DGC Ep 319: Far Cry 2 (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on UbiSoft's 2008 series-establishing classic, Far Cry 2. We set it in its time, and talk a bit about shifting engine wars and attendant publisher/developer drama, before briefly getting into the tutorial. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
The Tutorial

Issues covered: the UbiSoft open world formula, picking your UbiSoft ur-game, engine wars, branched engine work, getting into or out of the engine game, the open world first person shooter, a brief overview of Clint Hocking's career, games of 2008, grindhouse games, commitment to the first-person aesthetic, picking your character, setting their games in fictional countries, embracing African conflict, expositional value, setting up the chaotic situation, the diagetics of the game, mercenaries coming in, malarial effects, showing the systems, fire propagation, wishing they'd lean into the politics, disclaiming the team diversity to avoid political, having your cake and eating it too, tending to avoid modern realistic settings as players, the sales of the historical era, video game tourism, presenting variables, the diagetic map, the implicit simulated world and how the games get away from that, the onboarding, performance and enemy count and music, gatekeeping around what's a game, games where the interactivity shines through or justifies the choice to make it a game, putting clues together, simple choices that personalize, accretion effects, moments of calm, taking your decisions forward, being forced to the golden path.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: SimCity, Xbox 360, UbiSoft, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed (series), Ghost Recon (series), Watch Dogs (series), Rainbow 6 (series), Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, Michel Ancel, CryTek, CryEngine, Dungeons & Dragons, Crysis, Dunia Engine, Hunt: Showdown, Lumberyard, id Software, Epic Games, Unreal Championship, Quake 4, Source Engine, Clint Hocking, Patrick Redding, Splinter Cell (series), Gotham Knights, Fallout 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Eric Lindstrom, Harley Baldwin White-Wiedow, Republic Commando, Left 4 Dead, GTA IV, MGS 4, Devil May Cry 4, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Alien: Isolation, Rock Band 2, Fable II, Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Braid, World of Goo, Nintendo Wii, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros: Brawl, Spore, Army of Two, Kane and Lynch, Wet, BGS/Zenimax, Prince of Persia (2008), Half-Life, The Stanley Parable, Call of Duty (series), Megaman 3, Oliver Uv, mysterydip, Castlevania IV, Final Fantasy VI, Will Wright, Ashton Hermann, The Red Strings Club, Deconstructeam, The Witcher III, Gone Home, Firewatch, The Walking Dead, Uncharted 2, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mass Effect, June, Dark Souls, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Far Cry 2

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

DGC Ep 318: SimCity 2000 (part four)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on SimCity 2000. We talk disasters and scenarios and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A new beginning and a scenario

Issues covered: looking at the scenarios, recovering from disasters, plane crash disaster, choosing what disasters you would use, flooding in particular, kicking down the sandcastle, what it models and what it doesn't, wanting to have a conversation about it with your child if they played it, street-level view of community, a fun-house mirror on urban development, various areas of study referenced in the simulation, the books referenced for further study, sicknesses in the modern sim, needing an influx of cash to keep your villages going, looking at the scenarios, reflecting on Flint Michigan, choosing to reflect a real place, eminent domain, being curious about why that was included, finding compromise, focusing on progress, expose/explore/explain your passions, inherent statements in how you win, the huge scope of this game and the wish fulfillment of that, a simulation can't be everything and as a game you have to be careful, urban renewal and SimCity, the Launch arcologies.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: mysterydip, Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America, Cities: Skylines, The Boys, Roger Ebert, Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language, David Macauley, Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Disney, Five Nights at Freddy's, Call of Duty, American Factory, Roger & Me, SimTown, Will Wright, Raid on Bungeling Bay, Doom, Civilization, Maxis, Midknight22, Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, Chris, Cyberpunk, High Rise, J. G. Ballard, Crash, Dredd, Megaman, Dark Souls, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes:
The 5e book list in the DMG is very different from the 1e list.

Next time:
...?!

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

DGC Ep 317: SimCity 2000 (part three)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on SimCity 2000. We talk about the lore of SimCity and what Brett and Tim appreciate or don't about sim games these days. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Speed-playing to modern day and beyond

Issues covered: unsung hero CPAs, playing on cheetah speed, taxing different areas at different rates, digging into a hole, being in a deficit spending, the tech tree, the money cliff, what preconceived notions the game requires, what's cheating, experimenting through multiple cities, not caring about what the buildings are, seeing the numbers and ignoring the lore, having to grow the city to survive, changing tastes as you get older, a city in flux, the ant farm (and not the ants), contrasting with Civ, modernizing your city, losing humanity, feeling joy playing it as a younger person, the melancholy of small towns, philosophy, disruption, cities and where you like to live, the game for kids vs the game for adults, missing the sense of human scale, moving to more relatable levels as designers, being conservative/preservative and progressive, the constant churn of capitalism, textile mill porn, the explosion of games, defaults vs choices, how you'd fix SimCity, Tim designing a different game, leaning in to politics, taking an overt stand, finding other local maxima, inclusive design, assuming your audience.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Marc Elrich, Ronald Reagan, Joker, Scarecrow, Civilization, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Sam Anderson, Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum, Animal Crossing, SimTown, MacWorld, Next Generation, Cities: Skylines, The Sims, SimAnt, Dungeon Keeper, UbiSoft, Watch Dogs, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Will Wright, Black & White, Fable, Populous, Ole Sollie, Megaman, 20XX, Super Meat Boy, Fez, Legend of Zelda (series), Dark Souls, Artimage, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More SimCity!

Notes:
The Sam Anderson book Brett was referring to was Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City

Links:
The Secret Ideology Hiding in SimCity's Black Box

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

DGC Ep 316: SimCity 2000 (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on SimCity 2000. We end up spending a lot of time talking about the political choices that inform the game, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More hours?

Issues covered: being the opposite of what rangers or druids do, the San Francisco method, finding natural borders, responding to the water crisis, getting clued by the newspaper, planning ahead for subways, district sizes and ratios, trying to make your city look a certain way, needing that transportation budget, how Europe approaches traffic accidents vs the US, politics in games, procedural argument, where you put your coal plant, cars put in the parking lot, when subways should be built, keeping your commentary out of your marketing, how you make an argument, what appears in the newspaper and its lack of correlation to the history, broadsheets vs tabloids, how do you generate the newspaper content, WillTV, evolving buildings and aesthetic choices around them, Megaman X lore, how the podcast impacts our work, more musical selection, why the metal blades are so useful, Magnasanti.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Will Wright, CalamityNolan, MegaMan X, Dark Souls, cbb2016, DOOM (1993), MYST, Raymond, mysterydip, Judge Dredd, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links:
Can't Beat Air Man

Countless Memories

Mega Man 2: The Sequel That Saved the Series - Pikasprey

Magnasanti Polygon article

Magnasanti dev video

Next time:
More hours?

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

DGC Ep 315: SimCity 2000 (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on that classic sim, SimCity. We very briefly situate it in time and talk a little bit about Will Wright before talking over some of the strangeness that is this game (or toy). Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Tutorials or A Few Cities

Issues covered: which version and why, establishing the SimUniverse, Wright and describing his design process, a good representative for our art form, a simulated ant farm toy, setting it in its time, licensed titles, the origins of the game in practice and in theory, a wide variety of influences, industrial design, where other designers get their influences, working in a space with other designers, picking your battles and choosing conflict, different sims being developed at the same time, legacies, a recognizable space, playing with it like a toy, setting your own goals, differences in the motivation for play, a very Western lens, making assumptions and scope, a Christian church as a statement, designing to constraints, what you're building and what you're not, meeting the citizens' concerns, zoning and pipes and infrastructure, how cities grow in reality and the intersection with history, the newspaper as a conduit for information and setting and feel, the weird content in the newspaper, advisors and the pulse of the people, being grounded, the things that are your concern, budgets and taxes and deficits, audio associated with taxes, "Read my lips: no new taxes," being careful with incentives, replaying MegaMan levels, audio budgets, the names and lore of MegaMan, listening to music when you code, generated art, humans as creators and consumers of art, art as conversation and exploration, enjoying procedurally created levels and worlds, AI assistant tools, kudos to the hosts, being humbled by how our games touch people.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Will Wright, The Sims (series), MAXIS, Spore, SimAnt, SimCopter, SimTower, SimEarth, MegaMan 2/X, Prince of Persia, Populous, Tetris, GameBoy, Castlevania (series), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Batman (1989), MYST, DOOM, Day of the Tentacle, Star Fox, Secret of Mana, The 7th Guest, Bill Gates, Link's Awakening, Raid on Bungeling Bay, John Romero, Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language, Urban Dynamics, Star Wars, Alien, June Longo, Shigeru Miyamoto, Pikmin, Legend of Zelda (series), Civilization, Populous, Sid Meier, Black & White, Dungeon Keeper, Cities: Skylines, X-COM, Dark Souls, Mrs Reckis, mysterydip, The2ndQuest, NES, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, OCRemix, Metal Gear Solid, Valheim, Minecraft, Parham, Republic Commando, Skyrim, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More hours? Hard to know how to schedule this one :)

Links:
-Mega Man 2 (Original Version) by The Minibosses (metal medley of MM2 tracks)

-Mega Man 2: Tickle My Wily by Star Salzman (kind of an epic orchestral/electronica OCRemix piece)

-Cataclysmic Clash by Game Over (MM3-inspired, but quotes recurring music from MM2- also has lyrics!)

-Mega Man X Guitar Medley by FamilyJules

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

DGC Ep 314: Megaman 2 & X (part four)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on MegaMan 2 and X. We talk difficulty for sure, before turning to our usual takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More of MegaMan X

Issues covered: the big story turn inside the boss, the tedium of taking out enemies again and again to get drops, minimal loot tables, seeing more of an enemy, the limitations of trial and error and difficulty, playtime and quarters, designing around lives, fighting games, a bad port, the social experience of arcades, shifting marketing, a different design mentality, hot-swapping weapons, other usability additions, reusing a formula, mini-bosses and learning things, simpler patterns, the dash on a button, good boss character design, doing the hard thing, Ornstein and Smough, game structure around bosses and experimentation, having to account for the Buster, getting things from the bosses, variety of environments, the cohesion of the levels, character feel, the mascot, vibrancy of the visuals, accessibility, games and agency, Solaire as an accessibility option, house rules as an accessibility option.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Castlevania, Super Metroid, Dark Souls, NES/SNES, Sega Genesis, Pac-Man, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Nintendo, Sony, Circuit City, Fry's Electronics, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Metal Gear (series), Sam Thomas, The Last of Us II, Ratchet & Clank, Super Smash Bros, Celeste, Dark Forces, id Software, Ninja Gaiden, Tomonobu Itagaki, Candyland, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Dog Game Club.

Links:
SSB Mega Man trailer 
Bit Brigade Concert

Next time:
??? Time will tell

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

DGC Ep 313: Megaman 2 / X (part three)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Megaman games, turning to Megaman X. We very briefly set it in its time, discuss the new feel that the SNES gets you, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Three bosses

Issues covered: the SNES Classic deal with using the reset, setting difficulty on the emulated game, sequels and console generations, "the new standard in entertainment," additional frames and transitional animation lending character in 16bit, depth of music and audio, designing new movement into the level design, iconic silhouettes and the expression of the concept art, heads and heroism, a different Megaman, Brett dives into the lore, hair as a poor robot lifestyle choice, distinct biomes, the ronin robot end of MegaMan 2 and its final battle, the earnestness of a SVP letter, leaning into robots, animal-named robots and Metal Gear, boss order, flying robots that destroy level bits, continuity of the series, cinematic introductions on the SNES, Tim is behind on the lore, being able to distinguish games at the time, modern indie equivalents, upgrading in the level, lack of payoff to gaining the ability/no training, discussing Proust, hearing the music a lot, an unresolved musical cue, another difficulty discussion, constraints and chiptunes, interesting orchestrations.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: SNES Classic, Celeste, Dark Souls, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, God of War, Myst, Sam and Max Hit the Road, DOOM (1993), X-Wing, Link's Awakening, Day of the Tentacle, The 7th Guest, Bill Gates, Sinistar, Super Metroid, Mario (series), Castlevania (series), Halo, Keiji Inafune, Game Boy Advance, Pinocchio, Aisha Tyler, Isaac Asimov, Metal Gear (series), Terminator (series), The Matrix, Nintendo, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Peter, Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, The Megas, The Immortals, J. S. Bach, Daft Punk, Gothic Chocobo, Infamous, Resident Evil, Pokemon, Mark Brown/Game Maker's Toolkit, Elden Ring, Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider, Destiny, Assassin's Creed, Marty O'Donnell, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links:
What Capcom Didn't Tell You About Resident Evil 4

What Makes Celeste's Assist Mode Special

Game Maker's Toolkit Video Game Accessibility Playlist

Notes:
Indeed, you can re-enter levels in MegaMan X

Next time:
Finish with the game

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

DGC Ep 312: MegaMan 2/MegaMan X (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Capcom's MegaMan series, looking at the latter half of the game, exploring its difficulty and how it presents a final exam, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the Game! (Hmm...)

Issues covered: multiple forms of mastery, leaning on rewind, playing "au naturale," analogues in the podcast hosts, being confused about item 1, how the powers match up against various bosses, Brett's tornado, choosing the right weapon for the job, wondering whether you learn from earlier enemies for the final exam, plotting out your path, the final areas of the castle and challenge, divergent paths in game design, multiple ways of using the same ingredients, being frustrated by the type of game, having the gratifying sense of overcoming a boss, gaining knowledge, being surprised by a mid-game cutscene and map, puzzle rooms and weird rooms, the final exam, the bomb maze room, having to fight all the mans again, an amazing ending cutscene, wanting to know about the lore, identifying how to make games fit better to players, matchmaking very quickly, mixing different things together, the consequences of not reading mechanics and how that impacts a game, not knowing who Sen is, the Painted World, shipping your vertical slice, the terror of the Tower of Latria, showing the flaws of the mechanics.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metroidvanias, Wonderful 101, Platinum Games, Clover Games, Okami, Hideki Kamiya, Viewtiful Joe, GameCube, Wizardry, Ultima IV, Conan the Barbarian, Sabotage, Lode Runner, Robotron, Joust, Mario (series), Metroid, Nintendo, Contra, Assassin's Creed, Raymond, Celeste, Todd Howard, Halo (series), Josh Mankey, Dark Souls, Stardew Valley, Warren Linam-Church, Ico, Sasha, Shadow of the Colossus, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Fumito Ueda, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Dog Game Club.

Next time:
3 Mens of MegaMan X!

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

DGC Ep 311: MegaMan 2 & X (part one)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on MegaMan 2/X, looking at them as different platformers from the time. We set it in context a bit. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Three enemies

Issues covered: Dog Game Club, playing a couple games instead of one, fighting mens for their weapons, playing second iterations, bringing in past favorites, setting the game in its time, mascot games, structure and wanting to choose your order of attack, using the boss for its weapons, technical limitations and difficulty, learning a level, generosity with powerups, run-based play, grinding for drops, some things that feel unfair the first time you fight them, getting the gist, having wall stages, annual release schedule, Mega Man 10 or X, tic-tac-toe enemy board, dabbling in some enemies, not knowing what order to progress, using passwords, possible orders of enemies, damage types and using the right tools for the job, Tim shades Billy Mitchell, deriving stuff from Mega Man, wanting to run, spawning enemies rhythmically rather than placement, how the platforming feels, being more methodical, character design for collision in this and Mario, good characterization with fewer states, swapping, not designing for you controller, having to be able to go to any level first, where you can get to powerups, homework: watch out for cool level design moments, books about the inside, keeping the good stuff, keeping current through peer recommendations, finding a friend group, listening to podcasts, not feeling like you have to keep up, finding threads through games, following journalists, first person football, losing perspective, the ways games are impacted by other media, butt explosion T-shirt, reactions in games, why games hit when, a return to Anor Londo.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bark Souls, Soul Rover, Mark Garcia, Shibaenmue, Resident Beagle, Castlevania, SNES, PlayStation, Pokemon, GameBoy, Metroid (series), Zelda (series), Capcom, System Shock 2, Wasteland, Electronic Arts, Fallout, Dragon Quest 3, Enix, RC Pro/Am, Rare, Bionic Commando, Ultima V, Nintendo, Tecmo, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy II, Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate, Chrono Trigger, Populous, Super Mario Land, Prince of Persia, Broderbund, SimCity, Castlevania III, Konami, Contra 2, Sierra, King's Quest, Space Quest, Manhunter, Colonel's Bequest, Keiji Inafune, Resident Evil (series), Monster Hunter, Dark Souls, Tetris, Guacamelee, Sonic (series), The Brady Bunch, Johnny Grattan, Crash Bandicoot, Ultima Underworld, Donkey Kong, King of Kong, Ratchet & Clank, Shonen Jump, Astro Boy, Sega Genesis, Tomb Raider, Spelunky, Super Meat Boy, Blood Sweat Pixels, mysterydip, Junction Point, Jason Schreier, Press Reset, Ray Chase, Bioshock Infinite, John Webb, Prey, Bioshock, Triple Click, Waypoint Radio, DLC, Kirk Hamilton, Maddie Myers, Hollow Knight, Kingdom Hearts, Dishonored, Austin Walker, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, ESPN NFL 2k5, Trespasser, Coleco, Mattel, Morrowind, The Honorable T. H. Isismyre Alname, Robin Hobb, David Eddings, Velvet Underground, Bloodborne, Demons's Souls, Drew Scanlon, Jeremiah Johnson, Giant Bombcast, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
Finish MegaMan 2!

Notes:
The King of Kong person Brett was thinking of was Billy Mitchell

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

DGC Ep 310: Dark Souls (part eight)

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

Sections played:
Brett finished

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

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

Next time:
We don't know!

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

DGC Ep 309: Dark Souls (part seven)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links:
How players behave (h/t mysterydip)

Next time:
Brett finishes?

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

DGC Ep 308: Dark Souls (part six)

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

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

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

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

Links:
That Majestic Quote

Next time:
Maybe Brett finishes?

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

DGC Ep 307: Dark Souls (part five)

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

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

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

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

Next time:
More Dark Souls

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

DGC Ep 306: Dark Souls (part four)

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

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

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

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

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

Next time:
More Dark Souls!

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

DGC Ep 305: Dark Souls (part three)

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

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

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

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

Next time:
More Dark Souls!

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

DGC Ep 304: Dark Souls (part two)

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

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

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

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

Next time:
More Dark Souls

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

DGC Ep 303: Dark Souls (part one)

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

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

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

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

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

Links:
Quote from Design Works book about the dragon design

Skyrim's Top 5 Books

Zimmy Fingers new game

Next time: More Dark Souls!

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

DGC Ep 302: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part nine)

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

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

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

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

Next time:
A bit... of Dark Souls

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

DGC Ep 301: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part eight)

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

Sections played:
Brett 102 hrs, Tim 36 hrs

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

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

Next time:
Takeaways and Mailbag catch-up

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

DGC Ep 300: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part seven)

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

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

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

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

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

Next time:
Finishing Morrowind!

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