DGC Ep 060: Planescape: Torment (part three)

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
DevGameClub@gmail.com