DGC Ep 445: Portal Bonus Interview with Erik Wolpaw

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add to our series on Portal by interviewing Erik Wolpaw. We talk about his pre-Portal career, burnout, and success on small teams and large. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
1:05 Interview
1:12:10 Break
1:12:41 Outro

Issues covered: Valve credits, early Magic: The Gathering, growing up in the shadow of James Garfield's mausoleum, publishing in magazines, piracy early in the industry, getting in, getting sick, constantly shipping and crunch, breaking down, changing culture, having ownership vs not, the exhilaration and camaraderie at the end, drowning in game dev, starting with little films, getting in with the Portal kids, self-motivation at Valve, being on multiple projects, enhancing/amplifying the design, a cohesive experience, puzzle fatigue, gag bumpers, giving the environment a voice, not having to manage a big art team, a very small team, having the pressure off, not even knowing what you have, entertaining yourselves, the benefits of low expectations, having more pressure on the sequel, loving to leave a job, endings coming late, not getting it, thinking things will be bad before they turn out to be good, a notorious imbecile, the biggest "I told you so" moment, a good day has cake, not returning to the well, a Portal game without portals?, just jumping in and making the thing, writing for yourself and your interests, sensing creative investment, good vs crappy games, wanting to make Portal 3, wanting to join the industry, skipping right past the AI conversation, being open about the hard stuff, art: the optional stuff. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Atari 400, Old Man Murray, Chet Faliszek, Tim Schafer, Double Fine, Psychonauts (series), Valve, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Artifact, Half-Life (series), Aperture Desk Job, Richard Garfield, Magic: The Gathering, James Garfield, Scramble, Defender, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, Microsoft, Gabe Newell, Platinum Games, Source FilmMaker, The Orange Box, Mark Laidlaw, Jay Pinkerton, Narbacular Drop, Kim Swift, Fallout, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Republic Commando, Daron Stinnett, Jonathan Coulton, Ellen McLain, The Crab Cracker, Severance, Office Space, Garrett Rickey, Realm Lovejoy, Josh Weier, Dave Grossman, Another Crab's Treasure, Peak, Cursor, Spelunky, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp 
YouTube
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 444: Portal (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Portal. We talk about the ending part of the game, the increasing difficulty, the cake, and the boss and declare ourselves Still Alive. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game!

Issues covered: puzzle hockey stick, having puzzles cross through multiple rooms, mechanical additions to the sequel, limiting the additional portal mechanics, having to think about getting across rooms, timing puzzles, how the portals line up, not supporting the twitch elements well, is Chell an android? (she is not -B), the feeling of escape, test subjects getting behind the walls, tactical freedom vs strategic freedom, the importance of context, the meta aspect of these narratives, the subtlety of the cake (until it isn't), "now I'm in Half-Life," competing with Black Mesa, the boss fight, thinking in portals, the final exam and having all the tools, timers as a crutch, the perfectly balanced end point, seeing the outside and being in the Half-Life world, the cake room, the character of GLaDOS as an amalgam of personality modules, triumphant GLaDOS, "the cake is a lie," the game hitting in a different way, the Weighted Companion Cube, having to be interactive, using games as a substrate for "non-interactive" entertainment, the grungy environment vs what's going on, a better show than a game (except maybe a couple of scenes), freeing your mind, the limits of new mechanics, being just one idea with some small sub-ideas, lean/no fat, really great onboarding, a light touch with narrative, everything coming together and artistic cohesion, a meta moment about the SteamDeck, portals!, safety in the portals, portal-based renderers, the one game that brought you in, another very kind review that we sometimes live up to.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Stanley Parable, BioShock, Half-Life, President Obama, Claire Danes, Chris and Susan McKinley Ross, Jonathan Coulton, Ellen McLain, The Office, Office Space, Fallout, Saw, Ex Machina, Alex Garland, The Last of Us, Giovanni Giorgio Morodor, Diana Ross, Daft Punk, Fez, Fumito Uedo, Keita Takahashi, J. K. Simmons, Stephen Merchant, Jacques Rivette, Valve, Aperture Desk Job, Erik Wolpaw, Calamity Nolan, BioStats, Endofunctor, Morrowind, Halo CE, Paolo, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 443: Portal (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we kick off a short series on 2007's Portal. We talk about the year it came out, a bit about Valve and the Orange Box, before talking about the game's development history and then some topics about the game itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to/through Test 12 (because Tim can't follow directions)

Issues covered: 2007 in games, motion-controlled archaeology, the box of goodies that was The Orange Box, Team Fortress 2 and hats, connecting console accounts to Steam, Steam history and digital copies, "introducing Portal," long development time on TF2, character silhouettes, The Most Perfect Video Game, not knowing what you have, a killer first game, deep dives, giving permission to not shoot things, building up knowledge in puzzle games, Match 3 puzzle games, not seeing the game coming, the sequel, gating progress on mechanical knowledge, stepping through understanding portals, "this is impossible," subverting the player, learning without realizing it, increasing complexity, the magical opening portal moment, the infinite regress, whether you'd still take that deal, simple UX methods to help players get over the first-person thinking, embedding information in the world and fiction, narrative design vs writing, the voice of GladOS, where lore works for Brett, expanding the world of Half-Life. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioShock, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War II, Mass Effect, Metroid Prime III, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Tomb Raider: Legend, Crystal Dynamics, Wii, Jason Botta, Eidos/Square, CoD4: Modern Warfare, Crysis, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, The Witcher, Rock Band, Nintendo DS, Phantom Hourglass, Hotel Dusk, Cooking Mama, STALKER (series), Metro (series), Trespasser, Half-Life (series), Mark Laidlaw, Dario Casals, Gabe Newell, The Orange Box, Team Fortress 2, PlayStation, The "Black Box," Quake, Pixar, Steve Meretzky, Norm MacDonald, Skyrim, Claire Danes, Narbacular Drop, My So-Called Life, Baz Luhrmann, Strictly Ballroom, Nuclear Monkey Software, Kim Swift, Jeep Barnett, Tacoma, Little Women, Greta Gerwig, DigiPen Institute of Technology, 343 Industries, Firewatch, Campo Santo, Outer Wilds, The Stanley Parable, The Talos Principle, Antichamber, Gone Home, The Witness, Zelda, MYST, PopCap, Puzzle Quest, Bejewelled, Fez, Homeland, Chet Faliszek, Eric Wolpaw, Old Man Murray, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finish Portal and Takeaways!

Links:
The Most Perfect Video Game 
(Note: I remembered this as longer, especially after the switch, but it's great)

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 442: Papers, Please/Cart Life (part three)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on a pair of empathy games, Papers, Please and Cart Life. We spend some more time with Melanie and her coffee hut before turning to our takeaways, shared between both games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Several days of Cart Life

Issues covered: the tutorialization in the Melanie story, a whole functioning town, replaying the first few days, real world flexibility, entering a potential failure state, adding parenting into the mix, encountering a bug, reading deeply into the simulation, having a meaningful experience without a systemic backing, supporting the illusion of systems, being forced to have your daughter go to her dad's, bugs and not being sure, losing Andrus's cat, dream sequences, having trouble wanting to play the game, adventure game topics and language, high pressure time, topics in other games, keywords, production economy, words as an inventory, life under capitalism vs authoritarianism, depriving a character of connection, choosing coffee due to life choices, not taking baristas for granted, useful friction and life, min/maxing the simulator vs trying to experiment with it, the horror of retail, opportunities for connection, making the game or life go more quickly, getting OCD with espresso, the physical repetitive tasks, "playing anything," what motivates play and games, being naturally empathetic with the character, choosing an abstract aesthetic, production techniques for lo-fi heart and enabling creativity, being glad that such games exist, tactility of game elements, abstraction and QTEs, Easter eggs. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioStats, CalamityNolan, Samuel Jackson, Pulp Fiction, Twine, The Walking Dead, David Lynch, Dark Souls, Ultima (series), Her Story, Sam Barlow, Hal Barwood, Return of the Obra Dinn, Mad Libs, howling dogs, WarCraft, Gilmore Girls, The Sims (series), Skyrim, Typing Tutor, Sabrina Carpenter, Receiver, Ian Bogost, Play Anything, Power Washing Simulator, Kim Jung Gi, Sierra, The Last of Us, Cleo 5 to 7, Jeanne Dielman, Chantal Ackerman, David Cage, God of War, Outer Wilds, Passage, Brad, Jason Rohrer, N. K. Jemisin, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
BioStats and CalamityNolan's interview with another host

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 441: Papers, Please/Cart Life (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on empathy games, returning to discuss a little more about Papers, Please before digging into Cart Life a bit. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A bit more of Papers, Please and a little bit of Cart Life

Issues covered: thanks for the interview, a bit about Twin Suns Corp, showing earlier versions of the game, a vertical slice with all the game play, getting fired, building up through the systems, was this my run, tactility in games, citations and the space they take, space economy, inventory management by comparison, encumbrance, restriction on space, card games and space, making citations bigger, where's the money coming from, thinking about decisions, the save system, leveraging the save system to have space for warnings, a generous save system, you have to make the whole game, the spread of subversion, not playing through multiple times, an unfortunate bug, GDC and the IGF, festival games on the show floor, a history of game issues, the two storylines we're playing, a dark story of divorce, differences between the cart stories, more adventure game than expected, having a hard time getting a cart and also being too late to pick up your daughter, difficulty and opacity, a film equivalent, Brett's fantasy recs, Papers Please and authenticity, controlling your population in authoritarian regimes, stereotypes in games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: CalamityNolan, BioStats, Kaeon, KyleAndError, Project Octavia, Harley Baldwin, Republic Commando, Choose Your Own Adventure, Mark Garcia, The Room, SpaceTeam, Gorogoa, The Elder Scrolls, Marvel: Snap, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Netrunner, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, The Last Express, Nier: Automata, Spelunky, The Walking Dead, Richard Hofmeier, howling dogs, Porpentine, itch.io, Ad Hoc, Telltale, The Wolf Among Us, Adventure Game Studio, The Sims, Tow, Rose Byrne, Max, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Raymond Feist, Riftwar saga, Piers Anthony, The Belgariad, David Eddings, Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan, Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, Dave Duncan, Ursula K. LeGuin, Tales of Earthsea, Robert Jackson Bennett, Divine Cities trilogy, Founders trilogy, Terry Pratchett, Discworld, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shadows of the Apt, Robin Hobb, Farseer trilogy, Martha Wells, Murderbot Diaries, Books of the Raksura, Lois McMaster Bujold, Vorkosigan saga, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, John LeCarré, Lee Child, Jack Reacher, Claudiu, Chernobyl, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
More Cart Life

Oops:
What I was going to say at the end there is that This War of Mine caught some flak for not accurately representing how people would come together in times of strife (though generally the critical reception was very positive)

Links:
First look stream of Project Octavia 

Twitch: timlongojr and Twin Suns Corp 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 440: Papers, Please (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on indie games, by looking at Papers, Please. We talk a bit about Lucas Pope, its creator, and then turn to the game's mechanics and themes. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
One or two playthroughs

Issues covered: tactile job simulation games, empathy and commentary, tactility and user interfaces, how it plays, the mechanics post-day, plate-spinning, all the various things you have to check, a nerve-wracking experience, stamping passports, turning the screws, paying vs not paying for things, stereotypical regimes, indie games coming up with new interesting mechanics and AAA borrowing them, justifying denial of entry, having your options limited by bureaucracy, ways that days can end, the timer pressure, dehumanizing the process, describing the board game Train, opportunities for subversion, coins, being recruited for espionage, a precedent for weapon power mechanics.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Shirley Jackson, The Lottery, Cart Life, Persuasive Games, Ian Bogost, Fez, Naughty Dog, Helsing's Fire, Return of the Obra Dinn, Moida Mansion, Playdate, Mars After Midnight, The Lives of Others, Fumito Ueda, Uncharted 2, Balance of Power, Chris Crawford, Seamus McNally, Train, Brenda Romero, Keita Takahashi, Katamari Damacy, To A T, Pidy Retsym/Mystery Dip, Quoggim Logglehoggle, NES, Cave Story, Blaster Master, Daisuke Amaya, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 439: The Stanley Parable Bonus Interview with William Pugh

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on indie games with an interview with William Pugh of Crows Crows Crows, one of the principal developers of The Stanley Parable. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
1:06 Interview
1:04:15 Break
1:04:49 Outro

Issues covered: his way in, modding for Mario and fan games, blaming our parents, planning to work for Valve, seeing a format for drama and small teams, turning "we'll see" into "whoopie!", being young when you start, early success and having to learn, being your own boss in indie, watching others, therapy, the crush in the industry, market share and Steam, misguided and unsustainable investment, hoping you can ride your past success after gaps in release, mansion success vs terrace house success, remote development living at home, using... nontraditional game development tools, production: the hardest part, a negative learning experience, killing yourselves for the game, "indie developers are certifiably nuts," intelligence and humor, working for the flowchart of it all, going from a console port to adding more and more content and expanding out to be a multi-platform release, a check that's difficult to cash, finding ways to subvert and surprise, a great trailer and setting a trend, day to day iteration on an anthology, not locking things behind meta gates but changing that up in the sequel, bringing in the bucket, maintaining the original and lovingly adding using the parts you have, having confidence, drawing the line when co-creators are happy, validating your own feelings through playtest, trusting in your own taste, team dynamics and having team members get a say, building and having to throw away, the pressure of the first 15 minutes, grabbing attention and compelling to play more... across the game, subverting the mental map, the impact on future work, edging into new areas, having to overdeliver on expectations and at a high level, needing to hit by the time it arrives, reverse-engineering the game development career, getting good advice, spending the time for the quality, seeing the player, not knowing how you'd extend it, really knowing their parameters, interpreting player feelings, the uselessness of focus-testing, overdoing it on the risk aversion.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Team Fortress 2, Portal, Davey Wreden, Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist, Accounting/Accounting+, Valve, Left 4 Dead, Mario (series), Nintendo, Macromedia Director, Garry's Mod, Narbacular Drop, DigiPen, The Lord of the Rings, Microsoft, Sonic the Hedgehog, Fez, Spelunky, Skype, Dropbox, MSPaint, Google Docs, Chet Faliszek, Indie Game: The Movie, Mark Rein, PlayStation 4, Karla Zimonja, LucasArts, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
... TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 438: Gone Home Bonus Interview with Karla Zimonja

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our series on Gone Home and walking simulators with an interview with Karla Zimonja. We talk about Karla's early career before transitioning to talking about Minerva's Den and get a lot of great gems from the development of Gone Home. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
01:02 Interview
1:21:00 Break
1:21:30 Outro

Issues covered: early life and education, stop motion animation and puppetry, Squigglevision, no usual paths into games, transitioning to 3D animation, getting on the content mill, getting in, repetition and burnout, doing tons of research and visual design, picking the soundtrack and working on voice, a small team covering a lot of stuff, putting together clipped out letters, covering all the bases for graphic design/props/and more, digital hoarding, moving to Portland, having a great production, making the bros cry, getting onto Steam, critical acclaim getting you to market, taking out the combat, removing rather than replacing, environmental storytelling, setting the game in the 90s, being aware of the world and having no cellphones, setting yourself up for rigor, pacing, tying together time and space, knowing where the player will go, going to the second floor vs the first floor, putting chunks together, a mind map, callbacks between props, forgetting you're in a video game, the story doesn't exist without the player putting things together, the IKEA effect, situating the journal in Sam's perspective, audio logs, Katie knowing what her sister's voice would be like, not being a little game designer, avoiding artifice, avoiding goofiness, three parter audio logs, cutting out logs you didn't need, not holding the player's hand, dumbing down too far vs letting people be uncomfortable, finding the voice via research, being able to generalize from the highly detailed specifics, getting handwriting, magic and Unicorn Cloud 7, being just as easy to put in the supernatural story but resisting that, wanting the fantasy, how to think about game structure, "the team makes the game," putting story in the ephemera, constraints and applying them to generate the tension, award-winning, the indie space and the blogs, indies banding together, thinking about a game when you're not playing it.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Asheron's Call 2, Zoo Tycoon 2, 2K Marin, Bioshock 2, Minerva's Den, Fullbright, Tacoma, Open Roads, Wanderstop, Sonderlust Studios, Generation Exile, EA, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Olive Jar Animation, MTV, The Critic, Nightmare Before Christmas, Tom Snyder, Soup to Nuts, Dr. Katz, Home Movies, Mitch Hedberg, Trainspotting, Animator Pro, Turbine Games, Lightwave, The Last of Us, Something Awful, Fallout (series), Bob Hope, Maya, Johnnemann Nordhagen, Karina Veronica Riesgo, Inkscape, Steve Gaynor, Rachel Gaynor, Steam Greenlight, Independent Games Festival/IGF, Dear Esther, Call of Cthulhu, Street Fighter, NES/SNES, IKEA, William Goldman, Alien: Isolation, Kate Craig, Final Fantasy VII, Horse Master, Oddity Roadshow, Carl Lumbly, Alias, John Wick, Lance Reddick, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Bratmobile.

Next time:
TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 437: Spelunky (part three)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 2D indie platformer-ish things with our final episode on Spelunky. Tim talks a little bit about Derek Yu's book, the rigor and how the game just plays different, as well as Brett dipping into spoiler territory for Tim's benefit, before we turn to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To Ice Mines (Tim)

Podcast breakdown:
00:00:47 Game discussion
59:05 Break
59:45 Takeaways

Issues covered: the opening song, music in later levels and its fitness, applying movement mechanics to different challenges, procedural metrics, fall distances, hanging vs standing in one state, getting into the mental state of what your equipment is, not panicking, playing with a heart monitor, living in present vs future, the specialness of the daily challenge, reps and exercise, fighting games and muscle memory, consistency of the rules, using ropes to drop from your height, always be carrying, getting right up to the edge and dropping your carry, getting into the book, making all objects consistent, sacrifice spoiler talk, golden path spoiler talk, turkeys, going beyond your genre, what's a roguelike/lite, personality coming through, unleashing creativity, pursuing consistency throughout, games that say yes/and or yes/but, embracing a roguelite's purity, trusting the game and not minding failure, getting to depth, choosing the right run length, the risk of dilution.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nintendo, Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy (series), Dark Souls (series), Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven, KyleAndError, Hollow Knight, Calamity Nolan, Quake, Artimage, Boss Fight Books, Nick Suttner, Shadow of the Colossus, Sebastian Deken, Aquaria, Dwarf Fortress, The Evil Dead, PlayStation Vita, Fez, Cave Story, Daisuke Amaya, Earthbound, Pokemon, Derek Yu, mossmouth, Super Mario Bros, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
TBA

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 436: Spelunky (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Spelunky, part of a larger series on independent games. Tim uses the B word about the game, and we talk about the rigor with which one approaches the game, as well as some best practices for play, among other topics and listener mail. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: 
Into the Jungle (Tim)

Issues covered: relative lack of text but narrative, blending between levels, the Tunnel Man, the gold key and the chest, triggering the golden path, bouncing off the game originally, practice and rigor, in the learning/knowledge phase, a platformer Tim would play, embracing the process, how you spend the time and how to learn, learning from deathly mistakes, Always Be Carrying, looking down, the brilliance of breaking the platformer mold, "this could be the run," the patterns of Spelunky, learning to play Chess, remembering in chunks, slipping into flow and staying, dying to the shopkeeper in a new way, stepping back with the analytical brain, how to use ropes, everything's physical, building up the things you can do, the Polaroid simulating after you die, similarities to Outer Wilds, sacrificing on the altar, the safe space of a coffin, making a choice, running vs not running, the exception that proves the rule, how the random seed works, animating a sprite on a curve, the first commercial game, frying a video card.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Rogue, Rogue Legacy (series), Dark Souls (series), Mario (series), Andy Nealen, Outer Wilds, Hollow Knight, Remnant II, Chess, LostLake86, Legend of Zelda, Cave Story, Sasha/scarytiger, Daisuke Amaya, Wii, Nintendo Switch, Luke Theriault, Derek Yu, Aquaria, Alec Holowka, Bit Blot, World of Goo, Gish, Edmund McMillen, Lugaru HD, Wolfire Games, Humble Bundle, Penumbra, Frictional Games, Amnesia, Ori and the Blind Forest, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More Spelunky!

Errata:
The eye is in fact called the Udjat Eye. And yes, it is in fact Edmund McMillen.

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

DGC Ep 435: Spelunky (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our major series on various indie games, now looking at some 2D action games with Spelunky. We talk very briefly about its director and then Tim marvels over a dynamic level design that nonetheless feels just right. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Into the Jungle (Tim)

Issues covered: walking over the sands, a little history of the game, a legendary game, precise platforming, procedural and dynamic, how the level generation works, rules-based generation, eschewing precise level design, not being able to know the level, having many verbs, having to learn the skills, the wind-up of the whip, a game where you have to be focused, not seeing an obstacle due to focusing, focus meditation, the Spelunky daily challenge, similarities to theater, taking a risk with design, not knowing what other players will do, opponents dictating skill ceilings, matchmaking as the balancing feature, consistency of behaviors, not rushing, gaining knowledge in games, the ghost and fear, practicing via the tunnel man, whether it's helpful to skip ahead, the speed-run achievement, spending time on each level, getting abilities in the stores vs equippables, the eggplant and the ball-and-chain, Derek's book, learning by death. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Tiny Subversions/Darius Kazemi, Fez, Derek Yu/mossmouth, Andy Hall, UFO 50, PS Vita, World of Warcraft, Cave Story, Diablo, Dead Cells, Minecraft, Kaeon, MegaMan, Contra, Super Mario Bros., Hunt: Showdown, Overwatch, Fortnite, Halo (series), Dark Souls, Andy Nealen, Zelda (series), Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Olmecorox, Half-Life 2, TIGSource, Demons's Souls, Dark Souls 2, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
 
Next time:
More Spelunky!

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 434: Cave Story (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2004 indie classic Cave Story. We talk a lot about difficulty, a bit about story, and also just what a miracle a game like this is from one person. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished (Brett), to dragons (Tim)

Issues covered: killing baby dragons, the boss rush, being exhausted beating your head against the wall, drinking a potion maybe too early, what is easy when you play a game every day, the hardcore game underneath, the punishing weapon system, depth of weapon strategy, bad patterns, save points as a balancing mechanism, the charm offensive, story depth and characters, motivating the player, having the music stop to introduce a character, the jetpack weapon, finding the map really late, keys that aren't keys, a HUD on top of level information, parallax, designing for player scalability, macro difficulty and player choice, linearity, having a choice at the end, committing to make a game more difficult or easier for yourself, the music options. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: League of Legends, Nintendo Treehouse, Hollow Knight/Silksong, From Software, Bayonetta, Nintendo Switch, Calamity Nolan, Resident Evil 4, Jamie Fristrom, MegaMan, Kaeon, Earthbound, Mario (series), Metroid, Castlevania, God of War, Celeste, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Dark Souls, KyleAndError, Metal Gear Solid (series), Fez, Spelunky, Derek Yu, Outer Wilds, LostLake, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Spelunky!

Links:
Music for Podcasting! 

Twitch: timlongojr 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com 

DGC Ep 433: Cave Story (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new game in our series on independent games with 2004's Cave Story. We briefly set the game in its time, talk a little about its developer, and then talk about the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A couple of hours

Issues covered: freeware vs democratized indie dev and publishing, Japanese independent development, an indie darling, likely antecedents, 2004 in review, the end of a cycle, standing out in a stacked year, sticking it out, breaking through onto Nintendo platforms, early independent success on the Switch platform, influences and what's in the mix, weapon leveling, more story than expected, characters and dialog, more adventure, having a mess of villagers, setting up mysteries, merging lots of elements into their story and interactions, a spike at the end, adding puzzle-y elements, keys and keys that are not keys, threads of characters and relationships, something that is more than a MetroidVania, a skill-based game, "you're a really good person," forgetting a console came out, having the opportunity to play off-the-beaten path games, not needing a map, the dangers of categorization, how the platforming feels, fear of skill-based need, becoming one with the controller, an emotional response, empathetic response, catharsis, building the dam and breaking it, graceful building, manipulation in art, can a movie version work vs the interactivity, shock in literary fiction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nintendo Switch, Fez, Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, Cara Ellison, Downwell, Wii, Crystal Dynamics, Super Meatboy, Metroid, Nifflas, Knytt, n/n+/n++, Pixeljunk (series), Q-Games, Dylan Cuthbert, World of Warcraft, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, The Sims 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Doom 3, Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal, Silent Hill 4: The Room, GTA: San Andreas, Far Cry, Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Star Wars: Battlefront, Pikmin 2, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Jak 3, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Katamari Damacy, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Republic Commando, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, WiiWare/DSi, PS Vita, Net Yaroze, Nicalis, Castlevania, MegaMan, CapCom, Bionic Commando, Sega, Sonic (series), Square Enix, Zelda (series), Final Fantasy IX, Dark Souls (series), The Seven Samurai, Firewatch, Animal Well, Spelunky (series), Hollow Knight, Gone Home, Ashton Herrmann, Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, Shakespeare, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finish Cave Story

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DGC Ep 432: The Stanley Parable/Walking Simulators (part three)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series within a series on walking simulators, this time with The Stanley Parable. We talk about the multiple paths, the humor, the zany meta of it all, 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:
All of The Stanley Parable

Issues covered: preconceptions, focusing on different things, a good capper, a career of meta, goals for different walking simulators, recognizing the player, having the opportunity to ignore the narrator, talking about the broom closet, following directions, some of the Ultra Deluxe, the jump button, the skip button, not making something so new that it's unrecognizable but making it fresh, interactive theater and cinema, always going the opposite direction from the way the designer wants you to go, the structures which bind our lives, constraints generating interesting experiences, extreme focus and constraints, the impact of voice work, playing with constraints, playing against expectations, being in conversation with the player, is subverting expectations a genre mechanic?, recognizable human spaces, communicating through a shared humanity, a comparison with an alien space.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Davey Wreden, William Pugh, Galactic Cafe, Crows Crows Crows, Kevan Brightley, Severance, Firewatch, The Beginner's Guide, UFO 50, Hideo Kojima, Wanderstop, Crows Crows Crows, Gone Home, Dear Esther, Portal, Mousetrap, Agatha Christie, Bandersnatch, Brian Eno, Clue, Memento, Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, Outer Wilds, BioStats, Adventure, Chris Hecker, Rogue, Rogue Legacy 2, Animal Farm (obliquely), SNES, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
TBA!

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DGC Ep 431: Dear Esther/Walking Simulators (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on walking simulators with 2012's Dear Esther, played here in a 2017 "Landmark Edition" but based on a 2007 Source mod for Half-Life 2. We of course set the game in its time, spend a fair amount of time on randomness and meaning, and open the cellar door. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
The whole shebang

Issues covered: walking simulators, 2012 in games, a little history of The Chinese Room (the company), a little digression on The Chinese Room (the thought experiment), influences, developing in the mod community, the role of randomness, discovering the randomness, justifying the randomness, mod communities replaying games, not discussing games as you play them, writers having the same space to play, 30 seconds of depressing poetry, "cellar door," a quality of lovely phonemes, the facts we know and the things we might interpret, a dreamy narrative space, Tim reveals his baseball knowledge, a metaphor for grief and an otherworldly space, rebirth, a car accident setting vs a gurney setting, things you can miss, not a thing video games would do, appreciating a new design space, directors' commentaries, crematory urns, one of the props, the impact of the ultrasound, needing to relate to the characters, the potential for missing things.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fez, The Stanley Parable, The Chinese Room, Dishonored, Halo 4, Diablo III, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Forza Horizon, New Super Mario Bros U, Far Cry 3, XCOM Enemy Unknown, Alan Wake's American Nightware, Hitman Absolution, Assassin's Creed 3, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3, Borderlands 2, Darksiders 2, Spec Ops: The Line, Dragon's Dogma, Fez, Journey, The Walking Dead, Hotline Miami, Spelunky, Papo y Yo, Bastion, Super Hexagon, Sumo Digital, Dan Pinchbeck, Jessica Curry, Rob Briscoe, Independent Games Festival, Korsakovia, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Unity, CryEngine, Little Orpheus, Still Wakes the Deep, Vampire: Bloodlines (series), Hardsuit Labs, Brian Mitsoda, John Searle, Alan Turing, William S. Burroughs, Nigel Carrington, Proteus, Halo, Drew Barrymore, Donnie Darko, Rogue Legacy 2, David Lynch, Lost Highway, Inland Empire, Laura Dern, Waiting for Godot, True West, Sam Shepard, Firewatch, LucasArts, 343 Games, Kevin Schmitt, Metal Gear, Death Stranding, Trespasser, Tacoma, Jedi Starfighter, Daron Stinnett, Outer Wilds, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
The Stanley Parable

Twitch: timlongojr 
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DGC Ep 430: Gone Home/Walking Simulators (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series of explorations on the walking simulator, beginning with Gone Home. We set the game in its time, talk about possible real world experiences, and dive into its restraint and storytelling. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
All of Gone Home

Issues covered: walking simulator coverage, the wave of indies and another wave, career changes, Fullbright's early history, leaving the big industry, the value of focus, location-based entertainments and shows, focusing on one thing, having constraints vs not, setting your own constraints, the spooky atmosphere but having restraint, imposing expectations from video games, visiting a previously unknown house, the Ouija board, a literal red hair-ing, stripping out all the video game-isms for interactivity, few mechanics, simple systems and using their few mechanics and verbs, experience-forward, Brett quizzes Tim, narrative richness, the ordering of collectible reading, leveraging non-linear storytelling, using period-appropriate communication, games that make Tim cry, the 90s of it all, letters vs email, waste paper baskets, a visual language and the use of consistency. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Death Stranding, Dear Esther, Firewatch, BioShock Infinite, Batman: Arkham Origins, GTA V, Tomb Raider (2013), Dead Rising 3, Dead Space 3, LoZ: A Link Between Worlds, The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, AC IV: Black Flag, Rayman Legends, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Battlefield IV, Payday 2, Outlast, Antichamber, The Stanley Parable, Papers Please, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Starbreeze, Josef Fares, Hazelight Studios, It Takes Two, LucasArts, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, Blue Prince, Animal Well, Balatro, 343 Studios, BioStats, Calamity Nolan, Tacoma, Indie Game: The Movie, Minerva's Den, Bioshock, Kate Craig, Carl Lumbly, 2K Marin, Hangar 13, Fallout: New Vegas, Morrowind, Sleep No More, Macbeth, Antenna Theater, Meow Wolf, George RR Martin, Control, Imagineering, Disney, Fez, X-Files, Resident Evil, Amnesia, Life Is Strange, Leaves of Grass, Hollow Knight, Pulp Fiction, Final Fantasy IX, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last of Us 2, Alien, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Dear Esther (2012)

Links:
Why Is Gone Home A Game?

Twitch: timlongojr https://twitch.tv/timlongojr
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DGC Ep 429: Fez (part four)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Fez. We talk about getting to New Game +, some favorite puzzles or mechanics, and then turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game! (once)

Issues covered: Tim's audio quality, community event, mind blowing, needing a certain number of cubes, a discussion of QR codes, every QR code a Fez puzzle, not being sure you should follow a QR code, stepping through the 32-cube door, metaphysical reflections, stepping back through bit depth, meme sunglasses, seeing how the world is built, debug tools, keeping a secret, independence and control of marketing and secrets, time pivots and traversing quickly, glowing gates and time of day, the low gravity space, Fez notes, Brett tries to talk around figuring out how to translate the language, talking yourself into being on the right track but not being, the lore in the world, subverting expectations and norms, exploring consequences of innovation, inspiration and subversion of classic games, not overstaying the welcome of its mechanics, changing how you think of the game, always having something going on, the artifacts and treasure maps, a more approachable platformer, difficult twitch reflexes, so you're saying it's possible.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Keep Talking and No One Explodes, Kaeon, Calamity Nolan, Space Team, BioStats, Beyond Good & Evil, Alan Wake, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Super Hexagon, Atari 2600, NES, Adventure, Plato/The Republic, The Wizard of Oz, Assassin's Creed, Dark Souls, Mines of Moria, sixty second shooter prime, MYST, Minecraft, Tetris, Humongous, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, Father Beast, Vessel, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Axiom Verge, Hollow Knight, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com