Dev Game Club

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 UFO television series Next time: Silent Hill 2 - check Twitter for how far we'll go @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are quickly going over the beginning of X-COM: Enemy Unknown. Surprisingly, although we both liked it, we preferred the original. Stockholm Syndrome? Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The first couple hours Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Discussion of Enemy Unknown 35:53 Break 36:24 Feedback and reviews Issues covered: Firaxis's recent history, preferring the original, investment bias, hitting a stride in the original, usability improvements, holding your hand a bit, flowchart for learning stuff, complete hand-holding, constant camera cutting, a lot of loss of drama, dynamic cameras, camera cutting and immersion, base management, playing the original right next to the remake, playing chess, the rules you make up for yourself, reducing squad size, increasing depth, subclassing characters, ability trees, how do you determine what class a guy should be, tactical improvements due to classing, reducing the time unit complexity, more intuitive opportunity fire and movement, streamlining and removing the jazz improvisation, how far do you streamline?, discrete time units, making a game more shallow to broaden the audience, being explicit about the geopolitical game, board game nature of panic monitor, you can see interesting decisions coming from the geopolitical game, interesting and hard choices, having to pick one or the other, puzzle aspect of balancing choices and rewards and panic, panic and DEFCON, abstracting time management, hitting a stride with the original, Metal Gear naming, Big Boss on the Memorial Wall, getting into game development, a bit of horror discussion, games not existing in a vacuum, loss of context for the creation of art. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars (obliquely), Julian Gollop, Nick Gollop, Firaxis Games, Silent Hill 2, X-Com 2, Mario + Rabbids, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Magazine, Republic Commando, Civilization, Drake Gens, Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, Unity, Unreal, Brendan Keough, J K/Justin, RebelFM, Anthony Gallegos, Eternal Darkness, WeyounNumber6, LucasArts, Fallout, Kwakerjak, Jak & Daxter, Mozart, Lpkid641, Jason Schreier, Kotaku, Jordan Staley, Nier Automata. BrettYK: 0 TimYK: 51 Links: X-COM Art Direction Postmortem Next time: Interview, or start Silent Hill 2? Keep an eye on the Twitter feed. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our third in a series of episodes about 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense. We wrap up our discussion of the game, covering save-scumming and difficulty, and talk about some pillars and takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Just as much as we could fit in Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Segment 1: X-Com finale 41:51 Break 42:24 Segment 2: Pillars and feedback Issues covered: the terror mission that kicked Tim's butt, getting under your skin, "super-gratifying," difficulty curve a bit too steep, quitting the game early, interceptor trouble, plasma clips, the United States pulling out, powered armor, aliens I have seen, experimentation and determining enemy behavior rules, negative connotation of save-scumming, fairness, save-scumming to survive, aggressive play, discovery and save-scumming, setting up the second playthrough, smoke inhalation, planning around the 88% shot, forcing improvisation, figuring out elevations and other rules for line of sight, pacing and rhythm and controls, waiting on research and manufacture, endless learning curve, sending out the rookies to die, how medkits work, motion scanner use, the first two turns, flanking more, chain reactions, multilayered interdependent systems at the tactical level, having to deliver on the tactical combat, alien autopsies, player-driven stories, escalation of the game, invasion story to counter-invasion story, wish fulfillment of being a government bureaucrat, "they said yes to a lot of things," generosity in game design, scaling generosity because it's a sim, why games didn't incorporate time in calculations, Bad Designer No Twinkie, modding in games, unique ability of games to mod, why Vagrant Story is so good, restoring Brett's blog, horror games, Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Alien, Metal Gear, Casablanca, Blade Runner*, Laser Squad, Temple of Elemental Evil**, Troika, Arcanum, Final Fantasy Tactics, Mario + Rabbids, Far Cry 2, Rogue Spear, Rainbox Six, Zelda: Link Between Worlds, Ghostbusters, Rube Goldberg, Republic Commando, V: The Miniseries, Morgan Gray, Super Mario World, Nick Faulhaber, Dungeon Keeper, Ernest Adams, GamaSutra, Joao Vitor Bispo Galvao, Planescape: Torment, OpenXCOM, System Shock 2, Firaxis, Just Cause 2, Skyrim, Thomas the Tank Engine, Patrick Holleman, Losstarot, Kotaku: Splitscreen, Final Fantasy XII, Vagrant Story, Yasumi Matsuno, Dark Souls, Devil May Cry, JQ (yes, that's my real name), Resident Evil, Don Delillo, Zero K, Emily Ruskovich, Idaho, Hideo Kojima, Drop 7, X-COM: Enemy Unknown, Silent Hill 2, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Crimson Butterfly, Amnesia, Condemned: Criminal Origins, SOMA, Cthulhu. *Yes, I flubbed the quote, it has been quite some time. **It was 2003 (not 2004) and I was close: it was D&D 3.5. BrettYK: 4 TimYK: 79 Links: OpenXCOM: https://openxcom.org/ Kickstarter for Reverse Design, Volume II: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/144457690/reverse-design-volume-two Next time: Guest? @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our third in a series of episodes about 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense. We talk about our plans of attack for the game, whether the game is reacting to our plans, and how sim games make an argument. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Who even knows anymore? Podcast breakdown: 0:31 Game discussion 39:19 Break 39:45 Feedback/email Issues covered: Tim's death of dysentery, Tim's approach and Brett's approach, reserving time for opportunity fire, how time units scale, ranking soldiers and hierarchy, mastery of sims, taking down a much larger UFO, is it dynamically scaling?, algorithms and tables, board game systems, complexity from simplicity, how a simulation makes an argument, visibility of rules and systems, how X-COM promotes anxiety, lack of telegraphing, wasting a player's time, the RNG and drama, strategy and planning and percentages, entertainment vs anxiety, do aliens panic?, flocking/herding/schooling behaviors, learning the AI's rules, looking forward to a modern version, exploits vs learning behaviors, empowerment of setting a trap, naming your troops and telling stories about them, streaming's impacts on games development, increasing player customization as a means of authoring, MOBAs as streaming games, shooters having difficulty crossing over, randomness in games, rewarding success because of the possibility of failure, RNG and the level layout, accessibility vs complexity and depth, transparency and mystery, over-indexing on accessibility working against aesthetics, diving deeper into games, thinking ahead to making a sim game of my own. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Oregon Trail, Ken Levine, Pandemic, Sim City, Mario vs Rabbids, Sid Meier, Randy Quaid, Johan Huizinga, Pac-Man, Clint Hocking, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Ubisoft, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy IX, Dan Hunter, The X-Files, Julian Gollop, RebelStar Raiders, Laser Squad, Dark Souls, Guernsey College (of Further Education), No One Lives Forever, Warcraft, Edge of Tomorrow, Player Unknown's BattleGrounds, Minecraft, Nuclear Throne, Vlambeer, Forza, Overwatch, Lucas Rizoli, D&D, Invisible Inc, World of Warcraft, Spelunky, Bjorn Johannson, Firaxis, GTA III, Recettar, Receiver, Surgeon Simulator, Reed Knight, Trespasser, Jurassic Park, Far Cry, Civilization, Michael Sew, Hitman 2, Hitman 2016. BrettYK: 1 TimYK: 45 Next time: Finish the game? (Narrator: They will not finish the game.) Links: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/07/05/no-one-will-sell-no-one-lives-forever-so-lets-download-it/ @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

That week, the Dev Game Club podcast welcomes special guest Ken Levine, founder of Irrational Games and designer/writer of System Shock 2! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Intro 1:50 Early days of SS2 and Irrational 31:33 Break 1 31:57 SS2 World-building, design, future 1:17:16 Break 2 1:17:29 Quick note about next episode Issues covered: "Shock" prototype, Looking Glass relationship and Ken's early career there, Irrational Games beginning, business structure, imagining your audience and what you'd like to make, fingering .plan files, emergence and immersion, simulation, persistent world, personal ownership of experience, engine strengths and weaknesses, making fish stew, the benefits of constraints and happy accidents, polish, sense of place, naturalism in a science fiction setting, making the most of minimalism, turning a weakness into a strength, economical design, race track design/nooks and crannies, lack of time for level review, "spreading the butter thinner over the bread," elevator as storage chest, balancing, player skill vs. character skill, the "genius of the novice," story influences and groundedness, leaning on the audio space, writing towards the voices you have, bringing everything you have to the party, single-player squad shooters, letting people figure things out, crunchier design, the pendulum of accessibility, dealing with player frustration as a resource, what next Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Paul Neurath, Looking Glass, Jon Chey, Rob Fermier, Apocalypse Now, Dark Engine, Thief, EA, Origin, Se7en, Doug Church, The Magnificent Seven, Star Trek: Voyager, Hideo Kojima, Eric Brosius, Dorian Hart, Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Star Wars, System Shock 1, John Carmack, Ultima Underworld, Choplifter, Defender, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Might and Magic series, Doom, Warren Spector, Bethesda Game Studios, Quake, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Skyrim, The Division, Republic Commando, GTA series, Starfighter, Terra Nova, Roberta Williams, Alien/Aliens, Kemal Amarasingham, Stephen Russell, Terry Brosius, Courtnee Draper, Sean Vanaman/Jake Rodkin, Firewatch/Campo Santo, Bioshock, Freedom Force, SWAT 4, Tribes Ascend, The Lost, Firaxis Games, Minecraft, Dark Souls, Don't Starve, Fallout 4, Left 4 Dead, Battlezone, Austin Grossman. Next time: Hitman 2: Beginning through level 4 @IGLevine, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in our third in a series of episodes about 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense. We talk about the ways in which procedural generation and written generation interact a bit, as well as detailing our playthrought a bit. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: In theory, 6 months Podcast breakdown: 0:38 X-COM segment 35:05 Break 35:35 Feedback segment Issues covered: opportunity fire cost, reserve time units, how much things cost, how we did on our goals, Brett starting over and why, researching yourself into a whole, games are a a series of interesting decisions, what are we willing to live with, difficulty knowing how you're doing, failure conditions, Tim's rocket launcher opener, alien mental effects, tile generation algorithm for terror attacks vs downed UFOs, procedural generation at its best, an engine for wonderful moments, tuning procedural generation, multiple states for tiles, persisted state of tiles, telling a story via your swath of destruction, screaming deaths of civilians, center of the UFOs, determining when to reload a save, procedural vs written content (e.g. tech trees), Brett's base management, how does science and research work, Monty Haul problem, providing two ways of thinking about/explaining a problem, psychology in game design, tricks in game design, board game popularity. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sid Meier, Civilization (series), X-COM: Enemy Unknown, Darius Kazemi, Superman (obliquely), Ryan, Giant BeastCast, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahnemann, Bobby Oster, PlaneScape Torment, Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Mario World, Bloodborne, Warcraft, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Amy Hennig, Half-Life, Uncharted, Ogre Battle 64, Advance Wars, Tomb Raider, Eric Shields, Kotaku, X-COM: The Bureau, 2K Marin, Republic Commando, Jennifer Scheurle, Starfighter, Nathan Martz, Halo (obliquely), Andrew, Mario + Rabbids, Hearthstone, Pit People, Transistor, Armello, Antihero, Hare & Tortoise, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Qwirkle, Susan McKinley Ross, Chris Ross, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Pandemic: Legacy, JackBox Party Pack, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, You Don't Know Jack. BrettYK: 0 TimYK: 44 Links: Kotaku article: http://kotaku.com/game-developers-explain-some-of-their-favorite-ways-to-1798749279 Board game stuff: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/25/board-games-internet-playstation-xbox https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/crowdfunding-is-driving-a-196-million-board-game-renaissance/ https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9bkj7z/rise-of-board-games https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/38121/tabletop-games-driving-2017-kickstarter-growth Next time: In theory, a year? @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a series of episodes about 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense. This week, we talk about terror attacks, game tension, gratification, and a bit of base management. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours past the first ground mission Podcast breakdown: 0:38 Segment 1 41:18 Break 41:47 Feedback Issues covered: managing the clock speed, difficulty of the game and having to get better, failure screens, terror attacks, meeting different alien types, starting over again and getting more ground missions, learning the dynamics of covering one another, being unable to understand line of sight, infiltrating an UFO, contributions to tension, researching tech tracks, being unable to capture an alien alive, the use of radar dishes, recruiting scientists and soldiers, base building, the research loop and discovering what's out there, weapon lists, no storage of time units, energy costs, soldier stats, deep management, saving mid-ground mission, AI difficulty balance towards fairness, developing difficulty more towards numbers changes than behavioral ones, real-time flight combat, finance game, QAing a game like this, QA and developer skill and having trouble identifying how difficult to make your game, gratification of mastery or partial mastery, pin and fork moves in chess, fire propagation, learning how to use grenades, losing bodies and artifacts to grenades, alien deployment curve, tutorials, incorporating lessons without folks knowing they're being taught, underestimating tutorial building time, taking your time to build skills over multiple small levels, layering in simulation. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Twilight Zone: To Serve Man, The Naked Gun, TIE Fighter, Fallout, Cryptosporidium-137, Destroy All Humans!, Nintendo, Ultima, Super Mario World, Julian and Nick Gollop, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, John Yorke, Half-Life, Halo, Republic Commando, Starfighter, System Shock 2, charles F. george, minatorrent, Final Fantasy IX, Nickname_Placeholder, Aaron Evers, Ducky Shirt. BrettYK: 1 TimYK: 73 Next time: Play six months @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a series of episodes about 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense. This week, we set the game in its historical context and discuss the beginning of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through first ground mission Podcast breakdown: 0:38 X-Com Segment 1:06:28 Break 1:06:51 Feedback segment Issues covered: business model of early Wizardry, DOS Box, perils of the back catalog, 1994 in games, turn-based games history, war gaming, X-Com as shorthand and a genre definer, tutorial in the manual, pure sim, "Suit up son, you're going to Mars," tracking your first UFO, placing your first base, destroying your base and losing the money, simulation depth, usability issues, getting outrun by UFOs, don't shoot it down over water, placing your base in Australia, air combat, time units as primary resource, line of sight, random number generation and probability, managing player expectations, switching from math to psychology, how we've used probability over time in design, nailbiting moments when the RNG goes your way, end of month ratings, Tim loses, high skill and exploration. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Wizardry, The Witcher (series), Mass Effect, Ultima, Bard's Tale, Night Dive Studios, Meridian 59, No One Loves Forever, Julian Gollop, Super Metroid, TIE Fighter, Warcraft, Final Fantasy VI, Doom ][, Earthbound, Earthworm Jim, System Shock, Heretic, Megaman X2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Master of Magic, Beneath a Steel Sky, Burn Cycle, Richard LeMarchand, Fallout, D&D, Avalon Hill, Axis & Allies, Chris Crawford, Eastern Front, TankTics, Koei, SSI, Panzer Strike, Laser Squad, Mario vs Rabbids, Firaxis Games, Jake Solomon, Klei, Invisible Inc, Oxygen Not Required, LucasArts, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, Chess, Nintendo, Famicom Wars, Gameboy Wars, Advance Wars, Jagged Alliance, Panzer Generals, Final Fantasy Tactics, Castlevania, Chainmail, Gary Gygax, Star Trek, Morgan Gray, Ron Gilbert, Ken Shoemake, Civ II, Dunkirk, Sid Meier, Oblivion, Skyrim, Ross Hadden, Super Mario (series: World/Sunshine/64/Galaxy), Ben Zaugg, Jason Schreier, SNES Classic, Redwunder, Idle Thumbs, Important If True, ChrisLaBs, scootermm, Micus_Ficus, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ausy19, Kotaku Splitscreen, Spirit Tracks, Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds. BrettYK: 5 TimYK: 60 Next time: A few hours more Correction: I believe the "Suit up, son, you're going to Mars" quote actually came from a Mark LeBlanc talk. DGC regrets the error. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we currently playing 1991's Super Mario World. This week, we finish Super Mario World and talk about our takeaways, including some deep dives into modern design sensibilities and constraints. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To End of Super Mario World! Podcast breakdown: 0:37 SMW Discussion 44:19 Break 44:57 Feedback/Next time Issues covered: Bowser's Castle, introducing mechanics in a critical path way, picking up the mecha-Koopas and tossing them onto Bowser's head, relentless pace of new stuff, player-motivated triggering of boss state, boss patterns, using Yoshi (or not), timer platforms, setting your own goals then and now, speedrunning origins, milking more out of levels by choices, keeping people interested via new level design tricks, expense limiting new gimmicks and reinforcing reuse, abandoning the lessons of the past, production realities, combinatorial depth, great base rule set where adding single elements extend in surprising ways, virtuous cycle of exploration and mechanical depth, RPG-ification of games, achievements, intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards, turning off notifications, notification and FOMO, achievements and the platform ecosystem, trading cards, Switch voip weirdness, focusing on the games, collecting every category in Breath of the Wild, tension-based enemy design, finding the rhythm in jumps, playing off up vs down, Eastern design sensibilities, yin/yang, opposition in Eastern design, subtractive vs additive design, punishing mechanics, save states against learning/mastery, apocalypse in Hyrule, lock/key vs player expression in Breath of the Wild, Mario as theater, variance among early Mario games, Luigi through the years, theater and games, comics, VHS of Legend of Zelda, cyclical nature of games, web of games, text adventures and scores. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Justin Timberlake, Sonic Mania, SEGA, Legend of Zelda (series), Shadow of the Colossus, Starcraft II, Half-Life, Warcraft, Mario (3D games), Giant Bomb, Breath of the Wild, Chris Hecker, Sony, Microsoft, Steam, Origin, UbiSoft, GOG, Switch, Ratchet and Clank, Pikmin, Shigeru Miyamoto, Jonathan DeLuca, Game Informer, Tacoma, Halo, Bjorn Johansson, Star Wars (obliquely), Inception, Mario RPGs, Mike Vogt, Super Mario All-Stars, Cameron Daxon, Sleep No More, True West, Sam Shepard, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard, Gone Home, The Scottish Play, Punch Drunk, The Antenna Theater, Kublai Khan, The Dark Knight Returns, Vertigo Comics, Wonder Woman, Nick Tapalansky, Skyrim, Ultima, Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Final Fantasy IX. BrettYK: 3 TimYK: 67 Interstitial Music from OCRemix.org, artist N4L4 Links: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! Next time: Ultima III, Wizardry III, Bard's Tale "Introductions" @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we currently playing 1991's Super Mario World. This week, we talk about how the difficulty of the game more and how it interacts with the exploration of the space. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Forest of Illusion Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Segment 1 (SMW Discussion) 34:35 Break 35:11 Feedback Issues covered: finding a key, picking things up mechanic, directing the player, repeating use of mechanics, picking up and placing objects, difficulty controlling the cape, progression of mechanical complexity, building on fundamentals, doing new things with hardware, similarity of modern consoles and PCs, meta infrastructure, controller changes over time, what do you add and remove with sequels, serving old fans vs serving new fans, helping you to be a completist, incentive to explore, discouraging exploration, exploration and requirement for high skill, lag in the Wii and switching to emulation, mastery as a design choice, user experience of difficulty, joy of playing as an incentive, "every level you find is a gift," precision of Mario play, lack of collectibles as proof of mastery, seeing other games in Nintendo games, the picture of Brett in Nintendo World HQ, taking Yoshi or the cape through every level, getting corrected on lore, retconning the lore, trying to make sense of long series, films and world-building, disconnected ("title-related") series, paying down the Wii points, alternate reality games, adventure games being dead, archiving server-based games, appreciating the fleeting experience, Jen's Majestic experience, reflecting on the podcast through a review, eavesdropping mission in Thief II, user experience in literature/theater/film/comics/etc, different every time, role-playing vs boss battles. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars Starfighter, Prey, Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed, Shadow of the Colossus, Metroid (series), Tomb Raider, Halo, Super Meat Boy, Wolfenstein 3D, Skyrim, New Super Mario Bros 2, Link Between Worlds, Ben Zaugg, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, The Giant BeastCast, Skyward Sword, Marvel Cinematic Universe, John Wick 2, James Bond, Casino Royale, Final Fantasy (series), Wizardry (series), Ultima (series), The Witcher (series), Metal Gear (series), C. J. Zimmerman, Super Princess Peach, Chrono Trigger, In Memorium, mym1nd, Blade Runner, Eternal Darkness, Discworld (series), Reed Knight, Majestic, The Black Watchmen, The Secret World, Antioch Scarlet Bay, Republic Commando, Computer Gaming World, Andrew Kirmse, Meridian 59, Chris Kirmse, 3D0, Star Wars Galaxy, The Matrix Online, Giant Bomb, KaiN - if that's my real name, Half-Life, mjwaz, AddictArts, DocBrutals, Soul Reaver, DreamCast, Thief II: The Metal Age, Looking Glass, System Shock 2, Ken Levine, Ultima Underworld, Origin Systems, Deus Ex, Warren Spector, Dishonored, Raph - some artist guy, Diablo II, Final Fantasy IX, True West, Daron Stinnett, Hitman 2, Tacoma, @giant_rat/Ficus. BrettYK: 6 TimYK: 52 Side note: What the heck is a "pedi-stool"? Correction: Super Princess Peach was a Nintendo DS title. Links: Bananas and Gigantism Next time: Finish the game! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are taking a quick break from our Super Mario World series. This week, we talk in person about the first couple of hours of Breath of the Wild. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: First couple of hours of Breath of the Wild Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Seg1: BotW 34:10 Break 34:42 Seg2: Feedback Issues covered: setting up mics, how Zelda is it?, influence from other games, Shrine "modules" and puzzle rooms, pinning spots on the map vs being shown on a map as space is uncovered, lack of metagame (cheevos), checklist approach to design, world design problems with line of sight, ordering of challenges/dungeons, running into different Zelda elements, do things relate to the macro quest, tackling Ganon immediately, tilting towards exploration, materiality of the world, climbing perfection, masters of contextual animation, player engagement via many inputs, player skills, designing to the controller, mapping the N64 controller, influences, the difficult of mixing ideas, technology vs magic, Guardians in prior Zelda games, a new generation of Nintendo designers, lighting things on fire, speedrunning report, number of exits in SMW levels, jailbreaking SMW, Cheese Bridge, save state, identity politics in Mario games, damsel in distress trope, video game characters being defined by what they do or can't do, getting into game development, game jam to meet people, make a thing all the way through, difficulty with just the jump button, reaching for higher level mechanics to adapt to difficulty, choosing hardware to support game design, making things too difficult because you could load, save states changing psychology, streaming data changing design, bigger and lazier games with save everywhere. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Twilight Zone, Jennifer Lopez, Tacoma, Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Wind Waker, Minecraft, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Miasmata, Bethesda Game Studios, UbiSoft, PS3/Xbox 360, The Witcher 3, Disneyland, Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, Wayne Cline, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Nick Pavis, Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider, Ultima (series), Patrick Hollemann, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Super Mario 64, Ray Gresko, Firefox, Clint Eastwood, DLC podcast, Jeremy Fisher, SNES Classic, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo (series), Alien, The Last Guardian, DarkSiders, Prey, Desmond Miles, Star Trek, Hayao Miyazaki, Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Odyssey, Phil Rosehill, Andy Laso, Patty/pcull44444, James Roberts, Jason Schreier, Michael Sew, SethBling, Red Dead Redemption, Sleeping Dogs, Rob ot, King Kong, Chris Suellentrop, New York Times, Mario Run, Super Mario Galaxy, Mickey Mouse, Stefan Soc, Unreal Engine, TIGSource, iOS, Steam, Space Invaders, Edwin Crump, Dark Souls, Super Mario Bros 3, Brian Taylor, Myst, Shadows of the Empire, Half-Life 2, NES Classic, God of War, Super Meat Boy, The Game Informer Show, Ben Hanson. Next time: Through the Forest of Illusion! Links: Swordless Zelda : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkrK0-EIVY 96 Exit Race : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajPjBaG3p5c Super Mario World - Credits Warp in 5:59.6 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14wqBA5Q1yc Jailbreaking Super Mario World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixu8tn__91E Sullentrop article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/opinion/super-mario-runs-not-so-super-gender-politics.html?_r=0 @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we currently playing 1991's Super Mario World. This week, we talk in more depth about the level design and the ways in which its open nature influences difficulty. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Vanilla Dome Podcast breakdown: 0:29 Game discussion 48:10 Break 48:50 Feedback Issues covered: In-depth discussion of saxophones, respecting the game as a work of art, potential tech issues, character momentum, ways in which 3D platformers might be different, preparing for a run, mental state for play and muscle memory, player physics, going back and forth in a level, the ghost levels, how Brett preps for a run, Brett learns thing that Tim doesn't, having levels you can't get past and then the next one being easy, frustration with reaction time, Nintendo design pillars, combining elements for complexity and depth, introduction of mechanics in Donut 3, onboarding players/teaching without them knowing, what is the Nintendo practice to tune these levels?, being prepared for a level rather than coming in fresh, learning through failure and accident, imitating Nintendo but not doing it well, visual fidelity, learning through failure as a trope, our decisions should make the players' lives easy (regardless of the cost to us), "fun does not mean challenge," no room for error, "digital failure," high-lethality shooters and skill, blaming yourself and getting frustrated, overworld, making certain things necessary to prepare for because of the overworld, balancing the game around an ability, getting your money's worth, multiple paths and having your mind blown, hint lines, not being a phone person, help line as crunch, ROM hacks, why not a 3D platformer. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Edward Herrmann, The Lost Boys, Koji Kondo, Link to the Past, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World 2, Rayman Legends, Half-Life, Cave Story, New Super Mario Bros, Super Metroid, Breath of the Wild, Shigeru Miyamoto, Valve, Blizzard, Demons's Souls, Tomb Raider, Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios, Rogue Spear, LEC-Quake, Patrick Holleman, Anthony Halderman, GTA series, James Roberts, LucasArts, Alexander Graham Bell, Wizard and the Princess, Sierra, Apple ][, Mario Maker, Eric Anderson, Mario 64, Mario Odyssey, System Shock. BrettYK: 8 TimYK: 37 Interstitial Music by djpretzel, find him at OCRemix.org Outgoing music by Ficus/@giant_rat Links: Patrick Holleman's link 1 and link 2 Super Panga World Next time: Through the Forest of Illusion! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are kicking off a new series on 1991's Super Mario World, a SNES pack-in title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Yoshi's Island Podcast breakdown: 0:40 SMW Discussion 48:36 Break 49:18 Feedback Issues covered: Tanooki suits, the ubiquity of Mario, the console versions of the game, Tim's history with 2D platforming, recognizable characters, overworld presentation, confusion, choosing right rather than left, being able to trust the level progression or not, starting over with each level, making a poor choice, having all the skills from the very beginning, ability set, replaying things to gain skill, game over, time limits, Brett's strategy, ways to get extra lives, mastery, the many rules and abilities you learn in just this first world, tutorial blocks, enemy hints, power ups, being unforgiving, game over screen, game value and arcades, tolerating different aesthetics of play, Tim's preferences in play, speculation about a Half-Life 3, small universe problem, AI challenges, Ico and Yorda, Super Games Done Quick, motion sickness, games that didn't get their due, HL2 crowbar moment. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tomb Raider, Square, Donkey Kong, Nintendo, Doki Doki Panic, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Civilization, Monkey Island 2, Wing Commander 2, Another World, Mega Man 4, Final Fantasy IV, Super Castlevania, ToeJam and Earl, Super Ghosts and Ghouls, Alex Neuse, Mickey Mouse, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, Candy Crush, Halo, Daniel Craig, James Bond, Dungeons and Dragons, System Shock 2, Half Life, Counterstrike, Nintendo Power, DLC, Crash Bandicoot, GTA V, Dark Souls, Shigeru Miyamoto, Koji Kondo, nambulous, Portal, Chewbacca, Yoda, Star Wars: Episode III, Empire Strikes Back, Marc Laidlaw, Mark of Kri, Rise of the Kasai, Ico, Valve Software, Jonathan DeLuca, Ross Hadden, LucasArts, Jedi Outcast, Ratchet & Clank, Earthbound, Undertale, Super Meat Boy, Christian Spicer, Jeff Cannata, RebelFM, Raven Software, Quake III, The Witness, Aaron Evers, Shogo: Mobile Division, LithTech, No One Lives Forever, Loom, The Dig, Rise of the Dragon, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Realms of the Haunting, Anachronox, MDK, Hexen, Heretic, Reed Knight, Daikatana, Deus Ex, David Perry, Shiny, Earthworm Jim, Sacrifice, Planet Moon Studios, Sly Cooper, Commandos, Eidos, Tribes, Majestic, EA, Neil Young, John Riccitello, LMNO, ngmoco, Jedi Starfighter, Republic Commando, Vagrant Story, Sean Donovan, Mr. Merlin, TakLocke, BattleTech, MechWarrior, TIE Fighter, Zone of the Enders, Kojima, MechAssault. BrettYK: 35 TimYK: 54 Links: Swordless Link to the Past run Jedi Outcast speedrun Next time: Donut Plains Vanilla Dome @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have been discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. This week we do a little bonus work and turn to its sequel, Half-Life 2, released at the end of 2004. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Water Hazard Podcast breakdown: 0:36 HL2 Discussion 40:05 Break 40:35 Feedback Issues covered: the airboat: digital input/analogue output, E3 demo, face technology, glossing over the interlude between the two games, characters as connective tissue, establishment of setting, building of tension, commitment to first person as production concern in HL1/creative commitment in HL2, waiting in line for food dispenser, art direction, the oppressor vs the oppressed, masks in Antonov's art direction, disempowering the player, physics technology, influence of 1984 on City 17 (the proles), multiple instantiations of characters in HL, playing on nostalgia, domesticated head crab Lamarr, everything goes haywire, Alex's introduction, fully realized space (HL1) vs fully realized characters (HL2), being unable to break the scene, humor in the scenes, humor for exposition, humor as humanity, interaction of all the physics systems, real world rules, buoyancy puzzles, inspiring Tomb Raider design, linearity and looping back on goals, pacing working against non-linearity/goal puzzling, lack of ability to return to places, the Vortigant member of the resistance, reintroducing the HEV suit, self-awareness, audio for Combine, EKG death sound, the audio equivalent of screenshake, Marin County Fair, licensed engines and internal engines, avoiding dependency, amortizing development cost, what a game engine provides, changes we made to Unreal to support Republic Commando, additions to Source engine in HL2, making your game not look like other games made with an engine, having access to source code, prototyping vs making things perform well, evaluating pros and cons, economic reasons, changing engines mid-stream, remastering and rewriting renderers, marketing reasons for sequels and leveraging existing technology and knowledge base, design documentation, game design documents (GDDs) vs scrum, documenting for your own sake, documenting tech features, producers as living documents, using a document as a tool for yourself, visual tools, on-screen is king. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Marc Laidlaw, Dario Casali, The Last Guardian, Halo, Daron Stinnett, Republic Commando, Soylent Green, Carl Wattenberg, Viktor Antonov, Dishonored (series), Arkane Studios, 1984, William Shakespeare, Tomb Raider, Batman, Kelly Bailey, Alex Farr, Rebel Assault II, X-Wing, Quake, Unreal, Frostbite Engine, EA, Battlefield, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Battlefront, Mass Effect, iD Software, Ubisoft, Snowdrop engine, Rayman Legends, Michel Ancel, Activision, UbiArt Framework, Gears of War, Sea of Thieves, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, Bethesda Softworks, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, Unity, Tacoma, Bethesda Game Studios, Starfighter (series), Full Throttle II, Mysteries of the Sith, Chris Klie, LEIA engine, LucasArts, Jedi Knight, Crystal Dynamics, Bungie, Duke Nuke'em Forever, Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank (series), Fallout 3, Skyrim, Goldeneye, N64, Rare Replay, Dan Hunter, TIE Fighter, Troy Mashburn, Stone Librande, SimCity, SNES Classic, Nintendo, Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Alex Neuse, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo New 3DS, Wii, Yoshi's Island. Stats: BrettYK: 23 TimYK: 40 Next time: Super Mario World: Play through Yoshi's Island Link: Stone Librande on One-Page Game Designs @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. This week we welcome Dario Casali, a level designer who worked on Half-Life and is still with the company all these years later. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Interview with Dario Casali 1:04:41 Break 1:05:03 Feedback segment Issues covered: current status of Tacoma, games in 1993, connecting with a serial cable, newsgroups and Usenet, bundling up levels to sell, connecting over the early Internet, getting into Valve, the magic of Seattle weather, describing how your levels work as part of the interview, an interview between peers, having only the pieces and pulling them together, technology coming online and throwing away a lot of levels beforehand, creating structure by drawing with charcoal on big pieces of paper, having a central focus for a level because designers came up with their own ideas, unifying the design, setting core hours starting from 11am, integrating a new mechanic, competing with one another's levels and with other companies, not wanting long stretches without something new, paranoia and passion and terror, Quake Engine Licensee Cold War, level transition technology, hokey conventions, maintaining complete control of the character, having doors to begin and end the level, having to implement your own stuff even up to save and load, mixing and matching mechanics, not confusing the player: show them a puzzle clearly and then layer complexity for them to figure out, not stopping the player, playtesting was number one, creative autonomy, single-player vs multi-player design effort per second of play, level design and programming interactions, corrupting the Borg-like purity of programmers' work, how level design has changed in two decades, the products should change but the people shouldn't have to, maintaining the culture, doing a thing every day, getting less terrible day by day, finding the thing that undergirds a new Half-Life, having access to the source, analysis paralysis, constraints in engines, Hackathon weeks, bending engines, you can't shut him up. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tacoma, Starcraft (obliquely), Milo Casali, Quake, Doom, LucasArts, Chris Klie, Magic: The Gathering, Richard Garfield, id Software, Shawn Green, American McGee, Ted Backman, Marc Laidlaw, code name Quiver, Kelly Bailey, John Guthrie, Fallout, Sin, Daikatana, Jay Stelly, Unreal, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, 343 Industries, Microsoft, Gabe Newell, Bethesda Game Studios, Brian Robb, John Webb, DotA 2, IceFrog, Narbacular Drop, DigiPen, Counterstrike, Forge, Halo, June, Jonathan DeLuca, SuperGiant Games, Greg Kasavin, Bastion, Transistor, Amir Rao, Zelda, Metroid, Shovel Knight, Brian Taylor, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Skyrim, Starfighter, Rich Davis, Jedi Starfighter, Andrew Kirmse, lucasrizoli, TakLocke, BattleTech, MechWarrior, MechAssault, TIE Fighter, Steel Battalion, Trent Polack, Steel Hunters, Joy Machine Games, FASA, Shadowrun, Jordan Weisman, Haden Blackman, Crossbones, Bachs, Fernandez, Chad Barth, Shibby Train, Fallout 3, The Last Guardian. Next time: We will play and discuss a bit of Half-Life 2 @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. This week we welcome Marc Laidlaw, long-time Valve employee and writer of Half-Life. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Interview with Marc Laidlaw 1:04:50 Break 1:05:16 Feedback/Questions Issues covered: getting started at Valve, looking at story in first person games, unshipped game at Valve, getting Quake community people to work on Half-Life, the early plan for the company, finding features by building lots of tests, randomly discussing features with press, making outrageous promises to spur on the team, the development of a fully realized place, totality of effect, designing from the bottom-up and fitting stuff together later, having employees who were used to working alone, going back to the drawing board, hinting at other levels and wanting the glory, non-physical spaces, lone wolves, needing an overall director to enforce co-authorship, using the Cabal to fulfill that role, being in the trenches and etching into your brain, living Half-Life for two years, avoiding the space marine trope, making the gimmick "science," doing science experiments in game development, intricacy of clockwork levels/Chinese puzzle boxes, the technology of magic, working to get a reaction, characters emerging from setting, bridging to Half-Life 2, magic tricks being even more impressive when you know how they're done, user testing, knowing what questions to ask, players not getting to the ends of games, trying to avoid having to teach the player, expecting a literate player, keeping it clean and transparent, having no model for the main character generating a constraint, reacting to player experiences of the demo, working out of a corner/desperation, creating within constraints, having too much freedom (analysis paralysis), Marc's work available on Kindle, taking breaks, writing in the early days of video games, always in the helmet, E3 memories/discussion. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Day of the Tentacle, Half-Life 2, Portal, Counterstrike: Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, DotA 2, Eric Wolpaw, Jay Pinkerton, id Software, Quake, Michael Abrash, Mike Harrington, Gabe Newell, WIRED Magazine, Worldcraft, Ben Morris, Prospero, John Guthrie (Choryoth), Steve Bond (Wedge), Blues News, Harry Teasley, Peter Molyneux, Edgar Allan Poe, Thieves' World anthologies, Randy Lundeen, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kelly Bailey, Dave Riller, Ken Birdwell, Dario Casali, Alfred Hitchcock, Microsoft, Uncharted 4, Duke Nuke'em, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Prey (2017), Nioh, Breath of the Wild, Bill Roper, Janos Flosser, Starfighter, Wayne Cline, Republic Commando, Ryan Kaufman, Mike Stemmle, Hal Barwood, Sean Clark, Jonathan Ackley, Larry Ahern, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, RebelFM, Phil Rosehill, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, ToeJam & Earl, LucasArts, Alexander Farr, Kotaku, Final Fantasy 9, Jason Schreier, Tacoma, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, Halo 5, 343 Industries, Bethesda Game Studios, Unreal, Nintendo Wii, Evil Avatar, Phil Kollar, Polygon, Sony, Metal Gear (series), Witcher III, Anthem, No Man's Sky, Hello Games, Joe Danger, Assassin's Creed (series), Red Dead (series), PAX, Ficus/@giant_rat. Next time: Another Interview! Links: Marc's website @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. We talk about the much-maligned final levels and understand where they came from and then turn to a few pillars. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the end! Podcast breakdown: 0:35 End of the game 51:40 Break 52:10 Takeaways and Feedback Issues covered: weather and climate change, teleportation and level connectivity, landmarks, teleporting all over the level, unfair design, planning and execution, competence and player empowerment, obsession with permutation, explaining teleportation through visuals, good teleportation design in Portal, bigger payback for more work, limitations in AI make sense and reinforce the story/space, minimal use of character lending importance, G-man as hook character for HL2, bleedthrough of Xen into Black Mesa, control precision (or lack thereof), upping the ante at the end of a game, elite players and first-person navigation, relearning a lot of rules, trying to create recognizable spaces in alien world, throwing lots of spaghetti at the wall, knowing your limitations, sunk cost fallacy, having faith in your vision, the thing that brings nothingness, incorporating teleportation into baby battle, brute forcing a boss, false choice, bridge story from Half-Life to Half-Life 2, fully realized sense of place, connected level design, sensible spaces and narrative ties, making AI look smart and interesting and motivated, direct relation of place to gameplay, accuracy of hours played, interview guest, feedback. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tacoma, Portal, Left 4 Dead, DigiPen, Kim Swift, Half-Life 2, Twin Peaks, X-Files, Starfighter, Troy Mashburn, Doom, Quake, System Shock 2, Republic Commando, Eraserhead, Rayman 3D, June, Planescape, Final Fantasy IX, Valve, Marc Laidlaw, Gamer Lawyer, Firewatch, Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, The Crew, Ghost Recon, Resident Evil, The Evil Within, Wasteland, The Last Guardian, lucasrizoli, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Diplomacy, Dan Connors, Telltale, briAnderson66(maybe), Doc16109, ToeJam and Earl. Next time: Interview episode @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. We especially focus on level design but touch also on weapon design and a bit of reuse of weapon progression. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through Lambda Core Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Discussion segment 1:05:03 Break 1:05:28 Feedback Issues covered: the Russians, level design variety, designer control over geometry, blocking out levels and then beautifying, binary space partition, realistic spaces vs non-realistic spaces, lack of training, amusement park design and enticing users, willing suspension of disbelief and spectacle/distraction, expectation of a real place, tension between realism and play, Blast Pit and memories, all the things that will kill you, reminding the player of goals, sense of completion, cost of making mechanics, speed of building a rough level, sense of scale, Brett defeats a puzzle by accident, taking weapons away from the player, resetting the power curve, forcing choices between two single-shot weapons, enemy design towards risk/reward, having a fallback position for being out of ammo, problems with finite health, Surface Tension, moment in "Questionable Ethics" that makes you feel smart but doesn't make tons of sense, one shot helicopter kill, holding the paint on a rocket target, alien grenade grubs, the legend of Gordon Freeman. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Winston Churchill, Joe Pesci, JFK, Oliver Stone, Doom, Quake, Republic Commando, System Shock 2, Unreal, Galaxy Quest, Mysteries of the Sith, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Romero, The Empire Strikes Back, Clint Eastwood, Halo, Tribes, Michaelsamiller, Kotaku Splitscreen, Super Mario 64, Resident Evil, Danferno, Brehvin!, Lackrin, Planescape, Legacy of Kain, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, @giant_rat. Next time: Finish the game! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. We talk about what works in both the design of the military you fight and about enemy design in the game generally. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Apprehension (up to Residue Processing) Podcast breakdown: 0:35 Soldier AI and Enemy Design 53:12 Break 53:39 Feedback Issues covered: a bit of the history of game console licensing and certification, why Brett is behind on his homework, where the demo ended, special ops military, demo effectiveness, good general rules for AI in games, AI who communicate their state, postures for aiming, addressing the problem of AI who have perfect aim, alien telegraphing, use of grenades, line of sight, throwing a grenade to where you are, limiting the space in which an AI needs to work, world reacting to the soldiers with the same rules, enemy telegraphing and learning rules, orthogonal design, zombies and dread, long wind-ups, similarity between imp fireballs and head crabs, audio cueing, outsmarting the level designer, dying to learn the environment, not telegraphing the rules of the environment itself, making the perfect jump, pacing, memorable levels, distinguishing Valve games through their level explorations, approaches to innovate in games, making first person shooters is really hard, trigger to death, per-level mechanics, Japanese games, Japanese lenses on Western film genres, music in games, getting into a production role. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Xbox One X, Route 66, Tacoma, Nintendo, Atari, Star Wars (obliquely), Nathan Martz, Star Wars: Starfighter, Republic Commando, Alien, Doom, Quake, Cthulhu, Chaosium, Sandy Petersen, Dark Forces, Valve, Deus Ex, Thief, Bethesda Game Studios, Jenny Huang, id Software, Starcraft 2, Jordan Staley, Final Fantasy IX, Kotaku, Super Metroid, Nier: Automata, Platinum Games, Clover Studios, Capcom, Devil May Cry, Vagrant Story, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Fumito Ueda, Link to the Past, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Dark Cloud, Kojima Productions, Halo, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, iMuse, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, Loom, Shadow of the Colossus, Cory Potomis, Ori and the Blind Forest, Microsoft, Campo Santo, Jake Rodkin, Sean Vanaman, Pauly P0p, KurkPeterman, The San Francisco Kid, Mr. Eric Anderson, Haden Blackman, The Force Unleashed, Mafia III, Fallout 3, Steven Spielberg, Ficus/@giant_rat. Next time: Residue Processing through Lambda Core @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. We talk about what a year 1998 was, and a good deal about the restrained opening to the game and its provenance. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to "We've Got Hostiles" Podcast breakdown: 0:34 Segment 1: History and Half-Life beginning 1:00:57 Break 1:01:30 Segment 2: Feedback, Next Time Issues covered: 1998 as a year, engine licensing and 3D engines, Radiant level editor, Steam's launch, diving back into the FPS, "Doom clones," raising the bar for shooters, fully committing to the introduction, discipline and pacing, mundanity and attention to detail, "the world's slowest rollercoaster," the mundane hero vs the military hero, the everyman, genesis of the "walking simulator," leaning on a license, making the environment more responsive, unlikely hero, standing out in a sea of shooters, "immersive world rather than shooting gallery," stark contrast, teleporting between worlds, the in-fiction tutorial, learning verbs through achieving goals, mantling, NPCs who will follow you a ways, usability testing, momentum in player movement, contiguous space and level loads, console/PC hardware differences, points of no return, topics for the future, particularly enjoyable moments, indies taking risks to push boundaries out, giving players what they don't know what they want, avoiding calcification, students and game analysis, when you introduce your kids to games, innocence lost, reviews. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo 3, Gabe Newell, Valve Software, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Starcraft, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Unreal, Ocarina of Time, Grim Fandango, Rogue Squadron, Rainbow Six, Pokemon: Red and Blue, Thief, Descent: Freespace, Dune 2000, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Quake, NOLF 1 & 2, Tron 2.0, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Steam, Final Fantasy Tactics, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Chris Avellone, Jeff Morris, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2, Dark Forces, Duke Nukem 3D, Starfighter, Obi-Wan, System Shock, Chris Corry, System Shock 2, Halo, Marathon, Rise of the Triad, Heretic, Alien vs. Predator, Michael Biehn, Team Fortress, Mark Laidlaw, The Mist, Stephen King, The Outer Limits: The Borderland, "Area 51," id Software, Nintendo, Tribes, Mario, John Romero, Jazz Jackrabbit, Ultima Underworld, Republic Commando, Chris Suellentrop, JJ Sutherland, Shall We Play A Game, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Tyranny, Johnson "Blue" Siau, Ian Milham, League of Legends, Overwatch, Troy Mashburn, Jordan Innerarity, Kye Harris, Putt-Putt, Pyjama Sam, Freddi Fish, Nintendo DS, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Disney Infinity, Lego series, Mario Kart Double Dash, Raiders of the Lost Ark, LesserOfFour, Zelda: A Link to the Past, KRL360, ChiliDogJr, GoodJobMr2Percent, RebelFM. Next time: Play up through "Apprehension" (stop at "Residue Processing") Links: Thoughts about Violence in Video Games and when to expose kids to stuff @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1999 Black Isle classic Planescape: Torment. We talk about the end of the game and some of its pillars. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finishing the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:37 Segment 1: End of the game 1:00:58 Break 1:01:23 Segment 2: Quick pillars, next time Issues covered: trapped Trias, the Pillar of Skulls, how XP is dispersed, splitting between characters as a natural difficulty modifier, Tim sacrifices Morte... like some kind of monster, gibbering mouthers, returning to Curst, the Fallout vibe, fighting Trias by kiting, under-leveling for combat, possibility of being unable to finish your game, why doesn't Trias have a dialog option when his ideas are wrong-headed, Brett and Tim describe how they go through the battles, the excitement of finding the right dialog option, coming full circle, getting into the Siege Tower and creating the Entropy Blade, being overwhelmed anew, quests in the Foundry, murder mystery tour, mazes and disorientation, why Ignus if he's not in your party?, waking up with three incarnations, alignment changing, quieting the madness of the paranoid, the practical incarnation, the game as exploration of fundamental D&D tropes, how to build up your ultimate villain, return to the Blood War, all stories of the Nameless One returning to one place, branching storylines, how many endings are enough?, commitment to themes, diluting themes, attaching to particular themes vs making an argument, challenge RPG tropes, puzzles and dialog, using voice acting to establish character, voice as instrument, editing down lines, discussing the choice of next game. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: No Exit, Sartre, Encounter at Farpoint, Star Trek: TNG, Cthulhu, Fallout, The Seventh Seal (obliquely), Reed Knight, Jason Schreier, Iain M. Banks, Culture novels, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, BioShock, Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Witcher, deathsausage q, Tony Jay, Rob Paulson, Animaniacs, Mitch Pileggi, The X-Files, Sheena Easton, Jennifer Hale, Keith David, John DeLancie, Dan Castanelleta, Charles Adler, Escape from Monkey Island, Chris Avellone, Half-Life, Starcraft, Metal Gear Solid, Jeff Morris, Doom (series), Dark Forces, Valve. Next time: Interview with Chris Avellone @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1999 Black Isle classic Planescape: Torment. We talk about broad story beats, themes of identity and mazes, and the role of side quests, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Until you return to Sigil Podcast breakdown: 0:39 PST Discussion 1:03:18 Break 1:03:51 Feedback and giveaway Issues covered: character customization, a little chat about the big beats of the story, the weird conversation with Ravel, Brett is revealed to be a Night Hag, party configuration, character creation throughout play, the modron dungeon, the role of side quests, Deionnarra and her father, commitment to dialog and puzzles, side quests in JRPGs, wading into the lore, what strings multiple games together, the usability challenge of lore, playing rogue classes, the hybrid combat style, getting mazed by the Lady of Pain, a random encounter with a shade, how we pick games for the podcast, what we play vs what we develop, using strategy guides, shelf-level events, how you apply lessons from what you play, drawing. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Metal Gear Solid (series), Mega 64, Soul Reaver, Tony Jay, Darksiders 2, Dungeons & Dragons, Marvel, The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy (series), Baldur's Gate, World of Warcraft, LucasArts, Fallout, Tim Denton, Deus Ex, Kotaku Splitscreen, Hitman 2, Resident Evil, Fumito Ueda, The Last Guardian, TIE Fighter, Rogue One, System Shock, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Wasteland 2, Warcraft, BioWare, Secret World, Lord of the Rings Online, Daron Stinnett, Joint Strike Fighter, F-22, Tomb Raider, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Jamie Fristrom, Link's Awakening, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Reed Knight, SOMA, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Frictional Games, Chris Suellentrop, Tacoma, Spider-Man 2, Huizinga, Andrew-- if that is their real name, Aiemain, Bethesda Game Studios, Artorius01, Anthony Gallegos, RebelFM, Gazillion, The San Francisco Kid, Mr. Eric Anderson, Dark Horse Comics, Haden Blackman, The Force Unleashed, Mafia III, Hangar 13, 2K Games, Batwoman, Charlie Rocket. Next time: Finish the game Links: Tell everyone you're Adahn Jason Schreier's book Drawing: If you are "Andrew-- if that is their name," "The San Francisco Kid," or "Mr. Eric Anderson" shoot us an email. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1999 Black Isle classic Planescape: Torment. We talk about the usefulness of tropes (which this game mostly overturns), keeping your bearings when so much is available to you, and the uses of story and narrative to prop up underwhelming mechanics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Ravel's Maze Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Segment 1 57:45 Break 58:17 Segment 2: Feedback/Questions Issues covered: permutations and open maps at the Clerk's Ward, open world games, quest UIs, tuning out the journal entries, Tim second-guessing himself, Lothar stealing Morte, alphabet soup names, Brett messes up Soego's name five different ways, how tropes give you a handhold, how The Witcher uses tropes and lore, culture: you're soaking in it!, anything can open a portal, evolution of usability, the game as maze, leaning on the journal, buying up all the items in the Curiosity Shop, tedium of fetch quests, lack of mechanical interest, being enthralled to the material, designing a puzzle platformer, marrying elements together to make something stronger, object-oriented ontology, diving deep into a thing and its mechanics and limits, the audience will decide, mainly an adventure game, thin mechanics, DA:I companion quests, Fallout as a better marriage of mechanics and story, playing as a character vs playing as a player avatar, "it's barely an RPG," combat difficulty, missing hack-and-slash, PST diverging from other Infinity Engine games, more combat and more combat difficulty in IE games, Heart of Winter mode, development divergence, finding a balance of narrative people can hang on to or not, the Brothel of Intellectual Lusts, discussing high points, whose head did you get?, Soego the wererat spy, multiple needles vs multiple haystacks, getting mazed, the zombie in the Coffinmaker's shop, the Alley of Lingering Sighs, metaphorical meaning, passion in game development, programming challenges in videogame development, moving to games from applications programming, waterfall vs iterative development, opportunities in 3D art, crossover with film, designers and passion, communicating through code, seeing branching vs taking branches, story vs systems in reader feedback. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Infinity Engine, The Witcher 3, Star Trek, Memento, Baldur's Gate (series), Andrzej Sapkowski, Beauty and the Beast, Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Anthony Halderman, Ian Bogost, Georgia Tech, The Atlantic, soccer, Tetris, Chess, Go, What Remains of Edith Finch, Giant Sparrow, The Unfinished Swan, Naughty Dog, Nate Wells (obliquely), Portal, Thomas Was Alone, Play Anything, Icewind Dale (series), Bioware, Interplay, Fallout, Dungeons & Dragons, Darksiders, Zelda (series), Diablo, Halo (obliquely), João Vitor Bispo Galvão, Aaron Evers, John Carmack, Fargo, Starfighter, Chris Corry, Andrew Kirmse, Unreal, idTech, Timothy Homan, Final Fantasy IX, Dragon Age: Origins, Bethesda Game Studios, Kurt Strock, Chris Mead, Deus Ex, System Shock 2. Point of Information: Nate Wells was the Naughty Dog Lead Artist (of The Last of Us) who went to Giant Sparrow that Tim and I were trying to remember. Next time: Until we return to Sigil Links: Video Games Are Better Without Stories, Ian Bogost The Exceptional Beauty of Doom 3's Source Code @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1999 Black Isle classic Planescape: Torment. We talk about how the overwhelming nature of the beginning acts might have come about (again), Brett hits a game-breaking bug, and needles are sought in haystacks. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Ravel's Maze Podcast breakdown: 0:43 Segment 1: PST (2:21 Aw Jeez) 1:08:00 Break 1:08:28 Segment 2: Feedback (1:10:10 Aw Jeez) Issues covered: May Day, how the breadth of quests of Hive might have come about, setting a bar for development, vertical slices, tutorial levels, taking a Starfighter level to alpha, trickle-down videogame economics, proving things to the money men, playing the high intelligence character, wererats and Brett's crash bug, Brett starts over with the Enhanced Edition, the Dead Nations and the Silent King, people of interest vs points of interest, needles in haystacks, intrinsic reward vs the extrinsic reward, quest items and characters, items being forced out of inventory, "what's in the box," how much do you let players explore, usability problems, missable trophies, making a developer's life easier vs a player's life easier, dangling quests, living with consequences, wanting a grey area vs clearly telegraphing to the player, watercooler talk, Nameless as a cipher for a player, being immortal, four factions in Fallout 4 and the end game, pen and paper vs computer RPG, "it's just text," systemic and forgettable vs specific and memorable, focusing on the macro at the expense of the micro, gif/jif, specificity of character, art direction, music composition. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin, nambulous, Chris Avellone, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Beamdog Entertainment, Interplay, Obsidian, Fallout: New Vegas, Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim, Republic Commando, Troy Mashburn, Starfighter, Harley Baldwin/White-Wiedow, Tomb Raider, Factor 5, Totally Games, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Fallout, It Follows, Soul Reaver, Breath of the Wild, Darksiders, Fallout 3, Mass Effect (series), Dragon Age (series), The Witcher (series), Reed Knight, Star Trek: The Next Generation (obliquely), Fallout 4, Far Cry 2, Final Fantasy (series), Jade Empire, marcus, Jesse - if that is my real name, Rorytheperson, James Taylor, Henry and June, Jen and Lia Longo, Dave Collins, Jesse Harlin, Arrrrrrjay, Fargo, Kotaku Splitscreen, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, LucasArts, Eric Johnston, Mark Blattel. Next time: Through Ravel's Maze Links: Brett appears on Kotaku/Splitscreen @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1999 Infinity Engine classic Planescape: Torment. We talk a bit about franchise fatigue, turning tropes on their heads, turning back historical design choices, and discuss some of what we saw as we played. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Undercity Podcast breakdown: 0:37 Segment 1: PST Talk 49:53 Break 50:26 Segment 2: Feedback, next time (51:28 Aw Jeez) Issues covered: Tim's bachelor party (really!), franchise fatigue, turning tropes on their heads, unexpected games, opportunities to unbalance a game, level curves, the meanings of systems, combat complexity, interface opacity, inability to die, shedding the arcade design sensibilities, finding a wider audience, matters of taste, finding ways to improve usability and recovering from mistakes, deliberate design choices for aesthetics, first microtransactions, winking at the player, breaking out of patterns, accreted design in D&D, stats mean more than level, more adventure game than RPG, overwhelming Hive area, map markers and POIs, seeing more of Hive than intended, Brett's many Hive quests, Tim getting killed and awaking underground, playing by different rules, deflating a quest, player distress and tension, sifting for what's important, portals everywhere and everything a key, creating a secret with every fact, working with the same tech and toolset again and again, hardware generations and changing expectations, user feedback and reviews, GDC, the connections between Ueda's games. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: D&D, Rich Davis, Geoff Jones, Haden Blackman, Star Wars, Mysteries of the Sith, Tomb Raider, Halo (series), Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Final Fantasy (series), Infinity Engine, Diablo, Soul Reaver, Republic Commando, TIE Fighter, Ultima (series), Ms Pacman, Spelunky, Stefan Schmidt, Fallout, Tolkien, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling (obliquely), Black Isle, LucasArts, SCUMM, Chris Suellentrop, Shall We Play A Game?, degreekelvin, Jonny Whitlam, MacDork, knowitman, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Link to the Past, Harper Hadley, TeeJay, Fumito Ueda, 3D Monster Maze, Sinclair Timex ZX81, The Last Guardian, Glixel, Rolling Stone, John Davison, Shigeru Miyamoto, Robert Gunardi, Super Metroid, Chris Avellone, Gothic, Piranha Bytes, Elder Scrolls (series), Witcher (series), Reed Knight, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, King's Quest, Sierra, Wizard and the Princess, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona (series), Chrono Trigger. Next time: Through Ravel's maze Links: Fumito Ueda on Glixel The Wizard and the Princess on the Internet Archive @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, which this week begins a new series exploring 1999 Infinity Engine classic Planescape: Torment. We situate it in time both against other games and the D&D license but also especially as the pinnacle of Interplay's Infinity Engine games, and then dive into the first section of play. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Mortuary Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Segment 1: History and discussion of play 53:20 Break 53:54 Feedback Issues covered: situating game in time, D&D licensing, rendered 3D backgrounds, 2nd Edition D&D rules, licensed settings, boiling down ADnD, D&D rules implementation as selling point, the Planescape license as a setting with various realms all tied together, veering away from Tolkien, what computers are good at and what DMs are good at, storytelling settings yesterday and today, looking for variety as a creator, hybrid combat system, preferring full real-time or full turn-based, huge map sizes, non-gridded play area, being confused by the opening cutscene, waking up from the dead with Morte, sense you've been in this situation before, avoiding the problem of the Chosen One, flexible stories, simple character creation, attribute choices, establishing the character as important but not knowing why, slowly introducing the setting, dialog options, making amnesia work (and being in concert with the setting), great story hook, setting up your first quest, the missing journal, bouncing off the game, Brett looks for a good metaphor (and fails), tons of descriptive text, subverting player expectations, making Morte humorous, not liking Morte, less use of voice, Brooklyn cabbie, Minsc, subverting character expectations, fluid alignment system, getting your experience from dialog options, having to look at everything, finding a key vs Tim taking a portal, analyzing games. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Black Isle, Infinity Engine, System Shock 2, Soul Reaver, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena, Longest Journey, C&C Tiberian Sun, Homeworld, BioWare, Baldur's Gate, Gold Box Games, SSI, Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy (series), Day of the Tentacle, Icewind Dale, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, JRR Tolkien, Monster Hearts, Friends at the Table, Chris Avellone, Archie Comics, Shadowrun, The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny, Saga system, Diablo, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Kenneth Lee, Ultima, Memento, Link's Awakening, Reed Knight, Fallout 1/2, Obsidian, The Witcher, mathboxers, Mr. Eric Anderson, Kotaku, Matva_88, Call of Duty, This War of Mine, Darksiders, David from Houston, Mike D/TBC Generation 0, Fallout New Vegas, Tales of Zestaria, Beamdog, Jeffool, Breath of the Wild, Link Between Worlds. Next time: Through the Undercity Links: "That One Time It's Different" blog post @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the fourth and final episode in our series exploring SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. We discuss the end of the game, finding nooks and crannies, various difficulties, and then quickly cover our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the end of the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:35 Segment 1: Finishing Zelda 46:48 Break 47:22 Segment 2: Takeaways, Feedback 1:10:28 Aw Jeez Issues covered: Brett's loop, using a walkthrough to find the pieces of heart, Tim playing less cautiously due to save state style, Brett fills in Tim on bottle locations, lack of systems, sprite and processing limitations, credits sequence, Brett's dungeon strategy, visual language problems, low cost of failure and encouraging exploration, finding multiple solutions, Brett wonders how you build a thing like Zelda, GDC talk on BotW, taking space to iterate on a game and add moments, planning and serendipity, critical path and not, usability costs, "it's a sword game," boss descriptions, finding the super bomb, aesthetic cracks, opt-in hints from the Sage, "It's.... Zelda...", overworld, progression structure and lenses, exploration and discovery, differences with Metroid progression, powering up, Swiss Army knife, learning rule sets, playground banter, taking sea changes seriously, differences with Western action-adventure, skill-based gameplay with adventure vs exploration, timelines vs legends, making it hard and OCD, remembering why you got into it in the first place, finishing a project. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy IX, Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time, Mario series, The Witcher, Nintendo, Shadow of the Colossus, Super Metroid, Nintendo Power, Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Beyond Good and Evil, Darksiders (series), Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider, GTA, Spirit Tracks, Link Between Worlds, Ben Zaugg, That Alex Guy, cam_dax, Kotaku Splitscreen, Republic Commando, Spider-Man 2, segosa, blarg9538, Barbie's First Surgeon, James Taylor, Beamdog, inXile, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Brian Fargo, Fallout. Next time: Planescape: Torment - through the mortuary! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the third episode in our series exploring SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. We discuss what storytelling there is, several of the bosses we fought, the analog nature of combat and also the difficulty curve before turning to some player questions. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Ice Palace Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Segment 1: LttP discussion 25:50 "Aw, jeez" 45:44 Break 46:10 Segment 2: Feedback/email discussion Issues covered: overview of the bosses we fought, story-telling as reward, intrinsic vs extrinsic awards, storytelling in other games at the time, entering the Dark World and mechanical differences, navigating the environment, visual tells, making notes, dungeon variety, Skull Woods integration of the overworld and the dungeon, using the map as spatial awareness, the place where you get stuck and put a Zelda game down, preferring the overworld, ancillary mechanics that support overworld exploration, multiplying options for interacting with the world, elemental stuff, resource usage and magic, magic measurement vs hearts, recharging magic mechanic in later game, fast travel, combat and player affordances, z-targeting as a good advance and iteration on the mechanic, Brett's circuit from fairy fountain to shop to fountain to dungeon, gearing up for a run, the water effects in the swamp dungeon, the Hyrule Historia and the LoZ timeline, creativity in the AAA space, making art direction choices, risk tolerance in games and Hollywood, indie games on the margins, the cost of change, delaying making decisions, shining a light on what works, making tradeoffs for innovation, speedrunning Link to the Past. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy series, Super Metroid, Breath of the Wild, Link Between Worlds, Halo, Joust, Dungeons and Dragons, Dark Souls, Jonathan DeLuca, Nick Tapalansky, System Shock 2, Michael Keane, Horizon: New Dawn, Minecraft, Uncharted 2, Proteus, Dear Esther, Richard Lemarchand, Bethesda Game Studios, Todd Howard, Skyrim, Ubisoft, irreverentQ, Phil Rosehill, Beyond Good and Evil, Michel Ancel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Pickled Stick, Final Fantasy IX. Next time: Finish the Game! Links: This week's Remix of the Dark World Dungeon theme is by Pokerus, check out his work on OCRemix.org Jonathan DeLuca's podcast, "Play and Listen" 100% Speedrun 4-way any% race (no major glitches), featuring the 2nd fastest time ever recorded Reverse Boss Order any% race @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the second episode in our series exploring SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. We talk a lot about how it's difficult even to analyze a game that casts such a long shadow and open worlds as a genre. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Agahnim battle Podcast breakdown: 0:30 Segment 1: LttP Discussion 52:05 Break 52:25 Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: hardware features, the series long shadow, how do you look at it with fresh eyes, the vocabulary that comes up every day, the underlying structure, discovery and exploration, "the Zelda game I always wanted," Nintendo establishing structures for several genres, what the legend means, multiple hands touching a series, the template, building up a set of skills to tackle each new challenge, stamina system in the new Zelda and how it's set aside in Skyrim, challenge vs expression, a wild goose chase, side quests to the ice rod and the flippers, taking notes, digression into Nintendo hardware quality, balancing discovery and usability, the bunny rabbit moment, the Moon Pearl, review drive, Game Theory Club, reimagining games, revisiting a game with series improvements, Link to the Past Randomizer, extending the life of a game. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Spirit Tracks, Super Metroid, Dungeons and Dragons, Atari 2600, Adventure, Breath of the Wild, Soul Reaver, Assassin's Creed (series), Mario (series), Castlevania, 1001 Nights, Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Shigeru Miyamoto, Metroid Prime (series), Retro Studios, Metroid: Other M, Team Ninja, CapCom, Eiji Aonuma, James Bond, Casino Royale, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, Todd Howard, UbiSoft, Far Cry (series), OC Remix, Zapturk, dedalusdivine, seaofmorgan, John Feil, Harley Baldwin, Mr.Rintrah, World of Warcraft, AreEyeSeaKay, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter, Ratchet & Clank, Doom (2016), Timothy McAleer, James R., Spelunky. Next time: Play up to and through the Ice Palace Links: Link to the Past Randomizer @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the first episode in our series exploring SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. We situate the game in time and talk about its long shadow in game development before tucking into the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the end of the Eastern Palace Podcast breakdown: 0:30 Segment 1: LoZ 49:38 Break 50:09 Eastern Palace & Feedback Issues covered: Zelda's long history and which of them Brett and Tim played, action adventure with overworld, each identify their favorite, differences between entries, overworld flow vs Metroidvania skills and re-traversal, visual telegraphing of skill usage, getting lost, marking the map, lack of direction or quest log, goals and gating, the misleading fortune teller, setting of context, dream sequence, the role of Zelda, Agahnim trying to break the seal, initial experience, learning combat mechanics (hit locations sometimes mattering and sometimes not), initial dungeon mechanics, cost of death in dungeons, leaving through the sewers, light simulation elements, two levels of tiles, layered dungeon spaces, getting bombs earlier, off the beaten path, combat difficulty, how we fill in our roles, team size and diversity of roles, specialization, knowing about business and marketing, Brett reveals Master Chief's secrets, reviews, licensed titles, interviews, unionization and standardization and film. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry, Back to the Future, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy IV, Civilization, Another World, Battletoads, Monkey Island 2, Legend of Zelda (series), Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Hideki Kamiya, Platinum Games, Okami, Clover Studio, Fumito Ueda, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Souls (series), Jedi Starfighter, Skyrim, Final Fantasy IX, Michael Keane, Starfighter, Wayne Cline, Ultima, Richard Garriott, Daron Stinnett, David Lee Swenson, Shibby Train, Peter_randomnumbers, Kevin Kauffman, Ben from Iowa, Kotaku Splitscreen, Aladdin, Lion King, Shadows of Mordor, Arkham series, MrSean2k, Ken Levine. Next time: Play up through (first?) battle with Agahnim @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the final episode in our series exploring PS1 and PC 3rd person action-adventure game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We delve into the last bits of the game including pluses and minuses surrounding its environmental navigation and puzzles, its voice acting, and then turn to our takeaways and pillars. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finishing the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:36 Soul Reaver discussion 55:55 Break 56:35 Pillars/Takeaways and feedback Issues covered: controls and directional awareness, a visit to the human city, Brett's memory problems and the human city, number of pizza wedges, realizing you're in the wrong place, order in which you see new navigable challenges, visual language when you don't read it yet, over-subtlety, macro design, wishing for a key, the tradeoffs of a connected world, wanting to revisit the world, world connectivity, mapping of interdepencies, level design role in late 90s, gray boxing, seven deadly sins, tough block puzzles, working well within constraints, trailblazing and ambition, trying new things in grognard-captured genres, Dumah battle, gas and flame puzzle, rules, Dumah returning to his throne room, fighting camera and the boss at the same time, good final puzzles, symbol language, opening up a puzzle possibility set by adding a simple element, teaching the right thing, voice acting, efficiency of writing, delving into Serafan lore, Moebius, the point of no return, cohesive narrative and mechanics, the spectral realm and inherent gameplay, camera-control-environment holism, adult theme and mature story, economy of storytelling, interviews, marketing influence, what game do you think is worth revisiting? Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metroid (series), Conan the Barbarian, John Milius, Tomb Raider, Ico, Riley Cooper, Legend of Zelda, Ultima (series), Mario 64, Jonathan DeLuca, Metal Gear Solid, Tony Jay, Amy Hennig, Naughty Dog, Otello, Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, MegaMan, HeadLander, Call of Duty, The San Francisco Kid, Karen, The Last of Us, John Caboose, Natewhs152, Nintendo systems, Breath of the Wild. Next time: Either Interview or Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, through the first dungeon. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the third episode in our series exploring PS1 and PC 3rd person action-adventure game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We pick apart the jumping madness that is the Drowned Cathedral, talk animation priority and interruption, and hit up some development thinking to boot. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Rahab Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Soul Reaver discussion 55:48 Break 56:25 Feedback and next time Issues covered: continental philosophy, Morlock the ramming boss, substituting in a boss as an enemy, jumping through the environment, gaining projectile from the boss, jumping section followed by jumping section, analog vs digital controls, lack of cueing for the jump physics, camera not helping you, level design working against the grain, convergence of level design camera jump physics and checkpointing, never dying and wasting time, skill-based jumping, dramatic choices vs mechanical choices, the analog nature of the glide with the mantle, jack of all trades/master of none, lack of specialization, putting story and character first, team size and time equals budget, stakeholders, dependencies, a flying cheat during development, animation priority (i.e. when you can break out of an animation), technical limitations on animation, "the player has to win," directorial choices to add drama or hide flaws, ownership of jump arc, air steering, leaning on your non-realistic visuals, glyphs, seeing the lack of glyphs in the game but feeling like I don't need them, did glyphs play a bigger role, was it a development mistake, portals being hidden from the player rather than being critical path, Tim loses progress while reading the manual, feedback. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Richard Wagner, Mario (series), Prince of Persia (series), Little Big Planet, Tomb Raider (series), Rayman 3D, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Zelda (series), System Shock 2, Ken Levine, Amy Hennig, Dark Souls, Vlambeer, Naughty Dog, Crystal Dynamics, Final Fantasy IX, Brian Taylor, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mega Man, Wii Music, Bjorn Johansson, Hitman 2, DLC Podcast, Jeff Cannata, Christian Spicer, Tim Schafer, Mega 64. Next time: Finish Soul Reaver! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the second episode in our series exploring PS1 and PC 3rd person action-adventure game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We delve into character design and how it is supported by character art and animation and pick a bone with lack of environmental direction. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Zephon TTAG: 49:28 Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Segment 1: Soul Reaver discussion 56:32 Break 57:00 Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: year anniversary, gothic horror elements, color choices, silhouette, mechanics reinforcing narrative, animation reinforcing character, economic character design, ludonarrative consonance and dissonance, navigation and puzzles rather than combat, pacing strengths and problems, death mechanic elegance, getting away from "lives," rivalry between vampires, character design of bosses, gaining your first power, boss fight with Kain, revenge fantasy propulsion, having nothing to fear, enabling player experimentation, lack of directionality or map, having to scour the map, missing portals, giant organ design meeting, lack of Cathedral organ payoff, Brett finds a bug, bad dungeon mastering, solving the three pipes puzzle, unfounded architecture, broke-not-Baroque, stumbling on a solution, Zephon character design, Zephon boss hint and point of interest, inconsistent use of torch, visual design of doors and belly, free look mode, unfinished game, clues for free look, reaching to the toolkit, surprise Halo info, Christian literary influence, maturity of writing and narrative. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Paradise Lost, Darkman, Phantom of the Opera, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Mario (series), Uncharted, Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, Medi-Evil, Ghosts and Goblins, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed (series), Divine Comedy (obliquely), Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dungeons and Dragons, Aliens, Dan Cabuco, Ultima Underworld, Scott Nebel, FF IX, Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda (series), Game Developer (RIP), Chris Corry, Star Wars: Starfighter, Jonathan DeLuca, 343 Industries, Halo, Yanni, Guillermo del Toro, Richard Wagner, Faustus, "Twivver." Next time: Two more bosses/ up to Rahab Links: Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the first episode in our series exploring PS1 and PC 3rd person action-adventure game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We situate the game in time a bit and then turn to its storytelling style, its early game, and its primary mechanics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until the first boss Podcast breakdown: 0:37 Segment 1: Intro to Soul Reaver 55:45 Break 56:07 Segment 2: Feedback and next time Issues covered: horror influences and origins, historical context, light touch of the storytelling, IP ownership, character motivations, additional powers as rewards rather than as keys or enablers, worldbuilding of Nosgoth as a feature, Kain as twisted god and reflecting Paradise Lost, moving past tank controls and grids, differentiating the two realms visually, reaving souls, two ways to view the world/environment, mechanical consonance of reaving with walking between the realms, revenge and propulsion/being driven, relating character motivations to mechanics, an era of increasing production values but risk-taking, material world interactions and losing them in the spectral realm, combat depth, using the environment to grapple and dispose of enemies, camera difficulties, warp gates as fast travel, warp gates as save mechanic and persistent objects/replenished enemies, Brett explains what 'oracular' means, Tim gets lost through the warp gates, building a level that works with your camera, camera development, PC configuration, expecting the camera to help you, using landmarks to navigate the world, camera confusion in boss battle, blaming the camera for usability, going to first-person camera mode, mantling and character collision, Foley support, figuring out influences of a modern game, keeping current, being careful of being too critical of peers. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: HP Lovecraft, Amy Hennig, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (series), Marvel, Naughty Dog, Evan Wells, Richard Lemarchand, Uncharted, Silicon Knights, Eternal Darkness, Dennis Dyack, Eidos Interactive, Max Payne, George Broussard, 3DRealms, Cthulhu, Legend of Zelda, Super Metroid, Siri, Darksiders, Vigil Entertainment, THQ, Kill Bill, Diablo, Paradise Lost, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Metroid Prime series, John Wick, Fumito Ueda, Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Republic Commando, Mario series, Metal Gear Solid, MediEvil series, Nick Tapalansky, The Last Guardian, Evil Within, Oxenfree, Bethesda Game Studios, Luke Thériault, Final Fantasy IX. Links: Ico novel in English Next time: Up until the boss "Zephod" @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the final episode in our series examining the first two works of Fumito Ueda: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and turning to the present with some bonus content surrounding The Last Guardian. We talk about the games' pillars and our personal takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A bit of The Last Guardian Podcast breakdown: 0:34 Segment: Pillars/Takeaways/The Last Guardian Issues covered: getting all the tails and fruits and making one's way to the top of the temple, meaningful companion characters, making a boss the level, set pieces vs mechanical depth or integration, grip meter convergence, holistic integration of space/camera/mechanics, trying the outlandish, the discipline of simplicity, console lifecycle and buyer influence, credits padding for publishing, storytelling and mystery and curiosity, repeated themes, mechanical depth and replayability, unpredictability, description of Trico, art direction, sense of scale, design of Trico, narrative setup, onboarding in The Last Guardian, understanding how a thing works and still finding it magical, degree of difficulty, quibbling over controls seems to miss the point, charm in character control, world design and camera missing wonderful moments, holism misfire, could does not equal should, competing goals, changing the approach to play. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Phil Rosehill, Super Metroid, Naughty Dog, The Last of Us, Darksiders, Dark Souls, God of War, The Last Guardian, Journey, Flower, Republic Commando, The Incredibles, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Mario series, James Taylor, Team Ico, gen Design, Conan the Barbarian, Mako, Rygar, Jurassic Park, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Crystal Dynamics, Amy Hennig, Uncharted, Indiana Jones, Visceral Games, Tomb Raider, Tim Cain. Next time: First couple of hours of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the third episode in our series examining the first two works of Fumito Ueda: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. We discuss Colossus's mysterious world, talk about Agro, the camera, delve into the story, and also recap the eight Colossi that make up the second half of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Final 8 Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Segment 1: SotC discussion 1:03:34 Break 1:04:22 Segment 2: Final Colossi, Feedback Issues covered: visiting areas ahead of fighting Colossi, stripping away the filler combat, a Cursed land: justifying its emptiness, the Zen garden, beauty is a purpose, a meditative space, no support to the completionist or progress on the map, altar icons on the map, getting the platinum, less is more, openended-ness as a hinge to mystery, filling in details by yourself, archaeology as jigsaw puzzle, being memorable and provocative, being left wanting more, PS2-era quality, the end of Agro, dependence on Agro in fighting Colossi, characterization of the horse, less accessible controls (vs driving like a car), the joyfulness of a slow trot, criticizing the controls, justifying turning heavy things on a dime in AAA games, the dynamism of a camera in an open world, beautifully framed shots, using the rule of thirds dynamically for framing, camera designers, open space as an aid to framing, AAA camera design and implementation, topography to accentuate shots, tradeoffs, story spacing, visual aging and greying of Wander to reflect the cost of his quest, Mono's voice reaching through the void, opening the sealed gate, Agro jumping gaps, Agro's sacrifice, replaying to try and save her, interactive crossing the bridge, should it be a cutscene?, being more generous with the player, echoes in the end between Wander and the Colossi, splitting a god into multiple pieces as a parallel myth, the sword as my instrument and the instrument of my demise, Dormin resisting being pulled into the pool, Mono and Agro and the baby and the garden, the soundtrack, the music of horse riding, the Tim Horse Surprise, wall of sound vs silence, scoring to tell you what to feel, the final eight colossi, frustration of character-relative bow aiming, showing the limits and warts of mechanics, New Game+ mechanics and goals, hidden depths in Ueda's work. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Shadows of Mordor, Diablo, Titan Quest, Baldur's Gate, Souls series, PlaystationTrophies.org, Uncharted series, Bioshock (obliquely), The Last Guardian, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Remi Lacoste, Ubisoft, Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed, Fable, Peter Molyneux, Eadweard Muybridge, Final Fantasy IX, GCMSHPLC, shabby329, Jedi Starfighter. Next time: Bonus! A little The Last Guardian and talking about Ueda's pillars. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the third episode in our series examining the first two works of Fumito Ueda: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. We discuss Colossus's form, intro, animation, and a number of design elements, including brief recaps of the first eight Colossus battles. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The first 8 Colossi Podcast breakdown: 0:40 Discussion Issues covered: brief history, high-level structure (boss battles), boss battle-centricity, bosses as story arcs and reward structures in other games, pacing benefits, higher peaks and deeper valleys, puzzle bosses and the puzzle-y aspects of each Colossus, presentation of the first Colossus, description of the opening scenes, organic design, story setup, narrators, shadowy figures, echoes of the sarcophagi, Brett teaches Tim the name of the horse, Agro as companion, horse as primer for environment/Colossus navigation, inverse kinematics, introduction to all the mechanics, slow animation of the Colossus, first impressions, Colossi as levels, sense of majesty, giant/automaton/golem, Dormin telling you what to do on occasion, fur and scampering, large wind-ups as tells, deep dive on the grip meter, description of Colossus death, particular order of attacks and payoff, avoiding backtracking, the mournful weight of lore and echoes, making the Colossi suffer and the descent of the player, original co-op design, talking quickly about each battle, additive mechanics and puzzles, kofun tombs, a moment that remains with you forever, audio-visual support for the bird fight, deeper dive on the electrified eel, Trico qua Colossus, building relationships rather than puzzles, puzzles as friction or obstacles, beams of light from Colossi corpses, golem construction materials, reminders of how bad you should feel. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash, Team Ico, genDesign, LucasArts, Republic Commando, Halo, The Last Guardian, Titan Souls, Cuphead, Super Metroid, MegaMan, Antonio Gaudi, Indiana Jones, Ico, Star Wars, God of War, Demon's Souls, Wizard of Oz (obliquely), Monster Hunter, Jeffool, Gothic_Chocobo. Next time: Finish Shadow of the Colossus! Links: NICO online co-op prototype Game Maker's Toolkit on Ico is pretty great Extra Frames (from Extra Credits) on Shadow of the Colossus @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the second episode in our series examining the first two works of Fumito Ueda: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. We discuss bits of Ico's narrative, the holistic and economic aspects of the design, the build-up of tension and mutual support between the characters, the combat, and a host of other issues. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Second half of Ico! Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Ico Issues covered: the source of all future quotes, camera/yorda/scale holism and reinforcement, taking copious notes, the "b" word, spots where the camera doesn't work, setting down the controller, pushing through player skill games, visual language in encounter design, maintaining the connection with Yorda in combat, story act structure, the arc of combat encounters, castle cohesion, castle as a character, being able to see from title screen where you'll go, points of interest, story bits with the Queen at the gate, the castle as a real place, Yorda's leaps, building relationship and trust and tension, establishing reciprocal feeling, Yorda's powers, opening the other door, cutting ropes around the reflectors, puzzles where the platforming is pushed a bit too far, camera control, depleting Yorda to open the gates, the expanding dark circle with the sickly green rim, clever environmental object design, a touching moment, fighting the shadows from the sarcophagi, character art of the Queen, Queen Himiko and art/textiles of ancient Japan, the boss battle, losing Ico's horns, Yorda freeing Ico from the castle, recovery of humanity and rebirth, credits nostalgia, the beach scene and reunion, HDR/bloom effects, watermelon alternate ending, a little bit about how Yorda's AI might work, Brett's new Emo band, potentially scripted, Yorda's personality vs Trico's, favorite bits, "Are they really going to let me do this?," common emotional tones in Ueda's games. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, Super Mario Galaxy, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, Brothers, The Last of Us, Stranger Things/Eleven, Shodan, Okami, Indiana Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (obliquely), The Sims, Republic Commando, Cameron Hass, Myst, Riven. Next time: First 8 Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to the first episode in our series examining the first two works of Fumito Ueda: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. We situate it in time a bit, and then turn to the opening few rooms and the design, technical, and narrative departures already visible. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the windmill TTAJ: ??! Podcast breakdown: 0:38 Segment 1: Ico 59:33 Break 1 59:58 Segment 2: Themes for next time, feedback Issues covered: situating Ico's release in 2001, other games focusing on character control and repetition, passion for or against, focusing on different elements, feeling like a young boy, introduction to the game, the spice shop of little boys, economical storytelling, recognizability, space occupied by the character, environment as character, lack of player agency in the camera, showing the player the environment, what does the camera want me to know, camera as drama/emotion rather than mechanic, spiraling up and down, dream sequence, greasy oily shadows, language barrier between them and to the user, usability issues, lack of instruction on the controls, contextual R1, press and hold, tenderness and humaneness, mechanical connection, assuming responsibility, inverse kinematics, animating the character to IK to solve problems, balancing fidelity and responsiveness, impact of the game on game developers, giving permission to try different things, game dev economics, separating Yorda from the inanimate, press R1 to feel emotion, set dressing plausibility and mystery, non-interactable stuff, passive interactions, consistency in interactability, overtelling and lore, moral questions, trophy hunting, soaking it in, robot testing, various automated tests in AAA dev, that one time* we blew it, why we blew it, breakout success of Myst. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mafia III, The Last Guardian, Fumito Ueda, Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry, Halo, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, MGS 4, Pikmin, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Luigi's Mansion, Hideki Kamiya, Platinum Games, Capcom, Konami, Max Payne, Hitman 2, System Shock 2, King Kong, Jessica Lange, The Arrival, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy IX, Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider series, Journey, Velvet Underground, Prince of Persia, Sony, Jesse Harlin, Don DeLillo, Zero K, @TheHanna, TIE Fighter, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Bethesda Game Studios, Starfighter, Microsoft, Noel Llopis, Cameron Hass, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Myst series, Riven, Uru, Obduction, LucasArts, Sierra, The 7th Guest, Curse of Monkey Island**, The Room, The Witness, Cthulhu. Links: Noel Llopis, Monkey Testing Next time: Finish Ico! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected] * not one time ** I said Monkey 4, but this is the game I actually meant.

Welcome to a special interview episode examining 1994's Star Wars classic TIE Fighter. We welcome Larry Holland and discuss the overall arc of his career building games for LucasArts and specifically TIE Fighter. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. TTAJ: Podcast breakdown: 0:31 Interview with Larry Holland 1:05:53 Break 1:06:21 Outro/Next time Issues covered: early career, educational background and focus in anthropology, love of history, military simulation, World War II trilogy, shift to IBM PC, CGA->EGA graphics, reliving history from both sides and controversy, life and death struggles, manuals to support games, combat focus vs flight/avionics focus, switching to a fictional history, quiet around the Star Wars property, moving to 3D from rotating and scaling sprites, adding a 2D cinematic engine, film "history," reflecting the environment as an attempt to be immersive, WWII air combat speeds and gun camera footage vs BVR fighting, life-and-death and pilot knowledge, craft systems management, challenging players with choices, situational awareness, adding mission complexity driving specialized targeting commands, managing franchise complexity, site targeting, multi-level goals and showing players what they were, completion fanatics, origin of the level editor, "beware of the designer's second game," sleeping at Kerner, turning QA into mission designers, learning how to build games while building games, building behaviors, orders and choreography, the agent of the Emperor, a secret society, moral grayness vs the stark black and white, partisan politics and points of view, discussion of what's next and focus. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Totally Games, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Super Zaxxon, HESWare, Noah Falstein, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, PHM Pegasus, Strike Fleet, Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour ("BoB"), Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe ("SWotL"), Falcon series, Spectrum Holobyte, F-16, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Timothy Zahn, Peter Lincroft, Ed Kilham, John Glenn, Halo, David Wessman, David Maxwell, Rogue One, The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt, SW Republic Commando, Phil Rosehill, Super Metroid at AGDQ, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Fumito Uedo, The Last Guardian, Team Ico/genDesign, Japan Studio, Loco Roco, Patapon, From Software, Demons's Souls, Echochrome, Gravity Rush, Tokyo Jungle, Puppeteer, Knack. Next time: We begin Ico! Play up until you have passed the Windmill. Links: Awesome Games Done Quick Shall We Play A Game? GOTY episode @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to a bonus episode examining 1994's Star Wars classic TIE Fighter. We welcome two guests, Reed Knight and Darren Johnson, who worked in QA on the original titles and co-led the QA team on the Collector's Edition. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. TTAJ: 14:24 Podcast breakdown: 0:29 Interview segment 1:10:00 Break 1:10:22 Outro, Next time Issues covered: Tim introduces QA as a discipline, Reed self-introduction, QA being in start credits of Full Throttle, Tim's interviews, Darren self-introduction, early history of Reed and Darren in QA, games that are fun to test months in, score competition, day in the life of a tester, bug entry process, having only one computer for entering bugs, "anti-speed runs," thinking in terms of triggers or events, gluing events together, getting the editor and looking for bugs, finding voice lines that had never fired in original TIE Fighter, finding bugs that weren't literally visible in-game, non-crash "A" bugs, Reed disputes Brett's account of an "A" bug, Darren defeating Darth Vader, best gaming moments, the lengths you go to to break a game, "SUM PIN TO DO," missing a bug because you haven't gone far enough, fighting for bugs on behalf of the player, suggesting technical solutions from QA, healthy tension between departments, "upstairs," Kerner Blvd, adversarial advocacy vs. regulatory capture, maintaining objectivity, balancing games from test, lead tester importance as ship date looms, maintaining loyalty to the QA team, turning to the Dark Side, getting QA consensus, "once a tester always a tester," humility vs arrogance, direct discussion with testers, every 1000th bug, golden age, free range testing, working on a platform title (due to license holder requirements), compatibility, quantity of bugs in modern day, playing console manufacturers off against one another, day one patches, usability issues, playing XvT co-op as former QA, TuneIn and Amazon Echo. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Rogue One, Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear, Emperor Zurg, Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Tim Schafer, Metal Warriors, Big Sky Trooper, Jedi Knight, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Stormfront Studios, Eragon, Don Daglow, Smithsonian, Leap Frog, Duke Grabowski, Bill Tiller, Gene Mocsy, Hal Barwood, Zelda, Indiana Jones Desktop Adventures, Yoda Stories, Afterlife, Day of the Tentacle, Dave Grossman, Mad Otter Games, Disney, Brian Kemp, Larry Holland, Totally Games, Dan Connors, Mark Cartwright, The Last Starfighter, Fallout 3, Todd Howard, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter, Brett Tosti, Galactic Battlegrounds, Battle for Naboo, Obi-Wan, Bill Roper, Tim Cain, Bethesda Game Studios, Nintendo 64, Shadows of the Empire, Livia Knight, Telltale Games, Sean Clark, Tabitha Tosti, Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, Ico, Fumito Ueda, BlueTieCasual. Next time: Interview with Larry Holland! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to our YEAR END SPECIAL. We look back on our interview segments and our favorite game takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. TTAJ: 53:15 Next time: We have one and possibly two TIE Fighter interviews lined up, but then we are going to turn to 2002's Ico and 2005's Shadow of the Colossus. Look for us on Twitter for how far to play. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to our fourth episode examining 1994's Star Wars classic TIE Fighter. We discuss the story of the Collector's Edition additional missions 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: Missions 11-13 TTAJ: 1:06:00 (late this episode!) Podcast breakdown: 0:37 Segment 1: Final battles 39:00 Break 39:27 Segment 2: Takeaways Issues covered: story review of last few battles, cloaking technology as verboten in Star Wars license, tying into Endor and the trap at the new Death Star, being in the recognizable Star Wars universe, forward performance problems, thinking about future proofing, emulating and Steam, Lucy and the anthropology, failing a mission and rethinking your strategy, using the slam mechanic, circles of the Emperor, viewing your stats, proper pronunciation of Bothan, Brett and lore, having both the success of preserving the Empire and knowing it's about to fall, differing voice actors, not getting to see Zaarin, moving to a 3D rendering, deep simulation, the majesty of being in the space, committing to the fantasy in small ways, how much stuff is in this game, simulation complexity of a fictional craft, AI craft doing the same energy management, mission design around specific craft/loadout, feeling the hand of the designer, modern possibility of failure, we hear from the animal quarter, Brett owes Tim a dollar. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Scrabble, Ernest Adams, Dungeon Keeper, Ultima series, Rogue One, Skyrim, Monkey Island, Jedi Power Battles, Masters of Teras Kasi, The Last Starfighter, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, Brian Taylor, Dave Filoni, Star Wars Rebels and Clone Wars, Republic Commando, Sean Duffy. Next time: A Year in Review @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to our third episode examining 1994's Star Wars classic TIE Fighter. We discuss the story of the first expansion pack, address some criticism when it comes to these missions, and Brett digresses over technology from the day. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Battles 8-10 TTAG (Time to "Aw, geez"): 1:43 Podcast breakdown: 0:35 One segment this week! Issues covered: licensing and the Expanded Universe, the TIE Defender as the centerpiece of a series of battles, Zaarin and Thrawn, choosing Thrawn over Vader, the mag pulse torpedo, Full speed to Killimaar!, being the Red Baron, technology race, using audio to give you hints and direction, lack of feedback to developers, hobbyist press, calling the hint line, over-long missions, changing the rule set on you, dead time, bulletproofing and A bugs, test plans, algorithmically breaking a game, software vs hardware operations, Caveman Tim, texture mapping, fixed point math, floating point operations vs whole numbers, transform and lighting, capital ship scale, render order and limiting your triangle drawing, overdraw, major revolutions in hardware, streaming podcast recording, beam weapons, zooming. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Disney, Trading Places, Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Murphy, Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, Heir to the Empire, Totally Games, Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Scrabble, The Great Waldo Pepper, Robert Redford, Howard Hughes, Abbott and Costello, John Carmack, Steven Spielberg, Sean Clark, Robin Williams, Star Wars: Starfighter, Colony Wars, Wing Commander, Reed Knight, Dark Forces, Voodoo, Tomb Raider, Unreal, X-Wing Alliance, Darren Johnson, miggohoo, Idle Thumbs, DLC, Rogue One. Next time: Finish the game! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]

Welcome to our second episode examining 1994's Star Wars classic TIE Fighter. We discuss the story in greater depth, as well as the various storytelling modes and how they cross over between each other. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Battles 4-7 Podcast breakdown: 0:31 Segment 1: Story and storytelling 50:32 Break 51:00 Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: expansion packs, setting of the campaign in the Star Wars chronology, adding new technology as a way to expand the game from the movies, a game's power curve, making the player part of the story, how the secret order ranks work, point bonuses and happy accidents, not knowing what you've missed, modern design removing mystery, stretching the character of the Emperor, medal ceremony, Star Wars story melodrama, military careerism, depth of simulation vs breadth of options, beam weapon, wingman commands, component targeting, flight sim complexity in the early 90s, use of the beam weapon, mastery for perfect puzzle play, use of the simulators, the damage system, prioritizing repairs, various screens, energy management, dumping lasers into shields, starting with one ring of shields (forcing player action), experimenting as a result of failure, most difficult missions, hard failure (funeral and prison planet), having to pay attention/less directed play, map, scale, WWII clips influencing Star Wars film battles, strategy guides and game development, Tim the submarine operator, 15-pin serial connections, recharging your lasers, digging around for joysticks at the local Best Buy, nostalgia bias, no perfect games, letting games go, games as "just a job," healthy self-regard, corporations as psychopaths, overwork. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Gilmore Girls, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Totally Games, The Madness of King George, Jedi Starfighter (obliquely), Republic Commando (obliquely), Wing Commander, Rogue Squadron series, Call of Duty, Battlefront, Brian Taylor, Kurt Strock, DLC podcast, Ken Levine, Janos Flosser, Shall We Play A Game podcast, Silent Service, F15 Strike Eagle, Their Finest Hour: Battle of Britain, B-17: Flying Fortress, ARMA series, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, Freelancer, House of the Dying Sun, Aaron Hansen, Waka2234, Warcraft, The Last Guardian, Kurtbamf. Links: George Lucas on WWII and Star Wars Tora! Tora! Tora! Clip TIE Fighter Strategy Guide Crunch Crash Next time: Battles 8-10 @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]