Dev Game Club

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DGC Ep 338: Dwarf Fortress (part one) Feb 22, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our themed series on the flexibility of text with 2006's Dwarf Fortress. We set the game in its time and then start delving into the play of the game, and the steep cliff of learning how to play it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A couple of hours

Podcast breakdown: 0:46 Dwarf Fortress 54:36 Break 55:13 Feedback

Issues covered: an early early access game, ASCII vs glyphs, setting the game in its time, lack of simulation games at the time, similar games we've played, not knowing how to categorize the game, failure to launch, not playing the game but playing the learning of the game, exploring the game's systems, bouncing off tremendously, in-game help, "losing is fun," being different from the mainstream, an opening cutscene and music, fictional grounding and world generation, the depth of the dwarves, getting clues from the help and discovering how to do those things, the minimal interface, the combinatorics of choices made, being in a jungle vs a pine forest, having a sad dwarf and building for them, reassigning dwarf abilities, balancing for combat by what the fortress produces, thinking ahead and attracting attention, invading raccoons and a miasma, losing a sense of scale of time, seasons and weather, a flowing river, the little stories you see play out, the tamed feral cat, a cave-in, the ant farm appeal, moments of discovery, levelling up, turning someone into a recruit, games getting shorter if they are level-based, eyes bigger than stomach, scope creep problems, overstuffing a game, systemic expansion, reactive planning in Rogue vs grinding in Diablo, increasing player agency, customizing TTRPGs to react to the players, running the games in our brains, a framework for storytelling, dabbling in game design without having to do it from scratch, accommodating flexibility and adaptation, having a lot to keep in your head, simpler rulesets, designing for physical vs digital, designed scarcity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Artimage, Bay 12 Games, Zach and Tarn Adams, Rogue, Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Gears of War, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, New Super Mario Bros, TES: Oblivion, Final Fantasy XII, Dead Rising, Okami, Zoo Tycoon, Thrillville, Civilization, The Sims, Populous, SimCity, Skyrim, Minecraft, Kamil, Branden, Assassin's Creed, Fallout (series), Morrowind, Rogue Legacy 2, Star Wars: Starfighter, Murray Lorden, Diablo 2, Nintendo Switch, Nick Miller, Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Joel Gifford, Marvel Snap, Hearthstone, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Dwarf Fortress!

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

DGC Ep 337: Plundered Hearts (part two) + Twine Bonus Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Plundered Hearts, the pirate romance text adventure, and also turning to a short bonus discussion about Twine games. We mostly discuss our takeaways before turning to the bonus discussion. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:18 Takeaways 51:02 Break 51:12 Bonus Discussion

Issues covered: text adventure length, an introductory adventure and the audience it sought, being unable to market, a diversion to Rogue Legacy 2, finding a parser bug, game pack-ins, losing a thing to the parser, a garter on a crocodile, waiting and responding to player choice, playtesting internally, not knowing to wait, inventory combination vs revisiting every location you've missed, failure-driven games, piecing clues together through trial and error, choosing your verbs carefully, whether there are multiple solutions, the hostility of a trial-and-error design, subverting your genre through mechanics, Tim's life as a series of flow charts, a structure still used today, flow charts for puzzle steps, working back from a problem to the solution, responding to your players, using good writing to provide a rich experience, interesting work coming from diverse sources, being playful with text, Twine as an environment, what you can do with good writing and simple tools, text effects, the approachability of the tools, personal games, an experimental game and interpretation, the structure of "howling dogs," simulation aspects, commentary on games, the default response and the "that's interesting," poetic/evocative/allusive tone, being in a browser and the affordances, a commentary on the games industry, the anxiety-provoking games, feeling seen, being exactly spot-on, a learning tool, the value of constraints.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dark Souls, Zork, Infocom, Byte, Nibble, EGM, Nintendo Power, Rogue Legacy 2, Halo, LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, Emily Short, Counterfeit Monkey, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Dungeons & Dragons, MYST, Space Quest, King's Quest, Reed Knight, Ron Gilbert, Peter Pan, Errol Flynn, Geena Davis, Cutthroat Island, Matthew Modine, Activision, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Chris Klimas, Hypercard, howling dogs, Porpentine, The Writer Will Do Something, Matthew Seiji Burns, Tom Bissell, Game Developer magazine, Magical Wasteland, IF Comp, Andrew Plotkin, Meg Jayanth, Richard Hofmeier, Papers Please, Hot Pockets, Mountain Dew, Warhammer, Frog Fractions, Universal Paperclips, Frank Lantz, HP Lovecraft, Melville, Shakespeare, Mark Laidlaw, Eliza, Zachtronics, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Errors! It was not Papers, Please (which is also excellent and by Lucas Pope), but Cart Life that was by Richard Hofmeier

Links: When You Say One Thing and Mean Your Motherboard

Next time: ...?!

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

DGC Ep 336: Plundered Hearts (part one) Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our mini theme of the flexibility of text. We examine the Infocom era by playing a late title, Plundered Hearts. We discuss some of the rougher aspects of the game and the mechanics of text adventures, including the facilities of the language and some of its modern descendants. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Tim (all), Brett (the first section)

Issues covered: setting the game in its time, graphic adventures in the time, the death of Infocom, the variety of Infocom's game, Tim pulling his hair out, the cinematic nature of the game, some digressions on Deadline, extending the play through difficulty, saving the game, puzzles and wordplay, exploring the parser, accommodating the player, playing with tropes, Tim misses the boat, a bit of description of the parser and virtual machine, rooms and inventory, fore and aft vs north and south, abstraction and flexibility, restrictions, great graphics via visualization, the perfect run and the perfect score, the modern text adventure market, trigger warning for adult themes, a female protagonist, failure states, "a fate worse than death," a commentary about the dangers for women in the world, a game that she wanted to play, the context of the medium and the inherent danger of the world, having an impactful victory, Vermin's SL1 of Dark Souls, Pippin Barr and experimental games, Break Out and performance art, from Rogue to Diablo.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Rogue, Calamity Nolan, Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, Aaron Reed, Maniac Mansion, Sierra Online, Space Quest 2, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Nintendo/NES, Punch-Out, Final Fantasy, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Day of the Tentacle, Cornerstone, Zork, Deadline, Deathloop, The Lurking Horror, Ballyhoo, Moonmist, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Activision, Sea of Thieves, Amy Briggs, Agatha Christie, Murder She Wrote, Sleep No More, Colossal Cave Adventure, Apple ][, Volkswagon, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Dark Souls, Tomb Raider, Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, Sir Ian Livingstone, Ink/Inkle, Around the World in 80 Days, Sorcery (series), Heaven's Vault, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Suspended, Brian Moriarty, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Dark Souls, Emily Short, Elsinore, Pirates of the Caribbean, verminthewepper, Pippin Barr, David Wolinsky, Marina Abramovich, The Artist Is Present, Kill.Screen, GameThing, Breakout, don't die, Father Beast, Diablo, Ragnarok Valhalla, Glenn Wichman, The Eggplant Show, Dave Brevik, Moria, Nethack, Oliver Uv, Brogue, Caves of Qud, Cogmind, Rogue Legacy 2, Mark Garcia, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: A bit of a bonus and takeaways!

Errata: It's a babelfish, I can't believe I couldn't remember that

Brett confused Astrologaster with Heaven's Vault (he was referring to the latter)

Links: Interactive Fiction Database

GameThing podcast!

Pippin Barr's site Don't Die by David Wolinsky

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

DGC Ep 335: Rogue Legacy 2 Bonus Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we elaborate our series on Rogue by looking at one that continues its legacy, that is, Rogue Legacy 2. It's right there in the name! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few hours (well, about a dozen for Brett)

Issues covered: Rogue-likes and Rogue-lites, comparing it a bit with Spelunky, the journal in Spelunky, games like it Tim has played, getting something out of runs, unlocking character types, bespoke levels vs tiled spaces and level generation, kitchen sink design, the clarity of the legacy, the punishment of starting over from scratch, not feeling like I got any further, quality of life improvements, the many ways you can make choices, terrific music, seeing your life flash before your eyes, humorous traits, saying yes to everything, sequel polish, the verb mix, grinding here vs JRPGs, improving skills, wrapping Rogue elements, multiple currencies, maintaining the Rogue with taking the gold, psychology of gold, removing a pillar and losing some enjoyment, knowing someone who beat Rogue, beating Darth Vader, an emergent property of Rogue, making a game you could play yourself, the cleverness and wondering how deep it can go, the punishment of Dark Souls and the progression layer, preferring an endpoint, long-term commitment, other Rogues to check out, a discussion of kit-bashing, kit-bashing and the art department, model kits and the origin of the term, kit-bashing in film, learning to parry.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Spelunky, Clue (obliquely), Colin Northway (obliquely), Dead Cells, Castlevania, Darius Kazemi, Oliver Uv, Cellar Door, PlayStation Vita, Dark Souls, Hades, Humphrey Bogart, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Darren Johnson, TIE Fighter, Derek Yu, Boss Fight Books, Sebastian Deken, Final Fantasy VI, Civilization, Paul Pierce, Haden Blackman, Diablo, njallain, Roguelike Celebration, International Roguelike Convention, Brogue, Caves of Qud, Gamma World, Cogmind, Michael Brough, 868-HACK, mysterydip, Maas Neotek Prototype, Ian Milham, Dead Space, Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout (series), Skyrim, Republic Commando, Star Wars, Industrial Light & Magic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bloodborne, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA!

Links: Darius Kazemi on Generating Spelunky

Caves of Qud and Wave Function Collapse

Brogue's Mechanisms

Michael Brough on Roguelikes

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord: https://t.co/YVZOe7ZygI DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 334: Rogue (part two) Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our brief series on Rogue, though admittedly if you want the full experience, cut up the two episodes into one minute pieces and randomly select fifty to eighty of those pieces and play them in random order. This week we talk about strategies, life lessons from Rogue, and of course give our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few more hours (Tim) and way too many (Brett)

Issues covered: a visit by June, meeting a griffin, lack of physical damage in creatures, desirable item assessment, changing how you play by what you find, combinatorics, not knowing how many good wands there are, Brett's many strategies, traps and their impact later, the importance and pressure of food, inventory management, having to level up as you go, invisible creatures, regeneration, information is power, constraints dictating the design, treasure rooms and teleportation, the anecdote factory, whether items are weighted, iterating the design, monsters carrying items, fearing the kryptonite ring, the loot factory naming scheme, your first cursed item, life lessons learned from Rogue, resting too long, throwing potions, confusion, multiple dice games and scalability, the profound impact of constraints, someone oughta make a genre out of this, efficient for development, finding my exit strategy, simple objects creating depth, making the most of mechanics, yes and, the power of iteration, grinding as a failed strategy, always having a chance you might win, signing up for the experience, the supreme flexibility of text, comedy and the roguelike, retention and the roguelike, incorporating RPG elements, resetting a space.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Valheim, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dark Souls, Colossal Cave Adventure, Infocom, Space Quest, King's Quest, MYST, Spelunky, Diablo, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek, Storyteller, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, Shadowrun, Solitaire, Hunt the Wumpus, mysterydip, Ron Gilbert, Goat Simulator, Zach Gage, Deus Ex, Prey, Dishonored (series), Deathloop, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Bonus game!

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

DGC Ep 333: Rogue (part one) Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1980's seminal and genre-naming title, Rogue. We set the game in time and talk about what constitutes the genre before diving into some particulars. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few runs

Issues covered: buying the game in a box, being disappointed in the ASCII, being turned off by procedural games, the differences in later games, the lore of the game, playing on a mainframe, the roots of so many games in text format, a top 50 achievement in games, the elements of the Rogue-like, procedural generation, inventory, randomized items, permadeath, getting over the hurdles in types of games, a chain reaction of bad things, clicking with a specific experience, simulating the rogue-like, a long shadow, playing to get a feel, being terrified of letters, trying things at random, a voyage of discovery, knowledge, renaming everything, consistent descriptions, thinking about strategy, the cumbersome bow mechanics, more depth than expected, the possibilities of emergence, anecdote factory, "wait, there are bear traps?"

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Adventure, Atari 2600, Colossal Cave Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons, Egghead Software, Moria, Nethack, Jamie Fristrom, ADOM, Angband, Zork, Infocom, Mystery House, On-Line Systems, Sierra Online, Ken and Roberta Williams, Hunt the Wumpus, Star Trek, Pac-Man, Battlezone, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Activision, Taito, LucasArts, Space Quest/King's Quest, Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, Ken Arnold, DARPANET, World of Warcraft, Mario (series), Dark Souls, Rogue Legacy, Epyx, Spelunky, Oblivion, Morrowind, PSP/Vita, Andy Nealen, Diablo, Calamity Nolan, Dead Cells, Eggplant (podcast), mysterydip, Clint Hocking, Patrick Redding, Mark Garcia, Artimage, LostLevels, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: Get that Amulet of Yendor!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord: https://t.co/YVZOe7ZygI DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 332: A Year In Review Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we look back at the interview that were, relistening and highlighting some great bits from our conversations with other developers this year. We again extend our thanks to Jaime Griesemer, Clint Hocking, Patrick Redding, Rosie Katz, and Ian Milham.

Thanks too to our perennial thanks: Kirk Hamilton, who composed our intro and outro music, Aaron Evers who sponsored it, and Mark Garcia for our logo and our store.

Finally, thank you also to our listeners, for bringing up interesting questions each week, for supporting the things we do, and just for listening.

Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Next time: On January 4th, we return with a new game for a new year.

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

DGC Ep 331: Dead Space Bonus Interview with Ian Milham Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our bonus episodes about Dead Space by chatting with Ian Milham, who was a former LucasArts colleague of the hosts and the Art Director on the space horror classic. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 00:47 Interview 1:15:32 Break 1:16:02 Outro

Issues covered: the cost of getting in, the set top box, an homage, getting an internship on the basis of a lie, getting in on the appeal of LucasArts, having the timing, having opportunities, getting the parts to make something for Xbox, learning on licensed titles, having to prove yourself right away, being paranoid, making lots of key art, living survival horror, living and breathing your game, promoting yourself to avoid cancellation, building with the team you have, complementary skills, "tomorrow is a good idea," the alchemy and identifying how people work together, deferred rendering, finding the compelling aspect of the world, finding the tone, using gothic churches and buttresses to hold the world together, requiring interesting surfaces for the lighting, removing the scares with UI, making the UI cool because of the warmth of the environment, getting fixated on the solution you want and finding something better, the game telling you what it is, keeping the train on the track with real-time Stagecraft, adding a cloud in the sky, problem-solving in the moment, getting to know what the team can do together, being fine with a remake, "the team makes the game," working within the constraints of technology or that you set for yourselves, end of year show.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Microsoft, WebTV, Shadow Madness, LucasArts, Star Wars: Obi-Wan, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, EA, From Russia With Love, Battlefield: Hardline, Crystal Dynamics, Industrial Light and Magic, The Mandalorian, Thor: Love and Thunder, Disney Animation, The Little Mermaid, Bomberman, Bad Bad Bunnies, PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII, Annabella Serra, Renderman, Nintendo, Rogue Squadron, Grim Fandango, Tim Schafer, Infinite Machine, Nihilistic Software, Dan Connors, Chris Ross, Xbox, Rosie Katz, The Two Towers (game), Everything or Nothing, LotR: Battle for Middle-Earth, Glenn Schofield, Striking Distance, Callisto Protocol, Road Rash, The Simpsons, Godfather, Renderware, Ben Wanat, Sledgehammer, Chi Wai Lao, John Bell, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Bioshock, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Unreal, Tron, No One Lives Forever 2, Dark Souls, Calamity Nolan, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: End of year roundup!

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

DGC Ep 330: Dead Space Bonus Interview with Rosie Katz Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we present an interview with Rosie Katz,. who acted as a level designer not only on Dead Space, but the Call of Duty series (and with whom the hosts work today). Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 0:47 Interview 1:03:30 Break 1:04:00 Outro

Issues covered: starting in central tech testing, getting in through QA, using Maya as a level design tool, bringing in the internal tech tool, easiest level design test ever, picking between games, switching to new IP, feeling the pressure to be more action-oriented due to sales potential, looking at competitors, not needing the vision to be communicated, the classic schism, games needing the room to be what they are, a room that has everything, a complicated set piece, what you do as a level designer on Dead Space, managing streaming, importing references into the tools, having setups provided, focusing on combat scenarios, doing real level design, understanding pacing first, putting the lock before the key, building in polish from the beginning, foreshadowing with audio early, moving to wide linear level design, getting to make multiplayer levels and play them internally, modding, playing many many levels, shifting meta and player creativity, less work and greater reward, making stuff that you wouldn't normally play, consistency in a single game, learning from the experienced folks with your own experience.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tiger Woods 2007, EA, Godfather 2, Sledgehammer Games, Visceral Studios, Call of Duty (series), DICE, Ubisoft, Michael Condrey, The Simpsons, Ian Milham, Glen Schofield, Resident Evil (series), BioShock, Gears of War, Star Trek, Star Wars, Crystal Dynamics, Noah Hughes, Nintendo Wii, Infinity Ward, Titanfall, Dark Souls, 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 329: Dead Space (part four) Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our main series on Dead Space. We talk animation and audio support for player state, economics, the ammo balance, and how the game shifts more to shooter than horror towards the end, before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Tim (Ch7), Brett (finished)

Issues covered: it's always the doctors, the resource economic loops, kinesis energy as combat use, level 5 suit, many types of resources, the assumption of replayability and discouraging experimentation, tuning knobs via the sellback value of items, progression availability and not knowing when you'll get the last gun, balancing more towards shooter at the end, orchestration of moments, dynamic spawning, perception of progression being off, cutting off limbs, bespoke enemy placement, stasis + punching, not being sure conservation is paying off, knucklehead horror, Knuckle Head is the worst boss, leaning into power fantasy, feeling Isaac's health, breath changes and our sympathetic neurons, accessibility issues with various channels of information, stomping heavily on one's enemies, camera closeness and seeing what you're doing, lacking the payoff for killing human enemies, building up a villain and lack of payoff, good section to use kinesis with an unkillable enemy, making the humans monstrous in other games, self-seriousness and killing civilians, representing systems in characters, seeking redemption, diagetic everything, the UI in the 3D space, the feeling of a real space, efficient direction, embracing the tropes, using genre to set the expectations, audio and music design, enemy design that fools with the zombie mechanics for shooting, competence porn, digital archaeology.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioShock, Final Fantasy VI/IX, Resident Evil (series), Ratchet & Clank, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Calamity Nolan, The Callisto Protocol, Xbox, Alien (series), Paul Reiser, Far Cry 2, Iron Man, Star Wars, Silent Hill, Space Quest, Prey, System Shock, mysterydip, DOOM (1993), David Baggett, Crash Bandicoot, Daron Stinnett, PlayStation, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Spyro (series), Dark Souls, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA

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

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