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Dev Game Club

Join hosts and game industry veterans Brett Douville and Tim Longo as they explore older titles to talk about the influences those games had and what we can learn from them even today.
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Now displaying: Page 1
Mar 13, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our miniseries on rotoscoped games with part two of The Last Express. We talk about the sweep of history, playing parallel, ending in Vienna and other topics before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To Vienna (Tim), Somewhere after Strasbourg (Brett)

Issues covered: different puzzle formats and it still working, not knowing what to do with the bug, diverting to The Murder on the Orient Express plot, putting a spin on the old plots, Tim has a favorite tea, political violence in games, world history on the march, the tension of violence in political discourse, the legendary cities it passes through, avoiding caricature for the most part, the melting pot, strong writing and performances, naturalism and theatrics, countries shifting, passing through empires, playing parallel versions of the story, trying the wrong rooms, the medical issue of the older Russian, the importance of time, games that are watertight, the appearance of simulation, adjusting the state machine, wondering whether the game knows what you know, the dog and having to get it into place, a consistent character, committing to a different sort of game and the downstream consequences, comparing with more abstract games, adding constraints, pulling in things from other media, making a big leap forward in realism and groundedness, the talent for keyframing grounded animation, getting metrics and level design constraints from the animation, deeper and different storytelling, teasing an interview, Gogo and Umaro and tuning your player experience.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: MYST, Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, CSI, Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Branagh, Sherlock Holmes, Scream, Wes Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited, Far Cry (series), Sierra, LucasArts, Anton Chekhov, Karateka, Deadline, The Witness, The 7th Guest, Prince of Persia, Firewatch, The Walking Dead, Jake Gyllenhaal, Source Code, Rian Johnson, David Bowie, Duncan Jones, Edge of Tomorrow, Michelle Monaghan, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray, Deathloop, Prey: Mooncrash, Day of the Tentacle, Vienna Waits for You, A Death in Venice, Another World, Super Mario (series), Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Fire and Ice, Eric Chahi, Jordan Mechner, Ray Harryhausen, Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Phantasmagoria, Police Quest, Grim Fandango, Akira Toriyama, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, Dragonball Z, Ashmann86, Em, Final Fantasy VI, Rage, Bethesda Game Studios, Kingdom Hearts III, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
An Interview!

Note:
The Murder on the Orient Express adaptation from 1974 did not feature Peter Ustinov, who took up the role of Poirot in 1978. The 1974 film starred Albert Finney. We regret the error.

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

Feb 28, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on rotoscoped games by hopping aboard The Last Express, the graphic adventure from Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions of 1997 via publisher Broderbund. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To Vienna (Tim) and past Epernay (Brett)

Issues covered: our history with the game, playing the game on the iPad, the adventure game at the time, budget and sales, some history of the game, the edutainment industry, critical response, how many discs, cost of goods, the history of Epernay, generic settings vs the highly specific dates in the game, the overwhelm, jumping onto a moving train, photo research, pulling the brake, what to do with a dead body, trial and error, the various ways things can play out from just the first puzzle, rain in Europe in 1914, a digression into multiple speed CD-ROMs, getting into rotoscoping, a 3D modeled train with rotoscoped characters on top, chasing after a character in the hall, walk-boxes with Z values, the screen door effect, a linear game in space vs an open-ended game in time, synchronicity, the sense of a train trip, prioritizing animation vs input, mechanics-forward vs simulation-forward, what players care about and what they see.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jordan Mechner, Broderbund, GoldenEye 007, Diablo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Fallout, Curse of Monkey Island, Riven, MYST, Jonathan Ackley, Larry Ahern, Quake, SW: Jedi Knight: DF2, Outlaws, LucasArts, Turok, Shadow Warrior, Hexen II, Duke Nuke'em, Postal, Age of Empires, Final Fantasy VII, Wing Commander: Prophecy, Xwing vs TIE Fighter, Colony Wars, Interstate '76, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Grand Theft Auto, Gran Turismo, OddWorld, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Bethesda Game Studios, Bill Tiller, Day of the Tentacle, Sierra, Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, Zoetrope Studios, Francis Ford Coppola, Smoking Car Productions, Tomi Pierce, Doug Carlston, Chris Remo, The Learning Company, Another World, Prince of Persia, Baldur's Gate, Final Fantasy VII, PlayStation, Sony, Daron Stinnett, Scream (series), Grim Fandango, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Blendo Games, Thirty Flights of Loving, Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, Elle, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Skyrim, Ron Gilbert, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, Deadline, Infocom, Zork, Ben Sarason, Arkham Asylum, Red Dead Redemption (series), RockStar, Tomb Raider (series), Brandon Fernandez, Core Design, Mario (series), Uncharted (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finish the game (?)/ Explore further

Errata and Extra:
The lead animator on CMI was Mark Overney (!), and it was my mistake, I was thinking it had been Charlie Ramos

Blendo Games is Brendon Chung

Paul Verhoeven is Dutch, and he did direct Basic Instinct

Links:
The Last Express: Revisiting An Unsung Classic

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

Feb 21, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series of one-off episodes about games that featured rotoscoping, turning to 1989's Prince of Persia. We set it in its time and discuss its publisher and author before talking about the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To levels 4 (Tim) and 8 (Brett)

Issues covered: the series hook, games from 1989, rotoscoping, similarities to Tomb Raider, tiles and metrics, a more systemic/discretized game, precision and replay, figuring out the level enough to know where to save, that speedrunning feeling, do you ever wish you could rewind time, requiring more game due to mechanics, having to learn the whole game, the feeling of running and jumping, the tension of animation and input, multiple inputs, the intertwining of animation and design, the feeling of swashbuckling, the great feeling, action as character and commitment, wondering how many people finished the game, the punishing feeling, checkpointing, punch the eagle, the great feel of parrying, pushing through the enemies, tells, the approaches of different guards, cinematic combat, difficulty in text adventures and player appeal, chipping away at knowledge, adding drama, resources and the doppelganger, level design and reuse, animating bits of the world, his books, mixing up the skeleton.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Another World, Jordan Mechner, Broderbund Software, Populous, Game Boy, Super Mario Land, Tetris, Ghosts and Goblins, Sega, Golden Axe, Shinobi, SimCiy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ultima (series), Star Trek, Final Fantasy II, Castlevania III, Print Shop, Choplifter, Karateka, Lode Runner, Hypercard, The Last Express, Agatha Christie, Tomb Raider, Triple Click, Plague Tale: Innocence, Dark Souls, Jamie Griesemer, Halo, Mario 64, 1001 Arabian Nights, Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Errol Flynn, Indiana Jones, Civilization, Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Daffy Duck, MegaMan (series), Kirk Hamilton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Final Fantasy VI, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Another rotoscoped classic

Links:
Making Prince of Persia

June: 1:01:00 or thereabouts

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

Feb 14, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a little miniseries of games which heavily feature rotoscoping and different ways in which that technology is used, starting with Another World (1991). We set the game in its time, talk about rotoscoping, and discuss a lot about the world and games which seem descended from it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Whole darn thing (well, almost, Tim)

Issues covered: swinging back and forth in cages, starting and stopping the game, rotoscoping and some places it's been used, the basics of rotoscoping, how far Tim got in the past, baffling fluidity, echoes of other media, excellent character design, a "yes" game, other influences, thinking of this in terms of Mario, a cinematic moment, not making the movement a goal, choosing moments over systems, a fork in the lineage road, doing a project of this length solo, having a singular vision, hinting what you should pay attention to, the limits of tech and whether it can do anything for you, working on games that you wouldn't necessarily play.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy IX, Tomb Raider, Eric Chahi, Delphine Software, Flashback, Amiga, Final Fantasy IV/II, LoZ: Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Return of Samus, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega Genesis, Monkey Island 2, Civilization, Prince of Persia, Commander Keen, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Walt Disney, Richard Linklater, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, Keanu Reeves, Karateka, Ico, Metal Gear Solid, Tron, SpaceChem, Space Team, David Cage, Nintendo, Rare, MegaMan (series), Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Dragon's Lair, Don Bluth, mysterydip, id Software, DOOM (1993), Mike Fisher, Shenmue, Dreamcast, Madden (series), John Romero, Carlos, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Some other rotoscoped game!

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, Insta: devgameclub, Threads: DevGameClub, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Feb 7, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Alan Wake with a special interview with Sam Lake, Creative Director at Remedy Entertainment. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
0:52 Interview
1:02:20 Break
1:02:50 Outro

Issues covered: getting started with PCs and TTRPGs, starting out as a writer, starting with a positive audience, Greyhawk/Temple of Elemental Evil, coming out of the demoscene, teaming up with Apogee, finding ways to insert story into games, selling the IP due to its success, knowing they'd have the ability to make something new, second album syndrome, concepting tons of ideas to make the dream game, themes that stuck around, wanting a flawed main character whose not an action hero, writing a story about the creative process, inspirations, post-modern writing and games, how to work within the grab bag of design elements, the sauna crew, making hard decisions, a sense of relief, retaining the story and thematic elements, pulling out a victory, having a different feel because of all the extra built stuff, supporting conflict and action, keeping character motivations in sync with player expectations, early game management, adding transmedia elements and tools, using voiceover to guide the player, integrating more video, the talk show, blending those elements well to expand the game world and character, extending the value of the Easter egg, making the connection between the games a surprise, the Remedy-Connected Universe, dreaming up characters with the actor in mind, the musical number, leveraging Easter eggs, Tim's streaming commitments.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Death Rally, Max Payne, Control, Commodore 64, Petri Järvilehto, Dungeons & Dragons, Apogee/3DRealms, Duke Nuke'em, George Broussard, Scott Miller, Dark Justice, Rockstar, Janos Flosser, Hitman, IO Interactive, Stephen King, On Writing, David Lynch, Twin Peaks, Paul Auster, Bret Easton Ellis, LOST, Hideo Kojima, Quantum Break, Matthew Porretta, Courtney Hope, Illka Villi, James McCaffrey, Old Gods of Asgard/Poets of the Fall, Tim Schafer, Ken Levine, BioShock, FireWatch, Gone Home, Sam & Max, David Wolinsky, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
???

Notes:
I did not edit out GameThing's Season 8 theme, since they have apparently already let people know that was what is coming next.

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

Jan 31, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 1999's Homeworld, the 3D space RTS from Relic Entertainment. We talk a bit more about dynamic difficulty, address the final missions, and turn to our takeaways before a couple of mails. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished (B) and almost (T)

Podcast breakdown:
0:00:47 Discussion
1:05:45 Break
1:06:14 Email

Issues covered: Defeating Games for Charity, Video Game History Foundation, watching someone blast Mother Brain, Tim streaming, streaming and getting paid, a chill Dark Souls player, enjoying playing with people, joyful weekend, not finishing a game, how to make the game interesting over and over again, carriers and docking, learning skills for one use, RTSes using the campaign to prepare for multiplayer, micromanaging, managing the brutal rescue of the trading ship, freeing up everything for the final assault, watching ships crawl through space, trial and error, punishment of failure, the appropriate story depth, avoiding elaborate storytelling, feeling like legend and myth, twice as many shorter missions, flexibility through resources, stately capital ships, early vs late game failure, ship control layout, satisfyingly destroying the enemy, cinematic presentation, high-stakes final mission, a human point of connection, naval/military chatter, doubling down on a thing, purity of spaceship focus, ship design, designing across civilizations, consistency of armament, the usefulness of salvage corvettes, being careful with dynamic difficulty, having options, turtle strategies, watching players use and discover tactics streaming, committing to 3D, having to relearn controls, having a light touch with the story, whether we should do a TTRPG primer, real space physics vs WWII space flight, 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kingdom Hearts III, Kaeon, Contra, Metroid, X-COM, Kyle, Dark Souls, LostLake, Bvron, Belmont, mysterydip, Artimage, Mark Garcia, BioStats, Calamity Nolan, D&D, Resident Evil Village, Phil Salvador, Rogue, Starcraft (series), Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Blizzard, Halo, Warcraft (series), Robocop, Avalon Hill, Civilization, Johnny Pockets, Eye of the Beholder, Baldur's Gate, Go, Senet, Mancala, John Woo, Andrew Enright, Anachronox, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. 

Next time:
???

Links:
Defeating Games for Charity (a real website)

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

Jan 24, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Relic Entertainment's Homeworld. We talk about the difficulty of a couple of the missions, how our RTS expectations maybe work against us, and fighting the camera. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Through MS10 (Tim) or MS12 (Brett)

Issues covered: religious experiences, Defeating Games for Charity, dynamic difficulty, scuttling vs recycling, trading off the unit types you have for the ones you need right now, dynamic difficulty, being too clever with difficulty design, the usefulness of playtesting different skill levels, having the wrong guess of how many units you need, reactionary play or more in the moment, a puzzle-solving feel, a lot of empty time and strange pacing, getting over the hump, being unable to plan, fighting the 3D nature for probes, trailblazing but not quite getting there, wanting help from the game for 3D targeting, fighting the orientation, wondering about the upcoming sequel for usability, digressions into the lore, T-Rex predators, the inventory of Trespasser, whether we should play more weird bad good games, which games fit that definition.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, BioStats, Artimage, Calamity Nolan, Kaeon, Kyle, Bvron, Final Fantasy IX, MegaMan X, Grand Theft Auto III, Devil May Cry, MegaMan 2, Dark Souls, Far Cry 2, Rogue, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Deus Ex, Starcraft, Blizzard, Civilization, Tomb Raider, Mario 64, Halo, GoldenEye 007, Nintendo, Trespasser, Maas, mysterydip, Jarkko Sivula, Ryan Troock, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Shenmue, Deadly Premonition, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: 
Finish the game!

Links:
Defeating Games for Charity 

T-Rex on T-Rex

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord: https://t.co/h7jnG9J9lz
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Jan 17, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Homeworld, the innovative RTS from Relic Entertainment. We talk about interacting with the game and its presentation, and discuss some of the ways in which it creates and eliminates friction in that genre. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to M8

Issues covered: a separate manual for the lore, the mysterious science fiction/fantasy, a circle?, meeting the traders for the first time, a matter-of-fact aesthetic, feeling the stakes, grounded vs exaggerated, how each of us interact with the game, setting up the attitude of the ships, Tim's strategies to steal things and get ahead, opening up the side of the mother ship, a leap forward in some ways, limiting the resource type down to one, comparing to 2D tech trees, simplified building queues, dealing with the small fast drones, taking out an enemy fleet, the weird feeling of building at the end, having the feeling of a base attack with a capital ship attack, the quick dock vs the slow drawn out wait, a diversion to explain Battlestar Galactica, setting up archetypes and breaking them, thinking about what our mistakes have been, sending the wrong ships against the capital ships, no one sets out to make a bad game, an anecdote about Skyrim, closing out the game and pushing it out and taking cover, artificial idiocy, whether the movie people ruined Trespasser, the interaction of movies and games, Defeating Games for Charity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo, Planet of the Apes, Charlton Heston, Dune, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Warcraft, Starcraft, Star Trek, Ultima Underworld, Eye of the Beholder, Chris Corry, The Simpsons, God of War, Mikael, Matt Groening, Cory Barlog, Skyrim, Istvan Pely, Fallout (series), Republic Commando, Jedi Starfighter, EGM, Trespasser, Will Crosbie, Jim Gee, Alex Seropian, Noah Falstein, Dreamworks Interactive, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tom Bissell, Nolan Filter/CalamityNolan, Dark Souls, Rogue, Final Fantasy IX, Mega Man, Kaeon, Devil May Cry, X-COM, Metroid, Belmont, Bvron, Kyle, Error, Lostlake, BioStats, Mark Garcia, D&D, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. 

Next time:
Up to M12?

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

Jan 10, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 1999's Homeworld, from Relic Entertainment. We set the game in its time and then turn a little bit to the opening moments and the tutorial. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
First couple of levels + tutorial

Issues covered: a layered intro, our history with RTSes, the music hitting, transitioning to a console player, console RTSes, a new timeline, setting the game in its time, going against the norm, Relic and its RTS series, the big genre of the time but one that never grew, grognard capture, the appeal of online games, early e-sports, popularity in Korea, the feel of a space sim, checking all the boxes, how 3D it really is, switching views to elevate a target point, mouse and keyboard, doing their own thing with hotkeys, evolution working on games, presentational advantages, a graphics benchmark game, economical game development, elegant ship design, great silhouettes, maybe tessellating, editors that look like RTSes, spending budget on contrails, using specific things on PCs vs the graphics cards, camera and control, mining everything you can and building as you go, replacing inferior ships with new ones, finite people and resources reflecting themes, elegance in design, framing the camera well, the great use of the fleet commander and the magic of moving the camera, WWII space physics vs more accurate space physics, interestingly bad video games, finding those bad games, moon shots, imagining a deeper ecology, speedrunning Trespasser, a diversion into speedrunning.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Starfighter, Starcraft (series), Total War (series), Warcraft (series), Quake, Halo, Battlestar: Galactica, DOOM, Diablo, PlayStation, Age of Empires (series), Pikmin, Brutal Legend, Tim Schafer, Johnny "Pockets", System Shock 2, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Planescape: Torment, Shenmue, Owen Wilson, Command and Conquer (series), Westwood, Tim Curry, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Cross, Silent Hill, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Quake III Arena, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, David Cage, Asheron's Call (series), D&D Online, LotR Online, Turbine Entertainment, Derek Flippo, Sega, Creative Assembly, Blizzard, Ensemble Studios, Total Annihilation, Impossible Creatures, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Warhammer: 40K, Myth, Bungie, Call of Duty (series), LucasArts, Galactic Battlegrounds (series), Force Commander, Andrew Kirmse, TIE Fighter (series), Descent: Freespace, Wing Commander, Colony Wars, Elite, Star Citizen, Star Wars: Squadrons, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, GoldenEye: 007, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil (series), Eric Johnston, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Baldur's Gate, Troy Mashburn, Trespasser, Biostats, Belmont, Reed Knight, Dragon's Dogma, Bethesda Game Studios, D&D, Black and White, ARK: Survival Evolved, Valheim, Half-Life 2, GameThing, Dave Wolinsky, Pippin Barr, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
A few more levels!

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

Jan 3, 2024

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we recap 2023 through our interviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: good interviews with non-designers, lots of gems, Statue Park, keeping 60 and visor modes, limiting scripting, building spaces and Lincoln logging gameplay, talking to a marketing person, putting the name in the symbol for a new logo, challenging norms, challenging rinse and repeat and generating trust.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Artimage, Grant Kirkhope, GoldenEye: 007, N64, Neil Harrison, Rare, John Barry, Monty Norman, Jack Mathews, Metroid Prime, GameCube, Switch, Lincoln Logs(TM), Legend of Zelda (series), Retro, Karl Stewart, Arkham Asylum, DC, Warner Bros, Star Wars, Republic Commando, LucasArts, Chris Williams, Greg Knight, Tomb Raider, Eidos, Rocksteady, Crystal Dynamics, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Our first game of 2024! (Wonder what it'll be?)

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

Dec 13, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Trespasser. We look through the glass darkly at the mistakes and how they illustrate some things, before turning 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!

Issues covered: the funhouse mirror, writing the weird things on the whiteboards, voice acting, a game lost to time, the inner monologue, some good set up of a level, the invisible blocking wall surrounding Hammond's, box lifting master, weird technical friction about saves, looking for the white keycard, a misaligned bookshelf and visual language, the green disc, the personal memoir, rubbing the disc on the drive, the keycard mess, finding an alternate solution, immersive sim stuff, parallel developments, shining a light on something you didn't know you wanted, the preset objects, restoring forces, deconstructing what the designers put to place your own, contrivances, more keys that aren't keys, not leaning on the license, a more straightforward puzzle, 526327, the extending weird finger, modeling "dexterity," throwing the keycard in the Atlantic, a helpful (?) velociraptor, pressure plates in the ruins, playing something mid-development, games that should be canceled, deals that forced the game out, breaking your game while you build it, getting better at making the game, hitting the board in the wrong place, setting up the physics and seeing the world a certain way, shaking the Jell-O, letting the Jell-O settle, learning how to kite the dinosaurs, spawning three dinosaurs, making terrible mistakes, choosing appropriate goals, not knowing if a thing is possible, mashing up things, being aspirational, leading the way, admiring the purity, dinosaur ecology, getting to see something like this, being consistent in your rules, providing clarity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World, Through A Glass Darkly, Minnie Driver, Richard Attenborough, Jimmy Carter, Populous, Civilization, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Ultima Underworld, Half-Life 2, DOOM (1993), Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Spielbergs, Bethesda Game Studios, Call of Duty, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Todd Howard, Velvet Underground, Jell-O, Fallout 3, Hal Barwood, Ray Harryhausen, Land That Time Forgot, Zoo Tycoon, Far Cry 2, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
??

Notes:
Having not seen 1974's The Land That Time Forgot in quite some time, Brett misremembered the movie. He was actually thinking either about scenes from a movie called The Valley of Gwangi, which is from 1969, or One Million Years BC, (1966) both of which feature stop-motion animation by Harryhausen.  

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

Dec 6, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Trespasser: The Lost World. We talk more about the physics of the game, the problems of video game proprioception, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To level 4 (Brett), to level 6 (Tim)

Issues covered: abracadabra, discussing fixed point vs floating point, obvious and easy-to-fix bug or patch problem, backface culling, finding a human space, inelastic collisions vs elastic collisions, physics modeling and fussiness, infinite forces, doors and jambs, physics object modeling, tech demos, the box stair stepping problem, imagining a third person view, spending an hour to get up to a second floor, box vs pill, your arm and proprioception, snaking through doors, being able to rotate the boxes, a diversion into evolutionary/genetic algorithms, the abominable procedural animation, lining up the crosshairs and weird satisfaction, learning how the guns shoot, sniper spotting, procedurally generated animation systems, what works and what looks right, unnatural alive and dead, watching two T-rexes fight, approximating with ideal objects, trees: nemesis edition, sumo or inflatable costumes, standing still and they can still see you, pathing and getting back to a player behind a tree, getting away from the T Rex, emergent behavior, recontextualizing the world to get the magic, a sticky good bad game, scaring off some velociraptors with an empty gun.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: PlayStation, Minnie Driver, Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, GIRP, QWOP, Halo, Seamus Blackley, In the Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises, JFK, Spore, No Man's Sky, Soren Johnson, Civilization, Far Cry 2, Reed Knight, TIE Fighter, Arkham Knight, Control, Alan Wake, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finish the game!

Notes:
Genetic algorithms was the term Brett was looking for

Hayao Miyazaki video

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

Nov 22, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1998's Dreamworks Interactive title, Trespasser. We set it in its time (a year with many great games... and also Trespasser) and then discuss a bit of the games foibles and noble attempts. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
First level or two

Issues covered: an intro that works on many levels, repeating lines, games from this great year, a fan base that loves this game, Steven Spielberg bringing weight to bear, a relic, shooting for the stars, experimentation and memorability, the blase noting of dinosaurs, not reflecting a player's needs, learning from bad games, bringing in film people to do a game person's job, needing to get the game out, spotty voice acting, representing the character poorly, the weird IK and dinosaur behaviors, open spaces, committing to the bit, leveraging my hand, having to figure out how to solve a puzzle, outsmarting a procedurally generated raptor, other wonky games swinging for the fences, shipping a game without patches, 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jurassic Park, Minnie Driver, Richard Attenborough, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Baldur's Gate, Half-Life, Thief, Starcraft, RE 2, Grim Fandango, Unreal, Myth II, Fallout 2, Descent: Freespace, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, MediEvil, Gran Turismo, Starsiege Tribes, Banjo Kazooie, Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox, EA, Wii, Louis Castle, Seamus Blackley, The Dig, Gilmore Girls, Quake, Velvet Goldmine, Studio 54, Good Will Hunting, Circle of Friends, Big Night, RTX Red Rock, Austin Grossman, Spider-man 2, Jamie Fristrom, Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2, Wayne Knight, Jeff Goldblum, DOOM (1993), System Shock (series), Surgeon Simulator, Goat Simulator, Octodad, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Arkham City, Galleon, Toby Gard, Die By The Sword, Artimage, Bloodborne, Kenneth Baker, Sea of Stars, SNES, Chrono Trigger, Sabotage Studios, Twin Suns Corp, Nintendo, Switch, Tacoma, Maas Neotek, Space Oddity, David Bowie, Alan Wake, Epic, Omicron: The Nomad Soul, Quantic Dream, Microsoft, Quantum Break, Roy Orbison, The Coconut Song, Guitar Hero, Brutal Legend, Ozzy Osborne, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Arkham Knight, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More of Trespasser

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

Nov 15, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Alan Wake. We talk a little bit about what's going on in the DLC and Tim talks us through American Nightmare, before we turn to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
The Signal and The Writer
American Nightmare

Issues covered: what's going on with Zane, was the DLC originally part of the game, the better use of the light mechanic with the words, feeling like the main game was a proof of concept, becoming more open world, delays and fuzziness, naturally exploring mechanics with the words, easy should be easy, coming into the lighthouse and then the cabin, opening up spaces for combat, the swinging light, remixing the original game for DLC, figuring out which Alan you're at, connecting the universes through the wikihole, the structure of American Nightmare, using the currency to purchase weapons, there's nothing like a Remedy game, removing the distance to the character, applying the team while fulfilling obligations, growing the team, world building is everything (for Tim), the audio scape, the importance of narrative and mechanics converging, going for the weird, physics matters... but it doesn't have to, there's something attacking me!... it's a chair, you have to be able to relate to the character, paying off on the relationship.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Control, Quantum Break, Silent Hill 2, Arkham City, Microsoft, Max Payne, Prey: Mooncrush, Alien: Isolation, The Punisher, Commando, Twilight Zone, Trespasser, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
???

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

Nov 8, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake. We dive into the ocean that is the story and talk about the game's themes and how they layer, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the main game!

Issues covered: not thinking through the tanning bed, the underwritten FBI agent, the effectiveness of the woods, changing pace with the town, The Well-Lit Room, connecting to Control, discovering it's Baba Yaga, enjoying the band shell, challenges in balancing the end of games, the centrality of the lake vs the open world, open world challenges for horror games, enjoying the meta, foreshadowing, wanting just the story, layering the themes, primal themes, Mr Scratch in the sequels, replayability, player personae mismatches, wanting an easier story mode, finding their way, the benefit of returning to something later, having longer and maybe too many cutscenes, camera choices, switching genres and committing to bit, bending the mechanics at the end, a studio strength, weak female characters, unlikeability, comparing heroes between the games, whether you need to play American Nightmare, stupid things we fought over, why thermoses, the week of meat, descoping, the different games that the pros play, the age of social media. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Silent Hill, Control, Quantum Break, Quantum Leap, Primer, Twin Peaks, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Hellboy, BioWare, Baldur's Gate III, Epic, Naughty Dog, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Gears of War, Max Payne, Maas Neotek, Adam Adamowicz, Skyrim, Fallout 3/4, Halo (series), Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Batman, Luke Theriault, 1989 (Taylor's Version), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
The two DLC

Links:
Adam Adamowicz (more about Adam

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

Nov 1, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake, which we're playing via a remaster. We talk especially about the combat, amongst other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Ch 3 or 4

Issues covered: Night Springs episode, word salad, feeling the need to have it wrapped up, PNW locations, not quite hitting right, representing the setting, Remedy touchpoints, primal fears, collectibles and types, the three Cs, the cohesion of the lights, making you feel like a putz, pulling the camera away, lack of situational awareness, a difficulty diversion, wanting to almost die, inanimate objects, finding the right tension, spawned Taken?, weapon progressions, getting a better flashlight, the excellence of the 5.1 mix, annoying difficulty bugs, the RROD, what do you do when source material conflicts with good game principles, adaptation, where are all the women?, lack of promotion, game choice, demographics and the birth of the industry, our negative reviews.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Control, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, Grand Theft Auto, Stephen King, Max Payne, Resident Evil (series), Silent Hill 2, Capcom, Trespasser, C. Ross, Psycho Mantis/Metal Gear Solid, Eternal Darkness, Lego Movie Game, Mystery Dip, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Tomb Raider (series), Halo (series), Barbie, Oppenheimer, Branden, Rockstar, Epic, Maas, Kotaku, Jason Schreier, Nintendo, Atari, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finishing the main game

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

Oct 18, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our annual spooky series in a little place called Bright Falls, with Remedy's 2010 horror adventure Alan Wake. We place the game in its time a bit (not that long ago) and talk about how that first episode presents itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Episode 1

Issues covered: reviewing our spooky season, feeling like a 2010 game, the Alan Wake DLC for Control, hard to compare with other developers, doubling down on a hook, connecting their games together, featuring the preoccupations of one writer, reviewing 2010, an open world game, systemic survival games, thinking about some open horror games, empowerment and lack of dread, being close to a visual narrative, stitching together narrative, simple combat, graphic novel treatments and tv treatments, iterating on what they do well, bullet time, theming around narrative, making you a little unsettled, thin interactivity, leaning on Stephen King, the Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks connection, the early ages of narrative design and adding writing, pacing out in an open world version, cross-pollination, licensed music, the diner scene, what is reality, too many puzzle boxes, not worrying about the threads too much, the Riddler writes in, Brett's Arkham City Riddler progress, having a controller for the first time, the mouse and the flash-in-the-pan, a great first controller game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Karl Stewart, Arkham Asylum, Resident Evil (series), Silent Hill 2, Dead Space, Eternal Darkness, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Remedy Entertainment, Max Payne (series), Quantum Break, Control, Sam Lake, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, X-Files, Twin Peaks, House of Leaves, Bioshock 2, God of War III, Mass Effect 2, Starcraft 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Just Cause 2, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Dead Rising 2, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout: New Vegas, Limbo, Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Penumbra, Deadly Premonition, Epic Mickey, Darksiders, AC: Brotherhood, MGS: Peacewalker, PSP, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, The Long Dark, Evil Within (series), idTech, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Shenmue, Stephen King, The Shining, Misery, Blue Velvet, Dean Stockwell, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Microsoft Studios, The Coconut Song, Reservoir Dogs, Stuck in the Middle with You, Practical Magic, LOST, S., Doug Dorst, American Nightmare, Calamity Nolan, Geoff, Mark Hamill, LucasArts, LodeRunner, DOOM (1993), Quake, Ken Schoemake, SSX, Tony Hawk Pro Skater (series), Final Fantasy IX, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Episodes 2 and 3? Maybe also 4? We'll see

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

Oct 11, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add an interview to our series on Batman: Arkham Asylum. Karl Stewart, Director of Marketing for Eidos at the time joins us to talk about the importance of the role and how it contributes to a product's success. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
0:54 Interview
1:03:18 Break
1:03:51 Outro

Issues covered: a full year, the early history of Karl, drawing anatomy, getting the fundamentals of brand and retail, listening to the team and developing the language and brand, breaking the assembly line, blurring the line between team and publisher, differentiating different types of creative director, developing trust, the usual separation of the two, how the marketing tells a story, translation without the input of creators, avoiding games that were moved too quickly, bringing confidence to the team, showing the publisher what they've got, creating a bond with the studio, publisher working with studio more closely, the superhero stigma, seeing the playable demo, the game influencing the brand, changing how people think about superhero games, maybe giving it back and arguing against, getting two covers, canning a Dark Knight game, discussing and selecting a logo, wondering about an opportunity, moving floors, controlling social from the studio, building a studio-centric model, working in the same world, handing your teenager over, having a push as a team for marketing, working to create the brand identity, going down the rabbit hole, taking a big expense, an Asylum ARG, challenging what we do, going different with the logo, a press event on Alcatraz, a ghost story, being immortalized, stuck in a cell, struggling to get marketing on board, bombing out Washington DC, everything is intentional, making a character relevant again, collaborating with other people and mentioning them by name.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Merchant Retail Group, Signature Brand Inc, Eidos, Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics, Petrel Marketing, Pure Imagination Studios, BAFTA, Thunder Child, 124, IGN, Tomb Raider (series), Lara Croft (Guardian of Light), ZX Spectrum, John Lasseter, James Song, Bob Lindsey, IO Interactive, LEGO, Bionicle, Ford, Age of Conan, Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Urban Chaos, Unreal, Phil Rogers, Andrew Reiner, Andy McNamara, Warner Bros, Rob Dyer, Loony Tunes, 300, Lee Singleton, Mini Ninjas, Battle Station Pacific, Jurgen Goeldner, Nathan Burlow, Matt Geyer, Remi Sklar, Carlos D'anda, Insomniac, Darell Gallagher, Rockstar, GTA, Tim Miller, Blur, Noah Hughes, Meagan Marie, Lars Winkler, Janet Swallow, LucasArts, Todd Howard, Phil Rogers, Yoichi Wada, Rich Briggs, Halo, I Love Bees, Lee Singleton, Trevor Burrows, Sarah Hoeksma, Philip Ser, Geoff Keighley, Spike TV, Star Wars, Republic Commando, Chris Williams, Bethesda Game Studios, Pete Hines, Fallout, Dr Dre Beats, Batman Begins, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Note: Apologies if I misattributed any names cited in this episode. There were many of them, often only with a firs tname, and tracking them down was quite a project. (Even so, I know I missed a couple.)

Next time:
Spooky Season Game

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

Oct 4, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Batman: Arkham Asylum, the breakout hit for Rocksteady. We talk about the final villains of the game 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!

Issues covered: quotes, getting back to the Scarecrow, a digression to other games in the series and how they treat the Joker relationship, Batman v Superman, the usefulness of constraints, a solid boss area for Croc, good audio/haunted house, turning on a dime, getting Batman and his preparedness, horror elements, taking place in one night, the plant boss, the everpresent boss, the weirdness of the party, the 'roided out models, managing the goons and using the batclaw, maximum Batman, a tighter City, fawning over the suit, saying yes to too many things, becoming the one game, where do you take the Batman/superhero, Batman!, having some distance between the player and the character, making collectibles really Batman, genre hybridization, made by people who love games, freeflow combat and guiding Batman, the importance of constraints, redesigning Batman's universe, getting released from the Asylum. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, Hitman: Blood Money, Eternal Darkness, God of War, Resident Evil, Metroid Prime, Nintendo, BioShock, Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Belmont, LostLake, Majora's Mask, Telltale, Spider-man, Wolverine, Black Panther, Christopher Nolan, Tomb Raider, Star Wars, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
TBA!

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

Sep 27, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Batman: Arkham Asylum. We talk about the progression system in the game, the various forms of reward, how well things are integrated, and Tim gets to relive the death of the Waynes. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Near to end (Brett), thru 2nd Scarecrow (Tim)

Issues covered: the death taunts, Edward Nigma vs the Riddler, relatively few gadgets, discussing the gadgets and their uses, not knowing what they had yet, using gadgets as a reward, dependencies on rewards and presentation, breaking up health and armor into increments, the weirdness of Batman getting XP, player expression, health and then opening up more options, seeing how you would evolve the formula, crafting environmental scenarios, finding ways to bring in the rogues gallery, rewarding you while gratifying you, spreading out the villainy, giving space to each villain, having too much space for the villains, every combatant being bespoke, threading villains through rather than opting in, economical reuse of space, changing up combat patterns, pushing the player rather than reusing the same quarter, rethinking strategy but not being stuck, not overloading with combat options and then larding on, being able to struggle through without being perfect, players finding something that works for them and sticking with that, combat overload, interview tapes and deepening the characters, did this game create Batman fans?, tying all the pieces together, the tightness of the economy, being able to play the alley scene, retelling the origin stories, 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: other Arkham games, BioShock, Bethesda Game Studios, Joel Schumacher, DOOM (2016)/DOOM Eternal, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finishing and takeaways!

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

Sep 20, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Rocksteady's breakout hit, Batman: Arkham Asylum. We freeflow our way through a bunch of combat, put on the visor, and even hit a couple of the villains (and I'm not talking about our emails). Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More of the game (Brett to Poison Ivy, Tim to first Scarecrow)

Issues covered: Tim's many times dressing up as the Joker, Joker owning the island, having a Batcave on the island, being prepared as Batman, Bioshock vibes, layers of Arkham, layering activities over level areas, seeing things before you can get through them, a Metroidvania for the collectibles, not needing to do challenges for XP, Joker teeth as breadcrumbs to what you should do next, an approachable game for the license, Detective Mode as a little alienating from Batman, seeing how the world is put together, a bit of a cheat for Batman, character vs player focus, predecessor experiences, being mashable and less punishing, having a dozen enemies and being able to lower fidelity, everything working together, dramatic and telling finishing blows, a bunch of knockouts all at once, wanting it to feel like Batman is outnumbered and overcoming it, reinforcing goals and caring about the right things, being able to modularize the combat and change the feel, battle loss taunts, finding ways to show the highest LOD models, the Scarecrow introduction, horror movie scary stuff, the surreal space of the Scarecrow, asking the controls to be more generous, having Scarecrow be over the top and weird, wanting the fear to come from the A/V experience, Daredevil and Batman, centering the Rogues Gallery, pathetic and horrific Bane, a small universe, the Justice League vs the Vengeance League, feeling the impact of freeflow combat immediately, audience and alignment of all the goals, seeing the problem-solving in action, putting all the pieces together, "The Witcher is Just Fantasy Batman," when you don't feel connected to the character, fighting Deathstroke, embracing the multiverses, 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bioshock, Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix, Metroid, Tomb Raider, Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark of Kri, God of War, Tim Ramsay, Republic Commando, Eternal Darkness, Dead Space, Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien: Isolation, Christopher Nolan, Star Wars, The Boys, Watchmen, Bvron Music, Assassin's Creed, Half-Life, Halo, GoldenEye: 007, Jarkko Sivula, Tim Burton, Eye of the Beholder, The Witcher, Call of Duty, Control, Deus Ex (reboot), Jack Kirby, Pokemon, Calamity Nolan, Mark Garcia, Artimage, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. 

Next time:
Even more of the game!

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

Sep 13, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2009's Rocksteady breakout, Batman: Arkham Asylum. We set the game in its time, as well as introducing its principals, and talk a bit about one man's fandom. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Roughly up to first Scarecrow encounter

Issues covered: introducing the center of the madness, returning to these two, mythology and archetype, the games of 2009, some early Rocksteady history, coming out of the shadows, developing their process, taking on the superhero genre, licensed titles and not overcoming them, replicating game designs to the license, something finally living up to or exceeding expectations, a long digression into superhero cinema, seeing the attention to detail, pre-code comics and other Brett comic history, a small development team, puzzle box, comparing team sizes, a time with fewer new sorts of games, the August window, great voice cast and writing, seeing signs that they really care, narrative design and other writers, getting a lot of mileage from the voice cast, setting up the story, a big plan from the Joker, introducing Arkham as the location, constraining Batman to present the Joker, not your typical Batman universe, exaggerated characters, a simple setup/trope, establishing a new look for Harley Quinn, other influences for the art direction, "I admire its purity," the clear proof of concept in vertical slice, what a vertical slice, solving major production questions, a good tutorial room vs one that works less well, having all the elements, how Batman has stealth, using fantasy in the checkpointing, impacting later Batmen, filling a Pokedex. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons and Dragons, Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, DC and Marvel, The Batman, Robert Pattinson, Sega, Michael Keaton, Batman: The Animated Series, PlayStation, Jamie Fristrom, Insomniac, Uncharted 2, Borderlands, Demons's Souls, Ratchet & Clank, Brutal Legend, League of Legends, Assassin's Creed II, Infamous, Eye of the Beholder, Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Bayonetta, Rocksteady, Urban Chaos, Warner Bros, Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, Jamie Walker, Sefton Hill, Argonaut Games, Ubisoft, Star Wars, Electronic Arts, Lord of the Rings, Godfather, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Joel Schumacher, Peter Jackson, Superman 64, Freedom Force, Grant Morrison, Dave McKean, Sandman, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, X-Men, Ben Affleck, Metroidvania, Fallout 3, Bethesda Game Studios, Dark Souls, BioShock, Madden, Baldur's Gate III, Larian Studios, Paul Dini, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Arlene Sorkin, Adrienne Barbeau, Half-Life, John Cena, Steve Austin, The Rock, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns, Alex Ross, Gotham Central, Gears of War, Tomb Raider, Alien, Penny Arcade, Sam Fisher, Thief, Flight of the Conchords, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More! We don't know how much more!

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

Sep 6, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Eye of the Beholder. We talk more about D&D adaptation, spend some time with a sequel, and get to our takeaways before emptying the mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: which levels count in the sequel, killing lots of beholders, whether you could have killed Xanathar in the original, striation of hit point values, scaling for sense of power, paying off on the quests, finding all the beholders, beholder physiology, having more fun with beholders as designers, bulettes and basilisks, "just keep going," being trained for level navigation, designing towards the player understanding, wanting coordinates, using simple concepts well, modular repeatable and combinable concepts, leaning into the limitations, an onion layer level, "mapping matters," loving drawing maps, sanding off of friction (various ways of telling the player how to get there), being more embodied in the dungeon, the more you take out the less the experience becomes, allowing for abstraction and having to draw you in other ways, translating D&D, why simulate the math, a bad game to simulate, "what is a saving throw?," using video games to inform the evolution of your tabletop game, emphasizing the human, a more elegant system, dice variance, a useless party experience, usability issues, bad games that were influential on us, remembering movie moments but not the gameplay, even bad actors are better than what we could do at the time, digging into all the RPGs, not knowing what to do in SimCity, DOS vs Mac music and early audio, a craftman's respect for audio, warm analog music, hearing multiple versions of the same soundtrack, not playing a lot of real-world games, physics in games and pitting against fun, wanting to get to specific rides vs how you build a park, Tim gets turned off on the CRPG book, building on foundations and the legacies they carry, business concerns, shipping code passing cert, climbing uphill to make changes, maintaining the feel.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Eye of the Beholder II, Winnie the Pooh, The Dungeon Run, Metal Gear Solid (obliquely), Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM (1993), Gary Gygax, PS5, Xbox Series X, Dark Souls, Temple of Elemental Evil, Indiana Jones (series), Far Cry 2, Starfighter, Jurassic Park, Ultima Underworld, God of War, Baldur's Gate (series), World of Warcraft, William Shatner, Vampire: the Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu, Mechwarrior, Mechassault, Warhammer, Morrowind, Fallout, Diablo, Westwood, Ashton Herrmann, Kyrandia (series), Lands of Lore, Trespasser, Clint Hocking, Assassin's Creed (series), Darkstone, Neverwinter Nights, Kingdom Hearts, Twisted Metal Black, Warcraft II, Quake, MYST, Grim Fandango, The 7th Guest, NextGen, Sam Thomas, The CRPG Book, Skyrim, The Bard's Tale, Disco Elysium, Rogue, Betrayal at Krondor, Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City, Andrew, SimCity 2000, GameBoy, MegaMan, NES/SNES/N64, Grant Kirkhope, GoldenEye 007, Metroid (series), Half-Life (series), Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Matrix, Disneyworld, Great Adventure, Canobie Lake Park, Dungeon Master, Chris, Populous (series), Dungeon Master, Fallout 3, mysterydip, Commander Keen, Dwarf Fortress, Metroid Prime, Bethesda Game Studios, Halo (series), Bungie Studios, Tomb Raider, Galleon, Toby Gard, Redguard, Reed Knight, Todd Howard, Starfighter, Grand Theft Auto (series), Starfield, Unreal (series), Gears of War, Republic Commando, Jack Mathews, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Our next game?

Links:
The CRPG Book
Dungeon Master Encyclopedia and video

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

Aug 30, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Eye of the Beholder. We killed Xanathar! We saved Waterdeep! And we talked about simulation vs game vs narrative and various other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game!

Issues covered: potential NPCs, getting misled by the star, hating the missing buttons, good reveals on secret doors, unmotivated puzzles, brute force, accidentally solving a puzzle, up into a small enclosed space, not finding the Drow, wanting more of a sense of NPC presence, leaning into narrative and game-iness, using game-iness to add drama, simulation elements in D&D, being more naturalistic, spiking a door vs more elaborate narrative elements, having to abstract rest mechanics, having consequences for time advancing, JRPGs and rest mechanics, dying many times to the beholder, getting so much of the map connecting moments, identifying magic items, using enemies as clues via audio, the silent mind-flayers, not seeing the dice and having the opportunity to balance, terrifying appearance of Xanathar, being unprepared, not seeing all of the beholder effects, respawning monsters, not being able to level up your mages enough, running away from Xanathar, mouse panic, using collision audio to know where he was, wand spamming, being teleported into the final room, not understanding the teleporters, portraits and the art style, not knowing when to stop pushing, giving impressions through simple art, adding audio to later games, D&D of particular eras.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Crystal Shard, Ultima Underworld, Temple of Elemental Evil, Fallout, Baldur's Gate III, Pool of Radiance, Star Wars, William Shatner, Sierra, LucasArts, Diablo (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Takeaways and mail bag

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

Aug 23, 2023

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1991's Eye of the Beholder. We talk quite a bit about adaptation and the things that are not entirely.... fun... about D&D. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to level 10 or 11

Issues covered: Discord Game Club, finding the dwarves, the injured dwarf, information as a reward, inconsistent locks, messages you can only read if you have a dwarf, using up keys and not knowing when you should use them, communities below ground, "Xanathar: he's kind of a big deal," history in the built environment, the sewer map, "feelies," wishing the computer would do the rules for us... or not?, translation of D&D, the problems of adaptation, diving into the movie, respawning hellhounds and imagining hell, what's a xorn?, puzzle opacity, good puzzles, holdover concepts that stick around, level connectivity, the pleasures of linking up segments of map, removing useful friction, games where there's not a lot of high hights nor low lows, podcast games, having to learn the world and feeling the mastery, great connections in Dark Souls, landmarking and not wanting a map.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: D&D, Discord Game Club, Artimage, Mark Garcia, BioStats, Final Fantasy IX, Kotaku, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Temple of Elemental Evil, Infocom, Zork (series), Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Republic Commando, Baldur's Gate (series), Diablo, Chris Pine, Ultima Underworld, Richard Garriott, System Shock, King's Quest, Assassin's Creed, World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, Ico, Dragon/Dungeon magazines, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. 

Next time:
Finish the game!

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

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