into here, lack of random monster encounters, balancing for different sorts of characters, separating systems, iterating on numbers, leaning on QA, changing enemy behaviors based on weapons, putting the onus on the player, cheating on behalf of the player, GDC and planned interview, parser games. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ultima (series), Mark Eldridge, Max Payne, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Origin, Baldur's Gate, Gold Box games, Martian Dreams Ultima Adventure, Wolfenstein, Doom, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, H. P. Lovecraft, Icewind Dale, The Witcher (series), Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeons & Dragons, Underworld: Ascendant, Mark *Sean* Garcia, Tader Chip, Maas Neotek Proto/Keane, Republic Commando, Halo, Diablo, Brian Taylor, Metal Gear Solid, Skyrim, Deus Ex, Sierra Games, LucasArts, King's Quest, Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, GOG.com, Wizard and the Princess. Next time: King's Quest I, "About half"

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 103: Ultima Underworld (part three) Mar 07, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We take a deeper dive into the leveling system and the magic system and talk about the intersection of RPGs and immersive sims and the various analog elements of this game in particular. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Levels 4-6

Issues covered: rotworm stew, taking notes and having too much to sort through, keeping track using the map, space for a legend, cartography, how the leveling system works vs other games, strengths and weakness of a leveling system, ceding control of the player experience to the RNG, rewarding the finding of mantras and pushing you to search for them, awarding of XP, pushing you to other skills via randomness, sticking with the Sword of Justice because it doesn't break, the intersection of two very difficult genres in terms of balancing, encouraging you to fully explore the map, finding an angry ghost and a talking door, mixing runes to come up with spells, the consistency of 8 virtues and 8 races and 8 talismans, role-playing your decisions, embracing the pen and paper origins, combat pacing and space with magic and weapon timing, swinging a weapon and hitting a wall, weapon mechanics, the tale of Sir Rodrick, essential objects and the possibility of losing the game, sources of weird rendering artifacts, potential optimizations to avoid clipping, Longo Rooms, low fidelity games, using the silver seed for resurrection -- Tim teaches Brett a trick, tracking ownership of objects, identifying AI state using the look button, analog fidelity of systems, inter-level connections of quests and objects, adventure game elements, finding a moonstone and other favorite moments, Tim confesses his hacker past.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Warren Spector, Planescape: Torment, Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder, GURPS/Steve Jackson Games, Wolfenstein 3D, Mark Eldridge.

Next time: Finish the game! (Levels 7 & 8)

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 102: Ultima Underworld (part two) Feb 28, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We discuss the specifics of levels two and three a bit, but also tackle inventory, encumbrance, taking notes on paper, and the delightful map and how those have changed over the years. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Levels 2 and 3

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 UU Discussion 48:46 Break 49:12 Feedback

Issues covered: Brett learns some Lizardman, chatting with goblins and the many civilizations, relationships between factions, killing a she-spider, being fully engaged, the mystery of Sir Cabirus, Tim falls down a hole, leveling up quickly, Brett loses some chain mail, taking paper notes as you play, making lists of details like clues and mantras, physical keys vs logical keys and design trade-offs, imagining player stories, keeping track of key rules, attributing influences to this game vs prior games, annotating the map, drawing a dungeon as you went, automapping and writing on the map, writing a legend, player agency on the map, some map games, the shadow of the map pin, handling inventory, bags within bags, putting inventory responsibility on the player, respecting the player's intelligence, anxiety from previous play-throughs of losing objects, having help from viewers, needing encumbrance space and dropping objects to make room, asking a lot from the player, return of older styles of gameplay to support usability, jankiness of erasing, adapting map to a controller, rules that you discover along the way: leeches and spiking doors, using player tools in Bethesda games, game developer view on objects that you have, dwarf section: beginning middle and end, sense of place, the gazer shooting a beam at you, looking for Shak, repair skills, potential for overspecialization, level cap of 16, the eight virtues and corresponding classes, Joy to the Underworld, playing music on stream, being a completionist and hoarding everything in the hoard room, fixing the audio, podcasts/interviews, level design as a discipline, level design for stealth gameplay, onboarding stealth mechanics and their combination, avoiding overwhelming player (and designer), fantasy fulfillment in Thief, a little goes a long way, designing from moments and working backwards, having vignettes to implement towards, client-facing programming, merging geometry and systems and mechanics, tension in Thief II. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons and Dragons, Eye of the Beholder, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, UbiSoft, The Witcher, Far Cry 2, Miasmata, Joe and Bob Johnson, LOST, Etrian Odyssey, Nintendo, Brian Taylor, Mark Eldridge, Dark Souls, Looking Glass Studios, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Ultima Underworld 2, System Shock 2, Ultima series and classes, Final Fantasy (series), JohnCaboose/Bjorn, Makendi, MaasNeotekProto, Tom Francis, Heat Signature, Floating Point, Gunpoint, PCGamer podcast, Crate and Crowbar, Aaron Evers, Thief, Paul Neurath, Mark Allen Garcia, Metal Gear Solid, Chris Mead, GAMBIT/MIT, Irrational Games, Bioshock, Phillip Staffetius, Final Fantasy IX, Kotaku, MSXII, Gamemaker, Game Developers Conference, Metal Gear Solid 4, John LeCarre, Mark of the Ninja, Star Wars: Republic Commando, Nels Anderson, Thief II, Alien: Isolation.

Links: Tom Francis on emergent narrative

GOG forum link for audio care of Mark Eldridge

Paul Neurath on Thief c/o Aaron Evers

GAMBIT/MIT on Looking Glass c/o Chris Mead Next time: Levels 4, 5, and 6

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 102: Ultima Underworld (part two) Feb 28, 2018

Sections played: Levels 2 and 3

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 UU Discussion 48:46 Break 49:12 Feedback

Links: Tom Francis on emergent narrative

GOG forum link for audio care of Mark Eldridge

Paul Neurath on Thief c/o Aaron Evers

GAMBIT/MIT on Looking Glass c/o Chris Mead Next time: Levels 4, 5, and 6

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 101: Ultima Underworld (part one) Feb 21, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a new series on 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. As usual, we situate the game in time a bit and in the Ultima series as a whole, before delving into the first few hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Level 1

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Underworld 54:54 Break 55:22 Feedback

Issues covered: Brett gets hooked, first person game and a lot of clicking, getting over the initial hump, taking a long time to finish a game, 72-hour game benders, epilepsy and flashing, firsts of their kind year, seeing the walls of the design, branching out with the Ultima series, Ultima Worlds of Adventure, adding simulation to the point of view, not being alone in the first-person space, vector wireframe rendering in the first Ultima dungeons, feeling the presence of the developer, exploration of controls, limited verbs in FPSes, free look, overdesigned mouse interface, not reading the manual, coming full circle to analog controls in the modern day, fine-tuning movement, "this will never catch on," clarity in input, instinct was right but implementation was wrong, poll rates, mechanical mice vs optical mice, Trish the Bard, 80s looking character portrait, innovating on taking a thing from world and dragging into the inventory, the Trello of inventory systems, adding too many things to a bag, UX nightmare, convergence game with systems coming together, top-down design vs bottom-up design, RPG differences between player skill and character skill, gesture-based combat, idea to implementation, fewer barriers to implementation, lack of level designers, taking more risks because of lower costs, dark side of games, using a key in a door, verbs and similarity to adventure games, where the three hours went for Brett, fearing dropping something that you'll need later, traipsing all over, jumping difficulty, factions as an underpinning of the underground society, lack of quest log/journal, does dialogue hint at actions you can take, clarity of the rules, fading fortunes of SSI, playing MGS vs remembering MGS, coloring what follows a good moment, CGI cutscenes painting in the player's impressions of fidelity, the legacy of Lara Croft's portrayal, avoiding blind spots through diverse representation in your development team, preferring Twin Snakes. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Chronicles of Narnia, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Origin Systems, EA, Ultima (series), Richard Garriott/Lord British, Wizardry, Dungeon Master, Gold Box, Eye of the Beholder, The Bard's Tale, Dark Corners of the Earth, Elder Scrolls (series), Looking Glass Studios, Warren Spector, Doug Church, System Shock, Marc MAHK LeBlanc, Tim Stellmach, Deus Ex, Harvey Smith, Randy Smith, Prey, Dishonoured (series), Paul Neurath, Underworld Ascendant, Dune II, Warcraft, Ultima VII, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Hal Barwood, Ecco the Dolphin, Super Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Flashback, Another World/Out of this World, Martian Dreams, Savage Empire, Quake, Wing Commander, Space Rogue, id Software, Stonekeep, Final Fantasy (series), Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest (series), Ogre, Quake, DOOM 2, Terminator, Planescape: Torment, SoundBlaster, Fallout 2, Elder Scrolls: Arena, SSI, Thief, Kupo1256, Christian Schuster, Metal Gear Solid (series), Fallout 3, Todd Howard, Jonah Lobe, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy VII/IX, Travis Grasser, Symphony of the Night, Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Michael, Final Fantasy XV, Christianne Meister, Skyrim, Jeff Buttaccio, GameCube, MGS: Twin Snakes, Shigeru Miyamoto.

Next time: Levels 2 and 3

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 100: Metal Gear Solid (part four) Feb 14, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are are just finishing our series on 1998's Japanese stealth classic Metal Gear Solid. We talk about the end of the game and some narrative choices there that we like and then discuss our pillars for the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To the end!

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 End of MGS 1:00:48 Break 1:01:22 Pillars and feedback

Issues covered: 100 episodes, Tim moving out, extravagant endings in the series, intercutting action scenes, turning codecs into cutscenes later, economic storytelling through codecs and audio diaries, conversational audio diaries, utilizing VO in interesting ways, Brett's new keyboard, the interesting dynamics of the Vulcan Raven battle, cat and mouse, Brett forgets the word "claymore," multiple ways of defeating Raven, using the AI's rules against them, boss/level design/camera synergy, Brett skips a cutscene and has to redo the battle, backtracking and stretching time, cool alloys, keeping a balance between being cool and usability, camera shot of Revolver noticing that Solid is outside the room (sort of a double reversal on the player), hanging out in the cold or hot rooms, Master Miller and throwing Naomi under the bus and yet still being Liquid, Tim recants his feeling that there should be a MGSVI, small universe problem, Chewbacca effect, Naomi and Gray Fox, the Ocelot effect, Ocelot and Liquid reunited, Liquid monologuing outside of Rex, going toe-to-toe with Rex, RoboCop vs ED 209, forcing you to be bold, Liquid as the boss who never dies, Gray Fox confessing his sins, hand-to-hand fighting with Liquid on top of Rex and the uncertain fate of Meryl, the reveal about FoxDie, cloning and the relationship between multiple characters, Dolly the cloned sheep, being the soldier of the century, James Bond themes, Snake Eater, The Man Who Saved The World, two more monkeys jumping on the bed, differences in the endings, jeep battle, low turn rate, tracers, having a third big battle, end-game balance for normal difficulty, Jim Harrison (the politician behind it all), Meryl and Snake riding off into the sunset on their snowmobile, wrapping up themes of love blooming on the battlefield, different endings, juxtaposing the scientific/techy stuff with the philosophical talk, Hal and Dave (joking at the end), post-credits sequence and the Iditarod, writing yourself into corners and cliffhangers, retconning to fit story stuff together, comic book writing and story structure for serialization, commitment to narrative and cinematic presentation, in-engine cutscenes, hardware-acceleration on the PS1, bilinear filtering, best B movies, letting your freak flag fly, all of ones loves and fears being in a game, being generous as an artist, committing to stealth gameplay, high lethality, voice acting, fictional context, experimentation with mechanics, bringing you back through the evolution of mechanics, adding mechanics from a competing or more recent game into a remake, upsetting the balance, new game plus mechanics, new game plus plus and a tuxedo, immersive sims. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: System Shock 2, Metal Gear (series), James Bond, Star Trek, Ron Gilbert, Star Wars, RoboCop, Halloween (Michael Myers), Spy Who Loved Me, The Last Samurai, 2001: A Space Odyssey, George Lucas, Indiana Jones (series), Empires Strikes Back, Final Fantasy VII, Voodoo hardware, Anachronox, Thief, Death Stranding, Guillermo del Toro, Silent Hills, Silent Hill 2, P.T., LeraAtwater, Michael Baker, Silicon Knights, Shigeru Miyamoto, Denis Dyack, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Christian, Travis, Michael, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Looking Glass, Origin Systems, Warren Spector, Doug Church, Ultima VII, Good Old Games, Prey, The Elder Scrolls: Arena.

Next time: Ultima Underworld Level 1

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 099: Metal Gear Solid (part three) Feb 07, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our third episode of our series on 1998's Japanese stealth classic Metal Gear Solid. We talk about a big choice in the game and the things you're not taught, particularly considering how fourth wall breaking it can be, as well as topics like UI choices. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To Vulcan Raven (II)

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Metal Gear Solid 58:54 Break 59:26 Feedback

Issues covered: Brett's carpal tunnel, Decoy Octopus and the DARPA Chief, animals chosen for code names, keeping Octopus in the game, submitting to the torture, big story splits and Dragon Breaks, tone variety in Eastern action cinema, weird untaught mechanics, negative vs positive reinforcement in teaching, blood tuition (learning through death) vs soft failure, gameplay telegraphing vs realistic environments, the staircase section, contextualizing rather than breaking systemic knowledge, rappelling down from the roof, having to do things too many times in boss battles, player skill vs stretching time, using vector art in various weapon UIs etc, grounding and science fiction, Otakon and the guys in the elevator with you, CQC'ing the guys around the elevator, multiple ways of dealing with Sniper Wolf, love blooming on the battlefield, respecting the soldiers, professionalism, catching a cold, Naomi's grandfather and adding layers of random research, using the codec for storytelling, a sequel for the West, Metal Yorke Solid, stealing time on the PC, lessons from Metal Gear Solid to teens, when some of the audience wants one thing and a larger audience wants something else, evolving with the industry and your player base, bands selling out vs finding a wider audience, having games find their own voice in a changing environment, changing characters with actors, Kojima's prequels, expanding the histories of characters.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: other Metal Gear games (Solid and otherwise), Elder Scrolls (obliquely), Jackie Chan, Park Chan-Wook, John Woo, Nintendo, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, James Bond, Die Hard, Hideo Kojima, John Carpenter, Tom Clancy, Linda Nagata (the Red series), The Incredibles, Bastion, Ashton Herrmann, Splinter Cell (series), MSX2, Konami, Philip Yorke, ISS Pro '98, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Ploppy54, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Rock, Tomb Raider (2013), Halo (series), Fallout (series), Star Wars: Starfighter, TIE Fighter, X-Wing, Republic Commando, Rogue Squadron, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Daniel Craig, Star Wars prequels, Gothic Chocobo, Bleem, Connectix's Virtual Game Station, Aaron Giles.

Next time: Actually finish the game

Links: Bleem and VGS

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 098: Metal Gear Solid (part two) Jan 31, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are midway through our series on 1998's Japanese stealth classic Metal Gear Solid. We talk about frustration, the various bosses, and a bit about one-offs. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the torture scene

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 MGS 1:03:10 Break 1:03:45 Feedback

Issues covered: the history of "snake style," sources of frustration, Brett's psychological makeup, frustration in boss battles, the point of no return, finding the mine detector, using the cardboard box, getting through the lasers, using first person, smoking to reveal beams, gadget use in espionage movies, suddenly encountering a tank, stealth mechanics and the tank, tropes and cultural appropriation, 80s movies, elevating a bad B movie into a good B movie, committing to your melodrama, geopolitical themes and the military-industrial complex, subtext about game development, difficulty and frustration with Cyber Ninja, wall boss, human-sized bosses, grounding the game even in its strangeness, bosses can be characters, breaking the fourth wall with Psycho Mantis, reading the memory card, psychological warfare, cutscene leading up to his face reveal, ridiculous backtracking for the sniper rifle, beating Sniper Wolf and getting captured anyway, limited control in the cinematic, Revolver taunting you, focusing on scenes, voice acting video (link in the notes), briefing cutscene, taking joy in our lives despite their problematic elements, assuaging our guilt, carpal tunnel issues, posture issues.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Star Wars: Starfighter, Chris McGee, Andrew Kirmse, Matty Alan Estock, Portal, Day of the Tentacle, Dave Grossman, Tim Schafer, Samus Returns, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, The Wrong Trousers, Nick Park, Metal Gear (NES), Hideo Kojima, James Bond, Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Batman, Escape from New York, The Great Santini, Brawl in Cell Block 99, S. Craig Zahler, Bone Tomahawk, Kurt Russell, Death Stranding, Eternal Darkness, Magneto, Hellboy, Darth Vader, The Incredibles, GoldenEye, Mark Garcia, Ben Hanson, Game Informer, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Drew/Tim Homan, Jeremy Blaustein, Silent Hill 2/3, Anachronox, Björn Johansson, Peacewalker, William Rance, Bleemcast/Dreamcast, Aaron Giles, Revengeance, John Yorke, Pro Evolution Soccer, Phil Yorke, Zone of the Enders, Derek Achoy, Super Mario Odyssey, Nels Anderson, Lyndsey Gallant, Tacoma, Mass Effect 2 & 3, Xbox, COBOL, Thief.

Links: GI The Inside Story of Recording Metal Gear Solid

MGS Briefing

Call Me Snake

Errata:

Brett was confusing Matt Zoller Seitz with S. Craig Zahler. We regret the error.

Aaron Giles was in fact involved with the Connectix software Virtual Game Station.

Next time: Finish the game!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 097: Metal Gear Solid (part one) Jan 24, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning our new series on 1998's Japanese stealth classic Metal Gear Solid. We first situate the game in its time, including some personal reminiscences of how we first came to the title, before turning to the stealth gameplay, the cutscenes, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Revolver Ocelot

Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Segment 1: MGS in time, Beginning of game 1:03:54 Break 1:04:27 Email/Feedback

Issues covered: crawling around in ducts, constantly reaching for your phone, previous games in the series, Brett's first year in the industry, good years in games, influences in American film and TV, melodrama and pulp, wholesale commitment to stealth, demo disc for the gaming, preferring systemic games, pre-rendered cutscenes vs in-engine, Carpenter influences (percussion, minimalistic, and synthy), constant camera movement in the cutscenes, choosing CGI vs in-engine (pros and cons), design considerations for streaming video, pixel density/differences in cutscene vs gameplay, being able to tweak a cutscene until right before you ship, setting mood and art direction, camera choice and having a sense of your surroundings, fitting the map to the camera, comparisons with Thief, tactical espionage and choosing the camera to fit, committing to stealth as a primary mechanic, creative risk in the commitment, high lethality and bouncing off, softening failure, unfortunate sexism, Asian influence as far as character choices, introducing the Cold War/extended peace issues, melodrama and big story choices, divisiveness of exposition, tapping walls as a mechanic, good level design choices, out-sized boss characters, solid introductions, allowing the industry to ask whether we can put ourselves forward in this way, breaking the fourth wall puzzle for the CD case, level design writing checks that your camera can't cash, nostalgia as a factor in appreciating a game, hunting through history for Brett's crazy memory, the cut worlds from Anachronox.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Die Hard, Hideo Kojima, NES, Alex Neuse, PlayStation, Half-Life, Starcraft, Fallout 2, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Rogue Squadron, Thief: The Dark Project, Rainbow Six, Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Kotaku Splitscreen, Kirk Hamilton, Kurt Russell, Michael Biehn, Terminator, Randy Smith, Ken Levine, Daron Stinnett, Atari, Sega, Nintendo 64, Final Fantasy VII, Tomb Raider (1996), Anachronox, LucasArts, John Carpenter, The Thing, Jackie Chan, Alan Stevens, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Sunshine, Game Informer, Aaron Evers, Tom Hall, Planet Anachronox, GameSpy, Jake Hughes, Ronald Railgun, Phil Rosehill, Awesome Games Done Quick, MGS: Twin Snakes, GameCube.

Links: Promo video for Anachronox

Speedrun description of Anachronox

Speedrun of PC MGS

Errata The PS1 did indeed have some hardware support.

Next time: Through the first Sniper Wolf encounter

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 096: Tom Hall Interview Jan 17, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we present our interview with Tom Hall, Project Lead of 2001's quirky Western-built Japanese-style RPG Anachronox. We talk about the team, the labor of love, what got left on the cutting floor, and various other bits and bobs. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:35 Interview segment 55:28 Break 56:00 Mail/outro

Issues covered: the game's science fiction underpinnings, JRPGs and adventure games, the surprise of having the adventure game elements, the lore bible and map of the Universe, generating the background information to make characters sound consistent, creating alphabets, the black and white pirate world, PAL-18's digital home world and cel-shading, knowing what happens next, writing and cinematic direction with tools (PLANET), programming the mini-games (APE), in-depth cinematics and facial animation and mitten hands, getting a story in the bathroom (and starting with the name), talking process with Terry Gilliam, little ideas coming together to unite a concept, having a poisoned past, Nick Danger and radio plays, coming up with the most surprising things you could think of, Democratus having its origins in John Carmack's D&D campaign, a planet walks into a bar, playing with expectations, feeling episodic, making characters come first to drive those episodes, loyalty missions in Mass Effect, hidden content, having different levels for different choices, renaming characters, origin of Paco's and Rho Bowman's names, Stiletto Anyway's origins, crunching too much and team size, team cohesion, structure of ION Storm, Dream Design, doing one take of Walton Simmons, thirty years into the industry, being just a bit ahead of time for mobile, directing Gordon Ramsay, missing the big references to Hitchhiker's Guide, talking about the black and white world, talking crunch, potential achievements for Anachronox, adding achievements to remastered adventure games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tom Hall, SoftDisk, John Carmack, John Romero, id Software, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Apogee, Rise of the Triad, Terminal Velocity, ION Storm, Monkeystone Games, Hyperspace Delivery Boy, KingIsle Entertainment, Loot Drop, PlayFirst, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Monkey Island, Lee Perry, Epic, Fornite, Jet Set Radio, Borderlands, Richard Gaubert, Jake Hughes, Joey Liaw, Brian Eiserloh, Crystal Dynamics, Watchmen, Terry Gilliam, Monty Python, Brazil, Firesign Theater, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Mass Effect, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX, Peter Marquardt, El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez, Band of Brothers, Eidos, Deus Ex, Murder One, Daniel Bengali, ngmoco, JAMDAT, gluMobile/PlayFirst, Cooking Dash/Restaurant Dash with Gordon Ramsay, Diner Dash, Eric Zimmerman, Jeff Green, Marc Laidlaw, Half-Life, Valve Software, Quake 2, Jedi Starfighter, MaasNeotekProto, Day of the Tentacle, Aaron Evers, Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Revolver Ocelot, PlayStation, Hideo Kojima, Peacewalker, PSP, Brandon Fernandez.

Next time: Metal Gear Solid: Up thru Revolver Ocelot

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 095: Anachronox (part four) Jan 10, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are having our fourth and final discussion about 2001's quirky Western-built Japanese-style RPG Anachronox. We talk quite a bit about the specifics of the end of the game, with a diversion into ION Storm, and then talk about our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through to the end!

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Anachronox!

Issues covered: that final battle, splitting up the party, Rho Bowman's adventure on Democratus, Stiletto Anyway's adventure on Democratus, Tim mansplains Star Wars to Brett, we do no work in figuring out the Elementor, Paco's adventure makes a mockery of the military, locks and keys through a million variations, Paco's minigame, party variety, why have unique levels for party members, end of the credits sequence, replayability as an issue in early 2000s games, ION Storm history, splitting off to be a rebel developer, how did this get made, game development rock stardom, Brett's film nerddom, going to Limbus and getting historical and religious context for the whole Chaos/Order thing, character design on Limbus, going to talk to Rowdy, circularity in the story, facial animation system, splitting up the party, heist movie, long car chase scene and Fatima's death, Kuleshov effect, what can and should games notice about player behavior, the final battle, how the Elementor crosses over or whether it does, area effect abilities, post-battle walk out scene, letting your freak flag fly, keeping players guessing, focus on writing and characters, being more playful, humor in games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Aaron Evers, Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider, Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, Tom Hall, Quake, Warren Spector, Deus Ex, ION Storm, Daikatana, John Romero, Unreal, Image Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Todd MacFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Eidos Interactive, EA, Gathering of Developers, Masters of DOOM, New York Times Magazine, id Software, Epic Megagames, Peter Lorre, M., Fritz Lang, Dark Crystal, Time Machine, Die Hard, Sly Cooper (series), Max Payne, Metal Gear Solid (series), Reservoir Dogs, Star Trek, Moby Dick, Christopher Nolan, Batman, Jeff Green, Computer Gaming World, MaasNeotekProto.

Links: Computer Gaming World issue where Jeff Green talks about the company and game

Next time: Interview...? (If not, see the Twitter account)

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 094: Anachronox (part three) Jan 03, 2018

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are having our third discussion about 2001's quirky Western-built Japanese-style RPG Anachronox. We talk quite a bit about the specifics of this section of the game, including the combat elements and leveling, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To the surface of Democratus!

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 Anachronox pt III 1:05:15 Break 1:05:47 Feedback

Issues covered: resolutions (or lack thereof) and taking stock, flying towards the Hive and having a railgun shooter, abstracting away from player skill in RPGs, hybridization, lack of loot, finding new offensive stuff in the environment, using the Elementor, colored bugs and finding them all over, the Hive Queen, saving Democratus and having it... join your party?, tonal shifting every couple of hours, movie tone management, no shackles, could you do this today?, indie studios doing widely different games, how would you do a sequel to this game?, drug missions in Far Cry 4, optional nature of diverse gameplay lending them less force, whether a pure episodic model could work, theoretical possibility of continuing the series, choice between Hephaestus vs Red Light District, Pumping Station, broader humor, introduction of Stiletto Anyway, Stiletto's special ability, tricky design problem -- locking off areas, Rho's description of what's going on quantum physics/astrophysics/temporal physics, moving mass between universes, incorporating the game's ideas all the way down into the UI, the Hephaestus mystery, characters moving around in the environment apart from you, useless randomization, getting the elementor, Krapton comics universe and Rictus the villain, storytelling with comic panels, hologram puzzles, the weird hero capture room, committing all the way to a planet as a party member, the electoral college mockery in 2000, hyperdiegetic lore issues, content coordination, the "dragon break", content coordination and licensing, listening out of order, book club.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Aaron Evers, IrreverentQ, Matty Alan Estock, Makendi, MaasNeotekProto, Ryan (Stats_dr), Jackbox Party Pack/Drawful, Rebel Assault, Descent, Final Fantasy, Witcher III, Aliens, Soul Reaver, Star Trek, What Remains of Edith Finch?, The Unfinished Swan, Vlambeer, Year Walk, Beat Sneak Bandit, Device 6, Simogo, Far Cry 4, Far Cry Primal, Square Enix, Eidos, Outlaws, The Terminator, Ron Gilbert, Rob Howard, Grid Snaps, Star Wars Republic Commando, Ben (from Iowa) Zaugg, Al Gore, Logan Brown, Halo, Jason Schreier, Blood Sweat and Pixels, Halo Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, 343 Industries, LucasFilm, Haden Blackman, Hangar 13, Mafia III, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Ryan Kaufman, Star Wars Galaxies, Bethesda Game Studios, tshokunbi, System Shock 2.

Links: Podcast episode about SWRC

Next time: Finish the game!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 093: At Year's End, Two Dec 27, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have a very special, year-end blast where we talk about some top take-aways and interview moments from the past year. And it's been a busy one, with six interviews and ten games discussed. Thanks for joining us this year. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: defeating Darth Vader, the complexity of the world and reflecting that in TIE Fighter, taking a twist on the Chosen One, developing the character of Gordon Freeman and ultimately cutting the cutscenes, having a scene of level designers competing with one another and also with other companies, making single-player content be moment-to-moment excellence, the enemy AI playing against you in X-COM, flying under the radar, adding dynamic difficulty at the last possible moment, Tim loses his X-COM save file, thematic and story integration, holistic design (between control/mechanics/camera/space), less is more, individual effort shining through, homogenization of game development, nailing the 3D camera, shipping your experiments.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Anachronox, Darren Johnson, Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, Dan Connors, Mark Cartwright, Larry Holland, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Republic Commando, Planescape: Torment, Chris Avellone, Half-Life, Marc Laidlaw, Chuck Jones, Dario Casali, Fallout, Sin, Daikatana, Quake II, Titanfall 2, Respawn Entertainment, Chris Blohm, Julian Gollop, X-COM: UFO Defense, Microprose, Phoenix Point, Star Wars: Starfighter, Fumito Ueda, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Silent Hill 2, Super Mario 64, Battlefront II, Metal Gear Solid, The Last Guardian, Fred Markus, Aaron Evers.

Next time: We return to Anachronox and go down to the surface of Democratus!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 092: Anachronox (part two) Dec 20, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of our discussion about 2001's quirky Western-built Japanese-style RPG Anachronox. We talk about the writing and humor, how those may have developed, and also discuss the characters and their characterization, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Votowne

Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Segment 1: Anachronox 50:23 Break 50:52 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: etymology of sly boots and other forms of boots, the writing style, broad and referential humor, the quest for a size five helmet, comedic space opera, particular interests in the humor, dark humor, lack of boundaries to the writing, Grumpos's Yammer ability, going back and forth with your party on Votowne, having to have Sly in your party, drifting in space conversations, walking a thin line of humor and menace, hinting at Detta before you meet him, is PAL's voice getting in the way?, lip-synching and fully-voiced cinematics, recording all actors in the same room, length of space cutscenes, edited together machinima, paying off on team and technical investments over multiple games, use of multiple locations, feeling like a television series, political commentary, gaining confidence in comedy, individualism in Votowne and Rho Bowman, use of space and environment in combat, combat speed, stone sentinel fight and combat design, figuring out the JRPG rock-paper-scissors stuff, combat challenge and depth (or lack thereof), enabling character dialog based on quest state, Sender Station Station, NPC state or location changes based on quest, boss battles, jeep battle section at end of MGS 1, marker system challenge in SWRC, air steering in Tomb Raider.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nathan Bailey’s 1721 Dictionary of Canting and Thieving Slang, Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, SpaceQuest, Sierra, The Beatles, Tom Hall, Jim Jones, SpongeBob Squarepants, Cartman, Buck Rogers, Kingdom Hearts, Nightmare Before Christmas, Cowboy Bebop, Mass Effect, Planescape: Torment, Chinatown, John Huston, Kingpin, Daredevil, The Godfather, Jeff Morris, Jake Hughes, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Uncharted (series), Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Star Trek (television series), Avengers/Captain America, Final Fantasy IX, Chrono Trigger, Tomb Raider, Drew Homan, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Panther One/Anthony Vaccaro, Asteroids, Pong, Unity, Unreal Engine 4, Hero Engine, GameMaker: Studio, Republic Commando, Nathan Martz, Tomb Raider (2013), Mario (series), TIE Fighter, Half-Life, Julian Gollop, X-COM, Chris Avellone.

Next time: To the Surface of Democratus!

Links: Asteroids tutorial, Step 1: https://youtu.be/7XDcSXVUGsE

GameMaker: https://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker

Brett Making Asteroids in a couple hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7L09FOx8E

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 091: Anachronox (part one) Dec 13, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning our new series on 2001's quirky Western-built Japanese-style RPG Anachronox. We set it in its time, and discuss how we decided to play it and then spend a lot of time on its world-building. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through Bricks

Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Anachronox in time, Initial discussion 38:36 Break 39:04 Thanks and feedback

Issues covered: Games of the Year, how we came to choose Anachronox, 2001 in PC games, mash-ups, lack of character creator, is the character a Chosen One, possible character antecedents, world-building in simple ways and picking up things as you go, avoiding the lore bombs, dialogue trees vs continuing dialogue, progenitor race tropes, technology we don't understand but make use of, more character antecedents, film noir tropes, Boots as sad sack, layout of the introductory area and not getting lost, mix of architectural styles, moving city blocks around, putting ideas into games more quickly, investing in mechanics to make them pay off multiple times, boat action sequence, mini-games, shifting audience expectations, less forgiving audiences, changing suspension of disbelief, character names, a codex with all the names of stuff, potential fragility of scripting, thank yous, German B-thing, Tim's phone audio, musical touches in Mario 64, Brett's favorite Mario 64 levels, games we replay, Brett and Freud, picking games and timing, interviews, difficulty in getting Japanese devs, next time.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Alien Isolation, Nintendo Switch, What Remains of Edith Finch, Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Assassin's Creed Origins, AC Unity, AC Syndicate, id Software, Quake II, Mass Effect, Silent Hill 2, Max Payne, Clive Barker's Undying, Oni, Bungie, Soul Reaver 2, AVP, Star Wars: Starfighter, Halo, Final Fantasy, Deus Ex, Blade Runner, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, David Cage, David Bowie, Starcraft, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Gateway, Rendezvous with Rama, Babylon 5, Geoff Jones, Frederick Pohl, J. Michael Straczynski, Firefly, Sam Spade, Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Grand Theft Auto III, Dark City, City of Lost Children, Alex Proyas, Rufus Sewell, Unreal, Half-Life, Dario Casali, John Romero, DOOM, Chase Thompson, Super Mario 64, Aaron Evers, MDK, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Good Old Games, Metal Gear Solid, Mark Garcia, Gamer Lawyer, Skyrim, Fallout (series), Bioshock (series), Hitman (series), Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Mario Kart, World of Warcraft, Tim Dore, Sigmund Freud, Thief: The Dark Project, Bullfrog, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital, Silent Hill 2, Portal, TIE Fighter, Star Wars: Rogue One, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, System Shock 2, X-COM: Enemy Unknown, Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey, Ashman86, Jason Schreier, Kotaku: Splitscreen, Republic Commando, Chris Avellone, Julian Gollop, Marc Laidlaw, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Larry Holland, The Phantom Menace, AddictArts.

Next time: Up to (and possibly through) Votowne

Corrections: Arthur C. Clarke wrote Rendezvous with Rama. We regret the error.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 090: Super Mario 64 (part four) Dec 06, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are closing our series on 1996 3D platforming sensation Super Mario 64. We start at the end, discuss Koji Kondo's iconic music and finally, our takeaways, before turning to listener feedback. SM64 Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Finished the game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Segment 1: Discussion and Pillars 44:35 Break 45:08 Segment 2: Feedback/next time

Issues covered: the boss battle, getting better at the game, getting those red stars, finding a backflip shortcut, throwing Bowser and figuring out a pattern for yourself, listening for audio cues, desperation, difficulty of the final Bowser fight, having a one-up nearby, building that Bowser battle around the controller, training you for that final battle, ending games, weird final cake, the last few levels, Tiny Huge Island and finding Wiggler, Tim learns you can choose one or the other image to jump into Tiny Huge Island, secret stars, sliding down the ramp, the music, our John Williams, adapting simple melodies across multiple titles, the stickiness of a few Mario musical themes, pulling these melodies forward into modern games, comparing film music to game music, limitations of hardware influencing musical choices, the 3D camera working so well with the level design, accommodating a camera in your level design (vs not), the abstraction that allows exploration of 3D ideas and experimentation, decision paralysis, the hub and spoke structure revisited, not holding up as consistently, green cap, variant gameplay should be easy, endings of games are hard, new combinations of skills, appreciating the game as an adult, more developed critical skills, importing an N64 and renting it out, reconfiguring the levels, speedrunning Mario 64, Brett uses the F word, teleporting out of the world, extending the play of the world, getting to the unreachable coin, swimming in 3D platformers, wish fulfillment in games, octogenarians and nostalgia, physical competence, VR potentially having a role when we are old, targeting wish fulfillment to only one demographic, power fantasy, mobile fantasy fulfillment.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Super Mario Odyssey, Portal, Mario Kart, Daron Stinnett, Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, John Williams, Halo, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy XV, Soul Reaver, Dan Houser, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sasha Visari, Truffles Mochacchino, SEGA Saturn, Tomb Raider, The Hobbit, Starfighter, TIE Fighter, Bobby Oster, Phil Rosehill, Summoning Salt, Awesome Games Done Quick, Audrey Fox, Mikkel Lodahl, Cribbage, Backgammon, Bridge, Ultima, Richard Garriott, Kim Kardashian's Hollywood, Ready Player One, j-dog33, Fallout 3, Silent Hill 2, Anachronox, Republic Commando, Reed Knight, Deus Ex, Tom Hall, id Software, Jeff Green, Computer Gaming World.

Links: Summoning Salt on the Super Mario 64 120-Star World Record Progression

Summoning Salt on the Super Mario 64 0-Star World Record Progression

Super Mario 64 120 Star Race at GDQ

Super Mario 64 0/1 Star Race at GDQ

Half Button Presses

The Super Mario 64 coin that took 18 years to collect

Next time:

Anachronox! Through "Bricks"

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 89: Super Mario 64 (part three) Nov 29, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of our series on 1996 3D platforming sensation Super Mario 64. Tim intros the 'cast for the first time and we discuss both macro and micro design. SM64 Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to 50 stars!

Podcast breakdown: 0:44 SM64 Segment 42:02 Break 42:33 Feedback segment

Issues covered: likening Brett to a car, increasing difficulty of stars within a hub, Brett getting all the stars for a bunch of worlds and figures out how he got there, red coin challenges, rising frustration but increasing skill, getting access to the second Bowser battle, hub and spoke structure, choices and exploration, building a sense of place by allowing players a bit of choice of which path to follow next, linearity as a review trope, sacrificing narrative for non-linearity, player choice reducing narrative urgency, abstraction of narrative helping with non-linear stories, avoiding stress and soft gating, finding stars out of order, dynamic difficulty built into design, maintaining order for consistency and communication's sake, courses as missions, wanting the clues to the other stars earlier, telling stories via stars, tagging the current star, move set with many possibilities from few inputs, triple jumping in place, gaining height, 100 coin stars, profound impact of the game, finding every way to die in Shifting Sand, adding new stuff that doesn't work as well, swimming in 3D character games, variant gameplay should be easier, the difficulty inherent in the flying controls and not making the transition well from 2D, experimentation, mods and getting in, the paintings and the world of 2D, maintaining some jankiness, leaving bugs in, giants killing you in Skyrim, adventure games and intentional blind alleys, motion sickness, being software driven vs hardware driven, gambling and children, not all characters created equal, matching loot box mechanics to the property.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Cadillac, Super Mario Odyssey, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces, Nintendo, Skyrim, Super Mario World, Super Mario Sunshine, Game Developer Magazine, Uncharted 4, Mike Reddy, Half-Life 2, Adam Griffiths, Dan Pinchbeck, The Chinese Room, Dear Esther, Logan Brown, From Software, Paper Mario, Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Super Mario 3D Land, Halo, Day of the Tentacle, Wolverine, Aaron Evers, PSVR, Vive, Oculus, The Witness, Shadow of the Colossus, Alien: Isolation, TIME Magazine, Ben Zaugg, EA, Madden, FIFA, Aaron Rodgers, Lionel Messi, Star Wars, Battlefront, Piotr/jatyoni.

Next time: Beat Bowser (finally)!

Links: I could not find the issue of Game Developer I wanted, but here's the magazine archive

Adam Griffiths's mod

That One Time It's Different

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 088: Super Mario 64 (part two) Nov 22, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of our series on 1996 3D platforming sensation Super Mario 64. We talk about level design, what permits its density, and then fall into a long chat about Nintendo's innovations in controls. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To the second Key!

Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Segment 1: SM64 Talk 43:46 Break 44:14 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: whether or not Mario is a plumber, how many stars to get, "not every star is created equal," the different blocks and where you need them, roomier spaces and how level design is overlaid to have multiple goals in a single space, clarity of options but less clarity of use, gating stars based on preceding actions, underestimating the balance and tuning of the designers, progression of difficulty of the stars, best of both worlds, getting later stars by luck and the sense of discovery, quest-like nature of the stars (and did the names come first), camera setting up where you are, layering exploration in 3D and space and time to play and figure things out, analog nature of space, pulling your attention, getting through a challenge the first time (when you come back), neuroscience digressions avoided, integrating skills with time away, getting over the skills threshold, Whomp's Fortress and level design density, lessons for 3D level design, abstraction vs realism and context, basing design on mechanics and metrics, little digression of Super Mario Odyssey, the 7th star, values of each coin, finding the 7th star, mechanical depth with stealth sections, teaching the player fine motor control, designing to the controller, Wii Sports as a tech demo for the controller, teaching people to use the controller, a list of Nintendo's firsts, game makers vs toy makers, tangibility and holism and aesthetics of the total experience, taking risks with hardware, camera controls making more sense as buttons, camera attempts to work with your intentions based on Mario's facing, 8 red coin elevator and facing, discovering intentionality, partnership between player-camera-level design, mismatching level to camera, camera designers, using camera as cinematography to convey emotion but be playable, claustrophobic camera work in Tomb Raider 2013, centering the camera on a point you're circumnavigating, the first 3D platformer, the horror of children, whether AAA games are sustainable on $60 per unit cost, microtransactions in mobile, the Star Wars tax, IP secondary product monopolies, team size and content scale, boxed product cost, design against used games, closures, generation shifts, hit-driven business, pro controller, Nintendo solves my carpal tunnel problems.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Super Mario 64, Dr. Mario, Nintendo, Super Metroid, Super Mario Sunshine and Galaxy, Super Mario World, Zelda, Tetris, Super Mario Odyssey, Wii Sports, Nintendo GameCube, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo DS, GameBoy, Virtual Boy, Game & Watch, GameBoy camera and printer, WaveBird, Eternal Darkness, Remi Lacoste, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (2013), Ubisoft, Prince of Persia, Rise of the Tomb Raider, LonelyBob, Jumping Flash, PlayStation, Tomb Raider (1996), Johnson 'Blue' Siau, Silent Hill, Anatomy, Kitty Horrorshow, Jeremy Fischer, James Roberts, Battlefront 2, EA, Super Mario RPG, Destiny, Bungie, Activision/Blizzard, Star Wars, NFL, Halo 5: Guardians, Battlefield, LucasArts, George Lucas, Bethesda Game Studios, tj_mackey432, Game Junk podcast, Joet74, Smahimus87, X-COM, Inner Space, Fantastic Voyage.

BrettYK: 0 TimYK: 48

Next time: To 50 Stars!

Links: GameFAQs about Jumping Flash

Retro-style horror games from Johnson Siau

Back of envelope costs of developing a game

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 087: Super Mario 64 (part one) Nov 15, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are just beginning a new series on 1996 3D platforming sensation Super Mario 64. We set the game in its time and then discuss the big up-front issues, particularly the camera and how new elements and mechanics sometimes require fictional underpinnings before turning to other issues, including listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the first key!

Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Segment 1: SM64 in time and initial thoughts 47:59 Break 48:28 Segment 2: Feedback

Issues covered: situating the game in 1996, cover shooters, fully integrating new mechanics, carrying forward 2D mechanics to 3D mechanics, the physics implementation, momentum and friction, 3rd person camera and control, animation control vs player control in 3D vs 2D, dust effects, shadow circle for depth perception (not realism), the hedge maze and following a rabbit to develop the camera, putting control on the player and punting on difficulty, Brett's history with 3D Mario and other 3D platformers, waiting for the camera to catch up, micromanaging the camera, centering the camera behind Mario, splitting attention with the camera and easing up on difficulty as a result, simpler levels, fictionalization of mechanics, introduction of the camera, controlling a second person, Hong Kong cinema, other examples of fictionalizing mechanics, the uses of the Force, holograms in RepComm, big transitions in games history, commitment to solving the camera, various framing with the camera, level design of camera control, Tim's OCD approach, hats, snow physics, having difficulty with the pulled out 3D, analog level design, tighter difficulty in more 2D levels, macro loop of setting you back to the hub level, knowing how much the player has played via door gating, masters of onboarding, reinforcing 3D-ness via boss battles, forgiving damage wheel, Tim's theory of red squares, red mirrors mythology, achievements from a developer perspective, optionality of achievements, console ecosystems, not usually driving development, a trend we were forced to implement, trend towards game length, pricing models, Brett's music-deafness, horror music not calling attention to itself, ambient soundtrack vs score, suspending disbelief and buying into horror combat difficulty, repetition in combat, the possibility of threat, Final Fantasy XV block mechanic, P. T. as playable trailer, Maria ending, history of the 120 stars run, speedrunning record breaking.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Silent Hill 2, Gears of War, Kill Switch, Super Mario (series), Fred Markus, Nintendo 64, Tomb Raider, Shadows of the Empire, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Retro Studios, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, Quake, Crash Bandicoot, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Crystal Dynamics, Soul Reaver, UbiSoft, Shigeru Miyamoto, Daron Stinnett, Star Wars: Starfighter, Wipe Out, Rayman 3, Sly Cooper (series), Ratchet and Clank (series), GameCube, Margot Kidder, Mike Myers, Max Payne, John Woo, Tacoma, Jedi Starfighter, Republic Commando, Prince of Persia (2008), Tomb Raider (2013), Banjo-Kazooie, Yu-Gi-Oh, Blind Guardian, Mike Vogt, X-COM: UFO Defense, Julian Gollop, Firewatch, Uncharted (series), Steam, Good Old Games, Kotaku, Rare Replay, Halo 5, Dan Doyen, Xbox Live, Nathan Martz, Painkiller, God of War: Ascension, Ninja Theory, Visceral, EA, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, The Order: 1886, Eric Kozlowsky, P. T., Akira Yamaoka, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Final Fantasy XV, Hideo Kojima, Mads Mikkelsen, Eric Shields, Kevin Kauffman, Patricia Hernandez, Phil Rosehill.

BrettYK: 1 TimYK: 72

Errata:

Note, the article (in links below) about a small game developer leaning into Steam features appeared on Rock Paper Shotgun, not Kotaku. Dev Game Club regrets the error.

Links:

Real-Time Cameras by Mark Haigh-Hutchinson

Developer making little games on Steam

Could Visceral have found another way?

Making of Silent Hill 2

History of the 120 Stars run

Beating the world record three times in 36 hours

Next time: Up through the second key!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 086: Silent Hill 2 (part three) Nov 08, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have made our way to that hotel in Silent Hill 2 and then wended our way homeward. We discuss the climactic events of the game, our theories on who represents what, the multiple endings, and a host of other issues including takeaways and listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To the end of the game

Podcast breakdown: 0:43 Segment 1: Discussion of final third 1:07:20 Break 1:07:53 Segment 2: Takeaways and Listener Feedback

Issues covered: the chainsaw and why I didn't use it, Tim's last bit of the prison (getting stuck in the Purgatory room), the dumb keypad puzzle, Tim admits again that Brett is smarter, puzzle opacity, actually moving the room around, puzzles with thematic elements, the gallows area and the scary audio, Brett's play time and Tim's, finding Maria again, attract mode and Maria scene, Tim wanting more from the Maria moment, Brett's theory of Silent Hill and guilt, distinctions in Western vs Eastern horror, Eddie and Angela failing to escape their inner guilt, James maybe getting out, Silent Hill as private hell, Laura as potentially a desired child, psychology of a victim, evidence supporting Angela as molestation victim, the lack of rationality of the space, developers intentions toward surrealism/abstraction, is this room pumping out fog?, Eddie's psychotic break, the weird design choice to have long hallways and empty rowboat sections, James's water plane, similarity of hotel structure to apartments, the shelf and the elevator, the disappearing letter, "They Metroided you," the stealth mechanic, the tin can of light bulbs (and phoning it in), choice of environments across the game, watching the video tape and how Mary died, the use of the radio in the room, overly subtle choices, hotel degrading further, supporting multiple endings, what James needs vs whether Mary is in some sense real, the various endings and how to trigger them, commitment to symbolism and themes, Pyramid Head as most iconic horror figure, economical design, fog and lighting technology vs longer draw distances, flashlights, focusing on a few things rather than longer draw distances, indie games drawing from Silent Hill 2 rather than Resident Evil, Tim doing the intro, difficulty settings and mechanics, surfacing mechanics poorly, resource management, lack of threat, vulnerability.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Winona Ryder, Beetlejuice, Batman, Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Stranger Things, Ron Gilbert, Tommy W/IamtheworsT88, Ju-On: The Grudge, The Ring, Jean-Paul Sartre, Stephen King, The Mist, God of War, Metroid, The Shining, The Naked Lunch, Resident Evil, Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, Metal Gear (series), Unreal, Doom 3, GTA III, Final Fantasy (series), Penumbra, Amnesia, Jonathan DeLuca, Caleb Smith, GamaSutra, Star Wars: Starfighter, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Alan Wake, Dead Space, Outlast, Eternal Darkness, Frictional Games, Mikael Danielsson, The Last Door (Seasons 1 and 2), Prisoner of Ice, Sierra Games, Dark Corners of the Earth, Shadow of the Comet, Infogrammes, Alone in the Dark, Bob Dylan, LucasArts, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo 3DS.

BrettYK: 2 TimYK: 49

Links: Off Camera Secrets https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=-K_oM9waKIM

Next time: Super Mario 64! Check the Twitter feed for info as to how far.

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 085: Silent Hill 2 (part two) Nov 01, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the middle of our three-episode series on Silent Hill 2. We spend a lot of time talking about the section in the hospital and the potential meaning or personification of Pyramid Head. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up until the Labyrinth

Podcast breakdown: 0:34 Single segment this week!

Issues covered: Tim's Halloween costume, picking favorite moments, Pyramid Head first interactive encounter, his reputation, character design, ninja/tabi boots, wading right off into the water, following Pyramid Head, water as a theme, the drowned people under the lake, possible subtext, anthology rather than series, New England horror vibe, "something's up with that kid," differences between Maria and Mary, madonna/whore complex, James's reactions, the uncanny valley of character motivations, an "adult game," having different versions of Laura Palmer, influence of David Lynch's films, companion AI, game over if you kill Maria accidentally, running into Eddie in the bowling alley, seductively posing Maria in various locations, turning companion AI into strengths, a place more terrifying than the apartments, "ugh, the nurses," discomfort with sexuality, being uncomfortable in a hospital with his dead wife, is it all in your mind?, the doctor's note and the "other side," Pyramid Head as a personification of an idea rather than a character, map mechanics though they could be better, lack of distinction between rooms you must have to visit and those you don't, what's the use of an empty chest or a mimic in RPGs, Maria lying down and the breathing in the other side, the rooftop weirdness, does Pyramid Head trigger the radio, silly keys, best key in a video game: hair and bent needle, James turns his head at items of interest, green goop, RE training you to follow the science, Laura knows Mary from the hospital, maintaining the pieces that fits and dropping the clues that don't, the creature design of the Flesh Lips, tilting camera, how Brett measures space, map reset, production value foul, question of when Maria comes to the other side, Tim kills Maria, losing Maria to Pyramid Head, unnecessary combat working against horror, descending down down down, do you want to jump down the hole?, the weird hotel game show, humor in Asian horror, fidelity in horror games, lethality and vulnerability, embracing style, a handful of scary lo-fi games, less is more.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Winona Ryder, Stranger Things, Final Fantasy (series), Silent Hill: Homecoming, The Collective, Cloverfield (anthology series), Resident Evil (series), Richard Bachman, Stephen King, The Secret World, Hitman, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Halloween (film), David Lynch, John Carpenter, Halo 6, Uncharted (series), Day of the Tentacle, Ron Gilbert, Lord of the Rings (obliquely), Bjorn Johansson, Inception, George Romero, John Romero, Dungeons & Dragons, Lost, Freddy Krueger, Amnesia, Alien: Isolation, Metal Gear Solid, The Host, Shakespeare, Michael Ficus, Cthulhu, The Shrouded Isle, Tanya Short, KitFox Games, Alone in the Dark, Splatterhouse, Friday the 13th, Minecraft, Infocom, The Lurking Horror, Cameron Kunzelman, Epanalepsis, Kitty Horrorshow, David Pittman, Minor Key Games, Eldritch, Slayer Shock, Frictional Games, Soma, Penumbra, Dark Corners of the Earth, H. P. Lovecraft.

BrettYK: 1 TimYK: 50

Next time: Finish Silent Hill 2!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 084: Silent Hill 2 (part one) Oct 25, 2017

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are just beginning a new and shorter series on Silent Hill 2. We set the game in its time period, and dive in quickly to the madness that brings us to that quaint little town, Silent Hill. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through the end of the apartments

Podcast breakdown: 0:37 Silent Hill 2 51:15 Break 51:45 Feedback

Issues covered: revisiting our interview with Julian Gollop, Julian's mum, PlayStation 2 year one, dividing the critical audience with The Room, Konami firing Kojima and turning to other industry, Tim not knowing what the game was, campiness of Resident Evil, walking through the apartments in the dark, the fog and short draw distance, how the game starts, elegant narrative, putting you in the mind of the protagonist, grief, "early walking simulator," immediate tension and danger, psychological thriller and horror elements, the camera -- fixed vs semi-fixed, build-up of tension, no cognitive dissonance between player and character, id/ego/superego, economy of design, bold choices in controls, intention through controls, audio terror and musical stingers, PlayStation technology, fog particles and fill rate, interior darkness, Tim's television environment, complicity, bloody footprints, jump scares in RE vs knowing something's coming (via the radio), learning through failure with a jump scare, Riddle Difficulty, lock and key puzzles, Harry Mildred Scott, case of canned juice, examining objects, save game representation, red handkerchiefs, Pyramid Head's blood and gore, psychosexuality, the enemies with the legs top and bottom, Pyramid Head as Id, Ego in James hiding from the Id, fear of confronting the primal, contra Nemesis or other RE enemies, the other characters, hallway reuse, description of PT, difficulty and usability, building a game for yourselves, wider demographics, more conservative finances, maintaining the young perspective, finding the right difficulty for your goals, size of the space in Souls games, Silent Hill remaster, some technical concerns, horror is about what you can't see, emulating the original experience, streaming stuff over the web, playing on a CRT, having a lot to respond to, layering in unexpected variables in X-COM, picking classics, the stuff that sticks with you, the complexity of the Oblivion leveling system, Skyrim as aspirational leveling system.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Julian Gollop and the Gollop family, Fallout, Konami, Ico, GTA III, Metal Gear Solid 2, Jak & Daxter, Twisted Metal Black, Max Payne, Black & White, Halo, Silent Hill series, Team Silent, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Sam Barlow, Her Story, Silent Hills, Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, PT, Resident Evil, Pink Gorilla, Twin Peaks, Stephen King, Alan Wake, Jacob's Ladder, Freud, God of War, Amnesia, Sega, Nintendo, Microsoft, Star Wars: Starfighter, Koei, Square, Capcom, Alone in the Dark, Gollum, Ingmar Bergman, Halloween, Michael Keane, Ashley Riot, Vagrant Story, Super Mario World, Oblivion, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Demons's Souls, X-COM, Wayne Cline, Dmitry Pirag, Organ Quarter, Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics, PlayStation Now, Cameron Hass, Final Fantasy IX, Planescape: Torment, Shadow of the Colossus, TIE Fighter, Phantasmagoria, Civilization, Final Fantasy VII, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate.

BrettYK: 4 1/2 TimYK: 46

Links: Brett on difficulty

Next time: Up to the Labyrinth

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 083: Julian Gollop Interview Oct 18, 2017

Welcome to this special bonus interview episode of Dev Game Club, where we welcome Julian Gollop into X-COM Base Provolone for a chat. We delve into the genesis of the game, how a publisher saved the game and itself, and many other topics surrounding the development of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Gollop Interview 1:05:20 Break 1:05:50 Next time

Issues covered: Julian's ludography, genesis of X-COM, adding isometric rendering, Microprose's demands of the Gollops, interceptions, bolting on a strategic layer atop the tactical model, having more intelligent aliens and reverse engineering, men in black not making it in, intrapublisher competition, tabletop boardgaming and influence, miniature wargaming, simultaneous movement games, division of labor, geoscape rendering, going to the pub with the producer, getting canceled and not knowing about it, being developed under the radar, QA standing up for the game, working in-house, seeing through the cruft, advancing the alien agenda (mission counts), scaling difficulty, game not being played through before ship, small QA team, adding a difficulty scaling system last-minute, the save game bug, enjoying a simulation of intelligence (of an alien nature), how the alien tech tree works, deployment tables for mission types, save-scumming, theorizing about the difficulty curve, difficulty as draw and happy accidents, "When gamers were gamers," QA as a critical team element, explicit research goals, research as storytelling, procedural generation of level tile placement, descriptions of Phoenix Point, 4X with a declining population, explicit story, the Phoenix Project.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: 2010, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mythos Games, X-COM (series), Laser Squad, Lords of Chaos, RebelStar (series), Codo Technologies, Laser Squad Nemesis, UbiSoft, Snapshot Games, Microprose UK, Stephen Hand, Civilization, Gerry Anderson, UFO (TV series), Thunderbirds, Space: 1999, Alien Liaison, Timothy Good, Bob Lazar, Squad Leader, Sniper, SPI, RoboRally, John Reitze, Martin Smiley, Spectrum Holobyte, Chris Blohm, Final Fantasy IX, X-COM: Apocalypse, Phoenix Point, Dark Souls, John Broomhall, HP Lovecraft, Cthulhu, FIG, Fallout, Tim Cain, EA, Sid Meier, John Carpenter, The Thing, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Link Between Worlds, Wasteland II, The Evil Within.

BrettYK: 0 TimYK: 43

Links: Phoenix Point

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