Show Notes
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a short mini-series on casual games, beginning with PopCap's Plants vs Zombies. We spend a lot of time setting these lower-challenge games both in their time and against other genres before talking a bit about the game itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through 2-1 Issues covered: setting the game in 2009, PopCap's fortunes, repackaging a genre, puzzly games in Java, appealing to core games and casual, being good at rewards, walled gardens, starting on desktops and moving to phones, phone fragmentation, A/B design testing, hidden objects, translating well to mobile, the history of EA's acquisitions, the early tower defense games, coining the term, automated elements, the stress of the RTS, MOBAs, removing the dev hurdles from a genre, modders doing something they could do, autochess, recognizing it, a simple concept that reads quickly, the impenetrable defense, turtling: the video game, the way zombie movies build, design ideas can come from anywhere, easily visualizing new things, archetypes, easily reading how much health is left, having a moment of joy in a reveal, seeing the zombie affordances, locking into strategies. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2, Demons's Souls, Ratchet & Clank, Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed II/series, Borderlands, Infamous, Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Bayonetta, PS3/Xbox 360/Wii, EA, Peggle (series), Bejewelled, Blizzard, Zuma, Alchemy, Drop 7, Threes, Diner Dash, Resident Evil 4, Fortnite, Facebook, Farmville, Zynga, Kongregate, Ultima, Westwood, Bioware, Mass Effect, Crystal Dynamics, Morgan Gray, Desktop Defense, Atari, Rampart, Defense of the Agents, Warcraft III, Starcraft, League of Legends, Riot, Valve, George Fan, Diablo, PixelJunk Monsters, Orcs Must Die!!, Vermintide, Tower of Goo, The Birds, Tippi Hedren, Portal, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: More PvZ Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]
More from Dev Game Club
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new, final spooky series on 1992's Alone in the Dark. We set it in its time and then get into the survival horror of it all. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: About an hour and a half Issues covered: the end, 1992 in games, focusing on world 3D vs characters, 3D in games at this time, the 2D/3D mix, pushing the boundaries of film, the origins of survival horror, seeing itself as an adventure game, 3D rendered backgrounds, theories of how it was made, film and game overlap, not having to navigate the stairs, having a character choice, the horror that drives you mad, finding , finding additive ways to use space on a CD-ROM, the introduction to the house, playing with frogs, a high degree of difficulty, looking forward to this gem, empathy and understanding games development. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ultima Underworld, Wolfenstein 3D, Flashback, Out of this World/Another World, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona 3, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Dragon Quest V, King's Quest VI, Star Control II, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Sonic 2, Super Mario Kart, Hudson Hawk, Infogrames, X-Wing, Lightwave, Frederick Raynal, Chaosium, HP Lovecraft, GoldenEye, Christian Slater, Stephen Dorff, Uwe Boll, The Room, Tommy Wiseau, Tara Reid, Sweet Home, Resident Evil (series), Grim Fandango, Return to Monkey Island, MYST, Ron Gilbert, Thimbleweed Park, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Lumiere Bros, Fatal Frame, Eternal Darkness, Bioshock, SW: Starfighter, John Keats, Logan, Shadow of the Colossus, Portal 2, VtM: Bloodlines, Matthew, Dark Souls 3, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: More AitD! Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add another to our interview series where we talk through a career or a set of games and how they influenced an important person to our industry. This week, it's Sir Ian Livingstone, of Fighting Fantasy, Games Workshop, Eidos, and so much more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 00:17 Interview 1:07:10 Break 1:07:40 Outro Issues covered: getting the title wrong, a Lifetime achiever, no dice -- only negotiations, being near to others who played, encountering D&D and ordering six copies, getting a deal for Europe, phoning around for deals and then backstabbing away, sharing a payphone with the landlord, attending GenCon 1976, delivering cars around the US, going to borrow from the bank when not investor-ready, naming White Dwarf, finding the tribe, branching into miniatures, "failure is success work in progress," hiring enthusiasts, hosting a games convention, writing a solo adventure, splitting the work, getting lucky with a refusal, spreading by word of mouth, the Satanic panic, teachers encouraging the use of these books, the many benefits of games, learning in different ways, the Steves Jacksons, a prize for completing the game, creating Eidos, deciding to cross the mountains in the snow, an incredible success, putting out a sequel every year, moving the IP, writing the Fiend Folio, saying no to a merger with TSR, creating tabletop rules for Warhammer, an incredible phenomenon, needing something of your own, a culture around miniatures, humility and motivation, signing in Budapest, enthusiasm as a through line, why we do this, keeping an eye on the creative side, a creative off-site, quite a room. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Peake, Steve Jackson, Owl and Weasel, White Dwarf, Fighting Fantasy, Deathtrap Dungeon, Dicing with Dragons, Domark, Eidos, Square Enix, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Hiro Capital, Tomb of the Golden Skull, Peter Molyneux, Dicemen, Ed Fries, Diplomacy, Don Turnbull, Albion, Brian Bloom, Gary Gygax, Dungeons and Dragons, TSR, Ral Partha, Van Morrison, Empire of the Petal Throne, Fantasy Games Unlimited, Chaosium, Judge's Guild, Bryan Ansell, Citadel Miniatures, Games Day 1979, Penguin Books, Play and Politics, Geraldine Cooke, Allen & Unwin, Lord of the Rings, Puffin Books, Citadel of Chaos, The Forest of Doom, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Car Wars, Eureka!, Tom Kirby, US Gold, Silicon Dreams, CORE Designs, Jeremy Smith, Sony, PlayStation, Crystal Dynamics, Toby Gard, Planet Cherry, Tank Girl, Morgan Gray, Fiend Folio, Apocalypse, Talisman, Judge Dredd, Battle Cars, Rick Priestley, Richard Halliwell, Henry Cavill, Golf Clash, Paul Gouge, Playdemic, Alex Rigby, City of Thieves, Janos Flosser, Ed Fries, Spacewar, Spelunky, Bloodborne, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Persona 3. After talking about a game we're releasing, we talk about how this story can go mature places, modern themes, and other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through Arqa Issues covered: finaling a 90-day game, great graphic design, the rhythms of life, school testing and the "level playing field," knowing more about what's going on but everyone talking about it anyway, looking forward to a new character, the tiles changing in the second set of Tartarus levels, just understanding everything, what you leave out, dwelling on modern problems, adding little additional mechanics, managing the tonal palette, the voice acting, the presentation, style and substance, the modern setting, how the stories and the systems tie together, well-presented menus, the excellence of the audio and music, reusing motifs for impact, "hate mail" and thanks. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioStats, Calamity Nolan, bookslap, From Software, Project Octavia, The Wizard's Assistants, H. R. Giger, Metal Gear (series), Final Fantasy (series), JRR Tolkien, Diablo, Elite Beat Agents, Yakuza (series), Judgment, Sega, RGG Studio, LucasArts, Like A Dragon, Spider-man (series), Yuri Lowenthal, Jennifer Hale, Peanuts, Valheim, World of Warcraft, Spelunky, Witcher III, Baldur's Gate III, LoZ: Breath of the Wild, kdw/Not Mysterydip, Matthew, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: ?? Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]
Tim and I are super busy this week finishing a small, short game at Twin Suns Corp. Therefore, we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, BioStats and Calamity Nolan interview bookslap, talking about streaming and his work with Inner Sloth, makers of Among Us. We expect to return next week. Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp Discord [email protected]
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the boss fight, challenges in localization of content, more about the structure, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through first boss Issues covered: meeting a foreign exchange student, the calendar in the menu, seeing all of the pieces now, unlocking another level of Tartarus, an easier version of the game, enjoying the lack of grind, rebalancing the game, separating the flow of combat from other systems, the feel of the little vignettes, directing the player to new places, parallelizing development, an evolving market, respecting the rhythm of the original game, Japanese cultural differences, censorship questions, cultural undercurrents, games as entry points, various social links, the tension of spending time, how stats progress, story mode should be super-easy, choosing your social links, finding secrets via the purchased URLs, getting contacted by Elizabeth for quests. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Baldur's Gate, Yakuza (series), Kingdom Hearts, Fear Effect, The Ring, Ju-On: The Grudge, Tales (series), Metal Gear (series), Psychonauts, PlayStation Vita, Raymond, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: More Persona 3! Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]